Youth Hostels in Italy

Italy has been a tourism hotspot for centuries.The best way to save money when you travel is to stay in a hostel in Italy.Hostelling in Italy is somewhat different to hostelling in any other European country.Hostels today are not just a way to save money, however - they are also great for people who like to meet other travelers.In Italy Hostels cost much lower than any hotel. As is the case elsewhere, the closer a hostel in Italy is to the main sights in that city, the more expensive it will be.YHA hostels in Italy are some of the most interesting and varied in the world.


Cheap Hostels in Italy

The Roman Colosseum

The Roman Colosseum (70 - 82 A.D.) Rome, Italy

This great amphitheater in the centre of Rome was built to give favors to successful legionnaires and to celebrate the glory of the Roman Empire. Its design concept still stands to this very day, and virtually every modern sports stadium some 2,000 years later still bears the irresistible imprint of the Colosseum’s original design.


The Roman Colosseum (70 - 82 A.D.) Rome, Italy


The Roman Colosseum (70 - 82 A.D.) Rome, Italy

Today, through films and history books, we are even more aware of the cruel fights and games that took place in this arena, all for the joy of the spectators.


The Roman Colosseum (70 - 82 A.D.) Rome, Italy

Milan-La Scala Theater

Today in Facts about Italy:Milan-La Scala Theater-Quick Presentation

A Temple to Opera music, built at the end of the 1700s over the remains of the Church of Santa Maria della Scala, from which the theater then took its name.


Milan-La Scala Theater

La Scala was originally illuminated with eighty-four oil lamps mounted on the palcoscenico and another thousand in the rest of theater.The original structure was renovated in 1907, when it was given its current layout.
It now hosts a museum with an extraordinary collection of paintings, drafts, statues, costumes, and other documents regarding opera.


Milan-La Scala Theater

Some of the greatest names in opera have made their debuts in this theater: Rossigni, Donizetti, Bellini, Puccini and, in 1839, Giuseppe Verdi who moved to the Grand Hotel in Milan on that date where he continued to live until he died.


Milan-La Scala Theater

In the center of the square there is a monument to Leonardo da Vinci and on the other side there is the wonderful Palazzo Marini.

Popular Coffee-Cappuccino

Facts about Italy presents:Popular Coffee-Cappuccino


Coffee-Cappuccino

Italians love their coffee. Italian coffee is an art form with many customs and traditions.
The world owes them for the introduction of espresso, that thick rich coffee creation that’s one-of-a-kind. And, if that weren’t enough, they’re also responsible for the creation of cappuccino.Whether it's a caffè corretto thrown back like a shot, a cappuccino and brioche for breakfast, or a granita di caffè con panna to cool off from the hot midday sun, in Italy there is a coffee drink specific for every time and mood.


Coffee-Cappuccino

The Italians use the rule-of-thirds for the preparation of a good cappuccino. First, make a standard espresso shot in a pear-shaped 6-ounce cup.Second, pour in the warm, frothed milk.The milk and foam fill about one-third of the height each. Italians never order cappuccino after a meal and Italians can't understand why anyone would order a calorie-rich cappuccino after a big meal.


Coffee-Cappuccino

Facts about Italy will be back soon!

Italian Beautiful Women-Sophia Loren

Sophia Loren was born Sofia Villani Scicolone in Rome, Italy, the illegitimate daughter of married engineer Riccardo Scicolone and aspiring actress and piano teacher, Romilda Villani.


Sophia Loren

Loren worked as a model in the weekly illustrated romantic stories.Loren was discovered by her future husband, the much older film producer Carlo Ponti, and they married on September 17, 1957.By the late 1950s, Loren's star began to rise in Hollywood, with films such as 1957's Boy on a Dolphin and The Pride and the Passion in which she co-starred with Frank Sinatra and Cary Grant.


Sophia Loren

She's an Academy Award winning actress!

Italy Skiing and Winter Sports

From the Alps and Dolomites of northern Italy to Mt. Etna on Sicily, Italy offers skiing and winter sports vacations.
Here are some of Italy's top ski resorts.

