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European Rail Travel - an excellent and very comprehensive website for finding and booking train travel with up-to-date Eurostar timetable, European Rail and UK network rail plus links to coaches, ferries, TGV etc.

Trenitalia

Ferrovia Centrale Umbra - the country lines around Umbria with timetables (orari) in Italian.

Eurostar

Rail Europe

P&O Ferries

Umbria Trasporti (Italian)

Car hire

Car Hire Direct - searches a selection of hire companies to get the best deal for you.

1car1 - excellent service and great prices.

A Car in Italy - discounted car rentals throughout Italy - all with free additional driver and no excess.

Avis

Hertz - Ryanair's official partner for car hire.

Europcar

Sixt

Thrifty

Budget - car and van rental or click Budget for a quotation form

Insurance 4 Car Hire - insure your car hire excess

America Car Rental - for car rental for your USA holiday, look no further!

Coach and taxi hire

Marco Taxi - a cheaper taxi service based in Todi for airport journeys, tours, and social trips.

Paliani Tour - from luxury cars to 16 to 54-seater coaches for group tours and holidays.

Autonoleggi Segoloni Giampaolo - taxi, car hire, minibus and coach service in No website but can be contacted on 075 874 7373 or 335 687 0522.

Maps and route planning

Michelin - our first choice as it gives place locations and route planning

Live Local Search -

RAC - excellent route planning. Click advanced for Europe.

Multimap - another good location finding service

AA - route planning

TerraItaly - aerial photos in high resolution of outstanding Italian landmarks

News

BBCnews - updated every minute of every day

Newsstand - exact digital copy of leading newspapers on your PC

Telegraph - a great website by this well-known newspaper (more to follow)

Weather

Yahoo weather - weather forecast for Perugia, but you can change it (the location, not the weather!)

Euroweather - a more technical weather forecast for Umbria, Italy and Europe

Italymag - italy magazine has an excellent website and a page devoted to weather in Umbria

Advice and Information

Your Europe - Excellent source of Information and advice on living in Italy

BBC.co.uk - Resource for UK, news, weather, and many other things

BBCworld.com - Resource for worldwide news, and many other things

CIA - an amazing resource for information on Italy

Italian Tourist Board

The Informer - excellent resource for advice on living abroad

British Embassy

Insight Italy

International Property Law - thinking of buying a home abroad, don't leave home without it

Info Umbria

Bella Umbria -

Umbria General Guide - The agency for the promotion of tourism in Umbria.

Virtual Italia

Italian Culture - This site is an absolute mine of information about Italy.

Living in Italy - A guide for travellers and settlers.

Live in Rome - A website dedicated to people who wish to stay in Rome

British Chamber of Commerce for Italy

Tripadvisor - excellent website for travellers.

Umbria Best

Umbria Travel -

About Umbria

UmbriaStart4all - A great resource for further links for Umbria

Information Britain - excellent site on the UK with over 1.5 million pages!

Where to buy in Italy - website with advice on the various regions in Italy

Discussion Forums

italy magazine - an excellent discussion forum covering many different topics

Living Abroad - Linking expats, past, present and future.

Expats - an excellent website for UK expats

Slow Travel - excellent online discussion forum and advice centre, focussed on USA mainly

Expats in Italy - another excellent resource mainly for Americans on living in Italy

Expat Focus - international living advice, employment overseas, buying property abroad, international insurance and expatriate mortgages

My Pefect Getaway - a discussion forum for holiday home owners

Join our lively expat community today! Get help finding international insurance cover, overseas property, job opportunities abroad and investment advice, including pensions and retirement planning. Keep in touch with other expats through our forum, email discussion list and monthly newsletter.

Online Guide Books

AboutUmbria

Rough Guide - The famous guide books online

Frommers Expert advice and travel discounts

Umbria - The official website for Umbria

In Italy - Over 4,000 pages of useful information

Mortgage Providers

MutuiOnline - the largest mortgage broker in Italy with English-speaking consultants specializing in serving foreign clients.

BancaWoolwich

Barclays - Barclays for people buying in Italy

European Mortgage Company

Conti Financial Services - Brighton based company for overseas mortgages

Life in Italy - the specialist on Italian real estate mortgages to non-Italians

Foreign Exchange

HIFX - foreign exchange service with no charges, guaranteed

Ebury Partners - forign exchange

Excel Currencies - foreign exchange

Sterling Exchange - foreign exchange made simple

CurrencyUK - foreign exchange services

Foreign Exchange (UK) Ltd - foreign exchange service with no charges and low rates

Foreign Currency Direct - simple and stress free foreign exchange

Foreign Currency Exchange - for personal and friendly service

Foremost currency Group - for most people, for most reasons, for most currency

Currency Solutions

Globex - foreign exchange

Travelex - worldwide money

Moneycorp - commercial foreign exchange

SGM-FX - innovative foreign exchange

Currencies Direct - no website, call +44 (0) 20 7813 0332

World First - foreign exchange guaranteeing best rates

Financial Services

XE - online currency converter

Oanda - online currency info and currency converter

Barclays Bank - contact Susanne Clay, European Business Development Manager

Inland Revenue - I know, I know, but it's a very good and useful site

Tax

Michael J Murphy ACA - cross border tax advice and planning for Italy and the UK

Blevins Franks - international tax and wealth management specialists

Insurance

Insurance for Holiday Homes

Aurora - Internal link to our tame, English-speaking insurance broker, Giovanni Rosi

Insurance 4 Car Hire - insure your car hire excess

Heath Lambert - Europe’s leading independent insurance and reinsurance broker.

