Archive for 'Northwest Italy'

The Museo Nazionale del Cinema (National Cinema Museum) in Turin is an extraordinary place. Housed inside the distinctive Mole Antonelliana, a 19th-century architectural gem designed by architect Alessandro Antonelli that dominates the skyline of the city, the museum is a fascinating exploration of the history of cinema and is an impressive museum experience. For those who have found a vacation rental in Turin and who are planning on exploring the city, it is a great place to wile away some time, especially away from hot sunny days in summer and rainy days throughout the year, and learn something new about the silver screen. For movie lovers, it is an absolute must.

Opened in 1958, the museum was originally housed in the Chiablese Palace but, sadly, had to be closed in 1985 due to safety concerns about the building. In 1992, the Maria Adriana Prolo – Museo Nazionale del Cinema Foundation was founded and talks were begun about reopening a cinema museum in the city. Luckily, they found the perfect location, the stunning Mole Antonelliana, and the National Museum of Cinema of Turin was opened to the public in August 2000.

There are many lovely and scenic parts of Italy. It is an incredibly beautiful place with a very varied landscape from the Alps to Mediterranean shores and everything in between. However, one of the most famously beautiful parts of Italy is the area in and around Lake Como, which has solidified its popularity as a holiday destination. In particular, the Parco della Val Sanagra, is a wonderful protected natural park that lies in this area. If you have found a vacation rental in Lombardy and are looking for somewhere to hike, breathe in the cleanest of fresh air, admire the beauty of nature, and enjoy a relaxed and healing natural setting, then it is absolutely ideal.

Spring is a beautiful time of year, when the earth defrosts after the long winter, flowers burst free from their slumber deep below the ground, baby animals find their footing on lush green pastures, the sun begins to show up on a more regular basis, tourist crowds awaken but remain smaller, and everything comes roaring back to life. It is a perfect time for a vacation, before demands and costs run high and the sun starts beating down, and Italy, in particular, is especially lovely at this time of year. However, there are some specific destinations in Italy that are at their best in Spring and we have been listing the best of the best among them in the last couple of posts. In this final entry in this series, we will discuss our last picks so you can get choosing among them and planning your Spring getaway in Italy...

5. Levanto, Liguria

The Ligurian Coast is swamped come Summer, particularly along the famous Cinque Terre. However, this lesser-known town is actually also an incredibly popular destination as one of the best surf destinations in Italy, which are in short supply.

Last March, I flew to South Korea for a trip, which takes about 24 hours from Ireland, all in. My game plan was to line up a range of recent Oscar-winners and watch all the movies that everyone was buzzing about in one go. Upon finding my seat, I met my two seat-mates, a very sweet elderly Korean couple who took a liking to me as I was raised Catholic and they were returning from a month long pilgrimage around religious sites in Europe. The lady asked me to help her with her screen and I spent a while trying to find something for her to watch in Korean or with subtitles. Surprisingly, there was very little for her to choose from so we eventually gave up. This, however, meant that she turned to look at the screen I had turned on and began watching it with me. I was very painfully aware that a religious granny was observing me watch, “Call Me By Your Name.” I had heard enough about the movie to guess when scenes she might not approve of were coming and, as I feared their approach, I paused the film, leaving it on a still of the idyllic town in which it is set. I began fumbling around with my things as I had become aware that she was slowly falling asleep, and I waited it out for it to happen. As her eyes got heavy, she looked away from the screen and to me and smiled, “What a beautiful place,” she said in Korean, moments before she fell asleep.

The elegant city of Turin is home to some stunning cultural institutions and museums that showcase extraordinary works of art in permanent collections and temporary exhibitions. The Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, or Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna, also known as GAM, is one such institution and is currently home to an especially interesting exhibition. “I Macchiaioli. Italian art towards moderness [sic]” showcases the experimental works of the so-called
Macchiaioli artists that were completed from the middle of the nineteenth century right up to the sixties. If you have found a vacation rental in Piedmont and are looking to take in a bit of local culture, history and art, it is an ideal choice.