Italy Skiing and Winter Sports

Italian Dolomites

The Italian Dolomites, bordering Austria, offer spectacular mountain scenery and a number of Italian skiing villages.Cortina d'Ampezzo and Val Gardena are two of the most well-known ski areas.

Ski Cervinia

Cervinia has a run over 20km long, one of the longest in the world. Because of heavy snowfall and high elevations, there is skiing nearly all year. Skiing is best for intermediate skiers.The highest ski elevation is 3480 meters and there are 30 ski lifts.

Italian Dolomites

Courmayeur Skiing

Cormayeur is a traditional alpine village in a fantastic location with great scenery and is known as one of the best all around ski resorts in Italy.Courmayeur and Chamonix share the highest mountain peak in Europe.The highest ski elevation is 2763 meters and there are 16 ski lifts.Courmayeur is also a popular destination for climbers and hikers in the summer and early fall.

Italy Skiing and Winter Sports

Corruption in Italy

Facts about Italy presents:Corruption in Italy

A series of corruption scandals rocking Italy has revived memories of the "Clean Hands" campaign of the 1990s that drove the long-ruling conservative Christian Democratic party out of power.Launched in 1992, the operation dismantled a deep-seated system of patronage between politicians and business leaders dubbed "Tangentopoli"Upwards of 1,000 people were convicted as the Christian Democratic party, which had dominated Italian politics since World War II, was consigned to history.


Corruption in Italy

According to the annual index of Transparency International on perceived corruption around the world, Italy ranked 55th this year with a score of 4.8 out of 10, compared with 5.2 out of 10 last year.

The press already has a name for the new wave of corruption scandals: Tangentopoli Rosso (Red).

Italian Fashion

Facts about Italy presents:Italian fashion

Italians have elegance in the blood!!!
So it is no wonder that some of the world's best sartorial artists are from Italy.Italians have had some of the best fashion visionares watching over what they wear.


Italian fashion

Fashion is almost national passion.The most popular fashion designers are Giorgio Armani,Versace,Gucci,Gianfranco Ferre,Valentino,Rocco Barocco, Roberto Cavalli.......




Italian fashion

For Italians,fashion is an instrument af social redemption whereby class is determined according to what one wears!!
The brands of Made in Italy dresses assure you an unforgettable experience with the best image.


Italian fashion

David Beckham Makes it to Milan

Getting ready to be introduced by his new team this evening, Beckham was spotted arriving in Milan, Italy on Saturday morning (December 20).
The English soccer star made the trip from London, where he’s been spending the past few days alongside wife Victoria and their three sons, Romeo, Cruz and Brooklyn.


D. & V. Beckham

After arriving into town, Becks was driven off to a medical clinic in nearby Appiano Gentile to undergo medical tests while his Spice Girl bride reportedly scoured the area in search of a hotel to stay in during the next few days.The family will then be leaving Milan on Monday for the holidays, but David is to return a week later on December 29 so that he can fly out with the AC Milan squad to Dubai for their winter training camp.


David Beckham

Pompeii Disaster

The people of Pompeii were quite unprepared for the eruption of Vesuvius.It is certain that when the eruption of Vesuvius started on the morning of 24 August, AD 79, it caught the local population utterly unprepared.But no one could have anticipated that the rumbling volcano would completely bury both towns with ash and pumice.


Pompeii Disaster

Evidence shows people who initially fled Pompeii returned, only to be killed by Vesuvius' increasing fury. Silent for thousands of years, Pompeii and Herculaneum are now living museums of life in the Roman Empire during the first century of the Common Era.


Pompeii Disaster

Vesuvius is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. Located in southern Italy, near Naples it presents a constant threat to more then 1 million people.


