I keep reading in travel forums about how dirty Rome is. In fact, there are a lot of debates about which is dirtier – Rome or Florence. From the writing I suspect that most of these comments come from Americans.

So I have to ask? What were these travelers’ expectations? Did they really think that the streets would be cleaned with Purell every day? For those not familiar with Purell, it is a hand sanitizer that we American’s are obsessed with.

Rome and Florence are big cities that see thousands if not millions of visitors each year. It must take a Herculean effort to keep ahead of the trash these tourists throw away on an hourly basis much less a daily basis. And who is to blame if tourists throw their trash on the street rather than a trash can?

From Italy News

The red alert issued by the Civil Defence regarding the heat is extended to 13 cities. For tomorrow the alarm system foresees a "level 3", which means a heat wave with the need to take measures for elderly, children and people with diseases in a Bolzano, Brescia, Verona, Milan, Turin, Florence, Perugia, Rieti, Rome, Civitavecchia, Latina, Frosinone and Campobasso. But the day after tomorrow, level 3 will only remain in Rieti and Latina, while the other cities return to level 1, no health risks. Latina will be the hottest city tomorrow with 37 degrees, while 36 degrees will be registered in Verona and Milan, 35 in Frosinone, Civitavecchia and Rome.

The return of Berlusconi to power in Italy with the help of a controversial ally, the Northern League, has led some to ask “Should Italy be broken up into two countries?”

The discussion centers around the prosperous north subsidizing the poorer southern regions.

Now, Veronica Lario, Berlusconi’s wife has made a statement on breaking Italy in two. In an interview with La Stampa, she said: “Italy has never been well-suited to being a single country, and has never matured enough to become one. There is no longer any value in a unified Italy."

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Tuesday that Germany broke EU rules by allowing German cheese to be labeled “Parmesan”. Germany has been condemned for selling “fake” parmesan which is a violation of EU food origin rules. In the future, only cheese made in Italy can be labeled “Parmesan”. This puts to rest Germany’s argument that Parmesan is a generic term for a specific type of cheese.

As part of the ECJ ruling Germany will not be punished for violating existing regulations protecting the authenticity of quality foods. The EJC said that protecting EU-protected foods is the responsibility of the country of origin.

Italians were happy with the first part of the ruling but dissatisfied with the second part. According to the news agency ANSA, the Coldiretti farmers' association said ''halting products like Parmesan is positive but we're worried that it won't be compulsory for countries where the product is sold to uphold EU regulations''. Coldiretti went on to say that Europe's Parmigiano clone-makers already had a slew of products waiting to take Parmesan's place. ''There's grated stuff billed as 'Pamesello Italiano', tubes of something called 'Rapisan', and sachets of 'Parma', we need something more to protect our Parmigiano, the most imitated product in the world''.

Brightly colored balls bounced down the Spanish Steps in Rome on Wednesday. Graziano Cecchini and several other supporters emptied bags full of red, green, yellow and blue balls down Rome’s famed steps and into the boat-shaped Barcaccia fountain in the Piazza below.

Passers-by took photos and gathered up the balls as souvenirs of their trip to Rome. Officials had to cordon off the Spanish Steps while they cleaned up the mess. Cecchini and three others were detained. Cecchini told Italian TV newscast TG5, that he uses “art – if we want to call it art – to stress our malaise.”

Italian judges have forbidden a couple from naming their son Friday, saying it would bring the child shame and ridicule to be named after the character in “Robinson Crusoe”.

“They thought that it recalled the figure of a savage, thus creating a sense of inferiority and failing to guarantee the boy the necessary decorum,” the couple’s lawyer, Paola Rossi said Wednesday.

The boy was baptized “Venerdì,” Italian for Friday even though the boy was born on a Sunday. The couple has said they wanted an unusual name and liked the name Friday. One can only assume it is their favorite day of the week.

It took more than a thousand years for a woman to break into the all male ranks of Venetian gondoliers. The German born woman who will take up the paddle is named Alexandra Hai.

It took a court ruling to allow Hai to become a gondolier. At the moment she can only serve residents of the Locanda Art Deco Hotel.

Although Hai has garnered some support from locals who great her with shouts of "Brava gondoliera!"; the 425 male gondoliers of Venice have not been quite so enthusiastic. Entering into the controversy is the fact that Hai has failed the exam to be a gondolier several times.  The fact that she is a foreigner has not helped her cause.

