Wednesday, December 1, 2010

ROCKEFELLER CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING WITH AN ITALIAN TWIST by Philip S. Kampe

RICCARDO STRANO, Director of the Italian Goverment Tourist Board of North America and ANGELO FELTRIN, the Executive Manager of Tourism for regione PIEMONTE hosted a viewing of the 2010 Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony from their office on the 15th floor that overlooks the festivities that took place at the famed skating rink at Rockefeller Center.

The evening began with an in-depth prsentation by Angelo Feltrin and Mauro Carbone regarding PIEMONTE and the latest Tourism Developments and attractions of the region.
Located, in the geographic center of Europe, Piemonte and it's capital, Torino, which was Italy's First Capital, is easy to get to from all parts of Europe.

In 2006 Torino hosted the Olympic Winter Games. The entire infrastructure was updated and leads Europe with the modernization of the entire Alpine region, including the skiing facilities, as well as the roads and other sports facilities.

The range of winter sporting opportunities in the region is unlimited.

Skiers and snowboarders savor the beauty of unspoiled views of the Alps at LANZO and CAVANESE Valley. Cross country and Nordic sking is home to the CUNEO Valley, while the OSSOLA Valley is for the family-oriented.

The culinary traditions of the region range from BAROLO wine to WHITE TRUFFLES.
We were fortunate to sample both, Thanks to Diector Mauro Carbone, who flew in, hours before, carrying three White Truffles, each the size of a baby's hand.

The award winning AMARONE Restaurant, 686 9th Avenue, New York (212) 245-6060
served the White Truffles with other Piemonte delicacies. http://www.lunapienanyc.com/

The night was special featuring wines from the region, as well as traditional food from the Piemonte region. Of course the highlight was rissoto with white truffles paired perfectly with wines from Wine World Wide, Inc., Omniwines and Domodimonti.

We had a bird's eye view of the evening's Christmas Tree Lighting. The Italian Government Tourist Board, located at 45 Rockefeller Plaza, Suite 1565, faces the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center, thus allowing us to view the ceremonies and the 74 foot Norway Spruce, with it's 30,000 LED lights.

This was the 78th year of the ceremony, which brought thousands of tourists into New York.
Over 50,000 people witnessed the tree lighting, after enjoying live Holiday entertainment from
stars JESSICA SIMPSON, CHERYL CROW, BOYS II MEN, JOSH GROBAN, SUSAN BOYLE, ANNIE LENNOX, CHARICE.KATHERINE JENKINS and KYLIE MINOQUE.

To learn more about tourism opportunities in all of Italy, visit: http://www.italiantourism.com/ or telephone (212) 245-4822

Visit: www.regione.piemonte.it/tourism for up to date actvities throughout the Piemonte region.

PHILIP S. KAMPE
philip.kampe@thewinehub.com

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like Piemonte has it all...truffles, Barolo and winter sports.
I must visit..Thank you for the informative blog.

Anonymous said...

I have visited the Italian Tourism office in New York on numerous occasions and was always greeted with courtesy and respect. Plus, they are a library of knowledge regarding anything 'Italian'.

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