When planning a trip to Italy, you can almost push a pin randomly in the map and leave it at that. There’s such a wealth of delicious food, deep history and vibrant culture that no matter where you go you’ll be happy — from the top of the boot to the bottom.

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In fact, there’s so much to do in Italy that it can be a little overwhelming to decide. The travel gurus at Lonely Planet are here to help with a ranking of “The top 15 destinations in Italy.” These include cities, parks, beaches and even an active volcano.

Lonely Planet has given reasons for each place’s inclusion. The top billing goes to Rome for its incredible and age-old architecture, for instance, while the region of Tuscany gets second place for its Renaissance history and romantic landscape. Here are the first 10 picks on the list; for the full accounting visit Lonely Planet:

Top 10 (of 15) destinations in Italy, from Lonely Planet

1 Rome: “Best for history”

2 Tuscany: “Best for a Renaissance fix”

3 The Dolomites: “Best for dramatic mountains”

Italy is a popular destination for people hoping to move abroad. This is a scenic view of Positano on the Amalfi Coast.(Antonel/iStockphoto/Getty Images)

4 Amalfi Coast: “Best for classic beauty”

5 Pompeii: “Best for stepping back in time”

6 Emilia-Romagna: “Best for foodies”

7 Lago di Como: “Best for a slice of luxury”

8 Sardinia: “Best for beaches and coastline”

9 Naples: “Best for sheer italianità”

10 Venice: “Best for a fairytale city”

Source: lonelyplanet.com/articles/best-places-to-visit-in-italy

Why adapt a murder mystery if you don’t care about the mechanics of the story to begin with? I ask myself this often when it comes to the work of Agatha Christie, and the question was ever-present throughout the three-part series “Towards Zero” on BritBox.

I’ve been making my way through Christie’s books for the past year or so (70-plus novels, not even counting the short stories) and the qualities that make her such a fun read — or fun listen; the official audiobooks narrated by actors are terrific as well — are rarely in evidence when it comes to newer film and TV versions, which fail to capture her voice. They’re usually too serious and given a “prestige” patina that feels simultaneously undercooked and overdone.

Christie wrote until her death in 1976 (well, almost; her last novel was published in 1973) and her books incorporated subtle details reflecting the changes happening around her. And yet when those same stories are adapted into TV or film, we’re invariably trapped in the 1930s. Specifically, a glamorously imagined version of the ’30s. That’s true here as well. “Towards Zero” was published in 1944 but the setting has been changed to 1936. That’s my first beef.

The original book opens with Christie dropping breadcrumbs that introduce seemingly unrelated characters — whose importance will be revealed later — before getting to the main players at hand. All of that prologue is gone in this version, which makes sense. Condensing a novel isn’t easy. What to keep in? What to leave out? But too many changes to the story itself are fundamentally at odds with the spirit of Christie’s writing. The result is airless. Aimless, even.

Like so many of her stories, this one takes place at a palatial estate and centers on a divorced couple named Nevile Strange (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and Audrey Strange (Ella Lily Hyland) who split up when he fell in love with a petulant woman (Mimi Keene) he subsequently married.

When the exes run into each other one day in London, they decide to spend a few weeks together over the summer — along with Nevile’s new wife — at the coastal Devon estate of the imperious Lady Tressilian (an excellent Anjelica Huston). It’s where they grew up and the inclination to return makes sense to them, if to no one else. The divorce was ugly and yet here they are, playing nice. How … civilized. But then murder ensues. In the book, police superintendent Battle happens to be enjoying his own holiday nearby, so he’s pulled into service to find out whodunit.

Christie wrote five novels featuring Battle as the primary sleuth, including this one. But adapter Rachel Bennette has other things in mind, excising Battle entirely, replaced by Inspector Leach. Christie readers will recognize the name; he’s Battle’s nephew, who is also a police officer stationed nearby and therefore Battle’s right-hand man on the case. But nothing about this Leach, played by Matthew Rhys, resembles the original. Instead, he’s a despondent war veteran in need of a shave.

Reshaping Leach into a man grappling with (presumably World War I-era?) shell shock and survivor’s guilt feels random, but then, what here doesn’t? Clarke Peters, of “The Wire,” is also part of the ensemble as a guest staying at the house. He’s Lady Tressilian’s lawyer and yet another character whose story contours have been changed for reasons that do not play out in fruitful ways.

