Category Archives: travel

Caravaggio: the last masterpiece comes home to Naples

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zoomata.com staff

The last masterpiece painted in the short, violent life of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, the recently-restored “Martyrdom of Saint Orsola,” comes to Naples as part of the exhibition Caravaggio: The Last Years. The exhibit travels to London’s National Gallery in early 2005.
Commissioned by prince Marcantonio Doria for his daughter who joined a convent taking the saint’s name, Caravaggio focuses on the young Orsola (or Ursula) who faces death by the Huns alone instead of with the 11,000 virgins returning from a pilgrimage as the legend recounts. (scroll to view the painting here )

Restoration of the painting made certain the attribution to Caravaggio and revealed a few other surprises as well, like Orsola?s hand first covered by her red cloak and later background add-ons.
The painting is the center of an exhibit of 25 works painted between 1606 and 1610, including ?The Flagellation? and ?The Crucifixion of Saint Andrea.? The maestro’s last four years were tempestuous: Caravaggio killed a man in a duel in Rome and fled the city to settle in Naples, where he continued to paint while hoping for a papal pardon. He also worked in Malta, was knighted then stripped of the honor and thrown in prison over a quarrel.

In the last year of his life he was pardoned for murder, only to die shortly after from a fever. His haggard, bewildered self-portrait in ?St. Orsola? reveals a tragic destiny.?1999-2004 zoomata.com
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The rub:
Capodimonte National Museum of Art
From October 24 2004 to January 24, 2005
Parco di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy
Free phone for information or reservations: 848800288
Tickets: 10 euro, for exhibit and museum

Rome traffic ‘electrified’ by microcars

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zoomata.com staff

Italians call it the ‘art of getting by,’ and the chaos of Roman traffic has made locals true maestros of that art.

Tough new driving laws passed by the Italian government last year — including a points license and the introduction of a license for scooters — have left many in the Eternal City without wheels. Public transportation, famously crowded and unreliable, simply isn’t a practical option.

The solution? Electric microcars. They require no license, are easy to park and are allowed to circulate in limited traffic areas — called ZTLs — practically the entire heart of the city.
Visitors are fast catching on to the fact that with these second cousins of the Smart car, thankfully blessed with automatic transmission, they can sidle up to the Pantheon or take spin around the Trevi fountain without the expense of a taxi. Prices range from 32 – 50 euro ($39-61USD) per day, comparable to compact rental car rates, but microcars can be rented by the day making them the choice for Romans on shopping jaunts. Electric cars can go 100 chilometers of in-town driving — they’re not allowed on the autostrada — before having to be recharged.

Golf carts, though they do require a driving license, are another option. Going golf in Rome costs more than a microcar – at 15 euro ($18 USD) an hour – but they are a valid option for those looking for a slower (they reach speeds of 25 kilometers/15 miles per hour) and wider means of transportation.
One caveat: electric cars are so popular it is worth making a reservation before arriving in Rome.?1999-2004 zoomata.com
This is an original news story. Play nice. Please use contact form for reprint/reuse info.

Going Underground in Four Italian Cities

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updated June 15 17:30 p.m. zoomata staff

Mummies galore, bomb shelters, Roman cisterns, waterways and haunted freezer chambers are some of what’s underfoot in Italy.
Exploring the underbelly of Bel Paese cities brings out the Indiana Jones in even the most jaded visitor, but information on how to start “excavating” isn’t easy to come by.
Here’s what you’re likely to see Palermo, Naples, Turin and Rome and how to go about it.

Naples
The city boasts one of the most extensive next work of underground passages –an estimated 279 miles. Visitors descend 30 steps through a trap door at the “Underground Association” (Associazione Sottosuolo) to behold a Greco-Roman cistern.
www.napolisotterranea.com
Site for group organizing tours. Hours: Monday-Friday noon–4 p.m., Thursday 9 p.m. Weekends 10-6 p.m.

