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Ostuni est une ville italienne de la province de Brindisi dans les Pouilles. Elle est surnommée « la ville blanche » en raison de la couleur des façades de ses maisons.

Géographie physique
Ostuni se trouve perchée sur trois collines à une hauteur de . Elle se situe à  de la côte de l'Adriatique dans le Haut-Salento.
La ville s'étend sur les ramifications méridionales de la Murge, zone essentiellement constituée de calcaires crétacés, donc plutôt aride et dépourvue de cours d'eau. On y trouve des torrents saisonniers avec des sillons peu profonds et des rives abruptes. Les ravins karstiques sont une autre caractéristique géologique du territoire.

Climat
Le climat d'Ostuni est typiquement méditerranéen, mais présente quelques traits continentaux. Les hivers sont rudes, avec des températures moyennes autour de +5,5°, les minimales pouvant être inférieures à zéro. Les étés sont par contre particulièrement chauds – pas autant toutefois que dans le reste du Salento –, les températures moyennes tournant autour de +25,3° et les maximales pouvant friser les +38/39° dans les journées les plus chaudes ; les nuits restent fraîches, avec des minima de +13°.

Histoire

La région d'Ostuni était déjà occupé par l'homme au paléolithique moyen (- AP). Elle fut ensuite fréquentée par le chasseur néandertalien. Les nombreuses grottes parsemées dans les collines offraient des refuges naturels aux communautés humaines primitives.

Au paléolithique supérieur, les traces de l'occupation humaine deviennent plus manifestes. Les fouilles ont permis de mettre au jour des ossements et des fragments de céramique. Le témoignage le plus éclatant nous est livré par le squelette de la « jeune femme d'Ostuni », enceinte, âgée de 20 ans, et de son fœtus, découverts en 1991 dans la caverne occidentale de la grotte de Santa Maria d'Agnano par le professeur Donato Coppola, de l'Université Aldo Moro de Bari. Le corps, déposé dans une grande fosse, est en position contractée, la tête couverte d'une sorte de coiffe composée d'une centaine de petites coquilles. L'appartenance de la jeune femme à un groupe de chasseurs est documentée par des restes d'accessoires et d'ornements (silex et dents de cheval et de bœuf primitif). Cette sépulture, appelée Ostuni 1º, est unique au monde et remonte à  (datation radiocarbone calibrée). Le squelette de la jeune femme et de son fœtus ainsi qu'une reproduction de son corps et de sa sépulture sont exposés au Musée des civilisations préclassiques de la Murge méridionale, dans l'ancien couvent carmélite des Monacelle, au centre d'Ostuni.

Le néolithique est représenté par les sites de Lamaforca et de San Biagio, alors que des vestiges datant de l'âge du bronze ont été retrouvés sur le site rupestre de Lama Morelli.

Le premier noyau urbain fut fondé par les Messapiens, un ancien peuple illyrien ou égéo-anatolien qui s'installa dans le Salento au  ; les Messapiens étaient d'habiles constructeurs et ils choisirent le site pour sa position stratégique sur une colline aux versants très abrupts, assimilables à des murs (murex = rocher dentelé en latin), d'où le nom donné à la région des Murge. Des fouilles récemment réalisées près du Foro Boario (une zone qui, à l'instar du forum Boarium de Rome, se trouve au pied des murailles médiévales), ont permis de mettre au jour des tombes du , qui attestent la présence d'un lieu habité qui allait des flancs de la colline à la plaine légèrement inclinée vers la mer.

Au , la ville, comme tout le Salento, fut conquise par les Romains. Les sources en disent très peu sur la période romaine, quelques traces en restent peut-être dans certains mas, bâtis sur les fondations de villas romaines. On ne sait pas grand-chose non plus sur l'étymologie du nom de la ville d'Ostuni : il remonte probablement au héros Sturnoi, compagnon de Diomède, qui l'aurait fondée après la guerre de Troie ; les Romains l'appelèrent alors "Sturninum". Le terme pourrait aussi venir du messapien ou, plus probablement du grec ἄστυ νέον (ástu néon, où ástu = citadelle et néon = nouvelle).

Le Moyen Âge

Avec le déclin de l'Empire romain d'Occident, Ostuni, comme le reste de l'Italie, fut parcourue par les Ostrogoths, les Lombards et les Sarrasins et vaillamment défendue par le pouvoir impérial exercé par les Byzantins. Pendant la période byzantine, elle accéda au rang de diocèse en 876, offrit refuge aux moines basiliens fuyant la Syrie et l'Égypte ; menacés par les Turcs, mais surtout par l'iconoclasme, les moines se retranchèrent dans les mêmes grottes qui avaient abrité les hommes préhistoriques. Pendant les , les Normands conquirent les colonies byzantines des Pouilles et les unifièrent au sein du comté d'Apulie, institué par Robert Guiscard, devenu plus tard duché d'Apulie. Les Normands s'attachèrent à promouvoir la culture de l'olivier et fixèrent avec précision les limites de la ville. Au , Geoffroy III, comte de Lecce et fonctionnaire du roi Roger II de Sicile, qui exerçait la juridiction militaire sur la Terre d'Otrante, édifia un château au sommet de la plus haute colline d'Ostuni; il ne subsiste aujourd'hui de cette imposante construction solidement fortifiée qu'une tourelle et le jardin (Giardino Zurlo). Le fief d'Ostuni revêtait une importance militaire considérable, puisqu'il fournit au royaume normand douze chevaliers. Ostuni se vit intégrée dans le vaste territoire du comté normand de Lecce et dans la Principauté de Tarente. Avec les Hohenstaufen, Ostuni connut un développement notable. Frédéric II sut libérer Ostuni de ses liens féodaux et prit la ville sous sa protection directe, faisant de son château l'une des plates-formes de la défense impériale dans les Pouilles et l'exemptant de taxes et de contrôles administratifs. Les habitants de Villanova et de Carovigno étaient tenus de veiller à l'entretien du château, déclaré castra exempta du royaume de Sicile. En 1182, Tancrède comte de Lecce et seigneur d'Ostuni, concède à l'évêque et aux habitants d'Ostuni le droit de fonder un village près de San Nicola di Petrolla et de le peupler. Le petit port de Petrolla (aujourd'hui Villanova di Ostuni) est intégré au  dans le système portuaire placé sous l'autorité d'Ostuni.

Ostuni s'ouvrit au commerce avec les Anjou, qui construisirent de nouvelles fortifications pour la ville et édifièrent sur les ruines de l'ancienne Petrolla le port de Villanova.

La configuration très particulière du bourg médiéval, avec ses maisons à plusieurs étages adossées les unes aux autres remonte à cette époque ; dictée d'une part par des exigences défensives, elle permettait d'autre part de profiter au maximum, en surface et en hauteur, de l'espace disponible à l'intérieur des murailles.

Ostuni fut entourée de nouvelles murailles à tours circulaires sous la couronne d'Aragon ; quatre portes y furent ouvertes, dont seules subsistent aujourd'hui la Porta Nova, remontant au  et reconstruite au , et la Porta San Demetrio, du .

De la Renaissance au Risorgimento
De la fin du  aux premières décennies du , les élites de la communauté juive d'Ostuni se distinguèrent dans le commerce des textiles. La communauté dans son ensemble était l'une des plus prospères de la Terre d'Otrante et fit l'objet de persécutions de la part des chrétiens.

En 1506, Ostuni passa au duché de Bari, sous Isabelle d'Aragon et sa fille Bona Sforza : c'est alors que commença l'âge d'or de la ville, tant du point de vue économique que culturel. Les ducs conférèrent à Ostuni des honneurs et des privilèges, ils renforcèrent les fortifications et érigèrent sur le littoral les tours Pozzella (aujourd'hui détruite) et San Leonardo. La période de la Renaissance correspond aussi au plus ample développement urbanistique de la ville, dont la population atteint désormais  habitants, de nombreux édifices nouveaux venant s'ajouter au centre médiéval.

Mais le  entame une phase de déclin : en effet, en 1639 Philippe IV de Habsbourg, écrasé par les dettes résultant de la guerre de Trente Ans, vend Ostuni aux Zevallos, une famille de marchands qui traite la ville comme un fief personnel. La population passe sous le seuil des  habitants. C'est pendant cette période que la peste sévit dans la région, épargnant toutefois Ostuni, où l'usage était de blanchir les maisons à la chaux, désinfectant naturel. Cette pratique, qui évita la contamination, donne encore aujourd'hui à la cité son cachet tout particulier de « ville blanche ».

Avec les Bourbons, la cité connut un nouvel essor. Ostuni s'étendit en direction des collines voisines de Casale, Cappuccini, Sant'Antonio et Molino a Vento. Le centre de la vie urbaine délaissa la piazza del Moro pour l'actuelle piazza Libertà, où se trouve aujourd'hui l'hôtel de ville (ancien couvent des Franciscains). C'est là que le sculpteur Giuseppe Greco érigea en 1771 une colonne en l'honneur de saint Oronce, qui, selon la tradition populaire, aurait préservé la ville de la peste.

Au début du , dans le sillon des idéaux du siècle des lumières, Ostuni fut secouée par des insurrections. Y furent fondés un cercle de Giovine Italia et une vente carbonariste. Au cours de ces émeutes, Ostuni fut la première ville des Pouilles à hisser le drapeau tricolore.

Ostuni aujourd'hui
Depuis l'après-guerre, on assiste au développement de l'agriculture et de l'industrie agroalimentaire (huile d'olive, amandes, vin). La ville est devenue une destination touristique renommée et a réussi à valoriser ses biens culturels, historiques et architectoniques. De nombreux villages touristiques, comme par exemple Rosa Marina, de renom international, ont vu le jour sur le littoral, l'un des plus propres de la côte des Pouilles. En 2006 a été institué sur la côte, en mitoyenneté avec la commune de Fasano, le Parc naturel régional des dunes côtières de Torre Cane à Torre San Leonardo, zone protégée de grand intérêt naturaliste et paysager.

La caractéristique la plus marquante du centre historique est le blanchiment à la chaux des maisons, jusqu'au toit. Cet usage, attesté depuis le Moyen Âge et favorisé par le fait que le calcaire, dont la chaux est dérivée, est un matériau que l'on trouve à profusion dans la nature environnante, visait à accroître la luminosité dans l'exiguïté des ruelles et passages qu'imposait le plan médiéval. Comme il a été relevé plus haut, cette coutume a aussi joué un rôle important au , où le blanchiment à la chaux empêchait la peste de se propager dans la ville.
Cette pratique se perd quelque peu aujourd'hui, ce qui a incité le maire à passer une ordonnance pour la relancer, afin qu'Ostuni reste digne de son qualificatif de « ville blanche ».

