Latest news with #Campanian
Daily Mirror
02-08-2025
- Daily Mirror
'Italy's Amalfi Coast is beautiful but totally rammed - I found a solution'
Italy's Amalfi Coast is the stuff of travel dreams – sun-drenched villages perched on cliffs, winding coastal roads and sumptuous seafood fresh from the Tyrrhenian Sea, part of the Mediterranean. When most people think of this wider region, the Sorrentine Peninsula, Positano, Capri and Amalfi immediately come to mind. And rightly so – because they are beautiful. But they can also be expensive and, in peak season, extremely crowded. But for travellers seeking the same southern Italian charm, minus the price tag and packed streets, there's a better-kept secret – the city of Salerno and its nearby villages. This Campanian delight offers everything from glorious coastal views and ancient ruins to fine local cuisine and peaceful beaches, all noticeably less costly than its neighbours to the west for food, drink and accommodation. Salerno often gets overlooked by those racing towards the more famous Amalfi Coast destinations, but this vibrant port city could be just as good a gateway to the area as Sorrento. It's also arguably where you'll find a much more grounded and authentic version of southern Italy. The historic centre of Salerno is showstopping at every corner. Winding alleyways, medieval churches and enticing trattorias fill the maze-like streets, making you feel like you're walking through the real Italy. Strolling through the character-filled Via dei Mercanti, you'll pass locals shopping and sipping espresso on shaded corners, making you feel like you've taken a step back in time. The Duomo di Salerno cathedral is a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture, and the Castello perched on a hill above the city offers a fine backdrop. A visit there rewards you with sweeping views of the coast and cityscape – it is visible from almost every point in Salerno, so the view is unparalleled. Transport is another area where Salerno shines. It's connected by high-speed train to Naples and Rome and, from its port, you can catch ferries to Amalfi, Positano and Capri. That means you can enjoy the Amalfi Coast without having to stay in the middle of the madness. It has never been easier to travel there either, with British Airways Euroflyer now travelling from Gatwick to Salerno three times a week from £60 one way and offering flight and car package deals. Exploring further, the ancient Greek city of Paestum, 24 miles south of Salerno, is the perfect alternative to the hot and heaving Pompeii. Three massive Doric temples dominate the site, and each is still remarkably intact. Unlike Pompeii, Paestum is often quiet, even in summer, but offers a spellbinding look into the ancient city's history. You can explore the site in peace, and the fascinating adjoining Paestum Archaeological Museum displays the famous Tomb of the Diver – which dates from around 500 to 475 BC– one of the few examples of Greek painting to survive from antiquity ( Paestum is surrounded by serene farmland and pine forests, offering a striking contrast to the rugged cliffs of the Amalfi Coast. It's a fantastic spot for travellers looking to unwind in the countryside without losing proximity to the sea. The beaches near Paestum are sandy and sprawling, with crystal-clear waters and only a smattering of umbrellas. One particular highlight in the area is the San Salvatore 1988 Organic Farm, with its own vineyard, buffalo farm and restaurant. The fresh bufala mozzarella was divine and my group even got to watch a 'nonna' make pasta from scratch, which was a fascinating experience. You'll need a base in the Salerno area, and the Savoy Hotel & Spa in Paestum provides opulence with a quiet atmosphere, offering the perfect escape with the backdrop of an infinity pool and the surrounding hills. It even boasts its own beach club, perfect for a sunset aperitivo before you try the homegrown delicacies at its Michelin-star restaurant Tre Olivi. For those who may find even Salerno a little too busy, the area also boasts a number of beautiful villages well worth visiting including Trentinara, nestled in the hills, and Castellabate, which has the double bonus of a gorgeous view out to sea from the hills and a charming marina at nearby San Marco di Castellabate. The lovely fortress of Castello di Rocca Cilento was also a highlight, with more gorgeous views over the sea and great location for a pitstop with a delicious lunch within the castle walls. Having been to Sorrento a number of times, I have always been charmed by its old town, upscale hotels and delicious food, but Salerno is definitely an Amalfi Coast alternative worth exploring. A rich history, sweeping countryside and affordable prices – what's not to love? Book the holiday
