Did You Know...? In most years, Italy is the world’s largest producer of wine. The Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Italy is the world’s No. 1 exporter of rose, with more than 40% of that market. There are roughly 350 official varieties
Did You Know? Pesto was created on the Italian Riviera. Bordighera supplies the palm fronds to the Vatican for Palm Sunday services. Portovenere’s seaside houses were built like a scrimmage line to protect against outside attackers. Liguria’s 40 marinas have about 25.000 boat berths, a quarter of all berths in
Did You Know? Dolomite native Reinhold Messer was the first person to climb Everest solo. Rome’s Pliny the Elder and his nephew Pliny the Younger were natives of the Lake Como area. Fiat’s name, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, means Italian Automobile Factory, Turin. Speakers of Ladin are descended from soldiers
Did You Know...? The waters around the Ionian islands are the deepest (up to 14,455 feet) in the Mediterranean. Britain’s Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was born on Corfu (1921). Odysseus (aka, Ulysses), hero of Homer’s “Odyssey,” was the legendary king of Ithaca. Levkas is surrounded by 24 islets,
Did You Know...? The port town Coxen Hole, on Roatan, was named for a pirate, John Coxen. The largest whale shark ever measured was 40 feet long. Christopher Columbus was the first European to encounter the cacao bean, on his 1502 visit to Guanaja. Roatan's Garifuna (African Carib) community was
Did You Know ... ? The English banned the kilt, tartans and bagpipes in the 18th century. Macbeth was the last Highlander king of Scotland. The Highlands are less populated today than they were in the 18th century. Loch Ness holds more freshwater than all lakes and reservoirs in England
Did You Know...? Greece has around 6,000 islands and islets, of which only 227 are inhabited. The Peloponnese Peninsula became an island only when the Corinth Canal was opened (1893). Much of the “Mamma Mia” movie (2008) was filmed on two Greek islands, Skiathos and Skopelos. Three Greek islands are
Did You Know? The Parthenon’s horizontal lines — stair steps, beams and roof — are curved in a slight dome shape. The eternal flame of Altis, at Olympia, is the source of the flaming torch carried to the modern Olympics. Statues on ancient Greek buildings were typically painted with bright
Did You Know...? Although British, the Turks islands sold salt to George Washington's Continental Army. For nearly 100 years, the TCI flag misrepresented the islands’ iconic salt mounds as igloos. The roads on Salt Cay are paved with salt. Several U.S. astronauts, including John Glenn and Scott Carpenter, trained for
Did You Know...? Hurricane Ivan destroyed some 85% of all structures in the Cayman Islands (2004). The 1966 Batmobile, in the Cayman Motor Museum, was based on a $250K “concept car” created by Ford. Southern stingrays use electroreceptors on their snouts (as well as smell and touch) to locate food.
