Destinations

No Bull: Italy Has a Museum Devoted to Sh*t

Emilia-Romagna’s Shit Museum explores man’s relationship to manure.

Selfie Stick seller down by the Colosseum

In Rome, Hoteliers In Revolt Over State of the City

Roman hoteliers, who write that Rome’s 25 million annual tourists is only a quarter of the number that go to London, are less concerned about how tourists are affecting the city than how the city is affecting tourists.

Feast in the House of Levi by Paolo Veronese

Visions of Veronese Green: In Search of the Sublime Shade in Venice

Veronese Green is named after Verona-born painter Paolo Caliari, also known as Veronese. I used the color to guide me on my travels in Venice.

Natale di Roma: Rome Celebrates Its Birthday

The city of Rome was born on April 21, 753 BC. In Italian, it is known as the Natale di Roma—the birthday of Rome.

A Show of Hands: A Look at the Marble Hands of Ancient Statues in Rome

It all started with David.

Visiting the Colosseum Dungeons on a Guided Tour [Review]

My review of the tour: Colosseum “Dungeons, Third Level and Arena Floor,” Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill.

Will the Vatican Museums Finally Limit the Number of Visitors?

The Vatican Museums welcome up to 25,000 visitors per day. Is it time for them to limit the crowds?

Rome Revisited: What Has and Hasn’t Changed

Rome is changing. Rome has changed. You hear those phrases around Rome all the time these days. Crime, corruption, unemployment, immigration, unreliable public transit, trash collection, the euro – Italy is in crisis and the prevailing mood among its citizens is one of resignation and exhaustion. This was most recently expressed cinematically with La Grande…

Commemorative plaques on a wall in Rome's Jewish Quarter

Exploring the Ghetto: A Tour of Rome’s Jewish Quarter [Review]

Learn more about the ancient and contemporary history of the Jewish people in Rome with a tour through the ex-Ghetto.

Upcoming Fundraiser at the Sistine Chapel Turns Heads

Each day, as many as 20,000 visitors pay up to €16 per person to enter the Vatican Museums, the highlight of which is the Sistine Chapel. This coming weekend, reports Crux, approximately 40 fans of German automaker Porsche will get to pay up to €5,000 each to take a private tour of the Vatican, which includes dinner…

6 Places to Stay on a Roman Holiday: Great Boutique Hotels in the Eternal City

Rome boutique hotels—here are six exceptional places to stay on your Roman holiday.

Photos: On the Capitoline Hill

See photos and read tips about visiting the Capitoline, one of Rome’s seven ancient hills.

La Barcaccia Fountain at the base of the Spanish Steps

Rome’s Fountains, Brought to You By…

Recently, city officials in Rome unveiled the Barcaccia fountain, which had been under wraps for the past year so it could be cleaned. The Barcaccia is now gleaming, as you can see in the photo above, and provides a pleasing visual for all those tired souls taking a breather on the Spanish Steps.

Lovely Time Lapse Video of Rome

I always love a good time-lapse video, and especially if it features Rome! Here’s a very recent one that shows Rome in her late summer splendor. It was shot by Josh of jandrewfilmandphotography.com, who used 7,000 images to create this 2-minute, 37-second clip. Hyperlapse has a long way to go to get results like these.

Veneto Spa Hotel Has the World’s Deepest Thermal Pool

About half an hour by train from Venice and even closer to Padua is Hotel Millepini Terme, a spa hotel that has the Guinness World Record for the world’s deepest thermal pool. The Y-40 The Deep Joy is 137-feet deep (40 meters) at its deepest, with four underwater grottos along the way. There’s a viewing tunnel at…