Almost two years ago Whitney Houston was trying to make a comeback and she did so in Bella Italia.  In May of 2010 she performed in Milan at the Mediolanum Forum.

(The Mediolanum Forum, formerly known as Fila Forum, is an indoor sports arena, in Assago near Milan. The arena has a capacity of 11,500 and is primarily used for ice hockey, basketball, tennis and live concerts.)

Unfortunately some critics were harsh, describing her tour as “tragic” and saying “the talent was not there”. Houston blamed most of her sub-par performances on respiratory issues, according to an ABC story.  Houston was quoted as saying in reference to her voicebox, “I wanna do it—but just doesn’t want to. I have long talks with her. Well, tonight she’s getting a little temperamental.”

Oscar-winning auteur Francis Ford Coppola has been direct­    ing a series of side projects for years with his array of ­    gorgeously sited boutique hotels in Buenos Aires, ­Belize, and  Guatemala, not to mention the much visited ­Inglenook and  Coppola wineries in Napa and Sonoma. But for Palazzo  Margherita, his latest, the filmmaker has settled on more  personal territory—restoring a 19th century mansion in the  town of Bernalda, from which his paternal grandfather, —  Agostino, hailed.

Located just 15 minutes from the Ionian Sea in the Basilicata region, the palazzo was originally built by the wealthy Margherita family in a particularly tony area. But in a nod to Coppola’s grandfather, who grew up in a modest neighborhood, the hotel injects a bit of intimacy into the grandeur in an attempt to make guests feel less like they are in a hotel and more like they are in an Italian home.

French architect Jacques Grange oversaw restoration of the property, which has seven suites, two rooms, and a private interior garden. A restaurant, Cinecittà, will be open to the public, while a private bar on the upper floor of the hotel will cater only to guests.

Though Palazzo Margherita hadn’t officially opened yet, in August it hosted Sofia Coppola’s wedding to Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars—an affair that brought the tiny town a dose of Hollywood glamour. A harbinger of things to come, no doubt.

The high point in Venice’s social calendar, Carnevale is a masked extravaganza, and your chance to spend night & day looking like the Phantom of the Opera. The world’s best-known baroque fancy-dress party, it’s as extravagant as Rio’s Carnaval is riotous, celebrating the approach of spring with refined gusto.

Venetians have been celebrating Carnevale since at least the 15th century. In those days private clubs organised masked balls, and popular entertainment included such gentle fun as bull-baiting and firing live dogs from cannons. By the 18th century Venice was in the grip of hedonism, and the licentious goings-on of Carnevale lasted two months. The event fell into decline after the city was seized by Napoleon in 1797, and was abandoned when Mussolini banned the wearing of masks. It was revived in 1979, once again staking its place among the world’s finest festivals.

The festivities begin on the Friday afternoon with La Festa delle Marie, a procession through the city. This is a precursor to the official opening on Saturday, when a masked procession leaves Piazza San Marco around 4pm and circulates through the streets. The next day there are jousts and other mock-military tournaments. The following Friday evening sees the festival’s high point, the Gran Ballo delle Maschere (Grand Masked Ball), or Doge’s Ball, which takes place in different locations each year – usually a suitably grand palace is chosen for the event. Anyone with proper costume and mask who is able to dance the quadrilles and other steps of a few centuries ago may join in.

Saturday and Sunday are given over to musical and theatrical performances in Piazza San Marco and other locations. Calcio storico (a medieval approximation of football in period costume) matches are played on Piazza San Marco, also the scene for a parade of the best and most ornate costumes (the parade is repeated on Tuesday). On the Sunday, a beautiful procession of decorated boats and gondolas carrying masked passengers wends its way serenely down the Grand Canal.

During the course of the festivities, plenty goes on outside the main events. Street performers fill the main thoroughfares and squares and an ice-skating rink is sometimes set up in Campo San Polo. Essentials: To really enjoy the Carnevale spirit you’ll need a mask, at the least. Two of the finest mask makers are Ca’ Macana (www.camacana.com) and L’Arlecchino.

