วันจันทร์ที่ 24 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2554

Ferrari Factory Tour

The three hour trip between Florence and Venice is about as boring as travel gets in Italy. Once beyond the hills around Bologna, the land becomes very flat an uninteresting. For those though interested in automobiles the trip is a good opportunity to visit the factory where arguably the world.s most famous cars are built.

The History of Ferrari
Enzo Ferrari was born on February 18, 1898 near Modena, Italy. When he was 10 his father took him to an automobile race in Bologna. After attending a number of other races, he decided he wanted to become a racing car driver.

While working at a small carmaker involved with converting war surplus, Ferrari took up racing. In 1919 he finished ninth at the Targa Florio. He ended up landing a job with Alfa Romeo and drove a modified production car in the 1920 Targa Florio. Ferrario managed to finish second.

In 1923 while racing at the Circuit of Sivocci at Ravenna he was approached by Count Enrico and Countess Paolina Baracca, the parents of the heroic Italian pilot Francesco Baracca. Francesco was known as the Italian ace of aces. He died on Mount Montello during the war. His parents gave Ferrari their son's squadron badge, which was the famous prancing horse on a yellow shield.

Enzo Ferrari was connected with Alfa Romeo for many years, however, he built only a few sports cars bearing his name and his famous prancing horse badge. In 1929 Enzo formed the Scuderia Ferrari with the aim of organizing racing for members. The Scuderia Ferrari team competed in 22 events and scored 8 victories and several good placings.

In 1940 Enzo Ferrari left Alfa Romeo and started a new company Auto-Avio Costruzioni Ferrari. During World War II the Ferrari workshop moved from Modena to Maranello. The workshop became a victim of the war in 1944 - it was leveled by bombs. A year after the war in 1946 the shop was rebuilt and work began on the first ever Ferrari motorcar, the 125 Sport. This car started a grand tradition of winning for Ferrari. Since it's first race in 1947, Ferrari's have had over 5,000 successes on race tracks around the globe.

In 1969 Enzo Ferrari sold 50% of Ferrari's share capital to the Fiat group. That figure grew to 90% in 1988. Enzo Ferrari died at the age of 90 in Modena on August 14, 1988.

Arranging a Factory Tour
The factory is located just outside the small town of Maranello south and a bit west from Modena. You can arrange a tour by contacting your local dealer. This is the easiest route. Otherwise you can contact the factory directly by phone or fax. Dialing from the USA put a 011 in front of the 39 and dial all the rest of the numbers.

Ferrari S.p.A.
Via Abetone Inferiore 4
41053 Maranello (MO) Italia
Tel. +39 0536 941-161
Tel. +39 0536 949-111
Postal address:
Via Emilia Est 1163
P.O.Box 589
41100 Modena (MO) Italia
Tel. +39 0536 949-111
Fax. +39 0536 949-259
Internet: http://www.ferrari.it

It is pertinent that an appointment is made because otherwise they will not allow a factory tour.

Good luck and enjoy your visit to Modena!

Italian Summer Camp



Embracing Italian Culture (by embracing them)

If you are from the U.S. or England and are getting ready to take a trip to Italy, brace yourself! Cultural norms in Italy are very different than they are in Anglo derived cultures, including a much less obvious sense of personal space, a directness in social interactions and more emphasis on familial ties. While the culture shock may not be quite as severe as if you were visiting East Asia or somewhere in Africa, Italian culture can take some getting used to for outsiders. Below are some things to keep your head up for.

The Kiss
When greeting friends and family members, it is common for Italians to exchange kisses regardless of their sex. These are typically deposited high on the cheek and are more of a gentle cheek brush accompanied by kissing noises. Unlike some other cultures, Italians give two kisses- one on each cheek. To avoid unfortunate accidents, always remember to go to the left first! While it may seem odd to you for one male to greet another with a kiss, it is common practice in Italy and you shouldn't make anything out of it. Just roll with it or face the consequences of appearing rude and -possibly worse- 'cold'.

