Italy News: 11.23.08
Some news from Italy for your Sunday reading pleasure:
- I’m proud to say that yours truly was the featured interview on Wandering Educators last week, talking about WhyGo Italy and why I love all things Italian. You can read the whole interview - plus see some of my Italy photos - over at the WE site.
- Seems that a group of players for the Catania team in Italy dropped trou in the middle of their weekend match against Torino in order to block the Torino keeper’s view of the free kick that was being taken. It worked, and Catania scored a goal on that play. The whole thing is funny to me, but apparently people are up in arms about it in Italy, saying the team should have been penalized for that.
- Karen Landes, the sometimes-guest-blogger right here on WhyGo Italy, is now officially a published author - her book, “In Etna’s Shadow: Culinary Adventures from Eastern Sicily,” hit the Amazon virtual shelves last week!
- If you’re planning on driving or taking the train in Italy in the near future, keep an eye on this - the Italian government is considering freezing the prices of road tolls and rail tickets as part of an economic stimulus package.
- A priest in Italy who responded to a sex ad and then paid the woman to have sex with her several times was later blackmailed by her. And the funny part is that it’s the woman who has been arrested.
- One of my fellow Italian students from Portland bought a house in Umbria last year, and she’s just starting her second partial-year of living there - you can keep up with her adventures on her blog.
- Italy’s government has approved a €1+ billion offer for Alitalia, made by a collection of investors who’ll take on the struggling airline’s debts and who are likely to make major cuts in order to save the company.
- Alitalia just can’t keep itself out of the news lately, and it never seems to be positive. The latest is that the airline will be cutting 100 flights per day through the end of November because of random strikes by pilots and flight attendants (though it seems like it could be just as much done as a cost-savings measure if you ask me).
- While the Moving2Italy2 site isn’t the prettiest you’ll find, it is chock full of great lists - some of them are really only going to be interesting/useful to people who are contemplating a move to Italy, but some of them are great for visitors, too. This recent one on the markets at Christmas in Italy is definitely one that fits in the latter category.
- If escaping Venice to the quiet island of Torcello still isn’t isolated enough for you, then consider visiting a restaurant that’s basically a “fishing shack on stilts” known as Laguna da Toni. Of course, the fact that you’ll have to book a seat up to two weeks in advance in the summer means you may not be escaping all the crowds, but you’re certainly not going to be with all the cruise-ship day-trippers out there.
- Visitors to Venice, beware - your photographs of St. Mark’s Square will probably include giant advertising billboards until the scaffolding on the buildings comes down.
- I know Virginia’s slogan says it’s for lovers, but I think it’s really more accurate to say that about Italy. Which is why it’s not surprising that a hotel on Lake Como and another one in Venice show up on this list of the most romantic places to vacation.
- Let’s put aside the notion that once you publish a list of “secret European villages” that said villages are no longer secret (and probably weren’t by the time the list was published), because the Italian villages on this list are certainly off the regular tourist path. The Italy section starts at #17 and goes to #20.
- Turin is a beautiful city, and it’s well-known as a great destination for foodies. The Guardian online has combined these two things with a narrated slow food photo tour of Turin.
- Just because you find a lost painting by an 18th century Italian painter doesn’t mean it’s going to sell at auction. Let that be a lesson to you.
- Milan has a reputation for being more fast-paced than much of the rest of Italy, and I think the reputation is well-deserved. Here’s one reporter’s account of 24 hours in Milan, so you can decide for yourself.
- I have to say, I’m a bit naive when it comes to being on the lookout for prostitutes, but according to Alex at Blog From Italy there used to be plenty of them on Milan’s streets - and Milan’s mayor’s efforts to combat the levels of prostitution in the city are apparently working, too.
- The Michelin Guide to Italy is out, and there are five restaurants in Italy that have achieved the three-star rank.
- I didn’t know Pope John Paul II wrote poetry, but evidently he did. And noted Spanish tenor Placido Domingo has evidently put them to music.
- A new report says that at least 1.4 million women in Italy were abused before the age of 16, and 14 million women have suffered some kind of abuse. In a somewhat related story, an anti-rape poster in Milan has created an uproar - not because the woman in the picture is half-naked, but because she’s laid out in a pose that looks just like Christ on the cross.
- Fans of the Turin team Juventus are looking forward to the team’s new stadium, set to open in 2011.
- Move over Levi Strauss - Genoa says it’s the birthplace of the world-famous jeans.
- The massive cruise ship the QE2 made its last stop in Naples last week before heading off to retirement in Dubai.
- Students protested in Rome last week in response to cuts the Italian government is making in higher education.
- Can’t keep your Catholic saints straight? Never fear - the Vatican is coming to your rescue with its “Saint Catalog.” Now you’ll always know what saint to pray to.
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Jessica |
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2 comments | November 23rd, 2008
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I would like to know if you can explain the toll fees in Italy..we have just been to Liguria for 10 days, and used the motorway a lot, what we didn’t understand is how much the fees differed going one way then the other..the highest we paid was 9 euro..!
Hi, Anne:
Unfortunately, I don’t know much of anything about the tolls on Italy’s autostrade - but it doesn’t surprise me in the least that it would be a different amount going one way than going the other! Seems very fitting for Italy, no? 
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I would like to know if you can explain the toll fees in Italy..we have just been to Liguria for 10 days, and used the motorway a lot, what we didn’t understand is how much the fees differed going one way then the other..the highest we paid was 9 euro..!