tourism-italia.com

According to Reuters, Italian Tourism Minister Vittoria Brambilla is planning on opening 10 to 15 luxury casinos to boost the Italian tourism sector. These casinos would be housed in five star hotels and form part of a 19 point plan set out by Brambilla to help tourism in Italy, especially in the poorer southern areas. However, her plans still need to be approved by the government and the local municipalities where the casinos will be situated. There are currently four northern municipal-controlled casinos in Venice, San Remo, Campione near Como and San Vincent. The new casinos will include two re-opened casinos in Taormina in Sicily and San Pellegrino Terme near Bergamo. So far this year, casinos have taken 347 million euros in bets with Venice taking the largest amount. If Brambilla’s plans are approved then these new casinos could be the boost that Southern Italy needs to finally break out of the shadow of the North.

Tags: casinos, Sicily, Venice, Vittoria Brambilla

Florence already has many sights which tourists flock to year upon year, such as Florence Cathedral. However, if Italian art expert Maurizio Seracini is right, there will be one more reason for tourists to visit. According to The Telegraph in the UK, Seracini believes that he may have found the missing The Battle of Anghiari masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci hidden behind The Battle of Marciano in the Chiana Valley by fellow Renaissance artist Giorgio Vasari. Seracini claims that a mini military banner in the fresco saying “Cerca Trova” – seek and you will find – is a clue left behind by Vasari to indicate the presence of da Vinci’s masterpiece beneath his own. And now he has been given permission to use high-tech gadgets to discover whether there is anything beneath the fresco. If his hunch is right and da Vinci’s masterpiece is underneath , then it’s a very exciting discovery and another reason to go to Florence!

Tags: Florence, Leonardo da Vinci

I love skiing in the Aosta Valley and now others will also get the chance to see what the region has to offer as there will be a display at the British Ski & Board Show. In addition to the display, Leo Gerbore, one of the region’s best chefs, will be at the show to prepare traditional dishes which visitors will be able to sample. There will also be a selection of cheeses, meats, preserves and fine wines to test. For those of who don’t know where the Aosta Valley is, it’s between France and Switzerland in the north of Italy and is surrounded by the Matterhorn, the Monte Rosa and the Monte Bianco peaks. As well as the Aosta Valley showcase there will be displays of the latest skiing and snowboarding equipment. It starts on October 1^st at the NEC in Birmingham and finishes on November 1^st. Hopefully lots of people will go and get the skiing bug!!

Tags: Aosta Valley, Birmingham

The Italian State Tourist Board must be grinning from ear to ear with the news that Italy has been voted the best European destination for a long holiday in the Sunday Times Travel Magazine Reader Awards. They beat Greece and Spain into second and third place for the title because “with its mix of ‘the best sights, smells… and designer bags,’ you know ‘there’s a holiday for everyone in Italy.  The newspaper even recommends some experiences for readers to experience such as food in Siciliy and the beaches along the Tuscan coast. But really I’m not surprised really that Italy won. Seeing as I write a blog about Italy, I know what a fantastic place it is. I’m just glad that it is getting some recognition and that people are realising just how unique and interesting Italy is!

Tags: Sicily, Tuscany

As a big fan of classical music and opera, I’m so excited about the upcoming Verdi Festival in Parma. The residents of Parma are celebrating it’s most famous resident Guiseppe Verdi with concerts and operas throughout October. The concerts and operas are being held at the Teatro Regio and other smaller venues across the city. This year Messa de Requiem and Nabucco are among the pieces being performed. The city will literally be alive with music!!

