October 24th - October 30th

Ronchi dei Legionari, (Go), Oct. 31st - (Adnkronos) - The weekly flights to the airport of Trieste and Sharm el Sheikh, on the Red Sea, will resume next November 11th after a pause of around three months. The connections, like many others in Italy and in Europe, had been suspended following the attacks on the Egyptian tourist locality, which led to the collapse of bookings to that area. Milanese tour operator Domina Travel has decided to reactivate the flights, scheduled every Friday, thanks to the revival of tourist flows.

Pompeii (Na), Oct. 31st - (Adnkronos) - The start tomorrow of the winter timetable for visits in all the archaeological sites concerning the Pompeii Superintendency: up until March 31st, entrance to the public will be from 8:30am to 3:30pm, with closure of the site at 5pm. The timetable is valid for the excavations of Pompeii, Herculaneum and for the sites of Oplontis, Stabia and the museum of Boscoreale.

Rome, Oct. 30th (Adnkronos) - The installation of the National Tourism Committee is confirmed for 5pm on November 3rd. This was announced by the Productive Activities Ministry that has jurisdiction over the sector. The first reform of the sector takes shape in this way, as established by the decree of last July.

Rome, Oct. 30th (Adnkronos) - To double the signatory businesses by Christmas, from the current 40 to 80. This is the objective set by the trade associations (Assotravel, Assoviaggi, Astoi and Fiavet), trade union representatives, the Bilateral Territorial Agency for Tourism (EBT) and consumer associations that together with ECPAT Italia, presented in the last few days a package of initiatives intent on further publicizing the new Code of Conduct, in its renewed version, against the exploitation of minors and sex tourism, and to strengthen the tourism industry’s commitment to social responsibility.

Rome, Oct. 30th (Adnkronos) - Christmas, a time of local markets in Trentino Alto Adige. Some offers to stay in the region during the traditional fairs are already ready. Special Christmas weekend proposals in Trento offer the opportunity to stay at affordable rates thanks to the Trento card, which offers numerous concessions.

Rome, Oct. 30th (Adnkronos) - Savona and its tourism system. This is the theme of the first provincial tourism workshop, organized by the Provincial Coordination of Legacoop Savona, which will take place within the Savona University Campus on Thursday November 10th.

Rome, Oct. 30th (Adnkronos) - Summer downturn in Basilicata. Tourist presences, according to the figures reported by the Economic Observatory of Unioncamere Basilicata, have registered a drop of 0.8%. A result that signals however an increase in regional tourism with respect to the previous year when the figure relating to presences was -3%.

Rome, Oct. 30th (Adnkronos) - Positive balance for the 2005 summer in the Aosta Valley. According to the figures of the regional Tourism Department presences have increased by 0.48% and arrivals by 8.53% with respect to the same period of 2004. June was the best month, with 148,927 presences (+6.86%) and 59,351 arrivals (17.11%). July and August registered a slight drop in presences, but a positive balance in relation to arrivals (+8.66% and +5.41% respectively).

Rome, Oct. 30th (Adnkronos) - A new site for Kuoni and one with more services. The new web space is aimed at operators, travel agencies, final customers, but also the sales force, call centers and the entire enterprise as a whole. In particular, a phone booking service has been implemented in the site.

Rome, Oct. 30th (Adnkronos) - To favour the tourism development of the Lazio coast. This is the intention of the agreement between Assobalneari Lido di Roma and Ostiensis Viaggi Network that predicts the launch of a vast range of tourism packages especially for the Roman coast amid sea, culture and relaxation. It is a question of eight weekend packages for small groups and individuals, with the objective of making known the historical and cultural heritage of Ostia Antica, the beaches of the Roman coast and the food and wine.