Rain has finally arrived in northern Italy providing a little relief in an early season drought. The drought has caused the average water level of the PO River (Italy's longest river) to drop 25 feet. The PO flows across northern Italy and is crucial to area farms. The river has been affected by drought several times over the past few years but never this early in the season.

The Italian government on Friday announced emergency action despite rain across the affected central and northern regions. Experts warned that despite Thursday's torrential rain which is forecast to continue for the next sevearl days, the Po was still much too low for this time of the year.

The central and northern areas of Italy have had 20-50% less rain this year than last year. The government action was needed to avert damage to agriculture and to prevent power outages.

A 40-year-old office clerk became an international celebrity when she went for a swim, naked, in the Trevi Fountain. This is not the first time the Renaissance masterpiece has been used as a private pool and it certainly will not be the last.

As quoted by the Corriere della Sera Roberta said "The water is everyone's and it was hot. What's wrong with taking a dip?" Roberta, wisely did not give her last name. Pictures of her appeared in all Italy's leading newspapers on Monday. A short video of Roberta swimming was broadcast on Italian television late Sunday.

Roberta stunned tourists and locals alike as she stripped and swam several lengths of the fountain before stretching out on the marble at the base of the statue of Neptune.

La Republica has reported that during the last 17 years of his life, Michelangelo lived in a small room inside the Basilica of St. Peter's. According to Vatican experts, Michelangelo was the pope's chief architect during that period.

It is thought that Michelangelo lived there from January 1547 until his death on February 18, 1564. At the time the basilica was still under construction. Michelangelo had last worked at the Vatican while working on his Last Judgment fresco in the Sistine Chapel between 1534 and 1541.

A receipt from March 1557 shows that an engraver was paid "10 scudi to make a key for a chest in the room in St. Peter's where Master Michelangelo retires to." According to Simona Turriziani, a Vatican archivist, 10 scudi in the 1550s was more than the monthly salary of many of the artisans working on the basilica.

The entry was made in ink and is in a parchment-covered volume that lists expenditures of the Fabbrica di San Pietro (the office where the basilica's archives are kept) for the years 1556-1558.

Archeologists in northern Italy discovered two skeletons locked in a passionate embrace. To add to the romance of the story the skeletons were found outside of Mantua a town 25 miles south of Verona. Alas, the romance ends there. This is not the story of the Montague's and the Capulet's.

Had the skeletons been from the time of Shakespeare the story would have been almost unbearably romantic. Not that there isn't the possibility that a story was written. Paper was first used about 5,000 years ago in ancient Egypt. So who knows? Maybe somewhere, a long time ago the story of these two young people was recorded to the delight of romantics everywhere and to the dismay of high school students trying to interpret the meaning of love from a play.

How do we know the pair that was discovered were young when they died? By their teeth, which were found intact and not worn down.

Portofino, Italy may or may not be home to an ancient Greek ship. What is known is that it is home to ancient Greek wine.

Portofino, Italy one of the most beautiful and wealthy towns on the Ligurian coast of Italy is thought to be home to the wreckage of at least one ancient Greek ship. Ligurian Heritage chief Giampiero Martino told reporters that seven amphorae have been found in Portofino in recent years.

Amphorae are ceramic vases with two handles and a long neck narrower than the body. Amphorae were used to store wine among other things. The latest Amphora found in Portofino was located by an unmanned exploration capsule in the actual port of Portofino.

Is there a Leonardo Da Vinci painting hiding behind a wall in Florence, Italy's town hall? One of the art world's great mysteries may soon be solved.

Italy's culture minister, Francesco Rutelli, has given his approval to look at what lies behind an existing painting at the Palazzo Vecchio. After a meeting with the mayor of Florence, Rutelli said "We've decided to give the go-ahead to explore the Salone del Cinquecento to look for the Battle of Anghiari."

Researchers believe an unfinished mural by Leonardo Da Vinci titled the "Battle of Anghiari" may be hidden in the cavity of a wall concealed by another mural. Art researcher, Maurizio Seracini, first noticed the cryptic message "Cerca, Trova" which translates to "seek and you shall find" in one of the frescoes decorating a wall in the Palazzo Vecchio almost 30 years ago.

Italy is planning to ask the United Nations for a global ban on the death penalty.  As reported by David Willey of the BBC, Prime Minister Romano Prodi has said that no crime can justify one person killing another.

