Maltempo Belluno, alberi sradicati e rami spezzati: il difficile varco aperto sulla strada

Situazione critica nel Bellunese

quarto giorno di alluvione per il Bellunese è cominciato sotto una pioggia battente, dopo 48 ore di tregua a riparare danni. E i danni sono molto ingenti. Interi comuni sono ancora senza collegamenti viari, energia elettrica e linee telefoniche. Decine di migliaia di abitazioni erano nelle notte senza luce, non solo nei paesi di montagna, quelli isolati, ma anche a Belluno. Larghe parti della provincia sono completamente isolate: si stanno esaurendo benzina e generi alimentari. Sono oltre trenta le strade principali ancora chiuse, quelle comunali non si contano neppure.

Maltempo, disastro nel bellunese: le riprese aeree dei vigili del fuoco

E la frana del Tessina - la più grande frana attiva d'Europa con i suoi 4 milioni di metri cubi in movimento - a Lamosano ha ripreso a muoversi. Uno o due milioni di metri cubi di terra, roccia, alberi, sopra Lamosano e Funes si sono spostati. È immediatamente partita la macchina della Protezione civile per monitorare la situazione.

Liguria, allerta arancione prorogata

Maltempo, la rimozione a Rapallo del relitto alla foce del fiume San Francesco

Palermo, pioggia, allagamenti e auto in trappola

In Piemonte si monitorano i livelli dei fiumi

Le previsioni per i prossimi giorni

Maltempo a Venezia, danni a Basilica San Marco: allagato il millenario pavimento a mosaico