Tags: Parma, Verdi

Maybe it’s just me, but I find the idea of a 60 metre statue of a saint having the ability to recycle solar energy really weird. But that’s the plan of the curators of the shrine of Padre Pio. They want to build a statue of the friar atop a hill in Rignano Garganico, where it will be able to collect and recycle solar energy thanks to a new paint being developed by scientists in Bologna. When it is finished, the statue of Padre Pio will be the world’s first example of ‘green’ religious art. However, the statue will cost several million euros to build, which the curators say will be collected from the followers of Padre Pio. Padre Pio’s shrine in Foggia draws almost a million visitors every year and makes millions of euros for the local economy. The annual turnover of the shrine is said to be close to 120 million euros, which includes souvenirs, two magazines, a satellite TV station, and the offerings of its pilgrims. This is all well and good, but the idea of a giant statue of a saint which can recycle solar energy still sounds like some space age project that will never really work!

Tags: Bologna, religion, statue

To the disappointment of thousands of people (perhaps), Yoko Ono has cancelled her performance at the La Fenice theatre in Venice to commemorate the September 11th attacks. The only reason she gave for the cancellation was that it was a “personal decision”. I’m not a huge Yoko Ono fan, although not as bad as those who blame her for splitting up The Beatles, so I can’t really see the big deal about her pulling out. Apparently she is a “pioneer in performance and conceptual art” and “she remains one of the most influential artists today”. Really?! As far as I’m aware, most people only know who Yoko Ono is because of John Lennon. Or maybe I’m just not in touch with the art world, seeing as some of her works are currently being shown at the Palazzetto Tito in Venice. But I’m sure Italy must have enough artists to fill the gaping (?) hole left by Yoko Ono’s cancellation……

Tags: La Fenice theatre, Venice, Yoko Ono

If you’re considering going to Naples anytime soon, there are new tour guides in the city to help ensure you don’t get robbed. Whether you will want their help is another matter, as these tour guides are actually former convicts. The powers-that-be (the EU and Campania local government) believe that their new tour guides will be able to help tourists ensure that they are not pick pocketed in the Mafia influenced area. Around 70 former convicts have been recruited, each wearing a fluorescent jacket and carrying an ID card (just so you can make sure that they are a former convict and not a current one!). But the local tourism commission is not entirely convinced by the “people skills” of the former convicts. Apparently some tourists have already complained about the manners of their new guides. And the former convicts recently went on strike when a guide was taken away by the police after having an argument with a traffic warden. But as Pietro Ioia, from an association for released prisoners, points out, “Campania needs to give them work before the Camorra (local Mafia) does”. I suppose that this is a good idea, as long as you don’t expect too many niceties, as who knows crime better than an ex-convict?

Now let this be a lesson to all of you who tend to find yourself answering the call of nature in obscure places. On Monday night, the Mayor of Venice Massimo Cacciari caught a Portuguese man relieving himself into one of the city’s famous canals. The man was told off by the Mayor and the police were called. According to what Cacciari told reporters on Tuesday, he “saw a gentleman peeing in a canal and took the liberty of telling him that he probably wouldn’t do so in his living room”. The Portuguese tourist was fined 50 euros for his deed and sent on his way. However, this all seems a bit fishy to me considering Cacciari is facing criticism over the up-keep of Venice. The regional governor of Veneto, Giancarlo Galan, and Civil Service Minister Renato Brunetta have accused the Mayor of not doing enough to rid the city of rats and pigeons and that he has sold out to major companies, such as Coca Cola. But the moral of this story is, next time you are caught short in Venice, don’t pee in a canal or you face a fine!

Tags: canals, mayor, Portugal, Venice

Now I’ve been to quite a few Italian restaurants in my time, but never have I received a bill for €695 for lunch. But that is exactly what happened to a Japanese couple in Rome last month at the Passetto restaurant. The tourists say that a waiter offered to bring them a few dishes which they did not choose and were then brought wine. However, when the bill came they were amazed to find that they had been charged so much money. Understandably, the story has angered mayor and does not do much for the reputation for Rome, which is already thought of by many as fairly expensive. So the moral of this story is, check what the price of what you’re ordering before you order or you may have big surprise when you get the bill!

Tags: expensive, reputation, restaurant, Rome