Vintage Cars and Lemoncello in Sorrento

This post is from a great friend of www.italy4real.com who is in Italy scouting for the company some great places to stay and great things to do. Thanks Lynn!

Vintage Cars and Lemoncello in Sorrento

Alessandro and Paula take us for a ride in the vintage cars – 1971 Alfa Romeo cars around the streets of Sorrento. It is raining so we could not take the tops down, but the cars were great fun anyway. He has 3 of these cars and several other types for his business of organizing the car rally for www.italy4real.com . Today he takes 2 vintage women for a lovely ride and of course a stop at a local cucina for the 4 course lunch….the hand-rolled pasta with pomedoro sauce is fantastico!

Later in the afternoon we go (by regular car) to the main downtown full of high fashion clothes, stores for beauty products and cosmetics, shoes, produce, pharmacy – all 1 story shops in a busy downtown. We visit 2 or 3 hotels for inspection of facility for future tours to be included in Italy4REAL venue. We stop at a pasticerria for the cappuccino and as we leave the owner follows us into the street to talk our ears off for 20 minutes yak yak yak about himself. He decorates the wedding cakes in his shop and we think he does not get out much beyond that.... Read More

Our last stop is at Villa Oriana Relais – very near the downtown- with a garden full of olive trees and lemon trees. We are served fresh lemonade from those very trees and I begin the exchange of lemoncello recipes with the owner, Maria, who makes the cooking classes in her beautiful kitchen. Her recipe takes only about 10 days, while mine takes about 120 days to soak properly. Of course, you must use the special Sorrento lemons for good lemoncello – it is all about the lemons - and I tell her that I have friends with the lemon tree and get my lemons there ----NOT the store! May be one day we will return and take a cooking class – Raviolis anyone? – and stay at the villa. She has 8 rooms (fitting 2 people each) and a roof-top deck with a spa. Too bad the rain……we could have used a nice hot soak.

This post is from a great friend of www.italy4real.com who is in Italy scouting for the company some great places to stay and great things to do. Thanks Lynn!

A great company!

This is a family run company that has one of the best levels of knowledge of Italy found anywhere. During a simple call they give you more useful information over the phone than any other company out there. They live in Italy, work in Italy they just don't sell Italy - They ARE Italy! choose no other!

in reference to: Trip to Italy:Travel package,Sightseeing,Escorted & Group Tour to Italy (view on Google Sidewiki)

The World’s Best Driving Road: The Stelvio Pass

If you are passionate about driving and also like to travel then you must experience firsthand a drive through the world famous Stelvio Pass.

The Stelvio Pass starts just 16 kilometers or 9 miles from the town of Bormio nestled at the foot of the swiss alps. I recommend starting your journey from this quaint ski village. Bormio is just over 249 kilometers or 154 miles from Milan’s Malpensa airport making it easily reachable in about 3 hours.

Bormio is filled with Swiss charm, lovely boutique hotels and cobblestone streets. Bormio is a year round destination. In the winter months it is a skier’s delight with lifts reaching 3000 meters or 9842 dizzying feet above sea level.

In the summer, Bormio is the starting point of one of the world’s best driving roads; the Stelvio Pass.

Open from June to September each year; the Passo Dello Stelvio as the locals call it is the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps at a staggering 2757 m or 9045 ft.

The original road was built in 1820-25 by the Austrian Empire to connect the former Austrian province of Lombardia with the rest of Austria.

Today, the Stelvio is part of Italy with a segment that will take you to Switzerland, when I drove the pass this summer I stayed on the Italian side.

The passes’ sixty hairpin turns are a thrill for drivers of any skill level and offer amazing crystal-clear alpine views and straightaway’s through thick forests featuring some of the best scenery Europe has to offer.

Roads are perfectly maintained but traffic on the SS 38 during the summer can be heavy on weekends so I recommend enjoying the pass during the weekdays.

There are plenty of places to pull over and enjoy the views and once you reach the top of the pass a cluster of hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops await you. Make sure you bring home a keepsake to prove you made it to the top of the Stelvio.

While you are at the peak of the pass enjoy one of the loud and talkative vendors selling grilled sausages with onions and sauerkraut.

Coming down the opposite side of the pass you will drive through some lush and green landscapes as you make your way through the valley.

Allow at least two hours to get completely through the Stelvio pass. The largest town over the pass is Bolzano and on the way you'll pass through quaint little towns and and miles of apple orchards.

The Stelvio Pass is not only considered one of the world’s best driving roads but I also one of the most scenic and diverse.

For more information on The Stelvio Pass or to plan a trip there; visit www.italy4real.com today!

Ancient Rome in 3D Rome Sightseeing Venue

Join http://www.italy4real.com and company owner; Rem Malloy as he takes you on an informative VIP tour a new sightseeing venue in Rome, Italy. Learn the travel tips you need to know before you go.

Ancient Rome in 3D; new sightseeing venue in Rome, Italy

There is a new world class sightseeing venue in Rome and when visiting the eternal city it must be part of your experience. I got a VIP tour of the new virtual journey through imperial Rome during my trip to the eternal city in September.

The facility is modern well lit and clean. Get your advanced tickets online and when you arrive pick up your stereo audio headset available in several different languages. Join your guide as they take you through a modern archeological dig and into a recreation of the famous Tunnel of Commodus.

Decorated with majestic frescoes, stuccos and mosaics the tunnel connected the gladiator warm up area to the coliseum in ancient times and was also used by the emperors to secretly enter the coliseum to enjoy the game of the blood sport.

After the Tunnel of Commodus, enter an interactive area with moving floor, ancient artifacts and a high definition video ceiling that opens up to bring to life the feeling of being lifted to fight the lions as the roaring crowds cheer above.

The shows main attraction is revealed through secret doors where you enter a modern and comfortable 3d theater. Unfortunately at the time of this article it was standing room only, but the management tells me that seating is planned for the future.

Relax and dawn your 3d glasses as you are taken by a virtual Roman citizen through the famous forum on an interactive tour of ancient Rome.

Experience life in Rome in 310 AD, see what the city looked like in its prime and experience a front row seat to a gladiator battle that will send chills up your spine.

The tour continues to the modern and air conditioned lower floor that contains interactive games, mini documentaries, the wheel of time and other ways to learn about the history of ancient Rome.

The gift shop has lots of unique items and has a café for a refreshing drink or coffee. When you finish you can latterly walk across the street to the real coliseum and Roman forum.

Until now Rome had no modern world-class sightseeing venue; but now it does and I recommend it be a part of any itinerary.

To purchase advance tickets to this new sightseeing venue; visit http://www.italy4real.com today!

see this article on our website now http://www.italy4real.com/articles_Rome_in_3D.php