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Inter Milan & Napoli Assistant Coaches Take The Reins For Serie A Final Day After Inzaghi & Conte Touchline Meltdowns
Inter Milan & Napoli Assistant Coaches Take The Reins For Serie A Final Day After Inzaghi & Conte Touchline Meltdowns Inter Milan and Napoli will hand the reins to their assistant coaches for the Serie A final day after toucline meltdowns by Simone Inzaghi and Antonio Conte. This according to today's print edition of Turin-based newspaper Tuttosport, via FCInterNews. Advertisement Inter Milan and Napoli are gearing up for a dramatic final day of the season. The Nerazzurri take on Como this evening. Meanwhile, the Partenopei host Cagliari. Napoli are a point ahead of Inter at the top of the table. Therefore, if they win their match they will finish the season as champions. On the other hand, if the Campanian team are to slip up and drop points, then Inter could nip in ahead of them at the top of the table. Inter & Napoli Assistant Coaches Take The Reins For Serie A Final Day EMPOLI, ITALY – OCTOBER 27: Massimiliano Farris vice-manager of FC Internazionale looks on during the Serie A match between Empoli FC and FC Internazionale at Stadio Carlo Castellani on October 27, 2021 in Empoli, Italy. (Photo by) Last Sunday, Inter and Napoli both drew, against Lazio and Parma respectively. Both matches had huge late drama. Advertisement Inter conceded a penalty in the closing stages of their match against the Biancocelesti. VAR had awarded the spot kick for a handball by defender Yann Bisseck. Meanwhile, Napoli thought they had a penalty of their own in Parma. However, VAR ruled out the spot kick due to a foul in the buildup. Inter coach Simone Inzaghi and his Napoli counterpart Antonio Conte both lost their tempers completely during those late episodes. Therefore, both coaches received red cards. As such, both Inzaghi and Conte will serve touchline bans for the final day. As such, Inzaghi's lieutenant Massimiliano Farris will take over for this evening's match against Como. Meanwhile, Conte's assistant Cristian Stellini will be on the touchline for Napoli.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Report – Inter Milan & Napoli Seriously Weighing Up Swap Deal Involving Italy Internationals
Inter Milan and Napoli are seriously weighing up a possible swap deal involving midfielder Davide Frattesi and forward Giacomo Raspadori. This according to today's print edition of Turin-based newspaper Tuttosport, via FCInterNews. Advertisement Midfielder Davide Frattesi is a player whose future at Inter Milan is very much up in the air. The 25-year-old is still not a first-choice starter for the Nerazzurri under Simone Inzaghi. Therefore, Inter will certainly listen to offers for Frattesi this summer. Inter will not want to let Frattesi go for cheap, however. They are demanding a fee of at least €40 million for the Italian international. Roma remain keen on Frattesi, despite missing out on his signature during the January window. And Frattesi's priority would be a move to the Giallorossi, his boyhood club. However, it would be tough for Roma to complete a deal for Frattesi if they do not qualify for the Champions League. Inter & Napoli Seriously Weighing Up Frattesi Raspadori Swap Deal MUNICH, GERMANY – APRIL 08: Davide Frattesi of FC Internazionale celebrates scoring his team's second goal during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Quarter Final First Leg match between FC Bayern München and FC Internazionale Milano at Fussball Arena Muenchen on April 08, 2025 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by) Roma are not the only club with an interest in signing Davide Frattesi. Advertisement Napoli also consider the 25-year-old to be a major target this summer. And in the case of the Partenopei, they will certainly be able to offer Frattesi Champions League football. Moreover, Napoli would also have a likely ace in the hole to sign Frattesi. Inter remain admirers of Napoli forward Giacomo Raspadori. The 25-year-old fits the profile of a tricky, technical second striker that the Nerazzurri want to add to their attack. Moreover, Raspadori is not necessarily a first-choice starter at Napoli. Therefore, the Campanian club could certainly offer the Italian international as part of a deal for Frattesi. Advertisement Napoli would value Raspadori at around €25-30 million as part of any such exchange. According to Tuttosport, the two clubs are seriously considering a swap deal involving the two former Sassuolo midfielders.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Dinosaurs weren't going extinct before the asteroid strike
