Italy

Question: We recently received a registered letter from the Commune of Lucca, Italy, notifying us that we were in violation of "circulating inside a pedestrian area" on May 5, 2011. Because we did not contest the violation immediately, it said, we must be considered guilty. We were to send immediately 123.76 euros, about $152. If we delayed more than 60 days, the fine would increase to about $245. We did visit Lucca on May 5, but we never received a ticket or anything else in writing.

ITALY Presentation Adrian Kalvinskas of Distant Lands will show you how to see Italy at its best, including finding less crowded corners of the country. When, where: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Distant Lands, 20 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena. Admission, info: Free. RSVP to (626) 449-3220. INDIA Workshop Hostelling International will conduct a workshop on how to travel to India safely and inexpensively. When, where: 7 p.m. Wednesday at the REI store in Santa Monica, 402 Santa Monica Blvd.

From the Leaning Tower of Pisa to the smiling Mona Lisa, Italy has long distinguished itself with its artistry, innovation and style. With scientists such as Galileo Galilei, artists such as Michelangelo and artist-scientists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Italy has made amazing contributions for a country slightly larger than Arizona. Explore Italian history, art, architecture, music, cuisine and more through the direct links on the Times Launch Point Web site, http://www.latimes.

Prosecco producers from Italy's Veneto region are courting the Chinese market with a slick website --translated into Chinese. It's a smart move to get in early as the Chinese wine market explodes. According to the Consortium for the Protection of Prosecco from Conegliano Valdobbiadene, exports to Asia have increased 78.9% from 2010 to 2012. With this website, they want to nudge sales further in that direction. California producers, however, were earlier in the game. In 2012, Wine Institute (a trade organization of 1,000 California wineries and wine-related businesses)

We spent four nights at this beautiful agriturismo and winery in Umbria. It has lovely guest apartments, a golf course, swimming pool, tennis courts and a restaurant in the middle of the vineyards. Rates are very reasonable for such a wonderful location, near Lake Trasimeno. It is owned by the daughter of Ferruccio Lamborghini, founder of Automobili Lamborghini. Agriturismo Lamborghini & Golf Club, 1 Soderi di Panicarola, Panicale; 011-39-075-835-0029, http://english.lamborghinionline.it . Rates from about $720 to $1,187 in July and August.

CORTINA D' AMPEZZO, Italy - Hiking up a road should be simple, right? It's relatively wide, so you're not apt to step off and tumble down the mountain. It's relatively smooth, so you're not likely to stumble. So why am I stopping for a breather every couple of hundred yards while I just saw a guy pushing a baby buggy down the road and my "baby" is by this time somewhere near the top? Well, there is that little matter of grade - or steepness - and Italy's Dolomites, though not of the dizzying height as the Rockies, do make the grade.

'The Turk in Italy' Where: Los Angeles Opera, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, downtown L.A. When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 2, 5 and 10; 2 p.m. Feb. 27 and March 13 Tickets: $20 to $270 Information: (213) 972-8001 or http://www.laopera.com

Italians are flocking to see an exhibition in Rome celebrating the 400th anniversary of Caravaggio's death, held in the Scuderie del Quirinale -- the 18th century palace that once housed the papal stables. The exhibit is a stringent choice of just 24 rigidly authenticated works by Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, a master of light and dark (chiaroscuro) painting. Caravaggio

THE BEST WAY TO GIGLIO ISLAND, ITALY From LAX, Alitalia offers nonstop service to Rome; Lufthansa, American, British, Delta, U.S. Airways, Swiss, United, Iberia and KLM offer connecting service (change of plane). Restricted roundtrip fares begin at $1,174, including taxes and fees. Drive or take the train to Porto Santo Stefano, where you catch the ferry (www.toremar.it, http://www.maregiglio.it ) to Giglio. Fares from $10. TELEPHONES To call the numbers below from the U.S. dial 011 (the international dialing code)

THE BEST WAY From LAX, connecting service (change of planes) to Naples is offered on Lufthansa and British. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $466, excluding taxes and fees. You then take the hydrofoil or ferry to Capri; prices start about $15, one way. Info: http://www.capri.com/en/ferry-schedule. TELEPHONES To call these numbers from the U.S., dial 011 (international dialing code), 39 (country code for Italy), 081 (the regional code) and the local number. WHERE TO STAY Hotel Punta Tragara, 57 Via Tragara; 837-0844, http://www.hoteltragara.com/eng/hotel.htm . Le Corbusier, one of 20th century's great architects, designed the luxurious villa that is now Hotel Punta Tragara, a stylish boutique hotel with panoramic views of the sea. Perched on a hilltop above the faraglioni , the island's iconic rock formations, Punta Tragara is away from the noise and craziness of central Capri Town.