Eduardo De Pandi has cherished the idea of becoming an important tailor his whole life. At the age of 9, Eduardo began working as an apprentice tailor in Napoli at the premier tailor shop of the era Sartoria Luigi Sangermano located in Via Chiaia, Napoli.  While working for Sangermano, he attended courses on design and patterns for men at Mastrosimone and Ugo Massa’ in 1967. He also participated in the Festival Della Moda di S.Remo “Con Grande Successo, Premiato Come Megliore Giovane Sarto” Translated: with great success, recognized as the best young tailor.

After years of Apprenticeship, training and hard work, Eduardo decided to spread his wings and implement his own vision. He opened a boutique custom-made tailor shop in Napoli that obtained immediate success. At the age of 40, Eduardo decided to open a boutique in Washington DC called Bruno Cipriani. The shop carries the top ranking Italian menswear manufacturers in the world: Versace, Dolce Punta, Sartoria Partenopea, Luigi Borrelli, Gimo’s, Vitaliano Pancaldi, Xacus, Torras, Cantarelli, Grand Sasso…Today, Eduardo De Pandi’s creation attract some of the most prestigious names in the Washington DC and Hollywood areas. To list some of them: Maestro Placido Domingo, King Mswati III of Swaziland, Joe Beninati, Bill Rancic,  Brian Mitchel, John Bruno, Michael Sonnenreich, William Dockser, Ronald Abramson are few famous faces that can be found wearing Eduardo De Pandi.

Bruno Cipriani is located in the White Flint Mall, Bethesda, Maryland.

Bruce Willis and mega-producer Jerry Weintraub usually receive VIP treatment wherever they go, but Extra reported last summer they were told to leave a restaurant on the swanky island of Sardinia.  Now they are issuing a harsh warning to celebrities around the globe, saying, keep away from the restaurant Cipriani and The Billionaire club in Sardinia if you dont want to be humiliated! The movie star and the movie mogul were reportedly thrown out of the exclusive restaurant after Flavio Briatore’s 26-year-old fiancé couldn’t get a photo taken with Bruce. Briatore, the Formula One international playboy who fathered Klum’s first child and once romanced Naomi Campbell, is a partner in the restaurant. Sources tell that when Briatore’s fiancé complained, he sent his bouncers over to Bruce and Jerry. The two Hollywood heavyweights were sitting with boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko and tried to talk things out, but the bouncers ordered them out without an explanation. Today Bruce and Jerry tell that despite the terrible treatment, they still love Sardinia but may have to form their own Billionaire Club.

“Italians don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. There isn’t even an equivalent holiday, as there is in Canada and other countries. However, not having Thanksgiving doesn’t mean that Italians don’t have something to say about how to celebrate it. When Italians plan a meal, they don’t just plan out the courses; they also plan out the wines for each course. There’s no way that the wine that you start a meal is also the wine you drink as you finish it. The wine isn’t serving the same purpose, and it isn’t accompanying the same food. It’s a form of blasphemy to jumble wines and foods in Italy–you’d no more serve Prosecco with the main course than you would serve a Barolo with your antipasti. To do so would be to present jarring notes, and the whole point is to create a seamless, escalating experience where each course gets you primed for the one that follows.  So here follows suggested wines for each course of your Italian Thanksgiving…

Gli Antipasti

Italian meals begin with antipasto, literally, the dish before the meal. More than mere hors d’oeuvres or snacks, the antipasti should stimulate your appetite, prepare your palate, and ready you to enjoy the meal ahead of you. Prosecco is the traditional antipasti beverage–in Italy, the first thing most hosts and waiters will ask you is if you’d like a glass. However, other options like a crisp, aromatic white like today’s Peter Dipoli Sauvignon Voglar or an acidic, jaunty red like Eraldo Viberti Barbera d’Alba will also do the palate-stimulating trick.

• Fantinel Prosecco Brut Extra Dry NV $16.00 (Veneto–Prosecco)
• Peter Dipoli Sauvignon Voglar 2007 $31.99 (Trentino-Alto Adige–Sauvignon Blanc)
• Barone Pizzini Brut Franciacorta NV $37.20 (Lombardia–Chardonnay)
• Eraldo Viberti Barbera d’Alba Vigna Clara 2004 $43.75 (Piemonte–Barbera)

I Primi

Primi Piatti is a pasta, polenta or rice dish; it’s an easily digested food, one that warms you on the inside and offers an explosion of flavor resting on a bed of comfort-making starch. Wines reflect texture as much as they do the sauce. There should be a sassy acidity that makes your mouth ready for each new bite. Whether you opt for a white touched with a shot of salinity like Bruna Pigato’s Le Russighine or Paolo Bea’s Bianco Arboreus, or a red with that strides the line between fruity and rustic like Il Macchione’s Vino Nobile or Fatttoria di Fubbiano’s I Pampini–or one of our other selections–you want a wine with a sassy, fresh mouth-feel.

