Alitalia Discount Flights: Travel to Italy from $349 RT

Alitalia is spreading the love – or, should we say 'amore' – with spring flights to Italy from $349 round-trip, including taxes and fees.

In a search for flights to Rome using dates April 21 and April 27 for round-trip travel from New York City, fares started at $392 round-trip on other airlines. The same route with the same dates on Alitalia: $349 round-trip, including all fees.

Several routes between the U.S. and Italy start at $400 round-trip, or less. Book your flight by March 27 and travel between April 1 and May 25.

One Cheapflights tip: Don’t wait until summer when the fares go up. These cheap flights are almost too good to pass up. Book your Italy flights with Alitalia online.

Boston to Rome: $400
Boston to Milan: $389
Chicago to Milan: $389
Chicago to Bologna: $389
Miami to Milan: $389

What's the best way to spend 14 nights in Italy?

I'm not sure if you're traveling by train or car, but let's assume you're going by train since all of these destinations are easily reachable. Leaving Rome, you could take the train to Florence, and base yourself there for three nights, spending the afternoon you arrive and the next day exploring the city and the next taking a day trip to Siena. You could certainly also add an extra day in Florence, depending on your interests.

The Cinque Terre (five villages) are about 2 ½ hours from Florence by train via Pisa. I've spent several days in the Cinque Terre, but I also visited the villages on a day trip from Florence a few years ago with relatives.

We were able to squeeze in a brief stop in Pisa, and arrive in the Cinque Terre in time for lunch and a walk before catching the train back in the early evening. It was a long day, and if you're really interested in exploring all of the villages, I'd recommend more time.

In the off-season, a trip to Siena, Italy, brings shivers of delight

I was feeling lucky. That was my excuse for going to Siena in winter, when Tuscany is generally cold and rainy.

But rules were made to be broken in Italy, I've found. In Rome, you can wake up on a winter morning with rain beating on the window, bundle up and go outside and find yourself wishing you had sunglasses instead of an umbrella.

So my sister Martha and I took a gamble by planning a driving tour through southern Tuscany in the low season. Neither of us had been to Siena, about 150 miles north of Rome. And I wanted to see the Tuscan countryside, the model for paradise in paintings by 14th- and 15th-century Sienese masters.

It's Not Too Late to Sign Up to Go to Italy and Greece in 2010

There is still time to sign up for the 13 day trip to Italy and Greece at the reduced price. If you sign up before March 31, the price will be $100 less due to early enrollment. Seventeen people have already taken advantage of this opportunity. We would love to take a group of 25-35, so there is still plenty of space available. After March 31, the price will increase by $100.

This exciting trip will take participants to many historical landmarks as well as Greek Island cruise. The group leader of the trip is Bob Wallace who is assisted by Suzanne Camp and Bob Blanton. Although geared toward high school and college students, teachers or other adults with an interest in cultural and educational experiences through international travel are welcome to participate. Middle school aged students be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Southern Italy Travel

Rome is the most popular travel destination in Italy but while many tourists travel north of Rome, far fewer venture south. Naples and the Amalfi Coast are the most popular southern Italy destinations but Southern Italy has unusual sights that you won't find in the north like the well-preserved Greek temples at Paestum, the sassi or cave city of Matera (where you can stay in a cave hotel), and the cone-shaped houses called truilli in Puglia.

If you're interested in southern Italy check out South of Rome, an interesting blog created by an American woman living outside Naples. Today's post is about a restaurant she recommends in Paestum right by the temples.

Studying gastronomy in Italy

OK, you have to admit: Could anything sound better than studying gastronomy in Italy, traveling to farms and artisan operations tasting olive oils and cured meats and cheeses? Eating the sort of salad pictured at right?

David Szanto recalls the moment he decided to take the plunge: He was at Highland Avenue and Olympic Boulevard, contemplating the end of a relationship and listening to NPR when he heard about the University of Gastronomic Sciences.

That was 2004, and he now teaches writing and communication at the university. On Friday night, he stopped by UCLA to talk about it. About 60 people came to the meeting.

Italy cracks down on transport strikes

The Italian government on Friday proposed new rules to limit rampant strikes in the transport sector that each year cripple air, rail and road travel.

The measures approved at a Cabinet meeting would toughen sanctions for wildcat strikes and make it harder for small unions to call a walkout and paralyze transportation with the backing of just a handful of workers.

Frequent strikes by small groups have been particularly damaging for air travel in Italy. Last year, repeated protests by just a few dozen employees over the privatization of the failed national carrier Alitalia forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights over the Christmas period.