Destination: Italy
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Viva Video and Las Vegas
by Michael Yessis | 04.06.07 | 9:35 AM ET
Lots to see in the Zeitgeist this week. Travelers are taking a long look at racing in Las Vegas, sinking ships in Greece, dancing in China and Lonely Planet’s new video channel.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
Bright Lights & Formula One Engines Rule in Las Vegas
* Two reasons for a look: Pulitzer winner Dan Neil wrote it, and there’s video.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Greek Cruise Ship Sinks After Rescue
* The AP has the video.
Most Watched Video
LonelyPlanet.tv (current)
miniclips
* Lonely Planet debuted its travel video channel this week.
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
India’s ‘Spiritual Backbone’: Two End-to-End Explorations Down the Ganges River
* The last of Morning Edition’s five-part series runs today.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph (current)
A Little Italy on Board
Top Travel and Adventure Audiobook
iTunes (current)
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Most Popular Travel Podcast
iTunes (current)
Travel With Rick Steves
* This week Steves covers the pilgrimage on El Camino de Santiago in Spain and tourism in Iran.
Most Popular Travel Story
Netscape (this week)
If Apple Designed A Private Jet
* It would, of course, be called the iJet.
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Yahoo! BuzzThe World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Moonwalkers, Stardust and the End of the Earth
by Michael Yessis | 03.16.07 | 8:02 AM ET
We’ve done the math: This week, travelers have professed their interest in the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, India, Venice, Antarctica and hotels with a certain “je ne sais quoi de geek.” Here’s the Zeitgeist.
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
Best Geek Hotels in the World
* Yes, that’s an equation-covered bed cover at Boston’s Hotel @ MIT.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
Hey, Sin City Top This: Grand Canyon West’s New Skywalk
* Moonwalker Buzz Aldren will take the ceremonial first walk Monday. We still ask: What Would Edward Abbey Think?
Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph (current)
Getting It Om In India
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
Stardust Blown to Dust
* Of course there’s video.
Most Blogged Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Making a Pilgrimage to Cathedrals of Commerce
* It’s all about the 19th-century shopping arcades of Paris.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Miss Manners’ Venice: In a Word, Civilized
Most Popular Travel Story
Netscape (this week)
Antarctica: The Crystal Desert
* More on Antarctica: A Brief and Awkward Tour of the End of the Earth
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
Most Read Story
World Hum (this week)
Stephanie Elizondo Griest: ‘100 Places Every Woman Should Go’
On the ‘Red Sauce Trail’ in Italy
by Sarah Schmelling | 02.21.07 | 1:02 PM ET
We’ve read a lot of great culinary travel tales, but this one in today’s New York Times takes the, well, sauce. Kim Severson recently became obsessed with tracking the source, or at least the ancestry, of her mother’s beloved spaghetti sauce. It’s a sauce that she’s been eating—and trying to measure up to in her own kitchen—her whole life. Her quest led her to the Italian village of Ateleta, where her maternal grandmother grew up and where she’s told she’s “luckier than Madonna” because, unlike the pop star, she was able to find distant Italian relatives—and perhaps the key to unlocking her own personal “spaghetti code.”
Calcata: ‘This May Be the Grooviest Village in Italy’
by Michael Yessis | 01.29.07 | 8:25 AM ET
The fresco of Jimi Hendrix on the wall of an 18th-century building in Calcata helps give it away. Then there are the art galleries, aging hippies and, oh yeah, the Holy Foreskin. David Farley, a World Hum contributor, tells the tale of the one-of-a-kind Italian hill town in Sunday’s New York Times. “You could walk around here in your pajamas holding a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, and no one is going to judge you because you(tm)re not tied to the proper Italian way of doing things,• restaurateur Pancho Garrison tells Farley. “That says a lot about the place.” So does Garrison’s restaurant: It serves nouvelle Italian food, writes Farley, and it resides in a mosaic-lined cave.
‘La Bella Figura’: Into the Italian Psyche
by Lauren Grodstein | 12.21.06 | 1:39 PM ET
In his latest book, Beppe Severgnini riffs on stadiums, cappuccinos and the Italian relationship to the stoplight. Lauren Grodstein finds the book a fun ride, but also like traveling in the company of a slaphappy tour-bus driver.
Nation Branding: What the World Can Learn From Spain, India and New Zealand
by Michael Yessis | 12.21.06 | 7:30 AM ET
They’re “universally acknowledged to be the crown jewels in the recent annals of nation branding,” writes John Cook in the January 2007 issue of Travel + Leisure, the latest publication to address one of our favorite topics: how countries present themselves in an effort to lure travelers. Cook recounts success stories—Spain’s transformation from a “sleepy low-rent vacation spot for the British and German working classes to a hip, cutting-edge cultural destination” and New Zealand’s capitalization on its starring role in the Lord of the Rings trilogy—but, more interestingly, also examines countries with branding problems. Among them: Serbia, Ecuador and Kazakhstan.
Fifty Works of Art Worth Traveling the World to See
by Michael Yessis | 12.07.06 | 8:29 AM ET
Guardian art and architecture blogger Jonathan Jones asked his readers what 50 works of art are worth traveling a world to see? Or, to put it another way, “What works of art would you want to show a visitor from the Crab Nebula to prove humanity should be spared the interstellar death ray?” He’s posted the list 50 in no particular order. It includes Stonehenge, Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, Picasso’s “Guernica” and the Terracotta Army of the First Qin Emperor in China.
