LetsTravelRome

Rome Coloseum Included as New Seven Wonders of the World Announced

2007-07-09T09:19:00.000-04:00

100 million votes were cast to find the new Seven Wonders.

A new version of the Seven Wonders of the World has been drawn up, based on over 100 million votes cast from people in 200 countries.

The Rome Coloseum has been voted as one of the new World Wonders
The winners were announced on July 7, and include the Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu in Peru and the Taj Mahal in India.

The winners, based on an online poll by New 7 Wonders of the World, were announced during a ceremony in Lisbon, attended by American actress Hilary Swank, pop star Jennifer Lopez and tenor Jose Carreras.

The vote, which was drawn from 21 contenders, attracted some cristicism, including from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which said last week that the new wonders of the world should not be chosen in a popular vote.

Other contenders included the Great Pyrmaid of Giza (the only remaining wonder of the ancient world), the Acropolis in Athens, the Eiffel Tower, Ankor in Cambodia and the Moai statues of Easter Island.

The new Seven Wonders in full are:

Chichén Itzá, Mexico

Christ the Redeemer, Brazil

The Great Wall, China

Machu Picchu, Peru

Petra, Jordan

The Rome Coloseum, Italy

The Taj Mahal, India.

Lets-Travel-Rome.com

Rome in Top 5 for 2007 Travel Trends Survey:

2007-01-13T04:42:00.000-05:00

Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associates unveiled the 2007 results of their authoritative annual Travel Trends Survey in which Las Vegas and Caribbean cruising continue to dominate the top spots for domestic and international travel, respectively. But Florida boasts having five cities listed among the top 15 domestic destinations and Rome makes history again -- this time landing in the top five international destinations for the first time in this survey. Conducted November 28-December 15, 2006, the 2007 Travel Trends Survey includes responses from a record 507 Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associate owners, managers and frontline agents throughout the United States -- roughly equivalent to 83% of all Carlson Wagonlit Travel locations.

Internationally, the big story is Italy, which apparently has yet to reach its peak in popularity. In fact, Rome's fourth place finish and Italy's overall increased strength dovetails nicely with last year's Carlson Wagonlit Travel International Summit in Rome.

Rome has steadily climbed up the international list over the last four years, finally earning a place in the top five. The progression can be traced from 11th in 2004 to 9th in 2005 to 6th last year and now placing 4th in 2007. Also riding on that wave is Mediterranean cruising, which just cracked the top 10 international "destinations." In the past four years it has climbed from 15th in 2004 to 10th place in 2007. Also, Florence/Tuscany moved up one spot to 15 and Venice jumped three spots to 23.

For all the latest on travel to Rome, including flight and accommodation deals, go to our homepage now.

Lets-Travel-Rome.com

Lazio and Fiorentina Back in Serie A.

2006-07-26T11:47:00.000-04:00

Fiorentina and Lazio were restored to Serie A, while Juventus had its points penalty in Serie B cut almost in half on Tuesday after successful appeals in the Italian match-fixing scandal.

AC Milan also had its points penalty in Serie A cut from 15 to eight. Juventus' sanction was reduced from 30 to 17 points. Fiorentina will begin the new season with a 19-point penalty while Lazio will be penalized 11 points. The sports court upheld the July 14 ruling stripping Juventus of its last two Serie A titles, but removed the barrier for Milan playing in next season's European Champions League.

Milan's point-penalty for last season was reduced from 44 to 30, placing it third in the standings and making it eligible to enter Champions League qualifying. Five-year bans for former Juventus executives Luciano Moggi and Antonio Giraudo, the figures at the center of the scandal, were upheld.

The pair, who resigned in May along with the entire Juventus board, were accused of creating a network of contacts with federation officials to influence refereeing assignments and get players booked, allegations that were at the heart of the scandal.

Hundreds of Lazio fans outside the hotel where the verdicts were delivered screamed in delight at the news their team was back in Serie A.

Tuesday's ruling ends the process in Italy's sports court system. Any further appeals would need to be taken through the country's civil courts, which could delay the start of the season set for August 28.

"For Juventus and its managers it's an absolutely unsatisfactory sentence," Moggi lawyer Fulvio Gianaria said.

Juventus president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli said the club would challenge the verdicts in the civil courts, while Milan lawyer Leandro Cantamessa said the club was still deciding whether to take that path.

If upheld or unchallenged, the demotion would be a first for Juventus since its birth in 1897.

The Turin-based powerhouse has won 29 league titles, including the ones stripped by Friday's verdict, two European Champions League titles, four Italian Supercups, three UEFA cups, two European Supercups and two Toyota or Intercontinental Cups.

The appeals body decision was announced a few hours after the close of the Milan stock exchange, where some of the clubs involved are listed.

In the July 14 ruling, Fiorentina was demoted to Series B and penalized 12 points to start next season, while Lazio was originally supposed to start the new season in B with a seven-point penalty.

All the clubs appealed, seeking lighter penalties. Juventus claimed the sanctions were excessive. AC Milan argued that its Champions League ban was unlawful.

AC Milan owner, billionaire businessman and former premier Silvio Berlusconi, was still complaining despite the softening of the penalties.

"I called Berlusconi to have confirmation we were in the Champions League and he told me that, in his judgment, injustice remains because Milan didn't do anything," Roberto Maroni, a former minister and political ally of Berlusconi said.

Soccer federation prosecutor Stefano Palazzi argued for even tougher punishment.

Palazzi called for Juventus to be demoted to Serie C; Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio to be demoted to Serie B with three-point deductions for Milan and 15 each for Lazio and Fiorentina.

The stiffest penalties for officials were those for Moggi and Giraudo. The appeals tribunal confirmed the initial court's recommendation that asked the Italian soccer federation to ban the two for life. The maximum punishment the sports court could impose is five years.

Other prominent officials had their sanctions reduced. Franco Carraro, the former head of the Italian soccer league who resigned in May amid the scandal and had originally received a 4 1/2-year ban, received a fine and a warning.

Fiorentina owner and industrialist Diego Della Valle had three months shaved off his four-year ban, while Lazio president Claudio Lotito's was banned for 2 1/2 years, a year less than in the initial sentence. Milan vice president Adriano Galliani received a nine-month ban, instead of one year.

With the verdicts still being deliberated, UEFA said on Tuesday it granted the Italian federation a one-day extension, till Wednesday, for submission of names of Italian clubs eligible to participate in European club competitions this coming season.

The list is required by UEFA to complete the preparations and seeding for the draws of the Champions League third qualifying round and UEFA Cup second qualifying round. The draws take place on Friday at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

Several Serie A stars, including Italy and Fiorentina striker Luca Toni and Brazil and Milan playmaker Kaka, are expected to decide about their club futures based on the outcome of the trial.

Separately, prosecutors in Rome, Naples, Parma and Turin are conducting criminal probes into alleged sports fraud, illegal betting and false bookkeeping.

Subscribers to Lets-Travel-Rome.com will shortly be able to access the full fixture lists for both Lazio and Roma, and get the best deals on prices and accommodation.

Lets-Travel-Rome.com/Soccer Tours

Rome set to come alive on White Night.

2006-07-26T11:40:00.000-04:00

Rome is set to come alive on the night of September 9th, as La Notte Bianca (the White Night) sees visual arts, dance, music and a host of other events take place around the city.

Major venues including the Borghese Gallery and the Villa Medici play host to more than 100 events all over the Eternal City and free public transport services ferry locals and visitors alike from place to place.

The free event is organised by the municipality of Rome, along with other official bodies, and aims to be an inclusive event aimed at solidarity and multiculturalism.

It "involves all the city's inhabitants" and is "an opportunity for discovering this city and its treasures but also for an encounter with culture in its most varied expressions".

