Opera houses across Italy are suffering from a strike organized by opera musicians and technicians in response to government-proposed changes to the management and financing of state opera houses. At the end of April, the Italian government announced a decree that would cut workers’ benefits up to 50% and prohibit opera house foundations from providing newly-hired workers with a fixed-term or permanent contract until 2013
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Opera Strike in Italy
Continued from Road trip: Bacolod (Negros Occidental) to Dumaguete (Negros Oriental) After about 5 hours of road travel from Bacolod with our trusty van, we arrived in Dumaguete, fondly known as the “City of Gentle People”. Compared to most Visayan cities such as Bacolod or Iloilo, Dumaguete is less crowded
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Dumaguete famous landmarks and tourist attractions
We recently had a road trip to the “City of Gentle People”, Dumaguete, in the south-eastern part of the Negros Island. It’s my first time ever to visit this capital city of Negros Oriental and so I really didn’t know what to expect.
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Road trip: Bacolod (Negros Occidental) to Dumaguete (Negros Oriental)
A few months back, in this article in the Washington Post by travel expert Chris Elliott, I talked about the issue of traffic tickets in “limited traffic zones” in Italian cities.
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Italy: You Can Get a Parking Ticket Unloading in Front of Your Hotel
Florence , what some consider the mecca for gelato lovers, will host the Florence Gelato Festival from May 28th through the 31st.
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A Reason to Fly to Italy: The Florence Gelato Festival
Ready to rent a villa in Italy or book a cooking class or choose a tour? We can help you save big on all of these Italy travel services! Here’s another great reason to become a subscriber to Dream of Italy’s award-winning print newsleter – subscribers are now entitled to exclusive discounts on Italy travel services as well as Italian products!! All of the discounts below can only be accessed with a code or password – a list of them is available to current subscribers in the Subscribers Center or will be automatically e-mailed to you when you become a newsletter subscriber today ! We will be adding more discounts each month.
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Become a Newsletter Subscriber and Save on Your Trip to Italy!
Let the FLAVORS of Italy DANCE in your mouth and SING in your heart on a CIAO LAURA culinary vacation in Italy! Ciao Laura offers a wide variety of Cooking Vacations, Market Tours & Hands-on Cooking Lessons throughout Italy. BOOK NOW – 2010 is selling out quickly! Visit our Web site at www.ciaolaura.com Ciao Laura offers 10% off market tours & cooking lessons in Florence, Bologna, Rome and 10% off Simply Delicious hands-on cooking in Sorrento EXCLUSIVELY for Dream of Italy’s paid newsletter subscribers ( This is an ad .)
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Ciao Laura Culinary Vacations Booking for 2010
Next week, the city of Bologna will turn into a pasta lover’s paradise as it hosts the first-ever major pasta fair, Pasta Trend . Pasta Trend celebrates all things pasta and presents a variety of exhibits and workshops for manufacturers and consumers
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Get Your Pasta on in Bologna Next Week
A new exhibit dedicated to Pompeii ’s destruction opened this weekend, according Italian news agency ANSA . The exhibit is located at the entrance to the Pompeii site and contains five parts, each of which give visitors a glimpse into the city’s fateful final hours. The exhibit incorporates archaeological evidence, virtual reproductions, films, photos, and ancient documents to realize the devastation that Mt.
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New Exhibit at Pompeii Site
In late October 2008, I spent an amazing week with my friends Bill and Suzy Menard at their villa Fattoria del Gelso just down the road from Assisi. I wrote about many of my experiences in our special report on Umbria . We ate our hearts out (the villa cook Teresa is not only a doll but an amazing chef), visited vineyards (lots of wine tasting) and small charming towns, ate some more at some of the region’s best restaurants, explored the history of Assisi, shopped for ceramics, took a pizza making lesson, visited Perugina and learned how to make chocolates, watched the olive harvest, roasted chestnuts and drank wine in front of the villa’s fireplace and chatted late into the night.
