It feels like summer in Italy just finished but we’re actually well into autumn at the moment and it’s time to prepare our Christmas vacations in Italy. As in every year, northern Italy offers the best for a white Christmas atmosphere with Christmas markets, skiing, health spas and beautiful landscapes. In the heart of the Friuli Venezia Giulia, the town of Sauris in Carnia is hosting a market from December 4 to 8.

The festival features the best in antiques, local produce, folkloric events and the best in local Italian cuisine. Going to Carnia.it you’ll find packages of four days and three nights with local dinners, food tastings and market visits from about 205 euros. Accommodation on offer in the area ranges from hotels to apartments where, with just 38 euros a night, you can stay at Borgo Soandri for example, until December 19.

Carnia is a distance away from the traditional Christmas market area of Alto Adige but the trip is worth it for a more intimate atmosphere away from the crowds. If you’re looking for a rural setting with beautiful landscapes and local traditions, check out Carnia.it for more information.

Photos | Sauris.org

0 comments

Guitarist Eric Clapton has a passion for Ferrari cars; in fact the list of his Ferrari models includes Enzo, F50, 550 Maranello, 365 GT4 BB, BB512, Testarossa, 512 TR, F512M, and more! Now he has asked Ferrari to create a specialV12-powered 458 Italia just for him! As he said in a interview, the world’s most famous guitarist loves the sound of Ferraris which, according to him, deliver proper music!

Source | Topspeed.com

0 comments

We don’t know yet which Italian park will win the contest Il Parco più bello d’ Italia or Italy’s most beautiful park; there are so many contenders that is almost impossible to tell which one will prevail and win; the favourites include the amazing Venaria Reale near Turin, Racconigi Castle ( always in Piedmont) which I had the pleasure to visit only a few months ago, the famous Miramare castle in Trieste and the Vittoriale, the rather bizarre villa on Lake Garda where Italian writer Gabriele D’Annunzio lived and died. So if you are curious to know which one will sit atop the list, stay tuned!

Photo | sunshinecity

0 comments

Here’a gallery of the legendary Ferrari 125 s. Lots of men have lusted after this gorgeous car which was the first to bear the name Ferrari since the previous model was for legal reasons registered under a different brand name. The Ferrari 125 was completed in 1946 and its chassis fashioned like an upturned boat. It was also provided with an astonishing engine projected by Luigi Bazzi and Gioacchino Colombo.

Continue reading: Ferrari 125 S, the impossible dream

0 comments

From 21 May to 31 October the city of Udine will host a major exhibition dedicated to Giambattista Tiepolo ‘s graphic work. The exhibition Giambattista Tiepolo tra scherzo e capriccio aims to shed a new and stronger light on one of Tiepolo’ s less well known aspects. According to art critics, these 35 works which the artist created around 1750 are full of strange, mysterious symbols which until now no one has been able to decipher. Apparently they are just like a secret code that only few adepts could read and understand.

A Udine, il Tiepolo mai visto

Continue reading: Udine to host major exhibition on Giambattista Tiepolo

0 comments

Italy’s Friuli Venezia Giulia region is one to explore for its amazing Italian white wines, food, and interesting culture and history. What’s more, it has wonderful scenery and landscape, and is the gateway to Slovenia and eastern Europe. The mountain sub-region of Carnia is rich in natural heritage and is known as one of Europe’s most precious botanical areas, with more than 2,000 herbs and flowers catalogued.

The wild herbs of this region are rich in minerals and natural extracts, and have a flavour difficult to find in cultivated herbs and vegetables. The ancient rituals associated with using these traditional products can be discovered in the many activities organised by the Carnia territory and tourist associations, including food tastings and mountain hikes.

The local tourist board organises weekend tours called ‘Cucinare con le erbe della Carnia’ where you can participate in a guided walk, taking in the various plants and herbs of the region, and then participate in a short organic cooking course, using the herbs picked and finishing in a dinner with local dishes. The tours take place from spring through to the end of September and take three days. See the Carnia website for more details.

0 comments

With spring just around the corner, The Butterfly House in Udine is getting ready for the new season; I don’t know if you know this, but the Butterfly House we are talking about is Italy’s biggest greenhouse. Every year it offers visitors a full day programme which includes an interesting lesson on one of nature’s most fascinating and mysterious event: reproduction! The event called The Science of Reproduction: Bee, Flowers, Cauliflowers and Storks tries to explain, in the Italian way of course, the mysteries of natural reproduction to children. But the Butterfly House is a unique place which won’t fail to fascinate adults too; surrounded by trees and green, rolling meadows, the Casa delle Farfalle is a true corner of paradise which always goes to the extra mile to please its visitors.

0 comments

Not quite a culinary tour of Italy in a Porsche, the ‘Via dei sapori “in” Porsche’ at Udine is a chance to get close to some luxury cars and enjoy a hearty Italian meal from Friuli, too. On March 24th the Porsche centre in Udine is hosting some famous chefs from the Friuli Venezia Giulia region as part of the initiatives of the Via dei Sapori group.

The evening involves more than 45 chefs who will prepare dishes in front of the guests, to then indulge in some Italian food and wine matching with some of Friuli’s great wines. Restaurants featured come from all over Friuli, and will be celebrating the coming of spring. For more details, including the restaurants present, see the Via dei sapori in Porsche web page.

0 comments

When I was learning Italian, we had a lesson on beach culture and Italian beaches which included the strange concept of change rooms, sun beds and rows on rows of beach umbrellas. This fantastic photo is proof of that, showing the three kilometre-long beach front at Grado in Friuli Venezia Giulia.

After a few hundred gelatos and a walk up and down the beach, to try something different you could go to the Terme Marine or the Acquatic Park. The health spa and thermal springs offer the health benefits of salt water, with two large heated pools and spa.

The Acquatic Park is on the Grado beach, surrounded by garden, and is the perfect setting for a healthy and relaxing beach experience with swimming pool, massage fountains, trampolines, water slides, children’s play area and swim-up bar.

The Grado beach has been awarded the famous “Bandiera Blu” for clean beaches in Italy, receiving it for the services on offer and the attention given to maintaining the environment. You can even book your umbrella and beach bed by going to Git di Grado, and check out the webcam. Happy summer holidays in Italy!

Photo | Grado.it

0 comments

I’m sure that many of you did not know that the beautiful costumes worn by such gorgeous actresses as Claudia Cardinale (The Gattopardo) and Nicole Kidman (Return To Cold Mountain) were from the small but prestigious Tirelli dressmaker’s shop in Gorizia.

But the big news is that these amazing costumes (among which the beautiful gowns worn by Kristen Dunst in Sophie Coppola’s Marie Antonoitte) will be on exhibition at Palazzo Attems Petzenstein until 6 September. For the first time visitors will also have the rare opportunity to get a closer look at the film stills depicting the costumes now on display !

0 comments