• Bruna Pigato Le Russeghine 2010 $28.88 (Liguria–Pigato)
• Cascina Barbatella Mystere 2000 750ml $32.99 (Piemonte–Cabernet Sauvignon, Barbera, Pinot Nero)
• Fattoria di Fubbiano I Pampini 2003 $42.25 (Toscana–Sangiovese, Teroldego)
• Il Macchione Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2006 $46.50 (Abruzzo–Prugnolo Gentile)
• Poderi Aldo Conterno Langhe Chardonnay Bussiador 2008 $50.00(Piemonte–Chardonnay)
• Paolo Bea Bianco Arboreus 2006 $68.99 (Umbria–Trebbiano)

I Secondi

This is, for most American families, turkey on Thanksgiving, but it also could be any dish that’s the big centerpiece of your meal–including duck, goose, venison or roast pork. In Italy, there’s a crescendo with the I Secondi. We picked the “big” wines, the showstoppers for this course. They’re aromatic, nuanced, and complex. These are wines that give pause and celebrate that main course and the people at your table. All of these wines–Brunello, Rosso, Barolo, Chianti and more–are wines that want to accompany the main course “wow” moment. Plus, you can’t go wrong with Sesti, Grattamacco, Mascarello, or Fontodi, not at a time like this.

• Fontodi Chianti Classico 2008 $36.84 (Toscana–Sangiovese)
• Bartolo Mascarello Barbera 2009 750ml $41.05 (Piemonte–Barbera)
• Grattamacco Rosso 2000 $50.00 (Toscana–Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, Merlot)
• Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Cappella Santo Stefano 1999 $79.99 (Piemonte–Nebbiolo)
• Palari Faro 2006 $80.00 (Sicilia–Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio, Nocera, Acitana)
• Sesti Brunello di Montalcino 2004 $88.45 (Toscana–Sangiovese)

I Formaggi

The cheese course is a staple across Europe. Italians have long believed that cheese helps digestion, and recent science supports this folk wisdom. The wines for the cheese course need to be assertive enough to complement the richness of the formaggi, but it needs to be mellow enough to signal the end of the meal. We’ve chosen some seriously artisanal finds–the spicy and unusual Gewürztraminer Exilissi, the Lombaridan Nebbiolo Valgella Carteria, the ripe Venturini Armarone, and Quintarelli’s chewy, haunting Ca’ del Merlo.

• Quintarelli Primofiore 2007 $49.50 (Veneto–Corvina, Rodinella, Molinara, Negrara)
• Sandro Fay Valgella Carteria 2007 $49.99 (Lombardia–Chiavennasca)
• Venturini Amarone Campomasua 2005 750ml $64.99 (Veneto–Corvina, Rodinella, Molinara)
• Baron Di Pauli Exilissi 2007 $69.99 (Alto Adige–Gewurtztraminer)

I Dolci

Dessert is a tough pairing. The wine can’t be too sweet or it cancels out what it’s meant to complement. But it also can’t be too dry or it’ll fall flat. We’re featuring one of the all-time great dessert wines. The ‘59 Solaria Jonica is the lucky child of the hottest summer on record in Puglia, the skills of master winemaker Antonio Ferrari, and sheer luck. Astoundingly vibrant, this wine sits somewhere between a Recioto and a Port. Rich, luscious, concentrated and warm, this wine needs to be tasted to be believed and sipped slowly to be appreciated.

• Antonio Ferrari Solaria Jonica 1959 $149.00 (Puglia–Primitivo)

(Source: The Italian Wine Merchant, eNewsletter, 11.17/11).

With Berlusconi’s resignation he will no longer occupy this place or should we say palace.

