Five relaxing days in nearby Austria.

A nice five relaxing days some 40 kms from the Austrian town of Lienz (no, not Linz but Lienz), in the Austrian Dolomite mountains. It only takes about 2 hours by car from Udine too.

Lots of mountain trekking with a lot of nice fresh air amongst grazing cows and very, very green pastures with also some traditional Austrian village feasts and dances. The B&B we stayed in—in a town of some 200 souls, more or less—is located in Untertilliach. Only 40 Euros for a double room AND including a rich and typical Austrian-style breakfast too! Info at:www.tiscover.at/niescher

The hospitality by the Klammer family was very nice as well. A very quite and very clean B&B indeed.

The area’s just perfect to relax in and to get away from iPods, iPhones, computers and the usual hustle and bustle of large and smog filled city centers (all pics by M. Rimati)!

Udinese celebrates Champions’ League qualifier!

With the May 22^nd, 2011 tie against league champions Milan in Udine and after a six-year absence, Udinese has finally gained access to the prestigious Champions’ League tournament by reaching 4^th place in the Italian Serie A. Team captain Toto Di Natale also grabbed the leading goal scorer’s title with a whopping 28 goals, just two ahead of Naples’s Cavani. Not bad indeed for a 33+ year-old who plays in perhaps the toughest (but not the best) soccer championship in the world.

Thousands of fans took to the streets of Udine’s center on Monday as they celebrated their heroes in the city’s main square, Piazza Liberta’. Udine’s mayor, the entire team as well as the owner of the club, Pozzo were on hand to receive the support and affection from adoring fans.

With a long championship now over with, which by the way began with several losses, Udinese can now look forward to a restful summer break and next season’s Champions’ League draw which could possibly see the small club battle it out with one of Europe’s soccer giants, Arsenal!

The great "Golden Boy" himself in Udine!

Yes, Gianni Rivera, the former "Golden Boy" of Italian soccer, the very first Italian-ever to have won the prestigious Golden Ball award, was in Udine on May 12, 2011 for a conference on youth soccer (he's now the president of the Italian youth and scholastic sector).

Rivera is no. 20 in the list of the all-time world’s greatest players of the 20^th century. He’s considered to also be one of the greatest no. 10s in the history of the game. In 1969 he became the firs Italian to win the prestigious “Golden Ball” award as Europe’s best player. He was Milan’s captain for a record 12 seasons.

With the national team he won the European championship in 1968. At the 1970 World Cup in Brazil he scored the winning goal in the over-time match between Italy and W. Germany (4-3). There’s a plaque outside of the Azteca Stadium which claims that the semi-final match between the Italians and Germans is the best match of the 20^th century! He eventually went on to lose the final against Pele’s mighty Brazil 4-1. Unfortunately, Rivera only entered the match with 6 minutes remaining. Not much to do against the likes of Pele’ and Rivelino… Rivera took part in 4 World Cups (1962, 1966, 1970 and 1974). He scored 14 goals and had 60 caps with the national team.

Ladies and gentlemen, and the winner is…..!

The small yet always quaint Udine hosted the 13^th edition of its wonderful “Far East Film Festival”. Throughout the years this fascinating event has become Europe’s most important Asian film review (on more than one occasion even the prestigious “The Economist” has reported on it).

The week long festival saw a record 87 movies being shown from 12 different countries, including Hong Kong, China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and also first-timer Mongolia.

The festival itself is quite the hit in Udine attracting not only locals but also foreigners involved in the international movie sector. The all-day movie showings were divided into two venues, the main “Giovanni da Udine” theatre and the “Visionario” cinema (a former youth centre during the Fascist period. It had actually been visited by Benito Mussolini!). The opening night saw as master of ceremonies the very dynamic festival director Sabrina Baracetti and Udine’s mayor, Furio Honsell.

Some Asian directors, thanks to Udine’s festival, have also managed to get some rather great international exposure, such as Hong Kong’s Johnny To. Recent festival winners in Udine also went on to eventually win Oscar awards in Hollywood, such as Japan’s splendid “Departures”. That movie ended up winning the Oscar for best foreign movie just a few years ago.

Many directors have at current and also past editions been very impressed and even touched at seeing even MORE people show up at their world premiers in Udine than in their very own countries (showings have been practically all sold-out)! This was also the comment by China’s movie director Daming Chen who presented this year his cute re-make of “What Women Want”, which had originally starred Mel Gibson. The Chinese version instead included beauty sensation Gong Li, who unfortunately could not make it to Udine for this year’s festival (a pity as on the big screen she’s simply exquisite!).

And this year’s winner? The very extremely moving “Aftershock” by China’s Xiaogang Feng. The movie deals with a devastating earthquake which hit China on May 6^th, 1976, causing the death of some 240,000 people. The movie in Udine was actually shown on May 6^th, no coincidence actually as on that very same date back in 1976 the Udine area also got hit by a severe earthquake. Indeed a moving homage to the victims of both countries (and also to those in the recent disaster in Japan as festival organisers also paid homage to that country’s victims).