Category: Travel & Destinations

For the many tourists who will set foot in Palermo in 2018, the question will be inevitable: “What is that castle, up there?”. And with the question, after some embarrassed stuttering, the world’s fool will also be inevitable.

We are talking about the Castle of Utveggio, the splendid structure built in the late ’20s by the Knight Michele Utveggio on the spur of Monte Pellegrino, at 344 meters high. So far, the splendor of the castle has not been sufficient to guarantee its salvation. The palace had become a point of reference as a center of high education. Then the Cerisdi, the body that ran it, was suddenly put into liquidation by the Region, and now the structure is again closed and forgotten. The structure, which is now in a state of profound degradation and abandonment, is in serious danger of being plundered. We are in the presence of the umpteenth case of dissipation of our inestimable artistic heritage. To greatly aggravate the issue, however, there is

Wherever you are, it is impossible not to see the Utveggio Castle. Just raise your eyes and gaze, attracted by the enormous bulk of Mount Pellegrino, inevitably ends up running into that big pink body, silhouetted against the blue sky. This will also happen to the thousands of tourists who will arrive in Palermo in 2018. And everyone, without exception, will ask what that castle is and, perhaps, if it can be visited. At that point, what will the Palermo respond to to avoid a painful fool?

In recent days I took part in the mission that the Culture Committee of the Chamber has carried out in Palermo. All the institutions we met, but also the citizens, they repeated to us in unison: do something for the Castle Utveggio. With some colleagues, we have submitted a question to the Government to assess if there are not the conditions to intervene: both to recover the structure and to address the problem of the future of the workers of the training center in liquidation. Even the Sicily Region, however, has the tools to intervene. The new governor could, for example, take immediate action and promote an institutional table that involves all stakeholders. This is a way to get quick solutions.

Of course, something must be done. We can not remain in a situation where, when foreign tourists raise their eyes to the sky, we will have to lower our eyes to the ground.

The peasant world (and not only) is celebrating. Fico , acronym for the first and only “Italian peasant factory” has come to life in the suburbs of Bologna : 10 hectares filled with all knowledge and flavor linked to food. It is the Italian Disneyland of food, the largest agri-food park in the world, on which 120 million euros have been invested, of which one half cash and the other in public lands: institutional money (pension funds and coop) and Eataly brand , to tell the operation in a few words.

The theme park is in fact also called Eataly World and stems from a project by Oscar Farinetti (and sons), who has just announced the intention to enter the stock market and has just planted his flag in Los Angeles (twelfth store across the border of the his chain and thirty-eighth opening in ten years from the first in Turin).

Fico Eataly World – created within four years of the idea born to revive the underutilized area of ​​the Bologna agro-food center, beating over time Lyon, which will open its Cité Internationale de la Gastronomie in 2019 , a similar company worth 240 million euros in former charity hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu with the ambition of making the city of Bocuse the world capital of gastronomy. An international record, therefore, all tricolor.

Also for the objectives: welcome 4 million visitors in the first year of life up to 6 million in the third (including two foreigners and 2 non-Bolognese Italians). From 11 to 16 thousand admissions (free) daily, from 10 to midnight, assuming an average charge of 20-22 euros per head in three hours of minimum stay between stables, vegetable gardens, arenas and canteens.

The fertile soil of Fico is the first entirely organic in Europe: with 646 thousand hectares of agricultural area with integrated production. Extraordinary stage to make a show useful to all: this is how, in parallel with the park, the Fico Foundation, chaired by the agroeconomist Andrea Segré, with four universities and some social security funds (doctors, land surveyors, veterinarians), to promote the food education and the knowledge of food, conscious consumption and sustainable production.

The tourist of Asian origins Luke Tang did not go right down the 560 euro bill that was seen in a restaurant in Venice for a meal based on fish, and to take the man’s defenses was the British newspaper Independent . In fact, the important English newspaper not only reported the news of the man’s misadventure – who lives in Birmingham – but instead drew up a veritable vademecum on how “do not get plucked on holiday in Italy”.

