SENTIDO > CULTURE > TRAVEL > ITALY

Springtime in Tuscany: small hill towns & medieval town centers are breathtaking with trees in bloom.

LUCCA: ELEGANT, DEFIANT, WALLED & ENDURING
THE CITY CENTER IS ENCLOSED WITHIN WALLS OVERGROWN WITH GREEN & SERVING AS PARKLAND
Updated 6 June 2006

As you approach the city by train, you find it is nestled in the green Tuscan countryside, but unassuming, unimposing, a humble quiet city that seems expert in giving back more than it asks. The city's medieval walls are still intact, and the top of the walls is parkland comprising a four kilometer hike around the city center. [City Page]

PARMA: SAGE, SAVORY & URBANE
A HISTORY OF ANCIENT TRIBAL, IMPERIAL & RENAISSANCE FEUDS, RICH ARTISTIC TRADITION & A HIGH STANDARD OF LIVING
Updated 2 June 2006

Famed for its cured ham and zesty cheese, Parma is a gracious Italian city.  There is a little bit of everything here, whether your tastes are musical or historical, Parma is an ideal place for a short weekend or a perfect day trip from nearby Bologna.  Easily accessible by train, Parma offers an array of delights for the pedestrian, and was named by French newspaper Le Monde as the best city for living in Italy. [City Page]

BOLOGNA: 70 KM OF PORTICOES & A STUDIED RESISTANCE
EUROPE'S 1ST UNIVERSITY & A SPIRIT OF PERSEVERANCE SHAPE A RICHNESS OF EXPERIENCE
Updated 28 April 2006

Less well-known than nearby Tuscany with its myriad of famous hillscapes and medieval towns, the region of Emilia Romagna to the east boasts its great and complicated capital: Bologna.  A town known for hearty cuisine and a leftist politics, Bologna is full of things to see and do apart from eating.  It is an under-toured historical city, ripe for rich days of discovery. [City Page]

FIRENZE: VALLEY OF GENIUS & REBIRTH
HOME TO THE WORKS OF THE GREAT MASTERS MICHELANGELO, DA VINCI, GIOTTO, BRUNELLESCHI, BOTTICELLI & MORE
Updated 10 April 2006

Florence (Firenze in Italian) is a city like no other: a small provincial capital with the attractions and amenities of a major metropolis, but laced with the most stunning array of artistic creations available anywhere. It is a bustling cultural and tourism center, feeding the appetite of a region for a constant inflow of new visitors and for the preservation of its golden age. [City Page]

EUROPE INVESTIGATION SAYS EU GOV'TS LIKELY KNEW OF RENDITION NETWORK
24 January 2006

Prelminary findings from the Council of Europe's investigation into human rights abuses and a secret CIA network of extralegal detention facilities report high probability that European governments knew what US forces were doing on their soil and in neighboring countries. [Full Story]

SECRET CIA LANDINGS RAISE CONCERNS IN EUROPE
18 November 2005

Authorities on the Spanish island of Mallorca began complaining of alleged secret landings by CIA-linked planes, after a prominent local figure charged that, according to an unnamed source, at least 10 such stopovers occurred in early 2004, in the last months of the Aznar government. The flights are said to have been carrying "detainees" whose legal condition is considered a violation of international human rights laws. [Full Story]

BERLUSCONI TO FACE CHARGES
13 January 2004

Italy's Constitutional Court has overruled Berlusconi's immunity law on grounds of equality before the law. The controversial Prime Minister and media-tycoon had pushed the law through Parliament in order to obtain immunity from prosecution on corruption charges going back more than a decade. Equality before the law is written into the Italian Constitution, leading the court to withdraw the law suspending investigations of high-ranking governmental officials. [For more: Corriere]

CONSTITUTION ON HOLD FOR EUROPE
13 December 2003

EU leaders fail to reach agreement on distribution of legislative authority across the continent. Spain and Poland held a hard-line defense of their current level of representation, refusing "double majority" rule. By "double majority", laws would have to be approved by a majority of delegates representing 60% of the EU population. Constitution talks are thought to be off until 2005. [For More: BBC]

EU PRE-CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS
27 November 2003

Debate over the nature and extent of new continental powers provided by an as-yet unfinished European Union Constitution is ongoing. A proposal by Italy to grant broader powers to an EU Foreign Minister was fought by diplomatic leaders from other member states, who believe it necessary to protect the rights of individual governments to determine their own policy stance. Even now, the smaller and newer of the 25 member states of the expanded EU are fighting to gain more representation in the policy-generating process, leading up to debate on the passage of a draft constitution. [Full Story]