Briefly please could you tell us a bit about yourself?

My name’s Franco, I was born in Bolzano and currently I’m living in Bologna (Emilia Romagna) and working in Trentino area. Communication, internet & social media have been my main activities for many years. I love photography, especially nature shots.

I shoot with a Canon Eos 30D, 17/85 Efs, EF 75/300 and with the iPhone when I’m without the main camera. You can find me on Instagram, only with iPhone Shots (giacoz67 user).

Please come visit my Flickr PhotoStream.

How long have you known Ruffrè?

Half of my roots are in Ruffrè. My Grandparents were born here. I’ve been visiting Ruffrè as a tourist since I was a child. So I could say to know this place very well!

What do you like most about Ruffrè?

Ruffrè is a very quiet place, a little town at 1175 metres of elevation, sourrounded by gorgeous forests, lawn and creeks.

Very close to Ruffrè you can find “Passo Mendola”, a gap between Trentino and South Tirol, which became a world famous tourist resort in the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1900. The Emperor Franz Joseph and his famous wife The Empress Elisabeth (Sissy) came here.

Why should travellers visit Ruffrè?

Travellers will find a beautiful place both in the summer and winter. Ruffrè is not a classical example of the mountain mass tourist place. It’s quiet, a great place for photo shooting.

3 km from Passo Mendola you can find Monte Penegal, which gives you one of the best panorama points in the Alps. From Monte Penegal you can see the whole Dolomiti Mountains area. It’s amazing to visit at sunset, the Mountains become red and pink! An incredible show created by nature.

You can also run, ride, ski, skate and many other activities. Last but not least, you get very good food and wine here.

What do you wish travellers would do or stop doing when they visit Ruffrè?

Ruffrè is very close to Passo Mendola, but is less famous. After you visit Passo Mendola go to Ruffrè, then you can continue to the “Non” Valley.

What are your top 3 insider tips for visitors to Ruffrè?

Visit the town of Ruffrè and the church.

Visit the Monte Penegal.

If you’re a motorbiker you should not miss out on a trip from Caldaro to Passo Mendola.

Another “sight” is the Mendola funicular railway, which is the longest and steepest of its kind throughout South Tyrol.

Photos from Ruffrè

Head on over to Franco’s Flickr site for some amazing shots of Ruffrè.

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Our View of a Local series consists of interviews with local people in various towns and cities in different countries.

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The annual festival has been running in Søndervig for a few years now, I believe, and the theme this year is “The Roman Empire and its Rulers”.

The artists are from all over the world and I was very impressed by the sculptures! The details are amazing, as should be evident from the photos below by Asta Poulsen.

The festival runs till 25 October, and you can get all the details including entrance fees and opening times from http://www.sandskulptur.dk/frontpage.aspx

I often come back from a holiday, wishing I could recreate some of the delicious dishes that the local cuisine had to offer. For most people this would just be a matter of looking up the recipe and start cooking. I, however, cannot cook to save my life, so I resort to hunting down restaurants who might offer the dishes.

Seychelles was no different – who knew cabbage salad or mango salad could taste so divine? But the one thing I wish I could have brought home with me from Seychelles, is the SeaPearl Ginger Ale. I don’t normally drink ginger ale, but this ginger ale is not only the best ginger ale I’ve ever tasted, it is also the most refreshing soft drink, I’ve ever come across.

Anyone, who knows me, will know that I’m a massive Coke drinker, but I would switch in a heartbeat, if the SeaPearl Ginger Ale was available in the UK.

We chose Seychelles primarily for its snorkelling, and boy did we go snorkelling! I spent so much time face down in the water that my back is still two shades darker than my face.

We did most of the snorkelling in the bay of Anse Petite Cour on Praslin, straight off the beach of La Reserve hotel. The bay offers calm water and plenty of fish including the beautiful but very defensive Picasso Triggerfish, the spectacular but poisonous Lionfish, Porcupinefish, various species of Butterflyfish and Angel fish, Surgeonfish, Parrotfish, Trumpetfish and many, many more.

We also snorkelled for a few hours off Anse Source D’Argent on La Digue and off a small beach cove at the Hilton Northolme on Mahe. The water at Anse Source D’Argent was a bit cloudy on the day we visited La Digue, so we didn’t see as great a variety of fish as we saw at Anse Petite Cour on Praslin. The beach itself was gorgeous though.

The water at Hilton Northolme was very choppy when we were there, quite low visibility and only suitable for strong swimmers on that particular day. I found the highest concentration of fish around a group of large rocks situated a good distance off the beach, where a massive group of squid nearly spooked my snorkel mask off my face, as they swam across my path.

We found the best snorkelling, though, around Felicite and Isle Coco. We saw the same species of fish as we had seen at Anse Petite Cour, but at a much higher density. I caught a brief glimpse of a ray as it was swimming away from me at Coco island, where we also got to see a sea turtle.

I’ve extracted a few stills from our snorkelling videos, see below. The videos were shot with a dodgy point-and-shoot through an Aquapac, so please excuse the poor quality. I’ll try to put together a small compilation video over the next couple of weeks, so you can get a better feel of the snorkelling opportunities on Seychelles.