Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site
Main
Page This site celebrates Italian culture for the enjoyment of children and
adults. Site-Overview
Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site Shops at: Zazzle & PrintFection
Fiat - Fabbrica italian di Automobili Torino They have a good history of the company at their official
website. The Fiat 500 has inspired people to obsession, as have many FIAT
cars. Just type into any Search Engine 'Fiat clubs country name'
and you'll see what I mean! Moto Guzzi, California EV Touring 2003 MV Agusta 1957 175 CSTL The
Designer Mark and Logos on the Lamborghini Miura The Lamborghini Miura Newly Restored MV Agusta Discovoltante Moto Guzzi Logo Ducati 750 Sport from 1972/73 1962 Motobi 125 Classic Racer For the Italian Motorcycle fanatics, the classic Italian
motorcycle photos on this page come from an Australian site you can
reach by clicking on the Bondi Beach Mate above.
Visit my Photo Tours of Italy page
Visit my Dating and Mating in Italy page
Buon viaggio, e buona fortuna Rentals
/ Tours
from Site Visitors
City Information and
Guides Online Many offer
to make all the arrangements for you, like the
In Italy Online
site, the biggest and oldest out there.
The
So-Much-World site offers brief travel guides to many Italian
cities to help you plan your trip. And be sure to check out their
sister site where you can find a wealth of information about Italy
handily indexed for you: Travel
Bookmarking.
Also for do-it-yourselfers, there are many companies that rent
apartments and villas. Meridian
Villas is one, and their site gives wonderful descriptions of
the areas with a wide price range on the properties. Another
company is the Italian Rental site that offers interesting villas
and farmhouses throughout Italy.
There are some beautiful villas to rent via the
Ville-in-Italia site, too.
If you are travelling to Venice (and who would go to
Italy and not travel to Venice?), try
Truly Venice for
quality apartments for short and long-term rental.
They offer apartments in four categories:
Romantic, Contemporary, Comfort, and Classic (my favorite).
The company
offers not only a beautiful selection of apartments, but other services
like yacht rentals, catering, tours...
There is a wonderful community on the web called
Slow
Travelers. They are not affiliated with any agencies or travel
spots. The community members report on their vacations and
recommend places they liked. There's lots to read, and lots of practical
information for do-it-yourself travelers. I've come across a site for birdwatchers traveling to Italy:
Birding Italy. Fodor's has several guides to Italian cities online for free.
I provide direct links to the city guides, below.
Dr. Raeleen D'agostino, psychologist and italophile, hosts
Dolce Vita Seminars on
the beautiful Amalfi Coast. She combines psychology with Italian
culture to help you learn how to live a more satisfying life.
She's the author of Living La Dolce Vita. Click through to
Amazon.com to read more about it.
The Michele
Guesthouse in Pisa offers accommodation in beautiful Pisa (it is
built around the same Arno river as Florence), and a wonderful site full
of photos and local information. Farm
House Campetroso is situated in Tuscany. You'll find lots of
information on their site about the local attractions. And if you
have a car while touring Italy, staying in the countryside is a more
practical solution, and a beautiful one. Bacci
Caravans rents RVs so you can travel freely around Italy without
needing hotels. This is especially useful if you want to explore
Italy's beautiful national parks, or roam up and down the
coastlines. They are based in Pisa. Casale is a lovely
home in Teramo, Abruzzo with a view of the Grand Sasso, the
highest peak of the Apennine mountain range. The house was built
by two brothers from America, on a plot of land owned by their
ancestors, and you can read an
entertaining story of how the house came to be. It's available
to let. For photos and more information, including lots of
information on local attractions, visit their
website. Casale
and the View This
is an ideal location for outdoorsy tourists who enjoy hiking
(national park next door), skiing, good food, ceramics (Castelli
Ceramica nearby), and an occasional visit to the sea. And
if you have relatives in the area, this is a wonderful alternative to
a hotel while visiting. I met two retired couples from the U.S. on their first visit to
Italy. When their women were busy elsewhere, the men cornered me
and asked in a voice usually associated with asking for something
illegal, "Is it true Italian drivers never follow the rules of the
road?" When I told them that was generally true, they beamed
in pleasure, clearly looking forward to, "When in Italy, drive like
an Italian." I considered warning their spouses, but decided they would discover
their fates soon enough! When I related this to an Italian friend,
he shook his head and said in a pitying voice, "Poverini". Roughly
translated, that means, "Those poor men". He pitied the fact that
up to that point in their lives, they had always had to follow the rules
of the road. By the way, it's now official: Italians are the worst drivers in Western
Europe. They finally beat out the Belgians who have stopped
handing out driver's licenses on a person's 18th birthday, and now
require the person to know how to drive first. And now some advice to women traveling in trains or on buses in
Italy: try to sit next to women, nuns are particularly protective,
and families with small children are always a safe bet. This was always my plan, but one time it went terribly wrong.
Somehow, one evening, leaving Naples in a full train, I ended up in a
compartment with a Camorra gangster, a suicidal policeman, and a porn
fanatic. The gangster protected me from the other two, believe it or
not. Fodor's offers these Italian city guides free online: Italy:
And for general, if dry, information on Italy and her regions and
cities, you can check Wikipedia:
Abruzzo (with capital
L'Aquila)
Friuli-Venezia Giulia* (Trieste)
Lombardy, Lombardia (Milan,
Milano)
Piedmont, Piemonte (Turin,
Torino)
Sardinia*, Sardegna (Cagliari)
Aosta Valley*, Valle d'Aosta / Vallée d'Aoste
(Aosta,
Aoste)
Tuscany, Toscana (Florence,
Firenze)
Trentino-South Tyrol*, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol
(Trento,
Bolzano)
If you'd like to know what's available in terms of travel books, what
people say about them, and the prices, you can use this search tool for Amazon.com.
Just enter 'Books' in the 'Search' field, and 'Italy travel' in the
'Keywords' field. Then click on the 'Go' button to see the
list. You can even get more specific to your needs by adding extra
'Keywords' like motorcycling, backpacking, camping... Here are a few of my picks.
Check my Non-Fiction Books page for more
interesting books on traveling in Italy. For 'literary travelers', here are a few selections that combine
travel in Italy with some writings about Italy by very famous authors.
And if while traveling in Italy, you get the desire to purchase a
property, it's a good idea to read a book like this first.
Italian
Travel, Stories, Advice, Sites, Books...
Tuscany Italy
Giclee Print
AllPosters.com
Taormina, Sicily, Italy
Giclee Print
AllPosters.com
Wine Vinyard Estates
Giclee Print
AllPosters.com
Roma Scooter
Art Print
AllPosters.com
Venezia
Art Print
AllPosters.com
Florence
Giclee Print
AllPosters.com
Some Travel Sites
Italian travel sites
are abundant on the web. I will only point out a few.
Amalfi Coast & Capri
Florence
Genoa
Milan
Naples & Pompeii
The Riviera
Rome
Sicily
Turin, Piedmont & Valle d'Aosta
Tuscany with Siena
Umbria with Assisi
Venice
Some Rentals from Site
Visitors & Tours
Some Reminiscences
Some Advice
City Information and
Guides Online
Amalfi Coast & Capri
Florence
Genoa
Milan
Naples & Pompeii
The Riviera
Rome
Sicily
Turin, Piedmont & Valle d'Aosta
Tuscany with Siena
Umbria with Assisi
Venice
Travel Books
