Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Changes to the Italian government
• Berlusconi resigned [see videos of post-resignation celebrations on ItalyChronicles.com]
• Mario Monti named interim Prime Minister [see What Will Mario Monti Do? and March of the Technocrats on ItalyChronicles.com to find out more about the interim government]
• Flooding & mudslides in Liguria, Tuscany [see story on the damage on the New York Times, Telegraph (with video), & an overview on WhyGo Italy]
• “A Violent Rain Buries an Italian Friend,” by Rick Steves

Special Guest
Tom Mueller writes for The New Yorker and other publications. He lives in a medieval stone farmhouse surrounded by olive groves in the Ligurian countryside outside of Genoa, Italy. He’s the author of an upcoming book about extra virgin olive oil called Extra Virginity: The Sublime & Scandalous World of Olive Oil.

• Tom’s website: Extra Virginity
• Tom on Twitter as @extravirginity and Extra Virginity on Facebook
• New Yorker article from 2007, Slippery Business

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara:  My new book on Amazon Kindle, How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy 
  
• Jessica: Donating to the flood relief effort via The Florentine Press; made easy for those not in Italy

Video of the week: 

• A walk through Milan’s Central Station [by Jessica]

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Global “Day of Rage” peaceful, except in Rome [Christian Science Monitor]; Peaceful Protest Dissolves into Riots in Rome [Italy Magazine]
• George Clooney on his “Astonishing Evening” with Silvio Berlusconi [TIME Magazine]

Special Guest
Sarah Marder grew up on a farm in Kansas, and she’s a corporate-manager-turned-filmmaker who has lived in Italy since 1988. Since 2008, she’s been working on the documentary about which we’re going to chat today – “The Genius of a Place,” about sustainable development as seen through the lens of Cortona in Tuscany.

• The Genius of a Place official website
• The Genius of a Place IndieGoGo Project
• The Genius of a Place on Facebook
• The Genius of a Place on YouTube
• Sarah Marder on Twitter

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• moderno/moderna
  modern – una citta’ moderna

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Earworm learning language apps
• Jessica: “In season” chart for fruits & veggies in Italy (via Christine of WhyGo France)
• Deal of the Week:
  • New York-Milan from $659 round-trip in November
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:
George Clooney’s interview with TIME Magazine

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Spain and Italy Hit by Downgrades
• Wikipedia Italia Blackout in Protest of Proposed Wiretapping Law; EOI podcast with Livia Iacolare about freedom of the press in Italy
• Italy’s Top Chef Lands a Job at McDonald’s
• Permanent Museum to Open at Rome’s Airport

Special Guest

Mike Duncan was born and raised outside of Seattle and has a degree in Political Science and Philosophy from Western Washington University. He is married with two pets and began writing the History of Rome podcast on a whim in July of 2007. He has been chained to his computer ever since.

The History of Rome lives at thehistoryofrome.typepad.com and The Official History of Rome Roman History Tour lives at historyofrometour.com.

Fans of the podcast have created their own Facebook fan page: The History Of Rome Podcast Listeners.

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• storia
• both history & story (love story)

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Michelle: Past guest and friend of the podcast Mark Leslie, author of Beyond the Pasta‘s Pumpkin Ricotta Pie – also congrats for appearance on Today Show (video below) for Columbus Day.
• Jessica: iPhone/iPad app, Umbria Slow: Food, Culture & Travel [by EOI alums Rebecca Winke & Alex Leviton]
• Deal of the Week:
• New York-Rome from $640 round-trip starting in November
• See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week: 

• Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Italy’s Troubling Earthquake Prosecutions
• Italy’s Sole Calls on Berlusconi to Quit for Good of Country
• Italian Lawyer Calls Amanda Knox She-Devil (update on case); live tweeting: Stephen Robert Morse @morsels for The Daily Caller & Barbie Latza Nadeau with The Daily Beast @BLNadeau

Special Guest

Pamela Sheldon Johns is the author of sixteen cookbooks specializing in Italian traditional and regional ingredients. Originally from California, Johns has lived full-time in Tuscany for over 10 years at Poggio Etrusco, her organic farm/Bed & Breakfast in southern Tuscany, where she teaches cooking and produces an extra-virgin olive oil called “Pace da Poggio Etrusco.” Pamela has coordinated wine and food workshops in various regions of Italy for twenty years through Food Artisans.

