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There’s fresh concern about the state of the ancient Italian city of Pompeii after the collapse of two more walls at the site.

Officials blamed the falls on heavy rain. They said neither the collapsed wall along one of the site’s main streets, the Via Stabiana, nor the one in the ‘House of the Small Lupanar’ was of artistic value.

However, there have now been four incidents in a month, and opposition politicians and archaeologists have again accused the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of allowing the 2,000-year-old site to be mismanaged and fall into neglect.

The Superintendent there, Jeannette Papadopoulos, sought to play down the incidents. “These kinds of events are possible over the course of the life of a 2,000-year-old, vast archaeological site,” she said. “They should not give rise to alarmism.”

Pompeii was destroyed in AD79 when a volcanic eruption from nearby Mount Vesuvius buried the city in ash. Uncovered in the 18th Century, it’s now on the UN’s list of protected World Heritage areas. A UNESCO team has been sent to look at the conservation of the site.

Situated near modern Naples, Pompeii has been a popular tourist destination for 250 years. These days, it attracts more than 2.5 million visitors a year.

by Andy Moreton

If you’re travelling to Naples to take in Pompeii, try the Micalo boutique hotel, bookable through Luxique. Recent guests described it as ‘a gem of a hotel’ and ‘a great place in a perfect location.’

In the 1980s, one of the most popular TV commercials in the UK was for an ice cream cone. A young couple were serenaded in Venice by a gondolier singing ‘Just One Cornetto’ to the tune of O Sole Mio.

This tune has since become something of a staple request for tourists from Britain who take a gondola ride, but this is not music to the ears of one Venice City councillor, Alberto Mazzonetto.

The problem for the councillor is that the song, written in 1898, is ¬– horror of horrors – from Naples, not Venice. “It’s an insult to our heritage and a real punch to the stomach to have Venetian gondoliers singing songs from southern Italy,” said Mr Mazzonetto, who represents an ultra-nationalist party.

“This is detrimental to tourists as it presents a distorted image of the city of Venice as some kind of new Disneyland, which has little to do with the place,” he added. Mr Mazzonetto wants the Gondola authority to tell its members to sing more Venetian songs.

The President of the Association of Venice Gondola Rowers, Aldo Reato, replied: “We try to open and close the gondola ride with a Venetian song but the problem is tourists only know O Sole Mio.”

As a romantic ride along the picturesque canals can cost as much as £100 for half an hour, I reckon tourists should get whatever song they ask for.

by Andy Moreton

You’ll be singing for joy when you discover Luxique’s selection of exquisite luxury hotels in Venice. All the top names are there.

Hikers and tourists visiting Cinque Terre, one of Italy’s most scenic stretches of coastline, have been banned from carrying plastic bottles of water.

In the peak month of August, an average 400,000 plastic bottles are discarded along the narrow strip of picturesque World Heritage coast, which lies south of Genoa. Some tumble down the steep cliffs and end up littering beaches and polluting the sea.

Now the authorities are asking visitors to pay 1 euro (86p/$1.36) for reusable one-litre metal flasks that can be filled at newly installed public water fountains along the coastline’s nine-mile hike.

Franco Bonanini, the President of the Cinque Terre national park, said the ban was being introduced because the area was being buried in plastic.

He said local shopkeepers were likely to be unhappy with a ban on selling bottled water, but should realise that it was in their long-term interests. “If the Cinque Terre is reduced to a rubbish dump in five years’ time, they will suffer the consequences,” said Mr Bonanini.

To the three million tourists who visit each year, he asked for a little understanding “in order to save this paradise for the future”.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique offers a selection of luxury hotels in Rome, Florence, Venice and many other parts of Italy.

Last week, I wrote about the ridiculing by the Italian media of the clichéd depiction of Rome in the new movie Eat Pray Love.

I hear that Italy has got huffy again, this time with Apple. The tourism minister is calling on the company to remove from its online store what she says is the ‘offensive’ What Country app relating to Italy.

The application, which can be downloaded to iPhones, iPads and iPods, characterises each nation with words and images. Italy is described as the home of ‘pizza, the Mafia and scooters’.

