The Bzar Hotel&Co has acquired the management of the Metropole Taormina, itself recently passed into the hands of a group of Milanese investors. 

Now a 5-star with 25 rooms and suites

Located on Taormina’s Corso Umberto (Sicily), in a historic building dating back to the 13th century and home to the town's first inn, the hotel has been repositioned in the five-star segment and has 25 rooms and suites.  The Mediterranean-style Bellevue Bistrot restaurant with a terrace celebrates the flavours of ancient Sicilian recipes. The bar is the Rooftop Bellevue by Damiani, thanks to a partnership with the famous Piedmontese jeweller. Completing the offer is a sea-view swimming pool with a pool bar for sunset aperitifs, as well as a spa in the oldest part of the hotel.

The Bzar Group also has hotels in Florence and Rome 

The Bzar Hotel & Co group is currently undergoing a period of strong expansion: among the latest new entries is its debut in Florence with The Galileo Hotel, a three-star with 31 rooms, in an ancient three-floor building near the San Lorenzo district. The company's current pipeline also includes the 4-star 13-room Prassede Palace Hotel in Rome, the 3-star 55-room Hotel Belvedere in Ostia, a boutique hotel near Piazza Navona in Rome, and a hotel in Milan.

Italy’s artisanal amaretti biscuits are not as bitter as their Italian name implies.

Itineraries to discover amaretti biscuits

Italy is a treasure-trove of artisan products, many of which date back centuries yet are as popular today as they day they were first produced.  What better to plan an itinerary to discover towns and regions producing Italy’s famous amaretti biscuits? They have a unique flavour and link three Italian regions: Piedmont, Liguria and Sicily.

Piedmont and Liguria compete for the original recipe

Amaretti can be hard or soft and, although basically sweet, they range from decidedly bitter (amaro means bitter in Italian) to slightly bitter, the differences in consistency and flavour depending on the regional recipe and two regions, Piedmont and Liguria, compete for the original recipe. The Piedmontese tradition dictates that the amount of bitter almonds be slightly more than half the amount of sweet almonds, and Piedmont’s best amaretti are to be found in Mombaruzzo, Acqui Terme and Sassello.

Amaretti biscuits can be found on shelves all over the world 

The story goes that the delicious Amaretti di Mombaruzzo biscuits first saw the light of day when a young man called Francesco Moriondo, who worked for the royal House of Savoy, fell in love with a young woman of Sicilian origin. She was a pastry chef in the royal household and her speciality was an almond cake. They married they settled in the Piedmontese town of Mombaruzzo where they opened a small pastry workshop. Her almond biscuits soon attracted the attention of other confectioners who began to produce them, turning them into a true local delicacy.

Mombaruzzo and Acqui Terme in Piedmont produce amaretti

Amaretti di Mombaruzzo are delicious biscuits made with simple and genuine products, using no flour just egg whites, sugar, almonds and the extract from the pits of apricots which gives them their pleasant bitter flavour. And the soft Amaretti from Acqui Terme? They are similar to those of Mombaruzzo, but use only sweet and bitter almonds and sugar. And once they are cooked and cooled they are put into candy wrappers, which retains their fragrance and softness. Moving on to Acqui, the secret of their amaretti is the careful balance of the almonds and the sugar. The  Acqui production method has not changed over the years, and it too does not use either preservatives or additives. 

Sassello in Liguria is also famous for  amaretti

Heading further down to Liguria we find the Amaretti del Sassello, the production of which only started in the 19th century, but thanks to their quality they soon joined the more established amaretti on shelves around the world.  Exclusive tours to discover the process of making amaretti and the charming little towns that produce them can be enjoyed through the Consorzio Sistema Monferrato and the ViA(E) per Viaggiare Network. For information:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Varia di Palmi is a traditional festival held in Palmi, in honour of the patron saint and protector of the city. 

This year the Varia is on 25 August

Palmi is a little coastal town which is just an hour from the Reggio Calabria Airport, and the festivities of the Varia are in honour of Maria Santissima della Sacra Lettera, the patron saint and protector of the city. This year the event will take place on 25 August. The annual Varia attracts thousands of tourists who crowd the streets of the little coastal town to participate in this unique experience which is the Calabria region's main festival.

Listed by UNESCO since 2013

In 2013 it was added to the UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage of humanity list, together with the Macchina di Santa Rosa in Viterbo, the Festa dei Gigli in Nola and the Discesa dei Candelieri in Sassari, which are united in the network of major Italian shoulder-carriage festivals.