Patrimoine

Architecture religieuse

Dans le centre historique

 La cathédrale de l'Assomption (Basilica Minore ou Concattedrale) se dresse au sommet de la colline la plus haute. Sa construction a été entamée en 1435 sous l'évêque Nicola Arpone, représenté aux pieds de la vierge Marie dans le tympan du portail principal, et ne fut probablement achevée qu'au début du . Elle possède une belle façade de style gothique flamboyant divisée en trois plans et caractérisée par une alternance de courbes concaves et convexes, la partie centrale se terminant par un pignon en accolade alors que les pans latéraux sont surmontés d'un arc rampant. Au cœur de la grande rosace centrale trône le Christ Sauveur, entouré de sept chérubins. Les tympans des portails latéraux abritent des bas-reliefs représentant, à droite, Jean le Baptiste et à gauche, saint Blaise (San Biagio), premier patron et protecteur d'Ostuni, qui tient dans sa main une maquette de la ville. L'intérieur, en croix latine à trois nefs séparées par des colonnes, a été complètement remanié au  et doté de chapelles baroques et d'un plafond peint représentant des scènes de la vie du Christ et les martyrs de saint Blaise et de saint Oronce. On voit encore près de l'entrée une colonne de l'édifice primitif. À l'extrémité de la nef gauche se dresse un autel en bois de 1734 avec des bustes de saint Oronce, saint Blaise et saint Augustin. La sacristie abrite huit superbes toiles des  sur le thème de l'Eucharistie.
 À quelques pas de la cathédrale, se trouve l'église Saint-Vit martyr (chiesa di San Vito martire), accolée au monastère des Carmélites, du . De style baroque leccese, elle fut construite de 1752 à 1754 et présente une façade curviligne fastueuse, à la corniche mouvementée, une fenêtre centrale richement décorée et une coupole à tuiles polychromes. À l'intérieur, on remarquera la chaire en bois du , le monument funèbre de Cono Luchino Del Verme (1747) et les somptueux autels baroques de Francesco Morgese (1763). Au-dessus de l'autel principal, un tableau récemment rénové de l'artiste romain Mattia de Mare (1753), représente Saint Vit entre son précepteur Modeste et sa nourrice Crescence.
 Tout près de la cathédrale, l'église Saint-Jacques de Compostelle (chiesa di San Giacomo di Compostela), la plus ancienne d'Ostuni (1423), est adossée aux murailles ; sont conservés de l'édifice original l'archivolte et l'architrave du portail, finement sculptées de motifs floraux et fantastiques. L'église a été privée de son abside au  et l'on distingue aujourd'hui des pieds de la muraille (viale Oronzo Quaranta) l'arc en ogive qui délimitait l'abside.
 L'église Saint-François d'Assise (chiesa di San Francesco d'Assisi, sur la piazza della Libertà), remonte au Moyen Âge, mais présente une façade de 1882. À l'intérieur, au-dessus du portail, un tableau représente Moïse brisant les tables de la Loi (école de Luca Giordano) ; à noter également les statues en bois de l'Immaculée, de Giacomo Colombo (1719), et de Saint Augustin () et le buste de Saint Joseph et l'Enfant Jésus (école napolitaine du ).
 L'église du Saint-Esprit (chiesa dello Spirito Santo, 1637, à l'entrée de la via Roma) possède un beau portail Renaissance avec des bas-reliefs datant du ), provenant de l'ancienne église de Tous-les-Saints et encore inspirés du gothique tardif : dans la partie inférieure du tympan, semi-circulaire, la Dormition de la Vierge ; dans la partie supérieure, triangulaire, le Couronnement de Marie et sur la corniche intermédiaire, l'Annonciation. À l'intérieur, on remarquera notamment une Vierge à l'Enfant et les saints Élisabeth, Anne et Joachim, peinte par Fra' Giacomo da San Vito.
 L'église Sainte-Marie de l'Étoile (chiesa di Santa Maria della Stella) est perchée au-dessus des murailles à l'extrême nord de la ville. Sa façade possède un portail surmonté d'une statue de la Vierge de l'Étoile. On l'appelait autrefois « Sainte-Marie de la Petite Porte », car elle fut érigée près d'une porte d'époque angevine donnant accès à la ville, où l'on vénérait une image de la Vierge de l'Étoile. Son parvis offre un superbe panorama sur la campagne environnante et la mer.

Dans les quartiers plus récents
 L'église des Capucins (chiesa dei Cappuccini ou Santa Maria degli Angeli [Sainte-Marie des Anges], via Gabriele Rossetti), datant de 1585, dans laquelle est conservée une belle toile de l'école napolitaine du .
 L'église de l'Annonciation (chiesa dell'Annunziata, via Ludovico Pepe), érigée en 1196 et transformée en style baroque par les Frères réformés en 1668 ; à l'intérieur, à noter le maître-autel, exécuté par le sculpteur ostunais Giuseppe Greco, avec la toile de l'Annonciation, de Fra' Giacomo da San Vito, et le tableau de la Déposition de croix, de Paul Véronèse (1574), volé en octobre 1975 et récupéré en mars 1977.
 L'église de la Vierge du Puits (chiesa della Madonna del Pozzo, via degli Emigranti), située sur le boulevard périphérique sud, là où s'installe tous les samedis le marché de la ville. Église moderne, aux formes sobres.
 L'église Saint-Louis de Gonzague (chiesa di San Luigi Gonzaga, via Giuseppe di Vittorio), en plein centre de la partie moderne de la ville, constitue l'une des plus grandes paroisses d'Ostuni et couvre une grande partie des quartiers modernes.

En périphérie
 L'église de Sainte-Marie la Neuve (chiesa di Santa Maria la Nova), à  en direction de Carovigno, à gauche de la route, érigée en 1561, avec portail en ogive, œil-de-bœuf et arcs aveugles, se dresse à l'entrée d'une grotte naturelle présentant des traces de fresques du  (le Christ, la Vierge, saint Jean-Baptiste).
 Le sanctuaire de saint Oronce (santuario di Sant'Oronzo), à  au N.-O. de la ville, situé dans un vallon entre deux éperons rocheux des Murge, a été construit dans la deuxième moitié du  devant une caverne où le saint aurait trouvé refuge. À gauche de l'église, un escalier monte à une source intermittente réputée miraculeuse.
 Deux kilomètres plus loin, la petite église de San Biagio in Rialbo, du , d'accès très difficile, est flanquée d'une grotte naturelle présentant des traces de fresques byzantinisantes.

Architecture civile

La vieille ville présente un grand nombre d'éléments pittoresques mis en valeur par l'état de conservation exceptionnel de l'habitat et du site.
On y trouve quelques exemples d'hôtels particuliers :
 le palais ducal Zevallos, de style baroque;
 le palais Siccoda (1575), au 35, via Cattedrale ;
 sur la place de la Cathédrale se font face le Palais épiscopal (Palazzo Vescovile) et le Vieux Séminaire (vecchio Seminario), tous deux du , formant avec l'arc Scoppa un ensemble pittoresque ;
 la ruelle vico Castello présente quelques vestiges du Château, érigé en 1148 par Geoffroy III d'Anjou, comte de Lecce et d'Ostuni, et démoli en 1559 pour faire place au Palais épiscopal ;
 dans le centre historique, les hôtels particuliers des familles Aurisicchio, Ayroldi, Bisantizzi, Falghieri, Ghionda, Giovine, Jurleo, Palmieri, Petrarolo, Siccoda, Urselli, Zaccaria.

On ne remarque souvent que les portails baroques sculptés dans la tendre pierre locale, qui s'insèrent avec goût dans la blancheur des murs :
 le portail du palais Falgheri (), au 27 de la via A. Giovine ;
 les portails du palais Ghionda-Pomes et de la casa Molendino, aux 5 et 7 de la via F. Bax ;
 le portail rococo du palais Bisantizzi, via A. Petrarolo 34-36.

Les murailles aragonaises qui entourent la vieille ville, renforcées de tours circulaires, sont encore visibles sur de longs tronçons. À l'est s'ouvre la porta di San Demetrio, à l'ouest la Porta Nova (toutes deux du ).

Le monument emblématique d'Ostuni est la colonne de saint Oronce, de  de hauteur, du sculpteur Giuseppe Greco (1771), à la décoration baroque exubérante, avec, à mi-hauteur, les statues des saints Blaise (Biagio), Irène, Gaétan et Lucie.

Il convient aussi de mentionner, en dehors des murailles :
 la Torre San Leonardo (Tour Saint Léonard), tour de guet et de défense contre les Sarrasins, se dresse en bord de mer, dans le village de Pilone, à  au nord d'Ostuni ;
 le château de Villanova surveille le petit port de Villanova, à  au nord d'Ostuni. Il fut construit en 1277 par Charles Ier d'Anjou à l'endroit où, vers la fin du , Tancrède de Lecce avait fait ériger la ville de Petrolla, vite disparue à la suite d'incursions ennemies.
 la Villa Nazareth: construite en 1957 sur l'initiative du prêtre Don Raffaele Pomes, originaire d'Ostuni, comme lieu de rencontre sociale, puis convertie en centre médico-psychopédagogique pour enfants en rupture familiale ou scolaire, c'est aujourd'hui un centre de rééducation pour personnes âgées ;
 la manufacture de tabac (Conceria del Tabacco, au pied est des remparts), construite dans les années 1920, elle fut fermée dans les années 1960 à la suite d'un accident de monte-charge. Elle accueille aujourd'hui des événements culturels.

Masserie
Le territoire est parsemé de nombreuses masserie (une masseria est une vaste propriété agricole familiale typique de la région des Pouilles, un peu comparable au mas provençal). Beaucoup d'entre elles ont été aménagées en résidences touristiques. Certaines revêtent une importance historique et architecturale et reflètent les structures sociales et les méthodes de production de la région :
 la masseria Santa Caterina, sur la SS 16, à  au sud d'Ostuni, maison fortifiée à la haute tour octogonale () ;
 la masseria Lo Spagnulo, fortifiée elle aussi, remontant au propriétaire féodal Saverio López y Royo, non loin de la SS 16, à  au nord-ouest d'Ostuni ; elle présente une tour de guet de type médiéval et, à l'intérieur, un bel escalier du  ;
 la masseria Carestia (1754-1777), à  à l'ouest d'Ostuni, avec des éléments architectoniques intéressants et des décorations sculptées originales ;
 la masseria Ottava, près de la SS 16, à  au nord-ouest d'Ostuni, constituée d'une tour fortifiée du  et à laquelle appartient aussi une petite église médiévale () d'époque angevine au portail décoré de motifs en zig-zag ;
 la masseria Cappuccini, à  à l'ouest d'Ostuni, constituée d'un groupe de trulli du , avec une aire de battage d'époque ;
 la masseria Ferri, à  à l'ouest de la précédente, constituée d'un groupe de trulli coniques du , avec son église médiévale aux décorations sculptées originales ;
 la masseria Tolla, à  au sud-ouest d'Ostuni.