The minister, Michela Vittoria Brambilla, condemned the app as unacceptable and an affront to Italians’ dignity. “Italy is a beacon in the world for its history, culture and style. I cannot allow our country to be discredited by having it represented by a criminal organisation,” she said.

Apple describes the app as ‘a light-hearted and funny view of the world’. “This is not a travel guide and should not be taken too seriously,” it says. Enjoy and have fun!”

British people are clearly more laid-back about being the butt of friendly ribbing. No objections have yet been received from the UK about having its special features summarised as tea, a weird sense of humour, football hooligans and rain.

by Andy Moreton

If you’re planning to visit Italy, take a look at Luxique’s comprehensive selection of luxury hotels in Rome, Venice, Florence, Milan and many other cities.

I recently spent a very pleasant few days in Florence. The Tuscan capital is, of course, famous for its history, art, architecture and music, but there’s much more to the city.

It’s cleverly introduced the trappings of modern life – designer shops, night clubs and fast food outlets, for example – without compromising its status as the cradle of the Italian Renaissance.

The world-famous Uffizi gallery draws people from all over the world, and if there’s one tip I’d offer it’s to book an organised tour. In this way, you’ll avoid the long lines of visitors paying on the day, while also being given some context to the paintings you see. Also, it seems that the later the tour in the day, the less crowded it is and the easier to move around the displays.

Also impressive was the Basilica of Santa Croce, which is the burial place of some of the most illustrious Italians in history, including Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli. It’s vast, so allow plenty of time.

And when your feet can stand no more walking, head for the sprawling Boboli Gardens, an oasis of calm from the constant traffic of vehicles and tour parties. As well as the formal 16th century gardens, there are sculptures, Roman antiquities and, if you’re up for a climb, great views of the city.

by Andy Moreton

The capital of Tuscany is a delight all year round, and Luxique offers a selection of 14 of the finest luxury hotels in Florence.

There’s been a big fall in the number of British people going abroad for their holidays.

Last year, there were ten million fewer trips – a drop of 15 per cent, the biggest annual reduction since the boom of cheap package holidays in the 1970s.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the deciding factor for many was the fall in the value of the pound against the euro and the dollar. Many opted to stay in Britain for what’s become known as a ‘staycation’.

Visitors to the most popular foreign destination, Spain, fell by 2.2 million to about 11.5 million last year. France was down 1.1 million visitors to 9.8 million, Italy down 760,000 to 2.6 million, and Portugal down 720,000 to 1.8 million.

Trips to the U.S. slumped by 20 per cent – 820,000 – to 3.2 million last year, while the most dramatic turnaround was the 41 per cent fall in visitors to Mexico after it was identified as the source of the global swine flu epidemic.

Trips to Spain have been falling steadily since 2006, and separate research predicts that Mediterranean resorts will no longer top the destination league table for Britons by the end of 2011. It’s thought they will be overtaken by those in the ‘Mett’ – Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey.

by Andy Moreton

When these stats appeared in the national press, many people posted messages to say that there were bargains out there ready to be snapped up. Start with an affordable luxury hotel from Luxique!

The perils of buying counterfeit designer label goods in Italy (which I’ve written about before) have been brought sharply into focus in an incident in the resort of Jesolo near Venice.

A pensioner from Austria, Ursula Corel, was fined 1000 euros (£825/$1,195) for buying a fake Louis Vuitton handbag from a street vendor.

She was spotted handing over seven euros (£6/$8) by police officers as they scanned crowds with high-powered binoculars from a lifeguard’s watchtower.

Hotel owners, worried that tourists will be put off visiting Jesolo on holiday, have clubbed together to help pay Mrs Corel’s fine.

A spokesman for the Jesolo Hoteliers’ Association said: “We understand what the Mayor is trying to do, but at the same time there should be more communication with tourists explaining the risks they run … there are no signs warning they face fines if they buy from street vendors.”

The Mayor, Francesco Calzavara, said: “If it takes fines of this level to stop this sort of thing taking place then so be it. Tourists coming to Jesolo should think twice about buying fake goods from street vendors.”

by Andy Moreton

If you’re planning a visit to Italy, take a look at Luxique’s comprehensive selection of luxury hotels in Rome, Venice, Florence, Milan and many other cities.