Since so many Italy travel professionals read this blog, we’re helping our friends at ItalyVacations.com (and you guys, too) by spreading the word about an open position in their New Jersey office- Italyvacations.com seeks very technically skilled, energetic web savvy travel professionals to support online consumers and plan and create complex travel bookings. We offer custom designed itineraries, including flights, hotel, car, train, cruises, tours and transfers. Detailed knowledge of Italy and the ability to convert a sale is a must.
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ItalyVacations.com Hiring Italy Travel Specialist
In the March print issue of Dream of Italy , Ann Cochran writes about exploring the coast of southern Lazio . While her travels mostly take her to the seaside resort towns, Cochran says that a nice break from the sun and sand lies a short drive inland at Fossanova Abbey. Movie buffs might recognize it.
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Lazio Day Trip: Fossanova Abbey
Our March newsletter – out this week – contains just the information you may need to plan your 2010 trip to Italy. (If it doesn’t sure many of the 70 back issues we provide to paid subscribers will do the job.) Here are the articles in this issue: Between Rome and Naples: Exploring the Lazio Coast From seaside resorts to Roman ruins to heavenly gardens, this piece of coastline – equidistant from Rome and Naples – offers something for everyone.
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March 2010 Issue – Lazio Coast, Panzano in Chianti, Piemonte Agriturismo
The Associated Press reported that the ceiling of Roman Emperor Nero’s Golden Palace unexpectedly collapsed on Tuesday, but fortunately, no one was injured, as the collapsed area is currently closed for restoration. Officials believe heavy rains in Rome caused the partial collapse, reported BBC News
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Rome: Ceiling of Nero’s Golden Palace Collapses
Rome’s most famous monument, the Colosseum , is getting a much-needed renovation. In its 2,000 years, the Colosseum has suffered from centuries of earthquakes and neglect, leaving its structure partially damaged and its walls covered in grime. Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno told Ansa News that the extensive project would focus on the cleanup and restoration of the landmark’s exterior walls
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Rome’s Colosseum Getting a Facelift
Book a hotel and you expect the price to be the same no matter if you found the hotel booking site through Google, or another channel, right? So, I was surprised to find out that booking a hotel with Vivastay through an affiliate link, the consumer receives a higher price than booking direct
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Consumers pay more due to hotel pricing affiliate issue
Regular readers will know I love a rant at the travel industry but today I am going to start by ranting at travel consumers! I love receiving emails from you, in fact I am really happy when I have helped you deal with a complaint, but it’s time to take some responsibility when you are booking your holiday. Consumer’s not purchasing insurance If you are booking your holiday with 10 months to go before you depart, there’s a high chance that something could go wrong; you also need to protect the £5,000 you’ve spent on the family holiday. So why would you not purchase travel insurance
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Frustrations with travel consumers rant
Update on 21 March from British Airways press team. British Airways Chief Executive Willie Walsh talks directly to customers, he apologises for the disruption they may face and explains contingency plans to allow more than 60 per cent of customers to keep flying through Unite’s strike period of March 20, 21 and 22. Read the rest of the post and add your comments in the form below
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British Airways strikes advice and updates
In an effort to promote cycling internationally, organizers of one of the sport’s most prestigious races, the Giro d’Italia , have announced that the prologue to the race will be held in Washington, DC in 2012, according to The Washington Post . The Giro d’Italia, which takes place mostly in Italy, will bring thousands of acclaimed cyclists and enthusiastic spectators from around the globe to the U.S. capital, generating revenue and hype for Washington, DC
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2012 Giro d’Italia Prologue to Take Place in Washington, DC
Little is known about the life and work of illustrious Renaissance artist Giorgione Barbarelli , but what survives lingers in a small museum in the artist’s hometown of Castelfranco Veneto , just under 25 miles west of Venice .
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Get to Know The Enigmatic Italian Artist Giorgione