Gifts
If you are invited over to an Italian household while there, it is considered polite to bring a small gift. Pastries, chocolates or flowers are always a safe bet, however you should stay away from chrysanthemums as they are considered cemetery flowers and it would be odd or even morbid to bring them. Nice liquor also is considered an acceptable gift however if you bring wine to a dinner, do not expect it to be served with the meal as the wine will already have been selected for the evening.

The Language
While many Italians speak English, it's not always the case and if you want to break through the thick familial barriers that can sometimes exist, it is beneficial to speak at least a basic level of Italian. If you are going to Italy and don't speak the language at all, you should look into taking some classes*** or even going to an Italian summer camp to gain your language base. Italians appreciate your effort even if you do not speak perfectly. If you are learning and practicing Italian in Italy , you will be greeted much more warmly than if you were to try to learn French in France where they typically do not have the patience for that. Italians, however, will respect your scholarship and you can go home with some Italian in your language arsenal!

Ferry Travel in Italy

Italy is most certainly more than the major cities of Rome, Florence and Venice. It's also much more than the popular tourist regions of Tuscany and Umbria. Though not for everyone, Italy's islands have much to see and experience.

If you are traveling to Italy's islands from the Italian peninsula, chances are a ferry is the most convenient way to reach your destination.

Travel-Italy.com has partnered with AFerry.com, to bring you the convenience of searching ferry timetables and booking your tickets right online. AFerry.com works with many ferry operators and will present you with the most convenient and economical ferry timetables and tickets available. Just use the table below to select your details.

You can use this tool to search ferry trips from:
•Italy mainland to Sicily
•Italy mainland to Sardinia
•Italy mainland to Elba

•Between Italy and Albania
•Between Italy and Corfu (Greece)
•Between Italy and Corsica (France)
•Between Italy and Croatia
•Between Italy and Greece
•Between Italy and Morocco
•Between Italy and Spain

You can search for fares for people only (foot passengers), motorcycle transport, car transport (various sizes), van transport (various sizes), motorhome transport (various sizes), and minibus transport (various sizes). Fares can be searched by single (one-way) or return (round-trip).

Train Travel in Italy

Getting around Italy by train is generally easy, comfortable and safe. It can also be a very economical way of getting around.


It is possible to purchase rail tickets for non-local routes (called point to point tickets) and for rail passes in advance of your trip. I also recommend this to save time.

One of the largest and most reputable companies offering the purchase of European rail passes and tickets is Rail Europe. They have physical offices in the New York City area and the Chicago area. Though everything you need to do to get your tickets you can do online.

Below I'll try to compare the different type of passes you can get that pertain to Italy, and also give you a list of point to point tickets with their prices.

Rail Passes for use in Italy
Eurail Pass
The most basic type of pass available for people visiting Italy is the Eurail Global Pass. This pass gives you unlimited travel on the entire rail networks of: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Ireland (includes Northern Ireland), Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and The Netherlands. The pass is available for periods of 15 days, 21 days, 1 month, 2 months or 3 months.

For most people the Eurail Global Pass covers far more than what is necessary since most people don't visit more than just a few countries. For that reason, 'Flexi' and 'Saver' options were added.

Eurail 'Flexi' Passes are just the same as the Eurail Global Pass in the area they cover, but they are valid only for 10 or 15 days within a 2 month period of time.

Eurail 'Saver' Passes are offer a small discount when 2 to 5 people are going to be traveling together on all routes. For families this is a good way to save some money. There is also a 'Flexi Saver' option to save even more.

Eurail Italy Pass
If you are visiting Italy, and only Italy and are planning to travel by train consider the Eurail Italy Pass. Pricing is available by following the links.

All Eurail Italy Pass are valid for two months, and prices differentiate based on your choice of the 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 day use of the pass.

There are 1st class and 2nd class options for each. There is a 'Youth' option for indviduals between 12 and 25 years of age and there is a 'Saver' option when 2 through 5 people are traveling together.