Rome, Oct. 29th - (Adnkronos) – The new hostel in Ostia will be completed by the 2006 summer season announced the Deputy Mayor of Rome and acting Tourism councillor Mariapia Garavaglia, this morning presenting an ABACUS survey on the international image of Rome, in Campidoglio together with Mayor Walter Veltroni. This youth hostel in Ostia was realized “because we are aiming towards attracting the younger tourists – said Ms. Garavaglia. “The hostel will be at the Vittorio Emanuele boarding school but we still don’t know how many people it will be able to accommodate”, the Deputy Mayor explained.

Rome, Oct. 29th - (Adnkronos) –Rome is the most capable of attracting tourism among the European capital cities. The tourist appeal of the Eternal City is confirmed by an ABACUS survey presented today in Campidoglio by the Mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni. The survey concerned the international image of Rome and 2500 Italian, French, German, English and Spanish adults were interviewed and asked to compare the European capital cities, the areas of interest of these cities and their thoughts on Rome’s 2016 Olympics candidacy.

Rome, Oct. 29th - (Adnkronos) – Over 100,000 Italians will go to the countryside tourism resorts for the All Saint’s Day long weekend to spend a short holiday away from the cities. This is a Coldiretti calculation relative to the indications given by the Countryside Tourism Association Terranostra. Coldiretti underlines that the good weather forecast for the weekend has influenced the opening of most of the 13,000 national countryside tourism enterprises in the hope of a recovery following the 11% downturn in presences during the 2005 summer season.

Florence, Oct. 29th - (Adnkronos) - Greve in Chianti, a small township in the Province of Florence, celebrates “Vin Santo”, the typical Tuscan wine, as the absolute star of the 2005 edition of “Chianti d’Autunno” (Chianti in the Fall). Two events paying tribute to this wine are scheduled: the first “Words and Tasting Events Dedicated to Vin Santo” will be on Saturday November 5th at the Pieve di San Cresci wine cellars with the participation of wine experts and the other tasting event will be on Wednesday, November 9th at the Pieve di San Leonino where following an organ and choir concert conducted by maestro Michele Manganelli, the traditional Tuscany “passito” desert wine will be offered to guests.

Rome, Oct. 28th (Adnkronos) - The Alpi Eagles connections towards Italian and European destinations increase for the 2005/2006 winter season. Two direct flights from Treviso to Alghero and Rome Fiumicino, a new connection from Venice to Tirana, connections from Rome Fiumicino to Dusseldorf and Catania and a direct flight from Naples to Cagliari; these are the airline’s main changes that are part of an operation that reconfirms the ''historical'' legs by linking the Veneto capital and Verona with the main cities of Southern Italy like Catania, Naples, Palermo, Bari and Brindisi.

Naples, Oct. 27th - (Adnkronos) - Around 200 invitations for the Pino Daniele concert scheduled on October 29th at the ''Scarlatti'' Auditorium in Via Marconi, will made available to the students of 8 colleges of the Scampia, San Giovanni a Teduccio, Sanita', Ponticelli, Miano and Poggioreale districts. Of the remaining tickets, around 600 will be assigned to the first people who book through the official site of the event (www.nottebiancanapoli.com), starting from 5pm tomorrow.

Florence, Oct. 27th (Adnkronos) - An increase of 22% in visitors and more than 1,000 buyers: these are the final figures of the 2005 edition of the BTC, the International Congress Tourism Exchange that closed in Florence. The presences of operators and experts passed from about nine thousand in 2004 to more than eleven thousand. Instead, more than one thousand buyers, originating from forty countries from all over the world, who in the three days of works of the BTC generated more than thirteen thousand meetings. The organizers of the BTC, despite conflicting reports, have confirmed that the 2006 edition at least will still take place in Florence.

Rome, Oct. 27th (Adnkronos) - The 73rd edition of ''Cento Pittori Via Margutta'' [One Hundred Painters Via Margutta] will get underway tomorrow in Rome. The exhibition, supported by the Rome City Council, the Province of Rome and the Lazio Region, will transform Via Margutta into an open-air art gallery. 120 artists, rigorously selected and originating from all over the world, will take part in the celebration. The exhibition, which will continue until next November 1st, will be open everyday from 10am to 9pm.