Agricoltura, danni per centinaia di milioni

È ancora emergenza maltempo in tutta Italia, con nuovi peggioramenti specialmente nel Veneto e nelle regioni centrali tirreniche, e di nuovo causa vittime nel nostro Paese, dopo i 13 morti dei giorni scorsi . Due pensionati di Villarbasse (Torino), Giuseppe Rosso di 74 anni e Miriam Curtaz di 73 anni, sono morti a Lillianes (Aosta) nella Valle di Gressoney, a seguito della caduta di un albero sull'auto in cui viaggiavano. Altre due vittime, oggi, in Alto Adige: è deceduto all'ospedale di Bolzano un uomo di 53 anni di Laces, che lunedì, mentre stava guidando in Val Venosta, all'altezza di Coldrano era stato colpito da un albero. La seconda vittima è un 81enne della Val Badia che, intento a sistemare il tetto della sua malga danneggiata dalla violenta perturbazione, è precipitato morendo sul colpo. La quinta vittima è un anziano che è scivolato nel fiume Chiese, nel Bresciano, ed è stato trascinato dalla corrente.Il maltempo, anche con fenomeni intensi, interessa quasi tutte le regioni. Sta piovendo su gran parte della penisola (escluse solo le regioni adriatiche del Centro-Sud e la Sardegna) già a partire dalla prima mattina.La Protezione civile ha emesso una allerta rossa in Veneto e arancione nel Lazio, in Liguria e in Sicilia, mentre l'allarme è giallo per Toscana, Campania e Piemonte. Il presidente della Regione Lazio, Nicola Zingaretti, ha firmato l'atto con cui la Regione ha dichiarato lo stato di calamità per l'intero territorio laziale. Il Centro funzionale decentrato della Protezione civile del Veneto ha prolungato lo stato di allarme (arancione per la rete idraulica principale e rosso per la rete idraulica secondaria) sino alle ore 14 di domani 2 novembre per le province di Belluno, Treviso, Vicenza e Verona, relativamente ai bacini dell'Alto Piave, del Piave pedemontano, dell'Alto Brenta, Bacchiglione e Alpone.In tutte le regioni colpite dalla violenta ondata degli ultimi giorni, che ha provocato appunto la morte di 13 persone (a cui si aggiungono le quattro di oggi) è intanto tempo di fare la conta dei danni.Nevicate abbondanti sono attese in Valle d'Aosta, a partire dai 1.300-1.500 metri di quota. L'ufficio neve e valanghe prevede che si accumuleranno quantitativi tra i 50 centimetri e il metro.Una nuova acqua alta è prevista a Venezia intorno alle 16,30 con un massimo di 110 centimetri sul medio mare. Lunedì è stato raggiunto un picco di 156 centimetri.La rete idrica che, in alcuni punti, risulta gravemente danneggiata. Tutte le sorgenti sono state interessate da massicci apporti di acqua piovana con relative impurità. Per questo motivo, la Prefettura di Belluno raccomanda di non utilizzare l'acqua che manifesti evidenti problemi di torbidità, nemmeno a fini igienico sanitari. Si consiglia anche di utilizzare l'acqua ad uso potabile solo previa bollitura della durata di almeno 5 minuti. Sono in corso accertamenti da parte dell'ULSS n. 1 Dolomiti e del BIM - GSP per verificare la situazione dei singoli acquedotti.Nel Ponente ligure è stata prorogata l'allerta arancione fino alle 16 di oggi, così come nel Levante costiero. La regione è nuovamente in ginocchio, dopo alluvioni e mareggiate. Una motovedetta della Capitaneria di porto ha trasportato da Santa Margherita verso Portofino medici, volontari della Protezione civile e residenti e lavoratori del borgo, rimasto isolato per il crollo della strada litoranea. Il sentiero d'emergenza, in un secondo tempo, è stato chiuso perché troppo pericoloso.Una forte pioggia dalla notte cade ininterrottamente su Palermo. Decine le chiamate ai vigili del fuoco. Dalla centrale operativa spiegano che numerose sono le richieste di aiuto per appartamenti e locali allagati e auto impantanate nei sottopassi delle arterie cruciali cittadine.Le squadre sono intervenute per liberare gli automobilisti intrappolati dall'acqua che scorre lungo le strade, in alcuni tratti le vie sono diventate laghi e torrenti.La Protezione civile regionale ha confermato l'allerta arancione in tutta la Sicilia. In questo momento la parte meno colpita dal maltempo è quella orientale. I tecnici sono al lavoro per controllare il livello delle dighe.La pioggia ha concesso una tregua in mattinata su Torino, dopo una notte di precipitazioni che hanno riguardano anche il resto del Piemonte. In crescita i corsi d'acqua, che restano al di sotto dei livelli di guardia anche grazie alle abbondanti nevicate in montagna. Permane l'allerta arancione ma secondo le previsioni dell'Arpa - l'Agenzia regionale per la Protezione ambientale - dalla tarda mattinata è attesa una attenuazione dei fenomeni a partire dal settore meridionale della regione.Qualche allagamento viene segnalato nell'Alessandrino, al momento senza particolari critici. Sorvegliato speciale anche il Lago Maggiore, in piena anche per le piogge dei giorni scorsi. Il maltempo non darà tregua anche nella giornata di venerdì 2 novembre, quando sono previsti nuove piogge, temporali e ancora nubifragi su Lazio, Toscana, Umbria, Emilia Romagna e su gran parte del Nordest. Anche nel weekend, sebbene il sole spunterà su molte regioni, le piogge non abbandoneranno totalmente l'Italia.Per sabato si prevede un miglioramento al Nord e nelle regioni peninsulari, mentre il tempo resterà variabile e a tratti instabile sulle isole maggiori. Domenica probabile fase di forte maltempo su Calabria, Sicilia e Sardegna, con tendenza a un nuovo peggioramento a fine giornata sulle regioni tirreniche. Le temperature con il passare dei giorni aumenteranno riportandosi quasi ovunque al di sopra della norma.Raffiche di vento, nubifragi, esondazioni, trombe d'aria e grandinate hanno colpito pesantemente l'agricoltura con danni che superano i 150 milioni di euro tra ulivi secolari sradicati, coltivazioni distrutte, semine perdute, campi allagati, muri crollati, serre distrutte, stalle ed edifici rurali scoperchiati, ma anche problemi alla viabilità provocati da frane e smottamenti.È quanto emerge dal primo bilancio sugli effetti della violenta ondata di maltempo stilato dalla Coldiretti che chiede nei territori colpiti di attivare subito la procedura per la verifica dei danni e la richiesta dello stato di calamità.</s>Heavy rains and high winds buffeting much of Italy have killed 11 people over two days as Venice officials lamented Tuesday one of the worst floods ever to strike the city’s famed St. Mark’s Basilica.

