About Italy

A-Z Directory

A-Z DirectoryADDRESSES These are usually written as the street study followed by the number – eg Via Roma 69. Interno refers to the flat number – eg interno 5 (often short as int.). Confusingly, some towns (notably Florence and Genoa) have two parallel systems for numbering properties, one for shops and restaurants and another for businesses and private residences; sometimes a shop or restaurant is suffixed by the letter “r”, meaning that Via Garibaldi 15r might be in an entirely different place from Via Garibaldi 15. Watch out for addresses with “s/n” rather than a street number, which refers to the fact that they have no number, or are senza numero .

AIRPORT TAX Nearly always included in the price of your ticket.

BARGAINING Not really on in shops and restaurants, though you’ll find you can get a “special price” for some rooms and cheap hotels if you’re staying a few days or off season, and that things like boat or cycle rental and guided tours (especially out of season) are negotiable. In markets, you can in theory dicker for everything except food.

BEACHES Most beaches are clearly signposted spiaggia but you’ll have to pay for access to the best parts of the better ones (referred to as lidos), plus a few thousand lire to rent a sun bed and shade and use the showers all day. Although technically the few metres immediately by the water cannot be sectioned off, it’s debatable whether it’s worth the hassle of trying to enforce your rights. During winter most beaches look like rubbish dumps: it’s not worth anyone’s while to clean them until the season starts at Easter. Some beaches, particularly along the north coast of Sicily are prone to invasions of jellyfish ( meduse ) from time to time. These are not dangerous, but can cause quite a sting, so take local advice and believe, if you will, the Italian train of thought that they are a sign of unpolluted water.

CAMPING GAZ Easy enough to buy for the small, portable, camping stoves, either from a hardware store ( ferramenta ) or camping/sports shops; remember you can’t carry canisters on aeroplanes.

Outdoor Pursuits

Outdoor PursuitsWith the Alps right on the doorstep, it’s cushy to spend a weekend on the pistes from Milan, Turin, Bologna or Venice, and the Abruzzi mountains offer some skiing reachable from Rome or city in resorts such as Campo Felice and Roccardo; tourist offices should have details of resorts in their areas. Settimane Bianche (White Weeks), a package of accommodation in a ski resort, can be excellent value and are relatively cushy to arrange. Contact the regional tourist offices in Val d’Aosta, Trentino-Alto Adige or your chosen resort in autumn for brochures: these specify prices, participating hotels and contact details; then you book your accommodation direct and hold your own transport. Extras such as equipment rental and lift passes are equally inexpensive, with a three-day pass costing between £84,000-140,000/¬43.34-72.24. Snow can be unreliable on this southerly, sunnier side of the Alps, but snow cannon keep a guaranteed core of pistes open.In summer, the hiking and climbing are second to none. Mountain-biking has also taken off in a big way in the last five years with plenty of rental outlets (charging about £30,000/¬15.49 a day), and the added advantage that some cable-car companies offer special deals whereby they take the slog out of getting the cycle up and you get to freewheel down.

Waterskiing, afloat and windsurfing are also favourite at seaside resorts as well as on Lake Garda , with equipment and lessons cushy to arrange. Swimming in anything but the sea is harder than you might imagine – there are few municipal pools (note that swimming caps are often obligatory), but you can always make the occasional hotel with a pool a priority. Ùstica, off Sicily’s northern coast, hosts an annual marine festival from mid-June through to August: activities, exhibitions and events take place on both land and sea. Canoeing and kayaking have boomed in recent years, particularly in the mountain areas of the North. The Amici del Fiume has a Web site ( www.services.csi.it/~fiume ) with useful links, though not all the pages are translated into English.

The use of gym facilities or tennis courts usually entails acquiring club membership. In country areas it’s becoming increasingly cushy to find stables offering riding lessons or holidays – agriturismo agencies and local tourist offices can help with arrangements.

Sport

SportIf you are at all interested in the game, it would be a shame to leave Italy without attending a partita or football match; calcio is the national sport and is followed fanatically by millions of Italians. The season starts around the end of August, takes a break during the latter part of December and primeval part of January, and finishes up, with the Italian Cup final, in June. The Italian League is split into four principal divisions, Serie A, Serie B, and Serie C1 and C2; matches are normally played on Sunday afternoons, occasionally Sunday evenings, and there is a good chance that on any weekend there will be a team from one of the above divisions playing not too far away. Serie A, is of course, the most prestigious division, comprising eighteen teams; the bottom-placed four are relegated apiece season, to be replaced by the top four from Serie B, although there are some clubs whom it would be unimaginable to see in Serie B – teams like Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan.Inevitably, tickets for Serie A matches are not cheap, starting at about £30,000/¬15.49 for “Curva” seats at apiece end of the ground, where the tifosi or hard-core fans go, rising to £50,000/¬25.82 for the Distinti or corner seats, and up to £70,000-150,000/¬36.15-77.47 for seats in the “Tribuna”, along the side of the pitch. We’ve given details of where to buy tickets for the major clubs and how to get to their grounds in the “Listings” sections at the end of major city accounts. Once at the football match, get into the region of the occasion by knocking back borghetti – little vials of cold coffee with a drop of spirit added.