The journalist Julia Buckley then threw down a behavioral guide in 7 points to avoid unpleasant surprises when traveling in the Belpaese, specifying – to be fair – that the risk of salty accounts exists in any tourist city, even in the his London. The idea of ​​the British media came after many readers had left disgusted comments about the news of Luke Tang, in some of which he even said he wanted to boycott Italian tourism.

“There are few things to remember in Italy that can protect you from problems, and, being Italy, they mainly rotate around food” specifies the Buckley in his piece, before listing the seven precautions to keep in mind: do not sit down in bars to consume coffee or prosecco, never order fresh fish for lunch or dinner, check the cost of the covered and the amount of dishes served, check that the English and Italian menus coincide, claim the detail of the drink , be careful about taxi fares.

“Whether you are in the most touristy bar in Rome or in tiny cafes in a Calabrian village, the usual practice is to practice a higher price for customers who sit than those who consume standing” the reporter recommends, which tells also to have worked in a small bar in the Marche region and to know this practice well. As for the fish, however, Buckley writes: “Fresh fish in Italy is normally priced by weight, so unless you bring a scale below, you are at the mercy of restaurateurs.The vast majority will price correctly, but as everywhere the rotten apples will take advantage of it, I’ve been cheated like that, even though I speak fluent Italian, which does not mean you can not order fish, but you have to order it carefully. ”

Another possible surcharge may be due to the cost of the cover, which in England seems to be less common than from us: “It could be 50 cents, or 4 euros in a really elegant place.You can not avoid it, but if you offer something else ( bread, bruschetta, olives) – it is better to check if it is included.The bread is usually included in the roof, but not always “. Same for limoncello after a meal, usually offered by the house (but not always).

The JFK airport in New York is a city. It has its rules and time flows differently. When you land you know you’ll have to queue. You do not know well what it is but you know it will be like that. There are many people who show you the way. “Go this way! Go this way!”. There is nothing religious, they only tell you where you will have to line up. If you are a US citizen, or a Canadian citizen. If it’s your first time in America or you’ve already been there.

From 2008 onwards. There are devices that take your fingerprints and take a picture of you. The photo of one who has traveled hours and hours in a seat too narrow to eat food that he would never choose to eat for his free choice. But this does not matter. It matters that they put an O or an X. The X happened to me. A beautiful cross where there was the data of my passport. I immediately thought, ” as the Latins say. The police officer, after checking the passports and taking my fingerprints again, also took me another picture. But I’m so vain and there are no problems. He asked me if I spoke English and I said “A little bit!”, So he asked me if I could speak Spanish.

My swinging, weary head moved up and down made him realize that the answer was yes. “Bienvenidos en New York!” and he put the stamp on the passport which meant I was really welcome. as the Latins say. The police officer, after checking the passports and taking my fingerprints again, also took me another picture. But I’m so vain and there are no problems. He asked me if I spoke English and I said “A little bit!”, So he asked me if I could speak Spanish. My swinging, weary head moved up and down made him realize that the answer was yes. “Bienvenidos en New York!” and he put the stamp on the passport which meant I was really welcome. then he asked me if I spoke Spanish. My swinging, weary head moved up and down made him realize that the answer was yes. “Bienvenidos en New York!” and he put the stamp on the passport which meant I was really welcome. then he asked me if I spoke Spanish. My swinging, weary head moved up and down made him realize that the answer was yes. “Bienvenidos en New York!” and he put the stamp on the passport which meant I was really welcome.

Coming out of the airport an endless crowd of people tells you “Taxi”, but they are not real taxis. They are what we could call abusive. For taxis, the official ones, there’s a sort of huge cabin where you line up and a girl sort you out to your taxi. She was very beautiful, with lacquered nails and a set of long braids that adorned her head. Every so often he hid his cell phone to write to someone. And every time he did, he smiled. I did not ask her with the same words but that, yes, we needed to get to Times Square. “Wait a second!” and he says something to the walkie talkie that I do not understand. Here comes a yellow taxi that looks like a sort of small bus.

