About Sicily, Travellers in an Ancient Island by David D. Hume is like a wonderful stroll around the ancient island of Sicily. The book describes a trip around the island of Sicily David Hume and his wife Cathy took. The reader is provided not so much with the information found in a guidebook, but with an understanding of how to approach travel in Sicily.

About Sicily, Travellers in an Ancient Island was written by David D. Hume in 1999. Part travel guide, history and essay, David Hume provides you with a good feeling for the island of Sicily. About Sicily, Travellers in an Ancient Island is a good companion book to Sicily: An Illustrated History by Joseph Privitera which is filled with historical facts and has little commentary.

In the process of reading About Sicily, Travelllers in an Ancient Island, the reader learns about both the history and present-day life in Sicily itself. You will come away with a strong desire to book a ticket straight-away to this ancient Island.

Rome, Italy Hotel Description: The Hotel Ces� ri is located on a quiet street, more of an alley or pedestrian walkway than a street. For convenience to the major sites in Rome you will not find a better place to stay than the Hotel Ces� ri. Situated between the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon this hotel is only 100 yards from each. Tremendous and tremendously expensive shopping is available nearby on the Via Condotti, Via Veneto and Piazza di Spagna. The Piazza Navona is a 10 minute walk from the Hotel Ces� ri.

Many hotels in Rome, Italy have long histories and the Hotel Ces� ri is no exception. This hotel has been in existence since 1787 when it was first granted a license. A favorite of Stendhal, Mazzini, Gregorovius and Garibaldi the Hotel Ces� ri has been run by the Palumbo family since 1899.

The main train station in Rome, Italy is Termini (Stazione Termini). Located in the heart of Rome it is very convenient to the entire city. There is a taxi line outside the station with cars ready to take you to hotels and tourist sites. Bus service is available to all parts of Rome from Termini.

Termini was renovated in 2000 and is now a city within a city. The station is huge, with 225 square miles of shopping, restaurants, bars and services. There is a little bit of everything in Termini - an information center, banks, travel agencies, a pharmacy, and a health club. There is even a chapel for those who get so lost that there is little to do but pray.

About 800 trains arrive and depart from Rome, Italy's main train station each day. Trains from all over Italy and the rest of Europe come and go from Termini. You can purchase tickets from Trenitalia.

The Uffizi Gallery in Florence opened a new exhibit featuring works by Leonardo da Vinci.  The show is one of many in a larger program called the Universal Leonardo being presented by the Council of Europe.

The Leonardo da Vinci exhibit at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence is called “The Mind of Leonardo, The Universal Genius at Work”. The show will highlight Leonardo da Vinci’s art as well as his contributions to science.

The Uffizi Gallery exhibit has Leonardo da Vinci’s famous self-portrait as well as his tragic, unfinished painting of St. Jerome in the Desert.  Along with his art, models of his inventions and experiments will be on display.

You never know what will you will find when you start digging in the area around Rome. Walk down a street in Rome and you will find roped off areas containing a column dating from ancient Rome.

Workers digging a new sewage system near Rome found the remains of a villa dating to the second-century. The villa belonged to two senators, Titus Flavius Claudius and Titus Flavius Sallustius.

It is expected that the villa in Torvaianica will become a tourist attraction once excavation has been completed. "We're uncovering a vast complex, in which we've found all sorts of vessels and ceramics which have been taken away to be catalogued", Filippo Avilia, the archaeologist in charge of the dig, told the Italian news agency ANSA.

Italy has some of the strictest animal rights laws in the world. A restaurant was fined 688 Euros ($855) for having a display of live lobsters on ice. A court in Vicenza ruled that the display was a form of animal abuse.

"We're appealing," said Giuseppe Scalesia, who runs La Conchiglia D'Oro (Golden Shell) restaurant along with his brother Camillo. "They said that the lobsters, laying on the ice, suffer... They compared them in court to other animals, like cats and dogs."

The case was brought by Gianpaolo Cecchetto, a former environmental activist, who with his family visited the restaurant in May 2002.

"They were shocked by the display", Cecchetto told Reuters, adding he got in touch with the ENPA (Ente Nazionale Protezione Animali) a national animal protection organization. ENPA took care of the lawyers and legal proceedings.

The head of a female Amazon warrior has been found by British and Italian archeologists. The statue was found in the debris at Herculaneum, a town destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.

It is the first time an ancient Roman statue has been found with the colors preserved. According to Jane Thompson, the project manager, the coloring was subtle and sophisticated rather than the bright colors thought to be used by the Romans.

Monica Martelli, the archaeological team's restorer, told Richard Owen, a reporter from the London Times "although the nose and mouth were missing, the hair, pupils and eyelashes were as pristine as they were when Herculaneum was overwhelmed by the eruption. Those eyes are alive, looking at us from 2,000 years ago" Martelli said. "To find this much pigment is very, very special." Although it had been known that Roman statues were painted, only faint traces of pigment had been previously found.

Sicily: An Illustrated History by Joseph Privitera is a small and very readable book.  Dr. Privitera does an admirable job of giving a detailed history of Sicily - a daunting task. Sicily has been a part of many cultures and civilizations, with a history that goes back more than 2,000 years.

Sicily: An Illustrated History gives a good overview of the island, including a description of the Sicilian language, and the origins of the Mafia. The book also describes Sicily's fierce terrain and the impact earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have had on its convoluted and dramatic history. The book starts with the Phoenician and Greek (735 B.C.) settlements and takes you up to present day Sicily.