FLORENCE, Italy -- American student Amanda Knox and her Italian former boyfriend were found guilty on Thursday in the 2007 slaying of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher . It was the third verdict in the case for Knox, 26, and Raffaele Sollecito, 29, who were found guilty in 2009 of killing Kercher. That conviction was overturned two years later on appeal, only to have the decision later overruled. Knox was not in court Thursday when Judge Alessandro Nencini sentenced her to 28-1/2 years in prison, more than the 26 years she received at her first trial.

In a canvas tent in the Himalayan foothills, where winter breaths drifted in the twilight, Tibetan monks, their feet dangling from benches, watched a pirated copy of "Titanic. " The diminutive men, camped along a rutted road leading to the Dalai Lama's residence in exile near Dharamsala, India, did not understand what Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio were saying. But they knew the sleek black steel and tinkling jewelry were sailing toward doom. A cold wind shook the tent, but the monks, some fidgeting with prayer beads, others bundling their burgundy robes in coats, were entranced at the grainy spectacle before them.

Zach Johnson started the new year the way he ended the last one. Johnson pulled away with three consecutive birdies on the back nine at Kapalua, Hawaii, and closed with a seven-under-par 66 for a one-shot victory over Jordan Spieth in the Tournament of Champions on Monday. Spieth, who had a one-shot lead going to the back nine, birdied his last two holes for a 69. "I just picked it apart," said Johnson, who finished at 19-under 273. "I didn't deviate from anything I typically do on a golf course.

A friend recently got stuck when he tried to explain to his son, who was struggling to find a job, how our economy got to be the way it is. He asked my help since I am a well-known crank on the matter. I offered him three short anecdotes: Last summer I was in a Home Depot standing in front of a veritable mountain of new air conditioners. They were all from China, which was no surprise. But to be annoying I asked a passing clerk where they were made. He was a young man, hired more for the spring in his step than his knowledge of international sourcing.

Join photographer Joanne Heaviland for the “Ultimate Italian Experience.” This 11-day, 10-night excursion starts in Rome and continues on to the picturesque Amalfi Coast and the Mediterranean-chic towns of Positano, Amalfi and Ravello. Included are a photo workshop, an Italian cooking class, a tour of a mozzarella di bufala organic cheese farm, wine tasting and a tour of the island of Capri. Participants also learn photography techniques, including lighting, composition, landscape and portrait photography.

Tim Tebow's dream of playing quarterback for a professional football team might be over in America, or at least the NFL, but Italian league team Milano has offered him a four-month contract. Milano team President Marco Mutti told the Associated Press that the offer has been sent to Tebow's agent and the club is awaiting an answer. “We would be more than happy to have him,” Mutti said. The Milano Seamen lost last season's championship game to the Parma Panthers, 51-28.

The surprise restitution last week of a major Baroque masterpiece looted by the Nazis in 1944 was a stunning finale to a remarkable story. Missing for more than six decades, the bravura painting "Saint Catherine of Alexandria" by Bernardo Strozzi (1581-1644) had been tied up in Italian courts for almost five years. But the sudden return to its rightful owner in Los Angeles also raised a provocative question. The extensive art collection in Florence, Italy, from which the painting had been stolen included 15 canvases by Paul Cézanne, the celebrated French Post-Impressionist commonly regarded as the father of Modern art. As I wrote in a story in September, eight of those Cézanne paintings were bequeathed to "the President of the United States and his successors in office" - paintings that arrived in Washington from Europe in 1951.

To commemorate the centennial of the beginning of World War I, Dolomite Mountains Ltd. will lead eight-day tours exploring the via ferrata , or iron path,  the network of lines and metal ladders built to aid soldiers as they fought in and around the steep Dolomite peaks of northern Italy. Beginning in Cortina d' Ampezzo, hikers will climb a different via ferrata each day as guides discuss the stories, ruins and remnants of the historic routes among the Dolomites. The hike ends in Alta Badia.