More than 1,000 artists will take part in the event this year, which begins at 9pm in the Piazza del Campidoglio with a scene from Romeo and Juliet performed by Roberto Bolle and Alessandra Ferri.

Besides the White Night, Italy's capital offers much for history lovers, including the Colosseum and the Spanish Steps.

Lets-Travel-Rome.com

4 Italian clubs sanctioned for match-fixing.

2006-07-18T09:38:00.000-04:00

Just days after winning its fourth World Cup title, Italian soccer suffered an all-time low as four top clubs and top officials and referees were sanctioned for match-fixing.

An Italian sports tribunal demoted Juventus to Serie B and stripped it of its last two Serie A titles Friday. Lazio and Fiorentina were also demoted to the second division, while AC Milan was spared relegation but was given a 15-point penalty in the top division.

Of the 26 officials or referees implicated in the scandal, 19 received punishment ranging from the maximum five-year ban to a warning; five were acquitted; and two were banned for life without prosecution because they resigned before being charged.

The penalties can be appealed within five days to a higher sports court.

The scandal is projected to take a financial toll on the clubs involved. In addition to game-day receipts, broadcast rights may need to be reworked for the teams relegated to the second division, and sponsorship contracts for Juventus may be endangered if it is unable to work its way backup to Serie A in one season.

Thirteen of the 23-man Italian squad that won Sunday's World Cup final belong to the four teams penalized, and already there was speculation about whether they might leave or have their contracts sold because the teams could no longer afford them.

"It's obvious that part of our squad will not remain in Serie B. We can't deny them the chance to play in a more competitive league," said Juventus President Giovanni Cobolli Gigli, adding that Real Madrid was making moves on some of his players.

Juventus was given a 30-point penalty, meaning it will have to struggle to climb back to the top league. Fiorentina was penalized 12 points and Lazio 7.

Former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi and former Juventus chief executive Antonio Giraudo received the maximum five-year ban for match-fixing and disloyalty, with a recommendation to the federation to make it a ban for life.

The two, who resigned in May along with the club's entire board, were accused of creating a network of contacts with federation officials to influence refereeing assignments and get players booked.

Soccer federation chief Guido Rossi, who took over in the wake of the scandal, sought a speedy trial to clean up the game and restore the sport's image quickly.

The sentence for Juve marks the first demotion since its inception in 1897. The Turin-based powerhouse has won 29 league titles -- including the ones stripped by Friday's verdict -- two Champions League titles, four Italian Supercups, two European Supercups and two Intercontinental Cups.

Fans took to the streets after hearing the news that their teams will be playing next season in the second-tier Serie B.

"To Hell", screamed a front-page column in Italy's leading newspaper Corriere della Sera. It counted 120 hours from Italy's World Cup win to the moment when "two generations of soccer establishment were wiped out."

As teams prepared their appeals, the country braced for a likely exodus of prized players such as World Cup captain Fabio Cannavaro and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.

But subscribers to Lets-Travel-Rome.com will still be able to grab premium tickets to all Lazio and Roma homegames through this link:

Lets-Travel-Rome.com/Rome Soccer Tours

Italian taxi drivers protest, jam Rome.

2006-07-18T09:30:00.000-04:00

Tuesday 18 July 2006

On Monday, over 2,000 drivers protested against the government’s plans to liberalize the taxi service. In Rome, the airport and main train station were deserted of taxis.

Milan, Turin and Bologna taxi drivers only responded to emergency calls.

Civil Service Minister Luigi Nicolais invited suggestions for improving the centre-left government’s bill, but refused withdrawal.

The proposed bill breaks the monopoly status of local taxi federations. It allows municipal administrations to increase the number of taxi licenses issued.

Particularly controversial was a measure which would have allowed the entry of private firms.

Protestors were concerned that the reform would destroy the value of their taxi licenses, currently traded for as much as 200,000 euros, or passed on to children.

At 40,000, the Italian fleet of taxis is the smallest in Europe.

Official statistics show that for a thousand inhabitants there are 2.1 taxis in Rome, compared to 8.3 in London.

Lets-Travel-Rome.com

Match-fixing verdict to be delivered Jul 14 2006.

2006-07-14T11:34:00.000-04:00

The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) have confirmed the verdicts of the match-fixing trial involving Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio will be announced after 7pm local time on Friday.

The announcement regarding the fate of the Serie A clubs, as well as the 25 people under investigation, will be read by the Federal Appeals Commission president Cesare Ruperto in Rome's Parco dei Principi hotel.

Television broadcasters and radio stations will not be allowed to transmit the verdict live.

But subscribers to Lets-Travel-Rome will shortly be able to grab match day tickets for all Roma and Lazio home games, regardless of the outcome for Lazio when the investigations are complete.

Lets-Travel-Rome.com/Rome Soccer Tours

New Italian Phrase Book For Tourists.

2006-07-14T11:25:00.000-04:00

July 5, 2006 ( Rome. Italy ) -- Italian For Tourists a phrasebook published through the online content marketplace Lulu.com, is a basic guide to the Italian language covering phrases and words most needed by tourists. It includes all the words and phrases a tourist is likely to need during their stay in Italy as well as a pronunciation guide.

The phrasebook is divided into 16 chapters including; Emergency, The basics, Common expressions, Learning Italian, Greetings and introducing yourself, Transport, Hotel, Sightseeing, Asking and giving directions, Food and drink, Health, Shopping, Offices and bureaucracy and Signs and notices. For easy reference, English words and phrases are printed in bold black type, while the Italian translations are shown in green.

What others say about the book: Very handy and a light load to carry! I love the feature...that you can print off only the pages you need! There is always so much to lug around when traveling. Thanks for a great service to the travel-world! And so accessible! No waiting for book to be shipped out! . Tanya Rice, writer

Jo Linsdell came to Italy from the UK 6 years ago and now lives in Rome working as a freelance writer. She wrote the book drawing on her own experience. She explains A tourist doesn t need to know everything about Italian grammar or the in s and out s of buying an apartment. They want to have an easy to use reference book of the language they will need to use and understand during their stay .

About the Company:

Jo Linsdell is a freelance writer who lives in Rome with her Italian fiancé. She is available for comment at jo_bins@yahoo.com.

Lets-Travel-Rome.com

Tracking site spots World Cup effect

2006-07-14T11:21:00.000-04:00

The 'World Cup Effect' meant Germany has been the top performing destination for holiday home rentals in the first half of 2006, according to data from www.Holiday-Rentals.co.uk.

Enquiries per property increased dramatically during the run-up to the competition and continued to be high throughout June. Dubai was hot on Germany's heels, with an average number of enquiries per property double the site average and a dramatic 236% increase in the number of properties since 2005.
Perennial Brit favourite, Tenerife remained popular too, with a healthy 20% rise in the average number of enquiries per property per month compared to 2005, despite a 66% growth in the number of properties available to rent on the site.

Renter interest in Italy went up 13.2%, backing up recent press reports that the country is growing in popularity, particularly its cities, with enquiries in both the Rome and Venice regions up around 25% on last year.

Other regions that performed particularly well were Sicily (up 30.9%), Lombardy (up 28.5%), Campania (23.6%), Tuscany and Marche (both up 10.4%).

The final destination in the top five performing regions was the island of Malta, showing its efforts to reduce dependence on tour operators and attract more independent travellers are paying off.

Despite an increase of 69% in the number of properties available to rent, the average number of enquiries per property per month increased by 4% in the first quarter of 2006, compared to quarter one of 2005.

Ross McGowan, Sales Director, www.Holiday-Rentals.co.uk commented, "The fact that Germany has been a top choice with renters is perhaps not surprising, given the World Cup, however what is remarkable is the increase in properties; 38% since last year. Thanks to the availability of relatively cheap property, decreasing unemployment and growing interest from tourists, canny investors are realising Germany could be the next hot property market in Europe."