Sites archéologiques

 le dolmen de Montalbano (aussi appelé Tavola dei Paladini, « table des Paladins »), se trouve au nord du village de Montalbano di Fasano, à  au nord-ouest d'Ostuni ; ses dimensions sont imposantes :  de hauteur, dalle de couverture de  ; son dromos (passage d'accès) a été détruit récemment. Il remonte à l'âge du bronze ancien ( à  av. J.-C.) ;
 le Parc archéologique et naturaliste de Santa Maria D'Agnano présente les restes d'un site messapien. On y accède depuis la SS 16 ( au nord-ouest d'Ostuni). Il renferme la grotte-sanctuaire où a été retrouvé le squelette de la jeune femme enceinte d'Ostuni, datant de  ans, conservé au Musée des civilisations préclassiques de la Murge méridionale, à Ostuni ;

Économie
L'économie de la région d'Ostuni a connu d'importants revirements lors des dernières décennies. Alors que jusqu'au milieu des années 1990, l'économie locale était basée sur l'agriculture et notamment sur la culture de l'olivier, le secteur tertiaire a entre-temps gagné en importance  et de nombreuses petites et moyennes entreprises se sont installées, créant des emplois et relançant la productivité locale.

Agriculture

L'agriculture occupe encore une part relativement importante de la population. Elle se concentre sur la culture de l'olivier, du cerisier et de l'amandier ainsi que sur la viticulture et l'horticulture. Le « Paysage agraire de la plaine des oliviers » a été primé par le Ministère de l'Agriculture en février 2018 et inscrit au registre national des paysages ruraux historiques. Les agriculteurs ne souffrent pas excessivement des périodes de longue sécheresse, car ils peuvent utiliser l'eau des sources qui abondent dans la région. L'élevage des chevaux de race murgese, longtemps utilisés dans les fermes pour le trait léger, est aujourd'hui de plus en plus orienté vers l'attelage, le loisir et le spectacle équestre. On trouve aussi dans la région d'Ostuni des élevages, en majorité bio, d'ovins, de porcs et de caprins, respectueux des cycles naturels.

Industrie
Grâce à sa situation géographique favorable, Ostuni a vu se développer au cours des dernières décennies ses activités industrielles et commerciales. On y trouve des entreprises du secteur agroalimentaire, du vêtement, de l'industrie mécanique, du plastique et du bâtiment. Le commerce représente, après le tourisme, le secteur d'activité le plus important. Diverses foires et expositions attirent au fil de l'année des entreprises de tout le Mezzogiorno.

Tourisme

Ostuni est depuis les années 1930 le principal pôle touristique de la province de Brindisi et c'est l'une des destinations les plus prisées et caractéristiques des Pouilles. La « cité blanche » fait partie de la Vallée d'Itria et du haut Salento. Si I'afflux de touristes attirés par les côtes se concentre sur la saison estivale, le tourisme historique et culturel s'étale sur toute l'année. Nombreux sont les hôtels, chambres d'hôtes, restaurants et pubs. Certains hôtels se sont installés dans d'anciennes masserie, vastes propriétés agricoles familiales typiques de la région des Pouilles (un peu comparables au mas provençal). Depuis 1994, Ostuni se voit décerner chaque année le Pavillon bleu de la Fondation pour l'éducation à l'environnement (FEE) . Par ailleurs, le littoral d'Ostuni arbore depuis 2009 les cinq voiles de Legambiente pour la qualité et la propreté de ses plages.

Infrastructure et transports
Traversée par la route nationale de l'Adriatique (SS 16), Ostuni est un important carrefour routier du Salento. Elle est dotée d'une rocade de contournement qui permet au trafic de transit d'éviter le centre-ville.

La gare d'Ostuni, à 4 km au nord de la ville, est située sur le tronçon Bari-Lecce de la Ligne Adriatique, ligne structurante du réseau ferroviaire italien.

Un service d'autobus urbains relie les différents quartiers, desservant aussi le cimetière et Villanova, sur la côte. En été, un bus gratuit assure dans la soirée une navette entre la ville et les localités de la côte.

Administration

Hameaux
Barbagianni, Boccadoro, Cavallerizza, Cervaloro, Chiobbica, Costa Merlata, Deserto Parco Monsignore, Fantese, Galante, Giovannarocca, Grotta Figazzano, Monticelli, Pascarosa, Pilone, Pinto, Ramunno, Refrigerio, Rosa Marina, Torre Pozzella, Villanova, Gorgognolo

Communes limitrophes
Carovigno, Ceglie Messapica, Cisternino, Fasano, Martina Franca, San Michele Salentino, San Vito dei Normanni

Démographie

Ethnies et minorités étrangères
La population étrangère résidente était de 1303 (618 hommes et 685 femmes), soit 4,18 % de la population totale de la ville. Les nationalités les plus représentées étaient :
 Maroc : 279 ;
 Roumanie : 264 ;
 Royaume-Uni : 158 ;
 Chine (République populaire) : 44 ;
 Géorgie : 39 ;
 Allemagne : 38 ;
…
 France: 12

Les Britanniques sont plus nombreux à Ostuni que dans des villes beaucoup plus grandes, telles que Naples ou Trieste. On enregistre d'une manière générale une migration notable en provenance de l'Europe du Nord. Attirés par la beauté des paysages et la clémence du climat, ces migrants venus du Nord ont acquis des demeures et des villas dans la ville et ses environs, au point que l'on parle de « Salentoshire ».

Culture

Écoles
La commune comprend trois écoles primaires, deux écoles secondaires de premier cycle (11 à 14 ans) et huit instituts secondaires de deuxième cycle.

Écoles secondaires de deuxième cycle
 Liceo Classico A.Calamo
 Liceo Scientifico L.Pepe
 Liceo Scientifico-Tecnologico L.Pepe
 Ist. Tecnico Commerciale-Ragioneria J.Monnet
 Ist. Tecnico per Geometri J.Monnet
 Ist. Tecnico Commerciale- Sezione Turistica J.Monnet
 Ist. Tecnico Agrario E.Pantanelli
 Ist. Tecnico Industriale E.Pantanelli

Cinéma
Les films suivants ont été tournés à Ostuni :
 Les Années rugissantes, de Luigi Zampa, en 1962 ;
 Le Profiteur, de Sergio Nasca, en 1974 ;
 Palerme-Milan aller simple, de Claudio Fragasso, en 1995;
 Les Enfants d'Hannibal, de Davide Ferrario, en 1998 ;
 Il grande botto (« Le Gros coup »), de Leone Pompucci, en 2000 ;
 Un difetto di famiglia (« Un Défaut de famille »), film télévisé d'Alberto Simone, en 2002 ;
 2061 – Un anno eccezionale (« 2061 – Une année exceptionnelle »), de Carlo Vanzina, en 2007 ;
 Mia madre (« Ma Mère »), minisérie télévisée de Ricky Tognazzi, en 2010.

Gastronomie
On retrouve à Ostuni les plats typiques de la cuisine des Pouilles :
 la purée de fèves et chicorée (« purè di fave e cicoria ») ;
 les orecchiette aux pousses de navet (« orecchiette alle cime di rapa ») ;
 les orecchiette aux boulettes de viande (« orecchiette al ragù con polpette ») ;
 les « pettole » (sorte de beignets) ;
 la « puccia » est un pain cuit au feu de bois typique du Salento ;
 la « focaccia » d'Ostuni, qui n'est pas sans rappeler la fougasse provençale, bien que traditionnellement agrémentée de mozzarella.

Vins et vignobles
On trouve sur le territoire d'Ostuni les dénominations Aleatico di Puglia Doc, Ostuni Doc, Brindisi DOC et Puglia Igt.

La route des vins Appia dei vini, dont la commune d'Ostuni est membre, met à l'honneur les variétés locales des cépages suivants :
 malvasia nera di Brindisi ;
 sangiovese ;
 negroamaro ;
 ottavianello ou cinsault.

Événements et festivités
 Le 3 février, on fête la Saint-Blaise en l'honneur du copatron de la ville (l'autre étant saint Oronce). Les habitants se rendent alors en grand nombre à la crypte de saint Blaise, enclavée dans la roche, pour commémorer la décapitation du saint martyr (3 février 316) . Des célébrations liturgiques appellent à renouveler l'intercession du saint protecteur des maladies de la gorge, le prêtre apposant la relique du saint sur la gorge du malade pour le libérer de ses maux.
 Le « Film Festival Internazionale del Cortometraggio Salento Finibus Terrae », sous la direction de Romeo Conte. Ostuni, héberge depuis 2010 ce festival du film, qui se tient pendant la dernière semaine de juillet dans la cour de l'hôtel de ville, piazza della Libertà. Le festival fait étape à Ostuni, où il présente sous l'égide de l'UNESCO et de l'UNICEF des courts métrages consacrés aux droits de l'homme, pour se poursuivre ensuite à Fasano, Carovigno et San Vito dei Normanni.
 Le 15 août (Ferragosto) se tient dans le centre historique la Sagra dei Vecchi Tempi (« Fête des anciens temps »), où l'on peut déguster les plats typiques de la gastronomie locale et admirer les artisans évoquant des métiers disparus.

 Les festivités en l'honneur du patron protecteur saint Oronce durent quatre jours (du 24 au 27 août) et culminent à la cavalcade de saint Oronce (26 août).
 Depuis 2007 se tient en ville la manifestation culturelle « Un'emozione chiamata libro » (« Une Émotion appelée livre »), à laquelle sont invitées des personnalités du monde littéraire.
 En automne se déroule la  Settimana dei bambini del Mediterraneo  (la « Semaine des enfants de la Méditerranée »), événement éducatif qui se tient également dans d'autre communes du Salento et rassemble de nombreuses écoles des Pouilles ainsi que des délégations d'enfants de divers pays riverains de la Méditerranée, une attention particulière étant accordée aux enfants immigrés.

