Hotel Alessandra Blog

 In the 2010 Week of the hard Culture ten days!! The "12° Week of the culture", begins the 16 opens them and finishes day 25. In the beautiful days of spring it will be pleasant to walk in town enjoying  the opportunity to take advantage of the free entrance in all the places of art under the statal management. Moreover the Culture Week it puts with a fan of proposals with a rich program between extraordinary openings, guided visits, didactic extensions, laboratories us and concerts, or to

  Carnival comes from the Latin carnem levare which literally translates into taking away the meat. This is what the carnival was originally meant to be - a splendid pre-lent feast, a last night of indulgence before the period of penance begins. Today's carnival is, however, a much grander event spanning several days and even weeks.

Almost every catholic European city holds an annual carnival in the months of February and March. Probably amongst the best known is the Viareggio Carnival held in

 When you first arrive in Florence, its easy to think that the entire city is filled with camera-snapping, tour-grouping crowds of visitors. And for many of the most famous sights in Florence, this is true. From the church of San Lorenzo and the surrounding street market, down past the Accademia, Duomo and Uffizi Gallery the tourists are often so thick that I've taken to attaching a small plow to the front of my bike just so I can get around. However, there are also many absolutely beautiful

 Italian wine is like Italian politics; it’s complicated, barely understood by the rest of the world, and often breaks its own rules. It is also delicious and diverse. From the fragrant whites of the north, to the sun drenched reds of the south, Italian wine is pure pleasure on the tongue. That is as long as you know what you’re looking for. So where to start? Let’s start where we normally start; with the ABC’s, or rather the DOCG’s DOC’s, and IGT’s. The Italian system of classifying wines can

Here are four cheeses that every gourmet traveler should sample when visiting Italy:

1. Parmigiano

 Parmigiano Reggiano is the most famous of the Italian cheeses made from cow's milk. Parmigiano is the Italian adjective of where it is produced, Parma. The mistake we, Americans, make is referring to the Parmesan produced in the states as the same as the authentic Parmigiano Reggiano. The difference is the original Parmigiano is aged between 12 to 20 months unlike the Parmesan of the states. The

 Piazzale Michelangelo

Piazzale Michelangelo has the views of Florence and beyond. All you have to do is turn around once you walk the hike up through San Niccolo, up further as you start to get your camera out to take your first picture of Florence, you must press on to the tippy top. Once there, enjoy the markets, vendors with refreshing beverages and ice cream. Now what you see straight ahead of you is Fiesole up on the hill with the tiny bell tower in the middle. Fiesole is reached by bus

For first time International travelers landing in a foreign country can be intimidating.

But what do you do when you land at an airport ?

Here is a formula, a sort of « shock therapy » that acclimates your mind to a the new land: If you are arriving and meeting a friend, don't have the friend meet you at the airport. Make it your goal to find the way to your friend. If you are arriving and going straight to the hotel, try to use public transportation to get there. Right away you will need to use

 When traveling avidly around Italy it is very easy to take in the breath taking countryside or city sights of Italian life. Italian food is renowned the worldwide. The Italian dessert is almost sinful to the palette due to its enriched with gastronomical pleasure inducing experience.

·         Italian chocolate

While Italian chocolate has been historically one of the unrivaled dessert pleasures of Italy for decades, it is in stiff completion with of favorites like the Italian Cookies and

 While it may seem like global jihadists, over protective governments and unscrupulous airlines all conspire these days to make the life of a traveller as difficult as possible, this is not actually true.

Flying is almost certainly going to remain a high stress activity for some time but there are things you can do to avoid at least some of the anxiety.

1. Arrange everything that you possibly can well ahead of time.

This goes for the plane tickets, airport transfers and hotel bookings.  One of the

From July 3rd to 5th and from July 10th to 12th, 2009 the beautiful town of Monteriggioni - Siena - returns to the Middle Ages with the Medieval Festival "Monteriggioni di Torri si Corona".

There you will find the soldiers' encampment, sentries on the walls and war machines, battles and duels.

Inside the castle you will find craftsmen and merchants stalls and shops, along with jesters, townsfolk and jugglers' shows, street artists and concerts with antique instruments; whilst in the inns