Scenic paths, jagged crests, silent valleys, sunny meadows, scree slopes and peaks: these are just some of the wonders you will be able to admire in the Friuli Dolomites in the province of Pordenone. The area was proclaimed a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site on 26 June 2009, together with sister mountains in the provinces of Udine, Belluno, Bolzano and Trento. This “UNESCO Dolomites Week” has been organized in order to celebrate the second anniversary of this important event and to provide the chance to explore the wealth of natural beauty the area has to offer through a wide range of guided tours on foot or by bike, with outdoor sports for all tastes (mountain bike, bouldering, trekking, nordic walking, canyoning and rock climbing), local food and wine tastings and visits to workshops reviving ancient traditions, such as wood carving, maize-leaf doll or “scarpeti” slipper making. Keen photographers will be able to take part in the “Friuli Dolomite Postcard” competition, by presenting their own snaps depicting the landscape, geology or natural features of these glorious mountains.

As summer advances, it is lulled by the rhythms of jazz in the glamorous Lignano Sabbiadoro. After a day spent on the beach, pulsing with all manner of entertainments, comes cocktail time as the sun slides slowly over the horizon, leaving behind a sultry, charged atmosphere. That’s the moment to head for the main squares of Lignano Sabbiadoro for a drink while listening to the good music of the dj sets and then stroll on down to the Beach Village for a concert. The popular International Soul Jazz Funk band “Incognito” will be performing on Thursday 30 June, the “High Five Quintet” (Mario Biondi’s group) will be taking the stage on Friday 1 July and the festival will close on Saturday 2 July with a stunning gig put on by Nick The Nightfly with his guest Amalia Gre.

Music&Live is the format created by Agenzia TurismoFVG combining “music and tourism”. By booking 1 or 2 nights in the 2-, 3- or 4-star hotels subscribing to the scheme, you are entitled to a free or half-price concert ticket.
Below are July’s events confirmed to date:

·         B. B. and The Blues Shacks (Saturday 2 July at Villa Varda di Brugnera, PN)

·         Janiva Magness and Brian Auger & The Trinity (Sunday 3 July at Villa Varda di Brugnera, PN)

·         Terence Blanchard (Monday 4 July at Villa Varda di Brugnera, PN)

·         Skunk Anansie (Wednesday 6 July in Udine),

·         Zucchero Fornaciari (Thursday 7 July at Villa Manin di Codroipo, UD),

·         I PIL (Public Image Limited (Friday 8 July at Azzano Decimo, PN)

·         Moby (Saturday 9 July at Azzano Decimo, PN)

·         Ray Manzarek & Robby Krieger of THE DOORS (Sunday 10 July in Grado, GO)

·         Robben Ford (Monday 11 July at Villa Varda di Brugnera, PN)

·         Limp Bizkit (Tuesday 12 July at Villa Manin di Codroipo, UD),

·         Mauro Ermanno Giovanardi (Thursday 14 July in Grado, GO)

·         Goran Bregovic (Friday 15 July in Trieste)

·         Bon Jovi [only gig in Italy] (Sunday 17 July in Udine)

·         Niccolò Fabi (Wednesday 20 July in Grado, GO)

·         Franz di Cioccio and Remo Anzovino (Thursday 21 July in Grado, GO)

·         Franco Battiato (Friday 22 July in Trieste)

·         “La notte della Tempesta” with Le Luci Della Centrale Elettrica, Il Pan del Diavolo, Tre Allegri Ragazzi Morti and many other independent bands, (Saturday 23 July at Villa Manin di Codroipo, UD)

·         Raphael Gualazzi (Thursday 28 July in Grado, GO)

·         Ben Harper (Friday 29 July in Tarvisio, UD)

There’s a great buzz in Lignano Sabbiadoro this summer in anticipation of the EMG (European Masters Games), to be held from 10-20 September, which will see thousands of sportsmen in the over 30/35 category compete in 21 disciplines. Its sports facilities and infrastructure ensure this northern Adriatic resort is able to meet a wide range of tastes and the town’s affinity with sport will be reinforced with an array of other national and international sporting events throughout the summer. A beach, a playing field and two goals, together with sin-bins, highly-trained players and spectacular moves. This is beach soccer as it will be seen in Lignano Sabbiadoro’s Beach Arena during the 2011 European Beach Soccer League from Friday 1 to Sunday 3 July, while a round in the Italian Beach Soccer Championship will be held from Friday 8 to Sunday 10 July. Later, the 11th International Beach Rugby Championship, the beach rugby showcase event, will take place between Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 July. The leading teams will be pitted against each other in a swirl of sun and sand, with tries galore and fun for everyone.

This event will celebrate the Wulfenia Carinthiaca, a flower in the Scrophulariaceae family found in very restricted areas, including a small zone in the Eastern Alps on the Italian and Austrian sides of the Pramollo Pass, along a path leading to the “Gartnerkofel”. Being so rare, it is a protected species and it is forbidden to pick or possess specimens. Every year Italian Alpini troops and their Austrian Alpenjaeger counterparts meet along the border just as the first blue flowers begin to appear. Here they light a tripod at the foot of the wrought iron monument to this wonderful flower.

