Weekend in Italy

It’s already time…in a few hours we will say goodbye to 2008 year. Are you ready to toast to new year’s arrival? Who knows where will take us this 2009.

Where will you be for the New Year Eve? In some art city as Florence, Venice, Rome? or in the always animated Milan, with its lights and shops? or perhaps you are having a weekend in Naples to celebrate the New Year with your friends in one of the cities where this moment is most expected.

Wherever you are, congratulations! May this night be magic to all of you.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The journal Il Sole24Ore published today the list of quality of life in Italy, with the list of 103 Italian cities considering various parameters: presence of restaurants, spare time, security, business, facilities, jobs…to decide which is the best city to live in.

Florence has a good position in the list: 12th place in the country. The best scores go to sport, culture (in Florence are purchased many books: more than 5% of the books sold in Italy) and music (quantity of concerts). This is a sign that events in Florence are always available.

Sienna has a good position too, confirming the 7th place it had last year.

Another  interesting fact is the ideal city, the city perceived as the best city you could live if you could choose.  Florence is the fist place, followed by Rome and Milan. This means Italians love cosmopolitan cities, medium-large, with a wide offer of museums, concerts and exhibitions: so, a place with several activities for the spare time, as those living there love having a tourist weekend too.

If you are home with your families, or on vacation in Rome, Venice, or a long weekend in Florence or Naples…

we wish you all from our hearts MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Che siate a casa con le vostre famiglie, oppure in vacanza in Roma o  a Venezia, o magari per un weekend lungo a Firenze o a Napoli…

a tutti voi auguriamo di cuore BUON NATALE!

There are still some few seats available for the New Year concert in Rome at Quarticciolo Theater, a recently opened theater part of the recovery program for the Quarticciolo old market. The project, followed by architects Ferdinando Pepe and Angelo Preziosi, includes a theater, a multimedial library, and exhibitions area and a refreshment-room, all in 1500 square meters.

The New Year concert at Quarticciolo Theater in Rome is performed by the Philharmonic of Rome, with musics by Johann Strauss jr, in the version for Salon-Ensamble, according to the transcription of some of the most important composers of early 2oth Century.

The concert will last about 2 hours. Cost is 10.80 euro, including reservation fee. You can purchase it online here>>

The theater is close to two important streets: Viale P. Togliatti and Via Prenestina. The access to the theater is easy by public transportation:

bus line 451 from Ponte Mammolo (Metro B) or Cinecittà (Metro A) - stop Togliatti/Gelsi
bus line 556 from via Walter Tobagi or via delle Gardenie - stop Togliatti/Gelsi
tram 14 stop from via Giovanni Amendola (Termini) - capolinea Togliatti

See what else you can do in Rome: museums, tours, itineraries, shopping…

If you are planning to make the Christmas Holidays in Florence and you want to visit twoof the most famous museums in the world, named the Uffizi Gallery and the Vasari Corridor, this is a not to miss oportunity.

Don’t worry about long lines and opening times of the Uffizi Gallery during Christmas holidays. Book an exclusive visit, just for you!

There are still some places available for the guided visit, a visit thought for small groups (6 people minimum) with a professional guide in Italian or English, to visit both the Uffizi and the Vasaro Corridor. Useless mentioning the quantity of masterpieces inside the Uffizi Museum, they are well known: from Botticelli to Leonardo da Vinci, from Raphael to Michelangelo and Giotto…it is more difficult knowing what hides inside the Vasari Corridor, as it is closed most of the time and hard to visit.

This is why it is a special occasion to do so, choosing the time you prefer!

Thursday December 30th 2008 at 10:30

Saturday January 4th 2009 at 10:30

Tuesday January 6th 2009 at 10:30

book your places for the guided visit to the Uffizi and the Vasari Corridor

For Christmas Holidays, give yourself a night tour of Rome through the streets of the Imperial city, in order to admire at night all those lights illuminating it.

Christmas is the best period of the year. In addition to the usual lights to give omage to the monuments as Colosseum, the Imperial Fora and the Constantine Arch, the whole city is decorated with lights to celebrate Christmas and New Year.

This tour lasts about 2 hours, departing around 8 pm, and takes place by bus. It includes two stops: in the splendid Piazza Navona to admire the beautiful Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi and obviously the Fontana di Trevi, to throw away  the coin in the water made famous by Anita Ekberg.

Thanks to an expert, it is possible not only to admire, but also to discover the story and some fascinating details of the Imperial Rome (Colosseum, Circo Massimo, Roman Fora) and later ages. It is a way to visit Rome comfortably even if you don’t have much time available, perhaps after an intense journey of museums and shopping, admiring some masterpieces of Italian art, sitting down on a bus.

Passing through the Tiber river, you will be next to the Jewish district with the synagogue and then next to the huge Castel Sant’Angelo: two symbols of the presence in Rome of different religions.

Then, the park of Villa Borghese, the Pincio hill and Piazza del Popolo, with the twin churches and Ramses obelisk, Porta Pinciana, and then to Via Veneto, famous for the social life during the 50’s and 60’s, with the nice caffès and hotels attended by vips, immortalized in the film “la Dolce Vita“. Because Rome has had fame and splendour in various centuries.