Vesuvius

Gomorra-gangster film

Gomorra is a gangster film that departs from the glamorizing norm. The acclaimed winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and Italy's entry in the Oscar race, it is a vividly panoramic film about a pitiless world of criminality. A world where no human impulse or attempt at decency goes unpunished, a world where it's worth your life to get out alive."Gomorrah's" title is not only a reference to the reviled biblical city, it's a play on the word "Camorra," the name of the Mafia-type organization that rules Naples and environs like an alternate government.


Gomorra-gangster film

The film adroitly intercuts five stories from the book, stories of people who believe -- without saying so in so many words -- that they can cut their own deals with the system, bend its inflexible savagery to their own ends. Escape, however, is not in the cards.The film's last two stories involve mature adults. A Camorra executive involved in toxic waste disposal (Toni Servillo) tries to bring a younger man (Carmine Paternoster) into the organization. And a master dressmaker (Salvatore Cantalupo) has to decide whether to clandestinely aid a group of Chinese rivals.


Gomorra-gangster film

"Gomorrah" ends with type on the screen, informing us that the organization caused 4,000 deaths in the last three years while funneling money into enterprises both illegal and legal, including the rebuilding of the World Trade Center towers.
Gomorra is acclaimed winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and Italy's entry in the Oscar race!

Fiat was closing all its factories

Fiat has decided to delay the launch of its 2009 models to a "more propitious time," the Italian auto giant's chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said yesterday, wed citing its plunging sales.

Fiat logo

The company will roll out its Fiat 500 convertible, "but for the other new models, including the Alfa Romeo 149, we are thinking of waiting for a more propitious time," Di Montezemolo said in remarks quoted by the ANSA news agency.


Fiat 500

"What's the point of making the most beautiful car in the world if no one is going to buy it from you?" he added.
The company based in northern Turin initially announced it was closing all its factories in Italy - with some 48,000 employees - from Dec. 15 to Jan. 12.


Fiat logo


Fiat 2009 model

Mafia boss hangs himself

Alleged Mafia boss hangs himself in Sicilian jail hours after his arrest.
ROME - Police in Sicily say the alleged Mafia boss of a Palermo neighbourhood has hanged himself in jail, hours after he was arrested in a blitz against the Cosa Nostra gang.


Mafia boss

Authorities had ordered the sweeping raids to prevent what they said were mob efforts to rebuild Cosa Nostra. Some 90 suspects were arrested in the blitz. Paramilitary police in Palermo say Gaetano Lo Presti's suicide in jail last night is under investigation.


Cosa Nostra

He was arrested because he allegedly headed a Mafia clan in the city's Porta Nuova district.
The capture of top fugitives in recent years has weakened Cosa Nostra.
Authorities say they ordered the latest raids to head off a bloody power struggle among rival mob bosses to rebuild the crime syndicate.


Cosa Nostra

Juventus -Most Supported Team In Italy

The Bianconeri might not be top of the standings, but they remain well and truly the most popular team in Serie A.


Juventus

It might not mean much at the end of the day with regards to the Scudetto race, but the Institute Nielsen Italia made a study between June and July 2008 to find out how many supporters the Serie A teams have.As usual Juventus head the list with over 10 million fans, whereas Inter are in second place, just slightly ahead of Milan.


Juventus

Napoli and Roma have almost the same amount of fans, but the Partenopei are just slightly ahead in this special list.
Fiorentina and Lazio come next with around 2 million fans, whereas the bottom club side is Chievo with just under 5,000 fans behind them.


Juventus

Facts about Italy-Famous Bolognese Sauce

Bolognese sauce is a meat-based sauce for pasta originating in Bologna,Italy.
Bolognese sauce is sometimes taken to be a tomato sauce but authentic recipes have only a small amount of tomato.


Famous Bolognese Sauce

Recipe for Bolognese sause:

Ingredients
225g/8oz minced beef
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 green pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
125g/4oz smoked bacon lardons
1 tbsp mixed dried herbs
400g/14oz tinned tomatoes
150ml/5fl oz red wine
salt and pepper


Famous Bolognese Sauce

Method
1. Heat a non-stick frying pan and add half the mince. Cook over a high heat to colour the meat, breaking up any lumps with the back of a fork. Repeat with the rest of the mince and drain off any fat.
2. Heat the oil in another large pan and cook the onion, carrot and green pepper until they start to soften.
3. Stir in the garlic, bacon lardons and the herbs and cook for 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the tomatoes and the wine and season well.
5. Add the mince and simmer gently for 40-50 minutes until thick. Use to make lasagne or serve with pasta.


