Umbria, il borgo che rinasce come tempio della cultura slow
La parola borgo è un eufemismo, più appropriata la definizione di gioiello architettonico. Questo in due parole è Postignano. "Piazzato" nel cuore dell'Umbria in posizione strategica (29 km da Norcia, 34 da Cascia, 35 da Spoleto e 36 da Foligno) il centro sta vivendo una seconda vita (di lussso). Una vera e propria rinascita dopo l'abbandono. &nbs...
Fall/winter in Italian tourist style
Here is the "fall/winter collection" by ENIT (Ente nazionale italiano del Turismo), now known as Agenzia nazionale italiana del turismo (Italian National Agency for Tourism). It includes posters, brochures, and magazine covers that the public authority entrusted with promoting the country's touristic offer since 1919 produced in the first...
20 beautiful small towns in Southern Italy
by Claudia Baroncelli From the North to the South, Italy boasts many lesser-known yet wonderful small towns where you can breathe a fairy tale atmosphere and enjoy breathtaking landscapes. Let Swide lead into a unique journey through the most beautiful little towns you can find in Italy. From breathtaking landscapes to majestic ar...
Discover Umbria's best golf, between charming castles and record-breaking bunkers
by Lorenza Scalisi Playing on a golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones Junior is like living in a house planned by Renzo Piano or Norman Foster. Over 250 courses in the world have had the honor of being born from his pen – some of them in collaboration with his father, who was just as prolific and famous a golf designer. Many...
6 Great Italian Horror Films Any Fan Should Watch
Horror movies come in many different flavors, from truly dark and disturbing films like The Exorcist to comedy crossovers such as the Evil Dead sequels. Horror trends come and go, as any fan of scary movies can confirm. For instance, we're still knee-deep in zombie and found-footage films, with no end anywhere in sight. Read more...
Saints and pinups: personal shrines of Palermo – in pictures
In 2014, Emma Grosbois visited Palermo in Sicily to photograph the deeply personal shrines made by locals, paying respects to the dead as well as the living. She describes them for us: 'Here we have a minimalist style of shrine in a fruit and vegetable shop. The owner said: "These images represent the people dearest to us, those who I like to see h...
Italy researchers 'switch off' heart disease gene
Italian researchers have discovered the gene for arteriosclerosis and devised a treatment to "switch it off" and prevent heart disease. The gene is responsible for producing a protein that in turn produces oxidant molecules that damage the walls of the heart, veins and arteries. The discovery was made by a team from the Life Sciences Institut...
The 14 Italian piazzas that every traveler should see
Italian piazzas, or squares, are the beating hearts of every Italian town and city. They can be big or small, intimate or dramatic, humble, opulent, old, new and everything in between. In fact, sometimes a piazza isn't a square at all (see: the Piazza del Campo in Siena, among others). What all Italian piazzas have in common is their civic...
Coffee and solidarity, an Italian idea
In times of hardship Italians can renounce to many things, but coffee is not among them. This is the spirit that animated the practice of leaving a "suspended coffee" or caffé sospeso in Italy. This habit developed in Naples during World War II and then rapidly expanded throughout the country. People would go to coffee shops and pay a coff...
Sales of Italian wine suffering but sparkling wine faring better
by Emanuele Scarci Slowdown in the US, growth in China. Wine Monitor's forecasts on purchases of wine in the top eight markets (which account for approximately two thirds of world imports) are decidedly negative: the US are likely to close the year with a less than 2% growth over 2015, the UK will import less wine (-9%), and so will Germany (-4%)...
Aosta takes the top spot in the 2016 edition of the Quality of Life index
by Rossella Cadeo Aosta in northern Italy has risen to the top spot of the 2016 edition of the Quality of Life index by Sole 24 Ore-ItalyEurope24, which compares different Italian provinces based on a series of indicators (updated in the large part with 2015 data and in some cases with figures up to October 2016). The rankings are organize...
Stonehenge-like 'calendar rock' found in Gela
Archaeologists have found a Stonehenge-like "calendar rock" in Gela, pill on the southern coast of Sicily, pill that they say was used as a prehistoric sundial to measure seasons and years during the Bronze Age. The man-made megalith was found eight kilometres from Gela, stomach near the prehistoric Grotticelle necropolis. Archaeologists Giusepp...