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It was all Wordsworth's fault. "A treasure whom the earth keeps to herself" he enthused about the deep chestnut forests and dark-eyed maids of Lake Como during a walking tour in 1790. No more. The word was out, and over the centuries romantic landscape painters followed by tidal waves of tourists have deluged the towns and villages of the secret treasure that enchanted the Lakeland poet.
Of all the statistics available on Italy and its varied economic problems, few are as eye-opening as the fact that at around 1 p.m on any given day, three quarters of the population will normally be sitting down to lunch in their own homes. According to data from statistics agency ISTAT, lunch is the most important meal of the day for 68 percent of Italians and 74.3 percent usually eat it at home, a figure which has grown as a long recession has hit spending on food and eating out.
On your next trip to Venice--because of course there will be a next trip--hop on up to Treviso some 40 minutes to the north.
Plácido Domingo was in Verona, Italy, for the past seven days presiding over his annual Operalia competition, which honors young singers at the beginning of their professional careers. On Sunday the winners of the 2013 competition were announced, with the top prizes going to singers from Russia and China.
Amanda Knox, the American student accused of the 2007 murder of her British roommate, will not return to Italy for a retrial due to begin next month, her lawyer told an Italian daily on Saturday.
Italy’s first black cabinet minister Cécile Kyenge has been likened to a prostitute in the latest personal attack directed at her by a public figure.Cristiano Za Garibaldi, the deputy mayor of the town of Diano Marina in the northern region of Liguria, implied in a post on his public Facebook profile that Ms Kyenge frequented a road in the area infamous for being used by prostitutes, many of whom are black.
A word of warning to those who write personal notes to Pope Francis: He might just call you back.Francis has charmed the masses with his informal style, simplicity and sense of humor — and a handful of strangers have gotten the treatment up close, receiving papal phone calls out of the blue after writing him or suffering some personal tragedy.
The Italian broadcaster Rai recently aired a piece of nostalgia that would have brought a tear to the eye of many Serie A fans. It was a 1991 league game between AC Milan and Sampdoria. Onto the pitch at Milan's imposing San Siro stadium strode a galaxy of stars, with the likes of Ruud Gullit, Roberto Mancini, Marco Van Basten, Gianluca Vialli and Attilio Lombardo strutting their stuff.
Knicks forward Andrea Bargnani has been suffering from pneumonia that will keep him from playing for the Italian national team in next month's EuroBasket, according to the Italian Basketball Federation.
Aside from the cobbled streets and terra cotta rooftops, the Via Pistoiese that dissects the Tuscan town of Prato outside Florence is not like other Italian streets. You won’t smell sautéed garlic here. Instead the pungent smell of peanut oil and dongpo pork permeates the air. The storefront signs are almost all in Chinese hanzi on vertical ribbons of red or blue with tiny Italian translations across the bottom.