Fidelity to source material can be a trap. But change just for the sake of change isn’t the answer, either. Consider the problems created by this version of Leach. Narratively, a police detective has no reason to be around until a murder takes place. But you don’t cast an actor like Matthew Rhys and then sideline him for the first hour. Even so, the series struggles to explain his presence in the early going. More to the point, this guy? Not how Christie viewed the police. They lack the elegant intelligence of a Poirot or a Marple, but they are not anguished — they’re too stolid, too uninteresting for that — and it’s a reimagining that adds no depth to the proceedings.

Matthew Rhys as Inspector Leach in the TV adaptation of Agatha Christie’s “Towards Zero.” (James Pardon/BritBox)

To encounter Christie today means recoiling from some her worst instincts (the racism for one, which was either her own or simply that of her snootiest characters) and I’m not arguing for that to be retained. To be clear, that’s not an issue with this version of “Towards Zero.” But she had a sly humor that tends to get lost in adaptations. She wasn’t interested in melodrama so much as the messier outcomes of people who fail to see eye to eye, sometimes with violent results. In the novel, Battle makes an observation. “It’s extraordinary the amount of misunderstandings there are even between two people who discuss a thing quite often — both of them assuming different things and neither of them discovering the discrepancy.”

Conflict is avoidable except when it isn’t, because humans tend to be such terrible communicators. This adaptation has no curiosity about any of that. And it eliminates an important reveal about the real reason Nevile and Audrey divorced, making their story ordinary in the process and filled with the kind of yelling and screaming the more repressed, falsely polite book characters would have found ridiculous. I don’t get it.

The costumes and sets are expensive looking, and that’s often one of the consistent pleasures of Christie on screen. But you also need a narrative that makes sense. A clockwork story. Written by someone who actually likes her books.

One thing that does work is Huston’s withering performance. To her credit, Bennette has invented some delicious one-liners for her ladyship. “Why have a husband when you can have a lawyer?” is not just droll, it’s Oscar Wilde-esque.

If you can’t give us Christie, Wilde will have to do. Even if it’s just for a brief flicker of a moment.

“Towards Zero” — 2 stars (out of 4)

Where to watch: BritBox

Nina Metz is a Tribune critic.

More than a dozen whiskey-filled oak barrels sit on racks inside Ironton Distillery’s production facility in Denver. Most of it won’t be ready to drink for a while — it needs to age for two years — but when it is, this whiskey will be bottled and labeled as “American single malt.”

Colorado distillers are raising a toast to this new standard of identity for domestic whiskey, one that formally defines what ingredients can be used and how American single malt should be made. Instituted in December by the federal alcohol regulators, the designation joins vaunted labels like bourbon, rye and Irish Whiskey. This is the first time since 1968 that the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau has added a new one.

While U.S. distilleries have been making single malt spirits for a long time, local whiskey producers believe the designation will allow them to better compete with powerhouses like Scotland and Japan. They are also confident that Colorado can take the lead in popularizing American single malt, thanks to the state’s strong beer heritage, which has cultivated a generation of distillers familiar with using its base ingredient, one that is frequently grown here as well.

“Colorado was and is at the forefront of craft beer in the country. We have a lot of people like me, who were brewers, who understand malt and who started distilling and making malt whiskey,” said Craig Engelhorn, co-founder and master distiller at Spirit Hound Distillers in Lyons. “Just like we were pioneers in the ’90s with craft beer, we’re pioneers now with malt whiskey.”

A bottle of Ironton Distillery’s Colorado Straight Single Malt Whiskey at Ironton Distillery in Denver on April 2, 2025. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

Creating a category

The TTB defines American single malt whiskey as a beverage made from 100% malted barley that is mashed, distilled and matured in the U.S.

It must be aged in oak barrels that are a maximum of 700 liters (185 gallons) and bottled at least 40% alcohol by volume. While the spirit is required to be distilled entirely at one distillery, the definition leaves room for companies to either make it in-house or source it from another producer.

The parameters were largely informed by whiskey producers, who spent the nine years lobbying regulators. The movement started in 2016, when Steve Hawley, then working at Seattle’s Westland Distillery, convened with eight other spirit makers at a Binny’s Beverage Depot in Chicago. The group’s objective: To find consensus about what makes American single malt whiskeys distinct.

