Italy

Italy Faces Looming Shortage of Pizza Makers

© Michael Connell It seems few Italians want to make pizza anymore, at least not for a living. Unemployment may be high, and jobs scarce in Italy, and yet there is a serious shortage of pizza makers on the horizon. Italians eschew the work because it involves long hours for a relatively low wage. Demand [...]

Newly Discovered Mussolini Bunker To Become Tourism Attraction

Statue of Mussolini © Erich Ferdinand A World War II bunker that was discovered in 2011 by workers during the restoration of another landmark has been revealed to have been intended for Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. The bunker’s existence was kept under wraps until recently, when plans were unveiled to open it as a tourist [...]

Rome: Unpeeling the Onion

Some cities were built all at one time, in one piece; they’re single visions, like St. Petersburg with its concentric canals and classical buildings, or Bath with its fashionable crescents and squares. But Rome has layer upon layer of history, of archaeology.

Got an Extra 9,000 Euros? Drive a Ferrari FF on Ice

If you’ve been sitting on 9 grand in Euros, AND you were having trouble finding something to do later this week, here’s a suggestion: Why not try driving a Ferrari FF on a frozen course in Italy? Ferrari FF © Ed Callow [ torquespeak ] Corso Pilota On Ice, an event that happens every year [...]

TribeWanted.com: Join a Tribe, Join a Community

For every one drooling on their keyboards over lunch and dreaming about escaping the cube for the forest, I’d like to introduce you to a community of like-minded friends. TribeWanted first joined the scene of escapists with a self-sustained community on the Fijian island of Vorovoro in 2006. About Tribewanted [ENGLISH] from Tribewanted on Vimeo. [...]

Italian Virility Protected by Supreme Court

It only took a few years of legal battles between cousins to gain full protection against insults to one’s manhood from the Italian Supreme Court. Old School Virility © ell brown Telling a man that he “has no balls” is now a crime punishable by a fine. The judge who ruled on the case determined [...]

62,000 Bottles of Fine Italian Wine Down the Drain

Tuscan Vineyard © Dion Crannitch You may want to rethink your travel plans if you were headed to Italy to enjoy the Brunello di Montalcino from the Case Basse vineyard in Tuscany. In a bizarre incident, vandals broke into the estate and sent 62,600 liters of the wine — which had taken six years to [...]

Photo of the Moment: Visions of Tuscany, Italy

Sleeping Man Finds Himself on Luggage Belt at Rome Airport

Asleep ©CarbonNYC Security screeners at Rome’s Fiumicino airport were in for a surprise recently when something unexpected popped up on their screens–a Norwegian man. The man was fast asleep on a luggage carousel in the airport. According to an Italian newspaper, the man was drunk at the time, dropped his bag down and fell asleep [...]

Coppola Resorts Opens Newest Hotel in Italy

Make me an offer I can’t refuse and I’ll book a room ©HuffingtonPost.com Francis Ford Coppola’s newest addition to Coppola Resorts is an homage to his Italian ancestors and a nod to the authentic side of Italy. The new Palazzo Margherita is a 9-suite hotel in Bernalda, Italy with history dating back to 1892. Coppola’s [...]

Growing Number of Tourists Stealing Ancient Stonework in Rome

This will look great in my scrapbook! ©AJ Kelman Roman tourists hoping to scavenge ancient cobblestones, marble mile markers and mosaic pieces will be answering to Roman police, if they’re caught at the ancient capital’s airports. Over the weekend, police in Rome displayed a collection of those confiscated materials from the last six months. Police [...]

Italian Firehouse Designed Like a Villain’s Lair

It’s so eeeeeeevil–but not really ©Architizer.com A volunteer fire station in the Italian Alps would make Dr. Evil proud. The design is strictly coincidence, although it looks like a lair that houses a Bond villain. The station is embedded into a 300-ft cliff, overlooking agricultural land. To create the cliff-side design, explosives were used [...]

Recent Damage to Trevi Fountain a Sign of Much-needed Restoration

Seems there’s a good use for all those coins… ©budgetplaces.com Rome’s 250-year old Trevi Fountain is showing recent signs of aging. Over the weekend, pieces from the top of the fountain had fallen off. The pieces mark a terminal point of one of the aqueducts that once brought drinking water to the city. Barriers have [...]

Europe’s Most Expensive Hotel Room

The Royal Suite, Four Seasons Firenze ©fourseasons.com For only €18,500 per night, you can sleep like a Roman God (or at least aspire to be). At the Four Seasons Firenze in Florence, Italy guests are surrounded by original frescoed ceilings, an on-site chapel, and a 500-year old renovated palazzo. The real treat is a stay [...]

Qatar Contemplates Building an Ancient Rome Theme Park

Leftovers ©eye of einstein Italian media reported Wednesday that Qatar might invest in a new ancient Roman theme park. The Gulf state’s emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani met with local officials in the Eternal City earlier this week. According to Rome’s mayor, Gianni Alemanno, the emir was presented with several investment opportunities, including a [...]

Italian Museum Burns Artwork in Protest

Bonfire 1 ©rockbadger The Casoria Contemporary Art Museum near Naples, Italy has started burning its collection of contemporary art to protest against harsh budget cuts for Italy’s cultural institutions. The first piece of art to be torched was a painting by French artist Severine Bourguignon, who was in favor of the protest and watched it [...]

Gladiators and Police Clash at the Colosseum

Centurion ©keepwaddling1 It was like ancient times in Rome yesterday when police tried to remove costumed centurions and gladiators from the Colosseum. During a demonstration two men climbed up to the second tier of the 2,000-year-old Colosseum to protest a recent city council decision which prevents them from working at the site posing for photos [...]

Italian Mayor Bans Death, Says Cemetery is Full

“Please sir, can you spare a plot?” ©nataliemaynor No one looks forward to their last days, but the mayor of a village south of Naples, Italy is now telling his residents that they’re banned from dying. And he’s dead serious. The village of Falciano del Massico does not have enough room in their local cemetery to accommodate [...]

Long-Lost Leonardo da Vinci Fresco May Exist in Florence

Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” ©wikipedia.org A team of art researchers and scientists may have uncovered a 500 year old mystery–on a wall at Florence’s city hall building. The team behind the “Lost Leonardo” project believe that a lost Leonardo da Vinci fresco is hiding behind said wall. Using medical-style endoscopic probes and other high-tech tools, [...]

“Under the Tuscan Sun” Villa Sold for $12.5 Million

The Italian villa featured in “Under the Tuscan Sun” ©MSNBC.com The 10-bedroom Tuscan villa featured in the 2003 film “Under the Tuscan Sun” has been sold for $12.5 million. Fred and Nancy Cline of Sonoma, California purchased the villa three years after the movie was released. In the film, Diane Lane relocates to Tuscany and [...]

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