GIROSOLE: Italy Travel Information

Bellagio is one of the charms of northern Italy: a small village perched at the end of a long peninsula that juts out into Lake Como. This peninsula, as well as the lake itself, owe their existence to a prehistoric glacier (active some 1.5 million years ago during the Quaternary period) which divided itself at the point where Bellagio now sits and created the tri-partate Lake Como, the third largest subalpine lake - but the deepest of them all with a maximum depth of 410 metres.

The walk described below is one of the walks included in our Self-Guided Tuscany Hiking Tour. These are the actual instructions given to our clients when they take this tour.

Taking advantage of the rich Tuscan soil and its favorable climate, Etruscans first established a settlement high on a liimestone ridge around the third century B.C. Today it is known as Montepulciano. Etruscan tombs have been excavated in the region and numerous remains of their typical black pottery have been found.

The walk described below is one of the walks included in our Self-Guided Le Marche Hiking Tour. These are the actual instructions given to our clients when they take this tour.

Pienza started out as a modest village surrounding the Castello di Corsignano, a castle built around the middle of the 8th century. But soon after Eneo Silvio de Piccolomini became Pope Pius II in 1458, he began to realize his ambitious plans for the place of his birth.

As an Italian-American living in New York, I've come to find that; though I may not be "right off the boat", I still have deep-rooted Italian traditions that serve as a basis for my everyday life. In actuality, I'm completely Sicilian and not Italian at all (that I know of). However, if you know your history, then you know that the Kingdom of Sicily is ruled by Italy, so I guess you could call me Italian. I don't mind it, though some Sicilians do.

Generally speaking, there are three main categories of Italian names: Roman, religious, and "innovative". Most of them have both a masculine and a feminine version (which I'll divide here with a slash as in Franceso/a).

Even if you aren't given to musings about witches, black cats and various other superstitious beliefs, you may nevertheless have wondered about the evil eye, especially insofar as the term might apply to the way your boss sometimes looks at you.

It seems Americans have lately developed a love affair with Italian weddings. I have a number of American acquaintances (and I've heard of a number of others) who have added an Italian wedding as the centerpiece to a trip to Italy.