JANUARY 2011

CITY OF MIRACLES

01012011 An ordinary old armchair under a worn blanket in a three-room flat in Naples draws thousands of hopeful pilgrims. Pasted all over the walls around it are birth announcements: pink for girls, blue for boys. Childless women from all over the world flock to the "miracle" chair -- close to Speranzella street whose name suggests hope -- in the picturesque Spanish Quarter of Naples. There they ask Saint Mary Frances of the Five Wounds of Jesus for a miracle. Naples 'miracle chair' draws childless couples | Reuters
01022011 After a lifetime of glitter Mona Bismarck built her extravagant Shangri-la on an abandoned fortress in Capri. For fashion was her religion, and style her substance; stylish people, stylish yachts, stylish houses, and – as her friend Cole Porter observed – stylish clothes. Perhaps her crowning achievement was the house and garden she created in Capri. There style flowered into poetic fantasy. When the house was put up for sale this year, the door shut on the last vestige of Capri’s worldly glory. Swan Song In Capri | Vanity Fair
01032011 There is so much to like about newcomer Marc Antonelli's debut at the Tropicana in Atlantic City that you feel guilty leaving the theater unfulfilled. There is the Antonelli with the luscious tenor voice that resonates off the walls of the massive Showroom with grace and class as he pays homage to Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, Mario Lanza and the melodies that on any given day fill the streets of Naples. Newcomer tenor Marc Antonelli does Bocelli proud, but tries too hard with Sinatra | NY Daily News
01042011 So I found “Early in the Mornin’,” and I said, “Holy cow, this stuff is great!” The story line reminded me of the “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” video, where I’m dancing down the street, out all night. I took that scenario from an old Sophia Loren movie, where she’s coming down the street in Naples at dawn with her shoes in her hand over her shoulder. Cyndi Lauper Sings the Memphis Blues | Elle
01052011 The ancient town of Amalfi, with its wonderful medieval architecture, Ravello with its breathtaking views out over the Mediterranean, Positano, a heaven for the beautiful people since Steinbeck described it as "a dream place" in an essay published in "Harper's Bazaar" in 1953... if you follow the 30 kilometres of coast road from Sorrento to Salerno, these are just some of the highlights of the beautiful "costiera", as it is known locally, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. "La dolce vita" on Italy's Amalfi Coast | Hello
01062011 A few years ago in Italy, a group of researchers from Naples University gave a powerful demonstration of an alternative. They chose 180 patients with typical Western lifestyle disorders: weight problems, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, joint pain, excessive insulin and blood sugar levels. Half the patients followed a so-called healthy diet, low in cholesterol; the other half ate a typical Mediterranean diet: olive and rapeseed oils; chicken or fish five times a week (without much red meat); lentils, chick peas, rice and whole grain cereals several times a week; vegetables or salad with every lunch and supper; at least one piece of fruit a day; and herbs (garlic, onions, chives, rosemary, thyme, basil, mint) as a regular element of dishes. Had it with the heartburn? Try a Mediterranean diet | Ode
01072011 Josiah Wedgwood may have invented an early from of impulse marketing. Wedgwood invented publicity-led marketing, such as creating replicas of pottery from newly-unearthed Pompeii and obtaining a commission from Catherine the Great of Russia. Another 18th century marketing innovation was opening a showroom in London, where crowds could go to ogle and the newly rich might buy a dinner service on impulse. Tesco and Wedgwood, bookends of the marketing era | Marketing Week
01082011 We got to visit Capri Island, and our tour guide told us about this great lookout over the island, but stated that because of the time the last cable car went down the island and our ship leaving out, we would have to hurry from our present viewing location, which was lower than the one he suggested. We managed to get to our breath-taking lookout at 4:08pm. We took plenty of pictures, and managed to get down to catch the 4:30pm cable car, and relaxed on the pebbled beach while drinking a limoncello. Capri Island, Italy | Outdoor Photographer
01092011 Pisciotta is an historic medieval town set in the hills of the national park of Cilento south of Salerno, surrounded by centuries old olive groves some a thousand years old. This beautiful town has managed to remain the same for the last 200 years with old houses, narrow streets, the traditional Piazza with live music in the evenings, restaurants with outstanding views of the Mediterranean and the surrounding hillsides offer delicious traditional food to the highest standard. The Hidden Gem in Southern Italy: Pisciotta | Associated Content
