In Terrazza Aperol in the heart of Venice, a stone’s throw from Ponte dell’Accademia, in Campo Santo Stefano, the Italian ritual of aperitivo meets design. 

Redolent of Venice’s bacari local bars

The 70sqm location, designed by the Milanese architecture firm Vudafieri-Saverino Partners, is a successful fusion of the traditional bacari, Venice’s tiny local bars, but with the contemporary allure of a cocktail bar. The main areas of the Bacaro and the Bar highlight the strong link between Aperol and Venetian tradition, and the architects have introduced blue details from the Aperol brand identity to lend a further note of personality. 

The Social Room is a multi-function area

Inside the Bacaro, where the famous Venetian cicchetti appetizers reign supreme, a counter in ribbed walnut lends a decorative touch, as do the orange details and bright lines, creating a warm relaxed mood reminiscent of Venice’s bacari.   The new Social Room stands out as a multi-function area for socializing, which is what Aperol is all about. Ideal at any time of day, from coffee to after dinner, the Bar continues to be the beating heart of Terrazza Aperol, the ideal place to enjoy a perfect Aperol Spritz and admire the beauty of this city through the large windows overlooking Campo Santo Stefano. 

All Nippon Airways enters into a codeshare with ITA Airways, giving passengers enhanced travel options between Rome Fiumicino and Tokyo Haneda. 

The two airlines exchange their codes

Starting on 24 January travellers with All Nippon Airways and ITA Airways can use a single ticket for their entire journey, checking in at the departure airport and retrieving their checked baggage at their final destination. From January 17 All Nippon Airways will use its NH code on ITA's flights between Haneda and Rome, as well as on routes connecting Rome Fiumicino to Bologna, Venice, Turin, Florence and Naples. At the same time ITA Airways will add its AZ code to Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Itami, Kansai, Okinawa, and Sapporo. Both airlines are exploring opportunities to expand their collaboration by introducing additional codes in the near future.

All Nippon Airways’ offices move to Milan 

This agreement aims to strengthen economic and trade ties between Italy and Japan, providing Japanese citizens with convenient travel options to Italy while ensuring the highest safety standards. In a parallel development, All Nippon Airways relocated its offices from Rome to Milan in December. This move, after almost three decades in the Italian capital, is seen as a potential precursor to the reopening of the direct Milan Malpensa-Tokyo route. Initially scheduled for 2020 and subsequently cancelled due to the pandemic, the airline views this change as a positive step forward.

“Every change brings new enthusiasm and new challenges”

Viviana Reali, Ana's country manager, expressed enthusiasm about the move, stating, “This is great news after the many years spent in the capital, but every change brings new enthusiasm and new challenges that we can't wait to take on. I also want to reassure the many contacts and partners present in Rome; nothing will change in our relations because we will be visiting often.”

Aleph Rome Hotel, a Curio Collection by Hilton, has achieved Green Key certification. 

A strong commitment to sustainability

This important milestone rewards the Aleph’s strong commitment to sustainability including saving water, using non-polluting ecological cleaning products, separating waste, and reducing energy consumption with LED bulbs. Added to which local, organic, and vegetarian food and drinks are available for guests.

“Tourism is at the forefront of sustainability”

“We are proud to contribute to safeguarding the planet with many small but very important actions,- says Valeria Fruscio, general manager of Aleph Rome Hotel - Our staff take great pride in this project which sees tourism at the forefront of sustainability. We can still do a lot more, and this certification is an incentive for us to proceed with even greater commitment and energy.”

Leaving the planet a better place

 “We are very proud of this project,- says chief engineer, Rodolfo Giovannesi. -the reduction of water consumption is very significant, as is the exclusive use of class A+ paints that limit emissions of harmful substances to a minimum. I like to think that thanks to these measures we could leave the planet better than when we found it."

Norwegian Air Shuttle is betting on Italy and Milan Bergamo this summer with six routes.

The carrier’s Tromsø route is already operating two flights a week, operated by a Boeing 737-800 on Tuesdays and Saturdays up to 3 April 2024. From 31 March, flights will restart from Bergen, operated every Wednesday and Sunday until 23 October, and from 21 June to 16 August on Mondays and Fridays. Flights will also restart from Oslo Gardermoen, operating on Thursdays and Sundays.