Harrison Beaumont Insurance - cheap overseas holiday home insurance brokers (buildings, contents and letting cover) for UK citizens owning property in many countries including, of course, Italy.

Legal Services

Mark Anthony Simon Paolini - English-speaking lawyer based in Perugia

The International Property Law Centre

LCA

Giambrone & Law - specialists in Italian property law

Bennett & Co

John Howell & Co. - international law specialists

Studio Legale Brizzi - English solicitor in Italy (website online shortly)

Studio Legale Paoletti - English solicitor specializing in private international law, real estate and family law

IT and Telecommunications

English Yellow Pages - English Yellow Pages for Italy!

BT - excellent resource for anything to do with phones

TecnoADSL - company specialising in wireless broadband connection in Umbria (IT)

AriaDSL - similar company to the above (IT)

Speedtest - test your internet connection

Internet Train Internet Point Network throughout Italy

Language and Translation

World Reference - online dictionary for translating Italian, French and Spanish

Polyglot - Teaching and translation services

Eurolinks - Language school and translation bureau

Language Schools

La Lingua La Vita - Todi, Umbria or Florence, Tuscany

Scuola Tricolore - Genoa, Liguria

A Door to Italy - Genoa, Liguria

Lingua Due - Milan, Lombardy

Istituto Venezia- Venice, Veneto

Scuola di Italiano a Bologna - Bologna, Emilia Romagna

Centro Culturale Conero - Camerano, Marche

Comitato Linguistico - Perugia, Umbria

Athena International School of Italian Language - Lanciano, Abruzzo

Sorrento Lingue - Sorrento, Campagna

Piccola Università Italiana - Tropea, Calabria

Laboratoria Linguistico - Milazzo, Sicily

L'Accademia Cagliari - Cagliari, Sardinia

Getting a Job

Careerjet - An excellent site for finding work in Italy

Banca Lavoro - Italian

Il Sole 24 ore - Italian

Cerca Lavoro - Italian

Job Online - Italian

Lavoroweb - Italian

Richerchiamo - Italian

Infojobs - Italian

Gazzetta Ufficiale - Italian

Corriere - Italian

Books and Bookshops

The Bookstore - link to LPV's own online bookstore with over 100 books relating to Umbria

An Appetite for Umbria - an excellent book about the food, people and places in Umbria

Buying a House in Italy - a 'must read' if you are buying a house in Italy

The Italian Bookshop - bookshop in London for Italian books

Expat Books - the book service for Brits abroad

Amazon.com - world version of the famous online shop

Amazon.co.uk - UK version of the famous online shop

Magazines

italy - the original magazine for people interested in Italy, now only on line.

Italian - another magazine about Italy

Italia! - yet another magazine about Italy

Auto Italia - For enthusiasts of Italian cars

Italian Cooking and Living

Living Abroad - for people choosing a new life overseas.

Food and Travel - magazine for the gourmet in you (no website, call +44 (0)20 8332 9090

Calcio Italia - your complete guide to Italian football

Exhibitions

La Dolce Vita - 8th, 9th and 10th March 2007 at Olympia, London (we'll be there on stand P82)

Viva Italia - waiting for dates for 2007 at Olympia, London

A Place in the Sun 30th March to 1st April 2007 at ExCel, London docklands

Food and Drink

Umbria Cucina - Cookery course in Umbria

The Marmalade Cat Company - British food products delivered to your home

Machiavelli - Leading distributor of fine Italian foods

A & A Banqueting - Catering service in Umbria for banquets, weddings, etc. (Italian)

Nifeislife - Italian food delivery across the UK

Expatboxes - Sending British products to expats abroad.

Hampers from Home - British food and gift hampers worldwide.

Italian Wines Direct

Italian Fine Wines - delivering you wines and more from Italy to your door.

Carluccio - Britain's favourite Italian TV chef's online shop

Waitrose - source for Italian ingredients

Valvona & Crolla

Sainsbury's

John Lewis

Filippo Berio - extra virgin olive oil

Making Panettone - how to make Panettone

Restaurants - list of local restaurants

Weddings

Umbrian Weddings - Professional photographers and planners

Weddings in Italy - Choose from a variety of Italy's most romantic and exotic wedding locations.

Wedding Planners - Organise Italian weddings for foreigners.

