Travel to Italy is to travel to Fiuggi, Italy, in Italy’s Lazio region. Outside Rome ancient water springs feed fountains, pools and people in this one of the amazing town of Lazio region in Italy. Italy’s regions are all special and on our travel in Italy to Rome we went to the closeby town of Fiuggi to experience for ourselves true Italy Travel in Central Italy, in the Lazio region of Italy. To experience Fiuggi in Italy was for us to experience 2000 years of Italian culture one of travel’s greatest delights: from Ancient Rome and the Eutruscans to today’s fine Italian restaurants, fine hotels in Italy and Italy shopping for Made in Italy brands. Lazio Italy was great for us to visit and easy since it is located just outside Rome, Italy. Traveling in Italy is to be with Italian Lovers, to be in fine hotels in Italy and fine Italian food is a travel memory for all times. Italian Wine, Italian food, Italian cooking, Italian women, Italian men, Italian style and fashion, Italian towns like Fiuggi are very special travel experiences. This Fiuggi Italy travel video takes place in one of Italy’s least explored regions, yet in the region of Rome Italy, Fiuggi is in central Italy is a little Italian town, welcomes visitors with warm Italian people, fine Italian restaurants and clean streets and piazza. Italy is a favorite destination and an Italian tour of the countryside outside Rome, Italy is a travel treasure. Italy welcomes experienced and non-experienced travelers, Italy …
September 12, 2010
Italy Travel: Ancient Rome Water Springs / Rome, Italy
August 21, 2010
Rome Tourist Information: Weather in Rome, Italy
Autumn Weather in Rome
Without fail, Romans recommend that the best time to travel to Rome is from mid-September to October. Yes, it might rain, but the temperatures turn out to be quite nice, even if it is getting a tiny bit chilly at night. Almost no one recommends November, but I’ve had very good luck the last few years with weather in the first half of November.
Spring Weather in Rome
May has almost the same temperatures as October, and April, while you’re likely to feel chilly at night, is almost as good.
The effects upon tourism and the tourist industry could be numerous, though I will only mention a couple. Many people complain about hotel and apartment rates increasing, not only during the summer months, but throughout the whole year. And quite right I say, when there are 300 rooms with air-conditioning systems set to -5 degrees Celsius all day, (whilst the guests themselves are stripping off beside the pool trying to soak up every last heat ray that the sun exudes). Add to that, the fact that the hotter countries, including Italy, often experience troubles such as water shortages during the summer months. One cannot travel more than 20-30 kilometers outside of the center of Rome, without spotting a water tower; ready and waiting for such emergencies.
Then again, as a frequent traveller myself, I have to admit that I am amongst those who whinge about the cost of holidays and the annoying chamber maid that turned off my air-con again. I also complain after 3 days of staying in an air-conditioned room that my asthma is playing up and find myself, throughout the remainder of my holiday, popping anti-histamine tablets and taking my inhalers to counter the side-effects of my “cutting-my-nose-off-to-spite-my-own-face” overindulgence. (But that’s part of being on holiday is it not?) I am of course trying my best to play devils advocate. But, again in favour of hotels, the hotter the weather, the more washing of sheets and towels the hotels are required to do as people sweat and consequentially shower/bathe more, (affecting the volume of water).
As far as the industry its self is concerned, yes; people do flock in their thousands, from the colder parts of the world to the heat, as soon as the summer months arrive, BUT, when you feel like the core of your body has turned into volcanic lava, are you really going to want a 10oz Sirloin Steak and all the trimmings for your dinner; or (to use Italy as an example) a 4-5 course dinner of starter, pasta dish, meat dish, dessert and coffee/spirit? I know that I personally lose 90% of my appetite for large and hot meals in the heat. Then again I do drink more, so do the restaurants and bars rely on this to make their money?
For residents, the temperatures can cause several problems. People taking time of work due to problems such as heat/sun stroke, problems with dehydration or people generally taking days off to go to the beach. Add to that, everything in Italy slows down. The Italians are well-known for being “laid-back” and “easy with time”, but the truth is that in the summer months, it’s hard to get anything done. I know that I personally find it difficult to move some days without finding myself “glowing”. Older people in Italy are told to visit supermarkets and shopping centers to help them cool down. Last year I found myself looking forward to going to a well-known Italian meat supermarket, simply because the entire store is a freezer. The only problem was, I’d feel sick as soon as I stepped outdoors, as it was like jumping from Scotland to Italy. The heat, after the extreme cool, was thick and choking. Driving your car can be a nightmare, anywhere from not being able to plug in your seat belt or touch the steering wheel because they have been heated to melting point; to getting stuck in hot, sticky, airless traffic jams. Weeds and bushes on the sides of the road have been known to set on fire, by a combination of the sun drying them out and the heat from the tarred roads setting them alight. Occasionally there are problems with power-outages in homes and shops, because the generators, wires or transition boxes have overheated. Or how do you feel about brushing your teeth in hot water? The pros of course… if like me you are to tight-pursed that you refuse to fork out for air-conditioning, your power bill in the summer months can decrease to almost nothing in Italy. Unlike the old cold summers I used to endure when I lived in Scotland, there’s no need to have your water heater on all day to take a shower or wash the dishes. No need for heating or lights on all day thanks to the light and heat of the sun. And finally, my personal favourites, you can put away your winter duvet at nights and enjoy the reduced quantity of laundry, thanks to the fact you wear less clothes and used less bed linen.