Famous Bolognese Sauce

Preparation time less than 30 mins

Cooking time 30 mins to 1 hour

Famous Bolognese Sauce

The Tower of Pisa

The Tower of Pisa is the bell tower of the Cathedral. Its construction began in the august of 1173 and continued (with two long interruptions) for about two hundred years, in full fidelity to the original project, whose architect is still uncertain.In the past it was widely believed that the inclination of the Tower was part of the project ever since its beginning, but now we know that it is not so. The Tower was designed to be "vertical" (and even if it did not lean it would still be one of the most remarkable bell towers in Europe), and started to incline during its construction.


The Tower of Pisa

Both because of its inclination, and its beauty, from 1173 up to the present the Tower has been the object of very special attention. During its construction efforts were made to halt the incipient inclination through the use of special construction devices; later colums and other damaged parts were substituted in more than one occasion; today, interventions are being carried out within the sub-soil in order to significantly reduce the inclination and to make sure that Tower will have a long life.


The Tower of Pisa

In all this story it is possible to find a meaningful constant, the "genetic code" of the Tower: its continual interaction with the soil on which it was built. Today's (1999) works for the safeguard and the conservation of the Tower with very advanced methodologies are designed to fully respect this constant.


The Tower of Pisa

Giro d'Italia 2009 route

The 2009 Giro d'Italia organisers unveiled a testing route on Saturday for the centenary edition that should suit seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong more than his rivals.

The 2009 Giro d'Italia starts in Venice on May 9 with a 20.5km team time trial and ends in Rome on May 31 with a 15.3km individual time trial.

In between the three-week race travels north into Austria for a finish in Innsbruck and then west to the Alps for a five-climb 250km mountain stage between Cuneo and Pinerolo.The 61.7km individual time trial along the spectacular Cinque Terre coastal region is expected to a be key stage where Armstrong could gain vital seconds on his rivals thanks to his excellent time trialing skills.


Giro d'Italia

The little known central Apennine mountains will test the riders in the final week of the race. Stage 17 to the summit of the Block Haus climb is only 79km long but finishes at an altitude of 2064 metres.The last mountain stage is on the slopes of the Mount Vesuvius volcano overlooking Naples, while the final time trial stage around Rome starts and finishes in the shadow of the Coliseum.
The total race distance is 3395.5 km.


Giro d'Italia


Giro d'Italia

The maglia rosa, or pink jersey, are held throughout the race by the cyclist who at the start of each stage has the lowest overall time up to that point of the giro. The holder often change from day to day, but due to the glory and big exposure for the team and the individual who holds the jersey, the teams often makes a lot of effort to keep the jersey within the team. The cyclist with the lowest time at the end of the giros last stage wins the Giro.


Giro d'Italia

Ferrari Facts

Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sport's car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy.Founded by Enzo
Ferrari in 1928 as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles in 1947 as Ferrari S.p.A.


Cavallino Rampante

After years of financial struggles, Enzo Ferrari sold the company's sports car division to the Fiat
group in 1969 to ensure continued financial backing.
Enzo Ferrari never intended to produce road cars when he formed Scuderia Ferrari in 1929 as a sponsor for amateur drivers.
The famous symbol of the Ferrari race team is a black prancing stallion on a yellow shield, usually with the letters S F (for Scuderia Ferrari), with three stripes of green, white and red (the Italian national colors) at the top. The road cars have a rectangular badge on the hood,
and the shield-shaped race logo on the side.


Cavallino Rampante


Cavallino Rampante

Most famous and popular models are F/430,F/575M,F/360 Modena, F/599.......


Cavallino Rampante