Featured Stories on ITALY

Top 5 Fun Festivals in Italy

The Days of the Blackbird: When Italy Is Coldest

A Guide to Mount Amiata: Skiing on Italy's Highest Extinct Volcano

Advertising

Italian Accountant

Holidays with Flavor

Discover Ciociaria

AIA certified Italian accountant providing advice on all questions of tax, fiscal residency, property, IMU, annual returns. Now an Italian professional who speaks your language !
www.studiodelgaizopicchioni.it

loveSicily organizes unique cookery holidays - Set-dates or tailormade you will enjoy hands-on lessons and visits to the best wineries.
lovesicily.com

Sept. 27 - Oct. 7, 2013. Experience of the "real Italy!" Painting workshop includes lodging, meals and excursions. Stunning landscapes, lovely villages, 50 miles SE of Rome.
www.halfmoonartstudio.com

ITALY Newsletter

Amici di Italy Magazine,

We are well into the winter season and January is one of the coldest months in Italy as Carol King found out when she visited Sicily some years ago during the so-called 'giorni della merla' (days of the blackbird). In this week's feature, she explains the legend and tradition behind the last days of January and how they became known as the 'days of the blackbird'.

And since this is the coldest time of the year, why not planning a ski trip to Italy?

A blanket of fluffy snow covers Italy from the Alpine arc along the Apennine ridge down to the Etna volcano in Sicily. This month we suggest the sacred mountain of the ancient Etruscans, Mount Amiata, which divides the Val D'Orcia from the flat fertile plains of the unspoilt Tuscan Maremma.

Finally, John Bensalhia looks at five well-known Italian festivals and investigates their backgrounds and notable quirks.

This year we created a 2013 Italy Magazine desktop wallpaper calendar. We hope you liked the idea and downloaded the first January page. It is now possible to download the February page dedicated to Venice Carnival.

A presto!

Judging from our inbox, the Guardia di Finanza appears to be currently working on information received from the HMRC. If you are resident in Italy and declaring rental income from a UK/EU property ONLY in the UK, you are not complying with Italian law and you risk extremely punitive fines. Please take advice from a reliable commercialista - we would modestly suggest ourselves.

Click the icons below to follow us on the social media!

Special Offer - Sicilian Cookery Course - 10% off for ITALY Readers

Enjoy a great week of Sicilian cooking and touring local producers at the loveSicily cookery school right in the heart of Modica's UNESCO World Heritage baroque city centre.
Mention ITALY Magazine in your booking and get 10% off!

Elsewhere on ITALY

• Mario Monti hires Obama's campaign advisor David Axelrod

• Ancient Rome's First Harbour Discovered

• Italians Develop Anti-Cellulite Fabric