There are many events all year round throughout Tuscany, but many are concentrated during the summer. Many sagre, food festivals, start in early summer and continue on through the fall as local specialties (truffles, wine, olive oil) come into season. If you are coming to Tuscany during other periods of the year, don’t worry as there is always something to see or do then as well. For specific events, it is best to contact the local tourism office of the locality you will be visiting.

Summer
Luminara, Regatta and Battle of the Bridge – Pisa. On the night of June 16, the Luminara begins the festivities to honor Saint Ranieri, the patron saint of Pisa, the following day. Over 70,000 candles light up the palaces along the Arno river, with a fireworks display afterwards.

To celebrate the patron saint of Pisa, four boats representing the most ancient districts of the city compete in the Regatta of Saint Ranieri along the Arno river, heritage of the past glory of Pisa as an ancient maritime republic.

Generally a week later, Pisa reenacts the Battle of the Bridge, a medieval “push of war” contest which takes place on the central bridge in Pisa. The contest is preceded by a huge procession in costume through the city.

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The Leaning Tower of Pisa no longer leans quite so much after a £20 million project to save it was hailed a complete success yesterday.

The tower, which was on the verge of collapse, has been straightened by 18 inches (45 centimetres) returning it to its 1838 position.

“It has straightened a little bit more than we expected, but every little helps,” said Prof John Burland, an expert in soil mechanics at Imperial College London, who was the only British member of the 14-strong rescue committee.

He said the tower was still “very slightly moving” towards being upright, but that it had stabilised.

The tower, which has been leaning almost since building work first began in 1173, was closed to the public in 1990 because of safety fears. The 183-foot tower was nearly 15 feet off vertical and its structure was found to have been weakened by centuries of strain.

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The mountains of Piedmont featured at the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics provide a unique backdrop for winter sports. But they also provide peace and quiet for amateurs to have fun, space for beginners, and great cultural and gastronomic traditions.

Piedmont features 53 ski resorts, 1,300 kilometres of runs, and over 300 installations comprising aerial tramways, cableways, chair-lifts and ski-lifts, with a capacity of 400,000 people per hour.

Winter sports that can be practised in Piedmont include: Alpine and cross-country skiing, telemark, snowboarding, ice climbing, free riding, ski mountaineering, horse trekking, driving sleighs pulled by Siberian huskies, paraskiing, heliskiing and much, much more.
Valle di Susa

The Valle di Susa (or Val di Susa) area extends over 1500 km of ski runs and trails, set in a natural landscape that is unmatched anywhere in the world.

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Unusual for Italy, Lombardy is a landlocked region. Its northernmost point embraces the magnificent sub-Alpine vistas of Lake Maggiore and Lake Como, on the Swiss border, but most of Lombardy’s 9,000 square miles are taken up by the vast Po River Valley, a broad, flat expanse of farmlands punctuated by windbreaks of poplar trees – Lombardy’s equivalent to Tuscany’s cypress. Shelley called this valley “the waveless plain of Lombardy,” and most people do find it drab and unappealing. Still, anywhere you drive – and this is certainly one of the easiest and most suitable places in Italy for driving – just around the bend may lurk the most astonishing surprise, such as tiny Sabbioneta, whose massive city ramparts conceal a miniature Renaissance jewel of a town, created in the 16th century by Duke Vespasiano Gonzaga.

Mantova the Magnificent is surrounded by dreary marshlands, yet it is one of northern Italy’s most renowned Renaissance centers. Try to get there during the week, to avoid the hordes of tourists who flock to see Andrea Mantegna’s masterpiece, the frescoed walls of the Camera degli Sposi in the Palazzo Ducale.

A few miles away on the left bank of the Po, Cremona’s Piazza del Comune, presided over by a Romanesque cathedral and belltower, presents a harmonious blend of many different architectural epochs.

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Where to Go to See the Most Important Attractions

These are not the secret little places – these are the must-see sights, the best of the best, the icons of Italian travel, from Venice to Turin and the lakes.

Getting off the beaten path is every traveler’s quest, but certain sights are almost holy shrines, places visitors simply must see, however big the crowds or long the lines. Here are the ten must-see sights in Northern Italy – the regions north of the Po River.

Milan: The Duomo – The third largest Christian church in the world and the height of the flamboyant gothic style, the great cathedral is impressive inside and out. Tour it from the crypt to the roof for history, art and views to the snow-covered Alps.

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I have heard many times that people were discouraged from going in August. I think that if you are looking for a place on a beach that might be good advice since they will tend to be overcrowded and most hotels will have no occupancy. This is particularly the case for the weeks immediately before and after the 15th of August which is the peak of the holiday season for Italians. However, if you are visiting cities like Rome, Florence or any city for that matter, July or August are excellent months I would say. In August when most Italians will be on vacation, it becomes amazingly easy to visit the cities. Traffic becomes minimal, and parking in Rome for example which is normally a stressful impossible task – becomes so easy! Then we must consider the nightlife!

This is a new phenomenon – which has emerged in the last 10 years or so. Most cities have all sorts of live entertainment going on every night right on the streets and squares. Rome has its “Estate Romana” (Roman summer) largely financed by the city government, the “comune di Roma”, that includes music shows and dancing in many historical places like Castel S. Angelo, and near the Coliseum. There is also an annual Latin dancing festival at Fiesta near via Appia. Every night there is usually an option of 4 of 5 places to go where you can dance ‘al fresco’ that is, under the stars in the open.