MTV, Like, Enters the Travel Guidebook Biz
by Jim Benning | 11.14.06 | 3:11 PM ET
The network has teamed with Frommer’s to produce guidebooks aimed at young budget travelers, according to an AP report. MTV Italy and MTV Ireland are the first books published in the series, with additional Europe titles due out over the next year. “The ‘best of’ recommendations in ‘MTV Italy’ include ‘most awesome ancient ruins’ like the Colosseum and Roman Forum, best seen, according to the guide, after dark when the floodlights come on,” the story reports. “Best churches, according to ‘MTV Italy,’ are St. Peter’s Basilica, the Duomo in Florence and St. Mark’s Basilica.” We’re all for any books that can inspire young Americans to head overseas for the first time. MTV guidebook readers will no doubt discover that Europe is packed with fly hostel-cribs, seriously awesome ruins and people as beautiful as those in Laguna Beach—I mean, on “Laguna Beach.”
Who Wears the Pants on Alitalia Flights?
by Jim Benning | 11.13.06 | 4:16 PM ET
Soon—for the first time ever—female flight attendants. From an AP report on USAToday.com: “Alitalia’s female flight attendants will be allowed to swap their traditional skirts for trousers, breaking with half a century of rigid dress code at Italy’s flagship carrier, a union said Thursday.”
The Pope on Travel
by Jim Benning | 09.27.06 | 1:51 PM ET
It’s World Tourism Day, and to celebrate, Pope Benedict XVI told those gathered at St. Peter’s Square, including tourists, “I hope that tourism will increasingly promote dialogue and respect between cultures, thereby becoming an open door to peace and harmonious cohabitation.” Now that’s one papal statement we can get behind.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Pool Crashing, Soda Pop and “Pizza Jason”
by Michael Yessis | 09.15.06 | 8:04 AM ET
After last week’s end-of-summer blues and 9/11 remembrances, seems like travelers and armchair travelers are in a happier mood, ready to eat and drink and crash some pools. Where? Looks like the world’s classic destinations are still in style. Here comes your zeitgeist.
Most Viewed Story
World Hum (this week)
* Jason Wilson: One Traveler, Three Dishes Named “Jason”
Most Blogged Travel Story
New York Times (current)
* Los Angeles: Galco’s Soda Pop Store
Destination of the Year
PlanetOut Travel Awards (2006)
* Spain
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
* Rory Stewart’s The Places in Between
Most Viewed Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
* The Art of Pool Crashing in Las Vegas
Cover Story From a Glossy Travel Magazine
Conde Nast Traveler (September issue)
* Insider’s Guide to New York City
Favorite Country for Holidays
Conde Nast Traveller UK Reader’s Poll
* Italy
Most Viewed “Travel & Places” Video
YouTube (this week)
* “Welcome to Aggieland”
Most Popular Site Tagged “Travel”
del.icio.us (current)
* TravelPost’s Airport Wireless Internet Access Guide
The Google “I’m Feeling Lucky” Button Travel Zeitgeist Search
* A happier place than the happiest place on earth
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How to Find Good Gelato in Italy
by Valerie Ng | 07.21.06 | 6:41 AM ET
Photo by David Turner. No trip to Italy is complete without savoring a little gelato, but all gelato is not created equal. Valerie Ng reveals how to find the best and avoid the mediocre. (Hint: don't let bright colors fool you.)
Jason Wilson: One Traveler, Three Dishes Named ‘Jason’
by Jim Benning | 06.08.06 | 8:39 PM ET
Never mind his travel-writing accomplishments. Jason Wilson has a breakfast sandwich, a pizza and a dessert named after him in three countries. Go ahead: Be stunned. Jim Benning gets the inside scoop on this rarest of travel feats.
No. 24: “Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere” by Jan Morris
by Michael Shapiro | 05.08.06 | 8:50 AM ET
To mark our five-year anniversary, we’re counting down the top 30 travel books of all time, adding a new title each day this month.
Published: 2001
Territory covered: Trieste, Italy (and Jan Morris’ imagination)
A student at a writing seminar once asked Welsh author Jan Morris when she planned on writing her autobiography. She smiled and said that every one of her books about place was autobiographical, none more so than her “final” book, written on the eve of the millennium, Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere. Morris said that she saw herself in Trieste, in its melancholy and moodiness, and its isolation. Once a major port city in the Austro-Hungarian empire, Trieste in the 20th century, as a consequence of war, became part of Italy. But some 70 percent of Italians aren’t aware that its a part of their country, according to a 1999 poll. It’s this sense of displacement that resonates with Morris, born James Morris to a Welsh father and English mother. Morris never felt at home in her male body and culminated her transition to a woman in Casablanca in the early 1970s. She has traveled the world for half a century, enraptured by great cities and penning classic works about them. Morris visited Trieste as a soldier at the end of World War II. Revisiting in the 1990s, she sees in Trieste, which sounds much like the Italian word for sadness, the ideal city on which to project her memories, hopes, and disillusionments. She comes across an open-air concert in a piazza where a few hundred Trieste elders are assembled. “They were singing their own songs, in their own language, out of their own past,” she writes. “I noticed that some of their eyes were full of tears, and I almost wept a little myself: because of their age, because of mine, because of the hard times they had lived through…because of the sweet songs, because I feared nobody would be singing them much longer…and because—well, because of the Trieste effect.” Ultimately, Morris evokes hiraeth, the Welsh idea of longing for something but not knowing what. But “Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere” is far from depressing. It sparkles with insights and universal truths, always infused with Morris’s trademark charm, more like a wink than a smile. And as she does in every city, Morris finds hope, and cause for celebration.
The Pasta Nazi
by David Farley | 03.16.06 | 1:13 PM ET
Not long after moving to Rome, David Farley thought he had the city wired. Then he visited Al Cardello restaurant and met chef Angelo.