Italian independence

By EWAN McDONALD

What else have we done this year? Ah yes," Ivan Pourpouras leans back and smiles, "we bought an island off Venice. It's a holiday island."

Which it would be. Pourpouras is commercial manager for CIT, an Italian-based company which specialises in European destinations for the independent traveller.

Pourpouras believes that mature New Zealand travellers tend to take their first trip to Europe on a conducted tour. Second time around, he suggests, they know what they want to see and do and eat and his company is there to provide the where-to-stay and how-to-get-around part of the equation.

The specialty destination is Italy, favourite spot for New Zealanders seduced by all those cooking shows on TV and Under The Tuscan Sun-type books. Pourpouras believes the country is good value for the Down Under dollar: it's certainly better than North America or Britain, for example. He points out, too, that with his company's tours, travellers "tend to buy everything before they go so they don't have to worry about the exchange rate when they get there."

His tips for hot spots this northern summer are the Lakes district (CIT has recently signed with one of the world's most romantic hotels, Villa D'Este on Lake Como); Positano on the Amalfi coast (featured in The Talented Mr Ripley) and the Cinque Terre.

For those who want to look and learn there are language classes in Verona, Florence, Rome, Siena or Milan, and cookery weeks in Umbria and the Amalfi coast.

Oh, and that island off Venice? Called Sacca Sessola, it's earmarked for conferences and incentive travel - you know, the trips that companies offer as reward to employees (hint, hint).