The new guide focuses on regional theatres.

The Marche Nord’s Itinerary of Beauty guides, an exploration of an untouched environment rich in art and history, are adding a new guide featuring its regional theatres which are in many of the 21 towns that have already showcased their attractions in the earlier Itinerary of Beauty guides. The new edition will feature cities like Fano, Pesaro and Urbino as well as smaller towns including Apecchio, Pergola and Cagli, and like the earlier editions will be distributed at major Italian and foreign trade fairs, and in regional tourism offices.  

“Showcasing the attractions of large and small municipalities”

"The latest Itinerary of Beauty features our historic theatres, many of which are still active.- said Amerigo Varotti, director of Confcommercio Pesaro e Urbino Marche Nord which has produced the guides.  -The guides showcase the attractions of our large and small municipalities which also produce many excellent food products like our Prosciutto di Carpegna, Olio di Cartoceto and Caciotta di Colfiorito cheese, all of which have the protected designation of origin.”  

Tacconi are a typical Marche pasta

Another specialty of the Marche are tacconi, a type of pasta made with broad-bean flour. “To hold the mixture together we add wheat flour and then form it into long thin noodles,- says Adele Cerisoli of La Palomba Hotel in Mondavio. – The tacconi can be enjoyed in soups or in the traditional Marche style, tossed in lard with garlic and topped with crunchy pork jowl and parsley.”   The Marche city of Pesaro, which is famous as the birthplace of the great opera composer Gioacchino Rossini, will be Italy’s Cultural Capital 2024.  

Lot Polish Airlines is upping the ante on Rome Fiumicino from Warsaw Chopin Airport, the carrier's main hub 30 October 2023. 

A Boeing 737 Max 8 in service on the route

The new route is in addition to the existing Warsaw-Radom service, which was inaugurated last 28 April and will also be maintained during the winter season with a Boeing 737 Max 8 in service on the route.

“We see high demand for our flights to the Eternal City from Radom”

“Being the national carrier, we work hand in hand with Polish companies,- says Lot’s president Michał Fijoł. - In the last two years our exporters have placed goods worth over 100 billion zloty in Italy. Better connections with the capital of Poland's great economic partner will contribute to further growth in trade. Rome is also at the top of the cities that Poles visit most often, as we see with the high demand for our flights to the Eternal City from Radom."

A better choice for passengers

"This is a significant development that consolidates our partnership with Lot Polish Airlines," added Ivan Bassato, chief aviation officer Aeroporti di Roma. "This new Warsaw flight further increases the choice for passengers, also in view of the next Jubilee to be held in Rome in 2025.” 

Partnership is the keyword of the Ospitalità Natura network of accommodation facilities for low-impact holidays.

A concrete approach to sustainability

Launched at the end of 2020, the Ospitalità Natura network, a joint venture between the Rimini-based consultancy firm Teamwork and the organic products company NaturaSì, now has more than 45 affiliated facilities, up 30% on last year. With a concrete approach to sustainability which the American magazine Skift calls the "from marketing to operations" trend, Ospitalità Natura has entered into numerous partnerships with associations and start-ups that help accommodation facilities on their path to ecological transition.

Ospitalità Natura EcoGreen Agritur Fiores

Introducing environmentally-friendly products 

Thanks to the founding partnership with NaturaSì the Ospitalità Natura facilities can count on products or services from companies that are green. The Florenz campsite in Comacchio, among others, has thus been able to install three professional water dispensers.  Ospitalità Natura has also teamed up with Officina Naturae, a Rimini-based company that is one of the first in Italy to reduce the impact of cosmetics and cleaning products on the environment. 

Ospitalità Natura Holiday Village Florenz

Organic and vegan courtesy sets

The Ripostena Country House which has flats overlooking the Sienese countryside has introduced a certified organic and vegan courtesy set and cleaning products in packaging made of 100% bioplastic. The same approach has been adopted by Daniela of the Bio Boutique Hotel Xu in Rimini, who has chosen a natural and organic courtesy set for her guestrooms.