Sport
Cyclisme : la ville a accueilli les championnats du monde de cyclisme sur route en 1976, remportés par le Belge Freddy Maertens.
Le 22 mai 1996 la quatrième étape du Giro d'Italia 1996 est partie d'Ostuni et s'y est conclue avec la victoire de Mario Cipollini.

Ostuni compte trois clubs de football :
 Ostuni Sport, fondé en 1945, qui joue en Promozione, 7e échelon italien,
 Robur Ostuni, fondé en 2005,
 Olympique Ostuni, équipe de Calcio A5 qui évolue en série C1.

En basket-ball, l'Assi Basket Ostuni, fondée en 1982, a accédé en 2010 à la série éliminatoire de LegaDue et évolue actuellement en série C sous le nouveau nom de Cestistica Ostuni.

Ostuni est représentée en volley-ball par les équipes Polisportiva 2000 Ostuni et Lightning Pallavolo.

Les principales structures sportives sont : le stade municipal, doté d'un terrain en herbe, d'une capacité de  places, le palais des sports, avec  places, une structure gonflable de 450 places, la piscine couverte municipale et le club de tennis.

Notes et références

À voir aussi

Articles connexes
 Liste des villes italiennes de plus de 25 000 habitants
 Salento
 Pouilles

Liens externes
 Altosalento
 Site officiel de la commune
 Guide et programmation culturelle

Commune dans la province de Brindisi


text:
La Caccia primitiva è un dipinto a olio su tavola (70,5x169,5 cm) di Piero di Cosimo, databile al 1500-1505 circa e conservato nel Metropolitan Museum di New York. Fa parte della serie delle Storie dell'umanità primitiva.

Storia
Il pannello viene di solito identificato con quelli che decoravano una stanza di Palazzo Del Pugliese a Firenze, visti e descritti dal Vasari. Probabilmente si trattava di una spalliera. Con il Ritorno dalla caccia entrò nel museo newyorkese nel 1875, come dono di Robert Gordon.

Descrizione e stile
La serie è dedicata alle storie dell'umanità prima della scoperta del fuoco, senza la conoscenza dei metalli e quindi delle armi. In questo pannello, il primo delle storie, è rappresentata una foresta in profondità, con alcune file irregolari di alberi che guidano l'occhio dello spettatore verso lontano, secondo uno stratagemma già usato da Paolo Uccello nella Caccia notturna.

La scena è dedicata al caos prima di qualsiasi forma di conoscenza. Brulica di figure umane seminude, animali ed esseri semibestiali, come satiri e centauri, che si affrontano in una lotta feroce e indiscriminata. Da sinistra si vedono, tra l'altro, orsi e leopardi che si avventano su un branco di cervi e cinghiali, un grosso cane bianco che addenta una leonessa al muso, due uomini che separano due orsi e un leone dalla lotta, mentre un satiro leva un grosso ramo per colpirli, un gruppo di uomini vestiti di pelli che trasporta un bue cacciato, un altro uomo al centro che regge un animale che si divincola, uno che assale un cavallo in corsa (non lo cavalca, come si vede dalle gambe accucciate sull'animale), centauri che fuggono con prede, due satiri che si avvicinano brandendo delle clave. La presenza delle semibestie è legata alla credenza che esse fossero il frutto dell'accoppiamento barbaro degli uomini con gli animali. Non c'è nessuna differenziazione psicologica tra animali, semiuomini e uomini. Altri animali popolano gli anfratti della foresta, scura e inquietante.

L'omaggio a Paolo Uccello appare esplicito anche per l'uomo morto in basso a destra, che sta rigido e perpendicolare lungo un asse prospettico, in modo da venire scorciato a perfezione.

In tutta questa animazione nessuno si avvede del pericolo rappresentato dallo scoppio dell'incendio nel profondo della boscaglia. Due scorci paesistici, ai lati, mostrano un paesaggio brullo e desolato.

Altre immagini

Bibliografia
 AA.VV., The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide, The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Yale University Press, New York/New Haven 1994/2005. ISBN 0-87099-710-6
Pierluigi De Vecchi ed Elda Cerchiari, I tempi dell'arte, volume 2, Bompiani, Milano 1999. ISBN 88-451-7212-0

Voci correlate
Storie dell'umanità primitiva

Altri progetti

Collegamenti esterni

Dipinti di Piero di Cosimo
Dipinti nel Metropolitan Museum
Dipinti a soggetto storico
Opere commissionate dalla famiglia del Pugliese
Dipinti sulla caccia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Please rate this game and let us know what you think. Anything you liked or that you thought could be improved. Your rating will add to the scores on the main page - the comments will be kept private and only seen by the developers.


text:
Jessica Goodfellow
Facebook flaunts sports credentials in run-up to Tokyo 2020
Social platform is going after brands' lucrative sporting event budgets.
Facebook is attempting to attract brands looking to advertise around the Olympic Games with a business-to-business campaign trumpeting its audience of sports fans.
The platform has enlisted acclaimed director Jack Weatherley, who has directed ads for Nike and Uefa, to create a slick campaign encouraging brands to "start your 2020 game plan now", while advertising Facebook as the go-to platform to reach sports fans.
"To win in 2020, preparation is everything," the campaign says. "We have everything you need to prepare."
"Give your game everything", which rolls out globally today, has been created by Facebook's digital insights and market research arm IQ, along with its business marketing and creative teams in Asia-Pacific and video content agency RD Content.
The 40-second film has been broken down into shorter vertical spots that will be targeted at brand managers, marketing managers, creatives and agency executives on and off the platform.
They will guide the advertisers to a microsite that will feature various infographics with stats on the behaviour of sports fans across Facebook's family of apps.
The insights are based on Facebook IQ-commissioned research, conducted by YouGov, on how sports fans around the world consume content during global sporting events. The study surveyed 9,173 people aged 18 to 64 in Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, South Korea, the UK and the US.
It found that more than one in three respondents follow global sporting events on both Facebook and Instagram, while about half of those who are on both Facebook and Instagram also use WhatsApp (45%) and Messenger (53%) to discuss global sporting events.
While Facebook did ask participants how they interact on rival platforms, it has not revealed the results on this.
Facebook rarely creates campaigns for its business audience. It said Rio 2016 saw an increase of $2.71bn in global advertising spend.
The ambition of the campaign is both to advertise Facebook's credentials and to "walk the talk" by showing advertisers how they can use Facebook's platforms, tap into the hype without actually mentioning the Olympic Games (due to trademark restrictions) and cut through in one of the most competitive marketing moments.
Sandra Marichal, Facebook IQ's marketing insights manager for Asia-pacific, told Campaign: "Through this campaign, we wanted to show power of the platform and showcase what a brand can do if they are in the situation where they want to advertise before during and after without mentioning the Games."
The merits of early planning are at the heart of the campaign. Since Facebook will be competing for adspend with more real-time platforms such as Twitter, the activity highlights the benefits of brand-building over a longer period of time.
"If you are looking into building your awareness and associating yourself with sport as a brand, you definitely want to start now," Marichal said. "Don't expect because it is the Games you can run a normal campaign and hope for the best, because the space will be crowded."
The microsite includes Facebook IQ research around second-screening, but Facebook has been careful in its messaging to position itself as complementary to TV rather than as an alternative.
Marichal said: "We know that people are going to watch TV, but we are seeing an opportunity for brands to be more present on our platform than they have been in the past, because traditionally they would invest all media in TV, which would be a missed opportunity."
Facebook has created custom audiences – those who don't state themselves as fans but consume a lot of sport-related content – for brands looking to advertise in the run-up to the Games.
A version of this story first appeared on Campaign Asia-Pacific
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I'm so excited to share my new, favorite paint technique with you today! I love to create faux finishes, and this one is really easy to do! Use metallic finish paints to create a great faux galvanized steel finish on wood surfaces. I used lightweight unfinished wood boxes to create a DIY wall organizer that will look awesome in my son's room.
This project was inspired by a wall organizer that I saw at Restoration Hardware.
Step One. Use the wood glue to attach the top of the lid to the box as pictured. Once it has dried, use a staple gun to ensure the pieces stay together.
Step Two. Paint the boxes with one application of silver paint and let them dry.
Step Three. To create the faux galvanized steel effect, you'll need to layer the paint colors while the paint is still wet. To prep for this, add a small amount of the metallic silver, black, and white paints to a painting dish. Work on one section at a time.
Sponge the black paint over the silver paint randomly.
Sponge the white paint over the surface randomly.
Use the clean side of a sponge to sponge the entire surface and blend the three paint colors slightly.
Step Four. Stencil the numbers onto each box.
Tip: To avoid paint bleeding under the stencil, first use silver metallic paint on the stencil and let it dry. Then dab the darker paint over the stencil. The base color will "seal" the edges of the stencil and keep the darker color from bleeding under the stencil.
Step Five. Glue the boxes together as pictured. When the glue has dried use a staple gun to reinforce the hold.
I attached a photo hanger to the back of the boxes so I can hang this DIY wall organizer in my son's room. It's a great catch-all for lightweight items like pens, pencils, erasers, and small notepads. Plus, it looks great, too! Have fun crafting and creating faux finishes with paint!
If you're looking for other creative storage and organization ideas for kid's rooms or for yourself, check out this neat DIY board game storage idea.


Hazard Insurance in Washington State – What you need to know.
Hazard insurance in Washington State is typically another term for your homeowners insurance coverage and protects your property against damage caused by fires, storms, earthquakes or other natural events such as floods. It is important to understand that your homeowners insurance, or hazard insurance, does not automatically cover your these losses. Your hazard insurance in Washington must have the specific event covered within the policy. As long as your purchase earthquake insurance for instance, you'll receive compensation for the loss for an earthquake.
A typical property or homeowners' insurance policy usually won't cover all events that cause damage to your property. Some events will definitely be excluded from homeowners' insurance in high-risk areas such as hurricane insurance coverage in Florida. Because this area is highly prone to hurricanes, it is likely that your insurance coverage will exclude hurricanes from the coverage. In Washington, we may see that flood insurance is excluded and you're required to purchase a separate insurance policy for flood insurance.
Many banks or mortgage applications call homeowners insurance hazard insurance. Questions about hazard insurance in Washington are common. Call our licensed insurance agency in Shoreline, WA and ask to speak to an agent about hazard insurance, commonly known as homeowners insurance coverage.


Restaurant of The Fourteen Luxury Boutique Hotel in Casablanca - Official Website.
Gastronomy is a fundamental element of Moroccan culture and that is why you should not leave Casablanca without trying some of the culinary specialties. At The Fourteen Luxury Boutique Hotel, you can taste the most typical dishes, in a modern and elegant setting.
The restaurant and loung bar is open to the public and combines Moroccan and international cuisine, in an original menu full of flavour, innovation and imagination.


