As ski season quickly approaches, it’s time to hit the slopes in style. The Dolomites (Dolomiti in Italian), are located in northeastern Italy, and make a great side trip from Venice. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, these beautiful and unique mountains offer world class skiing and a plethora of outdoor activities. After spending a few days in Venice, escape to the great outdoors and enjoy the gorgeous scenery in these mountaintop towns.

After 17 months of repair work, the famed Trevi Fountain will finally be unveiled this month in Rome.  Nearly 2.2 million Euro (2.98 million dollars) was spent by Fendi, the company funding the restoration project.  That’s a lot of coins to throw into a fountain!

Fall is here and towns all over Italy are celebrating local products and seasonal fare.  Visitors to Italy can find food festivals throughout the country, celebrating autumn’s bounties such as truffles, mushrooms, chestnuts, and chocolate.

Italy is a country where people still talk face to face, are not glued all day to their cell phones, and are more concerned with the quality of their food than the quality of their broadband internet.  It is anything but high tech.  However, there have been a number of recent efforts to usher in high tech solutions to various problems, benefitting citizens, the environment, and upping Italy’s less than stellar tech savvy.

Southern Italy is known for many things: stunning coastlines, blue seas, fresh seafood, handmade pasta, and so on; but world class wine is not often at the top of the list.  However, in reality southern Italy produces some of the best wines in the country.  Campania, the second most southern region in Italy, is home to several excellent wineries which in recent years are being acknowledged by the global wine community.