Weekend in Italy

Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper in Milan has opened reservations for December today! Don’t miss the unique oportunity to visit one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of art, located in the refectory of the 15th century Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, so highly requested that tickets are already getting sold out.

In Florence, LAST CHANCE to visit the Vasari Corridor. The corridor will be closed from the end of this year a major restoration work scheduled to last about 3 years. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to view Florence and its artistic pleasures on this exclusive aerial way, thought to allow the granduques to move in safety without escorts, from their private residence to the government palace, and was a prestigious reason for the Medici. It contains now a collection of portraits and important collections of paintings of the 17th and 18th Centuries.

In addition, Florence state museums will be opening the 2010 reservations next Monday November 16th. Please remember early booking avoids you finding sold out dates and gives you higher chances of getting the exact time you wish, so you can perfectly program your schedule while in Italy. State museums include the Uffizi and the Accademia Galleries, and Palazzo Pitti with all its galleries and gardens.

We are glad to welcome a new provider to our network, introducing you their services in Turin:

Regular tours:

Discover the Magic Turin! You will be led through the “dark” side of the city. You will explore them both during a “magical mystery tour” starting from the darker and more sinister heart of the city, among angels and devils, scary stone monsters and sinister architecture.

Get into the Thriller Turin; a century of crimes and unsolved mysteries with Turin as scenario of thrillers, intrigues, sensational facts and cases of crime news.

Fifteen meters below the city the tunnels of the citadel and the sub-cellars of the Baroque palaces are waiting for you to discover their mysteries, on the sites of gory murders which have never been solved: visit the Underground Turin.

Private Tasting Tours:

Slipping away in Langhe area: Full day in the heart of Langhe, the land of Barolo, Barbera and Barnaresco wines. On the way back, guided visit to Serralunga with its XIV century castle.

Enotrekking, a walk among the vineyards, is the new frontier in gastronomic tourism, not only in the restaurants of the Langa region, but in the Langa itself, walking among the rows of vines, breathing in the aromas of the grapes and the earth.

Where does the high quality Piedmont meat come from? With this journey you will discover how an agricultural firm works and you will taste the specialties of the Meats from the Granda and Racconigi castle.

Whole day deep in the nature, in the history and gastronomy of Monferrato, with final halt at the belvedere of Albugnano to enjoy the evocative panorama on vineyards, towns and villages surrounded by the mountain range of Alpi Marittime and Alpi Cozie.

Tasting workshops:

Cooking lessons at your place: A lesson to learn how to cook and how to eat, comfortably sit down at your place using your own kitchen utensils, guided by a professional chef who will reveal his tricks, methods and recipes.

Tasting workshop at your place or in our Eataly seat: Lessons - tasting lasting about an hour and a half, guided by expert gourmets and producers of certain types of products (cold cuts, cheeses, spices, vegetables and oils), accompanied by a selection of wines, beers, liqueurs, spirits.

Team building:

Truffle hunting: A funny “truffle hunting”, in Langhe or Monferrato area, with a real “trifulau” and his dog. Funny activities linked to taste, created to motivate participants to reach a common goal, in which performing and being together allow to share the space, the time and the emotions.

Summer has just ended and with it is coming the last chance to join the so-called high-season services. If you are coming to Italy before middle Autumn, here is a list of charming services you might enjoy joining, not available in low season:

In Rome, available until the end of October: book a guided visit to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel; another version of the tour includes also the visit to Saint Peter’s Basilica. If you prefer an open air tour, you can choose our Historical Walk to Baroque Rome, that will show you the legendary Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and Piazza Navona, or Historical Walk to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, (the political, military, and civic center of the Roman Empire), as well as the Arch of Titus and the Arch of Constantine.

In Florence, available until the end of November, you can experience the real Italian cuisine: Cooking hand-made fresh pasta following ancient Italian traditions, both using a rolling pin and a pasta machine,  followed by lunch with the dishes you have prepared, accompanied by a good Tuscan wine. Also for Italian food lovers, the Medieval Florence Gastronomic tour, until October 31st: discover the part of the historical center where it is still possible to imagine the life of Florence in the fourteenth century with the kiosks selling the old and tasty “street food”, like “trippa” and “lampredotto”, “panino con il Peposo”, “crostini fiorentini”, “pappa al pomodoro”,  “ribollita” and “coccoli fritti”.

