All posts tagged: Italy

Town scene in Taormina

What to Watch Set in Sicily

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White Lotus is what drew you to Sicily and the Four Seasons San Domenico Palace in Taormina. Here are other films and shows set in Sicily. The perfect backdrop to get you in the mood for your vacation in Sicily! Over the years tons of international productions have used the beautiful landscape of Sicily as their backdrops. One of my favorite destinations in Italy, this Meditterranean island is a vibrant and diverse in scenery as it is in culture. Maybe it’s dramatic Mount Etna or the beautiful cascading “stairs” of Scala dei Turchi going into the turquoise sea. Then there’s the baroque architecture and the ancient Greek ruins. Sicily is always a good idea. Here’s a run down of films and shows set in Sicily to get you in the mood for your next Sicilian holiday. The White Lotus Season 2 (2022) The HBO runaway hit The White Lotus returned for a second season. For season two, the action takes place in the renovated San Domenico Palace in Taormina, Sicily — a real life Four …

Ciao, Sicilia! Sicily Travel Guides

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Ciao, Sicilia! I mean even that alone sounds sexy, no? Dolce & Gabbana built their brand around it. As an American living in Italy, it can be easy to fall into that La Dolce Vita myth. Everything is beautiful, everywhere is magical. Though, being primarily based in Northern Italy, I’ll let you in on something: Southern Italy has my heart. From my time in Puglia in my early 20s, to now, Sicily is decidely my happy place in Italy. Maybe it’s the island life, I know it’s the hospitality, food, people, ‘tude. The people are warmer, their accents more melodic, more swaggy. Tuscany is beautiful, but I truly believe, Sicily is what Americans want when they come to Italy. A lot of Italian-Americans are Southern or Sicilian… so maybe it’s the familiar? Did you know that in 1945 and 1946 a strong Sicilian separatist movement campaigned for Sicily to be admitted as a U.S. state? Black Americans, you might be drawn to Sicily too… from True Romance to Little White Lies, are they those mythic …

Italy Announces New Digital Nomad Visa

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In order to aid with tourism revitalization and slow tourism in particular, in May, Italy will be announcing a year-long renewable digital nomad visa to non EU citizens. Years ago, when looking into residency permits in Italy, I found the process a bit archaic in regards to today’s world and digital nomads. One of the standards of self-employment required you to invest a couple hundred thousand euros in a company in the country! More often than not, technology moves faster than bureaucracy and Italy wants visitors to know they’ve heard and received! The country wants slow tourism and this is another arm of it! Italy’s digital nomad visa will attract talent to the country as well as even revitalize places that have lost residents from brain drain, age, or in the case of Venice, rising housing costs due to tourism. So who are digital nomads? According to the decree: “Citizens of a third country, who carry out highly qualified work activities through the use of technological tools that allow them to work remotely on a …

Taormina under Mt Etna by Nneya Richards

The Perfect Weekend in Taormina, Sicily

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You may have heard of Taormina, a hilltop town on the east coast of Sicily because of its glitzy international film festival or as it’s one of the towns on the magical Mount Etna hiking trail. The allure of Taormina is easy to understand. It’s a picture perfect Italian town showcasing Sicily’s rich history through its architecture, dating back to all of Taormina’s former rulers: Greeks, Romans, Byzantine, the Arabs, the Normans, the French and the Spanish. In more recent years Taormina was a favorite haunt of Liz Taylor and Richard Burton and Jay-Z and Beyoncé. Bougainvilleas and plants in colorful ceramics adorn balconies. Nonnas hang laundry to take in the rays of the sun. Luxury stores dot Taormina’s main drag, Corso Umberto, right next to generations old gelaterie and Sicilian artisan shops. It’s the kind of place you want to stroll hand in hand with your bae down romantic side streets, just dodging a guy on a vespa. The stunning cliffside view of the Ionian Sea’s Bay of Naxos is awe-inspiring. The beaches and …

Black woman looking over her shoulder in floral dress in Venice with water and gondolier in background

Venice Will Charge Tourists to Enter the City Soon

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Starting sometime this year, Venice will charge tourists to enter the city. There have been murmurings of this plan since around 2018. Now updates have been announced that the Italian city of Venice will charge tourists to enter the city, particularly, day-trippers later in 2022. Most Americans visiting Italy stay around 7-10 days with their time divided between Florence, Rome and Venice (add Capri or the Amalfi Coast in the summer). The city welcomes around 30 million tourists yearly and this has totally changed the social fabric of it. The negatives that you’ll hear? Crowds, floods, the price gouging of tourists, misunderstood inhospitality or lack of true Venetians in the city (around 50,000) are just a few. But guess what? Despite all of this, Venice is absolutely worth it. I will never say Venice is overrated because… just WOW. The floods? They just add to the urgency of “Venice is sinking! Get there now!” During my mother’s last pre-pandemic visit to Italy, despite a train strike, being exhausted, I insisted we go to Venice. “Mom! …

Closed Umbrellas on Beach in Calabria

What To Know Before Booking Your September Italian Travel 2021

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September is a great time to travel to Italy this 2021, but with Italy reinstating Covid-19 restrictions for American visitors, here’s what you should know before heading to Italy. Umbrellas are closing, summer in Italy is coming to an end. But the summer season isn’t officially over yet. Often times, that makes for the best time to visit the country. My first time in Le Cinque Terre was in September as a study abroad student. It was a trip free from crowds; I had a much easier time booking a B&B and got to really hang with locals. But before you book those last minute trips and travel to Italy in 2021, here are a few things you should know. Italy has indeed taken the EU’s advice and reinstated some restrictions for Americans. In my opinion, this is part Delta, part politics, part economics. The summer season is over, the US did not reciprocate. Other countries removed from the safe travel list include Israel, Japan and Canada. Any traveler that’s been in the US in …

New Byline! Travel + Leisure Destination of the Year: Italy!

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I have a new byline in Travel + Leisure’s latest issue, Destination of the Year: Italy. This byline is extra special as I produced and styled a fashion shoot to go along with it! When Travel + Leisure’s editor-in-chief Jacqui Gifford told me that Travel + Leisure’s Destination of the Year for 2021 was Italy, I was excited. Travel + Leisure decides the destination of the following year as early as the previous spring. Italy was still in the throws of the first round of the coronavirus. This was before Covid-19 ravaged the U.S. It is an honor to contribute and I wanted to tell a part of the Italian experience that is a blind spot from travel publications, tourism boards, bloggers etc. There are indeed Black people in Italy! ITALY IS A MULTICULTURAL PLACE AND NOT ALL ITALIANS ARE WHITE! Is the world not letting the perception of what Italy is today evolve or is Italy choosing to portray an archaic notion of its culture to the world for the sake of “heritage branding?” …