Palermo
The underground of the island’s main city is lies the “well-populated” city of the dead where 8,000 mummies, elegantly wrapped, line the corridors. The practice of burying the defunct underground continued until 1881 when it was finally declared unhygienic. The only changes made since were the metal grates–to keep stray bones from falling on visitors. The Catacombs are in piazza dei Cappuccini, directly under the convent.
They’re open daily from 9 a.m. to noon and from 3-5 p.m.

Rome
Only five of the eternal city’s 60 catacombs are open to the public and all of them keep different hours.
Staff pick: San Sebastiano.
St. Agnes, -Via Nomentana, 349 (closed Sunday momings/Monday afternoons)
Priscilla, – via Salaria, 430 -(closed on Mondays)
Domitilla, via delle Sette Chiese, 282/0 (closed on Tuesdays)
St. Sebastian – via Appia Antica, 136 (closed on Sundays)
St.Callixtus – Via Appia Antica, 126 – (closed on Wednesdays)
www.catacombe.roma.it
Info and image gallery.

Turin
Elegant palazzi from the 1800s house secret passages that allude to the city’s more tumultuous past– underground raid shelters from WWII and passage ways used in military defense in the 1700s.
The famous natural ice caverns called “little hells” (infernotti) are said to be haunted by the ghost of a young girl murdered in the 1800s.
The tours, which last three hours, are offered Wednesday and Friday nights at 8:30 p.m.
www.somewhere.it
Info and reservations online.?1999-2004 zoomata.com
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Italy opens archeology sites to night crawlers

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Stunning, not-to-be missed but unfortunately impossible to air condition: two famous Italian archaeological sites are trying to convince tourists to visit during hot summer months by opening at night.

Nocturnal tours of Pompeii, arguably one of the most decadent cities of Roman times, start at the ‘pleasure baths’ (terme suburbane) to the accompaniment of music written for the tours by spaghetti-western soundtrack maestro Ennio Morricone.
These 2,000 year-old thermal baths feature a series of frescoes with graphic scenes of various sex acts, thought to be a kind of sex menu for visitors.

Officials reckon that visitors to Pompeii doubled last summer due to nighttime visitors; neighboring site Paestum hopes to bring tourists to its dusty ruins featuring some of the best-preserved Doric temples in existence by staying open after sunset.
It may bring new life to the often deserted site, previously closed one hour before sunset, where the temple of fertility goddess Hera was said to be a fortunate spot for would-be parents to make love at night.

*image courtesy Soprintendeza archeologica di Pompei

@1999-2008 zoomata.com This is an original news story. Please use contact form for reprint info.

Related resources:

Pompeii: the Inside Story

Reservations are suggested for Pompeii visits. Tickets can be purchased in Pompeii, at the Porta Marina ticket office from 7 – 9 p.m., at least 20 minutes before the tour.
Or get them online:
www.arethusa.net

Details for Paestum visits are available at the tourist office: Via Magna Grecia 887 (tel. 0828-811016)

Environmental group names Italy’s top beaches

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Wed. May 19 13:19 p.m. zoomata

Tourists looking for pristine beaches in Italy would be wise to head south this year.
Italian environmental group Legambiente’s beach guide, which uses 128 parameters to comb 243 coastal spots in a yearly quality test, again gave Southern Italy or the Mezzogiorno top marks. Not all of Italy’s extensive coastline — 1,850 kilometers or circa 1,150 miles — makes the grade, but figures are improving.

The list can be used to decide where to go, but also where to expect crowds — in a recent poll 41% of Italians said they plan to vacation by sunning on Bel Paese beaches.There has been some jostling over the previous years’ top ten, but Southern Italian beaches continue to dominate better-known locales in Liguria and Tuscany. Famous beach spots Rimini and Riccione on the Adriatic coast were towards the bottom of these ratings, scoring two and three out of a possible five respectively.