Now in 2007. This year, June was HOT. Very hot. By far, warmer than last year, but it followed a very wet April and May. July has been up and down. I am lucky to live north of Italy in the mountains where we get some breeze; but on a trip to the south of Rome (where I used to live also), to visit friends a few weeks ago, I realised just how lucky I really am. The change in temperature from the north to the south was uncanny. There was literally a 5-10 degree drop that day between my home in the north and my friends in the south. More shocking to me, was the change in air. Being situated in the countryside here in the north, higher up and surrounded by fields and trees etc. our air is fresh and soft on the nose and throat (terrible for any one with Hay-fever, but none the less a good clean air. In the south however; my friends live in a reasonably built up area, even the countryside full of houses and small repair garages and abandoned buildings. The air is thick, smoggy and hot. My father, on a trip to visit, once described it as holding a hair dryer in front of your face and I cannot think of a better explanation.
I cannot determine whether the increase in the temperature within Italy, or the effects; are caused by Global warming, or if we are quite simply receiving a freak weather change; but as an expat in Rome, I can say that the weather change is certainly noticeable. As for the effects, well I could be right I could be wrong, I cannot know, but I would like to hope that tourism and peoples desires to visit hotter countries such as Italy will not be affected too much, as Italy is a truly beautiful country to visit and with so much to enjoy and such easy access to low cost flights and airports and with the ease of self-booking thanks to teletext and the Internet; it would be a shame for the weather to spoil it all.
Find Italy travel and more useful information about travel tips at this travel directory.
August 13, 2010
What is the most convienent and time saving travel in italy(rome->florence->venice->back to rome)?
Which is the most time saving and conveniant way to travel in italy:
rome to florence to venice and back to rome?
August 3, 2010
What is the cheapest month to travel to Rome, Italy?
My husband and my two kids who are 4 and 2 want to go to rome, italy. But i think its too expensive. Every where i go online they want $900 or more and that is out of our price range.my husband does not make enough money being in a Soldier but i still would like to go on a vacation. And no i dont want to visit a state near me. Just give me the cheapest month to travel to Italy. Thanks.
July 4, 2010
I Love Touring Italy – Latium West of Rome
If you are in the mood to tour Europe, you should really consider the Latium region of central western Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea. Latium, also known as Laszio, is the region that includes Italys capital Rome, the Eternal City. Given the number of articles describing the multiple pleasures of Rome, we will write about the lesser-known attractions of Latium. This article focuses on Latium west of Rome. A companion article describes Latium east of Rome.
Well start our tour at Cerveteri about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Rome. Well head along the sea northwest past Romes port, Civitvecchia, and stop at Tarquinia. Then well travel inland (northeast) to Tuscania, Viterbo, Bagnaia, and then southeast to the village of Caprarola. We then head almost directly north to finish our tour at Bomarzo not far from the Umbrian border. (It might be a bit shorter to go from Bagnaia to Bomarzo and then to Caprarola but as you will see, we have our reasons for following the first itinerary.) Before we start this tour we will introduce a onetime major player, the Etruscans.
The Etruscans were a people who dominated large parts of Italy including Latium from an unknown prehistoric period up until the Roman Empire. We dont know much about their origins, language, culture, or their way of life. Much of our knowledge about this formerly powerful people can be seen on our tours of Latium. An important book about the Etruscans, Sketches of Etruscan Places and other Italian Essays (1932), was written by the British Author D. H. Lawrence, better known for another work, Lady Chatterlys Lover.
Cerveteri, population about thirty thousand, was once the Etruscan city of Caere. UNESCO has classified Cerveteri as a World Heritage Site because of its Etruscan tombs. It is the largest ancient necropolis in the Mediterranean area. These tombs, and there are over a thousand of them, date from the Ninth Century B.C. to the Third Century B. C. Other local sights worth seeing include the Rocca castle, the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore and the Sixteenth Century Palazzo Ruspoli, not to be confused with a Palace of the same name in Florence. The nearby village of Ceri sits at the top of a fortified plateau. Its main attraction is the Romanesque Church of the Madonna of Ceri, built on a site originally dedicated to the worship of the goddess Vesta. In 1980 during renovations, Twelfth Century frescos of Biblical scenes were uncovered.
