Touring in Bologna

It's a long time I've been thinking about a project.

As most of you know, I organize and run tours in Le Marche. All the people who came here have seen how I love this region, and how great were the experiences between Corinaldo, Ancona, Ascoli, Monte Conero, Urbino, Jesi and so on.

But still... there is another town, not in Le Marche, which deserves much more attention than the actual one.

We all know that the main tourist route - for those who come to Italy for the first time - is Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples. Personally, I'd skip Milan and choose Venice. Whatever the choice is, you have to pass through Bologna.

What is Bologna? Bologna is "Italy". Whereas Le Marche are all that you can find in Italy, resumed in one region (therefore "Italy in one region", as the claim of our Tourist Board says), Bologna is the thermometer of Italy: the social situation in Bologna is a synthesis of the society in Italy.

It's Italy's political lab: all the experiments about welfare, transportation, education and so on have their first try here. If they work, they will be replicated in national scale.

It's Europe's oldest university: the Alma Mater Studiorum dates back to the year 1089, and students are everywhere. If an Italian thinks about Bologna, he recalls culture, politics and... food!

Yes, because food is the third important thing of Bologna. Being in the middle of Italy, in a postion which can't be avoided by any traveller, crossroad between the Pianura Padana of Northern Italy and the Appennini to go south, close to Florence on the way to Rome, not far from Venice, Milan, Turin, Bologna has always been the melting pot of that crowd of small states that was Italy in the past.



No surprises, then, that every student and every traveller brought his home tradition to Bologna. Hence, the cuisine started to improve. The symbol of this cuisine is - not by chance - the Tortellino. This navel-shaped pasta stuffed with a lot of different things - so many that even every house has its own receipe for that - is by no means the essence of Bologna. Like its pasta, Bologna is the navel of Italy. And like the inside, Bologna is stuffed with lots of different people.

This is just to make you hungry of this town... the rest will come step by step...

Dante Ferretti's nomination for the Academy Awards

For the ninth times, Dante Ferretti from Macerata has been nominated for the Academy Awards as Art Director and Set Decoration. It's the ninth time for Dante Ferretti: he won the Oscar in 2005 for The Aviator.

This year the nomination comes for Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, starring Johnny Depp.

Le Marche win the "Best Foreign Stand Prize" in Bratislava's food exhibition

Le Marche's stand at the international food exhibition in Bratislava (Danubius Gastro) has been awarded with the prize for the best foreign stand.

Good job!

Le Marche shops on ebay

Next February the Artisans Union will teach its members how to use e-commerce tools, especially ebay. In spite of its popularity among young people and teenagers, Internet is barely known by artisan, farmers and those who make the best things sold here.

Who knows? Maybe you can find a Coccio from Fratte Rosa, or an accordion from Castelfidardo on an ebay shop. Or even some shoes from Montegranaro or Sant'Elpidio a Mare.

And after that, you may think to come here and see in what a wonderful land these things are produced.

So come on, type www.ebay.com and look for something from Le Marche!

Building up a tour together

The concept is very simple: I organize tours in Le Marche, therefore I have the contacts, I know places, restaurants, winemakers, locals etc.

You would like to visit Le Marche, but have no idea on what to do: or maybe you have an idea, but don't know how to make it real.

Why don't you contact me and ask for building up a tour together? You tell me about your interests, what you would like to do, where would you like to go, to sleep, etc., and I will figure out a solution. This way we can optimize prices, schedules and you can obtain exactly what you want.

And what about payments, guarantees, etc.? I have a partnership with a travel agent based in USA, so no worries about anything.

If you feel interested about that, why don't you email me?

The new Chiantishire in the area of Pesaro

It's the claim of an article I read last day in GoMarche, an e-magazine written in Le Marche (in Italian, sorry!).

The journalist focuses on the fact that lots of people are flocking to Pesaro and Urbino (wonderful area) to buy houses, due to cheaper prices than in Tuscany, and this area is becoming a sort of "new Tuscany".

In my opinion, this is not true. The fact that people are buying houses like in Tuscany doesn't mean that you can re-create the same atmosphere.

I will always repeat, over and over again, that Le Marche are NOT Tuscany, not even "The new Tuscany". Tuscany will always be a sort of theathre, good if you like theathre. Le Marche will always be more genuine, good if you are interested to enjoy the "real", "ordinary" life. Some of us like more Le Marche because they give you the idea that you can move to the region immediately and live like in a paradise. Tuscany looks as wonderful, but I wouldn't spend my entire life here, where you can have a great experience for just few days.

Montalcino is a jewel, as long as you don't have lunch at home. Corinaldo is a pearl, with groceries, bars, supermarket and so on. That's the difference.

San Marino: visiting a foreign country when in Le Marche

Here are some pictures of San Marino. Strangely enough, this country is completely inside Italy, like Vatican City. Although the Vatican is much more influent on our political life, for lots of historical reasons, San Marino is proud to be independent, and doesn't really want to have many relevance on the Italian political agenda, except of course what is necessary for its needs.



A day in San Marino might be interesting not only for those who would like to add an extra-country on their checklist. San Marino has also some great views, some duty free shops, lots of tourist shops, cheaper meals, coins and stamps for collectors, and an intact and walled city centre.



Going to San Marino is rather simple: if you arrive by car, simply take the A14 motorway and exit at Rimini Sud, then follow the signs. Leave your car at the car parking of the former train station (there's no train anymore), 200 metres from Porta San Francesco, the gate to the city. The town to visit is basically inside the walls.