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Dinosaurs weren't in decline when an asteroid smashed into Earth and wiped them out, scientists say. Instead, the idea that dinosaur diversity was declining before the asteroid struck 66 million years ago is likely based on faulty fossil data, according to a study that looked at nearly 18 million years of fossil evidence. Fossil discoveries have long indicated that dinosaurs were shrinking in numbers and diversity prior to the asteroid impact at the end of the Cretaceous period. Previously, some researchers believed this was a sign that dinosaurs were already on the road toward extinction even before the cataclysmic encounter with a space rock. However, this idea has long been controversial, with other researchers arguing that dinosaur diversity was doing just fine at the time of their demise. "It's been a subject of debate for more than 30 years — were dinosaurs doomed and already on their way out before the asteroid hit?" study lead author Chris Dean, a paleontologist at University College London, said in a statement. Now, new research published Tuesday (April 8) in the journal Current Biology suggests that the apparent rarity of dinosaurs before their extinction may simply be due to a poor fossil record. The scientists studied records of around 8,000 fossils from North America dating to the Campanian age (83.6 million to 72.1 million years ago) and Maastrichtian age (72.1 million to 66 million years ago), focusing on four families: the Ankylosauridae, Ceratopsidae, Hadrosauridae and Tyrannosauridae. At face value, their analysis showed that dinosaur diversity peaked around 76 million years ago, then shrank until the asteroid strike wiped out the nonavian dinosaurs. This trend was even more pronounced in the 6 million years before the mass extinction, with the number of fossils from all four families decreasing in the geological record. However, there is no indication of environmental conditions or other factors that would explain this decline, the researchers found. All of the dinosaur families were widespread and common, according to models developed by the researchers — and thus at low risk for extinction, barring a catastrophic event such as the asteroid impact. Rather, the Maastrichtian may have had poorer geological conditions for fossilization, the researchers suggested. Events such as the retreat of the Western Interior Seaway, which once ran from the Gulf of Mexico up through the Arctic, and the rise of the Rocky Mountains starting around 75 million years ago, may have impeded or disrupted fossilization, making it appear as if there were fewer dinosaurs and less diversity during that time. The team also found that geological outcrops from the Maastrichtian of North America were not exposed, or were covered by vegetation. In other words, rock from this time that might hold dinosaur fossils was not readily accessible to researchers who were searching for the remains. Because half of the known fossils from this period are from North America, the study's findings may have global implications as well. RELATED STORIES —Dinosaurs dominated our planet not because of their massive size or fearsome teeth — but thanks to the way they walked —'Exquisitely preserved' ginormous claws from Mongolia reveal strange evolution in dinosaurs —166 million-year-old fossil found on Isle of Skye belongs to pony-size dinosaur from Jurassic Among the 8,000 fossil records examined, the team found that Ceratopsians — a group that includes horned dinosaurs like Triceratops and its relatives — were the most common, probably because they inhabited plain regions that were most conducive to preservation during the Maastrichtian. Hadrosaurians — duck-billed dinosaurs — were the least common, possibly due to their preference for rivers. Reductions in river flow may have led to fewer depositions of sediment that could have preserved these dinosaurs, the researchers wrote in the study. "Dinosaurs were probably not inevitably doomed to extinction at the end of the Mesozoic [252 million to 66 million years ago]," study co-author Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza, a paleontologist at University College London, said in a statement. "If it weren't for that asteroid, they might still share this planet with mammals, lizards, and their surviving descendants: birds."
Local Italy
29-03-2025
- Automotive
- Local Italy
Inside Italy: How bad are Italy's taxi shortages and will things ever improve?
