Italy Travel

Activities - Italy Travel

Palatine Hill Produces Its Own Honey and Olive Oil
Published on Sunday, March 1, 2020 by Rome’s Palatine Hill is now producing honey and olive oil from ingredients grown on its grounds. Italy owes its culinary brilliance to fresh, local products – and it doesn’t get more local than this. Parco Colosseo, the archaeological park comprising Palatine Hill, the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, is conducting a pilot project to produce the organic wildflo...
Poet Giacomo Leopardi’s Home Will Open to the Public
Published on Wednesday, February 26, 2020 by Romantic-era poet Giacomo Leopardi’s home will open the poet’s private living quarters to the public on March 21. Casa Leopardi, located in the town of Recanati in the central region of Le Marche, was the noble Leopardi family’s home. Parts of Casa Leopardi are already open to the public, such as the library and cellars, but the new opening will showcase the ...
Researchers Find Mount Vesuvius Eruption Turned Man’s Brain Into Glass
Published on Tuesday, February 4, 2020 by Archaeologists working on the Herculaneum site near Pompeii have discovered that the infamous eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD produced heat so intense that it turned one man’s brain into glass. The remains of the man, whom archaeologists believe was about 25 years old, were discovered in the 1960s, but his body wasn’t fully examined until now. Dr. Pier Paol...
Borghese Gallery Starts Crowdfunding Campaign to Buy Bernini Sculpture
Published on Thursday, January 30, 2020 by Rome’s Borghese Gallery has started a crowdfunding campaign to raise about $8 million to buy a bronze sculpture by Bernini. The bust is of Pope Urban VIII, who commissioned many works from Bernini and was the Baroque artist’s most important customer. Now, Anna Coliva, the director of the Borghese Gallery, wants to purchase the bust from its current owners, the des...
Rome’s MAXXI Museum Named Best Italian Museum
Published on Sunday, January 26, 2020 by Italian art newspaper Artribune has named Rome’s MAXXI museum the Best Museum in Italy for 2019. MAXXI, a museum of modern art, stands for Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo. MAXXI, which opened in 2010, showcases contemporary art by Italian and foreign artists. The institution comprises two museums: a museum of art, and a museum of architecture. Its build...
Italian Town Celebrates its Ugly Residents
Published on Saturday, January 4, 2020 by Piobbico, a beautiful medieval village in central Italy, has celebrated an unusual trait for 140 years: It is the home of the Club dei Brutti (The Ugly Club), known for the ugliness of its residents. The club’s motto is “A person is what he is and not what he looks like.” Piobbico, population 2,000, lies in a valley between the Adriatic Sea and the Apenni...
Pompeii Bathhouse Opens to Public
Published on Monday, December 30, 2019 by Newly excavated thermal baths have opened to the public in Pompeii, allowing visitors to see the ruins of what was supposed to be a main attraction in the city. Construction began on the Pompeii Central Baths before the fateful Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79 A.D., but was never completed. The baths were being built to replace the city’s old bathhouse, whose rooms ...
Milan’s Child-Only Gardens Could Open to Adults Too
Published on Thursday, December 26, 2019 by For now, the gardens at Milan’s Villa Belgiojoso Bonaparte are open only to adults accompanied by children – but that may change, as the city mulls whether to make the gardens accessible to all. Since July, Milan City Councilor Filippo Del Corno has been pushing to allow adults without children into the gardens as well. Tucked away behind a secret door at the 1...
Italian Medical Museums Showcase History of Health Care
Published on Friday, December 20, 2019 by Two Italian medical history museums – the Museo delle Arti Sanitarie in Naples (39-081-440647; Via Luciano Armanni 1; www.museoartisanitarie.it) and the Museo Storico Nazionale dell’Arte Sanitaria in Rome (39-06-6833262; Lungotevere in Sassia 4, Ospedale Santo Spirito) – are collaborating to enhance their respective collections and educate the public about Italy...
Michelangelo’s Florence Pietà Undergoes Restoration
Published on Monday, December 16, 2019 by Michelangelo’s Pietà dell’Opera del Duomo is undergoing restoration at the Opera del Duomo museum in Florence. The sculpture is also known as The Deposition, the Bandini Pietà or The Lamentation over the Dead Christ, and is known for an incident in which Michelangelo became frustrated with the piece and tried to destroy it. The restoration began in Novembe...