The views of the Italian Prime Minister are in response to the widely circulated cell phone pictures of the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

This week Italy took one of the 10 non-permanent Security Council seats at the United Nations. The Italian UN ambassador has asked the UN General Assembly to review a document that was presented for debate last month.

The Italian position against the death penalty is not new.  Italy presented proposals at the UN assembly to ban the death penalty in both 1994 and 1995.

Mt. Etna, Europe's most active volcano, is causing problems at the airport in Catania, Sicily. The airport was initially closed on November 24, 2006 and remained closed to overnight traffic for 5 nights. The Fontanarossa airport in Catania is the main airport in eastern Sicily.

The November 24 explosion covered the town of Catania with a fine later of black ash. Mt. Etna has been causing problems for residents of the eastern part of Sicily for centuries. The citizens of Catania took this latest eruption in stride by using umbrellas to protect themselves from falling ash. Catania is located about 3 miles from Mt. Etna. In 1669, Catania was destroyed by a huge eruption of Mt. Etna. When you visit eastern Sicily, you can still see the impact of that eruption in the many towns and cities of the area.

Mt. Etna was spewing ash 5,000 meters high. According to Antonella Scalzo, a geologist with Italy's Civil Defense Department, “This is all part of Etna’s normal activity. The ash is a nuisance, it is not a precursor of a change in activity.”

The lack of Italian Nativity scenes in IKEA stores in Italy has caused a furor. Two politicians are calling for a boycott of IKEA for not selling the traditional Italian Nativity scenes. Nativity scenes, also called the presepio, are traditional in Italy at Christmas.

IKEA was founded in Sweden and is currently owned by a Dutch registered foundation. A spokesperson for IKEA said that they have never sold nativity scenes because they are not part of the Scandinavian tradition that the IKEA stores promote.

Torino, Italy is host to Terra Madre a world meeting of food communities. It is anticipated that 5,000 sustainable food producers, chefs, and university representatives from over 150 countries on 5 continents representing 1600 food communities will attend this years meeting. One thousand cooks will attend and 200 universities will be represented.

The Slow Food movements Terre Madre event will run from October 26 through October 30, 2006 in Torino, Italy. Slow Food is a non-profit, environmental and food friendly association founded in 1989 in response to the fast food and fast life culture that exists in much of the world today. Terra Madre is held every two years.

The Slow Food movement is reviving local food traditions and generating new interest in the food that people eat. The movement is encouraging people to learn where their food comes from, think about how it tastes and contemplate how our food choices affect the world as a whole.

Slow Food is particularly devoted to protecting food biodiversity and helping producers in developing countries.

Much to the surprise of Italian restaurant and bar owners, a government proposal to raise Italy's legal age for buying alcohol from 16 to 18 has been included in a draft of the 2007 budget. Many restaurant and bar owners in Italy believe they should have been consulted before the proposal was included in the budget.

The penalty for disobeying the law will be stiff. Fines will range between €3,000 and 6,000 (approximately $3,900 to $7,500 US) for anyone caught selling alcohol to someone under the age of 18.

It is hoped by the government that raising the drinking age will reduce the number of alcohol related traffic accidents. Many Italians recognize that the high level of traffic accidents is related to alcohol consumption. About 200 Italian teenagers die every year as a result of accidents involving drinking and driving.

A right-wing Italian parliamentarian admitted he downloads music illegally from the Internet, sparking a debate on piracy.

Former Welfare Minister Roberto Maroni said Thursday he believes music should be free and accessible to all though he also said there need to be protections for authors, Daily Variety reported.

Another parliamentarian from Italy's largest Communist party, Francesco Caruso, agreed. He told Corriere della Sera that file-sharing was unstoppable.

Genova, Italy the capital of the Liguria region in northwest Italy has been the victim of bad weather. The result will hit both pocketbooks and taste buds.

Hailstorms in the large port city of Genova are expected to cause an increase in prices, perhaps even double, for basil grown in the region. Shortages of the fragrant plant are expected.

Large hailstones, some the size of tennis balls broke windows in greenhouses and destroyed basil plants in towns and villages around Genova. Producers in the region had over $6 million in damages - that is a lot of pesto.

The effect of the storms is expected to be short-term as the greenhouses will be repaired quickly and a new crop planted. By the end of October all will be back to normal.

Whether you are planning to visit the historical sites in Rome, the museums in Florence or walk the hiking trails of the Cinque Terre you will be doing a lot of walking.

It is important to get in shape for your vacation. I never walk as much as when I am in Italy.