Many of the deaths were due to trees crashing down on cars and pedestrians. The victims also included a woman who was buried by mud when a landslide invaded her home near Trento in northern Italy and a man who was slammed against rocks while wind surfing in Emilia-Romagna.

The other fatalities occurred in Naples, Liguria, Lazio and Veneto, where authorities found a 61-year-old man whose body had been swept more than a kilometre (half a mile) away from his car.

The windy weather created an exceptional tide in Venice on Monday, covering three-quarters of the city for the first time in a decade. On Tuesday, water levels topped only briefly the 80 centimetres that floods St. Mark’s Square, one of the city’s lowest points.

“It was the perfect storm during which adverse meteorological conditions contributed to the situation in the sea and winds,” civil protection chief Angelo Borrelli said.

Italian News agency ANSA reported damage to the mosaic floors inside St. Mark’s Basilica, where Monday’s flood waters reached a peak of 90 centimetres (35 inches.) The bronze metal doors and columns also sustained damage in what was the fifth most serious flood in the church’s 924-year history.

First Procurator Carlo Alberto Tesserin, who is charged with the basilica’s preservation, told ANSA the church “aged 20 years in one day.” He said that parts of the building, near the main entrance opposite the main altar, were under water for 16 hours.

Italian cultural officials were expected to arrive in Venice as soon as possible to inspect the damage, Rome’s top official in Venice, Fabio Carapezza Guttuso, told ANSA.

The wooden floors in the nearly 300-year-old Florian cafe nearby also received serious damage.

“Venice is an amphibious civilization. We need to get used to this,” cafe art director Stefano Stipitivich said.

Rains flooded highways and caused a landslide that forced the temporary closure of the Brenner highway connecting Italy with Austria, while the Adige River running through Verona rose by 2 metres (6 feet) but did not overflow.

In Rome, more than 100 trees were felled by high winds, and ports reported damage from the storm, including to moored boats.

Olive growers in Liguria estimated that one-third of the crop was lost due to damage from the storms that struck during the harvest.

Nearly 6,000 firefighters were dispatched to remove debris from roadways across the country. One firefighter was killed by a tree near Bolzano, in Alto-Adige. Schools were closed in large areas of the country for two days as a precaution.</s>ROME (AP) - Two people were killed when a falling tree crushed their car in the mountainous countryside in northwestern Italy, as rainstorms and strong winds continued to pummel much of the country.

The Italian news agency ANSA also reported Thursday that a man died of injuries suffered earlier this week when his car crashed into fallen trees in the Alpine region of South Tyrol. The deaths raised the fatality toll in the recent spell of storms to at least 14.

Storm damage also cut off roads to the picturesque village of Portofino, leaving ferries the only transport to and from the Mediterranean port town for the next few days.

In Florence, the Boboli Gardens, where cypresses had fallen a few days ago, were reopened to visitors.

Venice also was flooded this week.

Firefighters at work after the road connecting Santa Margherita Ligure to Portofino collapsed following heavy rains and strong winds, Italy, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. A falling chestnut tree has crushed a car in mountainous northwest Italy, killing 2 people inside, as rainstorms and strong winds pummel the country. Storm damage also cut off roads to the tourist port town of Portofino. (Beppe Risso/ANSA via AP)

A view of Portofino, Italy, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018 as rainstorms and strong winds have been battering the country. A falling chestnut tree has crushed a car in mountainous northwest Italy, killing 2 people inside, as rainstorms and strong winds pummel the country. Storm damage also cut off roads to the tourist port town of Portofino. (Beppe Risso/ANSA via AP)</s>Heavy Weather: Several Dead And Injured In Italy

Heavy rainfall and gusts in the Mediterranean cause seven dead and many injured.

The balance of the heavy storms with heavy rain and storms that affected much of Italy has worsened further. At least seven people were killed by trees, and more than a dozen were injured. On Sunday at least five people had died.

In the province of Frosinone, south of Rome, two people lost their lives on Monday when a tree fell on their car, Italian media reported. In Terracina in Lazio, in Naples and in Savona in Liguria, a total of four people died. Another person died in Feltre in the Dolomiti province of Belluno. On Sunday at least five people had died.

