Nature has its way of derailing travel plans. A landslide in August 2023 in the French Alps blocked the main railway just west of the Mont Cenis tunnel. This route is used by all trains from Italy to Lyon and Paris. The sleek French TGVs and the even sleeker Italian Frecciarossa trains competing on the lucrative link from Milan to the French capital were stopped in their tracks. Many passengers bound for Paris and London from Italy rerouted through Switzerland, while others devised creative itineraries via the Riviera, using the historic railway running west from Genoa which, in 1872, became one of the first two routes crossing the frontier from Italy into France. The Mont Cenis route still hasn’t reopened so, needing to travel from Trieste to France, I opt for a dose of Ligurian sunshine and take the train via Genoa, following the coast west from there into France.
Postcard From Rimini, Italy: Designer Alberta Ferretti on Transforming Her Family Home into a Magnificent Hotel
15.05.2024 - 21:09 / cntraveler.com
“Rimini is my home. I grew up in Cattolica, a nearby village, and I’m incredibly proud of this region of Italy. It’s an often-overlooked part of the country, but there is so much to explore in this area, from the food to the beaches, the culture and, most importantly, the people. There is an easiness to Rimini that makes you feel like a local even when you are just visiting.”
“There is an easiness to Rimini that makes you feel like a local even when you are just visiting,” says the Italian designer Alberta Ferretti.
“My family home is in San Giovanni in Marignano, a small Baroque town near Cattolica. But in 1994, I bought a 13th-century castle in the medieval village of Montegridolfo, in the Emilia-Romagna region, about a 45-minute drive from Rimini. I restored it to its previous grandeur and turned it into Palazzo Viviani, a hotel full of personality and charm. The eight bedrooms are furnished with antiques and original terracotta floors, and there’s a swimming pool and sloping lawns with beautiful views of the countryside. We serve up a vast breakfast too. I would also recommend Carducci 76, a sleek architectural hotel in Cattolica, designed by my brother Massimo.”
For travelers in the Rimini area, Ferretti recommends a stay at either Palazzo Viviani or Carducci 76, the hotels she and her brother restored and designed, respectively.
“One of my favorite things to do is have an aperitivo at Osteria dei Poeti, a buzzy little wine bar behind the historical Piazza Cavour. For me, it’s a home away from home. I won’t make a reservation; I just turn up in the evening, safe in the knowledge that friends and family will be there. It’s like a magnet. The bar is lined with beautiful photos of old Rimini. I’ll order a bottle of local wine, such as a Sangiovese, and some seasonal small plates.”
“My two sons decided not to follow in my footsteps, but to open restaurants instead. Il Falco is my favorite. It is far away from the nightlife of the town, with its feet in the sand on Rimini’s beachside boulevard, Viale Principe di Piemonte. Dining on the beach and watching the sunset always moves me. The emphasis is on seafood, and the fresh fish here is unmissable, cooked simply on the grill. Another of my favourites is A Pesce in Faccia, which is an old saying for rude behavior, roughly translating to “being slapped in the face with fish.” This gorgeous little taverna on Via Dante is young, easy, and playful, encompassing the vibrancy of Rimini. I always recommend the passatelli (pasta made from breadcrumbs) cooked in fish broth or the cappelletti (similar to tortellini) with bottarga, which is like caviar made from tuna and is a regional speciality.”
“You can’t go to Italy and not have gelato. Santa Colomba on the
They went on a honeymoon to Europe. Then 60 seconds of hell in the air turned it into an experience they'll never forget.
When they felt their plane lurch and plummet, Ade Tan and Amos Chan, both 28, barely had time to react.
Visit Gorgeous Towns In Italy AND France When You Stay Here
Italy and France are among the most visited countries in the world and for good reason—an extraordinary trove of epoch-spanning cultural treasures and outstanding natural settings that include Alps, vineyard-covered countryside and captivating coastal areas. Since most vacations come with time limits, even the most devoted Franco-Italophiles know it isn’t always easy or practical to try to fit in both destinations in one frenzied holiday swoop.
Tivoli Hotels & Resorts to add its second property in Italy
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Capri Hotel gets Amalfi Coast
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First permanent Newton Room in Italy at Rome Fiumicino Airport
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So Close to Sicily, So Far From the Crowds
For years I had been hearing about the island of Pantelleria, the craggy, hard-to-get-to Eden with middle-of-nowhere tranquillity that sits 89 miles southwest of the island of Sicily and about 50 miles east of Tunisia. Luca Guadagnino’s 2015 film “A Bigger Splash” painted a seductive idyll of mud baths, romantic ruins and secluded swimming coves. Celebrities like Madonna, Sting and Julia Roberts visited, drawn to the striking, Africa-meets-Italy ambience, along with Giorgio Armani, a part-time resident since 1980. The fact that nobody was impressed by them added to the allure.
How an eco-campsite in north Wales rescued our family holiday from disaster
Everyone has a good holiday disaster story, don’t they? Even experienced travel journalists.
Tourist hot spots from Venice to a town near Mount Fuji are taking drastic measures to cope with overtourism
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Postcard From the Pontine Islands: This Louis Vuitton Artistic Director Owns a Cave on the Italian Archipelago
“The Isole Pontine are very special to me. I have been visiting Ventotene and Ponza, the larger two of the six islands, since I was a child, as my family was one of the first to buy property on Ventotene. My mother was born in Rome, and it’s where my parents first met. Even though we lived abroad all our lives, we always returned to Italy to visit relatives. My family’s a bit unusual in that Romans tend to holiday more in Ponza, whereas Ventotene is more Neapolitan.”