The meeting took roughly one hour and catalyzed the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission, which took the lead advocating for the code update on behalf of U.S. producers. (The spelling of “whiskey” differs across organizations. (The TTB uses “whisky” in its American single malt definition, but for clarity, The Denver Post will spell the word as “whiskey” in this story.)

Hawley, who serves as president of the commission, submitted a formal petition to regulators shortly after that initial meeting. As the rulemaking process inched forward over the years, the organization worked to “spread the gospel” of American single malt whiskey, rallying distillers, maltsters and liquor stores around its cause. Today, it boasts 113 members.

What galvanized so many producers, Hawley said, was an opportunity to level the playing field between American-made spirits and the world’s most coveted Scotch and Japanese single malts.

“America has been known for bourbon for such a long time, but it’s not the only kind of whiskey that’s being made here,” Hawley said. American single malt “stands toe to toe with Scotch whiskey, Japanese whiskey and whiskey being made all over the world.

“I think what you’ll find with American single malt whiskey is, in a broad sense, a very intentional approach to be distinct — to have our own voice in the world of single malt,” he added, “not just be a copy of Scotch or to replicate what other people are doing.”

Head distiller Laura Walters works at Ironton Distillery in Denver on April 2, 2025. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

Colorado’s role

Malted barley is the primary ingredient used to make beer and the majority of whiskeys, and many local distillers transitioned to the spirits industry after cutting their chops at breweries.

That means local drinkers have access to some of the best single malt whiskeys in the country, said Spirit Hound’s Englehorn, who helped develop the original recipe for Dale’s Pale Ale in the early 2000s while he was a brewer at Oskar Blues.

Spirit Hound sells six different single malts, including one called Colorado Honey, which is finished in barrels used to store local honey. It was awarded the title of American Single Malt Whiskey of the Year at the 2024 London Spirits Competition.

It’s not only the technique that sets Colorado single malt whiskey apart, however. Many craft distillers use locally grown barley, which gives their spirits a sense of place and showcases the Rocky Mountain terroir, said Justin Aden, head blender at Stranahan’s in Denver.

Stranahan’s has been making exclusively single malt whiskey since it was founded in 2004. Every spirit starts with the same base recipe: A 100% malted two-row barley mash that’s fermented off the grain husks, distilled and then aged for at least four years in new American white oak barrels. After that, Aden gets to have some fun concocting various flavors by finishing the spirits in different casks – like those previously used for sherry or rum – and by blending different ages together for complexity.

But what makes Stranhan’s whiskey distinct is the Colorado grains, most of which are grown on the Front Range, Aden said. He expects distilleries in other states to use their own barley in single malt whiskeys as well, in order to highlight local agricultural communities. (That’s why the growth of American single malt whiskey is a potential boon for farmers, Engelhorn said.)

“There’s a whole bunch of varietals of barley that grow in different regions of the country better than others,” Aden said. “That’s a really fun thing for whiskey geeks to discover.”

To commemorate the new federal designation, Stranahan’s will soon debut a new blend called Founder’s Release. The 12-year-old whiskey is one of its oldest and highest-proof expressions, clocking in at 60% alcohol by volume. It’s expected to be available for sale in late spring for $199.99.

Distillery dog Ludo, a golden retriever, lies in the sunshine next to oak barrels with aging whiskey at Ironton Distillery in Denver on April 2, 2025. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

Flavor and creativity

What most excites Ironton head distiller Laura Walters is the opportunity for creativity and innovation. The single malt definition mandates that distillers use 100% malted barley, but it doesn’t specify what kind or how it is roasted, which creates room for experimentation.

For example, her flagship American Straight Malt Whiskey features 60% specialty malts roasted to various levels, drawing out different sugars and flavors. But a recipe Walters developed for Colorado State University athletics featured a different ratio of base malts and specialty malts, which created an entirely new flavor profile.

The freedom to design a mash bill like this, plus the ability to leverage barrels and even elevation, means there’s an almost endless well of flavor combinations to play with. “Everybody talks about terroir in wine, but it’s definitely a thing with whiskey, too,” she said. “Even in our state alone, a barrel that is aged at Denver’s level is going to be totally different than a barrel in Aspen.”

Or even in the Boulder County town of Louisville, where Ironton Distillery is moving its production at some point in the next few years.

So, how will American single malt sell? Hawley said he hopes to see new sections at liquor stores denoting the style to help customers more easily identify it. But one of the best ways to try the local tipples remains bellying up where they’re made.