Inside Italy is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip from Italy that you might not have heard about. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article. If there's one thing about Italy that international residents and frequent visitors to the country often complain about, it's taxis. Long queues and interminable waiting times when trying to hail a ride are far from uncommon, especially in popular tourist destinations and major cities such as Rome, Milan and Naples. The problem is anything but new. News reports of holidaymakers and residents having to wait well over an hour for a taxi ride have figured extensively in both national and international media in recent years. In June 2023, Italy's newspaper of record Il Corriere della Sera described the state of taxi services in the country as 'chaos', citing 'extremely long queues at stations and airports' and 'endless waiting times on the phone'. Nearly two years on, the situation seems to be largely the same. There were tensions in Milan in late February after Milan Fashion Week operators warned that taxis were 'nowhere to be found'. More recently, critical taxi shortages have also been reported in Monza, Lombardy, and Bologna, Emilia Romagna. Why are taxis so hard to find in Italy? The situation is mostly attributable to local authorities not issuing new taxi licences for years or, at times, decades. According to news site Wired, Naples, which currently has 2,364 taxis (around 25 for every 10,000 residents), hasn't issued new licences since 1997. But the long-standing 'taxi drought' in the Campanian city pales in comparison to that seen in Genoa, Liguria, and Livorno, Tuscany, whose authorities haven't granted new licenze since 1980 and 1977 respectively. As for Rome, the city hasn't issued new licences since 2004 (though 1,000 should be assigned at some point this year following a 'historic' public tender last year) At present, there are 7,838 taxis in the capital – that's around 35 for every 10,000 residents. For context, London has some 19,000 taxis (106 vehicles per 10,000 residents) while Paris has 18,500 (nearly 90 per 10,000 residents). If at this point you're wondering why most Italian cities haven't issued new licences in years, especially considering how frequent complaints about queues and long waits are, the answer largely lies in the power of Italy's taxi driver associations. The Italian taxi driver lobby – which is regarded as one of Europe's most powerful lobby groups – has long successfully opposed any change to the status quo, blocking local authorities' attempts to issue new licences and hindering central government efforts to open up the sector to competitors. Over the years, drivers have staged mass protests and have even resorted to violence to demand stringent restrictions on private-hire vehicles (NCCs) and maintain their monopoly. "When they mobilise, their ability to paralyse politics is evident," Matteo Hallisey, from the centrist +Europa party, told Euractiv. refer to it as a 'mafia'. So will things ever improve? There were signs that things could potentially be starting to change in 2023, when Italy's competition watchdog opened an investigation into the taxi sector following the emergence of "critical issues" in Rome, Milan and Naples. The watchdog said it had requested information on the number of active licences and pledged to "examine possible initiatives aimed at protecting consumers' amid reports of long waiting times. But the investigation didn't result in the shakeup many had hoped for, with the competition body only issuing a series of non-legally-binding recommendations to raise the number of available taxi licences. Both Rome and Milan have since decided to issue new licences. Milan started issuing the first of 450 new licences earlier this year, while Rome is set to grant 1,000 new licences by the end of the year. However, the scale of the planned additions is often believed to be too small to bring about any significant changes. According to Nicola Zaccheo, president of Italy's transport regulation authority ART, Rome's move to add 1,000 taxis will only scratch the surface, as the city would need 'over 2,000' additional cabs to solve its shortages. Similarly, the 450 additional licenses planned for Milan are 'not enough' and people will continue facing 'enormous problems when looking for a taxi' in the coming months, according to Andrea Giuricin, a professor of Transport Economics at the University of Milan-Bicocca. As a final point, Italy's current government is unlikely to back any major proposals to liberalise and deregulate the taxi sector. Both Brothers of Italy and the League sided with taxi drivers when then-PM Mario Draghi unsuccessfully tried to open up the market to competitors in 2022. Last year, League leader and Deputy PM Matteo Salvini signed off on a round of stringent new rules for NCC drivers, including the requirement to observe a 20-minute waiting period between rides. Lazio's TAR Tribunal later suspended the enforcement of the new requirement after deeming it unlawful.