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• Poggio
• knoll, outlook, hilltop

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Sergio Bonelli, creator of Tex, an Italian comic, died September 26th.
• Michelle: Review of Cucina Povera by Pamela Sheldon Johns at Bleeding Espresso
• Deal of the Week:
• See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

• Dustin Hoffman & Caffè Vergnano TV commercials http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSlaEUDnfeI via Valerie Fortney-Schneider

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Berlusconi vows to leave “crappy” Italy in conversation recorded by police
• Italian town declares independence
• Weddings in Italy take sharp decrease in last two years

Special Guest
Megan McCaffrey-Guerrera, @bellavitaitalia on Twitter is a southern California native and has been living in Italy for the past 8 years. She runs Bella Vita Italia, a customized tour company out of Lerici, on the Italian Riviera. She loves to travel, yoga, music and spending time with her two Lu’s, her husband Luigi and 13-year old lab, Lucy.

• Megan’s website: BellaVitaItalia.com

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• Rientro
• the re-entry – usually after a long absence, and coming back from vacation

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara:  Food Writing Workshop in Tuscany - 23-28 April 2012
• Jessica: Food Shopping Tips in Italy [video, below]
• Megan: www.cinqueterre.it for Cinque Terre information and ferry site: www.navigazionegolfodeipoeti.it
• Deal of the Week:
• New York-Milan or New York-Rome from $708 round-trip in October
• See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week: 

• Food Shopping Tips in Italy

Food shopping tips in Italy from Cross-Pollinate Travel on Vimeo.

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Pope sends his first tweet, from an iPad
• Top court permits marijuana on balcony
• Waste crisis: Naples snubbed by Northern League
• Due Diligence [by Bonnie of Napoli Unplugged]
• Berlusconi urges regions to solve trash crisis
• Italian firm’s women-only job cull inflames gender controversy

Special Guests

Alberto Alfonso by Al Hurley

Cuban born Alberto Alfonso is a founding principal and President of Alfonso Architects, an award winning 35 member architecture firm located in Florida.  He has recently been appointed the Interim Program Director of Architecture and Design at the USF Polytechnic. Alfonso has exhibited his paintings in the US and Italy and they are permanently installed in the Nielsen Media Global Technology Center, the Mission of St. Mary Chapel and Carmel Café.

Ed Mayes by Frances Mayes

Edward Mayes is a poet and scholar whose works have appeared in many prestigious publications, including the American Poetry Review and Iowa Review. His books have received many awards such as the Juniper Prize and the Bay Area Book Reviewers Association Award; he’s also received the Cecil Hemley Memorial Award and Gordon Barber Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry. He lives in North Carolina and Cortona, Italy, with his wife, writer Frances Mayes.

• Alberto Alfonso: http://www.alfonsoarchitects.com/
• Edward Mayes: http://www.thetuscansun.com
• Tuscan Sun Festival: http://www.tuscansunfestival.com/
• Press release for Alberto & Edward’s exhibit

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• alba – tramonto
• sunrise – sunset

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara:  Ben & Jerry’s comes into Italy – benjerry.it
• Jessica: Angelo in 140
• Michelle: Berlusconi Inspires an Angry Bunga-Bunga App via @onlyinitaly
• Deal of the Week:
• Air Transat offering steeply discounted fares getting from Toronto & Montreal to Rome in July-August, as low as $551 round-trip. Check out the Rome travel deals page for the latest offers.
• See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Louvre rejects Uffizi request to borrow Mona Lisa
• New hotel taxes in Florence & Venice
• More tourists coming to Italy, but spending less
• The Longobards in Italy added to Unesco sites

Special Guest

Rabbi Barbara Aiello is the first woman rabbi and first non-orthodox rabbi in Italy. She lives and works in Calabria, in the small village of Serrastretta where she has organized the first active Jewish synagogue in the “Mezzogiorno” in 500 years since Inquisition times.

