Italy

Italy: Colosseum Open for Saturday Night Tours, Underground Tunnels Also Accessible

Date: August 10th, 2010 |

As if the eternal city of Rome didn’t have enough attractions for tourists, authorities are now providing more access to the Colosseum. Beginning Aug. 21 and for seven straight Saturdays, visitors will be able to tour the ancient monument after dark with an archaeologist. Some nighttime tours last summer proved so popular that officials decided [read more]

Europe: Heavy Snow, Cold Disrupt Travel Across Continent, Eurostar to Resume Normal Schedule Dec. 28, Venice Flooded

Date: December 23rd, 2009 |

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Severe winter weather before Christmas disrupted travel throughout Europe, causing flight delays and cancellations in the UK, Germany and Italy, and shutting down the Eurostar “Chunnel” train service between London and Paris for three days. Twenty-five-hundred passengers were stranded without food, water or air conditioning for 16 hours. The breakdown was believed to have been [read more]

Italy: Capri’s Blue Grotto Reopened

Date: September 2nd, 2009 |

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Authorities reopened Capri’s Blue Grotto Aug. 27 when laboratory tests showed the water contained nothing toxic. The famous grotto had been closed twice in a week after two men were arrested for pumping sewage into the sea there and later when an unusual foam and odor appeared in the grotto. The popular tourist attraction is [read more]

Germany: Berlin Railway Service Disrupted Until December

Date: July 22nd, 2009 |

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A cracked wheel that caused a derailment in May has disrupted train service in and around Berlin. National railway authorities removed from the system all trains whose wheels had not been inspected, and because so many cars need to be checked the situation could last for months, with full service restored by December. Trains have [read more]

Italy: Rome Restaurant Swindles Tourists, Gets Shut Down

Date: July 8th, 2009 |

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Tourists being overcharged by restaurants in Rome is nothing new, but the case of a Japanese couple who were charged almost $1,000 for lunch at the Passetto restaurant produced an unusual result: authorities shut the place down. Officials compared menu prices against charges on the receipt, found dramatic differences, and also uncovered health violations in [read more]

Italy: Fake Goods Carry Hefty Price; Thuggery on the Rise in Rome

Date: June 9th, 2010 |

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It’s hard to resist a bargain, especially if it strolls right up to you on the beach, but an Austrian tourist discovered the true cost of buying a fake Louis Vuitton purse from a vendor when she was hit with a 1,000 euro ($1,195) fine for buying a $13 knockoff. The beach vendors, often Senegalese [read more]

Italy: Rome Taxi Company Trying to Improve Drivers’ Reputations

Date: December 3rd, 2009 |

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Rome is trying to make tourists feel more welcome and reduce scams perpetrated against them with billboards that proclaim “Rome loves tourists” and posters with the slogan “Be smart, don’t try to be clever” aimed at service providers, not visitors. Part of the campaign is meant to burnish the reputation of Rome’s taxi drivers by [read more]

Italy: Vandals Pollute Capri’s Blue Grotto

Date: August 27th, 2009 |

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Authorities closed Capri’s famous Blue Grotto for the second time in a week after reports of foam and a stench in the popular sea cave. On Aug. 20 officials arrested two men who were pumping raw sewage into the grotto from a tanker truck that collected cesspool sewage from local homes. Within days the sewage [read more]

Italy: Vigilante Patrols Widespread in Italy

Date: July 22nd, 2009 |

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Vigilante “citizen patrols” have become widespread in Italy, with different groups forming in different cities and many affiliated with political groups. Since July 8 they have received the sanction of the national government, which passed a law legalizing such organizations as part of an anti-crime bill. Some, such as the “Italian National Guard,” espouse far-right [read more]

Italy: Passport Controls Imposed for G8 Summit

Date: June 24th, 2009 |

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Italy will reinstate passport controls within its Schengen borders for the G8 Summit to be held in L’Aquila July 8-10. The passport controls will be in place from June 28 to July 15. All travelers arriving in Italy will need to be prepared to show their passports to enter. The Schengen area comprises 25 European [read more]