Tarquinia whose population numbers about sixteen thousand is the site of about six thousand Etruscan tombs, some of which are decorated by wall paintings. The National Museum housed in the Fifteenth Century Palazzo Vitelleschi is known for its archeological contents. Tarquinia is home to a cathedral, several churches including two from the Twelfth Century (San Martino and St. John the Baptist), the Palazzo dei Priori, and several medieval towers.
Tuscania, population somewhat under eight thousand, was founded almost three thousand years ago but the area itself has been populated for perhaps eight or ten thousand years. Unfortunately Tuscania’s medieval city walls were mostly destroyed in a 1971 earthquake but they have been repaired and the interior is nicely landscaped. Like its neighbors, Tuscania is the site of many Etruscan tombs including the Tomb of the Queen, a series of labryinths containing about thirty tunnels. If you are like me, you prefer seeing other sights. Tuscania will not disappoint you. For example, there are several churches of great architectural interest and palaces aplenty. And you can visit the National Archeological Museum, but many of the displays are tomb-related.
Viterbo was formerly the popes’ favorite residence. Its historic old center is among the best preserved towns of central Italy. Be sure to see the Palazzo dei Papi (Papal Palace) and the Romanesque Cathedral of San Lorenzo, built by the Lombards over the ruins of an Etruscan Temple dedicated to Hercules. This building also served as a Papal residence. Pope John XXI died here in 1277 when the ceiling collapsed as he was sleeping. The Plaza di San Lorenzo contains several other buildings of interest. The medieval district of San Pellegrino is quite well preserved and definitely worth visiting. Viterbo is home to a spa with a gigantic limestone pool of very hot water. Its volcanic mud is highly recommended for those who like that sort of thing. I am told that the Enoteca La Torre has an extensive wine list. The Tre Re restaurant has been a fixture of Viterbos old town since 1622.
The nearby village of Bagnaia was the personal fiefdom of the bishops of Viterbo for centuries. It is best known for its magnificent Sixteenth Century water gardens, Villa Lante. There are two sets of buildings, built for two bishops, one of whom was known for living simply. Highlights include a Moorish fountain, a boxtree maze, and two casinos.
Neighboring Caprarola is the site of the Sixteenth Century Farnese Palace. This Palace was built for Cardinal Alessandro II Farnese, nephew of Pope Paul III, within ten years of construction of the Villa Lante. The two sites were built by the same architect, but in a very different style. Here you go to see the palace, although its park is nothing to sneer at. In fact, in many parts of the world, the Farnese Palace park would merit a visit on its own. We suggest that you see the Villa Lante and the Farnese Palace and compare. One thing is certain, the Sixteenth Century Italian upper class sure knew how to live.
You probably havent seen anything like Bomarzo. The villages main attraction is yet another Sixteenth Century garden, alternately known as Bosco Sacro (Sacred Grove) and Bosco di Mostri (Monsters Grove). It was built by a hunchbacked patron of the arts to honor his deceased wife. Some say that she died of heart failure after seeing the park. For centuries this park was neglected but now has been restored. The dozens of monster statues including Hanging House, the Dragon, the Ogre, and the Etruscan Bench with its inscription “You who travel the world, in search of great and beautiful wonders, come here, where there are horrible faces, elephants, lions, bear and dragons” seem strewn about aimlessly. This is probably as good a place as any to end your tour of western Latium.
What about food? Latium cuisine is one of abundance, perhaps in part because of the volcanic soil. The best cuts of meat were reserved for the rich and the poor had to make do with the rest, including feet, heart, kidneys, tongue, and tripe. Lets not forget the pasta, said to be among the best in Italy. Fettuccine Alfredo comes from this region. Lets suggest a sample menu, one of many. Start with Carciofi alla Guidea (Deep fried Artichokes). Then try Porchetta (Roast Suckling Pig). For dessert indulge yourself with Ciambella (Pastry with Sweetened Grapes and Carmelized Chestnuts). Be sure to increase your dining pleasure by including local wines with your meal.
Well finish this article with a peek at Latium wine. More than four out of five bottles produced here are white. There are twenty five DOC wines. DOC stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata, which may be translated as Denomination of Controlled Origin, presumably a high-quality wine, twenty of them white. However, only about 6% of Latium wine is so classified. Frankly, the region is not known for its wine. It once was; in the distant past Falernum, a Latium red was the hit of Ancient Rome. Who knows, perhaps one day the region will regain its former glory when it comes to wine. In the meantime, there is lots to see and lots to eat. And plenty of fine Italian wines are available. North of Latium is Umbria, and north of Umbria is Tuscany. Cantina Colacicchis Torre Ercolana is a Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot blend from Latium that comes highly recommended but I have yet to taste it.
Over the years Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten computer and Internet books, and yet he prefers fine Italian, German, or other wine, accompanied by the right foods and good company. He knows what dieting is, and is glad that for the time being he can eat and drink what he wants, in moderation. He loves teaching a variety of computer classes at an Ontario French-language community college. Visit his new wine, diet, health, and nutrition website www.wineinyourdiet.com and his Italian food website www.fooditalyfood.com.