Subsidiary airline Norwegian Air Sweden will also operate on Bergamo

The summer also brings with it a new route from Stavanger, due to operate from 18 May to 28 September, with two flights a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays except for the period between 21 June and 16 August when flights will be operated every Tuesday and Friday. With its subsidiary airline Norwegian Air Sweden, the Norwegian carrier will connect Copenhagen to Milan Bergamo with four weekly flights from 3 March to 25 October, as well as operating a flight from Helsinki from 2 June to 24 October on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

“The strategic partnership with Norwegian Air Shuttle will be consolidated in 2024”

“The Norwegian Air Shuttle flights on Milan Bergamo airport allow us to expand our range of destinations, responding to both the demand for inbound, as well as outbound travel, - said Giacomo Cattaneo, Bergamo airport’s aviation sales director.  - The partnership with Norwegian Air Shuttle is a strategic one that will be consolidated in 2024, opening up increasingly promising scenarios."

The Venice Simplon - Orient Express, a Belmond Train, Europe will be heading for Portofino in June.

The journey ends at the Splendido in Portofino

For the first time in its history the Orient Express train will link Paris and Portofino on the Ligurian Riviera. With this new journey, the train will pass first through the French countryside and then along the Mediterranean Riviera, ending its itinerary at the Splendido, a Belmond Hotel, Portofino, where guests will stay for two nights.

Three different types of suite

The Venice Simplon-Orient Express will depart from Paris on Thursday 20 June, welcoming guests to its Art Deco-style decor. Eight new suites were recently added, and the train now offers three different categories of cabin. Guests can choose between the historic suites, where the living area is transformed into a sleeping area with upper and lower berths, the new suites with twin or double beds and private marble bathrooms, and the six Grand Suites that evoke the golden age of travel in the 1920s. 

Summer menus in three restaurant cars

As the train whizzes through the cities of Dijon, Lyon and Avignon, Michelin-starred chef Jean Imbert will serve his new summer menu in the Côte d'Azur, L'Oriental and Étoile du Nord restaurant carriages.

Rome’s Centrale Montemartini Museum is an exciting mixture of ancient art and industrial machinery under one roof.  

Not far from the Coliseum and the Pyramid of Cestius

In the Ostiense district, not far from the Coliseum and on the same street as the Pyramid of Cestius opposite the former General Market, you can see an extraordinary and successful example of how an industrial building can be transformed into a museum. After Rome’s former electricity production plant was cleaned up they transferred a selection of sculptures and archaeological findings from the Capitoline Museums to the complex. And the ancient masterpieces – uncovered in the 18th and 19th centuries during excavations around the city - found themselves with some strange bedfellows: gigantic steam engines and other heavy industrial machinery.  

Cleopatra’s Head and a Papal train

The result is a happy combination of ancient and not-so-ancient, as Roman statues rub shoulders with outdated machinery, as was summed up perfectly by the first exhibition which was called Machines and Gods.  Among the many old masterpieces on display the Head of Cleopatra attracts a lot of attention as does the red marble statue of Marsia, a mythological figure, and that of the 2nd-century pensive Seated Girl.    Since its opening new areas have been cleared to make space for more archaeological objects from the Capitoline Museums, displaying works that have languished in their warehouses for years, and up to now were never seen by the public. More recently, in November 2016 after several renovations, the museum got another new hall, where the famous coaches of the train used by Pope Pius IX are now on view.

Old and not-so-old live in perfect symbiosis

The grandiose rooms of the old power station, and in particular the engine room with its Art Nouveau furnishings, still preserve turbines, diesel engines and even a colossal steam boiler. In this fascinating and evocative setting, the antique marbles seem to shine with a new light, the heavy and cumbersome machines somehow bringing out all their transparent clarity and refined workmanship.

For information: www.turismoroma.it/it/luoghi/centrale-montemartini

Trenitalia has signed a preliminary agreement with Deutsche Bahn to operate the Frecciarossa high-speed trains between Germany and Italy.

New cross-border services in 2026

The first services are planned for the end of 2026, and the agreement is part of the broader Italy-Germany pilot project, jointly presented by Trenitalia and Deutsche Bahn and selected by the European Commission as part of its Action Plan aimed at developing long-distance cross-border services. With this service German tourists will be able to easily reach the most beautiful destinations in Italy and Italians will have yet another opportunity to travel around Europe. Passengers arriving in Italy will be able to choose from the various intermodal services offered by Trenitalia including the FrecciaLink, which allows them to arrive at their destination by combining trains and buses.

The high-speed Frecciarossa trains also operate in France and Spain 

Trenitalia and DB are currently working on connections from Munich to Milan and to Rome. They are also assessing potential developments and extensions of the service with future connections to and from other German destinations. Work is also underway on the journey times, and with the future opening of the Brenner Base Tunnel, it is estimated that times will be reduced by approximately one hour. The FS Group’s Passenger Hub currently has some 13,000 daily train and bus connections. Frecciarossa is also present in Spain with 70 daily connections as well as with Iryo between the main Spanish cities, while in France there are 10 daily Trenitalia France services between Lyon and Paris.