Italy Blog

Today, and I caught it, Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi held a press conference at which he neatly laid the blame for the election mess upon the shoulders of others. At the same time, Berlusconi attempted to put an end, once and for all, to all the vicious rumours flying about the election muddle in Rome.  Only the attempt seems to have led to further confusion. During said press conference, during which, incidentally, Italy’s defence minister manhandled a journalist who insisted on asking Mr B about the recent Bertolaso bribery case, Berlusconi gave his party’s official version of events surrounding the presentation of election documents in Rome by his candidate, Renata Polverini.

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Is Berlusconi to Run in the Rome Marathon?

How would you like to have your very own a country retreat in a quiet medieval village in the heart of Italy?

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A House and all that Jazz For Sale in Umbria, Italy

In this photo: Peruzzi Chapel in Santa Croce Church – Florence. Photo by Gaspa Researchers in Florence using state-of-the-art techniques have been able to see original details that have not been seen for centuries in some of Giotto’s paintings

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"Secret" Giotto uncovered

While pizza is to be found in just about every corner of the world, its popularity in its land of origin has never diminished.  Pizza is as popular today in Italy as it ever has been.  Have you ever wondered where in Italy the best pizzas can be found? Seeing as much of Italy appears to be fuming over the latest escapade of the Berlusconi government, I felt it might be nice to take a break from politics for a moment and to look at a distinctly more appetising subject, which is also much easier to digest: pizza . Italian author Orietta Boncompagni Ludovisi has had her book “ The Best Pizzerias In Italy ” republished some five times since it first appeared in 1996.  Each time a new edition of Boncompagni Ludovisi’s pizza book hits the bookshops of Italy, it sells like hot cakes.  Perhaps that should be “sells like hot pizzas”

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The Best Pizza Restaurants in Italy

In 1927 a twenty-nine-year-old Italian shoemaker called Salvatore Ferragamo met a Swedish lady called Greta Louvisa Gustafson and a friendship began.

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The star and the shoemaker

I’ve been a bit too snowed under with work recently to write much about what’s going on in Italy.  Meanwhile though, little storms have been blowing up all over the place in the Living Museum. To kick off, we’ve got the allegations of corruption leveled at Guido Bertolaso, the head of Italy’s civil defence organisation, still fizzling away, although Bertolaso seems to have evaded most of the flack. The Bertolaso affair, though, was merely the tip of an iceberg

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Little Storms in Italy

If you have not been to Venice, then you really should.  If you like the idea, but are put off by the expense, then how about seeing Venice by hiring your very own floating self-catering appartment? Although a floating self-catering appartment might sound an expensive way to see this magical Italian city, it’s not as expensive as you might think, especially if you travel as a group.  Plus you get to see Venice from the best place imaginable – the water

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Floating Self-Catering in Venice

Sunday 28th February is “Anti-Smog Day” in Northern Italy, with over 80 towns planning to block non-emergency traffic for the day. Many Italian cities have had anti-pollution days before but this is to be the first time that the effort has been coordinated on such a scale.

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Anti-smog day

I like the idea of doing something different on holiday, and although I’ve never done it, I can think of nothing quite as appealing as the idea of floating silently over Tuscany in a balloon. Unsurprisingly, I am not the first to have thought of this interesting way to see Italy, and on YouTube there are quite a few videos of balloons over Tuscany

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Ballooning Over Tuscany

Custom Teaser:  It takes slightly longer than it did a year ago to sell a home in a big city centre, but out in the provinces sale times are the same as in January 2009 .. Words by Carla Passino Trying to sell your home in Italy

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Property sales times unchanged in Italian provinces