Rome’s Mausoleum of Augustus is set to reopen to the public this spring following a €6.5 million restoration funded by Italian telecommunications company TIM, according to Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica. The monumental tomb of Rome's first emperor is destined to become a major draw for tourists, after decades of abandonment, and is expected...
READ MOREGet out your passport! There are a wealth of destinations to be discovered in 2020, but according to many travel advisors I spoke with, Italy tops the list! Here is the insider’s guide to Italy for next year. Rachelle Stepner, Luxury Italy Travel Planner, Tzell Travel Group, says, “Italy is tremendously popular because there is always something new...
READ MORENICKNAMED THE “LIGHTHOUSE of the Mediterranean” for its steady towering glow, Stromboli is one of seven volcanic islands that make up the Aeolian archipelago off Sicily’s northern coast. Barely a quarter the size of Manhattan, and measuring just 3,031 feet above sea level, it reigns as one of the world’s most active volcanoes, having spewed founta...
READ MOREForget about France, Germany or Greece — Italy is now the most popular European destination for Chinese tourists. Numbers are expected to continue growing in 2020, which has been designated the “Italy-China Year of Culture and Tourism”, and next year will also mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. According to Ital...
READ MOREEver heard of Cosenza, Italy’s alluring and undiscovered city in Calabria? Perhaps not. And, this is the reason that I’m sharing with you a little information on captivating Cosenza. Where is Cosenza? Mention to someone that you’re in Cosenza and typically, the response is “where?” My reply is always the same: “southern Italy, near the toe of the b...
READ MORESkiing or eating in Cortina are interesting sociological experiences. On the slopes or in the lodges, between a bombardino drink and waiting in line at the lifts, encounters can be as informal as they are mind-blowing. Maybe it’s all the ski gear, the helmet and goggles that offer an easy anonymity. Maybe it’s the altitude, but this sport continues...
READ MOREThe plane touched down at Milan Malpensa Airport in the early morning. I was tired after a very long travel-day from Los Angeles. The capital of Lombardy and Italy’s second largest city, Milan is located in northern Italy, an hour from the Swiss border. Metropolitan Milan spreads across a broad valley bounded by the Po and Ticino rivers, lakes and...
READ MOREA special new opening will welcome 2020 visitors to Pompeii: the Casa del Frutteto, or House of the Orchard. The small house, still under restoration, is scheduled to open to the public in February. It is considered one of the most beautiful houses on Via dell’Abbondanza, and takes its name from the fine frescoes that adorn its walls depicting gard...
READ MOREPalestrina is a town not far from Rome, at the foot of Mount Ginestro. Here, the Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia (or Fortune of the First Born) was built in the 2nd century BC: inspired by the monumental complexes in the eastern Aegean Islands, today it is considered one of the most relevant examples of Hellenistic architecture in Italy. In its day...
READ MOREAround 10million self-taking tourists cram into Rome's streets and around its ancient sites each year. But it wasn't always so. These fascinating vintage pictures taken in 1956 show a far less hectic Eternal City. The black-and-white snaps were captured by photographer Allan Hailstone, from Coventry, on a trip to Rome as a schoolboy in August 1956...
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