He continued, "The number of properties in Dubai registered on Holiday-Rentals.co.uk has shot up by a staggering 236% in the last year, clearly highlighting a phenomenal increase in the number of people buying in this investment hot-spot. Plus, demand has continued to match supply on the site too, indicating its popularity with tourists continues to grow, unabated."

Lets-Travel-Rome.com

Swifts: kings of Roman skies

2006-07-13T08:08:00.000-04:00

Swifts are useful allies during the early summer months with their efficient disposal of mosquitoes, flies, gnats and wasps.

Sitting on a Rome roof-terrace one early summer evening during cocktail hour, I overheard an American girl ask: “What’s with those birds up there?”
She pointed to the hundreds of swirling, darting, spiralling, lunging birds in the sky. They seemed to be going nowhere in their never-ending mad carousel, emitting high-pitched supersonic screams as they whirled.

“They’re swallows, eating all those insects that bite you,” her companion replied.
He was right about the insects being consumed, but not about the birds. They are not swallows but swifts. Above our heads, above Italian cities, towns and villages, in the summer sky a continual harvest of flying insects is taking place. From dawn until well after sunset, the insectivorous swifts are feeding in the air and cleaning up quantities of nasty mosquitoes, gnats, flies and wasps.

Among the fastest-flying birds in the world, these extraordinary creatures never sit on a limb or a telephone line, never land on the ground to run after or peck at an insect. Almost their entire life is spent in flight; they drink, bathe, collect food and nesting materials without landing. They even mate while flying.

A swift flies at such speed that it’s not even noticeable when it swoops onto a rooftop or scrabbles under a tile where it’s made its nest. It’s to this nest that it returns at the end of March or the beginning of April after an incredible flight of thousands of kilometres from southern Africa. Under the tiles eggs are laid and the young are raised.

Swifts (rondoni) are often mistaken for swallows (rondini). But swifts and swallows aren’t related. Even though swallows also feed on flying insects and dart and dash in the air they are not city birds. They prefer the country and construct their nests inside barns, caverns, garages and all sorts of uninhabited buildings outside towns. Unlike swifts, they don’t fly in groups and have different flying patterns and wing shape.

Also mistakenly called swallows are their relatives: the smaller house martins (balestrucci) which, like swifts, are city and village birds but build their nests on house walls directly under the eaves.

Swallows and house martins have very different bodies from swifts. The swift is all wing, a short torpedo-shaped body and a short tail. They are also entirely black, while swallows are a shiny dark blue with a white belly and distinguished by a long, forked tail.

Swallows and house martins can land on the ground and sit on telephone lines. If by accident swifts find themselves on the ground or on a flat surface, they have great difficulty taking off again, hindered from rising quickly and steeply by their long narrow wings. They always nest and roost with a drop below so they can then launch themselves out into the air – the drop giving them the necessary speed and lift to continue.

Swifts have been known to bump into one another while swirling through the air or hit a wall or a window, fall to the ground and then not be able to take off again. If a kind person sees this helpless bird sprawled, wings spread, it should be picked up, held in the open palm of the hand and given a quick upward lift. If it isn’t injured in any way, it will zoom off, saved by this small gesture.

Often a baby swift can be found on the pavement having crawled out (or been kicked out) from under its tile and fallen off the roof. It can’t be returned to the nest and can’t be left to die. It’s not so difficult to save it. The only requisite is a bit of tender loving care. You can help in one of two ways:

If in Rome, call LIPU (Lega Italiana Protezione Uccelli) centre for bird rehabilitation (saving and returning fauna to their habitat). LIPU has volunteers and professionals working round the clock who will take the bird in any condition.

We are not grateful enough to these marvellous swifts for the pesticide-free clean-up of so many of the flying nasties. We only notice the difference after the swifts have departed, in mid-July, to take up that mysterious arduous trip back to Africa, when their task of nesting and chick-raising is over. Then the flying creepy crawlies descend on us in full force, with nothing but bug spray to protect us for the rest of the summer.

LIPU Centre, 1 Viale Giardino Zoologico,
tel. 063201912. Daily 09.30-17.30.

Italy win gives break from scandal.

2006-07-11T11:41:00.000-04:00

By David Willey
BBC News, Rome

While Italians gave a hero's welcome to their victorious World Cup team, fresh from their triumph in Berlin, the seamy side of Italian football was being relegated to small print on the inside pages of Italian newspapers.

It is hoped the World Cup win will give Italian football a boost

Yet a sports tribunal set up by the Italian football federation, Federcalcio, to investigate what has been described here as the biggest match-fixing scandal ever to besmirch Italian soccer, is due to deliver later this week in what could be a devastating verdict for four top Italian first division clubs: Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio.

The tribunal is sitting in a sparsely furnished temporary courtroom at Rome's Olympic football stadium.

Five of the six judges are retired high court judges, the sixth is an official of the referees' association. The verdict will then be immediately re-examined by an appeals tribunal.

Serious allegations of extensive match-fixing and fraud first surfaced last May with the publication of alleged telephone conversations between officials discussing which referees should take charge of matches played by the current first division champions, Turin's Juventus.

The scandal mushroomed into a major enquiry into the ethical conduct of the entire football industry.

Now the four clubs, including Juventus, stand to be relegated to minor divisions of the Italian league and/or be stripped of their former championship titles. Six members of Italy's cup winning team have played or are currently playing for Juventus.

Another former Juventus player, full-back Gianluca Pessotto, recently appointed team manager, is still critically ill in hospital after suffering severe depression and falling from a window at the club's headquarters.

If sanctions are imposed, the potential losses to clubs and players in TV rights could be enormous. The clubs could also be thrown out of European competitions. Twenty-six senior football officials are also under investigation. Lawyers representing the accused clubs and officials have already asked for extra time to study evidence.

Earlier in the month, about 20,000 Juventus fans staged a march through the streets of Turin in support of their city's club, long associated with the Agnelli family, founders and major shareholders in the Fiat motor company.

The newly-appointed club chairman said Juventus may have committed sins but they were minor ones, not major ones.

From Berlin, the newly-appointed special commissioner of Italy's football federation Guido Rossi has made comforting noises saying that Italy's World Cup victory lays the basis for a new renaissance of Italian football.

"Now we have to separate the negative side from the positive," he added.

Also present in Berlin was Stefano Palazzi, the prosecutor who last week asked the tribunal to impose severe sanctions against clubs and officials accused in the match fixing scandal.

The Italian Federation has a 27 July deadline to communicate to Uefa the names of seven Italian clubs which will take part in the coming season's European championships.

Relegation would mean that some at least of Italy's new football heroes might be ineligible to take part.

That is a nightmare which Italian fans gathering in Rome for the homecoming celebrations of their adored Azzurri (the blues) do not even want to contemplate.

Whatever the outcome, subscribers to Lets-Travel-Rome.com will still be able to get "best seat" match tickets for all the Roma and Lazio home games, through partners Viator!

Lets-Travel-Rome.com/Soccer Tours

Pavarotti Recovering From Cancer Surgery.

2006-07-08T07:49:00.000-04:00

By RONALD BLUM, Associated Press Writer

Friday, July 7, 2006

Tenor Luciano Pavarotti underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer and is "recovering well," his manager said Friday. The 70-year-old singer was preparing to leave New York last week to resume his farewell world concert tour in Britain when doctors discovered a malignant pancreatic mass, Terri Robson said from her London office.

"Fortunately, the mass was able to be completely removed at surgery," she said in a statement. "Mr. Pavarotti is recovering well and his physicians are encouraged by the physical and emotional resilience of their patient."

She told The Associated Press he underwent surgery within the past week at a hospital in New York that she declined to identify. She said he remained hospitalized Friday.

As a result of Pavarotti's treatment, all remaining 2006 concerts have been canceled, she said. It is anticipated that tour plans will resume in early 2007.