Rabbi Barbara is the director of the Italian Jewish Cultural Center of Calabria (IjCCC), an organization that helps Italians and Italian Americans discover their Jewish roots. Prior to her rabbinic ordination, Rabbi Barbara created The Kids on the Block international puppet program and currently is host of the syndicated radio show, “The Radio Rabbi,”  on flagship station WGUL AM 860 in Tampa, Florida and heard around the world on podcast. Her website is www.rabbibarbara.com.

• Guide to Jewish Italy by Annie Sacerdoti
• Family Tree DNA to search for Italian Jewish roots

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• giudaismo / ebraismo – ebreo/ebraico (ebrea/ebraica)
  
• Judaism – Jewish

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: vino roma – wine tasting and culinary tours in Rome – photos from my Franciacorta evening at vino roma
• Jessica: Context Travel tours in Italy
• Michelle: Head Over Heel: Seduced by Southern Italy by Chris Harrison

• Deal of the Week:
  • Flights to Venice in $750-800 range for round-trip flights in early October from NY, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta & more – check Venice travel deals page for latest information
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

  Video of the week:

Tarantella dancing in Monte Sant’Angelo by the Pacchianella

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Jersey Shore Finally Leaves Florence
• Garbage Crisis: Mayor fights uphill battle against Northern League and organized crime from Naples Politics by Anthony M. Quattrone

Special Guest
Valerie Fortney Schneider is a travel professional and freelance writer who moved from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Italy in 2006. She has worked in the travel and tourism industry for nearly two decades and writes about all things Italy for travel publications and websites. She and her husband Bryan bought a small house in Valerie’s ancestral region of Basilicata, where she selflessly samples local delicacies and tours hidden havens for the sake of writing and travel planning. Valerie and Bryan also recently launched a travel and property assistance business, My Bella Basilicata.

• caciocavallo
  • a type of cheese that is shaped in a “teardrop” shape. The literal Italian translation means “cheese on horseback” but could also derive from its saddlebag/yoke shape. [source]

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Leif Pettersen‘s, former EOI guest, Florence iPhone app, “Florence Explorer” ($2.99) is out! 
  
• Jessica: Soundtracker [Pandora for Italian music] via Nicole’s Zoomata blog
• Michelle: Italian hangman online
  
• Deal of the Week:
  • 2-for-1 deal on Saturday train trips in Italy, through August 27 [can buy once you get to Italy, or buy Italy train tickets online before you go at WhyGo Italy]
    
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals
    

Video of the week:

• “A Walk in Milan,” posted by Alex Roe on his Italy Chronicles blog

A walk in Milan from Giuseppe Vetrano on Vimeo.

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Referendum: what the fuss is about by Gloria of At Home in Tuscany; Referendum results at La Repubblica
• Fiat Returns After 30-year Hiatus

Special Guest

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• Ao, ma che stai a di’?
  • (Roman dialect): Hey, what the heck are you talking about?

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Uffizi Touch for iPhone ($5.99 for a limited time)
  
• Jessica: Naples: Must-Sees and See-What-Happens – NY Times Frugal Traveler
• Michelle: 50 Ways to Enjoy Italian Coffee from Charming Italy
• Deal of the Week:
  • Air Transat deals getting from Toronto or Montreal to Rome from $565 in June/July
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals
    

Video of the week:

• Calabria tourism ad with Riace Bronzes

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Italian Women Among the Thinnest in Europe – via @wanderingitaly
  
• In Italy, Luxury Transforms Caves Into Hotels
  
• Wiretaps Show Berlusconi Still Having Bunga-Bunga Parties
  

Special Guest
Cherrye Moore is an American travel writer and consultant who has been living in Calabria since 2006. Her company, My Bella Vita Travel specializes in personalized itineraries for travelers to southern Italy and creates one-of-a-kind heritage tours of Calabria. This year she has joined forces with Tania Pascuzzi of In Italy Tours to offer the first annual Calabrian Table Tour, an 8-day cooking, food and wine tour of Calabria — which we’ll be talking more about shortly.

