Italian

If you get caught out with this travel essential, it could cost you hundreds of pounds

If you’re jetting off to Italy this summer, it’s vital to familiarise yourself with the local regulations. There’s a lesser-known rule that applies to both residents and tourists, though it’s far more likely to trip up visitors.

This is because it concerns something most holidaymakers habitually carry — a water bottle. On the Italian island of Capri in the Gulf of Naples, single-use plastics have been banned.

With approximately 2.7 million tourists visiting annually, it was essential to mitigate the environmental impact of this influx, reports the Express.

This means plastic bags, bottles, straws and cutlery are forbidden on the island. Despite the ban being enforced for several years, specialists at John Mason International Movers report it continues to surprise people regularly.

Executive director Simon Hood said: “The island’s authorities are becoming increasingly worried about the effects of the growing tourism numbers on the local population and environment.”

“In 2019, a ban on single-use plastics came into force, banning plastic bags, cups, utensils, water bottles, straws and even coffee stirrers. Authorities have been empowered to fine those caught swigging from a plastic bottle up to €500 [around £435] – it may seem excessive, but it is well intentioned.”

He noted that the restriction frequently surprises visitors, as they don’t anticipate it.

Simon explained: “Capri isn’t a municipality historically recognised for environmental work. The long-standing association of the island being a hotspot with movie stars, A-list celebs, and influencers has traditionally meant many of these concerns were ignored but mass tourism has seen changes come thick and fast in recent years.”

The rule primarily targets bars and restaurants, though the bulk of Capri’s tourism arrives as daytrippers travelling by ferry from Naples. These visitors are highly likely to bring single-use plastic water bottles with them, which is precisely how they fall foul of the rules.

Simon stated: “It’s something that would catch me out; the ban aimed at bars and restaurants has influenced what can be bought and sold locally. But for the day trippers, the likelihood you’ll bring a non-biodegradable plastic bottle on your trip is high.

“Considering this, I’d say think twice and consider whether you want to run the risk of receiving a €500 fine.”

Feb. 7 (UPI) — Several fires damaged Italy’s northern rail line on the first day of the Winter Olympic Games in what investigators are calling acts of sabotage by arsonists.

Local authorities said three separate fires damaged railroad infrastructure and disrupted travel along the Bologna and Venice rail lines, causing travel delays of up to 2.5 hours on Saturday morning.

Rail service to Venice also was disrupted, and another fire was reported along tracks leading to the coastal city of Pesaro.

Italian railway officials ruled out any technical problems or accidents as the cause of the fires and damage and are treating them as deliberate acts of sabotage.

Investigators found an explosive device and severed cables, which officials for Italy’s Ministry of Transport described as “serious sabotage” that is similar to damage done to French rail lines during the Paris Summer Olympics in 2024.

“These actions of unprecedented seriousness do not in any way tarnish Italy’s image in the world, an image that the Games will make even more compelling and positive,” Matteo Salvini, deputy prime minister and transport minister, told the BBC.

No one has claimed responsibility for the damage that briefly stopped rail service on Bologna’s high-speed line, which was running again by the afternoon.

The rail line is among several that enable spectators to visit various events that are held in an area spanning hundreds of miles in northern Italy’s Alps and Dolomite mountains.

Transportation and anti-terrorism law enforcement teams also are investigating the matter.

MILAN — Italian police fired tear gas and a water cannon at dozens of protesters who threw firecrackers and tried to access a highway near a Winter Olympics venue Saturday.

The brief confrontation came at the end of a peaceful march by thousands highlighting the environmental impact of the Games and the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Italy.

Police held off the demonstrators, who appeared to be trying to reach the Santagiulia Olympic ice hockey rink. By then, the larger peaceful protest, including students and families with small children, had dispersed.

Earlier, a group of masked protesters had set off smoke bombs and firecrackers on a bridge overlooking a construction site about half a mile from the Olympic Village that’s housing about 1,500 athletes.

Police vans behind a temporary metal fence secured the road to the athletes’ village, but the protest veered away, continuing on a trajectory toward the Santagiulia venue. A heavy police presence guarded the entire route.

There was no indication that the protest and resulting road closure interfered with athletes’ transfers to their events, all on the outskirts of Milan.

The demonstration coincided with U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Milan as head of the American delegation that attended the opening ceremony Friday, during which Vance was booed.

He and his family visited Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” closer to the city center, far from the protest that denounced the deployment of ICE agents to provide security for the U.S. delegation. ICE has drawn international condemnation for its role in the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown in U.S. cities, including the fatal shooting of two people in Minneapolis last month by ICE and U.S. Border Patrol agents.

U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, an ICE unit that focuses on cross-border crimes, frequently sends its officers to overseas events like the Olympics to assist with security. The ICE arm at the forefront of the immigration crackdown in the U.S. is known as Enforcement and Removal Operations, and there is no indication its officers are being sent to Italy.