And, for those of you willing to take advantage of the last warm days of the year, available until the end of October the Panoramic trekking in Florence: wear a comfortable pair of shoes and discover the city from another point of view! A local guide will take you along routes unbeaten by mass tourism among the green of the hill that is closer to the historical center. It is a walk in contact with the art, history and nature of Florence enjoying a wonderful and unforgettable view of the city.

A journey through 1000 years of faith, art and history. An invitation to discover the treasures kept in Venice’s most surprising museum - its churches. You can see masterpieces by the great artists working in the city down the centuries, in the actual sites for which they were conceived and created. At the same time, you will discover a surprising Venice made up of silent, secret places. And you will become part of a great project to restore the city’s artistic heritage.

The highlight of the tour is to visit a traditional chocolate maker and taste the different flavors (Bitterness, acidity, sweetness, astringency and saltiness) exalted by different Italian wines… to delight your palates to the fullest! Inclusions: Chocolate “carre Criollo”, chocolate with 65% of pure cocoa, dark cremino with hazelnut, vanilla and cream pralina ganache accompanied by Vin Santo di Sticciano, chocolate and hazelnut cantuccino biscuit, cane sugar biscuit, filled chocolate with giunduia cream, plain chocolate with 85% of pure cocoa accompanied by Barolo Chinato, different creams with chocolate and fruit, Panforte and Panpepato accompanied with Prosecco della Valdobbiadene. You can join here!

Luxurious wines and cheeses specially selected by our Sommelier and matched by the most traditional flavors of the Lazio countryside. Tasting in a typical wine bar located in the heart of Rome. Also included is a detailed explanation of the various flavors and background of the history.

Enjoy some of the many delicious tastes of the Lazio region!

Opening on September 24th and until January 17th 2010, at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome, the exhibition “Rome, the painting of an Empire”, the figurative representation of a crucial period in Roman history, from the 1st century BC to the 5th AD. Six centuries which saw the Roman Empire rise and develop, from the advent of Julius Caesar in 49 BC to the extraordinary consolidation of advanced power structures that could hold such a vast territory together.

You can book your entrance tickets here.

The exhibition displays, for the first time, the results of the most recent archaeological researches, performed by international teams and by the Florence University mission for more than 20 years in Jordan in Petra and Shawbak sites, one of the most important historic areas in the world, scenery of extraordinary discoveries in the last 15 years.

Here you can book your tickets for the exhibition and the Boboli gardens

The exhibition, named after Ferdinando I’s personal saying (maiestate tantum), focuses on two emblematic events, both linked to the dinasty affirmation policy followed by Ferdinando: the wedding with Cristina di Lorena, belonging to the France royal family, and the precious altar-ciborium for the family mausoleum, the princes’ chapel, chosen for the exhibition.

From May 2nd 2009 to November 1st 2009 in Florence

http://en.firenze.waf.it/museo_dett/27-state-museums/121-medici-chapels.html

The whole Milan and surroundings is in a fermen: the end of January brings back the great Italian and International concerts, from Italian music to jazz, passing through clavicembalo concerts.

At Teatro Condominio Vittorio Gassman in Gallarate, in Varese, is in program the concert of two great artists of Italian Jazz music: Enrico Rava playing the trumpet and Stefano Bollani playing the piano. Both musicians collaborate from many years, in live exhibitions and records: following the “The Third Man” success getting the nomination as Best Jazz Album on 2008, January 2009 has just released the new CD “New York Days”, recorded in New York together with Paul Motian, Larry Grenadier and Mark Turner. This Rava and Bollani’s concert in Gallarate is already a success.

Enrico Rava does not need to be introduced: he has been one of the most famous jazz players since the 60’s, not only in Italy but in Europe too.

His ideal pupil Stefano Bollani, after cooperating with important Italian pop artists (Raf, Irene Grandi, Jovanotti) has asserted himself as a poliedric artist and jazz protagonist. Defined on 1998 the best revelation talent alternates irony and artistic capacity in his performances.

The duet Rava Bollani gives lots of emotions each time for live music lovers.

Enrico Rava and Stefano Bollani concert: purchase now the tickets online>>
March 20th 2009, 9 pm

Tickets still available for the Rava - Bollani concert: poltronissima, poltrona, galleria.
Price: from 26 euros.