There was a window that divided the passengers from the taxi driver. He did not really want to talk. At the guide there is not it was Robert De Niro, but an obnoxious gentleman with the NY hat. But there was a television with news, Google maps to see the route in real time and the rate. From the airport to Times Square there is a flat rate of $ 52, plus tolls and a click after about an hour for a few dollars and a tip (which is practically mandatory here). The guy who drove me passed what appeared to be a cell phone and told me to enter the address. He left and with a very sporty driving he got into New York traffic passing through the underpass, which is one of the possibilities to cross the Hudson River. Traffic is something incredible. Horns, sirens, acceleration, braking and some “Fuck!”

You say Berlin and the thought flies towards the Brandenburg Gate, touches the Victory Column, immortalized in the Sky over Berlin by Wim Wenders and lands among the remains of the Wall. But a city can not be just its postcard, however evocative. And if there is a place that fascinates us also for its “b-side”, that is precisely Berlin: the Berlin to which Christopher Isherwood stuck to the definition of “extraordinarily vicious city, even if civil and respectable”.

Talking about alternative Berlin (or underground if you prefer) in reality today is a bit ‘nonsense: who loves it does so because it manages to mix all lifestyles without raising walls between people. Just a ride on the subway to understand it. But if you’ve never been to Berlin or you know it very little, there are so many things to do to catch its originality …

1. Symbolic hugs . A trip to the other Berlin must start with art: the Man Molecule by Jonathan Borofsky from 1999 is the symbol of the city that looks to the future, as well as the Column of Victory (or Elsa d’Oro) was that of the imperial . A sculpture 30 meters high representing the embrace of three men (shaped) and metaphorically the union of the 3 Berlin neighborhoods once divided by the Wall: Kreuzberg, Alt-Treptow and Friedrichshain. It is in beautiful view of the Spree River, just a few meters from the Treptower Park station.

2. Turkish things . As the population of Berlin grows and new neighborhoods take shape, historical ones like Kreuzberg experience the strange phase of gentrification, with rising house prices, the adjective “bio” a bit everywhere and the new bourgeoisie that mixes with ( ex) alternative. But even if Berlin-based experts will tell you that Kreutzberg has become “mainstream”, the district that once was the center of Turkish immigration is worth a visit, if only for its ethnic restaurants, vintage bookstores and vitality you breathe between the Bergmannstrasse and the Oranienstrasse. And last but not least, Wednesday and Friday along the Landwehrkanal there is also a nice market (Turkish, of course).

3. Gaia (co) science . Not far from Kreutzberg, in the southwest area of ​​Berlin is Schöneberg, which among other things is the gay district: you recognize it by the explosion of rainbow flags starting from the Nollendorfplatz underground station. Cafè, hotel, the places where Christopher Isherwood wrote his “Farewell to Berlin” and even elegant boutiques for lovers of imaginative sex (and fetish), its streets are a continuous discovery. A place among all? The Prinz Eisen Hertz bookshop , which since 1979 has been mixing art, culture and civil rights.

Are you looking for a holiday a little different from the usual and possibly far from the most crowded tourist destinations? The Fjällräven Polar , then, is just right for you. The Scandinavian association is in fact looking for 20 fearless candidates who want to travel 300 kilometers in the Arctic Circle, between 9 and 15 April 2018.

But what does this very special journey consist of? It will certainly not be a holiday full of ease and comfort, it is good to know: the expedition will leave from Signaldalen, in Norway, heading towards the Swedish town of Väkkäräjärvi, sledging the tundra and procuring food on its own. To welcome you in the evening, then, there will not be a cozy hotel, but a tent but to mount with the rest of the group.

The participants, as explained in detail on the official website of the project, will be selected one by country (and two will be chosen by our area, the Mediterranean one), in order to guarantee a greater cultural exchange. To apply you need to send a video presentation to tell, as well as some photos that explain their character, their lives and their inclinations. The aspiring Arctic tourists will then have to advertise their application through social networks, whose users will choose who to send to the North Pole, while other participants will be identified by a jury of experts from the Polar Circle.

The goal of the project, in fact, is to make it clear that anyone can survive in the two poles of the world if properly prepared. The 20 chosen, not surprisingly, will be constantly supported by expert guides, who will teach them how to get by and provide them with the right equipment (all for free). Hurry up though: applications will be closed on December 14th.