In the provinces of Belluno and Treviso, there were power outages. 160,000 households were affected. Floods and landslides were also reported in Carinthia’s neighboring region Friuli Venezia Giulia.

The bad weather front paralyzed the country from north to south. Schools and kindergartens remained closed in many regions, including Veneto, Liguria, Rome, and parts of Tuscany. Also on Tuesday, they should remain closed in many places, including in Rome.

The severe thunderstorms in the Mediterranean region also hit the Croatian Adriatic coast on Monday. The highways around the northern port city of Rijeka are closed for traffic for the time being due to heavy rain, according to media reports. Due to storms with gale-force winds, numerous ferry connections between Dubrovnik and Rijeka started from the mainland to the islands.

The state weather service issued warning in the morning for the entire Croatian coastal region of the highest level. Also for the hinterland at Gospic and Knin alarm was given in view of the approaching bad weather front.</s>VENICE, Oct 31 — The death toll from fierce storms battering Italy has risen to 11, civil protection authorities said yesterday, as wild weather swept parts of Europe, leaving motorists and tourists stranded.

Road were blocked and thousands of people were left without power in southern and central Europe, as rains and violent winds sparked flooding and tore trees from their roots.

Thick snow has also cloaked French and Italian mountain regions, trapping hundreds of drivers in their cars and tourists in hotels.

In Italy, where Venice was inundated by near-record flooding and ferocious storms drove high winds reaching up to 180kph, authorities announced a further six deaths, after confirming five people had died on Monday.

“We are facing one of the most complex meteorological situations of the past 50 to 60 years,” said Angelo Borrelli, head of the national civil protection agency.

Luxury yachts lay smashed in the harbour of Rapallo near Genoa after a dam broke under pressure.

“It was like a tsunami,” one stunned port worker was quoted as saying by Italian media.

“We thought the danger would come from the mountains, we thought the problem would be landslides,” said Liguria head Giovanni Toti.

“Instead, we get a coastal storm surge the likes of which we’ve never seen,” he said.

Authorities yesterday reported a woman died when her home was engulfed by a mudslide in the northern region of Trentino, a man was killed in the northeastern Veneto region by a falling tree, and a firefighter died during relief operations in South Tyrol.

Elsewhere, a man was killed while kitesurfing on Monday near the town of Cattolica on the Adriatic coast, while the body of another man was recovered yesterday in Lake Levico in the north.

A man was also missing at sea off Calabria in the southwest, while the body of another was found in a stream in northern Italy.

Italian media reported that around 170 people, tourists and hotel staff, were stranded by heavy snowfall at the Stelvio Pass on the Swiss border.

Meanwhile in Friuli Venezia Giulia, local authorities said some 23,000 people were without power.

In France, more than 1,000 drivers were trapped in their cars for the night in the mountains of the Massif Central region as the roads were engulfed in snowstorms.

Another 400 had to spend the night in train carriages at the main station in the eastern city of Lyon after heavy snow blocked the tracks.

About 60,000 homes still remained without power yesterday evening across France — mostly in the east and centre.

Another 21,000 homes were also cut off on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, which was placed on red alert Monday for powerful winds, shutting its airports and ports.

Croatia’s Adriatic coast has also been battered by gale-force winds and heavy rains that have flooded streets, cut off power and ensnared road and maritime traffic.

Meanwhile, a Slovenian surfer who went missing on Monday in the sea off Croatia’s northern Istria peninsula was rescued yesterday after being swept south to the Italian bay of Trieste.

In Spain, over 100 soldiers were helping electrical repair crews to reach isolated areas of the northern region of Asturias, blanketed by heavy snowfall at the weekend.

Italy’s canal city of Venice was swamped as heavy rainfall pushed the water levels to near record levels on Monday.

Tourists were barred from St Mark’s Square as local authorities said the “acqua alta” (high water) peaked at 156 centimetres (61 inches). The waters have only topped 150 centimetres five times before in recorded history.

Art experts were racing to evaluate the damage to thousand-year old mosaics in St Mark’s Basilica after the Bapistry and Zen Chapel flooded.