Naples, Oct. 27th (Adnkronos) - ''Tra la vita e la morte. Cibi, Arte e folklore nella Napoli dell'aldila''' [Between life and death. Food, art and folklore in the Naples of the afterlife] is the title of the initiative that will take place from Saturday October 29th to Wednesday November 2nd. It is a question of a journey to discover places and traditions linked to the cult of the dead in the history of the city. The appointments include a guided visit at the “Chiesa di S. M. delle Anime del purgatorio ad Arco”, the theatrical performance ''Voci Sotterranee'' in Lucca’s “Chiesa della Croce” in Piazza Miraglia and tasting of typical products.

Naples, Oct. 27th (Adnkronos) - The atrium of the building of the Sanpaolo Bank of Naples, at 177 Via Toledo, will remain open to the public from 7pm to 12am on Saturday October 29th on occasion of the ''White Night'' in Naples. An exhibition entitled ''Il Banco di Napoli, cinque secoli di storia'' [The Bank of Naples, five centuries of history], a collection of the ancient Neapolitan institution’s historical documents, has been set up in these rooms and will be accessible at that time.

Rome, Oct. 27th - (Adnkronos) - Let the celebrations begin, the new wines are arriving: Rome and all of Lazio are ready to welcome them. And as for any self-respecting debut events and wine-tastings are also scheduled in the capital and throughout the region for the debut of the new wine. Starting with the “deblocage” with a celebration organized at Palazzo Rospigliosi on November 5th by Lazio’s Institute of New Wine. A full-scale festival with hundreds of kilograms of chestnuts to pair according to tradition, with glasses of Novello and with the chestnuts of Segni and Latera.

Florence, Oct. 27th - (Adnkronos) - The Uffizi Gallery, the most frequented, famous, prestigious place of Florence has opened its Welcome Desk, an office available to tourists for all information on the museum, the cultural offer of the province of Florence and the city. This is the first experiment in Italy with the presence of tourist information within such an important museum structure. The initiative was realized to create a place where the guests of the city can acquire the information they need.

Bologna, Oct. 27th - (Adnkronos) - Gastronomic stands for the sale and tasting of the most prized tuber, practical workshops open to the public that will range from spelt bread to essential lavender oil, but also a conference on the relationship between sport and food and numerous musical and street artist performances. This is the 2005 edition of 'Tartufesta', the celebration dedicated to truffles that will take place in Sasso Marconi, in the Bologna Apennines, on October 29th and 30th and on November 1st, 5th and 6th.

Rome, Oct. 27th - (Adnkronos) - ''We are considering a concrete proposal to bring to the next International Tourism Exchange of Berlin, for religious tourism in our city, and we would be delighted to do it together''. Rome Province President Enrico Gasbarra received, with a concrete proposal today at Palazzo Valentini, the leading German tour operator 'Bayerisches Pilgerburo' specialized in religious tourism and now in its 80th year.

Venice, Oct. 27th (Adnkronos) - Absolute preview today in Cavallino Treporti, in the province of Venice, of the unified brand with the St Mark’s lion, the seven-point star and the slogan ''Veneto - Tra la terra e il cielo'' [Veneto - Between the earth and the sky], which will distinguish every tourism promotion initiative referring to Veneto. The new symbol was ''unveiled'' by Veneto Council Vice President Luca Zaia, who will present the relative user manual on Saturday October 29th, at the Laguna palace of Mestre, where the Vice President assembled the Estates General of the sector to gather proposals of intervention and modification of the existing regulations.

