Amalfi Coast Vacation

Escape on an Italy Amalfi Coast vacation from $939 by Italian Tourism to enjoy stunning scenery, great wine and gourmet cuisine at 60% less than the price of similar packages.

Depart on this Amalfi Coast vacation Italy travel package through March 2011 to obtain the deal. The $939 per person package includes:

1) Roundtrip airfare to Naples from New York City. Other cities to Naples available at additional rate

2) Six nights hotel to enjoy your Amalfi Coast vacation

3) Weeklong car rental with manual transmission (automatic available)

Finish off this Amalfi coast vacation package with an Italy cruise or a Rome holiday using this cheap airfare to Italy. A cruise around Italy or a Rome vacation are both unforgettable experience that will give you memories to last a lifetime. And no better place to build memories than with a Italian Tourism Italy travel package.

The Amalfi Coast is a stretch of coastline on the southern side of the Sorrentine Peninsula between Naples and Salerno. It is renowned for its rugged terrain, scenic beauty, picturesque towns and rich history. The famed towns of Positano, Pompeii and Capri are located 8 to 17 miles from the Hotel Gardenia.

Note: A seven-night version of this Amalfi Coast vacation package including an extra night in Sorrento is also available at discounted rates.

Book by now to reserve your discounted Italy tour and save over $1000. Rates are not guaranteed until booking is confirmed with payment and available seats and rooms for this Amalfi Coast vacation are limited.

Italy Travel: Italy Guide to Art Exhibitions

The following is a Italy travel city-by-city guide to some of Italy's art exhibitions:

ALBA - Fondazione Ferrero: Giorgio Morandi, The Essence of Landscape; 70 works; until January 16.

FERRARA - Palazzo dei Diamanti: French 18th-century still-life master Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin; 50 loans from major international museums in first-ever Italian show; until January 13.

FLORENCE ART - Palazzo Strozzi: 'Bronzino, Painter and Poet at the Medici Court'; 90 works in world's first monographic show; to January 23.

- Palazzo Pitti: Vinum Nostrum. The Art, Science and Myths of Wine in Civilisation; from prehistoric winegrowing to Dionysus cult, Etruscan, Roman use; show features oldest surviving wine container, on loan from Georgia; until April 30.

- Accademia and Horne Museum: Virtues of Love, 40 Florentine Renaissance paintings celebrating wedded bliss, from Italian and foreign museums; until November 1.

- Bargello: Giovanfrancesco Rustici and Leonardo, first show examining links of 15th-century sculptor with da Vinci, Verrocchio and others; until January 10.

FORLI' - Musei Civici di San Domenico: 400 ancient Egyptian artefacts gound by great Egyptologist Ernesto Schiaparelli (1856-1928) including works from Queen Nefertari's tomb; until January 9.

MAMIANO DI TRAVERSETOLO (PARMA ART) - Fondazione Magnani Rocca: Renato Guttuso, Passion and Reality, 65 works until December 8.

MILAN - Palazzo Reale: 'Salvador Dali', The Dream Draws Near'; 50 works, until January 30.

- FNAC: 12 unseen photos of Michael Jackson by French photographer Arno Bani; until 25.

PADUA ART - Palazzo Zabarella: "From Canova to Modigliani, the Face of the 19th Century"; 100 portraits and sculptures; until February 27.

PASSARIANO (UDINE) - Villa Manin: 'Edvard Munch and the Spirit of the North'; 122 works; until March 6.

PERUGIA - Galleria Nazionale: 'Theatre of Dreams from Chagall to Fellini', 100 works; until January 9.

RIMINI - Castel Sismondo: The Marvelous Years: Impressionism; 100 works from international museums including Monet and Pissarro, Sisley and Degas, Bazille and Renoir, Cezanne and Guillaumin, Morisot and Fantin-Latour, Gauguin and Van Gogh; until March 27.

- same venue: Caravaggio's first religious painting, The Ecstasy of St Francis, back in Italy for first time in 25 years from Wadsworh Museum, Hartford, as well as several contemporaries; until March 27.

ROME ART - Galleria Borghese: Luca Cranach the Elder, The Other Renaissance; 45 works from major international museums; until February 13.

- Chiostro del Bramante: Greats from the Veneto, 15th- 18th Century; Bellini, Lotto, Titian, Veronese, Tiepolo, Canaletto; 80 works from Accademia Carrara in Bergamo; until January 30.

- Vittoriano: 'Vincent Van Gogh, Timeless Landscape, Modern City'; 110 masterpieces in first major Rome show in 22 years; until January 30.

- Scuderie del Quirinale: '1861: The Painters of the Risorgimento', war scenes, Garibaldi's Red Shirts, leaders' portraits; to January 16.