At the larger, peaceful demonstration, which police said numbered 10,000, people carried cardboard cutouts to represent trees felled to build the new bobsled run in Cortina d’Ampezzo. A group of dancers performed to beating drums. Music blasted from a truck leading the march, one a profanity-laced anti-ICE anthem.

“Let’s take back the cities and free the mountains,” read a banner by a group calling itself the Unsustainable Olympic Committee. Another group called the Assn. of Proletariat Excursionists organized the cutout trees.

“They bypassed the laws that usually are needed for major infrastructure projects, citing urgency for the Games,” said protester Guido Maffioli, who expressed concern that the private entity organizing the Games would eventually pass on debt to Italian taxpayers.

Homemade signs read “Get out of the Games: Genocide States, Fascist Police and Polluting Sponsors,” the final one a reference to fossil fuel companies that are sponsors of the Games. One woman carried an artificial tree on her back decorated with the sign: “Infernal Olympics.”

The demonstration followed another recently at which hundreds protested the deployment of ICE agents.

Like that protest, demonstrators Saturday said they were opposed to ICE agents’ presence, despite official statements that a small number of agents from an investigative arm would be present in U.S. diplomatic territory, and not operational on the streets.

Barry and Rosa write for the Associated Press.

The Olympics are back, wearing their warm Winter Games gear. Although there were will be a couple of weeks of sports competitions to come, none are possible without an opening ceremony, a combination of solemn official protocol with a fantastic representation of the host country’s culture and character, evoking the Olympic spirit itself. There are few opportunities to mount an entertainment of this scale — not even a Super Bowl halftime show can compare.

This year we are in Italy, for the bi-metropolitan Milan-Cortina games, held in the city’s San Siro Stadium and in the north where the mountains are. The ceremonies, too, were split geographically, with Olympic cauldrons in both cities, with the athletes’ parade further shared with Livigno and Predazzo, national delegations divided according to where their events would be held.

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1. Human bobbleheads of Italian composers Rossini, left, Puccini and Verdi. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times) 2. Dancers on stage in San Siro Stadium. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

The main business took place in the arena. Directed by Marco Balich, who specializes in big shows, it was elegant, in a sleek, clean-lined Italian way, and over the top, also in an Italian way. Color played a great part, the program beginning in white (a balletic interpretation of Antonio Canova’s sculpture “Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss”), moving to to black and white (a nod to Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” and its paparazzi), and then to a riot of color, as giant floating tubes of paint sent streams of colored fabric stageward.) There were dancing human bobbleheads of opera composers Verdi, Puccini and Rossini, as if they were mascots for Team Rigoletto, Team Tosca and Team William Tell. There were dancing gladiators and moka pots, a phalanx of runway models dressed (in Armani) in green, white and red, to represent the Italian flag.

In white and shiny silver, with an ostrich feather boa and a reported $15 million worth of diamond jewelry, there was a statuesque, statue-still Mariah Carey, who is not Italian, but sang in Italian, the standard “Nel blu, dipinto di blu,” known here as “Volare,” which merged into her own “Nothing Is Impossible.” (She must by now be accounted a citizen of the world.) Why did I find this so moving? I am not someone who ordinarily cares anything about Carey, but she was marvelous in this context.

Mariah Carey performed the Italian tune “Volare,” before leading into “Nothing Is Impossible.”

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

The parade of nations is also a fashion show; for whatever reason, the cold weather gear is generally better looking than the togs of summer. (As usual, Ralph Lauren designed the American outfits — white puffy jacket with knit caps of a Scandinavian pattern.) As ever, the countries arrived alphabetically (apart from Greece, who always gets to march first; Italy, coming in last as the host country; France, in penultimate position as the host of the next Winter Games; and the U.S., third to last as the host of the games, in 2034, after that). It makes neighbors of Lebanon, Lichtenstein and Lithuania, and so on, equal in standing if not in size. (I have a special fondness for the small delegations from the less imposing nations.) There was an especially big hand for the Ukrainian team, dressed in their national colors.

The second half opened with a cartoon in which an animated Sabrina Impacciatore (of “The White Lotus” and, “The Paper,” which NBC happily did not cross-promote), traveled backward through previous Winter Games before coming to life to lead an energetic production number that traveled back to now. (She should get some sort of athletic medal for this performance.) The Chinese pianist Lang Lang accompanied Cecilia Bartoli singing the Olympic anthem, and the great Andrea Bocelli, flanked by strings, offered a thrilling reading of Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma.” Surrounded by dancers, the Italian rapper Ghali read an antiwar poem by Gianni Rodari.

