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This was a perfect day in Rome, Italy — assuming you like abundant amounts of sunshine and heat! I walked all over the city (at least it felt like all over), and saw many of its famous sites. A great thing about Rome is how walkable it is — so many sites are within walking distance, it’s incredible!

The Spanish Steps are one of the most famous locations in Rome. On this hot, sunny day in July, people were dangling their feet in the fountain, and umbrellas were popular items for the street vendors.

Visitors always want to sit on the famous Spanish Steps, but today, everyone was crowded together, in the one little spot on the steps. Today, nobody wanted the sunny side of the street (or the sunny side of the steps)!

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I’m in Italy now, checking things out for a future version of our Italy tour for women. Rome is one of my favorite cities on earth. There’s so much history here, and so much art, and so much life… it’s fascinating, awe-inspiring, and so much fun!

An ancient Roman wood and ivory throne has been unearthed at a dig in Herculaneum, an ancient city near Pompeii. Like Pompeii, Herculaneum was destroyed in 79 AD, buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

The throne was found during an excavation in the Villa of the Papyri, the private house formerly belonging to Julius Caesar’s father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, built on the slope of Mount Vesuvius. The name of the villa derives from the impressive library containing thousands of scrolls of papyrus discovered buried under meters (yards) of volcanic ash after the Vesuvius eruption.”

Other wooden objects have been excavated in nearby Pompeii, but experts have never before found such a significant ceremonial piece. Such thrones have previously only been seen in paintings or sculptures.

Reuters: Rare ancient wooden throne found in Herculaneum

There’s also a very cool page on Pompeii and its violent volcanic end at

Pompeii, Italy - The lost city.

This is from some footage I took a couple of years ago during our Italy trip. I just tried iMovie on my Macbook for the first time, and here’s the result. After languishing on my PC for a couple of years, these images finally see the light of day! (And I can attest - iMovie is fun, though dangerous — I could spend many hours on it!)

Infiorata — Pienza, Italy
—The Infiorata is held annually in Pienza. People take fresh flower petals — millions of them, and create designs on the city streets. Paths of petals lead up and down roads throughout the town, and even outside the town walls. They wind around, and eventually reach the main display in front of the cathedral.Pienza is a lovely city at any time of year, and if you’re here during the Infiorata (date varies), it’s extra special. We do Italy tours for women every year, and there’s always something new to see in this wonderful country!

A 2-year government investigation into a series of electrical fires in an Italian village has produced a remarkable finding. According to leaked copies of the preliminary report, the most likely cause is aliens from outer space.

The small village in Sicily drew attention 3 years ago, after a series of unexplained fires involving electrical cables and appliances. Arson was ruled out. One scientist was amazed to see an unplugged cable spontaneously burst into flames. The Vatican’s chief exorcist cited demonic powers.

A government source emphasizes that this report is still preliminary. It could have been top-secret weapons, too.

Telegraph: Aliens caused Sicily fires, say officials

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Our Italy trip for women, Living la dolce vita, visits Italy in May, but don’t count on seeing aliens — at least not the little green men kind!

The Etruscans were predecessors to the Romans. They were an unrelated people whose sophisticated culture ruled a sizable portion of what is now Italy, centuries before the Romans arrived on the scene.

There’s been a long-running controversy about the origins of the Etruscans. (Also about what eventually happened to them, but that’s a different story.) They’re definitely an ancient culture surrounded by mystery!

Various theories have held that the Etruscans migrated from the east, migrated from the north, or descended from neolithic people who lived in the same area. Theories have their supporters, but there has never been enough hard proof one way or another.

Now a geneticist from the University of Turin, Italy, believes he’s found the evidence, and cracked the case. Professor Alberto Piazza, says that genetic evidence shows that the Etruscans, whose brilliant civilization flourished 3000 years ago in (what is now) Tuscany, were settlers from (what is now) southern Turkey.

Ancient Etruscans were immigrants from Anatolia, or what is now Turkey

Our Tuscany tours for women visit several sites that were founded by the Etruscans, and I’m always on the lookout for relevant items. I’ll post whatever I find of interest in our Italy category.