As we have already seen in relation to travel prospects during the Holidays, the so-called “tourist corridors” have had the desired effect, despite the worsening of the current health situation.

As the latest statistics show, the Covid-Free tourist corridor formula, which provides for the purchase of travel packages from authorized tour operators after verifying the traveler’s health status, has contributed to redesigning the way Italians travel, paradoxically allowing them to focus on to more exotic destinations than traditional Christmas ones.

Thus Maldives, Mauritius, Dominican Republic and Dubai have become among the most popular destinations, in a context where there is a 70% decrease compared to 2019. The strength of the tourist corridors consists in the assistance provided by travel agents and in the organization of the formula itself: what contributes to the choice of Italians to postpone their holidays, in fact, is precisely the uncertainty about the health procedures of the destination countries and the possibility of sudden changes during the holiday, which is why the purchase of a travel package and a point of reference to contact for any information is configured as a certainty on which to focus in order to continue traveling in all serenity and safety.

In case that you decide to change your programs and give up your trip, Prestia and Comandè also allow you to change the tickets already purchased for your routes, in order to change the date and time or obtain a credit to be used later.

These operations are possible both through the web and smartphone platforms, by accessing your private area, or by contacting customer service.

Like almost every year, also this autumn of 2021 we find ourselves in the middle of the festival of Le Vie dei Tesori, a beautiful initiative, starting from 11 September until 31 October, which allows anyone to discover and rediscover the Sicily through a series of scheduled visits and events. The Sicilian region, in fact, has always been a land full of culture and history, which this exclusive festival allows you to know and appreciate in all its immense beauty, for this edition live again!

Participation at the events and the itineraries is possible through the purchase of coupons, which allow access to museums, churches, palaces and any Sicilian location that is part of the initiative. This year’s program, in particular, offers visits to numerous cities, including Bagheria, Monreale, Sciacca, Cefalù and, of course, the capital of Sicily, Palermo.

The main purpose of the project is to bring the community closer to its cultural heritage, through the enhancement of places of historical interest, around which the community itself can grow and enrich itself. The festival presents some very important guidelines, which give it uniqueness and prestige: first of all, the project sets itself the idea of addressing all audiences, and it does so through unconventional stories of the places: these narratives, in fact, succeed to enhance the places themselves and to narrate their importance within the history of cities. The locations open on the same days and at the same times can also be visited with a single tool, so that the visitor is attracted by the treasures that are more similar thematically or closer geographically.

The possible places to visit are many: in the Sicilian capital, for example, we find 88 locations, including numerous churches (both the famous and the most exclusive ones), several ancient villas (which we find located in various areas of the city), and also many workplaces rich in history.

All the locations available for visits can be consulted on the festival website, where you can also see the type of place you are about to admire, in order to choose whether to plan an itinerary full of diversified sites, or whether to opt for a trip to various places with common themes.
But in addition to exhibitions, trips out of town and walks, the program also features theatrical visits, concerts in the places of treasures and visits with tasting dedicated to the discovery of Sicilian flavors.

Also for this year the Le Vie dei Tesori project is confirmed as a point of reference for those who love knowledge and culture in all its forms, and who feel the need to explore every facet, mystery or secret that the beautiful Sicily holds in store.

Summer has come to end but the travel subject is still one of the main trend topics, especially for those areas where the tourist influx remains constant even in the low season. The evolution of the health emergency containment measures also make the scenario even more lively and constantly updated.

The most important news of the last few days certainly concerns the United States, which from November 1st will open the borders to travelers from 33 countries around the world in the case of a completed vaccination cycle, while maintaining the obligation of test 3 days before departure. For all those who wish to go to the US, however, beware of the medicine with which they have been vaccinated: the United States has not recognized some of the vaccines common in Europe and the world, therefore vaccination with these may not guarantee access to the country.

As for the countries of the European Union, if for the majority of these there is the obligation of the Green Pass (obtained after the vaccination cycle, through a certificate of recovery from Covid or with a negative swab carried out within the previous 48 hours), some nations apply some small variations, to be taken into consideration if you want to travel this fall: Spain, for example, has divided the risk areas for Italian citizens also by region, so before leaving you need to check the status of yours; in addition to this, the filling of a form certifying one’s state of health remains mandatory; the Czech Republic has also adopted a specific control form. In the United Kingdom, on the other hand, in addition to the Green Pass, the obligation to take a quick swab remains in place 48 hours after arrival on British soil.

In addition to the United States, Canada has also opened its borders for tourism with Green Pass and tampon in hand, while Tokyo and Japan still remain off limits for tourism, with suspension of entries for non-work, non-serious and non-health reasons until on a date to be determined.

It would therefore seem that, compared to exactly one year ago, the tourist situation is taking on more and more stable connotations, giving hope for a return to normality, to travel and holidays that are increasingly tangible.

After the long period of lockdown, the city of Palermo wants to restart from its rich artistic heritage and does so through the RestArt event, a latest generation festival that last year achieved an unexpected success, attracting a total of 15,000 visitors.

The event includes the opening, on weekends from July 2 to August 28, of a series of splendid monumental sites, which are open from 7pm until midnight. By subscribing on the appropriate platform, it will be possible to visit cultural sites, museums, palaces that allow you to read the city through periods, dominations, different layers that constitute the true wealth of a multicultural pole.

The inauguration of the festival was held on Friday 2 July and saw the reopening of the four Serpottian oratories of Santa Cita, Santissimo Rosario in San Domenico, San Lorenzo and San Mercurio. On the occasion, the rediscovered “Statue of the king” was presented, created by Procopio Serpotta and today restored thanks to the initiative of the Friends of the Sicilian Museums association with the support of the Sicily Foundation and the Pragma Consortium.

The canvases of Palazzo Abatellis and its marvelous Annunciata, the furnishings of Palazzo Mirto, but also the particular collections of Villa Zito and Palazzo Branciforte, the boxes of the Teatro Massimo and the incredible reproduction of Raphael’s altarpiece in Spasimo can also be visited at night. Also not to be missed is the church of Santa Caterina, from whose dome you can admire the Pretoria fountain.

There will be time to visit, among others, also Arab-Norman sites, such as the Church of San Giovanni degli Eremiti and Cuba, and from July 16 the prisons of the Penitentiates will also be part of the circuit, with graffiti that tell the story of the horror of the Inquisition. Ci sarà tempo per visitare, tra gli altri, anche siti arabo normanni, come la Chiesa di San Giovanni degli Eremiti e la Cuba, e dal 16 luglio entreranno a fare parte del circuito anche le carceri dei Penitenziati, con i graffiti che raccontano l’orrore dell’Inquisizione.

This year the event is enriched with many special events, such as exhibitions, video mapping, theatricalizations, meetings, concerts: Palazzo Valguarnera Gangi publicly opens for the first time the splendid halls where the Gattopardo was set, Palazzo Butera offers 5 thematic in-depth itineraries accompanied by exceptional guides, at the Tonnara dei Quattro Pizzi there is the exhibition on the rediscovered boudoir by Donna Franca Florio, Palazzo Abatellis offers the opportunity to talk on the terrace with the most authoritative exponents of the Palermo culture.

RestArt is an opportunity to start from the most authentic treasures of the city, aiming at not losing its cultural heritage, an essential asset for man and a privileged element of social cohesion that builds and edifies the community.

All this will allow the citizens of Palermo and the increasingly numerous and demanding visitors and tourists to experience the city through new kinds of use, to consolidate the relationship of beauty between the artistic heritage and the public, to discover the soul of the places and fall in love with it. It will benefit not only tourism but the citizens themselves, to whom this project wants to give hope and life back.