Ospitalità Natura Ripostena Country House Hotel

Replanting trees felled by a storm

The network can also create synergies and original ideas. Such as the sustainable rate proposed by Matteo of the Olympic Spa Hotel in Val di Fassa with Vaia, the start-up created following the 2016 storm that destroyed thousands of trees between Trentino and Veneto. Vaia is a way of involving and empowering travellers who, by choosing the sustainable rate, can support replanting the felled forests around the hotel.

Ospitalità Natura Olympic SPA Hotel

Delta Air Lines will debut in Naples with new daily New York JFK flights from 25 May 2024.

Three more weekly flights to Venice

The investment in the Italian market does not stop here: from 31 May 2024 the existing daily connections from Atlanta to Venice will also be upgraded, with three additional weekly flights, bringing the total number of connections to Venice to ten per week. In the peak summer months Delta Air Lines will operate up to 94 weekly flights between the US and Italy to meet the increased demand for travel between the two countries. 

Additional frequencies to 4 Italian airports

In addition to the new route to Naples and additional frequencies on the Atlanta-Venice route, Delta will operate an overall schedule of direct flights to Rome Fiumicino from New York-JFK, Atlanta, Boston and Detroit, from New York-JFK and Atlanta to Milan Malpensa and to Venice Marco Polo from New York-JFK. All Delta flights to Italy are operated in partnership with Air France, KLM and Virgin Atlantic.

“Italy is one of the largest transatlantic markets for Delta”

"This is an important moment for Delta with the new daily flight to Naples and increased capacity to Venice next summer. Italy is one of the largest transatlantic markets for Delta, and we are very excited to be serving four Italian cities," said Matteo Curcio, Delta's senior vice president EMEAI. "We are seeing unprecedented demand for our connections, and we look forward to supporting inbound tourism by welcoming more visitors to Italy from the United States.” 

Delta One passenger travel with Trenitalia in first class

Delta's Air+Rail service also provides easy connections with Delta's direct flights from Rome from four Italian cities, including Bologna and Florence, with operator Trenitalia. Delta's Air+Rail service is simple, as bookings include both air and rail segments. Delta One passenger travel with Trenitalia is in first class.

The Accor group is doubling down in Palermo’s Mondello district with the historic Mondello Palace.  

Renovating the garden to host large events

Already present in Palermo with a Mercure, Accor is now taking over the management of the historic Mondello Palace which closed in 2020. The property, owned by the Italo-Belgian company, will undergo a restyling that will involve both the hotel's 78 keys and the exterior. Here, work will be carried out above all on the garden, to turn it into an environment suitable for large events, and there are also plans to build a new swimming pool in addition to the existing pool.

Will it be ready to open in April 2024?

No word yet on the reopening date, although it is rumoured that it could be as early as next April, in plenty of time then for the 2024 summer season. The redevelopment will be carried out with the support of architect Luigi Smecca's studio.

This summer there was a growing demand to get away from touristy areas, with more and more visitors wanting to discover the authentic side of Italy’s cities, towns and villages, and to engage with local communities. The Telegraph, commenting recently on this trend, suggested that anyone coming to Rome should not miss the Garbatella, an off-the-grid neighborhood most visitors to the Eternal City never hear about. 

The Garbatella was built as a working-class garden city in the 1920s, but these days apartments in the low-rise housing blocks are being snapped up for the area’s laidback lifestyle. And for the fact that it is just three metro stops from the Coliseum, and most of central ancient Rome. 

So put the Garbatella on your Rome bucket list, and next time you’re in town take a stroll past colourful murals as locals go about their daily market shopping, or soak up the sun in one of its pretty little squares before dropping into the La Casetta trattoria for a perfect Cacio e Pepe. And for music buffs, in town for next summer’s opera festival at the ancient Baths of Caracalla - which are just ten minutes away by taxi –the cheerful flower-themed guestrooms in Duca’s House are just the ticket.  

Pamela McCourt Francescone
Executive Editor

The Merano Grape Festival on 14 and 15 October in Merano dates back to 1886. 

