Hello Kitty wine is a real thing. I know some of you will hate this and others will want to snatch some up just for the novelty of it all. Torti Winery, located in the Oltrepò Pavese hills of Italy's Lombardy region has been working on a Hello Kitty wine since 2007, putting aside special ...

Truth is, it was bound to happen. Church officials at Santa Maria in Cosmedin, site of Rome's "Mouth of Truth" (Bocca della Verita), have decided to charge visitors €2 for the pleasure of taking one (just one!) photo with the ancient sewer cover. Visitors will still be able to enter the church, ...

The Spanish Steps have finally re-opened after a lengthy refurbishment project funded by Bulgari. But will the steps be fenced off at night to keep "barbarian tourists" from trashing them? Source: Rome’s Spanish Steps reopens following €1.5m refurbishment

Yesterday in my post about the earthquake in Central Italy, I mentioned that Italian blogger Paolo Campana had started an initiative for diners and restaurants to raise money for earthquake relief (for Amatrice and the entire affected region) by ordering dishes of amatriciana. It's less than 24 ...

During the wee hours of the morning, an earthquake with a 6.2 magnitude struck central Italy. Italian news reports say the epicenter was near Rieti, about 1.5 hours north of Rome. What We Know The town of Amatrice, located in Rome's region of Lazio, was hit very badly. "The town isn't there ...

Turin has added another destination to Italy's contemporary art scene. CAMERA, the Centro Italiano per la Fotografia will showcase Italian and international photography in a 2,000 square meter space just down the road from the Museo Nazionale del Cinema and other sights in Torino's historic ...

It's been called the "shame of Italy" and for good reason. The A3 autostrada, a 443km highway that is to connect Salerno to Reggio Calabria, has been under construction since 1966. Faulty construction and mafia meddling by both the Camorra and 'Ndragheta factions have caused numerous delays ...

The Daily Mail reports on three depopulated Italian towns -- Gangi (Sicily), Carrega Ligure (Piedmont), and Lecce nei Marsi (Abruzzo) -- that are offering real estate for about €1 down...plus a commitment of €25,000 in renovations and upkeep. They are set in villages that are just a ...

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

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.

Trying to decide if a travel experience is authentic or not is like trying to separate “travelers” from “tourists.” That debate separates those who travel along class and age lines, with travelers proclaiming their experiences better, richer, more true than those of the tourists. There’s even a ...

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

We admire Italy's art and monuments for color, style, and the skillfulness of their creators. But the gruesome stories that many of these famous works depict are a reminder of real human suffering.

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, ...

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. ...

Excerpts from the Art Issue of the New York Review of Books. Reviews on Veronese, Piero della Francesca, and Futurism. There's also a Michelangelo poem.

This is what happens when you have writer's block and you are supposed to write about Italy.

Earthquakes can strike nearly anywhere in Italy. Learn more about seismic activity in Italy, from historic quakes to earthquake monitoring resources.