Concerts had been scheduled for Finland, Norway, Austria, Switzerland and Portugal in September.

Pavarotti was forced to postpone five June dates because of complications from back surgery. He canceled eight concerts in April, saying he had been advised not to travel or perform while undergoing back treatment.

Pavarotti made his debut as Rodolfo in Puccini's "La Boheme" at Reggio Emilia, Italy, in 1961, and took advantage of the television age to become the world's most widely recognized opera singer.

He made his American debut in Miami in 1965 opposite Joan Sutherland in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" and his Metropolitan Opera debut in New York on Nov. 23, 1968, in "La Boheme." He became a star when he nailed the nine high Cs in "Ah! Mes amis" as Tonio in Donizetti's "La Fille du Regiment" at the Met in 1972.

His Met finale, on March 13, 2004, was his 379th performance with the company. He sang 140 times at Milan's Teatro all La Scala, 100 at London's Royal Opera, 76 each with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the San Francisco Opera, 48 at the Opera de Paris and 45 at the Vienna State Opera.

He retired from opera two years ago, saying his weight problem and bad knee prevented him from moving comfortably around stages. But he kept up with his concert career.

Pavarotti joined with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras to form The Three Tenors, who sang 34 concerts from 1990 through 2003. They sang together before four World Cup finals, at Rome (1990), Los Angeles (1994), Paris (1998) and Yokohama, Japan (2002).

Domingo was to be joined Friday night by tenor Rolando Villazon and soprano Anna Netrebko for this year's pre-World Cup final concert in Berlin.

Lets-Travel-Rome.com

Italians get out their flags .

2006-07-08T07:42:00.000-04:00

Expectation mounts ahead of Sunday's World Cup final.

ANSA) - Rome, July 7 - Italians unable to travel to Berlin for the World Cup final between Italy and France were busy on Friday preparing to join the flag-waving crowds in piazzas and and football stadiums across the nation .

About 200,000 people are expected to gather in Rome's Circus Maximus, the site of an ancient chariot-racing arena, to watch the match on mega-screens and take part in the fondly expected celebrations afterwards .

Likewise huge numbers were expected at Milan's Piazza del Duomo and at central squares in Florence, Naples and Turin. Even though Italy has been in the grip of World Cup fever for weeks now, shops selling the red, white and green 'tricolore' flags and blue national team jerseys were doing a roaring trade as the week ended .

"It's incredible. I've had old ladies buying flags, businessmen buying crazy hats and mums buying shirts for their children," said one shopkeeper near Rome's Trevi fountain .

Up and down the country, plans were being changed and travel arrangements adjusted so that Italians could be in front of a screen by 8 pm on Sunday night .

In the tiny Calabrian village of Gioiosa Jonica locals rescheduled the annual procession with the church's statue of the Virgin Mary to Saturday so that everyone would be free the next day .

In the southern town of Corigliano Calabro, the birthplace of Italy midfielder Rino Gattuso, football fans were preparing triumphal march for Sunday night with every one wearing their local hero's shirt .

Meanwhile, back in Rome, plans were taking shape for a grand event on Monday night to welcome home the Italian players .

"They deserve a celebration regardless of the result," said Mayor Walter Veltroni. "They have put on a fantastic show for all of us". The Italian team is scheduled to land at a military base north of Rome, where there will be no chance of fans mobbing them. Soon after they will be greeted by top Italian officials before being escorted to Circus Maximus to be feted by thousands of fans .

Like many Italians, a restaurant in Viareggio was taking superstitious precautions on Friday to stop fate spoiling the planned party .

The restaurant owners have removed Normandy oysters and champagne from the menu for the next two days .

If you are a keen follower of Italian football, then check out our Rome soccer tours on the following link for special deals on Roma and Lazio home games from this September.

Lets-Travel-Rome.com/Rome Soccer Tours

Time for Totti to deliver.

2006-06-09T12:03:00.000-04:00

When Pelé described Francesco Totti as the best player on the planet, his comments raised more than a few eyebrows. The AS Roma captain's ability is widely recognised on home soil, but he has so far failed to live up to his reputation on the international stage. "He has just been a little unlucky in the past but he is the best player in the world," the Brazilian legend said. In that context, the dismay of Italian fans was understandable when Totti broke his left leg and strained ankle ligaments on 19 February, putting his participation at the FIFA World Cup in jeopardy and Italy's hopes in doubt.

National treasure
The news monopolised the media in "Il Belpaese". Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's Prime Minister at the time, visited Totti in hospital to wish him a speedy recovery. Totti is a national treasure and the possibility of not seeing him in the Azzurri shirt in Germany was too hard to bear. Totti, though, answered his supporters' prayers. The Roma captain demonstrated the bravery of the Roman soldier he tattooed on his right shoulder after winning the Scudetto with Roma in 2001, embarking on a rigorous rehabilitation programme designed to get him fit in time for Germany.

'Character'
"A lot of people said I wouldn't make it," Totti said. "I wanted to show the type of character Romans have. I worked hard and here I am. While I was recovering from my injury I was even talking to myself at night. I thought I was becoming crazy but I was trying everything not to give up and I managed to achieve what I wanted. Two months ago I said the most important thing was to travel to Germany with the team. Now my priority has changed. Now the real goal is winning the World Cup."

'Never a break'
Totti has something to prove after being sent off for diving as Italy crashed out of the 2002 FIFA World Cup and after being suspended for three games at UEFA EURO 2004™ for spitting at an opponent. The 29-year-old forward would also like to improve on a return of eight goals in 51 appearances with the Azzurri shirt, and is eager to show he has finally matured, especially since getting married and having his first son, Cristian, in November. Germany is also likely to be his last chance to show the world how good he really is. "I could play another European Championship and another World Cup," he said. "But I want to dedicate myself to my family, be with my son, and think about Roma. There are too many training camps, too much stress. From July to July there's never a break."

'More mature'
Totti is famous in Italy for his charity work. He is a goodwill ambassador for Unicef and was happy to send himself up in a series of books to raise money to help the elderly in Rome and homeless children in the Democratic Republic of Congo. His command of the Italian language may not be as good as his command of the ball, but Totti has a big heart. That is what makes it so difficult to understand his behaviour in Portugal when he was suspended for spitting at Denmark midfielder Christian Poulsen. "I talked to him about that episode and I'm sure he understood that a champion like him cannot afford to act like that," Italy coch Marcello Lippi said. "I think he is more mature now, especially since becoming a father."

'Optimistic'
Totti played the full 90 minutes in a recent friendly game against Switzerland and was a second-half substitute four days later against Ukraine, admitting afterwards he is still only 60 per cent fit. "I'm optimistic regarding his condition," Lippi said. "But now comes the tough part. He's going to go up against opponents that won't have much regard for him. I think he is a great champion, a player like Ronaldinho, [Thierry] Henry or [Lionel] Messi, and obviously we will do everything to have him at his best. He has several steps in the right direction and I'm sure he'll make several others before our debut against Ghana."

'The best'
Lippi's preferred lineup is a 4-3-1-2, with Totti centred behind forwards Alberto Gilardino and Luca Toni. "With Totti behind us, it's something different," Toni told uefa.com. "He is the best, or at least among the best in the world in his role. He scores and puts strikers in position to score. He can be crucial for us." Should he lead Italy to success 24 years after their last triumph, Totti will certainly have gone a long way to convincing people that Pelé was right after all.

Lets-Travel-Rome.com/Soccer Tours

Travel Rome Boss Offers "Da Vinci" Tour at Discount Prices.

2006-06-02T07:45:00.000-04:00

Following the success of the Da Vinci Code film launch, Lets-Travel-Rome.com and Viator have cut prices on their Vatican guided tours.