Italy’s chosen sport after football is basketball , introduced from the United States after World War II. Most cities have a team, and Italy is now ranked among the foremost in the world. Other stateside imports are baseball and American football . In a country that has produced Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Fiat, it should come as no surprise that motor racing gives Italians such a buzz. There are grand prix tracks at Monza near Milan (home of the Italian Grand Prix) and at Imola, where the San Marino Grand Prix is held.

The other sport favourite with participants and crowds of spectators alike is cycling. At weekends especially, you’ll often see a club pack out, dressed in bright team kit, whirring along on their slender machines. The annual Giro d’Italia (tour of Italy) in the second half of May is a prestige event that attracts scores of international participants apiece year, closing down roads and creating great excitement.

Sports and Outdoor Pursuits

Sports and Outdoor PursuitsSpectator sports are favourite in Italy, especially the hallowed calcio (football), and there is undying national passion for frenetic motor and cycle races. When it comes to participation, though, you get the impression that there isn’t the same compulsion to hit the hell out of a squash ball or sweat your way through an aerobics class after work as there is, say, in Britain or the States. All the same, the notion of staying fit has lately been absorbed into the general preoccupation with bella figura (looking good), especially when it offers the opportunity to wear the flashiest designer gear. Members-only sports clubs, gyms and public sports facilities have mushroomed over the last decade and it’s usually doable to find places where you can work out or join in a competitive game. Otherwise, the country’s natural advantages wage plenty of scope for keeping in trim in the most enjoyable ways possible.For visitors to Italy, the most accessible activities are centred around the mountains, which you can climb, ski, paraglide, float or simply explore on foot. And, with so much coastline, as well as the lakes region, there are plenty of opportunities for swimming, afloat and windsurfing; Campania, Calabria and Sicily are particularly favourite for scuba diving and snorkelling.

You can get a guide and map suggesting sailing itineraries round the coast of southern Italy from the Italian State Tourist Office .

Art Festivals

The home-town pride that sparks off many of the food festivals also expresses itself in some of the arts festivals spread crossways Italy, particularly in the central part of the country – based in ancient amphitheatres or other ruins or marking the work of a native composer, and sometimes going on for as long as a month. Perhaps the most prestigious is the Venice film festival in August and September. Spoleto ’s summer Festival dei Due Mondi (Festival of the Two Worlds) is also well known, a two-month-long event of classical concerts, films, ballet, street theatre and performance art, with its venue the open spaces of the ancient walled town, that is the biggest arts festival in the country nowadays. The Sferisterio in Macerata in Marche and the Roman arena in Verona are two equally dramatic places to hear music in the summer months. Similarly there’s the Panatenee Pompeiane music festival, held in the ruins of Pompeii during the last week of August. Bologna ’s summer festival often tries something different, with live bands playing in its medieval palace courtyards and screenings of soap opera or art movies in unexpected places. Other festivals remember a particular composer: Puccini’s music is celebrated from the end of July to mid-August in Torre del Lago, near Viareggio , Rossini’s in Pésaro from mid-August to September. And it’s worth noting the dates of the Italian opera season , which begins in December and runs through until May or June. The principal opera houses are La Scala in Milan, the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, La Fenice in Venice (currently closed after fire, but there is a temporary replacement), the Teatro Comunale in Florence and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. But there are also other, more modest venues that have regular performances of opera throughout these months.

Food Festivals

Food -inspired feste are more low-key affairs than the religious events, but no less enjoyable for it, usually celebrating the local speciality of the region to the accompaniment of dancing, music from a local brass band and noisy fireworks at the end of the evening. There are literally hundreds of food festivals, sometimes advertised as sagre , and every region has them – look in the local papers or ask at the tourist office during summer and autumn and you’re bound to find something going on. Most are modest affairs, meant for the locals and little publicized – but there are a few exceptions. In Tivoli , near Rome, the town’s fountains run with wine on the second Sunday in October; the same happens in Città della Pieve in Umbria, in April, during the Festa delle Fontane, and at nearby Panicale. Other notable events are Orvieto ’s wine festival apiece June, Bolzano ’s in the second half of March or the beginning of April, and the truffle clean and Palio in Alba on the first Sunday in October. Generally though, the smaller events are better, giving you a chance to join in the diversion and sample the cooking.