200 bearers carry the heavy chariot

The Varia is a large sacred chariot representing the universe and the assumption into heaven of the Virgin Mary. On top of the 53-foot-tall chariot, carried on the shoulders of 200 i Mbuttaturi bearers, the figures represent the Madonna, the father, the apostles and the angels. And at the very top of the chariot there is a teenage girl, symbolizing the Virgin.

The colours of the scarves denote the town’s guilds

The sacred chariot, weighing twenty tons, is 53 feet tall and was built at the beginning of the 20th century. It is the only such structure without wheels and the 200 young bearers use heavy ropes. Dressed in white, with coloured scarves around their necks, distinguishing the five town guilds, the bearers are barefoot and maneuver the heavy machine through the crowds.  The ritual, which takes only a few minutes, has been taking place for the last 500 years.

The 61st International Chamber Music Festival in Cervo in the Liguria region will end on 5 September.

Music and performances for all tastes

In addition to the chamber music repertoire there will be jazz concerts, theatrical performances, and events for children. Twenty-one performances in all, in collaboration with international artists, in five different venues of the highest artistic and scenic significance will make the 2024 Festival calendar a highly appealing one for all tastes. 

The spotlight will also be on young talents 

The International Chamber Music Festival combines music and culture with the beauty of the landscape of the little town of Cervo with 21 performances in various suggestive venues like the former Fortress Church of San Pietro in Lingueglietta. There will also be space for young talents and student-led projects. And this year’s innovative calendar ranges over various musical genres, from chamber music to jazz to auteur music to theatre, linking them to evocative historical commemorations.

Unique venues for concerts and plays

Many of the performances will provide the audience with unique experiences. The concert on 11 August will take the public into the Oratory of Santa Caterina. La Monella, with the participation of Margherita Pupulin and Il Violino Fantastico, will take the form of a candlelit concert. This is a co-production with the Fondazione Pietà de' Turchini of Naples, one of the most important cultural groups active in the field of early music research and production.

Inaugurated in 2004, Trieste’s Bora Museum is much more than a museum, it is a laboratory and showcase that unravels the mysteries of the wind.  

The bora is the famous wind of Trieste

The bora is one of Trieste’s most famous features, and it deserves to be celebrated in a special place, as it is in this “museum in progress.”  The Bora Museum itinerary is entitled “20 Clues for a Museum” and is a kind of investigation, a search for evidence of the validity of the idea of the museum. The numbered itinerary attempts to bring order to the disorder that is a natural feature of wind. 

An audio guide for visitors

The tour moves visitors in two constantly intersecting directions: “Memory” and “Creativity,” with interesting evidence of the past but also attempting to show what new ideas can be invented on this theme. On the one hand, visitors can hold on to the famous bora ropes (memory) and on the other they can listen to an audio guide dedicated to the museum (creativity). The wind is invisible. The museum is seen and unseen. 

Is the wind “playful air?”

The visit gives space to the imagination. Even imagining a museum becomes something to be experienced and told. Visits are always personalized, and there are also workshops for schools and kindergartens, where young visitors can become familiar with the wind in a playful way. Can the wind be envisaged as “playful air” or not? 

A unique collection of boxed winds

Like any “real and serious museum,” the Museum’s Warehouse has its own collections starting with the “Archive of the World's Winds:” a bizarre collection of boxed winds, a game that turns visitors into exhibitors. In fact many visitors, after discovering the Warehouse, send in their home wind or a wind they picked up on holiday, thus becoming Wind Ambassadors. Currently there are more than 130 bottled, boxed or packaged winds from places all over the world.

The Museum's Art Collection is “a small wind gallery” containing quality works by talented artists including Pascutto, Pastrovicchio, Pezzolato, Spigai and others relevant to the museum's themes. Also of great interest is the Silvio Polli Archive of photographs, scientific publications, newspapers, scientific instruments which have been made available by the family of the great wind scholar. For information: https://museobora.org

The Tuscan Maremma’s summer includes performances in the Teatro delle Rocce in the Colline Metallifere National Park.

Discovering the Maremma’s Metalliferous Hills

In this multi-thematic area visitors can embark on a 5000-year-long journey through history, mining, nature and innovation to discover the Colline Metallifere metalliferous hills. The territory over which the park extends touches seven municipalities in Tuscany’s northern area, in the province of Grosseto: Monterotondo Marittimo, Montieri, Massa Marittima, Roccastrada, Gavorrano, Follonica and Scarlino. 

Links to Dante’s Purgatory 

Each town has a gateway to the park and a reception centre from which the various visit itineraries depart. Gavorrano, located on Monte Calvo, is a particularly interesting village which was the cradle of the events that led to the death of the Sienese noblewoman Pia de' Tolomei, a story narrated by Dante in the fifth canto of Purgatory.

