View this beautiful video of Rome and Maestro Franco Zeffirelli’s tribute to the eternal city with stunning cinematography accompanied by the magnificent voice of Andrea Bocelli. Omaggio a Roma.
Changes in Hotels in Italy
I woke up this morning thinking about the high prices of the Hotels on Capri – see how devoted I am to my work!! Strange the things that play on your mind… so I guess this topic deserves a blog seeing it must have bouncing around all night!! The world of travel is a changing one and I have seen great changes happening in the last two years in the travel industry all around the world. The internet has opened up a whole new world for this sector.
Humans don’t like change but embrace change we must as it is a given every day – nothing stays the same. Finances and jobs change, A storm floods your house, friends move away, loved ones pass over and leave us and we have to continually adjust to a slippery slope where we go up and down. If travel agents are finding it challenging to stay abreast of the changes in the travel industry, I really don’t know how the public can keep up with it all to be able to book it yourself.
Why we love Italy is that it rarely changes – I have been travelling to Rome for 30 years and nothing changes – the same waiter is still in the same restaurant and he remembers how I like my coffee!!. How wonderful! Where can you beat that? In Australia I have been going to the same supermarket for 30 years and they don’t even know my name!!
But change in the hotel industry is finally happening in Italy too alack alas. I can only say – come to us as we do know what is happening in Italy. e.g. Venice and Capri hotels are more expensive on Friday and Saturday and now Rome is jumping on the bandwagon too. I am always disappointed when I see this as I think the prices in these cities are high enough.
I am of course are against people booking their own trips in Italy, not because I want more clients, but because I know just how difficult it is to do this in Italy and arrive at an all round good result without a disaster happening. e.g. I know a dentist who booked the trains himself in Italy. His dates were out by one day for the whole trip nonrefundable fares and he had to pay for the whole lot again to rebook. I said to him. You are a dentist – not a travel agent – why would you waste all that time doing that when we can book them for you for the same price.?
I have a lot of clients who come to me when they find themselves in a travel mess. They have tried to book it themselves but have failed miserably with a hotch potch of jumping all over the country. Sometimes I look at their itinerary and go “what the hell!!” or a group that writes and says that they want to ‘Drive the whole of Italy in seven days with a day in each city”!!.
When I write back and say that it is impossible – I don’t hear from them again!! Funny that! – I would like to know how they feel about their 7 day ride on the autostrada from Milano to Amalfi, in heavy traffic when they return home. (Their trip could be called – “The autostrada walls of Italy- what cement looks like!!)”
The hotels now have booking systems with prices that change every day. It is not just internet sites that do this, now the hotels are doing it themselves. This makes life hell for travel agents like us who try to match the price of the hotel. It is now a bit like the share market up and down like a yo yo – supply and demand.
Do you ever yearn for a return to simple. Simple life, a set price – where the eggs came straight from the farmer to the shop and the price did not change for a couple of years. That is now for the history books.
Protected: How Passion for Italy Operates
Passion for Italy Travel
Your Trip to Italy
You can read about how Passion for Italy Operates here and our philosophy to make your trip the easiest and most delightful possible.
https://pfitravel.com/our-service
What you will Receive that Differs from Other Travel Agents
* You will receive access to view all our lovely hotels and choose which one to book or we will recommend.
*We have personally viewed the accommodation to check that it is high standard and know the owners who treat our clients well. We can tell you about the towns and cities and can speak from first hand experience as we have been there. You have all the accommodation to see in beautiful pictures on our website rather than taking our word.
* You will have personalized service with access to your own consultant to phone, sms, speak face to face on video, or write to at any time with your questions about Italy.
*Once the bookings are completed your portfolio will be put in the cloud folder for you to download, with your complete itemized and customized Itinerary together with our travel guides,vouchers, maps of all hotels and tours, directions, travel timetables These will remain online for download while travelling in case of loss of your luggage or handbags.
*You will be given our own Passion for Italy Travel guides with a list of all the things to do and see in each city you are visiting. Also some great little restaurants that the locals recommend.
How to become our client
We like to call you for a consultation face to face to develop trust between us– If you have free internet skype or viber – even better. After we have spoken to you, you can then decide to become our client.
Passion for Italy has offices in both Italy and Brisbane Australia. We like to talk to our clients initially to establish trust in us. We work with clients all over the world in every country using conference software, via skype video, Mac Facetime or phone and email – whatever you find easiest to use so we will ring you.
As we are extremely busy caring for our clients and due to limited time we do not offer free advice.
How we communicate with you internationally
We would like to make an appointment to speak on video. A webinar video conference software link for zoom.us will be sent to you ten minutes before.