Les Sheppard, CEO of Lets-Travel-Rome.com says "Interest in The Vatican is high at the moment, and the movie also launched strongly in Rome, despite the reservations of the Church."

"We get a lot of feedback from visitors to our site", said Les, "who have ultimately booked their tours through Viator, and they tell us they highly rate this new itinerary. The tour guides are mostly local, and are steeped in the kind of detailed information you'd expect. Viator are also continuing to offer an "Angels and Demons" tour, based on the earlier Dan Brown novel, that has had great feedback from our subscribers."

The Vatican tour begins by coach, passing through Piazza della Repubblica, and following the ancient Aurelian walls which once surrounded the ancient city. The route takes in the famous Borghese park and the northern gate of the ancient city leading into Piazza del Popolo, which features an Egyptian obelisk dating back to the time of Ramses II.

Eventually upon arrival at the Vatican Walls a guide will then leads the tour into the Vatican Museums taking the beautiful Spiral staircase and continuing through the Gallery of the Tapestries and the Gallery of the Geographical Maps before arriving in the famous Sistine Chapel with its magnificent fresco of the Last Judgment by Michelangelo.

The tour can also be combined with further features of Christian Rome, continuing to Esquiline Hill where the guide will show you the treasures of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, then continuing by coach to stop at the Holy Staircase, the Lateran Palace and the Basilica of San Giovanni, the cathedral of Rome (visit inside). Then proceeding along the Ancient Appian Way, passing by the Chapel of Domine Quo Vadis before arriving at the Catacombs, the ancient underground cemeteries and first hiding places for the Christians.

Lets-Travel-Rome.com/Guided Tours

Julius Caesar Remains A Charismatic Drawcard

2006-06-02T05:39:00.000-04:00

Julius Caesar was many things, but primarily, he was one of the greatest defenders Rome has ever known. Possessing a fierce passion for his land, he manipulated and coerced his enemies not just by waging war on them, but by concocting strategies that included espionage, deceit and even marriage. His political skill was undisputed and he was also an author of some genius. He earned respect by using his own money to finance his campaigns to be elected, and was unflinchingly committed to decisions required of him and was known to be uncompromising and ruthless. Married three times, and with many mistresses in the wings, Caesar was a man whose passion extended beyond geographical borders. Cleopatra of Egypt intoxicated him and together they planned to rule both Egypt and Rome. Sadly, life did not evolve in this way and Caesar was murdered by his own trusted men.

Today, visitors to Rome can visit several significant sites to pay homage to Julius Caesar, and gain an insight into the man who was named dictator of one of the most powerful empires in the entire world.

Over two thousand years ago, The Forum was constructed in Rome and from there, laws were created, debate and discussion thrived and momentous decisions were made. It is a five acre site, reduced to ruins since looting for building materials was rampant during the Medieval era, yet the historical significance is difficult to miss. Julius Caesar himself ruled from this site, and it was also his residence from 45BC. He directed military manoeuvres, delivered his characteristically charismatic speeches and invited debt in order to stage lavish shows and feasts to win the accord of his people.

Upon Julius Caesar’s death on the March of Ides in 44BC, The Forum became the backdrop for political upheaval, and instability set in within Rome.

In 42BC, after the senate deified him posthumously, Julius Caesar’s great-nephew and adopted son, the Emperor Augustus honoured him by ordering commencement of construction of a new structure, the Temple of Caesar. It was dedicated to his memory and greatness in 29BC and is located on the eastern side of the main square of The Forum. It also marks the location of Caesar’s cremation and today, there is an altar and a recessed semicircular niche to signify where the funeral pyre was lit. Many tourists lament that it seems more like a pile of dirt than the tomb of such an auspicious man and the only marking is a simple plaque to commemorate his life and achievements.

A trip to Rome would seem incomplete for lovers of history, without a visit to Julius Caesar’s stomping ground and tomb. There are guided tours that take in The Forum and provide plenty of information for the inquisitive traveller who will enjoy listening to tales of ancient Rome while walking amongst the ruins that serve as a lasting reminder of a powerful past.

Lets-Travel-Rome.com/Guided Tours

Forget the Sopranos, watch out for shady grannies in Italy

2006-05-28T06:05:00.000-04:00

By Carol Pucci - Seattle Times staff columnist

ROME — Thinking of a trip to Italy soon? You won't be going alone. The land of Leonardo and caffè latte ranks among the top foreign destinations for Americans, travel writers included.

Having just spent several weeks showing relatives the major sites, followed by some time reporting on new destinations in the south, I'm more excited than ever about the possibilities beyond tourist-clogged Venice, Florence and Rome.

Now here's the part you don't hear much about: In almost every Italian city that attracts large numbers of foreign visitors, traveler scams abound, to an extent unlike in any other Western European country I know.

I found much less of this in Naples and in the southern towns and villages of Molise and Apulia where locals still seem to view tourists more as curiosities than walking wallets, but that may change as these areas are discovered.

When it comes to the big Italian cities, forget the Mafia. Keep an eye on people such as the grandmotherly type with the heavy thumb I spotted near the Vatican pricing her pizza by weight rather than the slice.

Shortchanging is common. So is overcharging. One news report carried a story about a tourist from Hong Kong being billed $1,251 for a beer on the swank Via Veneto in Rome where beers usually cost around $13.

He bartered the price down to $640, then paid, according to the report, telling police he was scared something might happen if he didn't. "Hidden costs" creep in for everything from sitting down at a table to drink a coffee or a beer to increasingly higher "bread and table cloth" cover charges in restaurants.

Still, we go, as we should. Italy ranks among the top five destinations for U.S. residents going abroad, and for the past three years has been the most popular international destination for Americans on package tours, reports the United States Tour Operators Association.

There's no country in the world that offers a more magical combination of food, art, culture and the chance to meet and talk with local people simply by sitting down at the next table or stopping to ask directions.

With that in mind, here are a few tips for avoiding paying more than you need to, especially in light of the ever-sinking value of the U.S. dollar.

Count your change: Short-changing works like this: You use a five-euro note to pay for a one-euro bus ticket or any small item at a magazine kiosk or tobacco store. Instead of handing you four, one-euro coins, the clerk throws down a pile of small change. There are people in line behind you. Everyone's in a hurry. You don't bother to count the coins, and may never realize you've been shorted. The clerk collects an extra euro per customer.

Resist offers to pay with a credit card "in your own currency:" Some hotels and rental-car agencies are offering to convert charges from euros to dollars on the spot as a "convenience." They profit by processing the bill through at a 6 to 7 percent lower exchange rate, and pocketing the difference as their fee.

Never pay a street vendor's first, or even second, asking price: My sister-in-law was shopping for glass rosaries outside the Vatican Museum. She first saw them at a stall for $23 each. When she seemed interested, the vendor immediately lowered his price to $10. She ended up paying about $5 each.

Watch the scales: Pizza is usually sold by the slice at snack shops for about $1.50 to $2 — a good deal — but beware of vendors who price their slices by the weight. I ended up paying $7 one day because I didn't notice the price was per kilo, not per slice. It was good pizza with fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and basil, but not worth $7.

Check the price to sit down: Always determine the cost of a beer, soft drink or coffee before sitting down at a café table. Most cafés have different prices for standing at the bar vs. "a tavola." Italians are used to paying a little more to relax at a table, but some cafes in tourist areas jack up the prices three times as much. Look for or ask for the "lista dei prezzi" or price list, which by law must be posted. Some cafés have begun to blank out the "a tavola" price. If that's the case, ask a waiter.

Say what you want: Specify what size beer or drink you want. Otherwise expect to be served the biggest and most expensive. Same goes with gas. With gas at $7 per gallon in Italy, I made this mistake only once, paying 95 cents more per gallon for premium because I didn't specify regular.

