Destination: Italy
800-Year-Old Roman Empire Courier Map Goes on Display. Briefly.
by Michael Yessis | 11.27.07 | 9:11 AM ET
The Tabula Peutingeriana (excerpt pictured), an 800-year-old copy of a chart used by the Roman Empire’s courier service, was pulled from the archives of Austria’s National Library yesterday as part of a celebration of its new “Memory of the World” status by UNESCO.
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Yahoo! BuzzSee ‘The Last Supper’ as Leonardo Never Imagined
by Michael Yessis | 11.05.07 | 12:49 PM ET
By no means does the 16 billion pixel digital image of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece “The Last Supper” offer the experience of visiting the real thing in the refectory of the Santa Maria delle Grazie convent in Milan, Italy. But it is rather spectacular. Italian cultural officials teamed with high-definition photography experts HAL9000 to create what they’re billing as the world’s largest highest definition photo. It offers clear views of sections of the painting as small as one square millimeter, close enough to see every detail—and every crack in the paint. Good luck getting so near to the original.
Related on World Hum:
* ‘Rome Reborn’: Journey to the Eternal City, Circa 320 AD
* French Museums to Offer Free Admission
Can ‘The Moses Project’ Stop the Tides in Venice?
by Eva Holland | 10.29.07 | 9:58 AM ET
The people backing the $7 billion project certainly hope so. And so do a number of observers from low-lying port cities around the world, where flood concerns are on the increase as the polar ice caps melt. As Doug Saunders writes in an interesting essay in The Globe and Mail, “when we visit Venice today, we are visiting our homes tomorrow.”
Art or Vandalism? Trevi Fountain Waters Turned Red in Rome
by Joanna Kakissis | 10.26.07 | 12:53 PM ET
Rome had an Andy Warhol moment last week when a baseball-capped art anarchist dumped a bottle of dye into the city’s famed Trevi Fountain and turned its waters blood red for a day, writes Elisabetta Povoledo in The New York Times. Traditionalists who revere Rome’s monuments called it vandalism. Artists who believe Italian culture is stilted and staid called it genius.
Searching for Authenticity In Florence
by Joanna Kakissis | 10.18.07 | 8:51 AM ET
When the gesticulating Italian selling printed artifacts said “baper” instead of “paper,” Shashi Tharoor couldn’t resist asking the follow-up question: “Where are you from?” “Florence,” the Italian replied defensively. “But before that?” pressed Tharoor. “Jordan,” the salesman replied. “Originally.” Tharoor, an author and former under-secretary general of the United Nations, explored authenticity in the age of globalization in a clever essay in Financial Times. He traveled to the historic Renaissance city—“with its self-conscious air of serving as a citadel of centuries of Italian civilization”—to find a Jordanian man selling traditional Florentine handicraft, a couple of Bangladeshi waiters who spoke Italian with a Sylheti accent, and a Japanese woman who worked at the fabled Farmacia of Santa Maria Novella. “Perhaps our sense of what is and is not authentic needs to change as well in our mixed-up world,” Tharoor writes.
Venice Launches Locals-Only Vaporetto
by Eva Holland | 10.18.07 | 7:37 AM ET
The Mayor of Venice announced that a new route, Line 3, will be added to the existing vaporetto system. The addition to the city’s water buses will follow the Grand Canal from Piazzale Roma to Piazza San Marco—mirroring the existing Line 1, but open only to residents and, at one euro per ride, costing six times less than a regular fare.
515 Years Later, Columbus Controversy Endures
by Eva Holland | 10.11.07 | 6:57 AM ET
In fourteen hundred and ninety-two…the Pinzons sailed the ocean blue? If descendants of Martin and Vicente Pinzon have their way, Christopher Columbus could be sharing some of the credit for his 15th century “discovery” of America. The two brothers piloted the Nina and the Pinta alongside the Santa Maria on the famous voyage, but have been largely forgotten today. “I’d like the name to get recognized,” Bob Pinzon told the AP. “I think Columbus got too much credit.”
John Grisham’s New Novel ‘Playing for Pizza’ Just an Excuse to Visit Italy
by Michael Yessis | 09.26.07 | 11:52 AM ET
I guess I can’t blame John Grisham for being able to turn his vacation to an inevitable bestseller. I just wish he weren’t so smug about it. On The Today Show, Grisham straight-up admitted that Playing for Pizza, his new novel about a washed-up NFL football quarterback who moves to Parma, Italy to play for an American-style football team there, provided him an excuse to visit Italy. Matt Lauer asked:
Where in the World Are You, David Farley?
by World Hum | 09.20.07 | 2:11 PM ET
The subject of our latest nearly up-to-the-minute interview with a traveler somewhere in the world: David Farley, World Hum contributor and Holy Foreskin chronicler. His response landed in our inbox today.