Avellino, Oct. 27th (Adnkronos) - Terminio Cervialto (Avellino), Montagna Fiorentina (Florence) and Centro Cadore (Belluno): these are the three mountain communities that will sign, tomorrow in Irpinia, the first memorandum of understanding between mountain authorities, 'Dalle Alpi agli Appennini' [From the Alps to the Apennines], for a project of integrated tourism development that focuses on the mountain. And that places together three different experiences, three different but complementary ways of understanding the territory and its promotion. The initiative, made official in the last weeks in Londa, near Florence, in the ambit of the 'Wine&Fashion Florence 2005' event, is part of the Black Truffle Fair of Bagnoli Irpino, which opens tomorrow.

Rome, Oct. 27th - (Adnkronos) - The first true long weekend of autumn starts tomorrow. 10 million Italians will be on the move, more than 500 thousand will travel by plane, while 4 million cars will crowd the streets of Italy. The figures are supplied by Telefono Blu, which predicts a positive balance for tourism in this All Saints’ Day weekend. The destinations will be the classic ones of the cemeteries and charterhouses of Italy. Twelve are the big cities involved: the monumental charterhouses of Genoa, Milan, Bologna, Naples and Rome will be literally descended on by 20 million Italians. The instead traditional tourists will number at least 10 million, but out of these at least 3 million will visit their dear deceased in cities far from their homes. An occasion to go to a second home for a good 35% of those who will travel in Italy.

Lamezia Terme, Oct. 26th - (Adnkronos) - The regional Tourism Councilor for the Calabria Region, Beniamino Donnici, has commenced a series of meetings to plan the imminent winter tourist season together with sector operators and local administrators, mostly in relation to the program of appropriation, of EUR1,700,000, which the Regional Council allocated last August 10th, in support of winter tourism and in particular for the improvement of ski-lift facilities and additional structures like parking, lighting systems and other.

Florence, Oct. 26th - (Adnkronos) - The Tuscan congress offer grows. The region consolidates its top national position for the organization of congress events with an 8 percent increase over the course of 2005. At present, 579 structures offering almost 170 thousand places are found in Tuscany, according to the study of the Tourism Studies Center presented at the Congress Tourism Exchange of Florence. Tuscany hosted around 13 thousand meetings and congresses over the course of 2004.

Florence, Oct. 26th (Adnkronos) - The Italy of congress tourism brought together in one single offer, to tackle international markets in a more incisive way and to allow the relaunch of the entire sector. This is the big objective of ''Italia for events'', the valorization and promotion project that sees protagonist a good fifteen Italian regions with Tuscany at the top of the list. A year on from its launch the project today marked another significant milestone in the ambit of the International Congress Tourism Exchange of Florence.

Cagliari, Oct. 26th (Adnkronos) - An occasion to present, to sector operators and institutions, the EC Eco-label for the tourist accommodation service, an instrument that can allow the tourism operators of the Sardinia Region to place themselves at the forefront of the national and international scene with respect to the themes of sustainable tourism and environmental certification. This is what is represented by the workshop that the Department of Tourism, Handcrafts and Commerce and the Department of Environmental Defense of Sardinia have organized in the ambit of the project "Life Env 2004 ShMile". The meeting will take place on November 4th in Cagliari.

Palermo, Oct. 26th - (Adnkronos) - Thanks to the newly formed regional Federturismo of Confindustria, Sicilian tourism for the first time organizes itself on a private and district level to land in Russia. Synergies to optimize thematic prestigious and quality itineraries, bilingual categories, promotion and marketing on the main Soviet channels and agreements with tour operators for charter flights are the main strategies fine-tuned today by Federturismo Sicilia with thirty local operators - some of whom are already active in Russia - and the heads of the international area of Banca Intesa, which collaborates with Confindustria Sicilia for Russian contacts through Zao Banca Intesa of Moscow.

Rome, Oct. 26th (Adnkronos) - ''The authoritative words spoken by the President of the Republic and the optimistic predictions of Federalberghi, after a long grey period for the sector, are the most authoritative confirmations that the expected turning point in the economic cycle has arrived and is starting to unfold its effects into tourism, that is into the sector that is socially more sensitive in measuring the level of trust of citizens in the personal and collective future of the Country''. Gianantonio Arnoldi, head of tourism of Forza Italia, comments in this way on the declarations of the Head of State and the estimates of Federalberghi in relation to the upcoming November 1st long weekend.

