Two of Italy's international airports are awarded a prize in the Best Airport Awards 2023, the discovery of Pompeii Pizza, a government IT alarm alert, where best to eat in Tuscany while on vacation and the capture of the Colosseum vandal, who was unaware of the monument's historical value...
An "ancestor of pizzza" found in a fresco recently uncovered in Pompeii.
Source: Rai News – 27.06.2023
Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, clarifies that the dish depicted in the fresco which was discovered in the atrium of a house in an excavation of Regio IX, cannot be a pizza such as the like we eat today, but "could be an ancient ancestor."
The fresco depicts a flat type of bread (focaccia), next to a glass of wine and placed on a silver tray. What has caused the hubbub is that it can be seen to be ‘topped’ with fruits and spices and what appears to be a type of ground ‘pesto’ which gives credence to the possibility that it could have been the forerunner of today’s pizza.
ACI EUROPE Best Airport Award Winners for 2023 revealed
Source: Rai News online - 28.06.2023
Linate, Milan’s third international airport, has been cited as the best airport in Europe in the 5 - 10 million passengers category.
Rome, Fiumicino airport won the award for the over 40 million passengers category.
The decision, made by the International Council of Airports (ACI), represents 500 airports in 55 European countries.
According to ACI, the Best Airport Awards are “an opportunity to recognise excellence, top achievements and thought leadership across an entire range of airport activities, for airports of all sizes and profiles.” This year’s awards have apparently emphasised key topics such as sustainability, innovation, operational efficiency and resilience.”
Long may it last!
IT-alert: Test for National public alarm system starts in Tuscany
Source: Italian government – civil protection department 27.06.2023
A poorly publicised national public alarm alert for Tuscany, caused a moment of utter bewilderment and for some, sheer terror, when a siren-sounding digital wail whose source was not immediately clear, filled the air mid-morning on the 28th June. The disconcerting noise which was emitted simultaneously from all locally registered mobile phones was issued together with a notice from the government, explaining that a test was underway. Sardinia, Sicily, Calabria and Emilia-Romagna will be the next areas to be tested.
According to the Civil Protection Department, the new national public alert system that Italy is adopting, “is to provide direct information to the population in case of upcoming or ongoing major emergencies. Once operational, it will allow anyone in the area affected by the disaster to receive information on the actual or potentially dangerous situation”.
The somewhat invasive alert can only be received however, if one’s mobile phone is switched on, the sound not muted and with a connection to a local network.
For those without smart phones (or a tendency to keep them off or muted), the good news is that IT-alert “will not replace other emergency information tools, even and especially at a local level, but will merely complement them”. Good-oh!
The Fork accounces its 50 Top Summer restaurants in Italy
Source: Arezzo Notizie - 28.06.2023
Compiled courtesy of an algorithm, the list suggests where to eat on vacation and takes into consideration - in addition to ratings and reviews - various criteria including the increased volumes in the summer season and book-ability.
Among the 50 best restaurants in the ranking, six are Tuscan, among which there is also Cortona’s Organika restaurant.
These six are:
Il Sale, San Vincenzo (Livorno, Tuscany),
Lunasia, Viareggio (Tuscany),
Il Cardinale, Colle Val D'Elsa (Siena, Tuscany),
Locanda dei Banchieri, Porredo (Massa-Carrara, Tuscany),
Organika , Cortona (Arezzo, Tuscany),
Il Palagetto, Volterra (Pisa, Tuscany).
Hunt for tourist who carved name in Colosseum intensifies
Source: Euronews - 28.06.23
Italy’s Culture and Tourism Ministers vowed to find and punish a tourist who was filmed carving his name and that of his apparent girlfriend on the wall of the Colosseum in Rome, a crime that has resulted in hefty fines in the past.
The incident was captured by a fellow tourist, Ryan Lutz, from Orange City, California, who filmed the tourist in the act sketching “Ivan+Haley 23” on the wall and posted the video on YouTube and Reddit.
The tourist who scarred the Colosseum apologizes: "I didn't know it was an ancient monument".
Source: The Guardian online – 05.07.2023
Ivan Dimitrov, a 27-year-old fitness instructor living in Bristol, wrote a letter of apology to the Rome mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, after allegedly engraving his and his girlfriend’s names into an internal wall of the 2,000-year-old landmark with a key.
In the letter, Dimitrov, who was traced by Italian police to England after a five-day search, wrote that only now did he realise “the seriousness of the deed committed”.
“Through these lines I would like to address my heartfelt and honest apologies to the Italians and to the whole world for the damage caused to an asset which, in fact, is the heritage of all humanity,” he added in the letter published in Il Messaggero on Wednesday.