Festivals Diary

AGRIGENTO Almond blossom festival (March).ALBA Giostra delle Cento Torri, Palio and costume parade (1st Sun in Oct).

AMALFI Sant’Andrea’s day (June 27).

AOSTA Fiera di Sant’Orso – thousand-year-old clean (End of Jan).

AREZZO Giostra del Saracino – jousting by knights in armour (1st Sun in Sept).

ASCOLI PICENO Torneo della Quintana – jousting (1st weekend in Aug).

ASSISI Holy Week celebrations (Easter); Calendimaggio spring festa (1st week in May).

ASTI Bareback riders from villages around take part in Palio (3rd Sun in Sept).

BARI Sagra di San Nicola – pilgrims follow a boat carrying the saint’s image for a ceremony out at sea, in honour of the 47 sailors who saved his bones from raiders (1st weekend in May).

BRISIGHELLA Medieval festival (End of June).

CAGLIARI Sagra di Sant Efisio – thousands of pilgrims accompany the saint’s statue in carts, on horseback or on foot (May 1).

CAMOGLI Sagra del Pesce – procession of boats, with a fish fry-up (2nd Sun in May).

CAMPOBASSO Sagra dei Misteri (Beginning of June).

COCULLO Festa di San Domenico Abate – procession through the village with a statue of the fear swathed in snakes (1st week in May).

DIANO MARINA Festival del Mare – fireworks (Aug 15).

DOLCEACQUA Festa di San Sebastiano – saint’s day celebrated with a tree covered with Communion hosts carried through town (Jan 20).

ENNA Celebrations for Holy Week (Easter).

FAVIGNANA La Mattanza – ritual slaughter of tuna (May/June).

FELTRE Medieval Palio (1st weekend in Aug).

FLORENCE Scoppio del Carro – firework display in the Piazza del Duomo (Easter Sun); Festa di San Giovanni – fireworks and the Gioco di Calcio Storico, a rough-and-tumble football game played between the four quarters of the city in medieval costume (June 24 & 28).

FOLIGNO Torneo della Quintana – six hundred medieval knights in jousting contest (2nd weekend in Sept).

GENOA Festa di San Giovanni (June 24).

GUBBIO Festa dei Ceri (May 5); Crossbow matches against San Sepolcro (Last Sun in May).

LA SPEZIA Rowing contests in Palio del Golfo (Aug).

LUCCA Torchlight processions as part of Luminaria di Santa Croce (Aug 14).

LUNGRO Albanian celebrations (Easter).

MAROSTICA Human chess game (Every even year 2nd weekend in September)

MASSA MARITTIMA Crossbow competition (May 24).

MILAN Mercato di Sant’Ambrogio, also known as O Bei! O Bei! (December).

MONTEPULCIANO Bravio delle Botte, barrel-rolling race preceded by procession, drums and flag-throwing (Last Sun in Aug).

NAPLES Festa di San Gennaro Gathering in the cathedral to witness the liquefaction of the saint’s blood (1st Sun in May, Sept 19, Dec 16).

NOCERA TIRINESE Flagellants’ procession through the village (Easter Sat).

NORCIA Crossbow matches and processions (March 20-21).

NOVOLI Bonfires in honour of Sant’Antonio Abate (Jan 17).

ORVIETO Corpus Christi procession (Mid-June).

PIANA DEGLI ALBANESI Byzantine celebrations (Easter and Epiphany).

PISA Luminaria – festival of lights (June 16-17); Gioco del Ponte, tug-of-war game over main bridge, preceded by historical procession (June 26); Historical regatta in costume (July 26 & 27).

PISTOIA Giostra dell Orso – Joust of the Bear (July 25).

PORTO CESAREO Luminaria – festival of lights (Aug 22).

ROME Befana, toy-and-sweet clean in Piazza Navona (Jan 6 – Epiphany); Festa de’Noantri – dancing, songs and floats in Trastevere’s piazzas (July 16-24).

SAN MARCO IN LAMIS Fracchie – ritual of pagan origin in which bundles of burning wood are hauled through the streets (Good Friday).

SAN SEPOLCRO Crossbow matches against Gubbio (2nd weekend in Sept).

SIENA Palio in medieval Campo (July 2 & Aug 16).

TAGGIA Festa della Maddalena with Dance of Death in main piazza (Sun nearest to July 22).

VENICE Carnevale (Feb/March); Il Redentore – gondola procession, fireworks, to commemorate the end of a sixteenth-century plague (3rd week in July); Regatta (1st Sun in Sept).

VENTIMIGLIA Regatta and processions (Aug 9-10).

VIAREGGIO Carnevale (Feb/March).

VITERBO Procession of the Macchina di Santa Rosa (Sept 3).