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text:
How King Crimson Reached a Prog-Rock Pinnacle With 'Larks' Tongues in Aspic'
King Crimson's fifth album, Larks' Tongues in Aspic, is a pinnacle of progressive rock, even though its music is nearly unclassifiable. More than four decades after its release, it remains a genre unto itself -- a mishmash of heavy and soothing, beautiful and unsettling, experimental and melodic.
Larks' Tongues in Aspic is King Crimson's second classic album. With 1969's groundbreaking In the Court of the Crimson King, the band basically invented progressive rock entirely, utilizing bandleader Robert Fripp's epic approach to song construction, which layered aggressive fretwork with propulsive rhythms, jazzy woodwinds and the most iconic Mellotron sound ever laid to tape.
But just as soon as King Crimson birthed an exciting new musical movement, they retreated to the shadows. The band's following trio of albums (1970's In the Wake of Poseidon, 1970's Lizard and Islands in 1971) were scattered with brilliance, but mostly just . . . scattered, with Fripp unable to maintain a consistent lineup of players from one release to another (or even track to track).
That pattern ended in 1972, when Fripp started recruiting a brand new lineup -- one designed for an edgier, more unpredictable style of playing. He brought in two new drummers, designed to represent polar opposite ends of the percussive spectrum: Jamie Muir -- an explosive percussionist with an unconventional approach and wild stage presence -- and Bill Bruford, who'd already established his jazzy, inventive approach to drumming as a member of Yes.
On top of that double-percussion foundation, Fripp added violinist David Cross and bassist and singer John Wetton.
That quintet lineup quickly earned rave reviews for their highly improvised live shows. In the liner notes to the 2012 Larks' Tongues in Aspic reissue, Wetton reflected on the intensity of those early performances. "A lot of the time," he said, "the audience couldn't really tell the difference between what was formal and what wasn't because the improvising was of a fairly high standard. It was almost telepathic at times."
Capturing the magic of those shows in the studio proved problematic in the album's early recording sessions, and technical difficulties only added further strain. "Things were constantly blowing up," Wetton reflected. "We had the engineer, God bless him, who'd never done an edit before." But those stressful sessions resulted in incredible music, from the tense, textured funkiness of "Easy Money" to the graceful, backward-masked beauty of "Book of Saturday" to the split, two-part instrumental title track, which veers from metal-tinged chromatic riffing to exotic, interlocking percussion.
That lineup wouldn't stick around long enough to record another album. Burned out from a grueling tour schedule, Muir soon departed the band in pursuit of spiritual enlightenment. The remaining quartet released 1974's Starless and Bible Black, and Fripp whittled the band down to a trio (along with Bruford and Wetton) for the raw, bone-rattling Red later that year, marking a whole new chapter of prog-rock brilliance.
Next: Revisiting King Crimson's Debut Album
Filed Under: King Crimson


There's an old saying in Western Washington that you have to wait until the 5th of July for summer to start and that, after a prolonged period of tedium, light starts to shine. In reviewing the latest data on the economy and real estate markets, I believe the same can be said about them.
In aggregate, the job market in our region now appears to have come out of the darkness and is showing solid gains across a majority of the counties surveyed within this report. Between June of 2011 and June of 2012, the area added 58,070 jobs—a 2.7% growth rate, which exceeds both Washington State as a whole, as well as the United States. In our region, ten counties expanded their employment base with just six showing modest contraction. If we compare the data to the first quarter of this year, just one county, Grays Harbor, did not add jobs.
Year-over-year, Snohomish County continues to grow at the greatest rate—a function of the buoyant aerospace industry. This was followed by Whatcom (3.9%) and King (3.3%) Counties. Job losses were relatively modest with Grays Harbor (-4.4%), Kittitas (-3.3%), Jefferson (-2.9%), and Clallam (-1.5%) Counties suffering the largest job losses.
Looking at unemployment, all areas saw the rate improve when compared to a year ago.
The latest data is impressive indeed and has exceeded my expectations. As a result, I am going to give the current employment situation a solid "B" grade, up another notch from the last quarter.
The region has seen notable gains for several quarters now, and what is most impressive is that it has come despite continued reduction in government employment. The private sector in our region has taken the bull by the horns and continued to grow despite the uncertain macroeconomic and political environment.
Growth in our region has become the envy of the West Coast and I hope that this can be sustained.
The Western Washington market registered 21,651 transactions of resale housing units in the second quarter of this year—another impressive increase of 14.4% from the same period a year ago.
The spring market may have come late, but it certainly arrived with a vengeance with all but two counties exhibiting improving sales velocities over the same period in 2011. The counties where there were sales declines are somewhat of an anomaly, as both are small areas and the absolute losses were equally small.
That said, the late spring market was clearly evident with all counties surveyed improving in home sales when compared to the previous quarter.
From a transactional standpoint, the data shows solid improvement, but there is a caveat: units available for purchase declined across all the counties surveyed and this is a concern. Although most markets saw a modest uptick in listings during the quarter, the number of units for sale is down substantially from a year ago, as well as the long-term trend.
Much of this can be attributed to the slowdown in banks listing foreclosed homes for sale. Another factor is that homeowners who are marginally underwater are waiting to list their homes until prices rise sufficiently to enable them to sell and not owe money to their mortgage holders.
Choice in many markets has become limited which, if it does not improve, will likely lead to a slowdown in transactions in the second half of 2012.
As is shown in the chart to the right, ten counties saw the average sales prices at levels above those of a year ago, five counties are at lower price levels, and one was static. Prices of home sales in the counties analyzed have turned around with aggregated prices 1.6% higher than seen in June of 2011. The disclaimer remains that this figure excludes the highly volatile San Juan County. If we include it, prices paid for homes dropped by a modest 1.7% year-over-year.
Of the counties that saw appreciation, the most pronounced gains were seen in Kitsap (+12.1%) and Lewis (+10.5%), followed by Snohomish and Island which both saw 7.9% growth. The greatest declines were seen in the previously mentioned San Juan County (-23.8%), followed by Clallam (-20.1%) and Cowlitz (-12.9%) Counties.
Previously in this report, I mentioned my concern with the low level of inventory in almost all of the counties surveyed and that it will likely have a negative effect on overall sales as we move forward. This not only has an effect on the number of sales in an area, but also home prices.
If we do see an increase in distressed units coming to market—and I have no doubt that we will—this is likely to cause the growth in prices to slow down, or even decline. This is due to the fact that distressed homes usually sell for less than market which can drag the overall average down, especially if we do not see a large increase in non-distressed listings to offset it.
I am actually going to hold the grade for home values at a "C" this quarter. It would be easy to get caught up in the long-awaited improvement in prices that we saw in the quarter, but due to the factors previously mentioned, I am adopting a "wait-and-see" attitude.
Summer has appeared in Western Washington and this has, so far, been reflected in our economy, as well as our housing market.
Businesses have been adding staff at a fair clip and, to a degree, this has influenced people's decision making when it comes to buying a home. The two are, indeed, intertwined.
Even with this positive data, I am still suggesting that we be a little cautious regarding the housing market. Not because I believe that we are going to see any sort of rapid decline in values, rather that the long-awaited improvement that is shown here may still have some hurdles ahead.
The wait for summer has been worth it—as has the very long wait for recovery/stability in our regional economy real estate markets. The glass is definitely half full right now, but it remains too early to call for a certified recovery in home prices. Enjoy the weather while it is here!


Its loose intenslely scented flowers are purlish-pink stripes and are prominent their stemens. Due to its bushy habit it can be grown as a hedge but it can also be planted in flower beds.
Perfect for cutting rose, lasting blooming. Vivid coloured.


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8 of the best hotel booking sites complete with credit card promotions for your next vacation! | Cheaponana.com - The best credit cards in Singapore and other deals to help you save, earn and maximise your money!
8 of the best hotel booking sites complete with credit card promotions for your next vacation!
Ever had the experience of booking a hotel for your upcoming trip, and when you have narrowed your search down to a few comparison websites like Expedia or Hotels.com, you notice there is a "Promo Code" box while you are filling up the details? As you nervously google for working promo codes, you realise that most of them have expired and do not work! Well, Cheaponana has put together the most comprehensive list of discounts (along with promo codes!) on major hotel booking sites, so before you confirm your hotel booking, do look through and make sure you book with the right correct card to enjoy the best discount! For those who are new or not used to booking your own trips, check out Tripadvisor for a list of recommended hotels, and once you have shortlisted a few hotels, go to a hotel comparison site like Trivago, key in the hotel name and wait for the search engine to churn out a comparison site of the hotel booking sites for your hotel!
Agoda has definitely come a long way. In the past, they used to offer a rebate system where you get points for each booking which may be used as rebates to offset your subsequent bookings. That meant you have to keep going back to them to utilise the points fully. Now, they have switched to a direct discount structure offering 7% discount off hotels worldwide using Platinum cards from Citibank, DBS/POSB and UOB. In fact, they have the most tie-ups with the banks in Singapore! At various times of the year, there are various promotions with different banks where there are discounts of up to 10% e.g. 10% off hotels in USA using HSBC cards.
2. No frills free cancellation policy so long as you cancel before the cancellation date (not valid for non-refundable bookings of course!).
3. Many reviews are available on the hotels in their inventory, so you have a better idea of what other tourists have experienced and what to expect.
Asiatravel.com was established in 1995 and it has been listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange since 2001. The best credit card to use for booking through them would be DBS/POSB credit cards which offer 15% discount!
It also offers an incentive program which rewards you with 5% rebate to your credit card if you book 12 nights or chalk up $1500 worth of accumulated package bookings within 6 months. If you are not a frequent flyer, you can plan your trips so that you hit the quota within 12 months and get 3% rebate instead!
Personally I've not had any experience booking with them. They offer 5% discount with UOB credit cards till 31/12/14.
Another giant in the online hotel/flight booking business, Expedia has also expanded into the car rental business. Its ease of use and large inventory makes it popular among netizens. Currently, there are 2 types of promotions with our local credit cards – 10% off with DBS/POSB or OCBC cards and 6 miles per $1 with Citi Premier Miles Card or 15x Reward Points per $1 with Citi Ultima, Prestige, Rewards, Platinum, Clear. So it depends whether you prefer to get a direct discount or you prefer to chalk up Citi $ or miles for redemption later. Sign up for an account here before you start booking!
Just used Hotels.com recently to booked a new hotel in Jeju and it was easy to use and fuss-free. Morever there's a free night stay if you complete 10 nights of stay with them (expires 12 months from the last activity, so there's plenty of time!). Currently there's a 10% off promotion with DBS or MasterCard. Use either "DBS10" or "MasterCard" to complete your bookings! Check out Hotels.com now!
At the end of the day, you should compare the rates on the various sites before booking as the prices may be different to begin with. In addition, the presence of a members program which offers free stay or cashback with repeated stays will certainly entice one to book over and over again. Once you have decided on the booking site, look through the above table again!
If you have any comments or suggestions for other sites to be added, do let me know!


