Biella, a creative Alpine town famous for being one of Italy’s cities of crafts and folk art, in 2019 was recognized as a UNESCO Creative City.

Famous for the production of cashmere and a paradise for hikers and bikers

Nestled in the Alps, about an hour north of Turin, Biella is the Italian wool and textiles capital and is known for the production of cashmere.  Many of the former woollen mills, knitting mills and workers’ houses have been transformed into creative incubators for experimentation with new artistic cross pollinations. The Biella area is a natural for hikes of all types, from those on flat ground and with gorgeous views, to those on paths carved onto the side of mountains, and the even more strenuous ones that climb up to the highest peaks. The area is also ideal for mountain biking, and rentals are available at the start of many of the trails like the Oasi Zegna. 

The Oasi Zegna nature reserve and was the brainchild of Ermenegildo Zegna, the visionary head of the Italian textile empire. Visitors can choose to wander around on their own account or take one of the English language guided tours that are available. The oldest part of Biella, known as the Borgo del Piazzo, was founded before 1200 and has steep narrow cobbled streets and also a funicular railway linking the newer lower town to the top of the hill.  The old settlement has many small churches, the oldest of which is the Church of San Giacomo.  

An ancient Roman gold mine and Italy’s Best Golf Course

Among the sites of archaeological interest we find an open-sky old gold mine from the Roman era in the Bessa Special Nature Reserve. The eye-catching large hillocks of pebbles, which are residue from the gold mining, have a mysterious and unique appearance. Biella can also boast Italy’s - and one of Europe’s - best golf courses, the Golf Club Le Betulle. This 18-hole, par-73 course was designed by the famous English architect John Morrison, and has a high degree of technical difficulty.

Discount outlets and a place of pilgrimage

Biella is the center of Italy’s production of finest woollen and cashmere products. These can be bought directly at discounted prices (and huge savings) from the many outlet stores of labels such as Ermenegildo Zegna, Fila, Cerruti and Piacenza. They can also be found in the stores that belong to the manufacturers that produce them. Thirteen kilometres away, at 1,180 metres asl, the Sanctuary of the Black Madonna of Oropa is Piedmont’s most famous place of pilgrimage and one of the most important in Italy. The complex is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the entire area is the Special Nature Reserve Sacro Monte di Oropa.  For Information: https://www.atl.biella.it

You have to be careful when you carry anything to extremes. This is one of the rules of life that applies to everyone and to all economies. What am I talking about? About the skyrocketing prices being charged in all sectors of Italian tourism. Senseless and unjustified increases. Standard accommodation that is costing as much as a luxury stay. Flights to nearby destinations at fares usually charged for transoceanic routes. It’s pure madness. And it’s time it stopped. We cannot carry on like this. Also because, as I have already said, but let me say it again, there is no real reason for these endless hikes.

If Italian tourism wants to recover what Covid took away, well, it has made a big mistake. Because if hoteliers, airlines, airports, B&Bs, etc. don’t calm down, this will be the last summer we’ll see tourists coming to Italy.

Giuseppe Aloe
Editor in Chief

So, here we are. Lufthansa has officially acquired 41% of ITA Airways. And this has garnered great satisfaction from the Meloni government and from treasury minister Giorgetti. But things are slightly different. The one who is really satisfied is the German airline, as when operations begin it will find it easy to drain traffic out of Italy and pour it into the Germany market. 

Understanding this is extremely simple. Lufthansa has done it with all its satellite airlines. And it will do the same with ITA Airways. Which is very unfortunate. We are a country without strategic assets, with the exception of Trenitalia. Which, let me remind you, before the arrival of Mauro Moretti (a former trade unionist at the state railways and therefore someone who knew the company inside out) was among the public assets with the lowest profitability and highest debt. Now things have reversed, thanks to capable managers who know what they are doing.

Which was one of the ills, first of Alitalia, and then of ITA Airways. For years there have been no truly competent managers. Who understand not just the rudiments of air transport, but also what it means to run an airline. Which is not the same thing, because someone who worked in Fiat with difficulty can run an air carrier. The idea that a manager can perform admirably in any kind of company is of course untrue. There is an abundance of evidence supporting this claim, including ITA Airways.

Giuseppe Aloe
Editor in Chief

The bosses of major airlines always complain when something gets in the way of their goals. IATA speaks of 4,500 cancelled flights during the French strikes against the measures of Emmanuel Macron's government. Some 730,000 passengers were affected.

This is a. IATA study that would like to influence the debate on the issue, directing the attention solely on the airlines’ profit losses. Don’t be fooled by the figure of 730,000 passengers. They are using this number to avoid saying they lost a load of money. If they really cared about passengers, the airlines would return the Covid refunds. Instead many of them still have that money - we are talking about billions of euro - and are holding tightly on to it. If they care that much about passengers, why don't they return the money?

