Destination: Italy
‘Eat, Pray, Love’ Update: Eating in Rome With Julia Roberts
by Eva Holland | 08.31.09 | 2:33 PM ET
The actress has been spotted at restaurants and markets around the city as filming for the first phase of Eat, Pray, Love gets under way. Meanwhile, since our last update, Billy Crudup, Viola Davis and (rumor has it) James Franco have all signed on to the project—fine additions to an already outstanding supporting cast.
Email to friend
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! BuzzIn Venice, Will Tourists Put up With the Advertising ‘Bombardment’?
by Michael Yessis | 08.28.09 | 2:06 PM ET
As Judith Martin writes, “Venice has always been frankly and happily commercial.” But it’s also taken pride in its beauty. Now that Venice is in a bad place financially, it’s turning more and more to commercial advertising that resides on and around the iconic places we all want to see when we visit. Martin’s piece in the Financial Times looks at the possible repercussions.
Brit Lit and Venice: A Love Affair
by Eva Holland | 08.27.09 | 3:00 PM ET
In the Independent, Peter Popham has a thoughtful essay about the world’s—and, in particular, the British writing community’s—ongoing fascination with Venice. He writes: “Venice is the great seducer, the feminine city incarnate, risen like Venus from the waves and always threatening to sink into them again; demanding to be rescued, to be immortalised yet again by pen or brush, even though already, 250 years ago, one jaded visitor complained it was a city ‘about which so much has been said and written—that it seems to me there is nothing left to say.’”
He wraps up the essay with a list of artistic Brits who’ve gotten caught up in the city’s charms, from Lord Byron to Elton John. I’d add Jan Morris’ “Venice” to the list of worthy titles Popham mentions.
Frank Bruni on Italy and Eating
by Eva Holland | 08.20.09 | 1:02 PM ET
In a recent interview with the Book Bench, Bruni—who’s just wrapped up his five-year stint as the restaurant critic for the New York Times—offered some thoughts on food culture and social class in Italy. Here’s what he had to say about the Italian-American feasts of his childhood:
What I realized, after I went to Italy and lived in Rome, not in the rural south where my grandparents were from, that the ethos of food in my Italian-American family was a kind of peasant-immigrant ethos. I always thought of it as Italian, because it was my Italian. A bounty of food as a badge of accomplishment. What I learned later in life was that, that’s not so much Italian, as Italian-peasant immigrant. It has as much to do with socioeconomic status as it does with ethnicity.
Travel Movie Watch: ‘When in Rome’
by Eva Holland | 08.17.09 | 10:25 AM ET
Girl goes to Rome. Girl meets boy in Rome. Magic Roman fountain causes boy and girl to fall in love. Yes, the latest flick in the grand tradition of movies about young Americans finding romance in Europe is en route. The latest incarnation stars Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel and the aforementioned magic fountain. Here’s the trailer:
National Geographic on ‘Vanishing Venice’
by Eva Holland | 07.29.09 | 12:22 PM ET
The latest issue of the magazine includes a lovely story on the city, and the rising flood of tourists that threatens to destroy it. (Via @italylogue)
Interview with David Farley: ‘An Irreverent Curiosity’
by Jim Benning | 07.09.09 | 10:30 AM ET
The World Hum contributor's new book illuminates a bizarre mystery in an Italian village. Jim Benning learns more.
Welcome to Naples. Meet Your Ex-Con Tour Guide.
by Michael Yessis | 07.06.09 | 12:27 PM ET
As Elisabetta Provoledo writes, “It seemed like a great idea at the time: hire ex-convicts to escort tourists through seedy Neapolitan streets. Who better to explain to the uninitiated the potential dangers lying in wait?” Alas, as she reports in the New York Times, the “Escodentro Project” has hit a rough patch.
On the Perils of Travel Writing
by David Farley | 07.06.09 | 11:47 AM ET
Photo by David Farley David Farley broke into the New York Times with a story about an eccentric Italian village. When he returned, he feared being chased out by torch-bearing villagers.
‘How Much are Venice, the Everglades, and New Orleans Worth?’
by Eva Holland | 07.02.09 | 9:31 AM ET
Andrew Sullivan points the way to a Matt Steinglass post about the limits of measuring climate change damage in economic terms:
There will be no Everglades in 100 years. The economic cost of that change to US GDP is marginal. There will be no Venice in 100 years. The economic cost of that change to US GDP is tiny. There will be no New Orleans in 100 years. The economic cost of that change to US GDP is extremely small. ... But the worth of many precious things cannot be measured in money.
Indeed.
Beyond the Gondola: Kayaking in Venice?
by Eva Holland | 06.24.09 | 4:05 PM ET
Photo by Eva Holland If you think about it, paddling on the canals of Venice makes a whole lot of sense—and yet, you don’t see many kayaks competing with the gondolas and vaporettos. WhyGo Italy checks in with a Danish entrepreneur who aims to change that.
My only question: Will kayakers be allowed to pack bag lunches?
Athletes Who Say Idiotic Things About Travel: Brandon Jennings
by Michael Yessis | 06.17.09 | 3:00 PM ET
The quote for this inaugural Athletes Who Say Idiotic Things About Travel post comes from Brandon Jennings, who played basketball in Italy last year and hopes to play in the NBA in the upcoming season. The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg asked him what he learned during his season in Italy.
Venice, Italy
by World Hum | 06.03.09 | 12:36 PM ET
Members of traditional Maori group "Waka Huia" perform in San Marco square, as part of the opening of the New Zealand pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The Biennale, one of the world's major art festivals, is traditionally held every two years dating back to 1895.
Verona, Italy
by World Hum | 06.01.09 | 11:29 AM ET
REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo A couple kisses after getting married at Verona's Casa di Giulietta, or "Juliet's House." The pair were the first to be married on the famous balcony.
‘Angels & Demons’ has Arrived—and so Have the Travel Writers
by Eva Holland | 05.15.09 | 12:43 PM ET
Publicity still from "Angels & Demons" (via IGN) If you’re not interested in Dan Brown or the film adaptation of his hit novel, “Angels & Demons,” you may want to avoid the travel pages for the next few days—I haven’t seen travel-movie-mania on this scale since last year’s Sex and the City movie transfixed shoe-loving travel writers everywhere.
If, however, you’re keen to explore “Dan Brown’s Rome,” read on for the best of the near-ubiquitous coverage.