text:
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Empathetic and Compassionate Women Leaders – Are You Developing a Strong Bench in Your Organization?
By Shalini Ramakrishnan, Director of Product Marketing
The recent second-term win of New Zealand's Jacinda Arden and the Oval Office welcoming its first female vice president in 200 years of history shows that the glass ceiling is breaking…and the women across the world are waiting with bated breath to grab what's due to them, with their shoes on. If we look at New Zealand's Prime Ministerial candidates, this year both in the running were women. From Germany to New Zealand, to the U.S to Norway and Taiwan, Finland and Denmark, female leaders of these countries have taken over by storm.
Women Leadership Matters
There are enough studies that show that organizations with gender diversity not just amongst the workforce, but with senior leaders, outperform organizations that don't.
A report from McKinsey revealed that "In the UK, greater gender diversity on the senior executive team corresponded to the highest performance uplift in our data set: for every 10% increase in gender diversity, earnings before interest and taxes rose by 3.5%".
However, a 2018 Goldman Sachs report on gender diversity, whilst noting limitations on available data propounded that "Women make up about 40% of all employees – but just 6% of CEOs."
Without delving into the details of this disproportionate allocation of leadership roles, let's evaluate what can be done to develop a strong bench of women leaders in an organization.
Strong is not equal to aggressive and compassionate does not mean weak
"One of the criticisms I've faced over the years is that I'm not aggressive enough or assertive enough, or maybe somehow, because I'm empathetic, I'm weak. I totally rebel against that. I refuse to believe that you cannot be both compassionate and strong." — Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand
The fact that the Prime Minister of a country says this is quite revealing. Years of social conditioning that equate strength with aggression and empathy and compassion with weakness, not just with women but with men as well.
If anything, these are archaic ways of thinking. Some of the best and the most successful leaders across the world display these traits irrespective of their gender. It is about time to correct the narrative.
Organizations have their work cut out for them to coach their entire workforce to understand, accept, and internalize this difference. A good starting point for this is to have women leaders and develop a company culture that moves away from the straightjacket and rigid definition of leadership as defined by the ages and moves towards a more progressive and flexible definition of the same.
Help women leaders find and define their leadership style
What organization and coaching strategies have to change is trying to fit women into the mold of leadership as defined by men across the years. It is essential to understand that strength and decisiveness are complementary to empathy and compassion. They are not competition.
Research shows that empathy and leadership performance are directly related. The surprising part is that this is the competitive edge that most leaders are missing. So, instead of trying to build strong women leaders who are aggressive, does it not make more sense to leverage the inherent nature of women and coach them on how to use empathy and compassion to their advantage?
Does it not make more sense to give women leaders the support, tools, and guidance to help them curate the individual leadership styles that help them accentuate their inherent strengths – empathy and compassion being two of them? When we have an opportunity to take advantage of a unique skill set, why must we try to fit it into the same old box?
Leadership development and coaching programs for women have to become more focused on helping women leaders find their inherent leadership style and with it, help them raise their leadership voice.
Read: Fix Gender Imbalance with Innovative Women Leadership Development Programs
From the glass ceiling to the broken rung – women leadership has to be intentional
While it is the glass ceiling that prevents women from reaching the top, it is not the only barrier. The McKinsey 2019 Women in the Workplace report showed that "Women are often hired and promoted based on past accomplishments, while men may be hired and promoted based on future potential."
Organizations have to overcome this barrier and help women reach their potential by becoming more data-driven in potential mapping and become more intentional in putting women in first-level management positions.
Identifying the high-potential women employees, helping potential women-leaders identify the gaps to become better leaders using data-backed assessments, and introducing contextual and tailored coaching programs help in not only breaking the glass ceiling but also in fixing that broken rung that keeps women from moving up the ladder.
This approach also helps organizations develop a healthy pipeline of future leaders who can capably lead the organization to greater success and profitability.
Create clear opportunities for growth
From ensuring that hiring and promotions are fair and transparent, establishing clear evaluation criteria, and creating an environment conducive to growth, organizations need to create clear growth opportunities to develop a strong bench of empathetic and compassionate women leaders.
To move ahead on this path, organizations have to become proactive in helping women employees develop the right networks and the right connections and also coach them to build their network to drive growth.
They also have to help women employees identify the gaps and coach them to close these gaps while helping them to maximize their strengths to prepare them for leadership success. Additionally, organizations have to help women employees understand themselves as leaders, identify the barriers to their advancement, and help them align their personal values with their work.
Level the playing field
As mentioned earlier, the social context we are raised to promotes certain gender stereotypes. Given that these are outdated ideas, it is high time for organizations to create healthier models of effective leadership – one that is more evolved, balanced, and diverse.
This shift is fundamental to business success as we move into the future. Stephanie S Mead, author of The Art of Strategic Leadership: How Leaders at All Levels Prepare Themselves, Their Teams, and Organizations for the Future, states, "If you want to be relevant in the future, you have no choice but to change and evolve…the responsibility to build and support a culture where breaking down ingrained habits and old standards are recognized as an important part of rebuilding and creating a stronger, more successful organization."
The venerable Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, "I think unconscious bias is one of the hardest things to get at. My favorite example is the symphony orchestra. When I was growing up, there were no women in orchestras. Auditioners thought they could tell the difference between a woman playing and a man. Some intelligent person devised a simple solution: Drop a curtain between the Auditioners and the people trying out. And, lo and behold, women began to get jobs in symphony orchestras." Maybe, it is time for organizations to drop this veritable curtain that divides men and women and give women the tools they need to develop and hone their leadership prowess. Along with the women, the organizations themselves stand to gain tremendously.
Connect with us to know how you can identify and grow the next generation of women leaders across the enterprise.
The Y Factor
Leadership Trends to Look Forward to In 2021
The Most Powerful Employee Incentive… Bring on the "C"
Employee Engagement Strategies for Remote Sales Teams
How Numly™ Uses Unconventional Surveys To Nurture Employees
How to Coach to Create Better Coaches
The Y Factor 01.19.2021
Leadership Trends to Look Forward to In 2021 01.05.2021
The Most Powerful Employee Incentive… Bring on the "C" 12.20.2020
Critical Leadership Skills that High-Potential Women Leaders Should Be Groomed On
By Shalini Ramakrishnan
Fix Gender Imbalance with Innovative Women Leadership Development Programs
By Madhukar Govindaraju
The Why and How of Coaching for your Newly-Remote Team
© Numly™, Inc. 2019 – 2021 All Rights Reserved. Various trademarks held by their respective owners.


Effective CPU Speed 62.3 % Slightly faster effective speed.
Avg. Quad Core Mixed Speed 304 Pts Slightly faster quad-core speed.
OC Quad Core Mixed Speed 407 Pts Slightly faster OC quad-core speed.
OC Multi Core Mixed Speed 565 Pts Slightly faster OC multi-core speed.
Market Share (trailing 30 days) 1.13 % Hugely higher market share.
UBM User Rating 66 % 77 % More popular.
Newest 19+ Months 17+ Months Slightly more recent.
Quad Core Integer Speed 394 Pts Slightly faster quad-core int speed.
Quad Core Floating Point Speed 425 Pts Slightly faster quad-core fp speed.
Multi Core Floating Point Speed 599 Pts Slightly faster multi-core fp speed.


Got the #DC MiCrochet earrings ready for #SVCC2019, and finished off the #Marvel set (so far)! Character suggestions wanted!
I've been accepted as a #SVCC2019 vendor! MiCrochet earrings are now for sale! And a high-tech balance was used to compare weights of earrings. Get yours in my Etsy shop!


text:
Q: selecting whole partitions uses index - why? I am selecting all the data from some partitions of a partitioned table (Oracle 11g - actually updating in the real case, but for the example a select shows the same behaviour that I would like to understand). Can you explain to me why Oracle decides to use the index instead of a full scan? In my understanding a full scan would be the smarter access method. Why does Oracle think an index range scan + table access by index rowid batched is smarter than a full scan of the partitions?
Test table:
CREATE TABLE t_test
    (ID                NUMBER                 NOT NULL ENABLE,
    PARTITION_NUMBER   NUMBER                 NOT NULL ENABLE,
    CREATION_TIMESTAMP DATE   DEFAULT SYSDATE NOT NULL ENABLE,
    CONSTRAINT PK_t_test PRIMARY KEY (PARTITION_NUMBER, ID) USING INDEX LOCAL
    )
PARTITION BY LIST (PARTITION_NUMBER)
    (
    PARTITION P1  VALUES (1) SEGMENT CREATION IMMEDIATE,
    PARTITION P2  VALUES (2) SEGMENT CREATION IMMEDIATE,
    PARTITION P3  VALUES (3) SEGMENT CREATION IMMEDIATE,
    PARTITION P4  VALUES (4) SEGMENT CREATION IMMEDIATE,
    PARTITION P5  VALUES (5) SEGMENT CREATION IMMEDIATE,
    PARTITION P6  VALUES (6) SEGMENT CREATION IMMEDIATE,
    PARTITION P7  VALUES (7) SEGMENT CREATION IMMEDIATE,
    PARTITION P8  VALUES (8) SEGMENT CREATION IMMEDIATE,
    PARTITION P9  VALUES (9) SEGMENT CREATION IMMEDIATE
    );

Selecting the data from some partitions (nothing was inserted for this example, but behaviour is the same with data in the partitions):
explain plan for select * from t_test where PARTITION_NUMBER in (2,3,4,5,6,7);
SELECT * FROM TABLE(dbms_xplan.display);

Plan hash value: 3284178661

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id  | Operation                                   | Name      | Rows  | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time     | Pstart| Pstop |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|   0 | SELECT STATEMENT                            |           |     1 |    35 |     1   (0)| 00:00:01 |       |       |
|   1 |  INLIST ITERATOR                            |           |       |       |            |          |       |       |
|   2 |   PARTITION LIST ITERATOR                   |           |     1 |    35 |     1   (0)| 00:00:01 |KEY(I) |KEY(I) |
|   3 |    TABLE ACCESS BY LOCAL INDEX ROWID BATCHED| T_TEST    |     1 |    35 |     1   (0)| 00:00:01 |KEY(I) |KEY(I) |
|*  4 |     INDEX RANGE SCAN                        | PK_T_TEST |     1 |       |     2   (0)| 00:00:01 |KEY(I) |KEY(I) |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------