The palm trees that offer welcome shade along the sun-drenched coasts of Italy are being attacked by voracious bugs.

Up and down the country, tens of thousands of trees are being eaten by an army of red palm weevils. Parks, gardens and seafronts have been targeted in some of Italy’s best-known tourist destinations, including the beach resorts of Tuscany, Sardinia and the Adriatic.

Palms are not indigenous to Italy, but were introduced in the 18th and 19th centuries by wealthy collectors and aristocrats keen to give their estates an exotic look.

“It is really a disaster, there are tens of thousands of palms which are dead or dying,” said Valeria Francatti, an entomologist who is researching ways of combating the weevils. “The weevil gets right into the heart of the tree, so by the time the damage becomes apparent on the outside, it’s already too late.”

In Rome, the bug has caused severe damage to the capital’s historic parks, many of them formerly private gardens surrounding sumptuous private villas such as Villa Sciarra and Villa Torlonia.

A scientist in Rome said it was not possible to use chemicals because many palms were planted near beaches or in towns and cities, where insecticides would pose a risk to human health.

Researchers in Sicily have found they can capture the bugs using traps laced with pheromones, but deploying the contraptions is time-consuming and costly.

by Andy Moreton, with Nick Squires in Rome

If you’re planning to visit Italy, take a look at Luxique’s comprehensive selection of luxury hotels in Rome, Venice, Florence, Milan and many other cities.

One of the top tourist locations in the Italian city of Verona – the house and balcony of Shakespeare’s Juliet – is about to become a whole lot more popular.

A new film, Letters To Juliet, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Amanda Seyfried, uncovers the work of a small army of secretaries who answer letters sent to the house from lovers, star-crossed or otherwise.

The volunteers work out of an upstairs office overlooking the balcony on which Juliet was supposedly wooed by her Romeo. The letters arrive by the sack load, seeking advice on relationships and imploring Juliet to cast lucky spells on their love lives.

Some are written on paper meant to look like medieval parchment, while others are accompanied by photographs and drawings. Many are addressed simply to: ‘Juliet, Verona, Italy.’

“When the film comes out: help!” said Giovanna Tamassia, who has spent the past 16 years writing replies. “Almost all of the letters contain the phrase, ‘Juliet, I can only tell you. Only you can help me,’” said Mrs Tamassia. “Even if she is a literary figure, she has become real.”

Verona earns a small fortune from its association with the legend of Romeo and Juliet, despite the fact that there is little evidence that the couple ever existed. The 14th century palace known as Juliet’s House was once the home of the Cappello family – who may or may not have been the model for the Capulets of Shakespeare’s play.

by Andy Moreton

See the film, then visit the city! Luxique can help you arrange accommodation at two luxury hotels in Verona – the impressive Due Torri Baglioni, which is close to the Juliet Balcony, and the elegant Byblos Art Hotel Villa Amista.

Italian officials estimate that up to two million visitors will view the Shroud of Turin – Christ’s purported burial cloth – when it goes on display in the spring for the first time for ten years.

A million people have already reserved their chance to spend a maximum of five minutes observing the relic in Turin from April 10th to May 23rd. Pope Benedict XVI will visit on May 2nd.

The large rectangular piece of cloth is said to have been imprinted with an image of Christ’s body, notably his face. It’s kept in a bullet-proof, climate-controlled case in Turin Cathedral.

It was discovered in the French city of Troyes, south-east of Paris, in the mid-14th century. Radio-carbon dating analysis in 1988 determined that the fibres in the cloth dated from the Middle Ages – sometime between 1260 and 1390 – but those findings have, in turn, been challenged.

The Vatican has tiptoed around the issue, making no claim about the authenticity but calling it a powerful symbol of Christ’s suffering.

by Andy Moreton

If you’re visiting for a glimpse of the Shroud or just to explore this vibrant city, Luxique offers the best rates at six luxury Turin hotels – from the grand Principi di Piemonte to the stylish Townhouse 70.