Published on Saturday, March 3, 2012 by Kathy McCabe A common question about travel to Italy is, "Should I rent a car in Italy?" There are two major factors to consider when renting a car in Italy: Where will you be traveling in Italy? If you're sticking to major cities or heavily visited areas with good public transportation (like the Amalfi Coast), you won't need a rental car and it may be a hindrance. But if yo...

Published on Wednesday, February 29, 2012 by Kathy McCabe The most important archaeological museum in all of Italy is the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. No visit to Naples Italy is complete without eating lots of pizza and visiting this spectacular museum with artifacts and art from Greek, Roman and Renaissance periods. Visiting the archaeological museum is the perfect complement to a tour of Pompeii or Herculane...

Published on Friday, February 17, 2012 by Kathy McCabe Make your next Italy vacation an underwater adventure by scuba diving in Italy. One of the best places to scuba dive in Italy is near Cinque Terre, a stunning collection of cliffside villages on the northwestern coast. Many visitors choose to hike or take the train through Cinque Terre and admire the water from above...but there is much to see below and this coastlin...

Published on Saturday, February 11, 2012 by Kathy McCabe The big topic of conversation in Italy these past few weeks has been...snow. Last week, the Italian peninsula was covered in white stuff from Cinque Terre to the mountains outside of Naples. Many of these areas hadn't seen snow in decades. And it snowed again this weekend. The monuments of Rome are covered in a white film, the canals of Venice are frozen over and th...

Published on Friday, February 3, 2012 by Kathy McCabe If you're traveling to Italy in 2012, you don't want to miss the following special museum exhibitions in Rome, Florence and Venice: Rome:  Lux in Arcana: The Vatican Secret Archives Revealed  is the must-see exhibition in Rome this year. Over 100 original documents -- spanning 400 years of Papal history -- will leave the confines of Vatican City for the first tim...

Published on Sunday, January 29, 2012 by Kathy McCabe When in Rome, eat as the Romans do and Renato e Luisa is just the kind of authentic Roman dining experience that you're looking for.... It is the kind of restaurant (taverna officially) you might not notice when walking by, but looks can be deceiving. Step inside Renato e Luisa, just behind Largo di Torre Argentina, for a relaxing, authentic and affordable Roman me...

Published on Sunday, January 22, 2012 by Kathy McCabe When it comes to the islands of the Bay of Naples, off the Amalfi Coast, the island of Capri gets the most attention. There is good reason; she's stunning, flashy and dramatic and like a Hollywood starlet, you just can't take your eyes off of her. But when you're in the mood for a quieter, soulful alternative, hop on the hydrofoil or ferry (there's a weekly green crui...

Published on Monday, January 16, 2012 by Kathy McCabe As I write this, the euro has hit a 17-month low against the dollar. To buy one euro, it currently costs $1.267. The euro has fallen over 13 percent since the European debt crisis began seven months ago. That means American travelers have 13 percent more buying power than during the summer and even more than they have had in years past.  Compare the current exch...

Published on Monday, January 9, 2012 by Kathy McCabe If your travels take you to the Italian region of Piedmont, don't miss La Venaria Reale. The former country retreat of the House of Savoy is one of the largest royal palaces in the world. It was built in the 17-th century for Duke Charles Emmanuel II who wanted a hunting lodge outside of Turin. The name "La Venaria Reale" derives from the Latin Venatio Regia meaning "...

Published on Monday, January 2, 2012 by Kathy McCabe One of the most unusual places I have visited in Italy is the city of Matera in the southern region of Basilicata. Matera has a unique landscape made up of sassi, which are ancient cave shelters built into tufa rock. Stacked on top of each other, they almost look like a honeycomb from a distance. The old, weathered look of the sassi and Matera inspired Mel Gibson t...