Eurail Selectpass
If you are visiting Italy and at least two, three or four other countries the Eurail Selectpass is for you.

These passes are valid for 2 months and available to use for 5, 6, 8, 10 and 15 days. They are available in the 'Youth' option for individuals 12 to 25 years of age, and with the 'Saver' option for 2 to 5 individuals traveling together.

Instead of the passes being valid in all of the normal 22 countries, they are valid in the 3, 4 or 5 countries you personally select.

France-Italy Pass , Greece-Italy Rail Pass, and the Italy-Spain Pass
These passes valid only in countries of France and Italy, Greece and Italy and Spain and Italy respectively.

The pass is valid for 2 months and can be used for 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 days of that 2 month period.

There are 1st class and 2nd class options for each. There is a 'Youth' option for indviduals between 12 and 25 years of age and there is a 'Saver' option when 2 through 5 people are traveling together.

Italy Rail n' Drive
This pass is valid for 2 months and allows for 3, 4 or 5 days rail travel, and provides 2 days Hertz car rental. Additional car days are available for purchase.

There are 1st class and 2nd class rail options and 4 different car categories to choose from.

Point to Point European Rail Tickets
If you are traveling just one or two legs then it is likely a pass would be too expensive to consider. Then what you need to do is purchase your point to point European rail tickets before you leave. Don't spend your valuable vacation time in line at the rail station.

View the fares & schedules at RailEurope quickly and easily as well.

Air Travel To, From and Within Italy

Air Travel To, From and Within Italy
Travel-Italy.com works with many different airfare suppliers so you, the customer, has the best selection available to choose from and to compare. Often, the hardest job is finding good, reputable companies and web sites to pick from. Don't worry, I've done that job for you.

Just click the company logos below to be transported directly to their sites so you can search for your airfare.

Some of the companies are household names. Others, not so much, but sometimes the best bargains lie with companies you might have never heard of.

All of the companies listed offer airfare to, from and/or within Italy. Just punch in your details and let them do the work to get you the best fares so you can spend your hard earned money on the good stuff like food and wine!

Folding Maps of Italy

Folding Maps of Italy
Why Carry a Map?
Maps are an important part of planning and participating in your Italian holiday. Sometimes you need a road map to help navigate your way across the winding Tuscan roads, or through the narrow streets of Rome. Other times you look for a map just to help you pinpoint the location of a restaurant or hotel.

Maps do what a guide book cannot. Maps help you learn about the geography of the area ... get an overall picture of the layout of a region, province or city before you get there.

It is true that many rental cars come with GPS devices these days. While a GPS device can get you from point A to point B with little trouble (most of the time) a map still gives you a better scope. Besides when you have figured out that the GPS device cannot do what it states it can it's too late! Maps will always have value.

Map Scale
Map scale can be a confusing subject. Maps are generally considered to be 'large scale' or 'small scale'. Normally the wider the scope of the map, the smaller the scale. For example, a map of the country of Italy has a wide scope. It has to cover all the way from the Alps in the north to the sunny island of Sicily. Therefore it has to be a small scale map.

On the contrary, a Cinque Terre map covering a small distance of only a few miles would be a large scale map.

That is a very quick and general explanation of map scale but it should help clarify the difference.

Maps For Your Trip
So you've decided you need some maps. Which maps are right for you? That depends on your trip.

Most people visit the cities of Rome, Florence and Venice. They will move from city to city by train or by tour bus but will do very little venturing beyond the main centers of the city. These type of tourists need city maps. There are a variety to choose from but one folding map and one 'Streetwise'-type map for each city will do the trick. The folding map can be used before the trip to mark your hotel, sightseeing points and restaurant locations. The 'Streetwise' map is small and laminated. It folds down to fit in a pocket or purse but has remarkable detail.

Others will venture around the countryside in addition to seeing the main cities. Most major cities are connected by major highways and good quality roads. Therefore a regional map will be sufficient. You will have to figure out what regions you will be visiting but the regional map will provide decent detail (they are a smaller scale) and have most roads on them. Normally they fold out and become quite large. Don't rely on the maps distributed by your car rental firm. These are normally just a country map and don't show all the roads.