Prose, music, dance, poetry and puppet theatre are the highlights of a festival which builds concrete and spectacular bridges between the countries of Mitteleuropa. The summer of 2011 will once again see a fresh edition of one of Italy’s leading festivals. This will be the 20th Mittelfest, twenty years which have had a profound impact on our societies and seen borders and political systems change radically in Europe and throughout the world. This process has been at the heart of what this festival in Cividale has attempted to explore, contributing to building a new platform of cultural exchange between the Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia and central Europe.
Over the years, the splendid setting of Cividale del Friuli, an ideal festival town, has played host to some of the most important events in the Mitteleuropa area and welcomed some of its most famous figures. This year the festival will be longer and offer an even greater range of events, aiming to become the fulcrum of an elite tourism with a special interest in this corner of Europe comprising Italy, Austria and Slovenia. Mittelfest 2011 will still be based in Cividale, with a number of supplementary events in other venues around the Region leading up to the main event. The various cultures of Mitteleuropa will be on show from 9 to 24 July, with due space also being accorded to the wealth of minority cultures of central Europe. The result will be a panoply of spectacles supplemented by a series of cultural and geo-political sideshows, which have proved so popular with audiences in the past. Mittelfest’s assortment of artistic attractions will be able to highlight the area’s tourist potential, with additional guided tours of Cividale, the nearby Valli del Natisone and other parts of the Region specially laid on for visitors. All this rounded off with a selection of the most mouthwatering Mitteleuropean food and drink, especially examples of the local Friuli and Cividale cuisine – an unmissable treat.

ITS - International Talent Support – is one of the leading international platforms for discovering and supporting young talent. A network made up of experts in the field, opinion leaders, the international press, students and teachers from all over the world who come together to share and consider the greatest examples of creativeness in the world of fashion & accessories design and photography. Each of the four fields has its own competition: ITS#FASHION, ITS#ACCESSORIES, ITS#PHOTO and ITS#JEWELRY. Over 7,400 portfolios received, a network of over 800 schools in 70 countries, 651 journalists from 30 countries, over 5,400 international guests, including a number of high-profile figures: Franca Sozzani of Vogue Italia, the designers Raf Simons and Antonio Marras, the John Galliano and Diane Von Furstenberg studio boss Elisa Palomino, Isabelle Aout of Martin Margiela, Kat Nadj of HR Gucci Group and the photographers Sarah Moon and Ari Marcopoulos. ITS is able to draw international attention to Trieste thanks also to a press office placing over 1,750 articles in over 30 countries. ITS is absolutely delighted to announce a new enterprise, ITS#TEN – International Talent Support, which will build up to a final scheduled for 15 and 16 July 2011, held on=e again in the enchanting Auction Hall in Riva Nazario Sauro in Trieste.

Cjarsons (also known as cjalsons or cjalzòns) is a typical Friuli dish from the Alpine area of Carnia. This stuffed pasta looks a little like agnolotti or ravioli and its distinguishing feature is the contrast between salt and sweet. The stuffing varies widely according to the local recipe and can contain raisins, dark chocolate or cocoa, cinnamon, spinach, ricotta cheese, chives, jam, rum, grappa, parsley, dry biscuits, eggs and milk. Once cooked, the cjarsons are then sprinkled with melted butter and smoked ricotta cheese. The festival dedicated to this delicious speciality will be held in Arta Terme, which combines the beauty of the mountains with low altitude, offering the advantages of both the healthy outdoors and the wonders of traditional Friuli gastronomy. This small town was a favourite retreat of the poet Giosuè Carducci and is criss-crossed with delightful paths exploring the landscape, ancient votive churches, mountain huts and alpine meadows.

This festival reached the milestone of the fiftieth edition last year and is one of the main events held in the Region, attracting thousands of visitors to the hill town with its musical, cultural sporting, artistic and gastronomic attractions. The Festival of Majano is well known for its initiatives in the field of music, including evenings at the “Happy Area” disco enlivened by famous dj’s, but especially the great concerts drawing world-famous bands and musicians of all types to its stage, including Umberto Tozzi, Litfiba, Oliver Skardy & Fahrenheit 451 and Alice Cooper, just to name those present at last year’s festival. This year will see Subsonica take the stage on Saturday 6 August (a concert included in the Music&Live promotion, “sleep one night in a 2-, 3- or 4-star hotel subscribing to the scheme and get a free ticket”). Another important musical event is the “Un Gallo per l’Estate” Festival, a platform for promising young singers from throughout the Region. The music is the main attraction, but other events catch the eye too, such as the 4th Majano Italian Championship Rally, the crafts exhibition and sports events, such as the off-road rally, BMW single-make motorbike rally and the athletics meeting. Throughout the festival there will be plenty of opportunities to enjoy the local wines and gastronomy in special tastings, as well as at kiosks providing a full range of regional food and a wide variety of wines and beers.

Fulvio De Santa, one of the leading chefs in north-eastern Italy will reveal the secrets of the cuisine of Friuli and Carnia in his hometown, Forni di Sopra. Framed by the stunning peaks of the Eastern Friuli Dolomites and lying in the heart of a broad, sunny basin, this mountain town is situated in Carnia, in the eastern part of the Friuli Dolomites Natural Park, one of the largest in the Alps and one of the best endowed with wild animals. Forni di Sopra holds the twin festivals “Festa delle Erbe di Primavera”, in spring, and “Forni, Funghi e…Gastronomia”, in September, which together offer an unparalleled opportunity to discover a different world, in tune with the rhythms of nature.