- Curia Iulia, Roman Forum: 'The Two Empires, The Eagle and the Dragon'; 450 works on Roman and Chinese empires; marks Year of Chinese Culture in Italy; until January 9.

- Palazzo Barberini: permanent exhibition of ancient art back on show after long restoration; also at Galleria Corsini, Villa Farnesina Chigi and Orto Botanico.

- Museo di Roma (Palazzo Braschi): The Risorgimento in Colour: Patriot Painters; to January 9.

- Vittoriano: Fausto Coppi, Il Campionissimo'; bikes, shirts, helmets, fan letters, reports and footage of legendary cyclist on 50th anniversary of death; until October 31.

SAN MARINO - Palazzo Sums: 25 Impressionist works including Monet, Cezanne and Renoir; until March 27, in tandem with Rimini show.

SAN SEVERINO MARCHE - Pinacoteca Civica, Palazzo Servanzi Confidati and Chiesa della Misericordia: 'Baroque Marvels', 90 works including Bernini, Guercino, Pomarancio, Orazio Gentileschi, Valentin de Boulogne, Baciccio: until December 12.

SIENA - Santa Maria della Scala: Life of Michelangelo; letters, poetry, working sketches; until November 14.

TIVOLI - Villa Adriana: Show charting rise and fall of Hadrian's Villa; dozens of artefacts returned from collections around the world; until November 1.

TRENTO - Buoncastiglio Castle; The Adventure of Glass: From the Renaissance to the 20th Century between Venice and Distant Worlds; brings together over 700 masterpieces celebrating glass production on the Venetian island of Murano; until November 7.

TURIN - Palazzo Reale, Palazzo Chiablese, Castello di Racconigi: "Vittorio Emanuele II: The Gentleman King"; new documents, pictures on life of Italy's first post-unification king; until March 13.

UDINE - Castello: Giambattista Tiepolo, 20 engravings and 30 other works; until October 31.

VENICE ART - Fondazione Cini: 'The Arts of Giambattista Piranesi - Architect, etcher, antiquarian, vedutista, designer'; 300 original prints plus 33 photos by Gabriele Basilico of Rome sites in 1960s; until November 21.

Italy Travel: Colosseum opens Gladiator Pits

Italy Travel: Rome: The Colosseum has added to its allure by opening the undergrounds pits where gladiators and wild beasts waited before being winched from darkness into the light of the killing ground.

As well as revealing the bowels of the one-time blood-and-guts arena, the famed monument has also reopened its 33m-high third story, closed since the 1970s, affording a breathtaking view of Rome.

The two new attractions aim to boost visitor numbers at the site, which is already Italy's single most-visited monument at some 19,000 people a day.

Fans of ancient bloodletting are allowed in in groups of 25, strictly by reservation, to see its underground world.

According to Colosseum site director Rossella Rea, the gladiatorial areas are all the more fascinating because "they were completely buried in the 5th century AD and have been perfectly conserved".

"They never suffered the depredation which the surface parts of the monument were victims to," she said.

The so-called 'hypogeum' (literally, 'under ground') has been restored in a multi-million-euro project that has also installed new, muted lighting effects.

Rea said the hope was to have recaptured "some of the atmosphere" of the breathless moments before the games commenced, when the armored or naked fighters and the wild animals were hauled up through 80 trap-doors.

The visit starts from the Porta Libitinaria, named after the goddess of the dead Libitina, through which the gladiators marched in and from which their corpses were taken out.

A broad corridor then leads to the hypogeum proper with its various rooms, some once used for storing the stage props and scenographical effects that enhanced the central combat. Roberto Cecchi, Rome's special archeological commissioner, said he hoped the boost to ticket sales would act as a "driving force" for the rest of the Forum, where he announced the opening, in December, of two other long-awaited sites, the Temple of Venus and the House of the Vestal Virgins.

The next step for the Colosseum itself is to attract private sponsors to fund a 23-million-euro scheme to clean and restore the entire time-ravaged site.

Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno, who has admitted that the Colosseum is "a daily worry" to him, hopes to announce the names of the firms before Christmas.

Efforts to muster funding for the clean-up and restoration have quickened since a chunk of masonry fell off an interior wall on May 9, the latest in a trail of bits the 2,000-year-old monument has shed over the years. The Colosseum or Flavian Amphitheatre (its proper name) is perhaps the most attractive archeological venue in the world with some four million visitors a year.

Construction on the city's iconic monument started between 70 and 72 AD under the Emperor Vespasian.

It was completed in 80 AD by his son Titus, who financed the project from the booty his armies seized in the war against the Jews in 66-70 AD.

