The Sights and Spots of Rome

October may well be the best month in Rome (May is also divine). Cool days with clear blue skies, and the kind of light that brings out the architectural details of the old buildings. The colors— terracotta, yellow, cream, red, green— look freshly painted in the sun. Romans will tell you that it is color that sets their city apart from what they think of as “dreary, gray Paris.”

Right now, the whole city is a vast passeggiata, the streets full of strolling Italians and tourists alike, savoring the weather, licking a cone of stracciatella (vanilla with chocolate pieces) or, as we did yesterday, sitting in the sun with a cappuccino at the Zodiaco, marveling at the vast city spread out below.

On these perfect October days, I recommend that visitors find a spectacular view to enjoy.  I return over and over again to these favorite view spots:

*    The top of the “wedding cake,” the Vittorio Emanuele II monument in Piazza Venezia, which has an elevator for the elderly or infirm (reached from the side entrance).
*    Il Zodiaco on Monte Mario , a traditional Roman hangout not far from the Cavalieri Hilton Hotel; it has great views day or night from the terrace café, but it’s less crowded in daytime; there is parking.
* The Gianicolo (Janiculum) hill, near the Garibaldi monument in the park; there are informal places to sit with a coffee and gaze down at Trastevere and the city beyond; for the fit, there are steps up to the park from Trastevere.
*    The roof of St. Peter’s, take the elevator (small fee) as if you were going up to the dome; the views are wonderful from the flat roof if you don’t want to climb to the top.
*    For a dinner as good as the view, three five-star hotels have jaw dropping panoramas:
the Eden Hotel roof, the Hassler’s Imago, and the Cavalieri Hilton’s La Pergola.

Other Views of Rome

The Rome Film Festival is October 22-31. The Parco della Musica will become Cinema Village, with multiple screenings, and shops, restaurants and bars set up to accommodate the crowds and star watchers. Fourteen international films will premiere and dozens more will be screened.

It has been almost 40 years since the first major exhibition of the work of 15th century Venetian master Giovanni Bellini. Bellini’s impact on Venice turned it into a major center of Renaissance art. The exhibit is at Scuderie del Quirinale, Via XXIV Maggio 16, Sunday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.;  Friday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10:30 pm. The exhibit runs through January 11, 2009.

Biennale dell'Antiquariato is the annual exhibition of antiques by a group of 50 antiques dealers from around the world. If you can’t make the Biennale, drop in the antique shops along the Via Coronari (known to some as the Via Coronary, for the shock that comes from the prices). Biennale dell’Antiquariato is at Palazzo Venezia, Via del Plebiscito 118 (Piazza Venezia), from October 17 through October 26, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Call 39 06 6999 4319.

Read more about Shari's experience in Italy, in her blog about the green heart of Italy at http://umbriabella.blogspot.com.

Looking Ahead to CHTA Marketplace

Whereas it’s unfortunate that St. Kitts is the first Caribbean tourism destination to host an event following the failed bill to bail out Wall Street, St. Lucia is hoping its old news by January. That’s when the destination will be hosting the annual Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association's (CHTA) Marketplace. And so far the numbers indicate, like the Small Hotels Retreat, that the conference’s attendance won’t be affected.

We sat down with Angela Alphonse, project manager for the St. Lucia Hotel & Tourism Association, who told us about 1,500 delegates are already on board for the event. “Right now, September, is when this whole mess is really at its highest,” Alphonse told us. “We’re hoping it will be a dead issue by January. I think we can get our focus back on strengthening tourism in St. Lucia and the Caribbean and not worrying about losing tourism in St. Lucia and the Caribbean.”

Travel Agent Sits with Rosecita Jeffers

We profiled St. Kitt’s new CEO of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority Rosecita Jeffers earlier this year, and now we had the privilege to meet her at the CHTA Small Hotels Retreat. We asked her about the timing of the conference and, like St. Kitts Minister of State for Tourism, Sports and Culture Ricky Skerritt, she thought the economy shouldn’t swallow the attention of the conference. “I think this conference is important because hotels are the background of this industry,” she says, “and we can’t lose focus of that.”

The government of St. Kitts has provided some relief for small hotels of the country. Afterall, of all the hotels that need to worry about a decrease in business from the struggling U.S, it’s the small ones. Jeffers said the government, in fact, has allocated a fund for marketing and incentives to be split among the small hotels of St. Kitts. No figure was given on the fund. Jeffers says the fund with be contingent on whether the hotels agree to certain standards with training staff among the highest on that list.

Ritz in St. Kitts?

For any tourist destination, the easiest way to deal with worries of a decrease in arrivals is to get a big name luxury brand in your destination. For St. Kitts, the savior is Ritz Carlton. Although we can’t get anyone on the record confirming this, several important tourism officials have told us that The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company could soon be inking a deal to set up shop in St. Kitts in the form of a 220-room resort. The deal is said to be finalized by the end of the year, but we’ll give you more details as soon as we get them at the CHTA Small Hotels Retreat.

Royal Caribbean CEO Says Cruises Are "Exceptional Value"

Senior Contributing Editor Susan Young has traveled to Germany to board the brand new Celebrity Solstice cruise ship.

Richard Fain, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.'s chairman and CEO, addressed the nation's economic woes while talking to reporters onboard Celebrity Solstice Saturday in Papenburg, Germany.

"I hope they fix it," he said about the Congress' efforts to develop an economic response to the worsening economy.  "Obviously, everyone suffers [in an economic downturn]," he continued. "These are troubling times."

But while acknowledging the seriousness of the situation, Fain also said the real strength of cruising is that the product throughout its history always has had "exceptional value."

He says that when times are tough, "the more they [consumers] look at a cruise, the better we stand out," particularly when compared to the cost of a land-based vacation.