Italy Travel News 10/18/2011

An international day of peaceful protests in cities all over the world – meant to be in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protests – dissolved into violence in only one city: Rome. A small group of anarchists “hijacked” the peaceful protests near the Colosseum, and things spiraled out of control. Thankfully no one was killed, although there were some injuries before the police were able to restore order.

As you may recall, George Clooney was called as a witness in a trial involving Silvio Berlusconi, named as someone who had attended one of the infamous “bunga bunga” parties. Clooney has finally talked about it – how he wasn’t at the party, but how Berlusconi DID want to tell him all about a piece of furniture in his bedroom.

I wrote this guest post for Kenny of Eating Italy Food Tours in Rome, about how to make Florence a day trip from a base in Rome. It’s a long day, but it can be done – and what an art-and-gelato-filled day it can be!

Melanie took the prompt for this month’s Italy Blogging Roundtable – “fall” – in an entirely different direction.

If you’ve got Milan on your itinerary, it’s likely because you’re flying in or out of Malpensa – so you’ve probably allocated about 24 hours in the city, right? You’re not alone. In this guest post I wrote for the Where I’ve Been blog, I’ve listed my top 5 tips for spending one day in Milan.

When the glorious Helena Bonham Carter wants to get away from it all, where does she go? Florence, of course – and not just because she made getaways to the city famous in “A Room with a View,” either. Read on to find out about her favorite shop in the San Lorenzo Market.

This list is in Italian, but with a little dictionary-perusal you’ll be able to figure out everything you need from it. It’s a chart showing when various fruits and vegetables are in season in Italy, thereby telling you what to be looking for in markets and on menus when you go. Genius! (via http://wallofdis.tumblr.com)

Rebecca’s contribution to the Italy Blogging Roundtable this month highlights three fantastic-sounding museums in Umbria. They all sound great, but the second one – about the Jewish history of Assisi – has this half-Jewish girl particularly intrigued.

This beautiful post is from Gloria, who not only talks about the pretty colors of Tuscany in the fall – she shows us spectacular representations of those colors in this photo essay.

Alexandra offers some practical tips about how to dress for an Italian “midseason” (or “shoulder season,” depending on your preference), and there’s even a visual for her suggested fall look.

Atlas Obscura is running a Halloween series of blog posts this month about real places and true stories of the macabre – and one of the recent stories takes place in Venice. (via @italofileblog on Twitter)