World Hum: Where in the world are you?
Airport Security to Lourdes Pilgrim: Your Holy Water is a Security Threat
by Michael Yessis | 08.30.07 | 11:39 AM ET
Paola Saluzzi tried to carry eight small plastic bottles of water “in the shape of the little Madonna” from Lourdes on one of the Vatican’s new charter flights for pilgrims, but security inspectors at France’s Tarbes-Lourdes airport stopped her from bringing the liquid with the supposedly miraculous healing powers back to Rome. Reuters writes, “The real miracle would have been getting it past airport security.”
Vatican to Launch Charter Flights to Holy Sites
by Michael Yessis | 08.21.07 | 11:50 AM ET
Religious pilgrims will now be able to fly to Santiago di Compostela, Spain; the shrine of the Madonna of Guadalupe, Mexico; and other sacred sites via official Vatican charter flights, the BBC reports. The first flight takes off Monday from Rome bound for Lourdes, France, with religious guides and the vicar of Rome, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, aboard. Routes from other cities may be introduced, according to RTE News. The planes, which will be provided by the Italian airline Mistral, will feature the phrase “I’m Searching for Your Face, Lord” on seat headrests.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: From Cinque Terre to the Great Barrier Reef
by Michael Yessis | 08.03.07 | 2:05 PM ET
Iconic destinations in Italy, Australia, California and the Pacific Ocean are at the top of travelers’ minds this week, as well as a topic that’s more controversial than Hillary Clinton. Here’s the Zeitgeist.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
36 Hours in the Cinque Terre, Italy
Most Read Feature
World Hum (posted this week)
The Lost World of Nigeria
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Through the Roof: A Tour of the Country’s Priciest Hotel Suite
* The cost to stay in the Ty Warner Penthouse at the Four Seasons New York? $30,000 a night.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph UK (current)
Exploring the Great Barrier Reef
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (posted this week)
Voluntourism: ‘Overpriced Guilt Trips’ or a ‘Real Chance to Save the World’?
“Hot This Week” Destination
Yahoo! (this week)
Hawaii
Most Viewed Travel Post
BlogHer (current)
The W Hotel: Form over Function?
Turin: Discovering the Supernatural in ‘the Detroit of Italy’
by Michael Yessis | 08.01.07 | 1:50 PM ET
Despite its bona fides as the home of Primo Levi and the headquarters of the Slow Food movement—not to mention the 2006 Winter Olympics—that appellation helped keep David Farley away from Turin during his many travels through Italy. Farley, a World Hum contributor, finally made it there recently, and as he recounts in a fine story for the Washington Post, Turin has an “intriguing supernatural side.” He writes: “I quickly learned (from about every local I spoke to) that Turin lies on the axis of white magic (along with Lyon, France, and Prague) and the axis of black magic (which it shares with London and San Francisco), making it one powerful place, if you believe in that stuff.”
Related on World Hum:
* David Farley and Jessie Sholl: A Passion for Prague
* Ben’s Place: Turin, Italy
Related on TravelChannel.com
* Samantha Brown’s Guide to Turin
Photo of Turin, Italy during the 2006 Winter Olympics by bluviolin, via Flickr (Creative Commons).
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: It’s a Wonderful Life
by Michael Yessis | 07.13.07 | 1:31 PM ET
Their seven wonders, our seven wonders and the wonder of the Dreamliner top the minds of wide-eyed travelers this week. Here’s the Zeitgeist.
Most Read Feature
World Hum (this week)
Seven Wonders of the Shrinking Planet
* From “Airworld” (pictured) to Starbucks in the Forbidden City, an alternative take on the seven wonders of the world.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
By Popular Vote, the World’s ‘New 7 Wonders’ Named
Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph UK (current)
Where to Stay: Amsterdam
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
10 Great Places to Get in Tune, be Outdoors
World’s Best City
Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards (2007)
Florence
* Travel + Leisure’s 12th annual readers poll also ranks the world’s best hotels, islands and more.
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
‘Man Overboard’: A Look at Cruise Ship Disappearances
U.S. Embassy in Italy: Naples Stinks!
by Michael Yessis | 07.13.07 | 7:17 AM ET
There’s some serious trash talk going on in Italy. The U.S. Embassy issued a warning earlier this week urging Americans to avoid Naples and its suburbs because they “may encounter mounds of garbage, open fires with potentially toxic fumes, and/or sporadic public demonstrations by local residents attempting to block access to dumps.” Naples, it turns out, is in the midst of a garbage crisis. Trash service has been disrupted since May, according to reports. Dumpsters are overflowing, and those that aren’t are allegedly controlled by the camorra, the Neapolitan mafia. And doing business with the camorra will cost you some euros.