Venice Antique Markets
If you love markets like I do, especially good ones, the Antique Markets of Campo San Maurizio in Venice, take place for 3 days in the following months, April, June, Sept, October and December. Campo San Maurizio is between Piazza San Marco and the Accademia Bridge.
Check the local guide when you are in Venice to see if you are lucky enough to strike the weekend on one of these months. These are authentic markets and you never know you might pick up that dream piece…
Unfortunately a lot of the traditional markets throughout Italy rarely have artisan homemade products these days but sometimes they do. But the real antique markets are that and they often have some interesting collector items. One just has to find out when they are on and where – and sometimes in Italy that is like finding a needle in a haystack. For real antique buyers I suggest Naples is the place to go- there are so many antiques for sale at the moment.
Antique prices have really dropped in Italy so now is the time to buy.
Capri Anacapri Day Tour Itinerary 95
A day devoted entirely to the visit of Capri, an island rich in natural beauty, scenic, historical, and social activities that involve the whole world.
Pick up from your hotel or established meeting place, continued toward the port of Sorrento and board the fast boat with all the comforts to make you enjoy the fascinating journey from where you can enjoy the Sorrento Peninsula to the junction of Water Gulf of Naples and the Gulf of Salerno (Punta Campanella).
After about 20 minutes by boat you arrive at Marina Grande, the small port of the island that has left intact its charm despite the passage of time. After landing can be reached by minibus Anacapri, above Capri, just as the Greeks nicknamed it.
This beautiful village, which today is a town in itself, is an integral part of the island. Inhabited since Roman times, as evidenced by the many ruins, Anacapri had its heyday between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when it became a coveted “retreat” for artists from across Europe who came here to spend happy holidays and to find inspiration.
In Anacapri you can visit the famous Villa San Michele, which was bought and restored in 1895 by Swedish doctor Axel Munthe, who fell in love with the ruins of an ancient chapel, consisting of a few crumbling walls.
While doing restoration work in the adjacent vineyard the remains of an ancient Roman villa came to light, he decorated the new house with numerous archaeological remains that may be observed in the original construction of Munthe. The restoration lasted many years.
The story of his life is told in an autobiography, he wanted to call it “The Story of San Michele”, which also contains all phases of the restoration and it was published in 1929, and proved to be one of the most read books in the twentieth century. Upon his death in Rome in 1949, Munthe left the house to the Swedish state. Today it is owned by a Swedish foundation that has transformed it into a museum where, in the summer, beautiful classical music concerts are held.
Free time in Anacapri for lunch, and those who want to shop will be spoiled for choice given the wide variety of typical products and clothing etc. .. For nature and landscape lovers there will be a nice opportunity to get the chair lift that arrives at 600 mt. around the summit of Monte Solaro, the highest point of the island.
Continue to the famous “Piazzetta” of Capri, meeting place of VIPs and vantage point of great beauty. Then you can have free time for shopping or go for a short walk to the Gardens of Augustus, which are very relaxing, and also have a breathtaking views, after crossing the streets of Capri, full of shops and sparkling windows.
The gardens were commissioned in the ’30s by the German steel magnate Krupp, who also wanted to achieve, a masterpiece of engineering made of winding roads above the sea, linking the gardens and the Certosa at Marina Piccola .
You will return to the port at Marina Grande, time and weather permitting, you can enjoy the beauty of the coast of the island with a boat ride or visit the Blue Grotto which is known throughout the world for its size, and for its intense blue and silvery white water reflecting immerse objects. To enter the Blue Grotto you have to climb in a small rowboat, lying on the bottom, you cross the narrow gap opened in the natural rock.
It is impossible to do on days when the wind blows south-west or northwest.The entrance to the Blue Grotto is a small gap in the rock wall, about 2 meters wide and high, which is about 1 meter above sea level. Abandoning the oars the rower pushes the boat into clinging to a side chain on the ceiling of the entrance.
The interior is all light blue, once called the Blue Dome, it has an average height from 7 to 14 feet, the erosion of the cavity is about 60 meters long and 25 wide. The cave continues with the Hall of Pillars, three communicating branches that converge in the Hall of Names, so named for the many visitors signatures affixed to the walls, and the Passage of Corrosion, to the last accessible point, the Hall of Corrosion .
The blue colour of the Blue Grotto is due to the fact that daylight enters through an underwater window that appears right under the entrance, thus undergoing a change of colour, which absorbs the red colour and lets blue filter through. It is believed that the interior of the Blue Grotto in Roman times, the time of Tiberius, was used as a marine ninfeo, there have been those who have imagined it as a place where the Nereids or Syrens and those who believed it was the kingdom of devils, intimidating anyone who dared enter.
In the afternoon return to the port of Sorrento and subsequent transfer by minibus to your hotel where you can reflect on why Capri is defined as one of the most beautiful islands in the world!!!
Contact PFI Travel to book this tour.