These 10 spots received a perfect five out of five “sails” rating: Otranto (Puglia), Buoso (Sardinia), Cinque Terre (Liguria), Orosei (Sardinia) , Pollica Acciaroli e Pioppi (Campania), Tropea (Calabria), Castiglione della Pescaia (Tuscany), Arbus (Sardinia) and Tremiti Islands (Puglia).

Ratings also take into account natural beauty, contamination but also tourist structures, noise levels and environment-friendly waste systems. Sandy spots with a “four-sail” rating (30 total) include: Sirolo (Marches), Isola del Giglio (Tuscany), Positano and Anacapri.

This is an original news story. Please play nice. Contact for reprint info.

Related resources:
www.legambiente.com
Here’s the online free searchable guide to Italian beaches, in Italian only. Can be searched by ‘rating’ (‘punteggio’), province or region. Among the other symbols rating beaches are stars for environmental soundness and petals for tourist amenities.

The Rough Guide to Italy

www.multimania.com/natur/ita/#en
Map of Italy’s nudist camps & beaches (with terse descriptions in in English, Italian & French) in collaboration with FENAIT, Italy’s largest ‘naturist’ association. Keep in mind these are places where nudity is tolerated — associations are still awaiting a law to make nude bathing legal.

Italians to Boost ‘Heritage Tourism’

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posted Thu March 18 17:37 am zoomata staff
Visit the land of your ancestors, get a discount. The Italian government wants to encourage boomerang tourism — people of Italian origin coming back to discover the old country — with special rates on restaurants, hotels, shops and transportation.

Mirko Tremaglia, the minister for Italians abroad, has proposed a bill for what amounts to a “compaesano card” that would give people of Italian descent special treatment.
If it works, the discount card handed out by Italian consulates would bolster a tourist trade made unstable by terrorism threats: there more people of Italian origins in the world (60 million) than there are Italians living in Italy (58 million), and another four million Italian citizens who also live abroad.

Tremaglia’s initiative is not the first to encourage heritage vacations but it is the first one to arrive at the lowest common denominator of shopping and eating.
Regions throughout Italy — from the Veneto to Tuscany — have tried to strengthen ties over recent years through special language and culture courses offered to those whose forebears left Italy in the tide of early 1900s emigration.

Though it still has to wind its way through the Italian parliament, the bill, which proponents predict could multiply the tourism trade tenfold, already has the backing of hospitality and shop owner’s associations.?1999-2004 zoomata.com

Zoomata is the brainchild of a bilingualjournalist based in Italy who thinks out of the box. This brain is for hire.

Italy by Numbers: Cleanest Beaches

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1,850 kilometers of Italian coast off limits for cleanliness
70% Italians plan to vacation in Italy 2003
10 beaches get top ratings

As vacations approach, so do competing beach rankings — we’re banking on environmental group Legambiente’s list, which uses 128 parameters to comb 243 coastal spots for its yearly quality test. Not all of Italy’s extensive coastline passes the grade, but figures are improving.

The list can be used to decide where to go, but also where to expect crowds as Italians favor vacations close to home this year — there’s been some jostling over the previous years’ top ten, but again Southern Italian beaches dominate better-known locales in Liguria and Tuscany.

Beaches are rated in "sails," these 10 spots received a "five-sail" rating: Otranto (Lecce), Buoso (Nuoro), Cinque Terre (Liguria), Orosei (Nuoro) , Pollica Acciaroli e Pioppi (Salerno), Tropea (Calabria), Castiglione della Pescaia (Grosseto), Arbus (Sardinia) and Tremiti Islands (Foggia) .

Ratings also take into account natural beauty, contamination but also tourist structures, noise levels and environment-friendly waste systems. Sandy spots with a "four-sail" rating (thirty total) include: Sirolo (Marches), Isola del Giglio (Grosseto), Positano and Anacapri.