Except December 24th and 31st, this tour is always available: book now your tour to the Illuminated Rome>>

Photo by Jeffemanuele by Flickr

If you are planning a weekend in Milan to see the Christmas markets, and doing some Christmas shopping, don’t miss the exhibition that will end immediately after the holidays.

We are talking about “Da Canaletto a Tiepolo“, the exhibition that, hosted in Palazzo Reale in Piazza Duomo, displays a selection of art works from a large and extraordinary private collection: Angelo Guido Terruzzi’s.

The exhibition, open until the beginning of January, celebrates the Venetian painting from the 18th Century. Together with paintings by Tiepolo (2 rooms), Canaletto (5 works), Marco Ricci, Francesco Zuccarelli, Gaspar van Wittel among others, some valuable furniture and porcelains from the same period.

It is also available a beautiful catalog of the exhibition.

Palazzo Reale Piazza Duomo 12, Milano Opening hours:

Monday 14.30 – 19.30
From Tuesday to Sunday 9.30-19.30
Thursday 9.30 – 22.30
Children until 5 years old, free entrance; from 6 to 14 years old reduced price ticket.

To purchase online tickets for the Tiepolo and Canaletto exhibition >>

If you are looking for a different New Year Day, cultural, we suggest you a few days in Campania, to visit the Royal Palace in Caserta.

The Royal Palace, one of the most famous and impressive in Europe, is open in December too (except Christmas day), and its gorgeous gardens can be visited in the morning too.

This majestic complex, a celebration of Italian Baroque, was ordered by Borbon family, who wanted to create a residence comparable to Versailles. A plain area, at the foot of the Tifanini Mounts, was chosen to get away from the sea staying close to Naples. More than a palace, it was intended as a city. 4.500.000 ducats were spent just to built the Royal Palace. At completion, there are more than 1200 rooms, in a palace which construction took a lot of time: from 1752 to 1780.

To visit:

- the splendid Room of the Throne, where the king received the official delegations, ambassadors and other kings in visit.
- the park, more than 3 km long, with fountains, roads, statues and all the elements of the classic Italian Garden.
- the royal apartments

The Royal Palace in Caserta has been the scenery of many films: from the first films of Star Wars (the prequel) to Mission Impossible, to the Italian fiction Elisa di Rivombrosa and the film from Don Brown’s best seller Angels and Demons.

Two tickets for the Royal Palace in Caserta on December 31st 2008 at 10:30 cost less than 20 euro…

Venice is a very romantic city, where couples love to get lost: there’s nothing more fascinating that walk hand in hand between alleys and bridges.

Winter, with the fog slowly rising from the sea, has a very particular fascination…Sometimes, it seems to make disappear palaces and monuments and to hide the beauty of this city in the silence.

The advantage of the Christmas Holidays, or as an idea to celebrate the New Year! Give yourself a romantic weekend in Venice, or perhaps some more days to relax and enjoy the less tourist zones of the city. The magic atmosphere of the city surrounded by the lagoon will make it feels as a Doge’s New Year’s Eve .

And if you want to give yourself, perhaps as Christmas gift, a unique experience, take a gondola ride. While you relax on a romantic sofa, the gondola rider behind you will tell you the story and anecdotes about Venice, indicating you the palaces that belonged to celebrities, and tips that only Venetian people know.

Do you think a gondola ride is too expensive? We’ve heard it can cost from 60, 80 euros on, and many gondola riders haggle.

Book it now, by internet, and you will spend much less than you can imagine.

A gondola ride for December 31st, departing from Ponte della Paglia at 15:30, taking you on Canal Grande and the small inner canals, will cost you only € 46.20…

Give yourself an unforgettable New Year Holiday…

One of the most important art cities for Christmas and New Year Holidays is certainly Florence. The richness of artistic teasures inside its museums, the beauty of the city, and the good cuisine, attract thousands of people  for the holidays.

One of the most famous and photographed paaces in Florence is Palazzo della Signoria, also known as Palazzo Vecchio. An imponent and majestic Medicean fortress, symbol of the power of Florence rulers, starting from the Medici family.

But not everybody knows that Palazzo Vecchio is a huge museum with itineraries and visits for adults and families.

The Quartieri Monumentali of the palace, the secret passages, the visit with an exceptional guide: Vasari, the private audience with Cosimo I de’ Medici or his wife, Eleonora di Toledo, are just some of the many possibilities offered by the museums of Palazzo Vecchio.

Guided visits of about an hour, taking place also for Christmas and holidays, allow visitors to dive into ancient Florence between intrigues and secrets of the most famous court during the Renaissance.

Special itineraries for the families: guided visits to show Palazzo Vecchio to kids from 4 to 8 years old, from 8 to 10 years old, and from 10 to 18 years old.

Not to miss: the secret passages, when you can discover hidden passages and doors behind a painting, or the recent discovery of Roman Florence, where once was the Temple.

For more details about the secret passages>>