Two paintings by Spanish artist Joan Miro were damaged at the Palazzo Zaguri, where they had been waiting to be hung.

Meteorologists expect the harsh weather to gradually ease in Italy.

Storms have also swept into Switzerland, buffeting the Ticino region near the Italian border overnight, according to public broadcaster RTS.

Roads were blocked by fallen trees and flooding, while strong winds ripped roof sections off buildings, including in Giubiasco where police said part of a firm’s roof had smashed into a moving train and a house, without causing injury.

In southern Austria, authorities have deployed hundreds of mobile anti-flooding dams as rivers burst their banks, while in the city of Salzburg a roof section from the mediaeval ramparts flew off in high winds.

An 80-year-old driver and his passenger, 76, were killed yesterday in an accident caused by a landslide on a road near Maribor in Slovenia. — AFP</s>MILAN — Venice was inundated by an exceptional high tide Monday, putting three-quarters of the famed Italian lagoon city under water as large swathes of the rest of Italy experienced flooding and heavy winds that toppled trees and other objects, killing six people.

Tourists and residents alike donned high boots to navigate the streets of Venice after strong winds raised the water level over 5 feet before receding. The water exceeded the raised walkways normally put out in flooded areas in Venice, forcing their removal. Transport officials closed the water bus system except to outlying islands because of the emergency.

Venice frequently floods when high winds push in water from the lagoon, but Monday’s levels were exceptional. The peak level was the highest reached since December 2008, according to Venice statistics.

Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said a series of underwater barriers that are being erected in the lagoon would have prevented the inundation. The project, nicknamed Moses, is long overdue, beset by cost overruns and corruption scandals.

Brugnaro said he had asked to talk with Premier Giuseppe Conte to underline the urgency of the project, which would raise barriers when the tide reaches 43 inches. That happens, on average, four times a year in Venice.

Residents and businesses typically reinforce their doors with metal or wooden panels to prevent water from entering the bottom floors, but photos on social media showed shop owners using water pumps this time to try to protect their wares.

Much of Italy is under alert for flooding from heavy rains, a problem exacerbated by a lack of maintenance of the country’s many river beds. High winds toppled trees that killed passers-by in four incidents in Naples, Lazio and Liguria.</s>Fierce winds and rains that have killed 18 people in Italy this week also razed thousands of hectares of forest in the country's devastated north, officials said Friday.

Trees covering the mountainsides in the Dolomites range were reduced to matchsticks, flattened by winds that tore through the Veneto region Thursday as storms killed five people in northern Italy.

"It's like after an earthquake," Veneto governor Luca Zaia said. "Thousands of hectares of forest were razed to the ground, as if by a giant electric saw."

In addition, 160,000 people in the region were left without electricity, Zaia said, adding that parts of the Dolomites were "reduced to looking like the surface of the moon."

"We've been brought to our knees," the politician said.

On Thursday, storms in northern Italy killed two pensioners aged 74 and 73 when a tree fell on their car in the Aosta Valley. Another person fell into a river in the Brescia region and was dragged under by the current.

In the Alto Adige region, an 81-year old died after falling off the damaged roof of his Alpine cottage, while a 53-year old whose car was hit by a falling tree during bad weather on Monday died from the injuries.

These fatalities brought to 18 the number of people killed by bad weather in Italy since the start of the week.

The Veneto region was set to remain on red alert for the rest of Friday, as meteorologists predicted the storms would continue throughout Italy this weekend.

Several towns in the province of Belluno were cut off after a landslide damaged a mountain road and repair efforts were hampered by the insistent heavy rains.

Floods in Sicily have closed many roads and mayors have ordered schools, public parks, and underpasses shut.

The picturesque fishing village of Portofino near Genoa, a famed holiday resort on the Italian riviera, was only reachable by sea after the main road collapses and an emergency path opened to let residents out was deemed too dangerous.

"It won't be easy or quick but we count on returning Portofino next summer to the millions of tourists who come to visit it," regional governor Giovanni Toti said.

The Genoa region alone had suffered tens of millions of euros worth of damage -- a price tag that could rise to hundreds of millions in the long term, he added.