   4 - access("PARTITION_NUMBER"=2 OR "PARTITION_NUMBER"=3 OR "PARTITION_NUMBER"=4 OR "PARTITION_NUMBER"=5 OR
              "PARTITION_NUMBER"=6 OR "PARTITION_NUMBER"=7)

Note
-----
   - dynamic statistics used: dynamic sampling (level=2)

I don't understand why it does the range scan... Why not just like this (same query but with FULL-hint)? Why does it ever think using the index is the better approach here? (Even an ALL_ROWS hint does not change the behavior) :
explain plan for select /*+ full(t_test) */ * from t_test where PARTITION_NUMBER in (2,3,4,5,6,7);
SELECT * FROM TABLE(dbms_xplan.display);

Plan hash value: 3335595461

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id  | Operation             | Name   | Rows  | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time     | Pstart| Pstop |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|   0 | SELECT STATEMENT      |        |     1 |    35 |     2   (0)| 00:00:01 |       |       |
|   1 |  PARTITION LIST INLIST|        |     1 |    35 |     2   (0)| 00:00:01 |KEY(I) |KEY(I) |
|   2 |   TABLE ACCESS FULL   | T_TEST |     1 |    35 |     2   (0)| 00:00:01 |KEY(I) |KEY(I) |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note
-----
   - dynamic statistics used: dynamic sampling (level=2)

A: The example uses an index instead of a full table scan because of how the segment space is allocated.  By default, Oracle tends to allocate a non-trivial amount of space for table partitions.  For indexes, Oracle tends to allocate a much smaller amount of space for index partitions.
When I run your sample code, the empty table contains 72 megabytes but the empty index contains 0.5 megabytes:
select segment_name, sum(bytes)/1024/1024 mb
from user_segments
where segment_name in ('T_TEST', 'PK_T_TEST')
group by segment_name
order by 1 desc;

SEGMENT_NAME   MB
------------   -------
T_TEST         72
PK_T_TEST       0.5625

Full table scans have to read the entire segment.  The index range scan still has to read from the table, but it can do so using the ROWIDs, and therefore reads less data from disk.
Oracle's automatic segment space allocation is almost always better than configuring it manually.  But with a trivial amount of data, it might make sense to optimize the segments.  If you change each of the 9 SEGMENT CREATION IMMEDIATE to STORAGE (INITIAL 64K NEXT 64K) then the table partitions will be smaller and the execution plan will use a full table scan.  But you probably don't want to do that.  This problem is likely only related to using an unrealistically small sample data set.
Oracle's space algorithms are understandably optimized for storing large amounts of data in partitions.

Unfortunately, this likely doesn't help you with your real problem.  You mentioned a 300 million row table, and that kind of size should work better with partitioning.
But the real problem might also be related to a segment space issue.  Perhaps the table used to have 3 billion rows, and was deleted, but never shrunk?  Or maybe the table was created with hundreds of partitions, most of which are empty.  Or maybe the table was created with some ridiculous manual space setting.
When dealing with large table performance we often have to think in terms of segments and bytes instead of the number of rows.

A: Because the index tells oracle what partitions your data are in.  When you say "full scan" do you mean full scan of the table,  or read all the rows in the specified partitions?  The "TABLE ACCESS FULL" row in second explain plan has KEY(I) in the Pstart and Pstop columns, so Oracle is only going to scan all rows in those partitions, not the whole table.
So the partitioning is limiting reading just the partitions in the where clause, and it is reading all rows in the specific partitions and using the index to figure out what partitions to read.  It is using a range scan to look for the leading column value in your primary key.  In either explain plan, it is using the index to look just at the partitions that contain the specified PARTITION_NUMBER -- in the first explain plan you see 4 = access meaning it is using the index.

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Dr R Brown, Medical practice activities, listed under "Medical Practice Activities" category, is located at High Street Polegate East Sussex , BN26 5DJ, United Kingdom and can be reached by (01323) 482301 phone number. Dr R Brown has currently 0 reviews.
Browse all Medical Practice Activities in Polegate East Sussex .


West 19th Street: Vandalism was reported in the 800 block at 11:16 p.m. Friday.
Watson Avenue: Petty theft was reported in the 1300 block at 10:10 p.m. Friday.
Charle Street: A person drunk in public was reported in the 2000 block at 1:26 p.m. Friday.
Peterson Place: A vehicle burglary was reported in the 2700 block at 10:53 a.m. Friday.
Caraway Drive: A stolen vehicle was reported in the 1500 block at 6:39 a.m. Friday.
Santa Isabel Avenue: Vandalism was reported in the 300 block at 2:40 a.m. Friday.
West Baker Street: A residential burglary was reported in the 600 block at 5:44 p.m. Friday.
Lincoln Way: Grand theft was reported in the 3100 block at 10:48 a.m. Friday.
Newport Boulevard: Petty theft was reported in the 1900 block at 8:57 a.m. Friday.
West Baker Street: A person driving under the influence was reported in the 600 block at 2:17 a.m. Friday.
Balboa Boulevard and 15th Street: A person driving under the influence was reported at 3:13 a.m. Friday.
Fortieth Street: A party was reported in the 200 block at 2:36 a.m. Friday.
San Joaquin Hills Road and Crown Drive North: A suspicious person in a vehicle was reported at 8:14 a.m. Friday.
Sea Terrace and Terrace Ridge: A party was reported at 2:33 a.m. Friday.
East Coast Highway: A suspicious person was reported in the 2800 block at 12:18 p.m. Saturday.
Acacia Avenue: Suspicious circumstances were reported in the 600 block at 10:08 a.m. Saturday.


text:
NEWS: HOME SWEET HOME FOR BILLY JOE
May 8, 20191,017
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS will bid to win the hearts of the Hertfordshire public when he fights for the first time in the county as a professional, seeking to become a two-weight world champion by claiming the vacant WBO world super middleweight title against the Albanian Shefat Isufi.
What Saunders hopes will be his crowning glory will take place in the middle of the pitch at the Lamex Stadium, home of Stevenage FC, and performing on home soil carries considerable appeal for the unbeaten – 27-0 – former WBO world middleweight champion.
"Most definitely and I think it has been a long time coming," said the 29-year-old. "You see I have mostly boxed in London and been at home, but I've never boxed here and it is interesting because I believe I am going to get a very big following.
"I am very excited to be honest with you, excited and nervous, because it is no good fighting at a venue like this and performing like a pillock! I've got to put on a good performance, so I am looking to repeat the David Lemieux performance and get the win to make myself the No.1."
To do that, the southpaw stylist will have to overcome the 27-3-2 Isufi, who is unbeaten at super middleweight after previously campaigning at cruiser and light heavy. Saunders insists he is not a threat to be taken lightly.
"Listen, a lot of people are looking at him and underestimating him a little bit. I am looking at him and I can, from studying him, see that what he does he does really well. He is not appealing on the eye, but he is better than he actually looks.
"He is obviously No.1 in the world for something and he has got to be taken care of professionally. I have been working hard and I am going to get the job done.
"He is unbeaten at the weight and he has cemented his No.1 spot for a reason. I've got to take him seriously but, at the same time, it is hard not to look past him because I lost my world title without getting beat and I want to be world champion as quickly as I can."
Saunders, indeed, could have opted to remain at middleweight and was nominated as mandatory challenger for his old title after Demetrius Andrade assumed his former status following their aborted collision last year.
The Hatfield resident declined the mandatory invitation in order to challenge for two-weight honours and believes the champions and contenders at super middle are far more willing to engage than at 160lbs.
"For one the financial gain was silly, silly change. Then there was nothing going my way and I would have been going to his back yard again, where I didn't get fairly treated the first time. I know that and I know deep down what went on, but for good fighters it is not about sitting around watching it is about how you come back.
"I have to come back stronger.
"It is open with some good names and some good fights to be made. People might say I am not a big super middleweight, but they will find I will be big enough for it. My style has never been big and bullying, that is not me, my style is being clever and smart.
"I have got unfinished business at middleweight, but I am putting myself in a position at super middle to give myself different options.
"The thing is with the super middleweights is that everyone is willing to fight everyone. There is nobody sitting back hanging out for the last pound and that is what I like about it. I've been at the top of the middleweights and the stars at the top want all of the pie and everything their own way.
"It is all on their terms, but I am just in it to win it and prove I am the best. I will put myself in a position at super middleweight where they have got to fight me.
"It is just about timing."
Billy Joe Saunders v Shefat Isufi headlines the bill at the Lamex Stadium, home of Stevenage FC, with unbeaten heavyweight Joe Joyce in the chief supporting contest against Alexander Ustinov.
Tickets can be purchased via borotickets.co.uk and are priced as below:
£250 – Hospitality
£150 – Pitch
£75 – Pitch
£50 – Stand
NEWS: UNDEFEATED HOT-SHOT SHAKAN PITTERS SIGNS PROMOTIONAL DEAL WITH MICK HENNESSY
NEWS: DUBOIS: I'M NOT FAR BEHIND THE BEST
O'Leary Vs Ozgul
NEWS: Pierce O'Leary faces Siar Ozgul on this month's MTK Fight Night
October 13, 2021421
Nathan Decastro
NEWS: DECASTRO-JACOBS TITLE CLASH SET FOR JUNE 22


Stephen Nichols' most recent film, Get the Dime, is a short movie he wrote, directed and co-edited. It tells the story of a young actor willing to do anything to prepare himself for a role – a decision that proves to be far more dangerous than he anticipated. The photo above shows star Daniel Bess contemplating his decision.
Below is a list that highlights Stephen's film career to date.