Another type of visitor is a 'slow traveler'. They will stay in a villa or an apartment in the countryside and never really move around much. These type of travelers would best benefit from a provincial map. In Italy there are 20 regions. Each region is divided into a few provinces. The provincial maps are a large scale (normally between 1:100,000 and 1:150,000). The provincial maps are perfect when used to try and find your villa or when you want to get an idea of what is in the area of your villa.

Maps are specific and the right one can be invaluable. Our friends at TrekTools.com have a selection of 272 maps of Italy. Armed with the information above, you should be able to find and purchase the right mix of maps to help make your trip to Italy the best it can be. TrekTools.com, offers over 250 regional, provincial, city and tourist maps of varying sizes and scales. All the maps are useful to help navigate the Italy by car or on foot. These are professionally produced maps by reputable companies such as Michelin, Touring Club Italianono and Litografia Artistica Cartografia.
Italian City Maps
City maps can be a great value when you are trying to find points of interest, navigate your way from point A to point B, or just get a general overview of the city. Sometimes it's not necessary to get a map in advance for the major cities, but for the less important cities there is no guarantee you will be able to find one on the spot.

City map scales vary from 1:7500 to 1:20,000 but they will always have good street data and most have points of interest marked right on them.

Find a complete list of Italian City Maps at TrekTools.com.


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Italian Tourist Maps
Tourist maps are the only non-political maps TrekTools.com offers. These maps cover the tourist area instead of provincial or regional borders. These maps are often a superior scale (as little as 1:25,000) and provide good detail of paths and some topographical information. It is important to note though that these maps are not specific topographical maps or hiking maps.

See a complete listing of Italian Tourist Maps to see if one is right for you.
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Italian Provincial Maps
Every Italian region has several localized areas called provinces. Often when you rent a villa and stay for a week or so time is spent in one particular province instead of moving around from city to city.

Italian Provincial maps are a greater scale (between 1:100,000 and 1:150,000) so they provide great detail for gravel roads, small churches and show towns not found on other smaller scale maps. You might need more of them to cover a larger area but they are also easier to handle as their unfolded size is more managable when you are driving.

There are 104 Italian provinces. Find the complete list of Italian Provincial maps at TrekTools.com
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Italian Regional Maps
Italy has 20 regions. These are similar to states in the USA. The Italian regional names are what most people are most familiar. Regions such as Tuscany, Sicily and Calabria top the popularity list.

Because regions cover a larger area the maps covering them are a smaller scale. Scales from 1:200,000 to 1:250,000 provide good detail for using even the less important roads but unfolded may not be as convenient. Regional maps are great for pre-trip planning when you can lay the map out on a table and see the entire region in one picture.

TrekTools.com offers two product lines for regional maps. The first is from Touring Club Italianono. These are better scale and show more detail, but they are larger. The variety from Litografia Artistica Cartografia (LAC) is also very good though a slightly smaller scale. We use and recommend either very highly. See the complete list of Italian Regional Maps.
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Italian Super-Regional Maps and Atlases
For those covering larger amounts of ground in a smaller amount of time you might find the line of maps from Michelin most useful. Michelin offers 4 maps covering 4 or 5 regions each. The scale is not good enough to depend on for countryside driving (1:400,000)but for highway driving and major regional highways these maps can be useful. The 4 maps offered are:

Michelin 561 - Northwest Italy
Covers the regions of Piemonte, Lombardia, Valle d'Aosta and Liguria and offers small inset maps of the cities of Torino, Milan, and Genova.

Michelin 562 - Northeast Italy
Covers the regions of Trentino Alto Adige, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Emilia Romagna and offers small inset maps of the cities of Venice, Verona, and Bologna.

Michelin 563 - Central Italy
Covers the regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, Lazio and Abruzzo as well as San Marino and offers small inset maps of the cities of Florence and Rome.