The Teatro delle Rocce is in the Gavoranno area

In the Gavorrano area there is also another place that is truly unique in terms of its charm and fascination: the Teatro delle Rocce theatre which was inaugurated in 2003 and has become one of the symbols of the Colline Metallifere National Park. Built inside an old quarry, it is now a cultural space, and every summer it stages plays, concerts, dance performances, conferences, art exhibitions and major events. 

An evening with singer-songwriter Francesco De Gregori 

For the summer of 2024, the Teatro delle Rocce is ready to host various shows and welcome back the singer-songwriter Francesco De Gregori on 23 August. Visitors wanting to attend this unmissable appointment can also choose to stay at The Sense Experience Resort in Follonica which is less than 30 minutes from Gavorrano. 

    

Located between the regions of Valle d'Aosta and Piedmont, the well-known Monterosa Ski resort has reopened.

The summer season will run until 15 September

This is the third consecutive year for the summer season which will end on 15 September. In addition to accompanying mountain lovers in winter, the Group's lift system is also open for the summer, and is ready to welcome mountaineers, bikers, hikers or anyone who wants to take to the heights, reducing the height difference of their excursions. 

“We expect an excellent summer”

"The strategic choice to anticipate the opening of the lifts to 1 June for the first time two years ago, was a winning one, and with the favourable conditions of the glacier, we expect an excellent summer,” says Giorgio Munari, CEO of Monterosa S.p.A.

A choice of ski lifts for summer excursions

Between the Ayas, Gressoney and Valsesia valleys, there are five mountain chalets over 3,400 metres above sea level. The first lifts to inaugurate the summer season were those in the Gressoney Valley, thanks to which high altitude refuges can be reached on the peaks of Monte Rosa. The  Weissmatten chairlift will open in Gressoney-Saint-Jean , while in Valsesia, from Alagna, the Indren glacier at an altitude of 3,275 metres can be reached by lifts. And the summer at high altitude has also begun in Valle d'Ayas with the Champoluc-Crest cable car, which offers a continuous service, including evening runs.

Reduced ticket prices for children 

Monterosa Ski offers tickets for single runs or cumulative passes for several lift sections. With the "3 Valleys" ticket, visitors can thus start the day with breakfast in Champoluc, stop for lunch in Alagna and have a coffee break in Staffal before returning. There are reduced ticket prices for children and, with the simultaneous purchase of an adult ticket, children born after 31/10/2015 can use the service free of charge.

The Cyprianerhof Dolomit Resort in Val di Tires opened its first Culture Week in June with concerts, workshops, theatre and music in the new Culture Lounge.

Bringing artistic performances to guests

The 5-star resort in Tires al Catinaccio is the first property in South Tyrol to host a programme of cultural events open not only to hotel guests but to the entire community: "Bringing artistic experiences here to the Cyprianerhof is a gateway for creativity, inspiration and fun,-  explains Diego Villegas, culture manager of Cyprianerhof Dolomit Resort and creator of the Culture Week. 

“We want to contribute to enriching the area’s artistic landscape”

“Another of our goals is to create a bond with the local community: both local artists and local residents, who are always welcome at our cultural events. We want to make our contribution to enriching the area’s artistic landscape.”

Mountain walks, climbing and excursions

By day a library and a space for smart working, in the evening the Culture Lounge hosts cultural events of all kinds, leaving room for young talent. The resort, located in the heart of the Dolomites, offers guests mountain walks and excursions of various levels, via ferrata and climbing while the Similde Spa is immersed in nature and has a panoramic sauna overlooking the Dolomites which are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Gardens of Trauttmansdorff Castle in Merano in the mountains of South Tyrol are the ideal destination for families and children. 

Activities and attractions

Covering an area of 12 hectares and with 80 botanical environments with plants from all over the world, the Gardens never cease to intrigue and surprise even the smallest of children, with entertaining yet informative activities and innovative attractions that stimulate their curiosity and make it easier for them to learn about the botanical world.  Walking through the Gardens, children will discover the four thematic areas  and  numerous attractions that will stimulate their fantasy and imagination, including the adventure bridge which is a suspension bridge swaying in the void.

Children can enter a giant beehive



The Gardens are home to numerous animal species such as alpacas, colourful arrow frogs, Zackel sheep and leaf insects. In the South Tyrolean Landscapes area, there is a giant beehive containing a reproduction of a beehive in which children can enter and observe up close, in safety of course, a colony of 60,000 bees at work and raise their awareness, while having fun, of the importance of their role in our ecosystem.