Avoid the tourist traps: Avoid places like the one I spotted near the Pantheon in Rome with a sign advertising that "We have homemade ice cream." Signs such as "English spoken here" and "Menu turistica" — a set menu and price — may sound comforting, but usually they're code for "We charge more for inferior quality and hope you won't know any better."

Lets-Travel-Rome.com

CGI documentary brings Rome back to life

2006-05-21T07:58:00.000-04:00

Friday May 12 13:35 AEST

Computer-generated imagery (CGI), until now, has been reserved for big budget Hollywood movies.

America's History Channel claims to be one of the first networks to use CGI for a television documentary - Rome: Engineering an Empire.

"In the past, CGI was really restricted to big budget movies," said Dolores Gavin, director of History Channel programming.

"But the cost of CGI animation has just dropped dramatically.

"It would be nearly impossible for us to have done the show even three years ago because the technology just wouldn't have been available to us."

Rome: Engineering an Empire charts the rise and fall of the Roman Empire from 500BC to 55AD, marking successes and failures with a focus on engineering developments.

Rome was the most powerful and advanced civilisation in the world for more than 500 years, covering the reigns of emperors Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, Nero and of course, Julius Caesar.

The documentary looks at various engineering feats such as the Colosseum, or the Flavian Amphitheatre as it was first known, and an early Roman shopping mall.

Instead of showing footage of Roman ruins, the documentary makers have recreated the monuments using CGI, something that differentiates the program from the many other documentaries on Rome.

CGI is the technology used by filmmakers to create scenes that would be too expensive or impossible to recreate in live action.

Various Roman aqueducts have been recreated, as has the Pantheon, Baths of Caracalla and Hadrian's Wall.

The process has caused some concern in historical circles with a number of experts believing people might mistake the recreations for exact replicas.

Others have argued that the program could not be labelled a documentary and should be referred to as fiction.

Gavin said she could understand the argument but that the CGI was used simply to illustrate the magnitude of the successes in Roman engineering.

"In the documentary world, this has been the subject of much discussion and debate," she said.

"There is a school of thought that believes that any recreations using CGI is not really considered documentary.

"But there is another school of thought that says that that is part of what we consider to be a documentary."

Gavin feels very strongly about the argument.

"CGI is one of many tools available to filmmakers to be able to tell this very compelling story about the past," she said.

"And I don't as a rule say that CGI or that reconstruction must be in every show, because there are documentaries for which those two things were not appropriate."

Rome: Engineering an Empire screened in the United States last year and premiered in Italy in April.

The program will be seen around the world this month, including on pay TV's Foxtel in Australia, and has been so successful that the History Channel has commissioned a whole series based on engineering.

They've just finished production on Egypt: Engineering and Empire with further programs to focus on the Mayan people, Khmer, Persians, Byzantines and Aztecs.

Gavin said CGI would be used in some of the upcoming programs, but not all.

"It is used as a tool and a tool that we think through and use very carefully to ensure that we can tell the story in a different way," she said.

"It really is a case by case basis, but I think it is a wonderful tool that any filmmaker should be free to use."

Director Chris Cassel will be working on the entire series.

While interested in history, Cassel is the first to admit he isn't an expert.

"We passed it past many scholars, just to ensure the accuracy of it," said Cassel.

Cassel was fascinated at how the Romans created an intricate aqueduct system to transport more than 200 million gallons of running water into Rome each day.

That is equivalent to the amount of water provided to the city of New York in 1985.

The documentary also looks at many of the secrets of Rome's architectural proficiency - the use of durable, waterproof concrete that still sustains many of the city's key structures.

It was also important to Cassell that the documentary look at some of the more interesting personal moments in Roman history.

One interesting fact to emerge was that Emperor Vespasian is credited with being the first leader to introduce pay toilets in Rome.

"I am really interested in all the juicy stuff like how Nero decapitated his wife," he said.

"The response we got from the audience in the United States showed very much that people were just as interested in the juicier parts of the story as they were in the rest."

* Rome: Engineering an Empire airs on Foxtel's History Channel

For more on ancient Rome, go to this link:

Lets-Travel-Rome.com/Ancient-Rome

"Da Vinci Code" breaks Italian box office records

2006-05-21T07:54:00.000-04:00

The movie adaptation of Dan Brown's bestseller earned 2 million euros ($2.6 million) on its opening night, nearly double the takings of Italy's previous top film, Oscar-winner Roberto Benigni's "Life is Beautiful".

"The Da Vinci Code" has broken box office records in Roman Catholic Italy as tens of thousands of Italians ignored Vatican calls to boycott the film. The movie adaptation of Dan Brown's bestseller earned 2 million euros ($2.6 million) on its opening night, nearly double the takings of Italy's previous top film, Oscar-winner Roberto Benigni's 1997 tragi-comic Holocaust drama "Life is Beautiful".

Italian news agencies reported record queues around the country to see the film of the novel that ignited Vatican ire by saying Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene and the Catholic Church hushed this up.

Millions worldwide are expected to flock to see the film on its opening weekend, shrugging off protests by Christian groups and tepid reviews at its Cannes film festival premier this week.

Many Christians across the world believe the theories in "The Da Vinci Code" are blasphemous, and the Vatican has led an offensive against the book and the film, calling for a boycott.

Members of ultra-Catholic group, Christian Militants, picketed some cinemas in central Rome, close to the Vatican, chanting "Dan Brown remember you will also be judged by Christ". Many Italians are fans, however, buying tens of thousands of the more than 40 million copies of the books sold worldwide.

Italy's tourist industry has also leapt on the Dan Brown boom. Special tours are running in Rome and to the church in Milan containing Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper", a painting central to "The Da Vinci Code" plot.

Florence, where the Renaissance master lived, is holding a series of exhibitions throughout the European summer focused on cracking the code of Da Vinci's paintings and designs.

Lets-Travel-Rome.com

Tens of thousands honor John Paul II at Vatican

2006-05-14T08:01:00.000-04:00

VATICAN CITY

Tens of thousands of pilgrims flooded St. Peter's square to pay their respects to Pope John Paul II, who died a year ago Sunday after a long and publicly fought battle with a series of illnesses.

Pope Benedict XVI, John Paul's longtime aide, said his predecessor had left an "immense" legacy to the church and to the world.

"John Paul died as he lived, moved by an indomitable courage of faith," said Benedict, who went on to describe the dignity with which John Paul II confronted his suffering in the last years of his life.

"In the final years, God gradually stripped him of everything so as to assimilate him fully. And when he could no longer travel and then not even walk and finally not even talk, his gesture was reduced to the essential: a gift of himself to the last instant."

The Italian authorities had enacted various security measures in anticipation of an expected 150,000 visitors. Early Sunday morning, only patches of pilgrims were present on St. Peter's Square. But by the time Benedict delivered his noon address the square was crowded.

"He is a hero for me as a human being, not only as a pope," said Anita Szremska, 43, who arrived in Rome on Wednesday after a 26-hour bus ride from Poland. "He showed us how to live, how to think and how to look at people. He was a good man."

A line of visitors waiting to pay their respects at John Paul's tomb - in a grotto under St. Peter's Basilica - coiled through the square. The president of Italy, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, was one of the first to visit the tomb early Sunday morning. By mid-morning it took approximately two hours to get a brief glimpse of the burial place.

Remembrance in hometown

Thousands of believers flocked to John Paul's hometown of Wadowice in southern Poland on Sunday, The Associated Press reported.

The main square was decorated for the occasion with yellow and white papal banners, along with national and local flags. A large picture of John Paul also hung from St. Mary's Basilica, where the future pope was baptized as Karol Wojtyla in 1920.

An open-air Mass in the town at noon drew an estimated 8,000 people in the town of 37,000.

President Lech Kaczynski laid flowers and prayed at the basilica, telling reporters that John Paul II's pontificate had "an influence on my life, moral values and on the evolution of my views."