Many of Merano’s attractions like the Passer Promenade in front of the Kurhaus, the Piazza della Rena with the fascinating Kallmünz Castle and the lively Corso Libertà are the setting for this year’s Grape Festival.  For visitors it is an occasion to discover local products, autumn dishes and fine wines all of which enliven the varied programme of concerts and performances. 

Ph Credits: Tommy Hetzel

On Sunday 15 October the Grape Festival reaches its climax, when floats and bands in traditional costume parade through the streets of Merano’s old centre. Wandering through the myriad of events - all free of charge - following the musical notes and the tempting aromas, visitors can also take part in various guided tours to discover the historic centre, vineyard walks and local wine tastings. 

From 3 to 7 November it is the turn of the Merano Wine Festival, the iconic event for wine lovers with some 1,200 selected labels, producers, visitors, and trade operators from all over the world . Another Merano tradition, that opens the season on 8 October at the Merano Hippodrome, is the Oktoberfest, with the Haflinger horse races - the Haflinger horses have a golden coat - typical dishes and folk performances.

Ph Credits: Tommy Hetzel

ItaliAbsolutely, your trusted source for travel intelligence about Italy, has forged a strategic, groundbreaking partnership with Regiondo.

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Caramanico Terme, located at the mouth of the Orfento canyon and the Orta river valley in the Abruzzo, is a land of wellness, spas and nature. 

Relaxing nature holidays, but also bears and wolves

This charming little medieval village, at an altitude of 650 metres in the heart of the Maiella National Park, in Italy’s central Apennine mountain range, is famous for its sulphurous and oligomineral springs. The favourable climate, thanks to the proximity to the sea and the particular geographical location, make it the perfect choice for relaxing nature holidays dedicated physical well-being.  In the surrounding area of the Apennines wolves, Marsican bears, deer, and chamois have returned to live in the beech forests. 

Ancient churches and hermitages, mountain biking and fishing

Down the centuries hermits and monks have found peace here in churches and hermitages set in the rocky landscape of the Maiella. Like the two hermitages chosen by Celestine V, the hermit monk who became pope: San Bartolomeo at 650 metres asl, and the hermitage of San Giovanni, located at 1,220 metres in a scenic spot in the Orfento valley, both of which are well worth a visit. Visitors can enjoy horse riding, mountain biking on the area’s many trails as well as fishing in the Orta and Orfento rivers.  And of course skiing in winter. 

   

An annual December roving food and wine exhibition

The Paolo Barrasso Museum houses thirty votive bronze statues from the Roman period (3rd-2nd century B.C.) that were found nearby, and the Abruzzo and Italian Fauna Museum, housed in a wing of the thermal baths, documents wildlife in Italy with over a thousand specimens on display. Among the many annual festivals Boccali DiVini on 30 December is a roving food and wine exhibition through the wine cellars in the town’s historic centre.

Hilton Milan has opened its own greenhouse for farm-to-table foods like tomatoes, aubergines, aromatic herbs of various types, chillies of varying levels of heat and edible flowers. 

A first-floor hotel vegetable and spice garden 

All these vegetables and spices are grown in the greenhouse on the terrace on the first floor of the hotel, in the Hilton Milan Greenhouse, and are an important step in the hotel's commitment to sustainability and urban ecology. The vegetable garden supplies the CotoliAmo restaurant kitchen on a daily basis, thus reducing the environmental footprint by cutting the gas emissions from the transport of the food chain. Chef Paolo Ghirardi personally cultivates the area, respecting the seasonal rhythms of nature, and harvesting vegetables and spices directly from the greenhouse to use in his recipes.

“We are committed to ESG practices

The Hilton Milan Greenhouse has drawn inspiration from the city's green soul, taking its cue from the nearby Biblioteca degli Alberi park, the green lung of the Porta Nuova district, which has become one of the landmarks of an increasingly sustainable Milan. "With 50 years of history behind us, we are looking ahead to the next 50, with the aim of repositioning the hotel also from an environmental and social sustainability perspective,- says general manager Daniele Fabbri. - The commitment to ESG practices is now an increasingly indispensable requirement for those who, like us, represent the hospitality industry.”