Tastes of Italy - Specialists in bespoke arrangements and gourmet hospitality in Italy

Jacquie Wedding Designer - for weddings in the UK

Italian Products

Del Taglia Piscine Swimming pools (in Italian, but easy to use)

Sending Presents

Poste Italiane - the English version of the website for Italian postal service.

Royal Mail - excellent for finding postcodes and locations (eg. for sending Christmas cards to the UK)

Scilly Flowers - excellent site for sending flowers to anywhere in the UK.

Interflora - excellent site for sending flowers worldwide.

Amazon - Everyone knows Amazon and their excellent service.

Marks and Spencer - Good ol' M&S, excellent products and delivered within UK (only).

Savers UK - excellent site.

Buyagift - fantastic range of products.

Majestic wines - deliver from nearest shop to anywhere in the UK.

Brown and Forrest - wide range of smoked foods sent everywhere except the USA.

Boots - well-known company with an excellent range of products.

Ticketmaster - buy tickets for just about anything.

Italy magazine - why not buy a subscription for someone?

Flight Dreams - Balloon flights.

Wentworth Wooden Jigsaw Company - A fantastic site and a fantastic range of products!
All Jigsaw Puzzles - Choose from over 1300 popular and hard-to-find puzzles

Prezzies.co.nz - Wide range of presents to family and friends in New Zealand

Royal Mail - You know the address but don't know the postcode? Find it here.

Parcelforce - an excellent website where you can track where your parcel is.

Moonpig - design your own personalised card on line and they print it and send it for you.

Cars and Motorcycles

Ferrari - factory and museum

Lamborghini - factory and museum

Maserati - factory and showroom

Alfa Romeo - official website

Ducati - factory and museum

Moto Guzzi - official website

Ariel - not Italian but WOW, what a machine, and made in my old home county - Somerset!

Top Gear - top magazine with road tests, etc.

Useful Services

Photography - images of Umbria, Tuscany and Italy

Italia Property Management - plus many other services; property rentals, weddings, etc.

The Housekeeper in Umbria - Offers a professional management service especially tailored to the rental market. We ensure your guests have all they require and that your house is well looked after.

HelpWorksItalia - property management and maintenance

Antonini e Partners - property management and maintenance

Website Design - intelligent web design with sensible pricing

Garden Design - garden and landscape design for your Italian home

Removals

GB Liners - cover the whole of UK and Europe

Crown Relocations - removals around the world
Weston and Edwards - removals from Southern England to Italy

Bishop's Move - experts in international and european relocation

Incare International -

Movers International -

Fox International -

Robinsons International Removals -

Move Me To Italy - door to door removal service

Trans-Fur - worldwide pet relocation

Animal Airlines - services for pets travelling to any part of the world

Passport for Pets - comprehensive pet transportation service from anywhere in the UK

Recreation

Golf Club - Perugia - the main golf club in Umbria

Golf Today - details of golf clubs in Umbria and Marché

Horse-riding - La Somma - see the Umbrian countryside at a slow pace

Rafting - Marmore Falls - exciting white-water rides

Sailing Club - Trasimeno - learn to sail on the beautiful Lake Trasimeno

Hot Air Ballooning - see Umbria from the air

Slotforum - the best site for slot car racing

Parks and Nature Reserves

Parks and Reserves

Parco del Sole

Marmore Falls

Useful General Sites

Wikipedia - The free online encyclopedia

Friends Reunited - Find old school friends, work colleagues, university mates, etc.

Genes Connected - Create your family tree, very simply, and link to other family trees.

Hotmail - This is a very effective free email system used by millions of people.

Dictionary - online English dictionary and thesaurus

Wordreference - online dictionary English-Italian and Italian-English, etc.

World Wide Words - an excellent site for background of words and phrases.

Time and Date - very useful site for anything to do with time or dates

Conversion - Convert just about anything to anything else. Over 5,000 units, and 50,000 conversions

Epinions - excellent site for obtaining reviews on products such as cars, books, etc.

Entertaining Sites

Guinness World Records - even includes video of some records

itunes - fantastic for downloading, managing and playing all your music

Last FM - an amazing site for music, radio, concert tickets, and much more.

Metacafe - a wide collection of short video clips of funny and astonishing things.

YouTube - another collection of video clips, this one was bought by Google for 1.6 billion dollars.

Internet Scrabble Club - play Scrabble online with people all over the world.

Emergency Tel Nos.

Dial:

113 for an emergency of any kind.

112 for the Carabinieri (the national police force; more useful than local branches)

118 for an ambulance

115 to report a fire

All these calls are free from any phone.

116 for car breakdowns, ACI (Automobile Club Italia)

For other emegencies or urgent requirement for help call:

Italian Tourist Office: +39 06 49711 or www.enit.it
Italian Embassy, London , United Kingdom : +44 (0)20 7312 2200
British Embassy, Rome : +39 06 4220 0001

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