The Palazzo Chigi is a palace or noble residence in Rome, overlooking the Piazza Colonna and the Via del Corso. Often overlooked by American tourists, it was begun in 1562 by Giacomo della Porta and completed by Carlo Maderno in 1580 for the Aldobrandini family. In 1659 it was purchased by the Chigi family. The residence was then remodelled by Felice della Greca and Giovan Battista Contini. It has five floors, a broad stairway that leads to the living rooms, and a courtyard decorated with a fountain, designed by Giacomo della Porta. The fountain has been copied in many sites in Rome and other Italian cities.

In 1878 it became the residence of the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador to Italy. In 1916 it was bought by the Italian state and became the seat of the Minister for Colonial Affairs. Later it was the official residence of the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 1961 it became the official meeting place of Council of Ministers whose President is the head of the Italian government.

Palazzo Chigi is the official residence of Prime Minister of Italy. Since May 2008, until November 2011 the tenant of Chigi was Silvio Berlusconi, former prime minister of Italy.

Stylish and sophisticated the Armani Hotel Milano opened on the 10th of November this year in Italy’s fashion capital, Milan. It is the second hotel Giorgio Armani opens, after the success of the Armani Hotel Dubai in Dubai’s Burj Khalifa tower.  Opposite the city’s prestigious Via Montenapoleone shopping street and near the La Scala theater and the cathedral Il Duomo, the super-luxe Armani Hotel opens under the Armani Hotels & Resorts banner and it’s the result of a collaboration between Armani Hotels & Resorts and Emaar Properties PJSC.

Located in the same building as the Armani Privé boutique and Armani/Nobu restaurant, creating a flagship space for the $2.1 billion brand, it covers 162,000 square feet. Offering a new experience of hospitality within its fashion district, every aspect of the hotel reflects Giorgio Armani’s aesthetic philosophy. If we were to describe in a few words this hotel, we definitely say luxury, privacy, comfort and beauty because the entire design concept accentuates this feeling. The hotel feature 95 guest rooms and suites , all furnished with Armani Casa linens, fabrics and custom furniture, and ranging from Deluxe and Première rooms to Classic, Executive, Ambassador, Signature and Presidential suites. It has the largest guestrooms in the city, a gourmet restaurant, a luxurious Armani SPA on the eighth floor that covers almost 13,000 square feet, a fully equipped business centre with meeting rooms and magnificent views over Milan. Giorgio Armani wanted his interiors to be “ practical, logical, and rational without losing glamour and richness of quality.” The space is integrated, the elements are the same both in the rooms and outside them. Onyx, silk georgette and green river stone are among the main materials. Curved walls help convey a sense of harmony between areas, which was a priority for Armani. The unsurprisingly Armani neutral tones – iconic “greige,” creamy brown, green and mother-of-pearl dominate the interiors and transmit a feeling of relaxation and calm. Minibars, high-tech amenities and cupboards are hidden, reflecting his sense of order and space. With Giorgio nothing is left to chance.

Another bold-faced name in Italy….

According to Popsugar:  “Ivanka Trump broke out her blue bikini today for a day at the beach in Sardinia with her husband, Jared Kushner. The shoe and handbag designer is off on a vacation with Jared just two months short of their first wedding anniversary. Ivanka cooled off with a swim, and Jared was right there to help her dry off with a towel — so sweet!”

Trump stayed at an A&B favorite hotel: Hotel Cala di Volpe.

This Starwoods property sits on a spectacular 55-kilometer stretch of Sardinian coastline known as Costa Smeralda—or “Emerald Coast”—due to the deep green color of the Mediterranean sea. Dramatic rock formations—windswept into sculptural reliefs by the Mistral—are as characteristic of the area’s astonishing beauty as the fragrance of laurel, oleander, and juniper carried on the ocean breeze. The meandering coast forms hidden inlets of aqua blue water perfect for swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving. Hotel Cala di Volpe is pen from April through October of each year; the resort enjoys endless sunshine and balmy temperatures from 20 to 27 degrees Celsius, while the ocean warms to an ideal 23 degrees Celsius.

This past summer, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel jetted to Rome for a romantic getaway. Much of Hollywood is forced to see Italy at its worse—August—due to production schedules.  The real Italy can be found in late September, October and even early November.