After the jump, you’ll find the Baglioni-Alessio duet live performance on Italian television, called “Avrai”. It’s a song dedicated to Baglioni’s son, and is one of the many songs that has had worldwide success. Baglioni is an Italian singer-songwriter who has consistently produced great melodies throughout his musical career. He is touring with a team of multi-instrumentalists, and the song “Avrai” is one of the feature songs of the “One World” tour. See the duet in the video after the jump.

Tired of the same old holidays? Searching for a change? A different experience? Then this will appeal to you, as indeed it will to wildlife and nature lovers: WWF Italy has prepared a list of more than 100 offers including specific programs for families and children with ages ranging from 6-11; 11-14; 15-17; from June to September more than 300 groups of people are expected to participate in this exciting initiative. In addition for people under 25 and school groups, WWF has organised a series of more adventure-based holidays which means long and fascinating walks on the wilder side of nature!

Prices range from 400 to 700 euros. The idea behind the project is to provide assistance to the Abruzzi region through tourism, which with its three National parks and 7 WWF Oases is without doubt one of Italy’s most beautiful areas. The initiative has been called ‘All Sold Out in Abruzzi’. For further information visit the WWF official website

The town of Carpegna, in Pesaro and Urbino, in the region of the Marche, celebrates its “Sega la Vecchia” Italian sagra in the form of the town sports festival every year. The four parishes of the town get together for a traditional meet, challenging each other in games, followed by a huge country banquet. The whole festival takes place on March 27 and involves sack races, hoop races, tug-of-war for both men and women, wood sawing, sled racing, and other old fashioned games.

At the end of the of this Italian festival, the team who wins parades through the town with the “vecchia”, meaning old lady - a folkloric statue figure who returns every year for the games - before burning the figurine in the piazza outside the town’s “palazzo”. Afterwards, the mess hall and benches are made available for the post-victory dinner. For more information, see the Carpegna site.

This particular Dolce & Gabbana collection is a homage to the art of tailoring in Italy, with the jacket the reigning queen of chic. Combined with black pumps with pointed toes, it’s minimal but very hot. There’s also a sprinkling of animal print to brighten up the winter, in a collection that is perhaps epitomised, though, in the final photograph.

Located in Taormina, one of Sicily’s most beautiful towns, the Grand Hotel Timeo offers guests luxury accommodation and state of the art facilities. With its spectacular view over the Ionian Sea, famous Terrazza letteraria or literary terrace and amazing 2,5 hectare park filled with exotic flowers and rare plants, the hotel, which was built in 1873, has no rivals when it comes to exquisite surroundings of fin de siecle luxury. All rooms are richly decorated and furnished with antiques, thus giving you the impression of living like one of those 19th century Sicilian aristocratic who really did know how to enjoy life!

The hotel, situated close to the Greek amphitheatre, also has a restaurant with a menu of food and wine all produced on the island, die-for swimming pool and exclusive wellness centre - there will be no shortage of luxury accommodation to cater to travellers!

Via | Framonhotelgroup.com
Foto | Raro.travel

In a long interview granted to Telepiù magazine, Italian singer Gigi d’Alessio whom we have recently seen in a prime-time show on Italian television talked at a length about family and success. It warms your heart through and through - said the singer- when people on the street come up to you and greet you as if you were an old friend! It saddens me that my parents are not here to share all this with me. They died before I had my first really big success.

Gigi D’Alessio and her girl friend Anna Tatangelo are expecting their first child together (fourth for D’Alessio).

Fonte Telepiù

Italy’s famous wine fair, Vinitaly, will take place in Verona from April 8-12 this year, and will continue the constant growth in the event. More than 4,000 exhibitors will be on display as part of a program with Italian wine tastings, meetings and seminars on Italian wine. Tickets can be purchased online, taking advantage of a discount, and cost 35 euros for a day or 70 euros for the whole four days.

