Innovation married to tradition is the key combination thanks to which neighbours Emilia-Romagna and San Marino have always excelled. Now the world’s oldest surviving republic is set to be the world’s first state entirely covered by wi-fi. The development, announced at the San Marino Forum, will see this small mountainous republic – which can be [...]
November 21st, 2009
October 6th, 2009
The talk elsewhere in the last week has been about the awarding of the 2016 Olympic Games to Rio de Janeiro, and the embarassing failure of the Obama backed Chicago campaign. Elsewhere, because here in Romagna Olympics fans are thinking further down the track – four years further, to be exact, and the competition to [...]
October 4th, 2009
San Leo has made official what many people have been saying for years: it has joined the club of ‘I Borghi più Belli d’Italia‘ (the most beautiful small towns of Italy). More appropriate than joined, is perhaps admitted, as this is a small and exclusive list of towns throughout Italy that meet some specific requirements [...]
October 2nd, 2009
Unusually for this blog, we’re urging you to visit a different city to Rimini this weekend – albeit one that’s easily reached from Rimini and a perfect day-trip, Ferrara. Why? Because one of the best run and thought-provoking festivals in Italy (and perhaps Europe) takes place there this weekend – Internazionale a Ferrara. The festival [...]
September 26th, 2009
This week some of the movers and shakers of the Italian information technology sector gathered at the San Patrignano conference centre, just outside Rimini, for a special conference entitled ‘Etico Ecoit’, organised by the Forli based Vem Sistemi. The conference had as its theme a new way of doing business, with particular regard to the IT [...]
September 26th, 2009
All across Europe there are events planned as part of the European Union initiative ‘European Heritage Days’, and Emilia-Romagna is no exception – in fact, as Emilia-Romagna Tourism reports, there are over 200 different events taking place across the region this weekend under the banner of ‘Italy, Treasure of Europe’ Rimini, in particular, has a [...]
September 25th, 2009
Reports appeared in local papers this week that the annual Giro d’Italia, one of the most prestigious cycling competitions in the world, is set to include, for the first time since 1999, a stop in Cesenatico, near Rimini – hometown to arguably Italy’s most famous cyclist, the late Marco Pantani (nicknamed il pirata – the [...]
September 24th, 2009
There’s an interesting interview, over at the Rimini Fiera magazine, with the new President of the Italian Tourism Authority (ENIT) Matteo Marzotto, who was in Rimini recently to talk at the World Convention of Italian Chambers of Commerce. Marzotto comes from the world of fashion, from the Marzotto group (A world leader in textiles, founded in [...]
September 22nd, 2009
Rimini is just one of the many cities worldwide that will be linking up with New York this evening to show a special Global Premier screening of the new film The Age of Stupid, directed by Franny Armstrong – whose documentaries include McLibel (credited with helping effect a sea-change of opinion about the American fast-food [...]
September 22nd, 2009
Leafing through the latest edition of monthly Italian music magazine XL, I chanced upon a Rimini story that raised a smile. It dates back to 1993, when ex-Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant was touring to promote his album Fate of Nations (an under-rated album which includes the wonderful 29 Palms, plus guest appearances from Clannad’s Máire [...]
September 21st, 2009
The battle for Rimini, one of the most forgotten but crucial moments of World War II - Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver William Hargreaves Leese described it as paragonable to the battle of El Alamein – started on the 25th of August 1944 and culminated with a victory for the allied troops and anti-fascist partisans, and the liberation [...]
September 20th, 2009
Leafing through the light-hearted ‘alieni a Rimini‘, a visitor’s guide to Rimini which explains some of the more mysterious traditions and customs of the Romagnolo resort town, I came across the curious but readily identifiable Leahcim Noskcaj syndrome. It’s a syndrome which afflicts up to an estimated 70% of the Rimini population, and is characterised [...]
September 17th, 2009
How many songs can you think of that have linked traditional music – in this case the Liscio of Romagna – with artists and personalities as diverse as Gloria Gaynor, Jovanotti, Laura Pausini and Pope John Paul II? There’s only one, that I know of, and it’s the 1954 classic Romagna Mia by the Secondo [...]
September 9th, 2009
This last week has seen a gentle but definite drop in the temperatures, fewer people on the beaches, and that almost tangible soft melancholy in the air which signals the end of summer. The good news, though, is that the Autumn is actually one of the best times to visit Rimini and Emilia-Romagna in general, [...]
September 5th, 2009
Sydney Lumet becomes the fourth director to receive the Fellini Prize, an annual award presented in Rimini by the Fellini Foundation to both honour the world’s most important film directors, and at the same time comemorate the late great Federico Fellini. Lumet, who started his career as film director back in 1957 (with the classic [...]
September 5th, 2009
For tomorrow, at least, the small but pretty town of Bertinoro – some 52 km from Rimini, up in the hills between Forli and Cesena, becomes holder of that most coveted prize – the most hospitable town in a region, Emilia-Romagna, famed for its hospitality. What gives it the right to claim such a title? [...]
September 5th, 2009
Perhaps it’s not surprising that few people, up until recently, have heard of the small sovereign (though unrecognised internationally) state of the Isola delle Rose (Rose Island) – or to give it its official title, in esperanto, Insulo de la Rozoj. It’s foundation and eventual destruction – at the hands of Italian military engineers – [...]
August 27th, 2009
As you walk along the lungomare of Rimini, you’ll see that many of the sidestreets carry the names of films by Rimini’s Maestro Federico Fellini – including Via Amarcord, Via Roma, and the wonderfully suggestive Via le Notti di Cabiria. The street signs are accompanied by the original movie posters, making it worth a stroll [...]
August 24th, 2009
There’s an interesting project,over at iGuidez.com run by an Irishman, Michael Phillips, that aims to produce high-quality video-guides for geo-tagged sites of cultural interest. The project has over 600 videos, spread out through Italy, Cuba, Cyprus, Ireland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (it’s aim is to become a global leader), and now Philips has added [...]
August 24th, 2009
It’s that time of year again – August, and the traditional ‘Rimini Meeting’ which sees some of the highest-profile politicians/leaders/thinkers on both the national Italian and International stage come to the Adriatic Riviera capital to speak to large audiences on a wide range of themes. It’s a media bonanza, and so it’s no wonder that [...]
