Destination: Italy
Happy Birthday, Marco Polo
by Jim Benning | 09.15.08 | 10:42 AM ET
Polo was born on this day in 1254. As Garrison Keillor points out in today’s “Writer’s Almanac,” Polo’s book about his travels, creatively titled “The Travels of Marco Polo” in English, was “a huge sensation” when it came out in 1298. Keillor notes that Polo wrote the book while bored in prison, dictating it to a fellow writer held in his cell.
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Yahoo! BuzzBellisima, They’re Not: Italians Rank Ugliest English Words
by Valerie Conners | 09.10.08 | 12:00 PM ET
You won’t hear any talk of “lo stress” or “le leadership” on the streets of Italy, if the Dante Alighieri Society has its way. The proclaimed protectors of Italian culture have asked the public to vote on the most offensive English word to be adopted into the Italian language. And the winner? “Il weekend.”
It’s Not Easy Being Green and Crucified
by Valerie Conners | 09.05.08 | 1:00 PM ET
As if Italians didn’t have enough cultural curiosities to be concerned about these days, now they’re dealing with the fallout from a sculpture depicting a 4-foot-high frog nailed to a cross and clutching a beer mug and an egg.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa: Only the Third Most Leaning Tower in Europe?
by Michael Yessis | 09.02.08 | 11:47 AM ET
A Dutch mathematician claims a 12th-century building in the Netherlands town of Bedum leans more than the storied Italian attraction, Reuters reports. Big deal, says another authority: Guinness. Last year, it named the world’s true leaning masterpiece: Germany’s Schiefer Turm von Suurhusen. National Geographic News has side-by-side photos.
Disneyland Paris Meets Rome?
by Valerie Conners | 08.15.08 | 4:13 PM ET
If getting getting scammed out of five euros for a photo with a faux gladiator outside Rome’s Coliseum is your cup of tea, hold onto your chariots: Roman officials have announced plans to build an ancient Rome-themed family amusement park. “You would relive scenes from the Colosseum, from ancient Rome, gladiators or maybe Julius Caesar or other things,” a city official told Reuters.
The Latest Inflatable Beach Prop: The Blow-Up Church
by Valerie Conners | 08.12.08 | 10:33 AM ET
Lord knows, finding time to worship on a beach vacation isn’t always easy. Cue a group of Italian priests and nuns who, with some gumption and an air pump, have brought church to the beach.
‘The Monster of Florence’: Murder and the Pursuit of Truth
by Frank Bures | 08.07.08 | 10:18 AM ET
Douglas Preston's latest book, the true story of a serial killer in Italy, shows that the world is far from exhausted for those who want to travel deep. Frank Bures tells why.
History Buff Aims to Bring Chariot Racing Back to Rome
by Elyse Franko | 07.21.08 | 5:41 PM ET
Chariot races can be seen in Germany, France and Bulgaria—but not in Rome. Isn’t that where the whole tradition started? Italian film industry worker and history enthusiast Franco Calo is hoping to bring the races back to the Italian capital. As Der Spiegel reports, Calo says the attempts of non-Italians to stage chariot races are “horrifying,” featuring “chariots being pulled by ponies and fake Roman soldiers, all blond and wearing disordered plumes.” What a travesty.
Rome Bans Snacking Near Historical Attractions
by Michael Yessis | 07.18.08 | 11:19 AM ET
Or, as the AP’s Alessandra Rizzo puts it in her groan-inducing lede, “Don’t chow, bella!” Officials hope the ordinance will curb behavior that may “irreparably damage the preservation of historical and art areas and monuments and the possibility to enjoy them.”
Related on World Hum:
* Venice Bans Feeding Pigeons in St. Mark’s Square
* Americans Gone Wild in Italy—Again
Italy Resists Diversity, Despite Massive Wave of Foreigners
by Joanna Kakissis | 06.27.08 | 12:17 PM ET
European attitudes toward immigrants are hardening, especially in Italy, where the government has just proposed the most restrictive anti-immigrant law in Europe. There’s plenty of scaremongering—Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has suggested that Italians will end up like Native Americans on reservations if immigrants have their way—and the tactic seems to working, writes Michael Kimmelman in The New York Times.
Axum Obelisk Returns to Ethiopia
by Eva Holland | 06.11.08 | 10:46 AM ET
In an extreme case of touristic vandalism—a very, very extreme case—the 1,700 year-old obelisk had been removed by occupying Italian troops in 1937. According to Agence France-Presse, it will be reassembled throughout the summer.
Leaning Tower of Pisa Declared Stable
by Michael Yessis | 05.29.08 | 4:39 PM ET
Engineers say it has stopped moving for the first time since it was built in the 12th century. A team had been working for 10 years to stabilize the famous Italian structure, which should now be good to go for another 200 (BBC) or 300 years (Reuters). Glad it’s stable, but knowing it’s no longer moving kind of takes the romance out of it, ya?
Photo by izarbeltza, via Flickr (Creative Commons)
In Sicily, Bypassing the Mafia Through ‘Pizzo-Free’ Travel
by Eva Holland | 05.27.08 | 10:43 AM ET
The Guardian’s Stephanie Rafanelli recently took a “pizzo-free” tour of Palermo—that is, she frequented only those businesses that refuse to pay protection money to the powerful local mafia. It’s a growing movement in Sicily, driven by young people who are tired of violence, intimidation and extortion. From Rafanelli’s compelling story: “Addiopizzo, literally Goodbye Pizzo, is an association that fights the mafia through ethical consumerism asking locals—and tourists—to support businesses that refuse to pay.” The group now has more than 300 members throughout Palermo, including restaurants and bars, B&Bs, markets and shops.
Venice Bans Feeding Pigeons in St. Mark’s Square
by Michael Yessis | 05.02.08 | 10:33 AM ET
The birds are “eating away at the city’s marble statues and buildings by pecking at small gaps in the facades to reach for scraps of food that were blown inside,” according to Reuters. In the list of dangers facing Venice, I’d rank the pigeons below this, but above this.
‘Is a Week Too Long in Venice?’
by Eva Holland | 04.10.08 | 12:33 PM ET
That’s the question posed recently by a Times of London reader, concerned that he may get “bored of the watery Italian city” before the week is up. “Perhaps we got carried away,” he writes, “as it now seems like a very long time.” Times travel expert Richard Green offers a perfectly reasonable answer, suggesting day-trippable destinations in the Veneto, but the response I kept waiting for—“Bored in Venice? Are you serious?”—never came. So here it is.