Still wondering where to find the best travel packages and accommodation deals?! You don't have to worry any longer since we've got the ideal places for you and your fellow travelers! Indeed, we're perfectly aware of how pricey even short trips may get sometimes. Therefore, we've piled up a bunch of extremely charming, cozy and affordable spots to spend your exciting nights at!
You just have to browse through them and pick the one that matches your needs, budget, and preferences the most. See? Saving cash is possible even while exploring new, exotic and gorgeous places! Read on to find out about the 8 best budget-friendly hotels in Cape Town, South Africa.
Cape Diamond Hotel with a gorgeous bedroom in purple!
Located on the corner of Longmarket and Parliament Street in City Bowl, the lovely 3-star Cape Diamond Hotel is one of the fewest properties in City Bowl that has kept its historical and authentic looks to such perfection. Its boutique style, trendy looks and fancy interior designs of its rooms captured the hearts of many travelers long ago. Without many surprises, its refined looks and name truly represent a small fraction of Cape Diamond's undying charm.
Relax & save cash: with its gorgeous and pretty spacious rooms, Cape Diamond is absolutely a great pick for any traveler running on a strict budget.
Honestly, who would think that the gorgeous Parliament Hotel could hardly offer a high-class service alongside splendid views out of your window? That's the point for sure. With its fabulous name and looks, there's no chance that the 3-star hotel would offer something less worthy at all. Situated on 9 Barrack Street in the peaceful area of City Bowl, the fancy hotel boasts a few great assets. First and foremost, its location makes it one of the most preferred accommodations within the city due to its close proximity to some of the city's best highlights. Indeed, the lavish hotel is located right in the heart of Cape Town and it's also no more than a couple of minutes away from the renowned St. George's Cathedral and the International Convention Center of Cape Town.
Treat the senses: also, guests are able to enjoy great massage treatments after an exhausting day of adventures and explorations.
Tudor Hotel boasts modern and spacious rooms!
Here we are with another charming accommodation in the area of City Bowl, Cape Town, that's anything but extremely expensive or less charismatic. Meet the great Tudor Hotel which falls into the list of the best accommodations in and around the area of City Bowl. With its exclusive family travel deals, Tudor Hotel has managed to win so many international guests over with its maximum levels of comfort, neatness, and hospitality. Also, its ideal location turns it into a really convenient stopover for any newcomer passing through the city.
Luxury is no more unaffordable: besides, the 3-star Tudor Hotel offers an easy access to public transportations, top tourist attractions, and fine dining establishments as well.
Check out the best 4-star hotel within the area!
Meet the fancy Double Tree Hotel that features spacious and elegant rooms!
With its convenient location, the marvelous Double Tree by Hilton Cape Town Upper Eastside Hotel is like a priceless diamond hidden from the greedy eyes of the world. Indeed, it's exactly this opulent accommodation that boasts a great number of guests, both international visitors and newcomers just passing through the charming city. Surely, it simply can't be the other way around given its great service, privacy, hospitality and fine looks as well. Additionally, the 4-star hotel features a modern gym alongside high-end amenities in each room.
Feel the comfort: also, the lovely hotel offers a fast Wi-Fi connection, spreading through the entire lavish property and there's a spacious parking lot as well. Enjoy your stay!
Atlantic Affair offers the maximum comfort at a reasonable price!
Famous for its marvelous interior design and excellent service quality, the lustrous Atlantic Affair Boutique Hotel is probably one of the most idealistic hotels in Cape Town. Surely, the city is quite abundant in gorgeous locations, however, most of them will absolutely cost you an arm and a leg. Unlike them, the splendid Atlantic Affair Hotel is a much cheaper option which is nevertheless pretty cozy, convenient and modern. Set right in the pumping heart of Sea Point, the 4-star Atlantic Affair Boutique Hotel will surely match your personal desires and preferences.
Feel the luxurious side of life: and just take a guess, you'll only pay a couple of bucks for this greatness! What would you say?
With its perfect looks and unrivaled styles, Long Street Boutique Hotel boasts an extremely convenient location making it such a great pick for anyone who'd love to taste the unique culture and traditions of this place. Conveniently situated on the vibrant Long Street, the lovely boutique hotel features wonderful, neat and spacious rooms offering the maximum levels of comfort. Along with its beautiful setting and surroundings, the fabulous Long Street Boutique Hotel is also proud of its cute terraces. From there, guests are able to catch exceptional views of the Table Mountain.
Enjoy your privacy: the marvelous Boutique Hotel also provides en-suite rooms making your stay even more comfortable and unforgettable.
Situated on 352 Voortrekker Road, the New National Hotel is quite a delicious option which will surely save you lots of cash. You may not believe it, but such beauty can be yours for an overnight stay. Guess what, this adventure won't even cost you that much. Actually, the lovely New National Hotel boasts excellent travel packages you cannot miss out on. Note that each room is wonderfully equipped with all of the basic travel essentials. Also, the cozy accommodation offers an on-site restaurant alongside a spacious parking lot that's totally free of charge for guests at the hotel.
Relax: the New National Hotel is an amazing option for a couple of nights when running on a strict budget. Besides, its location is pretty decent as well.
Get spoiled at the cozy and affordable Suite Hotel!
Conveniently situated between V&A Waterfront and Camps Bay, the wonderful Bantry Bay Suite Hotel features an outdoor pool, self-catering suites with air-conditioning, and a 24-hour reception. Put in a nutshell, the receptionist at the Bantry Bay Suite Hotel will be glad to walk you around no matter the hour. Generally, guests have access to the great outdoor pool in the summer. Also, the cozy accommodation features a fine restaurant serving mouth-watering dishes both international and traditional.
Get spoiled: keep in mind that this lovely property is only 3 minutes away from the locally famous beach. With that being said, it's time for some beach action, isn't it?
As you can see for yourself, the wonderful Cape Town brims with lovely accommodation deals which are not only great picks but affordable ones as well. Thanks to their fine locations, our top accommodation deals offer an easy access to the most interesting and visited areas. Indeed, Cape Town is rich in amazing hotel deals which will make any family vacation a memorable experience!
Explore Cape Town Your Way, Something For Everyone!


text:
Topnews, South Africa in Germany, Embassy, Press
South Africa Participates in Commemoration of End of Berlin Airlift 12 May 2019
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the Berlin Airlift. Between 1948 and 1949 the Western Allies flew supplies to the people of West Berlin. Aircrews from the United States Air Force, the Royal Air Force, the French Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and the South African Air Force: flew over 200,000 sorties in one year, providing to the West Berliners up to 12,941 tons of necessities in a day, such as fuel and food. South African Air Force pilots had therefore been deployed to Bassingbourn, where they were trained for the Royal Air Force planes before they reported for duty at the British Air Force Base in Lübeck.
Under the auspices of the Berlin Mayor this unique humanitarian act and logistical masterpiece will be commemorated "in style" and the public is invited to a whole day of political, military and cultural activities on 12 May 2019 from 12h00 to 19h00 at Tempelhof Airfield.
You get to learn about the airlift by means of a sound and video installation, which focuses on the emotional element of the airlift, an exhibition with general information on and the logistic background of the airlift, and the so-called Boulevard of the Allied Forces with information on each country's contribution. Live interviews and discussions with veterans and historians on the main stage will provide you with hands-on background information. The programme will be rounded off by diverse musical and cultural performances.
You get to taste a piece of South Africa as South African beverages will be sold and the famous South African Duo Qadasi & Maqhinga will perform on the main stage at 17h00.
It will be a day of fun, enjoyment, educational experience as well as cultural highlights for the entire family. Come out and join us on this special occasion! Let's celebrate and remember the South African pilots' achievements!
� Copyright by SA Embassy 2021


text:
Grants will bring high-speed internet to 16,000 homes and businesses in rural Maine
Dan Daggett has deep roots in Brookton, a small town in Washington County where he and his family run a financial services consulting business. On Wednesday, he had a successful Zoom call with two other people in other parts of the country. The day before, he had to cancel multiple meetings because his unreliable internet failed for several hours.
Those connectivity issues should soon be a problem of the past. Brookton and 10 surrounding communities will get high-speed broadband through an $8.1 million grant announced by the Maine Connectivity Authority this week.
"This new service is just going to make our lives easier," Daggett said.
Maine's broadband agency awarded a total of $34 million in federal funds to 12 projects that will bring the state closer to its goal: making high-speed internet available to anyone who wants it by the end of 2024.
Roughly 116,000 homes and businesses in Maine – almost 18% of the state – do not have broadband service, according to federal data. The grants announced Wednesday will expand service to more than 16,000 homes and businesses in 31 towns across nine counties.
"This is the largest single investment in broadband digital infrastructure that's ever been made in the state," said Andrew Butcher, president of the Maine Connectivity Authority. "And in some ways, we're just getting started. It's incredibly exciting to think about providing 16,000 connections to those who don't have broadband right now. It's a huge investment in our rural economy and in rural communities that would so benefit from this kind of infusion of funds and infrastructure."
The Maine Connectivity Authority is a quasi-governmental agency formed by the Legislature in 2021 to manage a massive influx of federal dollars to improve broadband access. Previously, the ConnectMaine Authority operated for 15 years and administered $750,000 to $1 million annually in grants to improve broadband access. But that agency never had enough money to make the sweeping investments needed to fully connect poor and rural communities. By comparison, the newer agency has committed to spend $150 million from the American Rescue Plan Act and expects to receive more than $230 million from another federal infrastructure program.
The "Connect the Ready" grants announced Wednesday come from the American Rescue Plan Act and supplement $17 million in private investment from communities and service providers. The program was highly competitive and received 29 applications that totaled $102 million in requests. The agency will award a second round of grants this spring.
The "Connect the Ready" program awarded money to projects that are ready to build, but the Maine Connectivity Authority is also giving grants to help communities with technical planning in earlier stages and to incentivize "last mile" service by incentivizing internet providers to get existing broadband just a little farther up the road to individual homes and businesses.
"This investment signals that we are very much on track," Butcher said.
"The key to success will be to layer a diversity of strategies and investments," he added. "We're prioritizing underserved rural locations, and we're laying the groundwork for that regional-scale readiness for long-term future investments."
In Brookton, the grant is the result of years of planning, community input and collaboration. The Greater East Grand Region Economic Council is a nonprofit formed by residents of remote communities at the edges of Aroostook, Washington and Penobscot counties. Sarah Strickland, the council's economic director, said they started working on this project when they realized that better broadband service was key to all of their economic goals, and the COVID-19 pandemic only made that goal more urgent. The lack of high-speed internet hampers kids trying to do their homework, adults trying to access telehealth services, business owners trying to build their brands or just order supplies.
"It really is going to make a huge difference in so many ways," she said. One person wrote to Strickland about the news: "I can't tell you how excited my teenage kids are."
Daggett, who was recently elected president of the council, has long family ties to Brookton but lived most of his life near Bath and Brunswick. He started his company right before the COVID-19 pandemic began. He and his wife finally made a permanent move to Brookton, and he hopes the more reliable broadband network that will be built by Consolidated Communications over 18 months will prompt others to do the same.
"A lot of those folks might be able to spend more time here and spend more of those dollars in our region as opposed to going back to wherever they're coming up from," he said. "Coming out of the pandemic more than ever has shown us that you don't necessarily need to live where you work. Remote work is a possibility."
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