01102011 This is a cruise through mythology, through the lands of Leucosia, the white maiden, a mythological monster with a beautiful female face, but with a bird-like body, sporting wings and claws. The sirens could sing a tune so sweetly that they would captivate the heart and mind of passing sailors, making them forget everything else. The intoxicated sailors would blindly pilot their craft towards the Sirens' island only to be crushed against the barricading rocks by the ocean's waves. As you cruise, highlights include Castellabate, Acciaroli and Palinuro, jewels in the midst of rugged hills and thousands of rocky caves of different shapes formed by the corrosion of the sea. Cilento Coast | tripsite
01112011 If the whole world is a movie man's stage, just where does he park his trailer? I am a man of no land. I realised this again recently when my friend Anne McNally asked where one day I would settle. We were bobbing up and down on a small boat in the Bay of Naples when this innocent question popped up. Moving pictures | British GQ
01122011 Here comes the photographic calendar of the Naples (Napoli)-based Italian soccer team SSC Napoli for 2011. The preview pics from the making-of (or what the Italians love to call Backstage) show Paolo Cannavaro & the Argentinians Ivan Ezequiel Lavezzi & Jose Ernesto Sosa. No nudity but at least sexy Pocho (Lavezzi) went shirtless. SSC Napoli Calendario 2011 | The World of Straight Men
01132011 The Romans transformed Britain two thousand years ago with their straight roads, spectacular aqueducts and magnificent cities. At the height of Roman Britain the countryside would have been covered with luxurious villas. Today only ruins remain. Around 2,500,000 visitors flock to Pompeii every year to see the partially buried Roman city near modern Naples, and wander the streets and ruins soaking up the atmosphere. New Channel 4 series challenges builders to construct a huge Roman villa using only ancient methods | Daily Mail
01142011 Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria is certainly a grand sight. Approaching on the ferry from Naples, it is one of the first things you see, perched atop the cliff looking out across the water, with Mount Vesuvius in the distance, the summit shrouded in mist. Sophia Loren and Pavarotti have stayed here. Caruso spent the latter years of his life here (in the now-named Caruso Suite, which still contains the legendary tenor's piano and writing desk). Princess Margaret has been a guest. So has the King of Siam. And I. Travel: Sorrento | Scotsman
01152011 On the Riviera di Chiaia waterfront, a 10-minute walk from the picturesque lanes and boutiques of Chiaia, Micalo is a small and stylish boutique hotel. Olive trees in pots give the decor a sun-bleached feel while contemporary art adds colour. The owner is English so you get a good breakfast with freshly squeezed orange juice and scrambled eggs. The best thing about this hotel is the sense of calm you feel when you walk in; busy Naples seems a world away. Micalo | Conde Nast Traveller
01162011 I can’t think of Italy without the thought of puttanesca making me drool. This is the greatest of all pasta sauces in my view, a racy concoction of tomatoes, black olives, garlic, capers, chilies and anchovies that the whores of Naples traditionally simmered on their stoves to sate their customers’ other appetite. Don't hold the anchovies | EAT Magazine
11172011 Coffee is bad for you! No, wait. Coffee is good for you! Better hurry up and enjoy drinking that steamy hot cuppa joe before the experts change their minds–again. Similar results were found by other researchers including a team from Naples, Italy, where coffee consumption is traditionally high. After conducting a four-year, hospital-based study, the researchers concluded that coffee (not decaffeinated) use is consistently associated with lower serum liver enzyme levels related to a reduction in the risk of liver cancer. These results were published in 2007 in the International Journal of Cancer. Coffee Confidential | Alive
11182011 During Michelle´s travels to Italy she realized that in order to enjoy her favorite Italian dessert, she needed to open her own place in the United States, appropriately naming it "I Dream of Gelato". Bob Bruno recently visited I Dream of Gelato requesting that Michelle enter her lemon-ginger gelato in the next year´s convention. A few years ago I took a trip to Naples and the Amalfi Coast in Italy. It´s way too far for a gelato fix. I Dream Of Making Gelato | More
01192011 'I love to visit the 11th-century cathedral in Ravello, on a piazza high above Italy's Amalfi coast. It still has its magnificent 12th-century bronze door, with more than 40 illustrative panels, one of them showing a tiny St George and the Dragon. Inside, the pulpit has a wonderful mosaic of Jonah being swallowed by the whale, and then escaping.' A life in architecture Sue MacGregor | The Architects' Journal
01202011 Terroni is a restaurant specializing in Southern Italian cuisine. They are known for their fresh pastas and pizzas. The pizzas are served Neapolitan style - thin crust and not pre-sliced. That means you have to cut it up with your fork and knife, or preferable tear it apart yourself. Just like in Naples. Terroni - Italian comfort fare. Just like in Naples. | stuffycheaks
