Every year, illustrious members of the international film industry flock to Venice to showcase their latest projects at the world’s oldest film festival, the Venice Film Festival. With its intricate matrix of waterways and canals, and eclectic mix of rustic and opulent buildings, it’s not hard to see why Venice has played backdrop to some of the most iconic movies of all time, including The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Merchant of Venice and The Italian Job. To celebrate the festival and pay homage to these films, Hotel Cipriani has created a film tour that will visit locations around the city where scenes from these famous movies were shot.

Escorted by a private guide, avid film buffs will be taken on a gondola ride past the Piazza San Marco where scenes from From Russia with Love and Orson Welles’ Othello were filmed. Guests will then move on to Caffe Florian, the historic coffee bar where several of the final scenes in Anthony Miguella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley were shot. Then on to Campo Santa Maria del Giglio where Woody Allen falls in love with Julia Roberts in the musical Everyone Says I Love You.

Film fans will be whisked past the Academia Bridge and on to Palazzo Contarini where Al Pacino and Jeremey Irons gave performances of a lifetime in The Merchant of Venice. Other stops on the tour include Campo della Salute, where George Lucas and Steven Spielberg bought the blockbuster Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to life, and the church of San Nicolo dei Mendicoli where scenes from cult film Don’t Look Now with Donald Sutherland were captured.

The Hotel Cipriani Film Tour, lasts between two to four hours for a maximum of four people per tour, and can be tailored to suit movie lovers’ particular requests. The Venice Film Festival will take place from 31st August to 10th September, 2011.

City.Mobi

Also in Italy today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to Venice.

City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

Venice.city.mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.