Published on Thursday, July 28, 2016 by Kathy McCabe Steve Perillo would like to personally invite you to this special weekend at The Culinary Institute of American in NY: Italian Cuisine at Home with Steve Perillo October 28-30, 2016 3 days/2 nights starting at $925 per person Join Steve Perillo, president of Perillo Tours,  for an incredibly enriching and fun weekend exploring Italian food. Pasta may be Ital...

Published on Saturday, July 23, 2016 by Kathy McCabe Venice launched a new program to employ a group of people to welcome tourists and keep St. Mark’s Square clean and orderly, calling them the St. Mark’s Guardians. Among their duties are making sure visitors feel welcome and educating tourists on how to keep the lagoon clean and what behaviors to adhere to while in Venice. “Hostesses and stewards, who will be ...

Published on Monday, July 18, 2016 by Kathy McCabe An Italian restaurant looking to increase business has started to offer weekly naked dinners to attract members of Italy’s small but growing nudist community, inspired by a similar concept at the London restaurant Bunyadi. Nudist sites, such as beaches, became legal in Italy in 2006, and it is estimated that there are 600,000 nudists in Italy who visit them regularl...

Published on Saturday, July 16, 2016 by Kathy McCabe A tiny island off the coast of Sardinia, Budelli is part of the La Maddalena National Park and is known for its colorful landscape of crystal-clear turquoise waters, purple rocks and pink sand beach (spiaggia rosa). This a slice of paradise has drawbacks, though, and Budelli has been embroiled in legal fights and protests for years, as it has changed ownership sever...

Published on Sunday, July 10, 2016 by Kathy McCabe Known for its huge collection of antiques,  Casa Museo Ivan Bruschi in Arezzo has begun hosting special events over the past year as well, drawing more visitors to the oft-overlooked museum. Ivan Bruschi was a prominent antiques collector in the 1960s who founded the Arezzo Antique Fair in 1968 (which still runs on the first Sunday of the month and the Saturday befor...

Published on Saturday, July 2, 2016 by Kathy McCabe For 2,000 years, Italians have dreamed of connecting Sicily to the mainland, but various proposals to cross the 3.3-kilometer Strait of Messina through the centuries have never gotten off the ground. Now, Italians are hopeful that the newest idea, a cable car system from the Reggio Calabria airport on the mainland to the Sicilian city of Messina, will become reality. ...

Published on Sunday, June 26, 2016 by Kathy McCabe Much of Venice was  underwater last week as an out-of-season acqua alta, or high water, takes hold. The tidal flooding causes the Adriatic Sea to overflow into the streets of Venice, this time covering St. Mark’s Square and other parts of the city with one meter (3.3 feet) of water and undoubtedly creating a nuisance for tourists stuck without rain boots. During...

Published on Friday, June 24, 2016 by Kathy McCabe As part of a rebranding to fit in with shareholder Etihad Airways, Alitalia unveiled new staff uniforms in May. A red, green and navy blue color scheme replaces the former navy blue and green, and the outfits are designed by Milan-based fashion designer Ettore Bilotta – who also designed new uniforms for Etihad Airways in 2015 – and tailor-made by 500 other Itali...

Published on Tuesday, June 21, 2016 by Kathy McCabe This year, Chianti Classico, the picturesque heart of Tuscany that is home to Italy’s most famous wine, is celebrating its 300th anniversary of delivering high-quality wines to Italy and beyond. On Sept. 24, 1716, the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo III de’ Medici created official borders of the Chianti wine region, establishing quality control teams in the area...

Published on Friday, June 17, 2016 by Kathy McCabe For the first time in 16 years, none of the 29 candidates for 2016 UNESCO World Heritage Site status are in Italy. Italy currently holds the world record for most UNESCO World Heritage sites, at 51; behind Italy, China has 48 and Spain has 44. But, as Franco Bernabè, the president of Italy’s UNESCO commission, explained to La Repubblica, “it’s not a sporting co...