When you plan to do a lot of walking your vacation planning should always include getting in shape. Most tourists do a lot more walking when they are traveling than they do at home so you need to practice before your trip. Walking works different muscles than jogging, biking, swimming or aerobics. So if you are planning a trip start walking now.

Our sister blog, Discover Walking has had an article reprinted in Walk! Magazine. With the permission of Discover Walking, Cindi Leeman of Walk! Magazine reprinted a blog about the benefits of walking on the beach.

Walk! Magazine is a print publication that is mailed four times a year - Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall. The publishers are hoping to go to six times per year soon.

Walk! Magazine provides information to walkers of all shapes and sizes. Whether you are a competitive walker, racewalker or someone who walks for relaxation and a bit of fresh air after a long day in an office you will find something of interest in this magazine.

Milan, Italy welcomed the Rolling Stones for their first European concert after a number of well publicized delays. First, Keith Richards fell out of a tree then Ron Woods went into Rehab. Now the rockers are healthy or as healthy as 60 something men who are not known for healthy living can be.

San Siro football stadium in Milan, Italy hosted the band at the start of their Bigger Bang Tour. According to news reports the band entertained the crowd with songs both old and new and with numerous references to the World Cup winning soccer team. Marco Materazzi and Alessandro Del Piero from the winning team took the stage at the end of the show.

According to a survey conducted by the Doxa research agency the amount of wine Italians drink has fallen significantly over the last 30 years.

As reported by ANSA (the Italian News Agency), survey chief Allaman Allamani said that while Italians in their late teens and 20's are drinking more, they tend to get back to traditional Mediterranean habits as early as their 40's.

Italians are now drinking about 3 glasses of wine a day, a drop of about 50% over the last 30 years. Beer consumption is increasing among younger Italians, but wine is still the favorite for about 93%of the drinking population. About 20% of Italians don't drink at all.

Italians have been concerned about an increase in youth binging and the subsequent increase in drinking and driving. Surveys have shown that alcohol consumption has been increasing among teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17.

Italy won the 2006 World Cup on penalty kicks and they are now World Champions. Unlike the World Series in the US or the Super Bowl for American football the World Cup is actually watched by and played by the whole world.

Now, I am not even going to pretend that I know anything at all about soccer. This was the first World Cup that I have actually paid attention to and I have to say I have come away a fan. It took a while to get over the shock that two teams could actually play a sport for 90 minutes plus overtime and still end up in a 0-0 tie. Then after not scoring but running all over a huge field it all comes down to individual players trying to out guess the goalie. It is a situation that makes heroes of some and well, I think the term goat comes to mind for others.

I also had a difficult time finding the tackle the first time it was pointed out to me. Being a Steelers and Ohio State fan I consider a tackle to be a full body take down.

Naples and Milan, among the largest Italian cities, were named the least eco-friendly cities in Europe as reported by ANSA, the Italian News Agency. Naples and Milan were named as the result of a study conducted by Italy's Environmental Research Institute.

The study, conducted in partnership with environmental lobbyist group Legambiente, looked at 20 'eco-indicators' to give a percentage score to 26 European cities, the ANSA news agency reported Thursday.

Helsinki, Finland, was named the cleanest city with a score of 80 percent. Naples and Milan scored 21 and 25 percent respectively, and Rome was just a little higher with 29 percent, making it the fifth worst city in terms of the environment.

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.

Italians have long loved mineral water whether it is naturale or frizzante. A new book says that Italians are drinking more water and that demand is growing.

Italians now drink 178 liters (47 gallons) of bottled water a year per person. There are 150 companies marketing 252 different brands of water. Italy has over 700 natural springs though only 265 are used to produce bottled water.

Natural spas are gaining in popularity everywhere and Italy is no exception. The medicinal properties of Fiuggi, Chianciano and Salsomaggiore have been known since ancient times.

Acqua alta is a Venetian phenomenon that has been the subject of novels, scientific papers and movies. It has captured the imagination of the world, but to the Venetians it is a threat to their homes, offices and many of the historic buildings located in their city. Not to mention wading through water 60 days a years is a nuisance at best.

What exactly is acqua alta? It is the high water that reaches to the average person's knees around 60 times per year. The cause of the high water is the sinking of the city combined with the rising level of the Adriatic sea and higher tides.

Sandbags are placed at the doorways of buildings throughout Venice including St. Mark's Basilica and the Doges' Palace. Raised plank walkways are set up around the piazza in Venice so tourists and residents can walk without getting wet feet.

