Highlights: Visiting Italy for the Holidays

Our new, free 35-page, downloadable guide Christmas in Italy (filled with great photos too!) is a the perfect resource, whether you’re traveling to Italy for the holidays or want to bring some Italian influences to your celebrations at home. Here are some highlights from the guide: The Holidays in Rome Rome is home to the largest continuous Jewish population in …

Nero’s Banquet Hall Opens to Public

Although the Roman scholar and official, Suetonius,described Nero as “average height, his body marked with spots and malodorous, his hair light blond, his features regular rather than attractive, his eyes blue and somewhat weak, his neck over thick, his belly prominent, and his legs very slender” in his The Life of Nero, he more than acknowledged Nero’s penchant for luxury. …

Florence’s Piazza Duomo Now Traffic-Free

Two weeks ago, over 2,000 buses, taxis, cars and scooters disappeared from Florence’s Piazza Duomo. No, it was not part of a massive, simultaneous grand theft auto, it was, merely, the law. In September, Florence mayor Matteo Renzi announced that by October 25th, the square would be completely vehicle-free and declared a pedestrian-only area. Gone are the honking taxis slowly …

Tuscan Town of Volterra Launches “New Moon” Tour

Surely by now, you’ve heard about, if not read some of (it is not just for teens and tweens) the Twilight series books by Stephanie Meyer. The second film installment of her Vampire saga – New Moon – is due to hit theaters November 20th and Tuscany plays a starring role… You see, in the story, the royal family of …