The best giveaway at Milan’s recent tourism fair: dark chocolate enriched with Vitamin A & C for the guilty.
Called “Chocopirin-A,” (a play on “aspirina,” aspirin) the tabs were handed out to hungry visitors to promote the Eurochocolate fest in Perugia next fall. Meant to underline how chocolate has become more a part of our daily lives, hopefully some marketing genius will copy the idea and make them for real.
Carnival + Chinese New Year + Italian military band: this unruly cultural mash-up took place in Milan to bring in the year of the pig recently.
Celebrations of capodanno cinese were a bit toned down in size and scale compared to last year, there was little about it in the papers probably because it fell during carnival.
Here’s the thing: Italy is one of the most easily recognizable countries on the planet.
It is shaped like a boot.
Italy is also known for lots of big, easily recognizable monuments (the Coliseum, the leaning tower, Milan’s Duomo) so you’d think creative types would have it easy when it comes to creating a new logo.
But no: the image meant to promote Italian tourism in the world is a lowercase “i” with a sickly-looking green blob next to it. Continue reading
Eco-friendly Italian hotels are offering free train transport until September 2007.
Hotel owners will reimburse guests round trip fare (second class but including fast Eurostar trains) from anywhere in Italy thanks to an agreement between environmental group Legambiente and Trenitalia.
Some 30 establishments throughout the Bel Paese Continue reading
There were no good vibes at Italy’s latest parking lot of love on Valentine’s day. Police shut the park down before the Fiats could pull into the 73 spots available.
Called the “Lovely Park” in grammatically-challenged English, the structure in southern city of Bari would have been open for action 24 hours a day, charging the amorous €3 ($3.80 circa) an hour for privacy and safety. Continue reading
A new electronic mooring system billed as a boon for pampered boaters is also good for the environment since it eliminates the need for dropping a coral-killing anchor.
The Italian-engineered MarPark system, launched on an experimental basis last summer in a few protected areas in Liguria and Sardinia, lets boaters cruise into idyllic bays and hook a rope with a rubber ring to a smartbuoy. Simple as that, they’re safely harbored, no anchor necessary. Full story by zoomata editor Nicole Martinelli on Wired.
If you happen to eat at Primo al Pigneto in Rome on the right day, you may be treated to a home-cooked meal from a neighborhood grandma.
At age 30 — when many Italian men are still living at home feasting on la nonna’s cooking — chef Marco Gallotta had the brainwave of recruiting local women to “guest star” in his kitchen for one week a month. Continue reading
To celebrate the mushrooming number of bed and breakfast acommodations in Italy, thousands of B&B owners are offering a free one-night stay on March 3.
It’s called B&B Day but guests get a to spend the night gratis at establishments throughout the Bel Paese, from Florence to Lipari.
One catch: you do have to book at least one other night but the celebration falls on a Saturday, so think of it as a half-price weekend.
For more info: http://www.bbday.it/english/