ITA Airways is investing in Brazil-Italy and bringing its Sao Paulo-Rome flights to eleven weekly from next August.

The flights will be operated by Airbus A330s

This increase boosts the company's presence in South America, which has always been an easy area to reach via Rome from all ITA Airways' main gateways in Europe and the Mediterranean. The new frequencies will be operated with Airbus A330s, departing on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 19:00 and landing in Rome at 11:45 local time. The new flights from Rome will be operated with a departure time of 9:40 a.m. and arriving in Sao Paulo at 5:00 p.m. local time.

In October new daily Rio-Rome flights

These ITA Airways flights will be supplemented at the end of October with the launch of the direct Rio de Janeiro-Rome Fiumicino flight, which will operate seven return flights weekly, bringing the total number of weekly frequencies between Brazil and Italy to 18. Thanks to codeshares with Azul-Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras, Gol Airlines and Latam Airlines, ITA passengers will be able to connect from São Paulo to all Brazilian domestic destinations.

Swadeshi Hotels' new operations director is Marco Misischia, who is on the board of the Rome and Lazio Convention Bureau. 

Key positions in independent hotels and international chains

With extensive experience in the hospitality sector, managing both independent hotels and properties in international chains, Misischia is former vice president of Its Tourism in Rome, and will work alongside Swadeshi's managing director, Rubina Peluso.

“Sustainability is a key priority for us”

“This is an extremely interesting challenge,” Misischia says. “Swadeshi is a quality group, with numerous quality hotels throughout the country. We will make every effort to maintain the high quality of the properties, which have already undergone extensive renovations. Sustainability is a key priority for us, beginning with the elimination of plastic, which we hope to implement in all our hotels in the coming months. We will also work to improve outdoor activities like sports, and nature walks, as well as providing services to cycle tourists both in the mountains and by the sea. And we will provide owners of four-legged friends with hospitality and dedicated services in our properties.”

2022 was a record year for Starhotels, with a turnover of €241 million, nearly tripling the revenues of 2021 (€85 million), but 1.7% higher than in 2019, when the group achieved its best results ever.

Starhotels Helvetia Bristol Florence

An increase in average rates

The company's record-breaking €241 million performance, which has returned to it to being the first Italian hotel group by turnover, has been driven by a rise in average rates, which rose by 36% last year. Leisure demand is also doing well, having regained consistency thanks to the return of key markets such as the US, which is now the company's second most important business area after Italy. 

Elisabetta Fabri

“We closed 2022 with extraordinary growth”

“We closed 2022 with extraordinary growth, reflecting our team's reactivity, ambition, commitment, and ability to successfully face and overcome the significant challenges of recent years,” says Elisabetta Fabri, president and CEO of Starhotels. “We also bring in third-party hotel properties through management and lease agreements, and we anticipate even more energizing growth in 2023, which will support our ambitious development plans.

New openings planned for Venice and Florence

The group is repositioning the Gabrielli, a historic hotel with a Venetian-style façade on Riva degli Schiavoni, a short distance from Venice’s central Piazza San Marco and overlooking the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. The hotel is currently being renovated and will reopen in 2024.

After the Duomo Luxury Apartments by Rosa Grand Milano - Starhotels Collezione in 2021, it will be the turn of the Teatro Luxury Apartments in Florence, and a new high-profile residential property in the former Teatro del Maggio, due for 2025.

Liguria’s goal is to build on 2022’s record year and promote the region around the world.

“The challenge is to keep it going, to do even better”

“We are focusing on the important Oceanrace event to promote Liguria around the world, - says Augusto Sartori, Councillor for Tourism of the Region. - The North American market has not yet recovered, and this event will be important. 2022 was a record year, now the challenge is to keep it going, to do even better.” 

“We have major attractions like the Boat Show” 

“After an amazing 2022, we expect a 2023 that is equally successful, - adds the president of Liguria Giovanni Toti, - 2022 brought more arrivals than 2019, the pre-covid year. We have major attractions such as the Boat Show, our ports which are being restructured to offer ever better services and the Sanremo music festival, all of which help to draw record numbers.”   

Promoting seaside, outdoor and art tourism

Liguria’s promotional campaigns have been hitting the mark, focusing on seaside tourism, outdoor activities in the hinterland, but also art like the Rubens exhibition which attracted over 74,000 visitors.

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Enjoy carefree Easter days in a charming castle in San Michele d'Appiano near Bolzano, set in a centuries-old park, perched on a private hillside overlooking the Wine Route.

Vineyards and a private golf course

Schloss Freudenstein was built in the 13th century in San Michele d'Appiano, the largest wine-growing municipality in South Tyrol which is just a few minutes from Bolzano. Surrounded by an 8,000 sqm garden that stretches down to the valley and includes a private golf driving range, Schloss Freudenstein, which has 16 suites, enjoys beautiful views of Bolzano, its mountains, and the vineyards that outline the slopes embracing it.