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• Iamuninda
  • Let’s go (Italian: andiamo)
    

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Kindle Sunshine deals – 600 books for $0.99 – 2.99 (until June 15th) – Italy from a backpack
  
• Jessica: Life Lessons from a Tuscan Wedding
• Michelle: Parola del Giorno iPhone app
  
• Cherrye: Mamma Agata: Simple and Genuine Cookbook; In Search of the Perfect Parmigiana
  
• Deal of the Week:
  • Chicago-Milan from $758 round-trip in September/October
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals
    

Video of the week:

• Calabrese 101: Note: These translations are meant to be humorous and are NOT accurate, and in many cases offensive. Use with caution.

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Naples businesses closed out of respect for American tourist killed in robbery attempt via @newsfromitaly
  • More on the death of the tourist in Naples
• Italy seeks UNESCO protection for Neapolitan pizza
• Snooki crashed into Italian police car in Florence; license revoked
• Venice Biennale begins (officially) this weekend

Special Guest

Justin Catanoso is executive editor of The Business Journal based in Greensboro, North Carolina and also a visiting lecturer at Wake Forest University. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Business Week and on National Public Radio. Justin is also the author of My Cousin the Saint, a family memoir published by HarperCollins in both hard cover and paperback.

• Justin Catanoso’s website
• My Cousin the Saint [Michelle's review of the book on Bleeding Espresso]
• Justin on Twitter
  

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• santo – santa – san – sant’
  • saint [the version depends on the name that follows – whether it begins with a consonant or vowel, and whether it’s male or female

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Gambero Rosso English Magazine on iPad (free) & Italian wines ($9.99)
  
• Jessica: Il Panino Tondo in Florence; food delivery (including bagels & donuts?!?)
• Michelle: Italian saint magnets from Select Italy
  
• Deal of the Week:
  • Kids under 12 get to ride trains in Italy for free in July-August (with a paying adult, groups no larger than 5, trains within the national Trenitalia network) – details (in Italian) in this article
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals
    

Video of the week:

• Italian comedian Fiorello imitates Berlusconi

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• John Paul II Statue Sparks Controversy in Rome via @RomeDaily
• $7 billion Venice project on schedule
• Hunt for the true Mona Lisa begins; Mona Lisa’s Skull Found
• Italian Town to Offer Free Beach Umbrella Rental to the Poor

• Perillo Tours
• ItalyVacations.com
• Slow Food International / Perillo’s Slow Food Tours

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• gita – turistica – scolastica
  • outing – tourist or school trip/field trip

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Google Italy landing page for 150th Anniversary
  
• Jessica: Good reads about life & travel in Italy - Expecting the Unexpected by Gloria & The Intersection of Paradise & La (Agro) Dolce Vita by Michelle
• Michelle: Smell Festival in Bologna; May 24-29, 2011
  
• Steve: ItalyTravel.com
  
• Deal of the Week:
  • Phoenix-Rome from $762 round-trip in June [two dates]
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals
    

Video of the week:

• Pirlo leaving Milan

Italy Q&A Part 3

Traveling with Toddler

• I am a fellow blogger and am visiting Italy with my family (a toddler and my hubby) in June for 6 days.I was planning on landing in Rome (landing 10th night and staying here till the 12th) then driving to Siena (staying here till the 14th and visiting two drivable distance towns in Tuscany). I am now confused on whether we should drive from Siena to Venice for a day and head back to Rome by train as we have a flight to catch on the 16th – will this be too hectic? Or go from Siena to Florence – omit Venice and head back to Rome on the 15th, stay another night here before catching a flight back to India on the 16th. Any advice would be helpful – we aren’t sure whether our trip is becoming too hectic with a 2 year old? – Ms. Adventures in Italy reader
  • Florence most family-friendly destination in Europe (Rome is #6) – via @italofileblog
  • Top 10 Best Activities for Kids in Italy at Madeline’s Italy Beyond the Obvious