At this point the question for all of us, who are mere penpushers and not airline bosses is, are the French right to strike over a crazy reform that extends the retirement age for everyone? The answer is yes. Because it is fair that after a long working life everyone can retire with financial security and when they are still in good shape, rather than merely moving from their desk to their grave.

We don’t give a fig if airlines are not making profits when the reason for this loss is far more important than all their margins.

Giuseppe Aloe
Editor in Chief

As Eurocontrol has already announced, this summer will be another hectic one for European skies. For the second year in a row airlines and airports will be unprepared for the mass of flights that, in practice, is now identical to that of 2019. That is, the year before the pandemic.

But why is this still the case? It's quite simple really, and it falls under the hyper-capitalist perspective that businesses have today. All companies.

At the first signs of the Covid crisis, what did all the major European airlines do? They fired en masse. Instead of keeping the workers who had built giants like Lufthansa or British, they threw them out. And now? Now those gaps are still there. Maybe a little fuller, but not really. And why?

The reasons are two. Firstly, companies have found that they make better profit margins by paying fewer employees. Secondly, in many cases workers who were laid off by companies have found better, and higher-paying, jobs. In the end we will see the ongoing shortsightedness of companies that will put the blame for their own incompetence on the passengers. That is, on those who create wealth for the companies. Absurd.

Giuseppe Aloe
Editor in Chief

Big problems are once again expected in the skies over Europe this summer. Already Lufthansa has announced that it is cutting thousands of flights, and other airlines have echoed this announcement.

Naturally the news has thrown operators into a state of panic, as they still have last season's huge difficulties etched in their minds.

But the problem is structural. Airlines are trying to cut back to avoid growing costs. But by cutting back even giants like Lufthansa are not able to meet peak season demand.

It’s time they started thinking that people, and the work they do, are not costs. Things cost money, services cost money. People do not cost money and, more importantly, people are not things.

Giuseppe Aloe
Editor in Chief

There are not many of us left who think that neo-liberalism does more damage than an invasion of locusts. An economic system that bases its formula exclusively on profit and income cannot be applied by a state, because very often profit does not coincide with public interest.

The Keynesian system, which compensates income and public service to citizens, still seems to us (with some adjustments due to new realities) to be the best economic management system of any self-respecting state. This is not the view of our rulers, who are “selling off” ITA Airways to Lufthansa which could, in the short term, become a 100% shareholder.

Again, we think this is a bad move. Lufthansa, as it should, will only use ITA Airways on profitable routes, dropping those that are of public service, such as those to Sardinia and other destinations. The state is not a business. It should not aim for profit, but for the good of its citizens and of income. But the neo-liberals have no intention of changing their minds. They have their hands on the prize and they are not letting go. The title is deliberately in German.

Giuseppe Aloe
Editor in Chief

The European Commission is preparing a blow for travel agencies and operators. A huge blow. The Commission, incongruously taking up the cudgel in defense of consumers, has proposed abolishing the down payment customers leave with travel agencies and operators.

Plainly the men in Brussels and Strasbourg have no idea what it means to try to make ends meet in the tourism industry. The down payment  - which by the way exists in any kind of transaction, so it is not clear why this should only apply to organised tourism -  is one of those cash flows that allow travel agencies and trade in general to keep going, because it is ready cash. I don't think anyone has to call 2022’s Nobel prizewinning economist Philip H. Dybvig to understand something this simple.

The truth is that these decision makers live in an ivory tower and never step outside it, as if they were barricaded into a chamber that is open to the world but sealed off from it. They should try to break these seals, otherwise much more is going to get broken.

Giuseppe Aloe
Editor in Chief

The new Monte Cavallo cable car is above the city of Vipiteno which is 50 kilometres from Bolzano in Italy's northern Trentino-South Tyrol region.  

The cable car starts just outside Vipiteno

From Vipiteno skiers can use the new cable car ski lift that starts directly from the northern outskirts of the city, passes over the Brenner motorway and takes passengers to the heart of the ski area, at 1862 metres. At this high altitude there is a choice of snow-covered trails for a total of about 10 kilometres and there are many refuges where one can enjoy a break while savouring traditional South Tyrolean dishes. 

photo credits: Harald Wisthaler

Over 20 kilometres of ski slopes

The ski area of Monte Cavallo is compact with 10 tracks that are always perfectly covered with snow over 20 kilometres of slopes suitable for both expert skiers and beginners. There is also no shortage of areas for young skiers who can learn the basics at the well-equipped Kinderland where they will also be able to enjoy various games on the snow. 

Italy’s record-breaking toboggan run

There is not a resort in South Tyrol that does not have a toboggan run, and the Monte Cavallo run is record-breaking, as it is the longest snow-covered and floodlit toboggan run in Italy. The track covers 10 kilometres with an altitude difference of 900 metres, from the top station of the Monte Cavallo cable car, at an altitude of 1860 metres, down to the valley floor. Almost all through the forest, the track is also accessible at night every Friday, with the lift opening from 6pm to 10pm, while the track remains lit until midnight.
For information: www.vipiteno.com