In case you missed these recent articles on travel to Italy…

New York Times
Sicily, Through the Eyes of the Leopard

The Washington Post
See Naples…And Eat

Sydney Morning Herald
Ready for Super-Bol (A Search for the Best Ragu in Bologna)

Los Angeles Times
Exploring Sun-Splashed Venice’s City Squares

The Guardian (UK)
Instant Weekend…Turin

The Boston Globe
Eat Them All, Pray For More, Love the Neopolitan Pie
Ancient Capri Still Casts Its Powerful Spell

Seattle Times (Rick Steves’ Europe)
For Italy In the Extreme, Go to Naples

The Independent (UK)
See Italy – From the Wheel of a Ferrari
Lyrical Charm in Capri

The Vancouver Sun
How To Enjoy Rome With the Kids

The Financial Times
Do You Need Another Reason to Visit Florence?

Related posts

• October 2008 Article Round-Up
• Italy Summer Article Round-Up 2008
• Italy Article Round-Up From the Past Few Months
• 2008 Year-End Article Round Up
• What’s On in Italy: June 2008

Lots of Italy-related articles this time of year. So, here goes:

New York Times
Wandering Beyond Classic Rome (The Frugal Traveler Does Europe on a Budget)
On Venice’s Grand Canal in a Kayak
Prescription Med (Ischia)

Los Angeles Times
Exploring Rome’s Famous Seven Hills
Budget Travel in Rome
10 Books and Movies to Prep for a Trip to Rome
Italy: At Home in Rome

National Geographic Traveler
Rome Photo Gallery (Part of NGT’s Authentic Rome feature for the July/August 2008 issue)
Shopping: Roman Gold

The Washington Post
Smart Mouth: His Palermo Restaurant Is Popular, But It’s No Mob Scene
My Verona

Reuters
Travel Postcard: 48 Hours in Ferrara, Italy

Naples (FL) Daily News
From the Ground Up: Part-Time Naples Couple Found Their Italian Villa a Full-Time Restoration Job Over Two Years (Brindisi, Puglia)

The Guardian (UK)
The Amalfi Coast On a Budget
Caught in the Spell of San Pietro (Sardinia)
Hidden Gems (Sibillini Mountains, Le Marche)
Little Po Peep (Emilia-Romagna)
Flying Visit: Venice
A Greener Way to Umbria’s Capital

Sydney Morning Herald
How to Shop Up an Appetite (Milan)
Night in Italian Prison Promises Gourmet Fare (Tuscany)
Master of the House (Palladio in Venice)
Holiday in Harmony with Gregorian Monks (Tuscany)
A Bloodbath, Italian Style (Florence)

Related posts

• October 2008 Article Round-Up
• What’s On in Italy: June 2008
• What’s On In Italy: April 2009
• Italy Article Round-Up
• 2008 Year-End Article Round Up

Quite a number of press releases for Italy package tours have come across our desks in recent days. Here are a few highlights:

To celebrate the publishing of the Wimco Villas Vendome Guide to Italy, Wimco Villas is offering a “complimentary first night in-villa provisioning” (i.e., a free meal) for customers booking villas directly through Wimco by December 31, 2007, for travel by September 2008. Most interesting is Wimco’s new guide, which features villas in Tuscany, Umbria, Capri, and the Amalfi Coast. More info: www.wimco.com.

Euro-Bike and Walking Tours is offering $50 off of their 2008 packages if you book before December 14, 2007. Some of the upcoming tours include a biking tour of the Tuscan Coast and Elba, and walking tours of the Italian Lakes, Cinque Terre, and the Amalfi Coast. Information about all of their tours is available at www.eurobike.com.

Your Friend in Italy, a relatively new travel consulting company, will create customized tours of Italy, including to the regions of Campania, Liguria, Tuscany, Lombardy, and the Veneto. We hear that a new tour to Abruzzo is in the works, so stay tuned. For more info, see www.yourfriendinitaly.com.

The San Francisco Sentinel tipped us off to Tour de Forks, an NY-based tour company that provides culinary tours to Italy, including to Sicily and Puglia, and to Australia (which has some great Italian food, thanks to the large Italian expat community). The company’s 2007 tours appear to be over, but you can stay informed of their plans for 2008 on their website at www.tourdeforks.com or on their blog at www.tourdeforks.blogspot.com.

And, long-time group tour provider Perillo Tours has just announced its roster of Italy tours for 2008. They include “Italy Off the Beaten Path,” which includes some stops in L’Aquila, Abruzzo, and villages in Tuscany and Umbria, and “Deluxe Italy-by-Rail,” which includes Venice, Florence, Rome, and Capri. For more info, see www.perillotours.com.

A number of press releases come across our desk, most of them irrelevant to our interests or assignments. One that came over the wire today is about Anacapri: The Dream, a video game that takes place in Capri and Anacapri.

According to the release, the game requires that “you assume the role of an expert in ancient civilizations beckoned to Anacapri, a place of beauty and mystery. Here, you must search for an ancient artifact once believed lost to the ages. On the trail for clues, you encounter real villagers of Anacapri, as well as historical figures who once lived on the island. As you explore the Grotto of Ferns, Walkway of the Forts, Marina Piccola, Palazzo a Mare, Red Beard’s Castle, the Phoenician Staircase, and much more, you experience the fantastic legends and lore of this magical place.” In addition, the game “is comprised of more than 8,000 detailed photographs taken around the real island of Capri and its charming village of Anacapri.”

We’re not gamers, but this is one that we may have to check out.

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According to Elle magazine (and several other luxury travel watchers), there’s a new hotel in Capri. The first hotel built on the isle in years, the J.K. Place Capri overlooks the Marina Grande and has 20 rooms with a view of the sea and harbor (and two rooms that do not have a sea view). Rates run from €330-900. J.K. Place opens March 30, 2007.

Photo from J.K. Place Capri

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