VATICAN CITY Tens of thousands of pilgrims flooded St. Peter's square to pay their respects to Pope John Paul II, who died a year ago Sunday after a long and publicly fought battle with a series of illnesses.

Pope Benedict XVI, John Paul's longtime aide, said his predecessor had left an "immense" legacy to the church and to the world.

"John Paul died as he lived, moved by an indomitable courage of faith," said Benedict, who went on to describe the dignity with which John Paul II confronted his suffering in the last years of his life.

"In the final years, God gradually stripped him of everything so as to assimilate him fully. And when he could no longer travel and then not even walk and finally not even talk, his gesture was reduced to the essential: a gift of himself to the last instant."

The Italian authorities had enacted various security measures in anticipation of an expected 150,000 visitors. Early Sunday morning, only patches of pilgrims were present on St. Peter's Square. But by the time Benedict delivered his noon address the square was crowded.

"He is a hero for me as a human being, not only as a pope," said Anita Szremska, 43, who arrived in Rome on Wednesday after a 26-hour bus ride from Poland. "He showed us how to live, how to think and how to look at people. He was a good man."

A line of visitors waiting to pay their respects at John Paul's tomb - in a grotto under St. Peter's Basilica - coiled through the square. The president of Italy, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, was one of the first to visit the tomb early Sunday morning. By mid-morning it took approximately two hours to get a brief glimpse of the burial place.

Remembrance in hometown

Thousands of believers flocked to John Paul's hometown of Wadowice in southern Poland on Sunday, The Associated Press reported.

The main square was decorated for the occasion with yellow and white papal banners, along with national and local flags. A large picture of John Paul also hung from St. Mary's Basilica, where the future pope was baptized as Karol Wojtyla in 1920.

An open-air Mass in the town at noon drew an estimated 8,000 people in the town of 37,000.

President Lech Kaczynski laid flowers and prayed at the basilica, telling reporters that John Paul II's pontificate had "an influence on my life, moral values and on the evolution of my views."

For more infor mation on The Vatican in Rome, go to

Lets-Travel-Rome.com/Vatican

Traveling to Italy? Pack Your Own Expert Guide.

2006-05-07T09:58:00.000-04:00

ROME, May 4 /PRNewswire/ --
Visitors to Italy can now have their own personal tour accompanied by people who know the places more than anyone else in the world. Well, almost.

An American company offers its ARTineraries Tours of sites throughout the country, downloadable from CDs or through the web. Their tours promise you an "insider's point of view" of the places and persons who made these cities and museums what they are today.

Visitors to the city of Turin (site of the Winter Olympics) will be greeted by the 16th Century architect Amedeo Castellamonte, who will take visitors along the streets of Turin in a 1-hour journey of discovery of the secrets and sights of the places he knew well. Castellamonte, along with his father, designed much of Baroque Turin and his tales of the Royal Savoy family and of the chocolatiers, counts and mystics there will keep you wanting more.

At the Vatican, renowned art historian Sister Wendy Beckett (of PBS and BBC fame) will be your personal guide in over 90 minutes of audio which includes the wonders of the Vatican Museums and some of the greatest art in the world. Once in the Sistine Chapel, Sister Wendy gives her unique and passionate interpretation of Michelangelo's entire masterpiece, before guiding visitors through the marvels of St. Peter's Basilica.

Sister Wendy's personal approach and entertaining descriptions along with her heartfelt insights add to the experience and allow visitors to see the Vatican collection as it has never been seen (or heard) before. In Sister Wendy's words, "The Vatican is a place where even the corridors are masterpieces."

Travelers can purchase a 2 CD set of the ARTineraries(TM) Tour, and simply upload the tracks onto their mobile mp3 players or iPod, or download the ARTineraries Tour onto their devices directly from the ARTineraries website ARTineraries.com . Each tour comes with a special "insider's guide" and complete listing of the tour stops.

ARTineraries Tours were developed by Art&Media Communications, the company which introduced the first downloadable digital tours in Italy. ARTineraries productions are overseen by founder, American Lisa Tucci, who has over 10 years experience in producing audioguides for Italian museums, many recognized as "must-dos" on the travel circuit. Says Tucci, "It seemed appropriate to pair the latest cutting edge technology with some of the most historic places on Earth, and who better to accompany you than people whose insights will make your trip truly a memorable one."

More ARTineraries tours are scheduled to be released this summer including a "Da Vinci Code" Tour of Paris, with stops in London, Edinburgh and Milan, Italy's Great Basilicas (including Venice, Florence, Rome and Assisi), and Monumental Rome.

Lets-Travel-Rome.com - For all the news and deals when you want to travel to Rome.

Today in Italy.

2006-05-07T09:54:00.000-04:00

Special service by AGI on behalf of the Italian Prime Minister's office

SMOKING: 37 PCT OF PARENTS AWARE TEENAGE CHILD SMOKES
(AGI) - Rome, May 4 - Thirty-seven percent of Italian parents know that their adolescent child smokes. But only 3 parents out of ten manage to get them to stop, 1 out of 10 simply become resigned to the fact. This is the picture of the vice of smoking which is given by MOIGE (Italian Parents' Association) and a survey conducted by SWG of Trieste from 5,000 parents with children between 11 and17 and 400 tobacco shops all across Italy. According to the survey, 47 pct of parents who smoke pay for their children's purchases in tobacco shops. But almost all of them know that it is illegal for cigarettes to be bought by or sold to children under age 16. In order to fight this phenomenon MOIGE and tobacco shops are launching (starting today) an awareness campaign to inform adults about the risks of smoking for children and the laws in force concerning them. The campaign - presented today in Rome with the slogan "We mustn't smoke. Both the law and good sense tell us this" - will travel on a bus with 40 stops across the Italian peninsula and will bring an educational message the cities that the bus will stop in include: Rome, Cagliari, Palermo, Catanzaro, Potenza, Bari, Naples, Campobasso, Pescara, Ancona, Bologna, Verona, Udine, Trento, Segrate, Como, Aosta, Turin, Genoa, Siena, Florence and Viterbo. But the Federation of Tobacco Shop Owners has announced another important initiative to discourage smoking among minors. It will be possible to purchase cigarettes from automatic vendors only after having introduced a particular card with a chip containing personal details and which will be distributed only to those over 16. "There is a need for information on the law", said Maria Rita Munizzi, president of MOIGE, "and a cultural operation to inform parents not only on the dangers of smoking but also on the existence of the law and respect for it. An alliance has therefore been made between parents and tobacco shop owners in order to keep children away form smoking". Cigarettes mean transgression for adolescents. "At the beginning there is the desire to emulate adults and to feel as if they were adults", said Federico Bianchi Di Castelbianco, psycho-therapist of adolescence and director of the institute of speech therapists of Rome, "also because at that age it is necessary to feel part of a group. Society also makes frequent use of the myth of macho figures with a cigarette dangling from their lips and of the 'femme fatal'. And smoking is forbidden and so it is even more fascinating. It is necessary to show an adolescent what the dangers of smoking are, because sometimes words aren't enough". Bianchi Di Castelbianco ends off with advice to parents: "Set a good example". (AGI) -
041205 MAG 06

Travel: My Roman Affair.

2006-05-07T09:46:00.000-04:00

05 May 2006

Breathtaking. Fascinating. Magnificent. SYIDA LIZTA AMIRUL IHSAN was intoxicated by the sights and sounds of the historic city of Rome.

ROME was not built in a day, but my friend Tracy Toh believes you can cover it in less than 24 hours.

So it was that when we were in Florence recently for salabianca and philosophy-Men’s fashion shoot for its Ciao! Italia campaign, we used our free day to travel to Rome to immerse our senses in the sights and sounds of the historically opulent city.