Michelin 564 - Southern Italy
Covers the regions of Molise, Campania, Puglia, Basilicata and Calabria and offers small inset maps of the cities of Naples and Bari.

If you want the coverage but also want better detail consider buying an atlas. Touring Club Italianono offers 3 regional atlases which are the same scale as regional maps above, but they are bound in a nice book form. The book is about 15"x11" but it provides good quality maps easy for a navigator to manage in the car.

TCI Atlas - North
The Touring Club Italiano's Northern Italy Road Atlas covers the Italian regions of Liguria, Piemonte, Valle d'Aosta, Lombardia, Veneto, Trentino Alto Adige, Friuli Venezia Giulia, and Emilia Romagna.

The 234 page atlas includes the regions denoted above in 1:200,000 scale, plus the areas of Turin (Torino), Milano (Milan), Northwest Milan, Northeast Milan, Varese, Como/Lecco, Bergamo, Verona, Padova, Venezia (Venice), Trieste, Genova, and Bologna in a special section with 1:80,000 scale. There are also 55 city maps and an index of places.

TCI Atlas - Central
The Touring Club Italiano's Central Italy Road Atlas covers the Italian regions of Tuscany (Toscana), Umbria, Marche, Lazio, Abruzzo, Molise and Sardegna.

The 182 page atlas includes the regions denoted above in 1:200,000 scale, plus the areas of Pisa/Lucca, Pistoia/Prato, Firenze (Florence), Livorno, Perugia, Ancona, Pescara/Chieti, Roma (Rome), Colli Albani, and Cagliari in a special section with 1:80,000 scale. There are also 45 city maps and an index of places.

TCI Atlas - South
The Touring Club Italiano's Southern Italy Road Atlas covers the Italian regions of Campania, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily.

The 162 page atlas includes the regions denoted above in 1:200,000 scale, plus the areas of Caserta, Napoli (Naples), the Sorrento Penisula, Bari, Palermo, Reggio di Calabria/Messina, and Catania in a special section with 1:80,000 scale. There are also 47 city maps and an index of places.

Help with TripAdviso

Help with TripAdvisor®
Need help using TripAdvisor.com? I hope this little guide will be a good start for you.

TripAdvisor is a very established web site that has, at the time this article was written, over 40 million reviews and opinions from its members. Some people find reviews helpful because knowing what other people think can help you decide on your plans.

Let's get something straight. I don't recommend using reviews and comments until you have already limited your search. Find two, three or four hotels in a city that you are visiting because you like them, and then look to see what people think. There will ALWAYS be someone who does not like a property or has something bad to say. Use percentages as opposed to specifics.

Now that I've voiced my opinion about user reviews, let me show you how you can use TripAdvisor to make your trip to Italy great. NOTE: All of the links below will open in a new window so if you need to do it, please disable your popup blocker.

A good place to start is the TripAdvisor Italy Travel Planner. This page will show you give you some links to Italy's top travel destinations. Chances are some of the places you will visit will be in the list. If not then you can always type the name of the place you want to visit in the search box.

There will also be links to see traveler photos and videos, find airfare to Italy as well as view an online map of Italy where you can choose your destination. There is also a 'Top Rated' section where you will find the top rated hotels, B&Bs, restaurants, things to do, etc. Further down the page there is a FAQ section with links to common questions people have when thinking about visiting Italy.

If you have already decided where you want to go and you are ready to find a place to stay you can click the Italy hotels or Italy villas links. From these links you can fine tune your search to your particular city or region. You can find links to specific regional villas from any one of the Italy regional information pages on this site as well.

Once you've nailed down your travel plans and your hotel reservations, then you can use TripAdvisor, to help you with information about restaurants in Italy, things to do in Italy, or take a look at the Italy travel guide.

Finally, you can also use TripAdvisor to find air travel to, from and within Italy as well as many other product and services. But remember the advantage of TripAdvisor is the asset it has with reviews of just about anything you need. TripAdvisor can be a valuable resource toward your Italy trip planning process.