Itinerary questions

• I’m visiting Venice for two days. I would like to visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa on the 3rd day, as our flight is late that night. Is this possible from Venice? – WhyGo Italy reader
  • How to Plan the Perfect Italy Itinerary
  • A Simply Unforgettable Italian Holiday: 8 Tips for Mindful Travel by Diana at A Certain Simplicity/Baur B&B

Photography equipment while traveling

• I am a photographer and I will be traveling with my equipment which I normally carry in a backpack. I read the tip about not carrying a backpack. So which would be the best way for me to carry my camera equipment? – Charlie, WhyGo Italy reader

Trains

• If there aren’t luggage lockers in Italian train stations, is there usually an office where you can leave luggage (for a fee)? – WhyGo Italy reader
  • Luggage Storage in Italian Train Stations
• What do you reccommend for the most economical exploratory train ride for the money? – Sara, WhyGo Italy Facebook page
  • When to Buy an Italy Rail Pass

People watching in Rome

• Why do I see a lot of older Italian men with pretty young Italian women on Sundays in the Borghese Gardens? – Roy, WhyGo Italy Facebook page
• Who are those guys selling all those handbags and sunglasses on the streets? – Roy, WhyGo Italy Facebook page

Culinary schools in Rome

• I am taking a year sabbatical to accompany my husband on his posting to Rome in September.  I am looking at possibly enrolling in an Italian Culinary school in Rome (beyond the one-week type for the tourists) —  wondering if you have any recommendations?  Any thoughts on solid Italian language schools would also be welcome. – Eye on Italy listener, via tips@eyeonitaly.com
  • Gambero Rosso – scuola
  • Pepe Verde – accademia di alta cucina
  • Cordon Bleu in Rome (kitchens currently under construction, classes starting in Oct 2011)

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• non rompere le scatole
  • a nicer way to say: don’t create problems, don’t be a pain, (literally) don’t break my boxes
    • (still not ok for Grandma or strangers)

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: BarCamp Italia – unconferences all over Italy (in Italian)
  
• Jessica: Bus driver in Rome filmed driving with his elbows
• Michelle: i-italy magazine: The “Italian/American Digital Project” hosted at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute (Queens College, CUNY)
• Deal of the Week:
  • GettingFrom.com – New BootsnAll site for trip planning from anywhere in the world to anywhere else
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals
    

Video of the week:

• Boateng doing Michael Jackson impression

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt killed in Giro d’Italia crash - Also on VeloNews
• IKEA provokes outrage in Italy after creating advert with gay couple holding hands
• Italian police suspended over Trevi Fountain scam
• More ancient artifacts discovered:
  • Roman mausoleum found under illegal waste dump
  • Ancient ship uncovered near Rome coast

Special Guest
James Martin, a Professional Vagabond, lives part time in one of those seldom visited spots in Italy called la Lunigiana, a place in far northern Tuscany along the Via Francigena that sports over 160 castles and some pretty unique cuisine. He likes talking about his odder experiences, which you’ll find in the Wandering Italy Blog. Before becoming a travel writer, James went through several “career” phases: as archaeologist, electrical engineer, and race car driver. He’s obviously unstable as hell, as the worn-heeled traveler should be.

• Wandering Italy
• About.com’s Europe Guide
• James Martin on Twitter
• James Martin interview on WhyGo Italy
• Tuscany for Foodies iPhone app

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• all’improvviso
  • suddenly, unexpectedly
• mille miglia
  • thousand miles

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Rome Album (coming May 17th) – a modern tribute to spaghetti westerns
  
• Jessica: Italy Blogging Roundtable project
• Michelle: Eat Florence iPhone app by past guest Elizabeth Minchilli
  
• James: Mille Miglia (up for UNESCO World Heritage Site status); awesome quote by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell on (big) travel and politics
  
• Deal of the Week:
  • 6-night Italy trip from $1349 for travel dates in September-October – includes round-trip airfare, hotels (2 nights each in Rome, Florence, Venice), rail transportation between cities, daily breakfast, & airline fuel surcharges [doesn't include newly-implemented Rome hotel tax]
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals
    

Video of the week:
Ennio Morricone – Once upon a time in the West

Special shout-out for friend of the podcast and fellow expat in Italy, Arlene, for the movie she co-wrote, Jumping the Broom, which is out in US theaters May 6th – please go out and support her! @JumpingtheBroom on Twitter, and on Jumping the Broom on Facebook. Congrats, Arlene – so proud of you!