Venice, Oct. 26th (Adnkronos) - The ''user manual'' of the new regional tourism brand that will accompany the promotion of the image of Veneto, is ready. It was formally approved by the Veneto Council, on the initiative of Vice President Luca Zaia. The manual will be presented to the regional tourism system by Veneto president Giancarlo Galan and Luca Zaia next Saturday October 29th at the Laguna Palace of Mestre, together with the promotional tourism campaign for the end of 2005. The meeting with the operators will start at 9:30am.

Florence, Oct. 26th - (Adnkronos) - Meetings and participants increase, but the days of presence and turnover decrease. This is the photograph of the sector of congress tourism in Italy in the first semester of 2005, according to the figures supplied by the Italian Congress Observatory, presented in Florence in the ambit of the BTC, the International Exchange of the Incentive and Congress System, in progress at Fortezza da Basso. The figures collected show an increase in the number of meetings organized, 69,496 (+1.23%) and in the number of participants, 12,267,896 (+4.65%); the days of congress presence drop however, 17,889,213 (-3.6%) and the turnover of the sector drops by 2.3%.

Rome, Oct. 26th (Adnkronos) - ''November 1st will be a prosperous long weekend with a turnover equal to more than EUR1.5 billion. The first strong indication that we have been expecting for a while and that could herald the by now much awaited revival of the sector''. This is the comment made by the President of Federalberghi-Confturismo, Bernabo' Bocca, at the reading of the results of an exclusive survey carried out by Istituto Dinamiche from October 19th to 21st, by interviewing 2,000 Italians representative of more than 47 million citizens of the entire adult population. The holiday occasion will see 6.3 million Italians on the move, equal to 13.4% of the total adult population.

Florence, Oct. 25th - (Adnkronos) - The Italy of congress tourism brought together in one single offer, to tackle international markets in a more incisive way and to allow the relaunch of the entire sector. This is the big objective of ''Italia for events'', the valorization and promotion project that sees protagonist a good fifteen Italian regions with Tuscany at the top of the list. The Regions adhering, together with the Productive Activities Ministry and the main subjects of the sector, will tomorrow underwrite a memorandum of understanding aimed at coordinating all the actions of promotion of the Italian congress offer.

L'Aquila, Oct. 24th - (Adnkronos) - The Region focuses on the valorization of Campotosto lake (L'Aquila) through the improvement and upgrading of road conditions. A suitable project has been identified in this direction and presented by the Provincial Administration of L’Aquila that will be able to make use of funding of EUR1,275,038.54.

Cagliari, Oct. 24th - (Adnkronos) - The Program Agreement draft for the constitution of the Local Tourism System (STL) of the province of Cagliari, was presented today in Cagliari’s Palazzo Regio. The works, introduced by Cagliari province Economic Development Councilor Piero Comandini, served to explain to the representatives of the local authorities of the province, private operators of the tourism sector and trade associations present, the aims and purpose of the STL, which will be able, for the next three years, to count on regional resources equal to EUR2.5 million. ''It is necessary to overcome the cultural resistance, one-sided and trade logic that up until now have distinguished the diverse tourism policies - stated Piero Comandini - and we must see to it that these not large, but important resources, are finally well spent, by finding functional and at the same time shared solutions''.

Rome, Oct. 24th - (Adnkronos) - Controversy over the decision of a Salzburg hotelier to ban children under 12 from his hotel. A 'policy', this, already adopted also in Italy, where some luxury hotels are off limits to young children. Like in Capri, where in very exclusive hotels the ban serves to guarantee peace and tranquility to the more demanding clients, and service free from the racket and tantrums of children.