Men Free Blog

Usually a convent isn’t on the hot list of places to stay but the La Locanda Delle Donne Monache hotel may change my mind on that. The hotel is located in the medieval town of Maratea, part of the Basilicata region that forms the “instep” of Italy’s boot. The hotel was was originally built as a convent in 1735 and is perched above Maratea’s port. There are 27 rooms and suites, with courtyard dining surrounded by orange and lemon trees around the garden. The backdrop to the swimming pool is the picture postcard church of the former convent where views are framed by the roofs of the village. Rates start as low as € 120 per room per night.

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Filming of the latest Bond flick, Quantum of Solace, has been put on hiatus after two stunt drivers were injured during filming. The crash apparently took place while performing a chase sequence where one driver in an Alfa Romeo crashed into a wall while chasing Bond’s Aston Martin DBS along the Gardesana, a curvy road that lines Lake Garda. The man behind the wheel of the Alfa was flown to the hospital in a helicopter and is in serious condition, while his passenger sustained only minor injuries.

This news comes within days of the previous crash that put one of the DBSs used for filming into the same lake, and despite the fact that filming was about to be wrapped today, the set remains closed until an investigation takes place. Thanks to all who tipped in.
[Sources: CNN, MI6.co.uk]

Who doesn’t dream of building his or her own supercar? It took four years for him to do it, but Filandri Moreno from Italy has inspirational neighbors such as Ferrari, Lamborghini and Pagani. Moreno possibly thought of famed supercar blowhards like Enzo and Ferrucio when naming his car the Uragano, which means ‘Hurricane’ in Italian, but blowing through 48 months is easy when you’ve got to design and fabricate a body and frame then populate it with the proper automotive subsystems. Rather than figure out how to set up a backyard foundry, Moreno borrowed an 4.2 liter bent eight from an Audi A8 for motivation and hung a large turbocharger off the rear for good measure. It’s tough to say anything critical when someone’s realized a goal that most of us will never achieve, but we’re honestly underwhelmed by the look and quality of the Uragano’s body fabrication. Not that we’d do much better than a lumpy C5 Corvette-looking thing that appears rendered in papier mache. Thanks for the tip, Trent!

[Source: PopSci]

We’ve been avoiding the 3G iPhone rumor mongering as much as possible recently. After all, we know it’s coming as both AT&T and Apple have confirmed. Now this: one of Italy’s most respected newspapers, La Repubblica (like the WSJ with red sauce), is claiming in no uncertain terms that the 3G iPhone is coming shortly to Telecom Italia without a revenue sharing deal and without long-term exclusivity. If true, this change in strategy opens the doors for a true, global, 3G iPhone launch on UMTS networks around the world come summer time.

We contacted Telecom Italia who refuse to comment on the matter.

[Thanks, jimbojambo and Claudio]

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