How plants grow and a terrarium

In the Underground Kingdom of Plants, amidst twists and turns the multimedia trail with sudden noises and plays of light, accompanies children on a discovery of the main elements that, underground, are essential for the growth of plants. In the Woods of the World area, in addition to the greenhouse with a terrarium, there is also an area dedicated to ferns, with some rare specimens. 

A Japanese garden and the Museum of Alpine tourism

Continuing on they reach the Japanese garden where children can have fun crossing the stream barefoot. They then come to the entrance to Trauttmansdorff Castle, the winter residence of the Empress Sissi and now home to the Touriseum, the provincial museum of tourism, which tells the story of Alpine tourism over the last 250 years in an interactive and dynamic itinerary. And at the end of the museum tour there is a surprise for the little ones: a giant wooden pinball machine.

ph credits: Karlheinz Sollbauer

Favourable family rates

Every Wednesday in July and August, at 10.30 a.m., the Gardens offer guided family tours with a final workshop abd creative activities for children. The cost of the tour is €8.50 per person and is free of charge for children under the age of 18. It is for a maximum of two adults per family. In addition to the cost of the guided tour, there is an entrance fee. The family ticket of €36.00 allows two adults and children under 18 to enter. And with the seasonal mini-ticket families have the opportunity to enter the gardens several times at a special price. For information: www.trauttmansdorff.it.

For more than a century Switzerland has been a treasure trove of ambitious engineering projects, and the Rhaetian Railway, which is universally known for its two routes, the Bernina and the Albula, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. Every year these routes attract hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world who discover Switzerland’s green valleys, impervious gorges, lakes, glaciers, bridges and the incredible spiral viaducts that seem to touch the sky.

The Bernina Express, the flagship of the Rhaetian Railway, connects Tirano, which is the gateway to the Valtellina valley, to St. Moritz and Chur, the oldest city in Switzerland and the capital of the Grisons Canton. It then covers a further 200 kilometres and more to the resorts of Arosa, Davos and  Scuol which is a stunning spa resort in the Lower Engadine.

Bernina Express on the Brusio Viaduct (Bernina Line)

The little Rhaetian Railway red trains have become a favourite with Italian and German tourists, for both of whom the journey is an easy day trip. It is also a prized destination for travellers from as far away as Asia. Because, numbers in hand, no other Swiss destination has as many passengers as the Rhaetian Railway. 

"A success that started some thirty years ago, when we first marketed our train in Italy," says Enrico Bernasconi, the Rhaetian Railway's representative for Italy.

"The pace picked up in 2007 in anticipation of the UNESCO candidacy, with Italy and Germany gaining in importance, the former considered at the time an emerging market, where forms of excursion tourism could be developed, the latter already the railway's main catchment area, after Switzerland.”   

 

"In 2006, the Italian market was 3% of our business, today it is 20%, the highest increase of all our markets. This sees Italy in third place, but very close to the second place which is still Germany, which comes after the Swiss market, or rather the Swiss point-of-sale, as it also includes all sales to international tourists who find themselves in Switzerland. The Rhaetian Railway is everyone's dream: sales have continued to grow, both in terms of passenger numbers and revenue, with over 300,000 Italians every year. And after the pandemic 80% of the bookings - both individuals and groups – rescheduled their departures, adding to the strong demand for bookings this year.”

What is the Rhaetian Railway’s appeal?

Bernina Express on the Landwasser Viaduct (Albula Line)  

"The proximity, the perception of Switzerland as a safe and quality destination, competitive prices for an experience that can be enjoyed over a short period of time. And, last but not least, the growing focus on sustainable travel. We are ecological par excellence, our environmental impact is zero, and we even produce the electricity to run our trains by taking the water from Lake Bianco.
Our commitment is to limit as far as possible any fall-off in quality potentially caused by high demand, which means that we find ourselves having to say no to travel agencies and tour operators, although their clients have been asking for seats on the Bernina Express for months. And then there are passengers who choose to travel standing, for which reservations are not required.
So we have come up with valid alternatives, starting with the Albula route, which is an itinerary through landscapes that are just as idyllic. Passengers who have so far taken this route have been more than satisfied, actually beyond our wildest expectations. Then, at the end of 2026, with the change of the railway timetable on the Bernina route, we will be introducing trains every 30 minutes in both directions (instead of every hour as is the case today) with a considerable increase in the number of available seats.
The future is clear, all that remains is “to count on the collaboration of our trade partners, whom we thank and to whom we ask a little more patience to get through the two years that will take us to 2026.”