The four chairs, lined up eerily outside on the cobbled street, threw me into a panic. Like one of those jokes, a candid camera scam, I felt obliged to stop and look and yet was sure that someone was watching and sniggering. I looked around, but nobody seemed to be paying much attention either to […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, Â near Rimini – hometown to arguably Italy’s most famous cyclist, the late Marco Pantani (nicknamed il pirata – the […]
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 – […]
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 […]
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 […]
It’s a tired but true observation that to understand Italy and the Italians, you have to at least take a passing look at football and its place in society. Whether you subscribe to the theory that the game was actually invented in Italy – either as calcio fiorentino or the ancient Roman game of Harpastum […]
For anyone who’s interested in Rimini and local traditions, and speaks/reads Italian, there’s no better place to head to online than www.cristella.it, the site of local blogger, journalist, and publicist Maria Cristina Muccioli (alias Cristella). Her blog is full of great snippets of dialect, stories and traditions that help to remind you how unique a […]
It’s another scorching hot week here in Italy, and with temperatures in and around 37° throughout Emilia-Romagna and northern Italy, one word that you’ll see constantly referred to is ‘afa’. There are lots of different etymological theories relating to the term ‘afa’. One is that it derives from the greek ‘apto’ via the late latin […]
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