Zoomata.com is the brainchild of a bilingual journalist based in Italy who thinks out of the box. This brain is for hire.

Related resources:
www.legambiente.com
Here’s the online free searchable guide to Italian beaches, in Italian only. Can be searched by ‘rating’ (‘punteggio’), province or region. Among the other symbols rating beaches are stars for environmental soundness and petals for tourist amenities.

The Rough Guide to Italy

www.multimania.com/natur/ita/#en
Map of Italy’s nudist camps & beaches (with terse descriptions in in English, Italian & French) in collaboration with FENAIT, Italy’s largest ‘naturist’ association. Keep in mind these are places where nudity is tolerated — associations are still awaiting a law to make nude bathing legal.

 

Pompeii Opens to Night Crawlers

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Nocturnal tours of Pompeii in Italy start at the recently unveiled ‘pleasure baths’ (terme suburbane) to the accompaniment of music written for the occasion by spaghetti-western soundtrack maestro Ennio Morricone. Until Aug.31 2003, visitors will see a new side of Italy’s most famous archeological treasures in an hour-long special tour, thanks in part to a new unobtrusive lighting system. Cost of the hour-long visit, given three times an evening at 9:30, 10:30 or or 11:30 p.m. and given in English or Italian, is 24 euro. A stroll through one of the evocative archeological site winds up with a multimedia light show in the forum.

www2.pompeiisites.org
Take a look at the night version..

Pompeii: the Inside Story
A fascinating look for archeology buffs…

The Rub:
Reservations aren’t obligatory, but an excellent idea. Tickets can be purchased in Pompeii, at the Porta Marina ticket office from 7 – 9 p.m., at least 20 minutes before the tour.
Or, get them online:
www.arethusa.net

 

Visiting Pisa’s Towers: Reservations

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After long months of enticing conversation with custodians at the bell tower for news, the online booking service for obligatory reservations of one of Italy’s most famous monuments has finally been launched.

Okay, so it’s a few months late and the cost (17 euro) is a bit higher than first estimated, but it’s worth it. A certain stamina is required for the 40-minute visit — tourists have to trek up 300 steps and sufferers of vertigo need not apply. Timing is also of the essence: reservations can only be made for the current two months and space is limited…

In English or Italian:
www.opapisa.it/boxoffice/index.html

Related resources:
The Tower of Pisa
Italy’s famous tower & how it got that famous lean…

Italian City of Venice Helps Couples Wed

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Saying “I do” in Venice just became easier — now that city officials have launched a website for couples who wish to get married in one of Italy’s most beautiful cities.

"Sposarsi a Venezia" is a new free service set up by local government, in four languages, aimed at taking some of the hassle out of planning an Italian wedding. Fees and paperwork are explained up front and couples can choose the wedding date online to avoid ugly surprises.

La Serenissima has every incentive to help couples — marriages are big business in Italy. Last year, wedding ceremonies in Venice alone brought in €200,000 and were up 20% from the previous year. Most of those who wed in the city were foreigners — led by Germans (20%) followed by British (14%) and Americans (8%). Venice offers an incomparable setting, especially for civil weddings: couples can arrive by gondola to the Renaissance palazzo Cavalli where the ceremony takes place and say "I do" with a view on the Grand Canal.

Those who hope to save by not hiring a marriage consultant to organize this dream destination wedding will find that Venice, as always, doesn’t come cheap. For EU citizens who chose to get hitched in the morning (during office hours), a civil service costs €309.87 and doubles outside those hours, while for non-EU residents the fees start at €1239.50 and can go as high as €3098.74.?1999-2004 zoomata.com

Zoomata is the brainchild of a bilingualjournalist based in Italy who thinks out of the box. This brain is for hire.

Related resources:
www.comune.venezia.it/demografici/matrimoni/english/civile.asp
The "Sposarsi a Venezia" site — info in Italian, English, Spanish and German.

Abbondanza! Planning an Italian Wedding