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 San Lorenzo Market in Florence by hopangLeave a Comment
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 Rich landscape of Northern
Italy by deecat
The region around the Po Valley produces almost all of the nation's agricultural produce as well as its industrial products. There's an organization called the Northern League that has been powerful since the 1990s. It wants the 13 regions that make up the northern part of Italy to separate from the south and form a new nation!
They refer to this new nation as Padania. This league thinks that if the north and south separate, the north's taxes would be considerably lower, not having to support the south. It's sad, but they call Rome "Roma ladrona", which means "Robber Rome." I personally do not know whether this group is serious or whether they just wish to draw attention to their high taxes and the inequality of the two regions.
There definitely is a problem with the southern half of Italy called The Mezzogiorno in that it has way less industry, more unemployment, a higher crime rate, and a mass exodus of its youth. Most people in the south wish to work for the government because these jobs pay well and have guaranteed pensions. A great deal of national money has been poured into the south, but if you ask most Italians, they will say that the money has "lined the pockets of the politicians!"
So, be careful what you say depending on where you are in Italy. Leave a Comment
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As a traveler, tourist, visitor [whatever you call yourself], we all have a big obligation when in Italy. Make sure that you do not become part of the problem.
Because Italy is an important destination for tourists, both within & beyond Europe, it attracts more than two million visitors a year. Tourism is the main source of income for cities such as Venice, Rome, Florence, & Milan. But huge numbers of tourist have created many problems for these cities. People throw chewing gum down & trod it into the marble floors. Crowds push to get near the many statues in the museums & in the streets, touching them & climbing on them. They say that the acid in human sweat eats away at the marble.
The famous Uffizi Museum used to have 11,000 visitors a day, but today it is limited to 5,000. This has helped somewhat.
The biggest problem that tourism presents is the problems it causes to the environment The amount of litter that is produced is mind boggling.
In the Italian Alps the mountains are scarred by the installation of ski lifts; mountain forests are clared to make way for ski runs.
More & more people are driving so more & more pollution is being created. In Venice, global warming is leading to an overall rise in sea levers, causing more severe storms & tidal surges. All of this makes the city flood more & more, sometimes as much as 90 times per year! Use of motorized boats for transporting visitors has added much to the pollution in Venice.
Air pollution has increased steadily in Italy, making the quality of the air for breathing to be less than ideal. The impact that it has had on Italy's wonderful ancient architecture...it's being eaten away by the chemicals in the air. I remember that in 2002, Milan had to close the city center to cars for 3 days a week to clear the air.
I've heard that Italy is thinking about having tourists pay a price that includes payment for the damage they cause just by being here. [contributing to city pollution by using a car, arriving by plane, etc.] Leave a Comment
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 drinking fountain by shirez
so i just remind you: dont forget to carry a small bottle of water with you and have enough drink even if you are not thirsty!
otherwise you will have the same problem that i had, by the end of the day i had such a bad headache because of my body was dried out even if i didnt notice i was thirsty, that even painkiller and a lot of drink didnt help fast enough.. Leave a Comment
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 Albergo Alpino Hotel by deecat
There are seven rooms and two suites, a dining room, and an excellent wine cellar. I soon found out about that wine cellar.
I was on the "lift" going up to our room when it started making noises, suddenly coming to a halt. I pushed the phone button. The owner answered, but could not understand English. Finally, through a translator, I was requested to pry open the door with my hands as they slowly edged me down (literally inch by inch) to the cellar.
When I stepped from the "lift" into the large wine cellar, I was relieved to feel the cold air on my flushed cheeks. Was I frightened? YES. I laugh now, but it was not funny then. Leave a Comment Phone: 0039 583-723336
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 San Marco aaaall around by shirez
first day we were so lost even with the map (ok, we didnt open it, but how can you walk with the map all way opened in front of you?) that we didnt find San Marco not even accidentally:-))) Leave a Comment
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 it is 9:05 already by shirez
or at least: be prepared that trains are not on time, so if you have a connection, you might be losing it.
from Venezia to Florence our train was 30 min late and we caught our train to Pisa (which departs every hour, and it was 11pm already) in the last minute!
from Pisa to Roma the train was about 40 min late, and i thanked God that i counted with it when i chose my train to catch my flight from Ciampino!
PS.
pls note that in case of public holidays (or a few days before) there are seats no available on trains! so pls book in advance, othervise you will be in trouble (in my case: i missed my plane in Rome, as couldnt get out of Firenze) (actually i was really happy to get stucked in Italy for one more day) Leave a Comment
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 Haha, I loved that rabbit :-) by Trekki
Italians have a mixed relationship with their tax authorities (well, who does love the tax authorities??) and I almost collapsed from laughing when I saw the cute little graffiti at the tax department in Venezia: a little rabit that sh**s on them. Leave a Comment
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Since January 1st, 2002, the currency in many European country is the Euro, also in Italy. And since then the counterfeiters are active. Recently, ECB has published their July 2008 statistics and it shows that the most popular denominations are 50 €, 20 € and 100 €. The discussion about safety of the Euro banknotes against counterfeiting is as old as the Euro itself, but as always it is a question of information and education. European Central Bank and the Euro country national banks do publish the security features in extended length even with videos and it does help a lot to carefully read these and remember the three words: feel – look – tilt. So it is impossible to counterfeit the banknotes 100%, as these features just cannot be copied to 100%. It is us (and the cashiers) who have this 100% in our hands and are frauded or not when we don’t know how to detect the genuine ones from the counterfeited ones. In my opinion, the best (and definitely not 100% counterfeitable) feature is the colour changing number on 50, 100, 200 and 500 Euro. It changes colour from pink to greenish and this change to greenish is not imitable even with the latest inventions. Even if the ECB’s video of the colour change or my photos don’t show this properly on the monitor (it all depends on our monitor settings), it is pretty obvious on the banknote itself. In case a future counterfeiter stumbles upon this through google search – believe me, there is no way to imitate this, and by all means there will be always someone who properly identifies your fraud with modern and unique methods and is even able to trace you back to your shop :-). Ha!
Interpol gives advice on their website what you can do to check if you got a counterfeited banknote:
###If you are a member of the general public:
* look at the banknote carefully;
* compare it to other banknotes of the same denomination at your disposal;
* feel the raised texture on the printed area of the banknote;
* if you still have doubts about the authenticity of the banknote, refuse to accept it and report it to the proper authorities. ### Leave a Comment
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 Incidente! by stefano99Leave a Comment
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