There’s just too much news out there. Will they stop making news? Probably not. So, I’ll play catch-up here and let you investigate further on your own:
Search for Leonardo’s “lost fresco” - Da Vinci Code art sleuth and all - is back on, while the Mona Lisa’s burial place has been located in Florence.
You’ve read about the Pope’s new calendar. How about adding some real-life Calendar Girls to your wall? (Except these ladies aren’t posing in the buff… Details…)
Naomi Campbell’s angry tantrums reach all the way to Rome, and we can only hope those “soothing crystals in her bra and panties” start to work. Either that or the anger management classes she was sentenced to.
In addition to the allegations of unclean (and unsafe) hospitals in the press recently, we now have another reason to stay healthy in Rome - a report claims that dead patients’ eyes were stolen.
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If you’re going to Florence and you’ve never been before, you’ve got the Uffizi museum on your list of things to do. I know you do. Everyone does. And there’s a reason for it - it’s one of the single greatest collections of art anywhere, and the only place you can walk into a roomful of Botticellis (breathtaking) and see a bright and round painting of the holy family by Michelangelo (lovely). At the moment, it’s also going to be a place you’ll be looking at some scaffolding.
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As you might imagine, Italians don’t treat the use of the word “mafia” lightly. I won’t go into the details, but recently a non-Italian head of an anti-doping agency accused Western Europeans of a mafia-like culture when it comes to regulating the sport of cycling. The president of the Italian cycling federation didn’t take long to respond:
I remind you that Italy is amongst the mother nations of the European Union. This is my culture, and I am proud to be Italian. … I urge you to take time and reflect, performing your …
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Anyone who’s tried to learn another language no doubt has found moments of comedy amidst the hours (scratch that, weeks and months) of slogging through grammar rules. I don’t know about other countries, but the Italians have not only been active exporters of their words (ciao, venti, spaghetti, etc.), more recently they’ve been importing English words as well. Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Great, less work for me!” And if you’re only planning on reading and writing your Italian, you’d be close to right. If you’re ever planning on speaking or listening to anyone speak, however, you’ve got another thing coming.
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Lest you think Italy is picking on the Getty museum because of some long-standing grudge against the US, they’re asking Japan to return the things they claim were “stolen” as well.
Italian authorities “suspect that up to 100 treasures from ancient Rome were looted” and they’ve asked the Japanese government to help in returning the items to their homeland. Officials in Japan, however, say they’ve not been contacted by the Italians. I’m thinking someone can put that question to rest easily with an email print out or telephone log. The real question
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UPDATE: Unfortunately, it appears that the Living Abroad Report is no longer available online… At least at the moment. The links are all coming up blank, so it looks like this is one expat resource that has bit the dust.
I just found the Living Abroad Report, and have yet to really plumb the depths of the site yet, but I did add the blog to Bloglines. A few of the posts there caught my eye as potentially quite useful, especially to the husband (the poor dear who has to actually apply for the Italian jobs, unlike me who’s just kind of along for the ride), so I thought I’d share them here for those of you who are contemplating the jump as well.
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If you know anyone who still collects stamps (is that even still possible with all the self-adhesive jobbies out there nowadays?) and you’re going to Rome, you’ll do them a big favor by swinging into the Vatican City post office. You won’t get your passport stamped, and you won’t realize that you’ve crossed a border, but Vatican City is its own little country within the city limits of Rome - and consequently has its own post office.
The Italian postal system is notoriously slow, in direct contrast to the Poste Vaticane, and according to
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With the winter sales period in full swing in most Italian cities, I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you about one of the more exclusive sales events in the country - the Vatican’s designer sale.
At the Vatican store, you’ll find televisions, jewellry, designer handbags and clothing - and at some of the bes prices in the area. However, it’s not a case of “come one, come all” - not by a long shot. You’ve got to know a cardinal to get in.
The store istelf is “officially open only to
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You can say the Italians are overly concerned with their attire, but you can’t say they’re not thinking of personal safety at the same time. The “Defense Jacket” will set off a 130-decibel alarm when you pull the cord, alerting anyone around that you’re being attacked. Conversely, it may cause anyone within earshot to run for cover, thereby leaving you more alone than you were before. You just have to hope your attacker isn’t wearing earplugs. If the ear-splitting alarm isn’t enough, however, the jacket also has a hidden pocket with pepper spray in it.
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Part of my “day job” at BootsnAll includes reviewing the applications for new members of our travel community. One morning a couple months ago, I saw an application that caught my eye, for what I think you’ll see are obvious reasons!
Emma Bird had applied to join the BootsnAll community, and as I read more about her, I learned that she’s originally from England and has been living in Italy for some time (Sardegna, to be exact). She’s quite the entrepreneur, and has a book out (now available in the US) called
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