01212011 Despite coming from a Hollywood dynasty Giada De Laurentis never had the urge to follow in her family's footsteps. "The movie business isn't my thing," she says. Giada credits her grandfather's love of food as inspiration, but it was her mother and Aunt Raffy who taught her how to cook. "I learned tradition from my grandfather, who grew up selling pasta in Naples; simplicity from my mom, who had four kids and had to get dinner on the table fast every night; and creativity from my aunt, who is my cooking soul mate," says Giada. Giada De Laurentiis' Recipe for a Happy Life | Shape
01222011 I wanted to create holundercello—a local version of limoncello, the sweet digestif of Italy’s Amalfi coast. I collected another bag of blossoms, then put them in the glass jar along with a bundle of lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) and the peels of some organic lemons from a local market, then covered it all with vodka. After a month, the vodka turned deep amber and took on a wonderful blend of flavors and scents. Elderberries: Grow, Cook, Heal with Elder | The Herb Companion
01232011 Spring in Italy is the time to experience Tuscan hills carpeted with flowers . . . delicious pizza on Capri ... the magic of Venice . . . and dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) everywhere. To make Dandelion Greens Italiano, select the smaller and more tender leaves before the plant has flowered. Wash and chop the greens, and cover 'em with water. Bring the pot to a boil, then pour off the liquid. Repeat this process one to four times, until the cooked leaves taste only mildly and pleasantly bitter. Foodgathering across Europe | Mother Earth News
01242011 Researchers believe that when the sun goes red giant in five billion or six billion years, it will swallow Mercury and Venus, but they are unsure about Earth's future. The discovery does not reveal Earth's destiny, but it suggests that further observations of similar star systems could lead to models that can, says astrophysicist Roberto Silvotti of the Capodimonte Observatory in Naples, Italy. Planet Survived Brush with Red Giant | Scientific American
01252011 At any given moment, about 20 volcanoes are erupting. Some wipe out nearby cities, like Italy’s Mount Vesuvius did to Pompeii in A.D. 79, and others erupt in desolate regions, like the farthest ends of Siberia. But not all volcanoes are towering, rock- and ash-spewing behemoths like Vesuvius; some are long, lava-effusing fissures on the ground, and many lie dormant, no longer trembling or exuding any debris at all. Video: The world's most beatiful, and deadly, volcanoes | Science Illustrated
01262011 With innovative on-board facilities including a lavish VIP section and a 4D cinema, MSC Fantasia will cruise the Mediterranean year round. Following her naming in Naples just last month, the popular cruise line MSC’s largest ship to date, Fantasia, is currently discovering the treasures of Spain, Gibraltar, Madeira and the Canary Islands. MSC Fantasia | Cruise International
01272011 Interviewees from the Faculty of Classics suggested that their research had more removed economic impacts on cultural tourism. For example, it has significant indirect economic benefits for activities related to the classical world, such as an exhibition on Hadrian or cruises to the Bay of Naples. Assessing the impact of arts and humanities research at the University of Cambridge | RAND
01282011 “We were on vacation and found this wonderful town called Cava,” Iaderosa says. “My husband’s family is from Naples and we’d wanted something exotic for our wedding. We also wanted a very traditional Catholic ceremony and there’s a beautiful cathedral in Cava called the Badia di Cava. Far-Away Weddings | Westchester Magazine
01292011 The southern coasts of Massa Lubrense and the islets that face it (Vetara and Li Galli) they were, according to the legend, the abode of the mythical Sirens from which the primitive place-name of Sirenusion. It is here that Ulisse, after having listened to their song he would has landed and he would has founded the famous temple of Athena. Massa Lubrense | Paestum Holidays
01302011 As if the delicious and fresh cuisine of Trattoria da Gemma wasn’t enough of an incentive, patrons of the restaurant in Amalfi, Italy, are further spoiled by an elegant environment and a terrace overlooking the main street of this attractive coastal town. Escaping the chaos of downtown Naples to the celebrated Amalfi coast — and the town that provided the name for the spectacular 15-mile coastline. After Hours: Trattoria da Gemma in Amalfi, Italy | Stars and Stripes
01312011 A 24-hour pass for travel along the Amalfi Coast was a bargain for 7.2 euros ($8.75). After a taxi driver offered four of us a private tour for 250 euros ($305) for four of us, we put together a do-it-yourself tour by taking a train to Vietri sul Mare near Salerno, then busing our way along the coast to Sorrento with a detour to the cliff-hugging town of Ravello. Europe: There's always something new to know | Kuwait Times