ItalyUpdate

 

According to data published by the Italian Touring Club, bookings for spring breaks in Italy are up this year. In addition to the traditional “art cities”, other areas have been successful in attracting visitors through events, exhibitions and various initiatives.

 

NEW FERRARI CALIFORNIA T

                             

                                

 

Ferrari fans are eagerly awaiting the opening of the 2014 Geneva Fair (6-24 March) where the new Ferrari California T will be unveiled. A sleek convertible, this latest model from the Ferrari stables has a revolutionary V8 turbo engine with 560 horse power, which lets it rocket in 3.6 seconds from zero to a hundred kilometers.

Builders assure that this model consumes 15% less fuel than the preceding version, but buyers are unlikely to care much about this aspect!

 

The Carnival season starts with a swing in the popular Dolomite ski resort of Ortisei in Val Gardena (Bolzano) on  Shrove Thursday, the 27^th February 2014, with the traditional Grand Carnival Parade that wends from the Dolomite Madonna hotel to Ortisei, where the Ortisei Carnival Ski Show takes place in the evening.

 

CIBUS, the leading showcase of Italian gastronomy, will hold its 17^th edition in Parma between the 5-8th May 2014. The 2012 event hosted 2,300 stand-holders and attracted 63,000 professional visitors. With the introduction this year of the new section “Cibus Bollicine”, dedicated to wines and spumantes, organizers are confident that they will repeat the previous success.

Thousands of couples from all over the world flocked to Terni (Umbria) to take part in the five days of celebrations (12-16^th February 2014), dedicated to San Valentino, the patron saint of lovers, as well as the protector of the city. This year, as in the past editions, the major attraction was the chocolate fair, “Cioccolentino”, held in collaboration with the local Chamber of Commerce.

 

                          VESUVIUS NIGHT TOURS

At the Milan BIT (International Tourism Fair), the Campania Region launched a number of new initiatives to attract visitors to the area. Between June and September 2014, tourists can participate in evening excursions to the Vesuvius crater, accompanied by specialized guides, with theatrical performances along the way. “Buried Histories”, the successful series of tours of the archaeological site of Herculanum by moonlight will also be repeated this summer.

 

Info: www.coopculture.it                     info@campaniaartecard.it   

 

The 34^th edition of BIT, Italy’s annual international tourism fair, opened on the 11^th February 2014 under the best auspices, with an increase of 8% in the number of stands exhibiting. This year’s edition of the week-long Fair, held in Milan, has attracted over one thousand tour operators from 64 countries, 54 % of which participating for the first time.

 

Art installations and theatricals dominate the scene on the 16th February 2014 at Moncalieri (near Turin), when the inhabitants of eleven surrounding borghi, will be involved in presenting their home district in novel ways.

 

 

The annual procession bearing the gigantic “Macchina di Santa Rosa”, patron saint of Viterbo (Lazio) has been included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage listings, which highlight exceptionally interesting aspects of social and local cultural life in various countries. The 3 m-high illuminated tower, carried by hundreds of porters through the streets of the town every 3^rd September is an exciting and unique tradition that the UNESCO committee has judged worthy of being immortalized.