Rome Cracks Down on Revelers

Learn to appreciate food, wine, and bread in style

(NEWSER) - There's no better time than autumn or winter, the harvest seasons, for foodies to embark on a luxurious gastronomic adventure. Consider these premier gourmet trips, rounded up by the Wall Street Journal :

• Wine: Spend 3 days refining your palate as you learn to taste, select, and pair top wines at the annual Wine Geek 101 event at Blackberry Farm , nestled in the foothills of Tennessee's Smoky Mountains. $1,200 per person.

Study suggests wine aficionados often skip the meal

(NEWSER) - We’re always hearing that this wine goes with that food, and feel guilty when we get it wrong—but what if it’s all a scam? asks Jason Wilson in the Washington Post . A new study suggests it might be: More than 60% of wine sipped by “high-frequency wine drinkers”—those who drink wine several times weekly—isn’t accompanied by a meal. It just goes to show, argues wine blogger Alder Yarrow, that the chatter over correct pairings is propagated by the wine establishment, perhaps as a moneymaking move. "For every glass carefully chosen to go with a specific dish, there appear to eight more consumed in the same way most people drink a scotch," writes Yarrow at Vinography . More»

Ex-Speaker released after suffering 'minor ailment'

(NEWSER) - Nancy Pelosi was hospitalized today in Rome but has been released, an Italian news agency has reported. She entered the hospital for a "minor ailment" after feeling "slightly unwell," the agency said, without providing specifics. US officials are keeping mum on the incident, the AP notes. The House Democratic leader, who is in Italy for the country’s 150th anniversary, had been scheduled to meet with the defense minister and other Italian officials, notes the AFP . More»

Shoebox device sparks bomb scare

(NEWSER) - A fake bomb sparked a major scare in the Rome subway system yesterday. Bomb disposal experts discovered that the device—found on an empty subway car at the end of the line—contained a cement-like powder instead of explosives and didn't have a trigger mechanism, AP reports. The city could "breath a sigh of relief," Rome's mayor told reporters. "It's a bluff, a provocation in bad taste that regardless showed there was no danger of attacks in our city," he said. Officials throughout Europe are on alert as terrorist "chatter" concerning holiday attacks is on the rise. More»

Not a good day to be a tourist in Europe...

(NEWSER) - Now is not the time to be embarking on your dream trip to Italy ... or England. Both countries are weathering yet another day of student protests. In Rome, police vans and rows of riot-gear-clad officers barricaded access to the city's historic center in an attempt to keep students away from Parliament, where lawmakers will vote today on a contested university reform bill. Similar protests snarled Milan, Turin, Naples, and Venice, reports the AP . In Genoa, students protested under the slogan "they block our future, we block the cities." More»