Front Page

Since Rome, or more precisely the Vatican, is home to the Catholic Church, every year the city celebrates Easter and the preceding week in a grand style. Most of the Pope-centric traditions unfold in St. Peter’s Square. Feasts and picnics with family and friends follow on Easter Day and Pasquetta (or Little Easter. Remember: the Monday after Easter is a holiday in Italy).

 Four boats carrying a total of 342 migrants have landed in Italy and Malta, officials said Friday, as improved weather conditions in the Mediterranean herald more arrivals from Libyan shores.Three of the boats with 260 people on board were intercepted by Italian coast guards and taken to an immigration centre on the tiny island of Lampedusa, which is closer to north Africa than to the Italian mainland. 

 President Giorgio Napolitano began a new round of consultations on Friday to identify a candidate for prime minister who would be able to count on the backing of Italy’s fractured political parties and be able to form a government. 

Rome, Florence, Venice, and Naples these are the destinations where a first-time visitor to Italy dreams of traveling, and rightly so. You could spend your entire vacation in any one of these magnificent cultural hubs. But the lesser-known places; the towns and villages you'd likely pass by -- those are my favorite. The beauty of Italy is that every town -- even the tiniest village -- has its own individual identity; its own specialty products, dialects and customs, which makes roaming off the Italian tourist map even more addictive.