It’s often difficult to get accommodation for the fair, so book early and take a look at the Veronafiere site for accommodation in Verona (at the time of Vinitaly it can cost between 125 and 160 euros for a double room). The Pro Loco site also has some good information on hotels, restaurants and Verona city events, if you’re still lucid after all that wine tasting!

The breathtakingly beautiful Ogliastra region in Sardinia with its crystal-blue sea and glittering white sands, is like a piece of heaven fallen to earth; but there ’s more to it than you can imagine; I’m talking about the wild landscape of the interior which sadly enough tends to be overlooked; the place you have heard of but never visited. Located in the wild heart of the Ogliastra region and surrounded by amazing mountains, the small town of Urzulei with its 1,300 inhabitants still retains its original features. The whole area around it is made up of caves, steep gorges and gullies where one can easily come upon specimens of the famous Cervo Sardo (Sardinian deer). The place is also home to the famous Sedda ar Barras, a centuries-old yew tree (protected by law). To find more about the place watch the above video by Riccardo De Luca.

Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli celebrates 40 years of fashion design this year, showing off the Cavalli 2010 winter collection at the Milan women’s fashion week. In the celebrity party event you can see how wearable some of the Cavalli designs are, with Elisabetta Canalis, Lindsay Lohan, Courtney Love, and Meredith Osrom doing the red carpet thing. The 2010 Cavalli winter collection is nothing less than daring, as usual, and shows his fondness for animal prints, some of which are hand painted.

The Grand hotel Rimini has a glorious and dramatic past; built in 1908 by Paolo Somazzi, a famous architect from South America, the luxury hotel was heavily damaged during the course of its long history; first by a fire (and this only two years after its inauguration) and then during World War II when a few bombs were dropped on it. Italian movie director Federico Fellini who was born in Rimini loved to reminisce on the old days, lingering on the period when the hotel was the hangout of the rich and famous (if you what to find out more about the subject, see Fellini’s Amarcord).

In 1994 the Grand Hotel Rimini, after a careful restoration, was put on the list of Protected Heritage Monuments. With 117 rooms including 3 royal suites and 9 junior suites, the hotel, built in the neo classic style, still retains its original features, including the sumptuous furniture from the 18th century. In order to meet the needs of companies and businessmen, a Conference Centre has been built just a stone’s throw away from the hotel.

Via | Grandhotelrimini.com

Being romantic in Rome could involve a horse and carriage ride around the city, but these days you’ll find your driver is more restricted in where he can and can’t go. The tradition of horses in Rome and their carriages called “botticelle” dates back to the days when they were used for the transport of wine barrells throughout the city. The barrells are known as ‘botti’, and the carriages get their name from this very purpose. After a battle has been waged between environmentalists and the tourism board, new rules now govern the use of the horse and carriage for tourists wanting to tour Rome.

Horse and carriage owners must now include a numberplate on the vehicles, and must not travel streets that are too steep to avoid the horses getting tired. The animals are not supposed to work more than eight hours a day. The university of La Sapienza is even studying the possibility of using a kind of electric cart which would be lighter and easier to drive.

The “botticelle” can only travel the pedestrian zones of the city centre, and the tourist districts of Trastevere, Testaccio and villa Borghese, with a few more streets exempt from the absence of horses: via Vittorio Veneto, viale Trastevere, piazza della Repubblica, via della Consolazione, via dei Fori Imperiali and via Petroselli. Other streets have seen horse and carriage traffic banned, included via Barberini, Crispi, Quattro Fontane, della Dataria, salita Del Grillo, via Panisperna and via San Sebastianello.

In addition to this, horse and carriage drivers have been offered the opportunity to swap their licence for a taxi driver’s licence. If that is a more convenient option, we could see the possibility of touring Rome by horse and carriage disappear. In the words of Lando Fiorini, protesting the move: “Let’s keep them [the horses]. They’re part of tradition - let’s ban the cars instead, maybe.”

Photo | Flickr