“Go out there, try new single malts, support local distilleries,” Walters said. “It’s an exciting time.”

By Rick VanderKnyff, NerdWallet

My wife and I bought a new car last month.

It turns out we were not alone. That was made apparent by the crowds at the dealership where we bought our hybrid hatchback on March 30, and confirmed by a new report on retail sales figures for March.

Advance estimates of March retail sales released today by the U.S. Census Bureau showed sales of motor vehicles and parts up 5.3% in March over the previous month, compared to a 1.6% decline in February. When looking back to March 2024, car sales were up a whopping 8.8% year over year.

Overall, retail sales were up 1.4% over February — the largest month-over-month rise in more than two years, according to Reuters, and above expectations for the month. In addition to cars, categories that saw month-over-month growth include building materials (up 3.3%) and a grouping that includes sporting goods, hobbies, musical instruments and bookstores (up 2.4%).

Typically, economists would applaud numbers like this as signs of a healthy economy, but in this case the consensus is that March is a one-time splurge with rockier seas ahead.

“March was basically a big clearance sale in the eyes of many consumers,” Heather Long, an economics columnist at the Washington Post, posted on X. “This is unlikely to continue.”

A shopping spree ahead of tariffs

The March rise in retail sales is a reaction to the myriad wide-ranging tariffs that President Donald Trump has put into motion since taking office in January. The resulting trade war is expected to reignite inflation on a wide range of items, everything from everyday essentials like food and clothing to luxury items and big-ticket purchases — like cars.

While many of the tariffs are now in effect for goods coming into the country, existing inventories are largely priced at their pre-tariff levels. Of course, those inventories will not last forever. According to estimates from Cox Automotive, the 91-day supply of new vehicles across all brands recorded at the beginning of March had shrunk to 70 days by April 1.

Inventory levels are much lower for certain in-demand brands, below 50 days for Lexus, Toyota, Honda and Subaru.

Once those inventories run out, dealers will begin filling their lots with cars that have been hit by tariffs — a tax paid by the importer, but typically tacked onto the final sales price. Chief among the announced auto duties now in effect is a 25% tariff on imported cars and light trucks, to be joined before May 3 by a 25% tariff on car parts manufactured outside the U.S. (There are partial exceptions for certain models assembled in Canada and Mexico).

Trump has exhorted consumers to buy American cars and trucks, but after decades of supply chain and manufacturing globalization, there is not a single car model made entirely in the U.S. The Tesla Model Y comes closest, but the top 10 vehicles in the Cars.com “American-Made Index Report” for 2024 includes models of Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen and Lexus.

Thanks to tariffs, car prices are expected to rise $2,000 or more for some economy models and as much as $20,000 for luxury models.

Used cars are not directly affected by tariffs, but inventories are shrinking there as well, just as they did in the thick of the pandemic. Kelley Blue Book reported that the average car dealer had a 43-day supply of used cars at the beginning of March, which had declined to 39 days at the end of the month.

Finally buying that second car

Trump signaled his love for tariffs all through his campaign, and began implementing them through executive order as soon as he took office. He announced the 25% auto tariff on March 26.

My wife and I didn’t waste time. On March 30, we signed the paperwork on a bright blue Honda Civic (assembled in Indiana, with a Japanese-made engine and drive train).

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We tend to save up and pay cash for new cars, and keep them for a decade or more. Our adult sons are out of the house and we’ve gotten by reasonably well for the past few years with one car, a reliable Subaru Forester that is great in the kind of weather we’re apt to get in Western Washington, but with less-than-ideal gas mileage.

We’d been thinking about a second car, something more fuel-efficient, especially for all those local trips. We had the money set aside, but the decision didn’t seem urgent — until that tariff announcement.

It seems clear many folks who bought in March were in a similar boat: thinking it was time to buy a new car, accelerating that decision based on the sharp price rise that is about to hit.

When we sat down with the sales manager to finalize the deal, it was the Sunday after the Wednesday tariff announcement. He said the sales team had been running full-tilt since then and that popular models were disappearing rapidly. We bought one of the last two available of the model we had targeted.

When we asked what he figured our car would have cost after tariffs, he ran the numbers on his calculator. At least $6,000 more, he said.

The article America (and I) Went on a Pre-Tariff Splurge in March originally appeared on NerdWallet.