Travel Italy: Vacation Packages, Tips, Tours of Italy

The town of Torre del Lago, located 5 kilometres away from the magnificent beach resort of Viareggio (Tuscan Riviera) and 18 kilometres from Pisa, hosts the annual Opera festival “Puccini Festival” from July 16 through August 22, 2010.

The festival draws crowds of Opera lovers and tourists who wish to visit the places where the most beloved composer of the 20th century lived.

The venue, Torre del Lago’s Puccini Teatro all’Aperto — open-air theatre — is located just a few steps from Villa Puccini, the Villa Mausoleum where the beloved composer  lived, worked and is buried. Here you have the festival program.

Where: Torre del Lago (4km from Tuscan Riviera, 18km from Pisa)
When: July 16 through August 22, 2010 (annual).

The Opera Festival, annual lyrical festival of Tuscany, offers a series of performances from June through July in Florence and Siena.

The locations for the 2010 Opera Festival include The Boboli Gardens, possibly the world’s greatest example of Italian-style garden, located in the ancient heart of Florence and the San Galgano Abbey, splendid ruins of a Middle Ages Abbey, located in the surroundings of Siena.

When: June 7 - July 31, 2010 (annual)
Where: Boboli Gardens (Florence) and San Galgano Abbey (Chiusdino - Siena)

Festival details and programme can be found at festivalopera.it.

The summer sales season kicked off in some of the cities in Italy. On July 10 you will have shopping sales season ongoing throughout Italy.
Below is the starting date of summer sales season in Italy for each of the regions. Keep in mind, earlier is better to grab the best deals.

Lombardy (Milan): July 3; Lazio (Rome): July 3; Tuscany (Florence, Siena etc…): July 10; Umbria (Perugia, Assisi etc…): July 7; Veneto (Venice, Padova etc..): July 3; Campania (Naples, Capri, Amalfi Coast…): July 2; Liguria (Genoa, Ligurian Riviera, Cinque Terre…): July 9; Emilia Romagna (Bologna): July 7; Piedmont (Turin): July 3; Sicily: July 10; Sardinia: July 3; Marche: July 7; Apulia: July 2; Friuli Venezia Giulia: June 15; Trentino Alto Adige: July 15; Valle d’Aosta: July 10; Molise: July 10; Abruzzo (L’Aquila): July 10; Basilicata: July 2; Calabria: July 3.

If you are visiting Rome or Tuscany or Umbria, we suggest to visit a couple of fashion malls featuring hundreds of designer stores all in one place. There you can get the best bargains when it comes to shopping designer items.

Below are the links to the handiest fashion malls in Rome and Tuscany (see the stores you find there and how to get there).
“Castel Romano Designer Outlet” is located in the surroundings of Rome (15km away from city center); “Valdichiana Outlet Village” is a very handy one for those who are visiting Tuscany or Umbria.

If you are looking to experience secret local food and wine places in Rome, you could take advantage of a 3.5 hours private tour while visitng the Eternal City.

A private guide will take you through the following places — in each of them you’ll be able to enjoy tasting sessions.

- Chocolate shop: taste chocolate made from secret recipes which have been kept secret for decades.
- Coffee shop: taste hot coffee and visit of the roast room with explanations about how the coffee is prepared and roasted in the most famous coffee shop in Rome.
- Ice Cream Shop: taste artisanal ice cream.
- Campo de’ Fiori: wine tasting in one of the places where you can better experience the real flavor of Rome.
- Restaurant near the Church of Santa Barbara: try Baccalà (fried fillet of stockfish) + 1 glass of DOC wine, mineral water, olives, nuts etc .

The price starts from 73.06 euro (for 8 people, to 269.00 for 1 people). See details here.

Those who are visiting Florence at Easter can enjoy the ritual of “Sacred Colombina“.

The Sacred Colombina with Explosion of the Cart — L’ Esplosione del Carro — is a major attraction for both tourists and local residents.

Easter Sunday morning, huge crowds gather in the Piazza del Duomo to watch a dove-shaped rocket, called the Colombina, fly out of the Duomo and ignite a huge wooden cart-structure — the Carro — in the square outside.
During the Easter Mass, the Colombina travels out of the Duomo along a wire, sets fire to the huge array of fireworks attached to the wooden cart and returns back into the church.
When: Easter Day (11am).
Where: Florence - Piazza del Duomo.

Below is a video of the ritual in 2009.