Friuli is famous for its spectacular whites. In fact, anytime anyone tells me they don’t really care for white wine, my response is usually “Yes, you do,” while handing them a Tocai or Ribolla or Chardonnay or Malvasia or a blend from Isonzo or Collio or the Colli Orientali. There is a pause, and [...]
Judging by the crowds that lined bridges as well as the number of participating boats and rowers, the Corteo Carnevale isbecoming almost as popular as the Vogalonga.
This costumed procession is held on the first weekend of the two-week long Carnevale, open to anyone and everyone that knows how to row Venetian-style and can get their [...]
“So what’s a battipali,” you ask? “A human pile-driver,” might be the translated response.
Ever wonder how the piles that define Venetian parking places were once driven into the soft canal bed? (When you didn’t have the mechanized version handy, I mean.)
Easy: you found a big strong he-man, gave him an attrezzatura (implement) created just for [...]
If you’re in the city on Epiphany (Wednesday, January 6th) be sure to pass through the Piazza San Marco to view the Procession of the Magi at the Torre dell’Orologio. Every hour on the hour, the archangel Gabriele will appear triumphantly at the left door on the half circle above the clock and below the [...]
At 11 a.m. on Epiphany, Wednesday, January 6th, the 32nd annual Regata delle Befane will be held on the “Canalazzo,” the Grand Canal. This is not an official Comune sporting event, but rather annual festivity organized by the historic Cannotieri Bucintoro (a rowing club founded in 1882).
Just for the heck of it, five males over [...]
An estimated 30,000 people, undeterred by the high-water forecast, amassed to joyfully herald in the New Year yesterday evening as the ankle-deep tide washed over Piazza San Marco. Half of the revellers came from the mainland, the Comune surmised; the other half were locals and in-town lodgers. From the photos it looks like most donned [...]
A friend from Greece (Mama Mia was shot on her island, for heaven’s sake) just sent me this photo. What it has to do with New Year’s, I’m not sure, but aren’t they the cutest things?
So, bah-ba-ah-ah-aah, 2009, and best wishes to all of us for a happy, properous – or maybe just even less [...]
The traditional, all-fish feast at a friend’s 4th floor home on Christmas Eve was interrupted by the audio warning for the event we’d already prepared for: the arrival later that evening of the 150cm (five-foot) tide:
Venice sirens, acqua alta
“Disquieting,” was the word they used to describe the sound; inquietante. Fortunately, the sirens were followed [...]
In 1929, it did. How cold was it?
This cold. Walk-from-Fondamente-Nove-to-Murano cold.
1929 was a harsh winter for all of Europe…Venice included. A voga friend uploaded this archival video of Frozen Venice; they’d not experienced anything like it for over 100 years. (Check his YouTube site for more historic footage.)
Can you spot the vaporetto di una volta, from [...]
We knew she’d do it; it was only a matter of time. Michela Scibilia, one of our most reliable go-to girls for Many Things Venice has made it that much more convenient to have her eating and drinking preferences at the tip of your fingertips…if you have an iPhone, anyway.
TapVenice Eating may not be the [...]
My friends who live in Southern Italy are fond of reminding me what I’m missing by not having made it south of Naples (yet!), and I’m also quite content to have them constantly telling me about how great their part of Italy is. One of my pals in the bottom half of the boot is [...]
Rome airport tries body scanner
The Fiumicino Airport in Rome (the country's main international gateway) is the first in Italy to start using a full-body scanner at security. It's in the terminal where all the US airlines arrive. In other words, wear your nice undies to Italy.
Five Ski Resorts in Northern Italy
Italy is more often associated [...]
This is part of my perfect Italy itinerary series - it’s the second stop on the tour. If you missed the first one, go back and see what to do with two days in Venice!
If you’re following along on my suggested 2-week Italy itinerary and you’ve arrived on this page, that means you’ve just left [...]
Many moons ago (read: late last year) I had to put the weekly Italy news posts I’d been doing on WhyGo Italy on temporary hiatus - the holidays were looming, life was crazy busy, and I just couldn’t keep up with all of those Italian news outlets to post tidbits to the site on a [...]
10 Secrets of the Vatican Exposed
My favorite? In Vatican City, you can choose "Latin" as the language in which to complete your ATM transactions. Awesome.
Experts Warn Italians Of Possible New Landslide Threats
More landslides possible in parts of Italy that have already been hit by several serious landslides recently.
Commonality of Italian surnames in Italy
Interesting site that [...]
If you’ve been following along here at WhyGo Italy over the years, you’ll know that I was an Italophile who learned to love - and then went crazy over - the country’s “other” national religion, soccer. I’m not the world’s biggest sports fan, but when I get interested in watching a sport it’s usually because [...]
One of the most popular articles on this site since its inception remains my suggested two-week itinerary in Italy. And since there’s a contingent of visitors to that page who clearly crave more detail (just scroll down to see all the comments I’ve gotten asking me to opine on itineraries!), I thought I’d start breaking [...]
Whatever noble reasons you think you have for traveling, at some level travel is about checking things off a to-do list. It might be countries you want to visit, or activities you want to do, or pieces of artwork you want to see. So when travelers see an article listing (for instance) famous bridges around [...]
There’s a joke floating around the interwebs that goes something like this:
Q: How do you impress an Italian girl?
A: You wine her, dine her, hug her, support her, compliment her, suprise her, smile at her, hold her, romance her, laugh with her, shop with her, cuddle her, go to the end of the earth for [...]
Travel opens you up to all kinds of new experiences, so it’s only natural that travelers are more susceptible to falling head over heels in love with people they meet on the road. Sometimes it’s another traveler in the hostel common room, but when you’re traveling in Italy it’s almost impossible not to fall in [...]