An international consortium won a multibillion euro contract to build a bridge connecting Sicily to the mainland of Italy. The question is: Will it really happen? The idea of linking Sicily with the mainland has been discussed for centuries.

The new bridge, as proposed, will become the longest suspension bridge in the world. At 2.1 miles it will be nearly 3 times as long as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The two towers will make the bridge higher than the Eiffel Tower. Fun fact; if all of the cables used to support the bridge were put end to end they would circle the earth five times.

An international consortium led by the Italian firm Impregilo has been awarded the contract worth just under $5 Billion (approximately 4 Billion euro). It is anticipated that the new bridge will have at least 6 lanes for cars and 4 lanes for trains. Approximately 6,000 cars an hour would be able to cross the bridge and 200 trains per day.

Uncertain weather and an uncertain world economy has kept tourists away from Italian beaches this year. Somewhere around 1 million fewer tourists will visit one of Italy's fifteen coastal regions this year compared to last year.

Campania and Sardinia were both off around 5%. Veneto, Marche, Molise and Lazio are off around 10%. Calabria suffered the most substantial drop of 25%. Even those communities that had a normal season in June had a drop off in July.

Women have been banned from standing topless on Italian beaches, they must be lying down.

New rules say women must be covered up if they are walking on the beach, playing beach volleyball or swimming. A strict 10-point guide has been issued by the Italian Association for Public Bathing.

In addition to the ban on topless bathing, the guidelines also forbid playing football (American soccer) on the beach, hanging up wet clothes to dry on beach umbrellas, changing into swimwear under towels and drinking alcohol. The guide restricts cell phone use and says that people who speak loudly into their cell phones will be asked to turn them off.

Fiat will launch 20 new models over the next three years and invest billions of euros in auto research and development. This is all part of a turnaround bid, said CEO Sergio Marchionne. Mr. Marchionne went on to say that Fiat would not shut down any factories in Italy.

The statement followed a meeting between Mr. Marchionne, top government officials and union leaders at the Italian premier's office. The aggressive renewal of the product range that began two years ago is continuing under the 2005-2008 product range, which calls for the launch of 20 new models and 23 restylings of existing models, the statement said.

An ancient Roman temple dating to the first or second century AD has been discovered by archaeologists on the southern island of Pantelleria. A three-meter portion of one of the walls of the temple has been dug up.

In ancient times Pantelleria was a major trading and cultural crossroads between Italy, Africa, Greece and Asia Minor. It had a flourishing Roman colony whose wealth and sophistication have produced rich findings for archaeologists.

Two years ago archeologists discovered marble busts of Caesar, the emperor Titus and a high-born court lady. The busts were well-preserved, allowing them to be immediately identified.

This seems eerily similar to the beginning of the movie Bread and Tulips (Pane and Tulipani).

A Macedonian man drove away from an Italian service station without his wife. He only noticed she wasn't in the car when police phoned him six hours later. The man, his wife and their four-year-old daughter, who live in Germany, were returning from a holiday in Greece when they stopped at a service station near the northern Adriatic city of Pesaro.

While the woman went to the bathroom, the man went to buy gasoline. Having filled the tank, he then drove off with his daughter in the back seat.

After 2,000 years, Rome will replace some of their cobblestone roads with asphalt.  Most of the stones to be replaced over the next few months were laid down in the 16th and 17th centuries.  Soon, even the ancient Roman stones may be replaced in all but the pedestrian walkways and piazzas.

The old cobblestones, known as “sampietrini” (sampietrini translates as little stones of St. Peter’s) were originally used in St. Peter’s Square.

Paving of the Via Delle Botteghe Oscure and stretches of roads that run along the Tiber River will begin in the fall.  More roads will be paved over time, leaving only a small number of cobblestone walkways in the city. The cobblestones will be left in place in Piazza Venezia, a large square in the heart of Rome and the Fori Imperiali which connects the Coliseum with the forum.

While not a plague of biblical portions giant locusts are causing damage and anxiety in parts of northern Italy. Locusts have been in the southern regions and are now moving north into the Piedmonte. Locusts have even been found in the streets of Turin.

Swarms of locusts are devouring vineyards in some areas of northern Italy. With swarms capable of moving up to 30 miles per hour they are flying into cars, getting entangled in hair and getting caught in clothes. They have been swarming on the walls of houses.

The locusts are harmless to humans, but they pose a threat to the harvest of the grapes used in the product of Barbera wine.