Sabrina Impacciatore leading a group of dancers during the ceremony.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

The theme of the evening, and of evenings going forward, it is hoped, was “Armonia,” or harmony, not just between the city and the country (expressed symbolically through dance), but, as a series of speeches made clear, among everybody, everywhere.

“At a time when so much of the world is divided by conflict, your very presence demonstrates that another world is possible. One of unity, respect and harmony,” said Giovanni Malagò, president of the organizing committee, addressing the athletes. Kirsty Coventry, the first female president of the IOC, noted that while Olympic athletes are fierce competitors, they “also respect, support and inspire one another. They remind us that we are all connected, that our strength comes from how we treat each other, and that the best of humanity is found in courage, compassion and kindness.”

And then there was Charlize Theron, of all people, quoting her countryman Nelson Mandela: “Peace is not just the absence of conflict; peace is the creation of an environment where all can flourish, regardless of race, color, creed, religion, gender, class, caste or any other social markers of difference,” This is, of course, exactly what some portion of this nation would call “woke,” and though such divisions are not the exclusive province of the United States, it was easy enough to read this as a message delivered to the White House.

Charlize Theron quoted her fellow countryman Nelson Mandela in her speech.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Finally, two Olympic torches were lit two Olympic cauldrons, in Milan and Cortina, their flames at the center of shape-shifting spheres. Almost inevitably, the ceremonies flirted with, or embraced, corniness at times, but even (or especially) when it was corny, it was terrifically affecting. I ran through half a dozen handkerchiefs over the course of the proceedings. Admittedly, I might be unusually susceptible to these things, but I doubt I’m the only one.

Let the games begin.

FROM the Italian Grand Prix to Fashion Week, the city of Milan is popular with the rich and famous.

Yet it has a much more affordable side, such as three-night easyJet city break packages from £220pp.

Here’s how to easily spend a long weekend in the Italian hotspot . . . 

WHY SHOULD I GO?

Milan is set to be even more popular in 2026 as it is co-hosting the Winter Olympics from February 6-22.

A new 16,000-seat multi-use arena has been built in the Santa Giulia district to host the ice hockey, and Mariah Carey will entertain at the opening ceremony in the San Siro Stadium, home of Inter Milan.

But whatever time of year, it is one of the most affordable destinations to jet to from the UK, with flights often found for less than £17.

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Foodies can rejoice too — it’s hard to find somewhere bad to eat, especially with its famous dishes such as Milanese risotto and panettone.

STREETS MADE FOR WALKING?

With its blend of Gothic architecture and modern, cosmopolitan design, the city is one of Europe’s most walkable and the streets are worth a relaxed stroll even with no aim in sight.

The cobblestone ones of the Brera neighbourhood are particularly charming.

Of course, if you want to get around there are trams as well as a vast metro system.

Skip the taxis as you can expect to pay high costs for short journeys.

Instead, hop on one of the many bikes and scooters you can rent, found on most corners — if you’re brave enough to join the road with Italian drivers.

ANYTHING FOR THE BUCKET LIST?

Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is one of the world’s oldest shopping centres.

Dating back to 1877, the stunning piece of history is now lined with designer stores and well worth walking through.

If you want some good luck, legend has it you should find the bull on the floor and spin around on it three times.

Just outside is the Gothic masterpiece, Duomo di Milano, one of the world’s largest Catholic churches.

Built of white-pink marble, it features 135 spires and more than 4,000 statues.

WHERE SHOULD I EAT?

Despite being the home of the Milanese saffron risotto, you can barely walk for pizza joints.

Head to Pizza AM for crazy artwork and massive spicy pizzas that come with a free prosecco.

You’ll have to squeeze in as it’s loved by both families and groups of friends, but the bustle just makes it all that more of a vibe.

For something fun to go, try Ghe Sem Monti right by the main train station.

With a fusion of Asian dim sum and classic Italian flavours, I couldn’t pick my favourite from the cacio e pepe dumplings to the ­carbonara buns.

I FANCY A DRINK!

One of the best, local-loved bars is on a side street off the Navigli canal, a popular neighbourhood for dining.

It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but inside you’ll find mismatching pieces of artwork along with bottles of alcohol towering up the walls and a rude lucky cat.

The staff are happy to help you choose a wine with tasters, from reds and whites to rosés and oranges from all across Spain.

Interior fans should try Bar Luce, designed by filmmaker Wes Anderson.

Grab a glass of Prosecco while taking in the pastel pink and blue interiors, before a game on one of the retro pinball machines.

WHERE SHOULD I STAY?

A short tram ride from the city centre, Hotel Nasco feels pure Italian: Faux ­marble bathrooms, tiny lifts to the top floor and complimentary Aperol in the room.

Its location in relation to both the attractions and the train station makes it a great base.

Breakfast, in the basement of the building, is a simple affair, but has all of the hot and cold classics, from pastries and fruit to a selection of English Breakfast options.