Titus inaugurated it with 100 days of games including the recreation of a sea battle between Romans and Greeks.

Italy Cruise Ports: Genoa, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Naples, Bari Cruise Ports of Call in Italy

A Italy cruise in the Mediterranean around the boot that is the Italic peninsula of Italy have lots of ports of call to visit with history and culture waiting in every Italian port. Visit WebVisionItaly's Italy travel channel for more about Italy's ports of call and Italy travel.

Ports of call in Italy include Genoa cruise port in the Liguria region of Italy, Livorno cruise port of call closest to Florence in Tusany, Civitavecchia cruise port outside Rome near Fiumincino airport in Lazio, Naples cruise port in the Bay of Naples region of Campania, Sicily includes Palermo and Siracusa, and on Italy's Adriatic coast Bari, Rimini, and Venice.

WebVisionItaly cruise port video gives the Italian tourism traveler and Italy cruise traveler ideas for day trips and shore trips. Visit the ports on WebVisionItaly.com to watch videos about the surrounding areas. Don't just be a tourist to Italy, be a traveler to Italy with WebVisionItaly.com.

Click for a complete listing of guided tours of Italy, Italy travel packages including air and hotel, and Rome Italy cruise listings and Venice Italy cruise listings.

Italian Fashion Trends 2011: Milan Fashion Week

Bold colors and long skirts is the biggest news off the spring-summer 2011 Italian Fashion runway shows from Milan.

The mini skirt has all but disappeared from the runway, not surprising maybe given the economic trends, replaced by hemlines that fall around or below the knee. Long skirts are also very popular. It is said that fashion trends precede economic trends with below the knee hemlines signaling more recession and shorts and mini skirt pointing toward a coming economic rebound. If the Italian Fashion trends for 2011 are a guide, the economy has more work do.

In keeping with this new look, which already made its first appearance on the Italian fashion show runway for the upcoming winter 2011, the Italian designers do away with short shorts and most trousers.

Italian designer Giorgio Armani based his new collection on the new hemline.

The latest Emporio Armani collection is the stretch tulle skirt, which hangs down like a slip, providing a covering layer for above the knee skirts and mini dresses, both by day and by night.

Armani was one of the few designers who featured shorts in his second line collection, aimed at the younger set. Many of his ultra-light jackets were paired with a pair of just-above-the-knee Bermuda shorts.

Bottega Veneta treated the Italian fashion crowd to a show where everything was as light as a feather, and almost every skirt began somewhere from the knee down. The ultra-wide evening gowns had hemlines so long they could double for a train.

Earlier in the week, Italian designer Donatella Versace, great fan of the mini skirt, yanked her hemline several inches below the knee, to create a prim ladylike look for Versace summer 2011.

Underlining the Summer 2011 Italian fashion trend, Versace traded in her trademark tight black pants with matching glittery top, for a simple below the knee black cocktail dress, for her runway bow.

For more Italian fashion trends 2011 click to see the Italian runway videos on WebVisionItaly.com Italian Fashion channel:

Milan Fashion Week Spring Summer 2011: Italian Fashion Designer Missoni

Milan Fashion Week: Italian Fashion Designer Prada Spring 2011 Summer 2011 Italian Fashion

Milan Fashion Week Spring Summer 2011: Italian Fashion Designer Ferragamo

Milan Fashion Week Spring Summer 2011: Italian Fashion Designer Fendi

Milan Fashion Week Spring Summer 2011: Italian Fashion Designer Versace

Milan Fashion Week Spring Summer 2011: Italian Fashion Designer Dolce & Gabbana

To book a Italy vacation visit Italian Tourism for a complete list of Italy travel packages and Italy cruise vacations.

First Italy vacation? Choose a Rome vacation package

Lots of first time travelers to Italy ask. "Where should we go?"

In my view, start with Rome, but never in August. The heat is stifling in August and all the Romans are on vacation.

April, May, September, and October are absolutely glorious months to visit Rome. August, go to the seacoast!

As per Rome, where to begin? The history, the architecture, the culture; you will never be short of options in this wonderful city. Medieval, Baroque, and Renaissance landmarks fill the capital city of Rome, and the Vatican is right down the street. It's impossible to do it justice in a mere blog, and when one travels to Italy no matter where you visit you can't go wrong, but Rome is a great place to start.

Click to browse Rome vacation packages, and visit WebVisionItaly's Rome vacations video channel to see more about Rome.

For more about Italian culture, visit WebVisionItaly's Italy videos.

For more about tours of Italy visit WebVisionItaly's Italy vacations channel and for Italy vacations visit Italian Tourism Italy travel packages.