Travel in Italy is expensive, there’s no doubt about it. One of the best ways to stretch your travel budget is to sleep cheap in hostels in Italy. But with so many hostels to choose from in each city - especially the biggest tourist cities in the country - how do you find the time to read about each one and know that you’re not getting a dud? The new listing of the Top Italy Hostels from BootsnAll should help you out.
So far, the Holy Trinity (as I call them) of Italian …
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Siena’s second Palio was run two weeks ago, and Contrada Leocorno (the Unicorn Neighborhood) won the day. I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for Leocorno, for a couple of reasons - most importantly, it was the Leocorno district where I stayed during my first visit to Siena. I even bought a small tile with the Leocorno banner colors to remember what I considered my adopted neighborhood, and it now rests on my bookcase.
At any rate, Leocorno’s win on August 16th is their 30th win since the 1600s, and their first victory since July 2001 - and since I visited just after the July Palio in 2001, I stayed in the Leocorno neighborhood as they were relishing their win. Residents of Contrada Leocorno will be able to relish this new win for much longer, as the next Palio doesn’t occur until July 2008.
Here’s a video of Leocorno’s winning ride earlier this month:
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Here are a few mid-week newsy bits for you from Italy:
Remember those “guardians of decorum” in Venice that I’ve mentioned? Here’s another article about them - the article is more of the same stuff, but the photo is great.
If you’ve got Italian ancestry, you, too, can begin the long and sometimes arduous process of obtaining dual Italian citizenship. It’s no picnic, but it could land you some pretty sweet perks. For some first-hand accounts of what the process entails, see the links on this page.
A globe-maker outside Florence talks to a New York …
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As you walk in wonder through the streets of the Roman Forum or Pompeii, contemplate this - all the treasures which have been unearthed in Italy are only a fraction of what actually exists underground throughout the country. Think about that for a second and see if you don’t find yourself uttering a silent “wow.” The ancient monuments, cobbled streets, theatres and temples which people the world over recognize as structures of historic and artistic importance are only the tip of the iceberg.
Recently, a team of amateur archaeologists uncovered another tiny piece of that iceberg - a previously untouched 2,000-year-old Etruscan tomb hidden in the forests of Tuscany.
Perhaps the most fascinating part of the whole story is that one of the volunteers on the dig, the fellow who originally found the tomb, actually discovered it 10 years ago - and kept mum in order to preserve it. The entrance to the tomb was hidden in forest brambles, he figured, and it was probably safest if it wasn’t discovered. Tomb raiders have been a big problem in Italy; so much so that there’s even an Italian word for them - tombaroli. So he just left the tomb unmarked - and unopened - and waited.
Earlier this year, when locals began clearing brush near the tomb’s still-hidden entrance, he went to the state’s archeaological heritage department and obtained a permit to finally excavate the tomb. He led a team of volunteers, a group called Odysseus, and funded the bulk of the dig himself. They’re still working on the tomb, but so far have determined that the burial site dates from roughly the 3rd to 1st century B.C.E., and they’ve already found cremation urns for more than two dozen people.
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Traveling for free is one of those dreams we never think will come true, but you know - it has to come true for someone. So you should enter the Lonely Planet/Borders contest to win a trip for two to Italy.
Think about it - all you need to do to enter is to tell them in 25 words or less why you want to go to Italy. No matter how busy you are, you can scrounge up the time to write 25 words about Italy. No matter how illiterate you are, you can piece together 25 words into sentences. And yeah, it’ll be close to impossible to limit yourself to 25 words… And it’s kind of a crazy entry requirement which could end up frustrating most people who try to do it… But I come back to my point - someone has to win this. Someone’s 25-word “essay” (and I use that term loosely here) will win. So why shouldn’t it be yours?
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Someone has kindly nominated the Italy Travel Guide in the Best Travel Blog category over at the Blogger’s Choice Awards! I’m humbled by this; and if you like what you read here, you can head on over there and vote for me! (In other words, please vote for me!)
From the site:
The voting for Blogger’s Choice Awards 2007 will end at 11:55pm on October 19. Winners in each respective category will be recognized at a one-of-a-kind awards ceremony on November 10, 2007, at PostieCon in Las Vegas, NV. After the ceremony, the results will …
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If you fancy yourself something of a writer, then get yourself a copy of the latest Italy Magazine - this year’s short story competition is included, and the prize is £250. Plus, the winning entry will be published in the January 2008 issue of Italy Magazine. Your story must be fiction, must be no longer than 1,000 words, and must be based on the image featured here.
The annoying thing is that you must get the actual hard copy of the magazine in order to enter, as the magazine’s website does not have …
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Okay, it’s not really closed, but I’m beginning to think it should be. At least sometimes. I know I’m going to ruffle some feathers here, but I think the Cinque Terre - while beautiful - should be off-limits to about 75% of the people who tramp through it each year. Just hear me out on this one.
The five villages of the Cinque Terre have been overrun (and, some would say, overdone) for several years, and it’s only getting worse. Most of the visitors to this once peaceful area are fighting heavy foot traffic through the quaint but overcrowded village centers, and are doing lasting damage to the cliffside paths that link them. Whereas it was once no problem at all to stumble off the train in any one of the towns and find plenty of rooms for rent at a moment’s notice, the crowds are making that more challenging - not to mention that with such demand the prices for the rooms which are available are going up. Anyone can appreciate the stunning views the Cinque Terre offers, but when you can’t see them for the crowds they kind of lose something.
I’ve written before about overhearing a conversation in a Vernazza bar between a Rick Steves tour guide and the bar owner, about how Rick sometimes expresses regret that his rhapsodizing about the Cinque Terre has helped contribute to its overcrowding. I wouldn’t blame him entirely, as he’s certainly not the only one who comes back from the Cinque Terre gushing about the place - but the Rick Steves effect is definitely noticeable. One former Vernazza resident who asked not to be named says that:
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Your Sunday news snippets from Italy:
A politician in Bologna has suggested that the city create a “red light” district where prostitution would be legal - but to have that area move around the city so no one neighborhood becomes a permanent den of iniquity. He’s surprised that not everyone thinks it’s a great idea, and I’m surprised that some people do.
Italians hit the beaches in droves every August, and apparently they routinely leave more than footprints in the sand - one report says Italians lost about €18 million in the space of one month.
You think …
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What’s the best way to combine the very Italian love of not-always-good-for-you food (are you listening, carbs?) with the also very Italian love of looking younger than your age? Why, the anti-wrinkle pizza, of course.
A nutritionist in Italy has created what he’s calling an “anti-wrinkle” pizza which, thanks to its ingredients, gives an added anti-oxidant boost to the body thereby helping to keep wrinkles at bay. This fancy new pizza is made with wholemeal flour, for starters, and also has several toppings which are high in magnesium and iron - including garlic, basil, …
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