Hedonistic culinary experiences 

Golf enthusiasts have free access to the hotel's own driving range and can play at a reduced green fee at the Appiano Golf Club. Hedonistic culinary experiences are thanks to the quality of the cuisine of Danilo D'Ambra, a young chef with a cosmopolitan spirit, who fuses the traditions of his native Campania with those of South Tyrolean cuisine. Rates from €240, per suite per night, with breakfast served in the suite at no extra charge, or in the breakfast room.

Liliana Comitini, the new CEO and president of B&B Hotels Italy, Hungary, and Slovenia, has over 25 years of experience in international retail companies in the healthcare, entertainment, and services sectors, and she takes over from Valerio Duchini. 

Posts in Australia, Spain and Portugal as well as Italy

Before joining the transalpine company, which has properties in Italy, Hungary and Slovenia, Liliana Comitini served as Amplifon general manager in Australia, Spain, and Portugal, as well as commercial director in Italy, where she oversaw network expansion and brand awareness growth. Previously, from 2001 to 2007, she was the commercial director of Blockbuster Italia during the brand development phase, where she contributed to the value proposition and national expansion strategies. Her marketing and communications experience at the Italian oil company Api is also noteworthy.

“In 2022 we topped the symbolic figures of €100 million” 

“I am honoured to be a part of B&B Hotels Italy, Hungary and Slovenia, and particularly the Italian team, - says Liliana Comitini. - I found great motivation and passion, which has certainly contributed to boosting the brand in just a few years, both in the main cities and in secondary destinations, fand or both business and leisure customers.” The new CEO takes over a division that, according to her own admission, far exceeded its revenue targets. “In 2022 we topped the symbolic figure of €100 million, and by 2030 the plans are to increase from the current 60 to 150 hotels in the three countries under my responsibility.” 

Preparations are in full swing for Gardaland's new 2023 attraction, Jumanji - The Labyrinth, which will be operational this Spring. A newly planted Strelitzia Augusta, a very large bird of paradise flower, officially marks the beginning of the long labyrinth that will give a hard time to all the brave adventurers who enter it. 

Inspired by the successful cinematographic series by Sony Pictures four cosplayers, Doctor Smolder Bravestone, Ruby Roundhouse, Professor Sheldon "Shelly" Oberon and Franklin "Mouse" Finbar posed a few days ago with the labyrinth’s first symbolic plants. The attraction will also include a game of mirrors, a snake-infested tunnel and much more, offering adventurers of all ages a new chance to immerse themselves in the fantastic wild world of Jumanji, following the dark ride The Adventure which opened last year.

"The most important theme park in Italy has become even more attractive thanks to our long-standing partners, Sony Pictures Entertainment, producers of the successful film series," says Merlin Entertainments CEO Scott O'Neil. "Continuing to bring this world to life is a fun challenge for our award-winning creative teams.

Upon completion of the planting, more than 2,000 Mediterranean plants, belonging to more than 30 different species, will bring the labyrinth to life. Along the path, created with broad-leaved trees, bushes, palms and tree ferns, courageous visitors will come across detours, forks, dead-ends and surprise effects. Thanks to plants such as Acanthus mollis and Bletilla striata, with their white flowers in stark contrast to the pink and red-purple shades of the other plants present, the labyrinth will also be full of colours that will enchant visitors of all ages. The layout of the labyrinth will be made even more impressive thanks to the imposing heights, up to more than 50 metres, of the plants selected to bring the new multi-sensory adventure to life.

Agriturismo Costantino is located in the Isthmus of Catanzaro (Calabria region), the narrowest point in Italy. Between the Ionian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea, on a hill of olive groves surrounded by the Mediterranean vegetation, near the Cottola river, in the locality of Donnantonio in Maida. In this typical southern landscape there was a farming village, which today has been renovated and adjusted to match today's standards and demands, while preserving the history of the place.

The redeveloped village has become the beating heart of the farm, from where the whole supply chain starts: production, processing of raw materials, catering, hospitality, social, recreational and learning activities.

Agriturismo Costantino
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The boutique hotel Palazzo Vecchio Taormina is to open in Sicily this April.

The hotel will have 12 suites a restaurant and a panoramic terrace

In an ancient 19th-century building, perched on 16th-century walls, the new all-suite Palazzo Vecchio Taormina boutique hotel will open this April. Commissioned by the owner and managing director Stefano Gegnacorsi, the project was supervised by architect Andrea Perra. Once operational, the property will offer a total of 12 suites, an orangery, a bar, a restaurant and a panoramic terrace.

“A new  hotel of elegance and style in the world of international hospitality"

“I am happy to start this new project – says Stefano Gegnacorsi.  - Thanks to my many years of experience as general manager of historic 5-star hotels in Italy, I am proud to make my dream a reality. I wanted to create a new hotel of elegance and style in the world on a par with the highest levels of international hospitality."

Welcoming guests to a typical Taormina home

“Palazzo Vecchio Taormina will be a contemporary stop on the Grand Tour made by travellers in the 18th and 19th centuries. We want guests to discover a typical Taormina home where the art of hospitality is a must," says Andrea Perra.

Palazzo Vecchio Taormina
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