We took the Eurostar from Santa Maria Novella, Florence’s main station at 9.30am. The 90-minute journey to Rome cost us about RM165 (one-way), an option we chose over regular train (half the price, but more than double the travelling time).

We arrived at Roma Termini, the city’s main station at 11am and headed straight to the subway for Barberini.

I wanted to buy a Rome Hard Rock Cafe (HRC) T-shirt and Toh wanted to show me the Fontana di Trevi. (Toh is familiar with the city, having been there many times. She also speaks Italian fluently, though she humbly insists that her skills are limited to touristic purposes).

Piazza Barberini is the meeting point of several streets like Via Barberini, Via Sistina, and Via Vittorio Veneto (where the Rome HRC is located). Traffic was swarming that morning with buses, cars and scooters that come with visors.

The square’s main feature is Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Fontana del Tritone (Fountain of the Triton). A figure, blowing water from his triton, sits in an open clam held together by four wide-eyed fish.

On one side of the piazza is the facade of Palazzo Barberini, named after one of Rome’s most powerful families. Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, located in the palace, now houses a collection of paintings including Raphael’s portrait La Fornarina and Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes.

Next, we walked to Fontana di Trevi or Trevi Fountain, which, at 25.5 metres high and 19.5 metres wide, is the largest, most ambitious and most beautiful of Rome’s Baroque fountains. The stonework is immensely captivating and the endless stream of tourists (and souvenir peddlers) is an indication of its popularity.

In seamless reaction, I found myself impulsively taking pictures, eager to capture the breathtaking view of stone-carved humans and animals.

In the middle of the fountain, Neptune stands in a free-standing column, flanked by Abundance who spills water from her urn and Salubrity who holds a cup from which a snake drinks.

We left the fountain for the Pantheon, a magnificent building constructed in 27BC as a Roman temple but was later dedicated as a Catholic Church. It was built during the reign of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, and his name is inscribed on the structure.

It reads M.AGRIPPA.L.F.COS.TERTIUM.FEZIT which in English means “Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul for the third time, built this”.

We wanted to enter but the huge crowd discouraged us and we headed for Piazza Navona instead.

They say if you have seen one church you’ve seen them all. But I was fascinated by each and every one that I saw in the Italian capital.

Piazza Navona is located on the site of Domitian’s stadium, once used almost exclusively for sports events, including the famous August regatta where participants wore the colours of the nobles and the civic clergy.

The attraction of the square is the famous Fountain of the Four Rivers by Bernini, dated 1651. It represented the rivers Danube, Ganges, Nile and Rio de la Plata, arranged on a steep rocky reef from which an obelisk rises into the air.

Another prominent 17th-century artist, Borromini built the church of Sant’Agnese in Agone, which stands in front of the fountain. There are also the Fountain of the Moor and Fountain of Neptune along the square.

“I think you have seen enough fountains for the day,” Toh said, after another session of picture-taking at Piazza Navona. The sun was shining brightly and we thought, why not have a gelato?

There are at least 35 flavours of the Italian ice-cream lining the counter at Giolitti.

The shop is small, with green signage and in one section, people were queueing for pizza and pasta for a quick lunch.

It was a task choosing which flavours to have. They spanned a dizzying spectrum and it would take days to try everything; from interesting (rice), intoxicating (Grand Marnier), fruity (pineapple) to normal (caramel).

I took the medium cone and the server plonked huge servings of gelato (in caramel, strawberry and pistachio) onto the crispy cone. The taste was heavenly.

Enough of sight-seeing, we went shopping instead at Via Del Corso, the city’s shopping district. We visited la Rinascente, Italy’s leading department store.

We also surveyed clothes in Etam, a French high-street label which is just average in choice and cannot compete with the variety and style found in other highstreet labels like H&M and Topshop.

We stopped at Zara and found the clothes the same as those in Malaysian stores (although, there is a better variety of shoes). The store also sells perfume and cosmetic products.

Before long, it was time to head back to Roma Termini for our 5.30pm Eurostar to Florence.

It turned out one day was not enough. I still want to visit the Vatican City, its museum, the massive Coliseum and see more churches and fountains. I bet it takes more than a lifetime to study Rome in all its different levels and complexities.

If you would like to experience Rome, and all its attractions then visit our website at Lets-Travel-Rome.com

Anniversaries mark papal schedule after Easter.

2006-04-09T10:16:00.000-04:00

Vatican, April 5th - Pope Benedict XVI will have a few days of rest immediately after Easter, as he marks the first anniversary of his election.

After celebrating Easter Sunday Mass in the morning in St. Peter's Square, and delivering his Urbi et Orbi message at noon, the Holy Father will travel to Castel Gandolfo, to spend a few days of rest there. On Easter Sunday, April 16, the Pope will also be celebrating his 79th birthday.

On Easter Monday-- Pasquetta or "Little Easter" in Italy-- the Pope will make a single public appearance at the papal summer residence, to lead the Regina Caeli: the midday prayer that replaces the Angelus during the 40 days of Eastertide.

Tuesday, April 18 will be the anniversary of the date when the cardinals opened the conclave that would elect a successor to Pope John Paul II. Cardinal Ratzinger was the principal celebrant of the Mass Pro Eligendo Romano Pontefice, after which the 115 cardinal-electors filed into the Sistine Chapel to begin their deliberations.

April 19, then, will be the first anniversary of the new Pope's election. Pope Benedict plans to travel by helicopter to the Vatican that day for his regular weekly public audience, returning to Castel Gandolfo in the afternoon.

On Friday, April 21, the Pontiff will hold a morning audience with the bishops of Ghana, who are making their ad limina visit to the Vatican. Later in the day he will return to the Vatican, again traveling by helicopter, to attend an evening concert celebrating the founding of the city of Rome-- according to legend, in 253 BC.

On April 22, Cardinal Angelo Sodano will be the principal celebrant at a Mass in the Vatican basilica for the Society of Jesus, marking the 500th anniversary of the birth of St. Francis Xavier. (Some commentators see it as significant that although the Pope will be at the Vatican, the Secretary of State will be preside-- arguably a sign of the Pope's dissatisfaction with the Jesuit order.) Pope Benedict will address the congregation at the conclusion of the Mass.

On Sunday, April 22, the Pope will hold his usual Regina Caeli audience. Then on April 24 he will mark the anniversary of his inaugural Mass as Roman Pontiff.

Lets-Travel-Rome.com

Italy PM 'needs five more years'

2006-04-09T10:11:00.000-04:00

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said he needs another five years to bring Italy from the Middle Ages into the modern world. Mr Berlusconi was addressing a crowd of about 2,000 supporters of his Forza Italia party in Rome.

It was his last election rally in the Italian capital before this weekend's general elections.

He appealed to student and pensioner voters, and stressed his party's commitment to upholding family values.

Speaking to the converted, and with no time restraints for his final public address in Rome, Mr Berlusconi offered something for everyone if he is re-elected this weekend.

He promised at his first cabinet meeting to cancel a much-criticised local property tax which all house owners have to pay.

Mr Berlusconi, confidently grasping his lectern, then went on to make promises to students, offering them tax breaks if they wanted to become enterprising businessmen like himself.

He appealed to pensioners who would, he said, enjoy free train and bus travel, free entrance to cinemas and theatres and also get a free licence to watch television if he is returned to office at the weekend.

The Italian prime minister then took the moral high ground and called upon this predominantly Catholic country to vote for him, not his leftist opponents as he, unlike them, he said, would uphold family values.

The Vatican has remained on the sidelines in this election campaign, but neither the centre right nor the centre left can be said to have a monopoly of the Catholic vote.

Earlier Mr Berlusconi had been rapped on the knuckles by the watchdog authority which is attempting to limit Mr Berlusconi's air time on the commercial television channels which he owns.

He withdrew from a planned television appearance later on Wednesday.

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