Montréal may well be the centre of Canada’s food and drink offering but one of the city’s near-sacred culinary staples has been at the centre of a recent stand-off. The Montréal bagel, which is characterised by being slow-baked in a wood-fired oven, looked like it was to be the victim of a ban on wood-smoke pollution that’s been brought in to improve the city’s air quality. But a compromise appears to have been met: one local council in The Plateau neighbourhood, which is home to some of Montréal’s oldest and most recognisable bagelries, has stated that existing bagel shops will be protected. Technology is helping too: some bagel bakeries have incorporated smart-chimneys into their bakehouses, which filter the smoke produced by wood-burning ovens. The Montréal bagel has, thankfully, scored a hole in one.

Italy’s national rail service, Ferrovie dello Stato, has launched its first high-speed connection between Venice, Bologna, Florence and Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, the country’s largest air hub. Links to Milan’s Malpensa Airport will follow. Besides boosting both national and international tourism, the project will further integrate rail and air transport ahead of Ferrovie dello Stato’s likely acquisition of debt-burdened flag carrier Alitalia early next year. Unsurprisingly the new airport links will favour connectivity within Italy’s northern and central regions. But the development should take care not to leave southern Italy – where the infrastructure is less robust but which is home to some of the country’s most-visited areas – in the shadows.