Italy's civil protection agency described the weather lashing Italy this week as "one of the most complex meteorological situations of the past 50 to 60 years".

Venice was inundated by near-record flooding on Monday, ferocious storms drove high winds reaching up to 180 kilometres (110 miles) an hour, and hundreds of trees were torn up by their roots in the Italian capital.</s>What doesn’t the average traveller know about my adopted country? A lot. Italy isn’t all quiet canals, Dolomites and cappuccini in dreamy piazzas, ancient islands in an azure sea and endless vineyards in the Tuscan countryside.

It has its sore spots. It doesn’t have many. I struggled to find five overrated places in Italy. But they are there and as you all plan vacations for 2019, here’s a tip sheet: Italy’s most overrated and underrated destinations.

I’ve been to all of them. Use it as a warning; use it as an insider’s tip. But use it. And feel free to weigh in with your thoughts. (Those threatening my life please form a line to the right.)

It’s Newark with a big church. The Duomo is worth a visit. The white facade with 135 spires looks like a birthday cake. But once you get past that, Milan visually pales compared to other Italian cities. Don’t blame the Milanese. It’s not their fault Allied forces bombed the place back to the Stone Age in World War II. But what’s built in its place is too modern to look historical, too old to look clean.

The weather is usually awful. Yes, you can see the Alps from there — on July 15th, about the only day there’s good enough weather to see past architecture as dull as Milanese cuisine. When your headlining dish is osso buco, a sloppy veal stew, you don’t deserve to be called Italian. Plus, their soccer teams suck. (Forza Roma!)

Ever read Under the Tuscan Sun? If you didn’t, you’ve never wanted to visit Italy or don’t like self-obsessed chick lit.

It’s about a woman building a new life in a fixer-upper in Tuscany, interspersed with Italian recipes. The 1996 blockbuster made Cortona, where author Frances Mayes lived, a must stop on the American tourist’s beaten path in Italy. Americans walk around town carrying her book, trying to identify her butcher, her vegetable stand and florist. Cortonese told me they felt like zoo animals.

The truth is, Italy has dozens of quaint, walled cities like Cortona. You don’t need to fight tour buses to see one.

It figures that James Joyce would live in a town like Trieste for ten years. I disliked them both. It’s a good debate which one is more boring.

Trieste has the biggest seaside piazza in the world. Maybe that’s because there aren’t many. Piazza dell’Unita d’Italia is a massive 130,000-square-foot expanse weighed down like anchors by grey government buildings and two overpriced cafés. There is no brilliant architectural treasure as you’d find in lesser-known piazzas such as Palazzo Re Enzo in Bologna’s Piazza del Nettuno or Palazzo dei Capitani del Popolo in Ascoli Piceno’s Piazza del Popolo.

Also, tucked into Italy’s northeast corner on the north end of the Adriatic, Trieste is constantly plagued by the Bora, the cold wind that sweeps down from the hills surrounding the town.

Come here if you want to see or be seen — or stand in line for 30 minutes waiting for a bus to take you zigzagging up the hill. Granted, the hill’s view down to the Tyrrhenian Sea is one of the best in Europe. It’s a lot better than the views of elbows and asses that squeeze past you in the impossibly crowded Piazza Umberto I.

While the island is beautiful and the sea is inviting, Capri has no beach. None. At one spot I had to pay €21 to lay a towel on a rock. Without €500 loafers and a €300 sweater wrapped strategically around my shoulders I felt like Oliver Twist scavenging for more gruel.

See above but spread it out for 55 kilometres across the north-east corner of Sardinia, without Capri’s views.

Costa Smeralda is the epicentre for Italians’ August exodus. It’s lined with stuffy hotels, private marinas and tricked-out yachts. Beautiful, tanned Italians with sunglasses that cost more than their weekly food budget sit on yachts and drink spritz and wine on the bows of beautiful boats.

It’s the height of Italian stuffiness and a magnet for Italians wanting to join the A-list celebs for a glass of Campari. Porto Cervo, Costa Smeralda’s main town, is as phoney as an ageing Italian actress’ face. And the prices in August make you wonder if Italy invented price gouging.