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As Milan is THE CITY of fashion there are lots of places to go shopping, especially for shopping deluxe, e.g. Via Montenapoleone (Gucci, Versace, Fratelli Rossetti, Prada, Cartier etc.), Via della Spiga (D&G, Sergio Rossi, Tod’s, Bulgari etc.) Via Sant’Andrea (Chanel, Armani, Moschino, Kenzo etc.), Via Manzoni, Via Borgospesso and Via Santo Spirito. The elegant Via Manzoni is home to Spazio Armani at no. 31. This is the Giorgio Armani multi-concept store where you can admire the Emporio Armani showrooms, Armani casa, and Armani fiori. You can also have an aperitif at the Emporio Armani Cafè or spend an evening at the restaurant Nobu, with a dinner by the best Japanese chef to emerge in the last 10 years: Nobuyuki Matsuhisa who opened this chain of restaurants together with Robert de Niro.

Around Milan you can go shopping at the outlet malls to have the same luxury feeling with all those designer brands but for less money.
Sales take place in July and in January. The winter sales will begin on 7th January 2004.

To go shopping without spending all your money there are four important streets in Milan: Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Corso Buenos Aires, Via Torino and Corso di Porta Ticinese.

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The natural landscape we can admire from the banks of the Po, from its enbankments and from those of the Secchia is extremely poetic. Though at first sight it can seem a monotonous plain , it is, in reality, a complex and delicate ecosystem, which has been formed with the passing of time. The vegetation is rich not only in poplars, often cultivated, but also in willows, alders, false acacias, hawthorns, hop and multi-coloured flowers. The fauna includes many species of bird, from the most common sparrows to the kingfisher, as well as daytime and nocturnal birds of prey. There are also fish and wild mammals e.g. several rodents, hares and foxes able to guarantee the delicate food balance present in nature. All of this is part of a context in which the presence of man predominates; in fact, it is impossible to forget that this is a thickly and actively populated area. Nevertheless, here the green is abundant and able to involve everyone who dips into it. The eco-tourist who decides to set out on this itinerary is a person who longs for close contact with nature, who dedicates time to observing its numerous characteristics and who travels with a “clean” means of transport.

The whole route winds along embankment roads, both asphalted and not, and allows brief detours or stops in order to visit some note-worthy places of natural or architectural interest.

The itinerary starts from Felonica. This village, which borders on the province of Ferrara, presents some buildings worth visiting. First of all, the chiesa parrocchiale dell’Assunta (Parish church of Our Lady of the Assumption), in Romanesque style, existing as early as 944 and recently restored, is a beautiful country parish church of the times of Matilde di Canossa. Secondly, Palazzo Cavriani, now the town hall. The Waldensian Evangelical Church, which, though not particularly remarkable from the architectural point of view, has important religious significance.

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Somewhere into the sixties Como was a bustling city as bedeviled by traffic as any North American town of its size. Funny thing is, is that it retained much of its charm and charismatic air.

Way before this it was a mere lump of ice, melting and changing form. The final results attracted an array of famous poets- so inspired by its natural beauty.

Romans relaxed in Como, Dante (Tuscan Poet),Virgil and Catullus, the genius Goethe, Longfellow. Poetry may have elegantly expressed the true beauty of Lake Como, but to only describe its beauty vaguely. Ice gouging Southward millions of years ago, scooped out their valleys. The region blends soaring peaks with lush Mediterranean vegetation.

And how right was William Talbot in 1833 as he reflected upon this glorious splendor- he said; “it was during these thoughts that the idea occurred to me if it were possible to cause these natural images to imprint themselves durably, and remain fixed upon paper!” And a year later he was at work on his idea that today shares the honor of inventing photography along with Frenchman Louis Daguerre.

Invasions of Como were marked on paper throughout history, but nothing compared to the one summer it was invaded by the hippies. Hippies came in, from all over, in turn halting and shattering the village peace with exploding music on transistor radios. The long-hairs hung around monuments looking ever so tousled, and interrupted diners in open-air cafes. Hippies dug there way into Como from Germany, England, France and the United States. They were pests everywhere, but in Como they were a catastrophe.

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New research released by the International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM), has revealed Italy to be the most popular country for top-end travel.

Thanks to its quality tourism offering, range of cultural and gastronomic experiences and uniquely iconic style, the European hot spot is also tipped to be the most sought after destination in the coming 12-18 months.

The leading luxury travel show ILTM surveyed over 1,500 of its VIP buyers on issues relating to general luxury travel trends, changing demographics within the luxury travel client base, as well as environmental and security issues. Respondents included a broad cross section of global tourism and travel companies, from high street travel agents to events organisers.

Brad Monaghan, marketing manager of ILTM, said, “Our research reveals that luxury visitor numbers and expenditure are on the rise globally, with companies experiencing an average 17.5 per cent increase in client numbers and a 16 per cent increase in client expenditure. Despite the number of emerging luxury travel destinations around the globe, it is interesting to note that Italy remains the leading choice for discerning travellers, with Europeans as well as amongst developing luxury travel markets such as China, Russia and India.”

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