Just remember to bring ear plugs — like lots of Italian buildings, the walls are slightly thin.

The result in Naples could prove to be of great importance for Rosenior whose appointment in place of Enzo Maresca was hardly greeted with open arms.

Rosenior’s lack of elite experience – having moved from sister club Strasbourg after stints with Derby County and Hull City in the Championship – saw him labelled by some as a ‘yes man’.

He also experienced the wrath of the fans who voiced anti-ownership chants questioning the ambition of the BlueCo.

Rosenior has been adamant from the start that his reply must be through results.

And he has put together an impressive set of results in his first weeks with five wins in six matches and the latest over a former Chelsea favourite should win him the confidence of more supporters.

“These players lost a manager that they really respected for reasons that are beyond my control or knowledge,” Rosenior told TNT Sports.

“So when you go through that as a young group, to accept a new manager the way they have done and for them to work as hard as they have done is a credit to them.

“It’s not about me or my ego or trying to prove anything. I’m trying to do the very best I can with my group, with my staff and hopefully we can have more and more really good nights like this.”

Rosenior’s introduction of Cole Palmer at half-time provided assisted both of Joao Pedro’s goals while Trevoh Chalobah added defensive solidity after coming on later in the half as the Blues restricted Napoli to a single shot on target after the break.

The Chelsea manager added: “I’m learning all the time about my team, about what we’re capable of.

“I really wanted to be front-footed today. I wanted to go out and win the game.”

His impetus was rewarded with a win that helps Chelsea avoid adding a two-legged play-off to their already busy schedule.

“It’s massive – that is huge for us to be able to be able to work with the players on the training round,” Rosenior said.

Bigger challenges await Rosenior and his young squad as they enter the business end of the competition but the London-born coach is optimistic.

“You have to enjoy this job,” he said.

“We’re the luckiest people in the world to do this job. You have to enjoy these moments, but we want more.

“You’re in the Champions League, so at the end of the day you have to play against the best and beat the best.”

I’VE been waiting ten years for this moment.

Ever since my first gondola ride — a short jaunt around The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas — I’ve wanted to experience the real thing, in Venice.

Now I am with a group of fellow journalists, so it’s not as romantic as it could be, but two Italians in stripy shirts and wide-brimmed hats are rowing me across the Floating City. Bucket list: tick.

Venice is a place you need to see at least once in your life.

From the breathtaking Piazza San Marco to the mesmerising mosaics of St Mark’s Basilica, astounding architecture of the Doge’s Palace and view from the 323ft high Campanile di San Marco bell tower, your phone’s battery will pay the price as you snap the spectacular sights.

From this Saturday to February 17 the historic Venice Carnival will burst on to the streets — this year’s theme is Olympus, The Origins Of The Game, in honour of the Winter Olympics being hosted in Milan and Cortina.

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Expect masks and dressing up everywhere as locals and visitors embrace the festival, plus parades, performances and themed shows.

Festival aside, winter and spring are brilliant times to explore the city without the crowds.

A tour of the bacari, or wine bars, is a great way to delve into the alleys between the canals and waterways. Over three hours we stop at four wine bars for cicchetti — Italian tapas — washed down with local wines or spritz cocktails.

The latter feature Aperol, Campari or, in Venetian style, Select — a spirit made using juniper berries.

A Bellini in Harry’s bar, though almost £20, is a must — this was Ernest Hemingway’s favourite bar, where the cocktail was invented.

Hawaiian rituals

Then a 25-minute water-taxi ride across the lagoon and a 20-minute cab journey take us to our 5H resort, Falkensteiner Hotel & Spa on the Lido di Jesolo — a purpose-built seaside resort on Italy’s Adriatic coast, with nine-mile sandy beach and vibrant promenade.

I’m staying in one of 50 huge suites, which have one, two and three-bedroom options, with separate bathrooms, living and kitchen areas, TVs and sea-view balconies.

The smell from the ground-floor restaurant is oh, so Italian — pizza, pasta and risotto. With buffet breakfasts and Michelin-starred dinners at the poolside restaurant, luckily I can run along the promenade to work it off.

Or there’s a gym at the hotel, and yoga and fitness classes. But I’m on holiday to relax, so it’s off to the Acqua Pura spa, which has a panoramic sauna with privacy glass, meaning I can take in the sea view.

An hour-long massage inspired by Hawaiian rituals, which starts with meditation, is, and I don’t say this lightly, the best I’ve ever had.

There is a babysitting service, plus a play room, kids’ pool area and playground on the beach.

Bicycles are available at the hotel, and cycle lanes throughout the town lead us to Europe’s longest shopping street, the Via Bafile — all eight miles of it.

This is a wonderfully relaxing beachside break in a traditional Italian town — as well as a bucket-list trip to the city of romance.

What’s not to love?