One for the Road: Osterie & Locande D’Italia

by Kelly Amabile on

Travelers who love Italy (are there any who don’t?) and those interested in the Slow Food movement will want to get their hands on a copy of Osterie & Locande D’Italia, which combines two older Slow Food guides into one. Published by Slow Food Editore and distributed in the US by Chelsea Green, this guide contains listings for 2,100 traditional places to eat and stay in Italy.

Recommended by the Slow Food organization, these traditional taverns, inns, trattorias, wine shops and hotels are guaranteed to give you a taste of Italy’s regional diversity — the cheese, the seafood, the fresh produce, the wine!! The book is organized by region –from Piedmont (where the Slow food movement was born in 1986) to Sicily, and everywhere in between. It also contains a handy glossary of Italian culinary terms and a place index in the back. Published for the first time in English, this comprehensive guide will be a useful tool for food lovers planning their next Italian gastronomic adventure. Mangia!


The Top 100 Hotels in the World

by Justin Glow on

As odd as it was to have some of the most extreme poverty I’d ever witnessed co-existing with the most grandiose luxury, it was no coincidence that the nicest hotel I’d ever been to was in India. I didn’t have the privilege of staying at the JW Marriot on Mumbai’s Juhu Beach (I was there for a wedding reception), but I did spend plenty of time getting lost in the lavishly decorated hallways leading to the pool and deck area. While the hotel guests were served fantastic, Indian-flavored hors d’oeuvres on one side of the massive, guarded concrete pillar, thousands of Mumbai’s poorest combed the beach for broken bottles, and peddled their wares to the tourists on the other.

And this hotel wasn’t even one of the “nice” ones. Udaipur, India’s Oberoi Udavilas (pictured right) scored the number one spot in Travel and Leisures 2007 World’s Best Hotels award. This is the first time an Indian hotel as scored first. Here are the top ten hotels in the world:

  1. Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur, India
  2. Singita Sabi Sand/Kruger National Park, South Africa
  3. The Oriental, Bangkok
  4. Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet, Turkey
  5. The Milestone, London
  6. Relais Il Falconiere, Cortona, Italy
  7. Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve, Sabi Sands, South Africa
  8. Mandarin Oriental, Munich
  9. Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Hawaii
  10. Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra, India

For the rest of the list, visit Travel +Leisure. [via]

Ancient Rome Digitally Rebuilt in its Entirety

by Neil Woodburn on

I am constantly frustrated staring at ruins and trying to imagine how cool they must have been in their prime.

Sure, some of the better maintained ruins give you a decent idea of what they were once like, but man, wouldn’t it be cool to go back in time and see for yourself!

It was such a thought that launched Rome Reborn.

Rome Reborn is a $2 million computer rendition of how Eternal City must have looked during its heyday in AD 320. According to a recent article by Tracy Wilkinson, the project, now stored at the University of Virginia, “is the largest and most complete digital simulation of a historic city ever created.” The astounding fact that 7,000 buildings have been digitally recreated for the project seems to suggest that this is probably true.

Sadly, only a small portion of the project is currently available online–although there are plans to make the entire city viewable within the year.

I was a bit surprised to discover that the results aren’t startlingly realistic–like toady’s video games–but they are startlingly accurate. All it needs is some Gladiators and a Second Life contract…

A Peek into the Future of Dubai

by Justin Glow on

Today, the city of Dubai announced it has purchased the Queen Elizabeth 2, “one of the world’s most majestic cruise liners,” to convert into a luxury hotel. The QE2 will be completely renovated and parked at the world’s largest man-made island, Palm Jumeirah. The restoration process will stay true to the original design of the ship, and a museum will be built inside to educate visitors on the liner’s legacy.

What’s else in store for the booming city of Dubai? Here’s a quick rundown of current, future, and conceptual projects in the United Arab Emirates’s oasis in the desert.

We talked about it earlier today, but the outrageousness of the resort complex dubbed The Cloud makes it worthy of another mention. Nadim Karam, a Lebanese architect, presented this resort-in-the-sky concept at the International Design Forum in Dubai last month. The actual resort will resemble a cloud floating 300 meters in the air, with slanting support beams that look like sheets of rain. Take that, Sandals! [Stage: Concept]

Who needs Disneyworld when you’ve got Dubailand? Announced in 2003, this super-sized mega theme park (the builders prefer to think of it as a true city) will consist of six poorly named “worlds”: Attractions & Experience World, Retail and Entertainment World, Themed Leisure and Vacation World, Eco-Tourism World, Sports and Outdoor World, and Downtown, each containing a total of 26 “sub-worlds.” Downtown will feature the world’s largest shopping mall, called Mall of Dubai. Coffee lovers unite: the Mall of Dubai will eventually feature the world’s largest Starbucks. [Stage: Under Construction]

Bigger is better, and Dubai has its sites set on the sky with the Burj Dubai. When construction finishes in 2009, the Burj Dubai will most likely be the tallest “land-based structure” (which includes buildings and towers) in the world. Why most likely? “The projected final height of the Burj Dubai is officially being kept a secret due to competition,” according to its Wikipedia entry. Makes sense — why announce an official height when you can just continue building if someone else announces a larger project? Clever. [Status: Under Construction]

Italian-Israeli architect, David Fisher, unveiled in April a 68-story “spinning tower” he hopes to see join the the Dubai skyline in the future. Unlike existing structures that have a single revolving floor (San Antonio’s Tower of the Americas comes to mind, among many others), “[e]ach floor would rotate independently, creating a constantly changing architectural form,” says the Wall Street Journal. This is by far the coolest concept building I’ve found, Dubai or not. It reminds me a bit of Jenga, only…you know…much cooler. [Status: Concept]

One for the Road: Living in a Foreign Language

by Kelly Amabile on

L.A. Law fans may be interested to learn about an upcoming travel memoir by actor Michael Tucker. He and his wife, actress Jill Eikenberry, were vacationing in Italy when they fell head over heels for a rustic Umbrian cottage. They impulsively bought the place and Tucker has now chronicled their “under an Umbrian sun” experiences in a lighthearted travelogue.

Living in a Foreign Language: A Memoir of Food, Wine and Love in Italy tells the story of how the couple embraces the culture of their new home — including the gourmet delights of Italian cooking and the challenges of learning how to communicate with local neighbors and friends. “Our goal,” writes Tucker, “was to slow down our hearts and minds until they synched up with the circadian rhythm of the Italian countryside.”

The couple will begin a series of book tour appearances with an event in New York on July 10.