I’ve written about this idyllic little island before and I will the rest of my life. It’s right out of a movie set — which it was in 1994 when it was the setting for Il Postino, the classic love story about a postman in 1950s Italy who falls in love with a fellow islander.

You can relive old Italy here. Just sit on one of the dockside restaurants with a Neapolitan pizza or dine at the heart-throbbingly romantic La Lampara above the idyllic harbour and fall in love all over again. Then the next day go to the white sand beach on the north side of the island.

Procida is only ten miles north of Capri but a million miles away in authenticity.

Italians used to call Turin the Detroit of Italy. These Italians have never been to Detroit. The only thing Turin and Detroit have in common is car manufacturing, except the cars out of Turin actually work.

Turin, the gateway to the Italian Alps, is speckled with beautiful piazzas, tree-lined boulevards and long porticoed walkways. The 2006 Winter Olympics gave it a bit of a facelift but two things I love here stayed the same: the Mole, the spired museum dedicated to Italian film, and Barolo, Italy’s best wine and my favourite in the world.

One of Rome’s best secrets, Castelli Romani is a series of 14 small towns, many sporting castles, in the Alban Hills southeast of Rome.

Each one has its own distinct draw, like gelato has different flavours: Ariccia for porchetta, the sizzling roast pork eaten at a string of outdoor restaurants; Nemi, on the beautiful volcanic Lago di Nemi, home to great views and some of the best strawberries in the world; Genzano, where many wealthy Romans lived during Ancient Rome and now where Romans go for the best bread around; Castel Gandolfo, on Lago di Albano, so beautiful you’ll see why the popes have their summer residence here; Frascati, blessed with a beautiful park, perfect for a picnic with the town’s trademark refreshing white wine.

If you see Costa Smeralda, keep right on going to the point town of Palau and take the 15-minute boat ride to Maddalena. It’s a national park consisting of seven small islands all lined with gorgeous white sand beaches on romantic, individually carved bays.

Don’t let the US naval base scare you. The personnel are well behaved and blend in with the kind locals. You need a car and a camera. You’ll want to stop around every curve for a photo.

I call Le Marche "Tuscany Light". Le Marche has everything its more famous neighbour has but with a third the tourists and cheaper prices.

Urbino is the jewel of Le Marche. High atop a hill, the walled city of 15,000 people is so beautiful Unesco made it a World Heritage Site in 1998. The home of the great Renaissance artist Raphael has kept its artsy rep after 600 years.

Eat Le Marche’s signature strozzapreti ('priest strangler') pasta in the dimly lit Palazzo Ducale or just settle in with a glass of Le Marche’s trademark Verdicchio white wine.
• Where to go in Italy in 2018: Ten travel ideas off the beaten path
• Are these Italy's most beautiful villages?
• Tourist types you'll meet in Italy: which one are you?

John Henderson is a writer and expat living in Rome. This is an edited version of an article that was originally published on his blog, Dog-Eared Passport. Find more of his travel stories here.

Want to write a guest blog for The Local Italy? Get in touch at news.italy@thelocal.com.</s>ROME: The death toll from fierce storms battering Italy has risen to nine, civil protection authorities said Tuesday, as wild weather swept parts of Europe, leaving motorists and tourists stranded. Road were blocked and thousands of people were left without power in southern and central Europe, as rains and violent winds sparked flooding, tore trees from their roots and whipped debris into the air.

Thick snow has also cloaked French and Italian mountain regions, trapping scores of drivers in their cars and tourists in hotels. In Italy, where Venice was inundated by near-record flooding and ferocious storms drove high winds reaching up to 180 kilometres an hour in some areas, civil protection authorities announced a further four deaths, after confirming five people perished on Monday.

Authorities Tuesday reported a woman died when her home was engulfed by a mudslide in the northern region of Trentino, a man was killed in the northeastern region of Veneto by a falling tree, and a firefighter died during relief operations in South Tyrol. Elsewhere, a man was killed while kitesurfing on Monday near the town of Cattolica on the Adriatic coast, with the local press saying strong winds had blown him into rocks.
The death toll from heavy floods and strong winds affecting Italy rises to 17 people.