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Czech Liquid Gold a Blessed Gift to Vatican to Honor John Paul II [via @Walks_of_Italy on Twitter]
• Italy to use FB to catch tax cheats
• Glentoran helped African street child reach Serie A [via @maxpatrick on Twitter]

Special Guests:
Paul Visca has been living in Italy for 12 years. After moving to Milan, he started his adventure as an Italian soccer commentator for the English-speaking world, covering Serie A, Champions League, Europa League and Italian Cup matches. He writes and voices daily and weekly Italian football TV magazines, Serie A News and Total Italian Football, and lends his voice to the official Serie A iPhone app. If that weren’t enough, Paul also co-hosts Italian soccer podcast Calcio and Coffee with fellow commentator Richard Whittle and has contributed articles to In Bed with Maradona and Football-Italia websites. [@paulvisca on Twitter]

Max Patrick is a sports commentator, musician and teacher of music who has been living in Italy since 2002. You can hear his tunes and find out more about him on maxpatrickmusicfootball.com. He tries to be as passionately involved in the game as possible whilst maintaining a balanced view on play. To him, football and music are two of the most amazing things on the planet and he’s lucky enough to be able to communicate in both of these ‘languages’. [@maxpatrick on Twitter]

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• mammone
  • Mama’s boy, i.e., many Italian men

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Serie A iPhone app
• Jessica: “Winning at All Costs: A Scandalous History of Italian Soccer” by John Foot
• Michelle: Speak Italian Magically by Antonio Libertino
• Paul: Calcio and Coffee podcast
• Max: Max Patrick Music & Football; Malcolm Heights Youth Club (in Jamaica, looking for donations of football kits for the kids)
• Deal of the Week:
  • Chicago-Milan from $656 RT in November, from $727 RT in September-October
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:
Beatification of Pope John Paul II

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Italy Puts Nuclear Power on Indefinite Hold
• Italy to Take Part in Bombing Raids Over Libya

Special Guest
John Mariani is the food and travel columnist for Esquire Magazine and wine columnist for Bloomberg News. He has been called “the most influential food-wine critic in the popular press” by The Philadelphia Inquirer, and is a three-time award nominee by the James Beard Foundation. He is also publisher of Mariani’s Virtual Gourmet Newsletter and author of the new book How Italian Food Has Conquered the World.

Find John online: JohnMariani.com.

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• sugo / ragù / salsa
  • tomato sauce / tomato sauce with meat / sauce
    

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Freaks (video below)
  
• Michelle: Artist Dodi Reifenberg’s Ruby/Berlusconi creation made from plastic trash bags and scotch tape; on display at Edward Cutler Gallery in Milan. Press release (PDF) (in Italian).
  
• John: John Mariani’s Weekly Newsletter
  
• Deal of the Week:
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

• Video of the Week:
  • Freaks – the first “professional” Italian web series

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Italy to marshal EU, private funds to save Pompeii
• Naples Museum Requests Asylum in Germany
• World’s No. 1 Pizza Team Announced in Salsomaggiore, Italy (and you might be surprised where they’re from)

• http://www.napoliunplugged.com/
• http://blog.napoliunplugged.com/
• http://photoblog.napoliunplugged.com/
• Bonnie is @NapoliUnplugged on Twitter
• Maggio dei Monumenti [in Italian - the English version of the site is incomplete/outdated] – 2011 dates are every weekend from April 22 through May 29

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• museo – monumento – tesoro
  • museum – monument – treasure/treasury (the latter is also a term of endearment)

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: L’aperitivo vintage from Dissapore
  
• Jessica: New parking garage on the Amalfi Coast [between Amalfi & Atrani]
• Michelle: Beyond the Pasta iPhone/iPad app by Mark Leslie, past Eye on Italy guest
  
• Bonnie: MADRETUBE – MADRE’s Virtual Museum and John Turturro’s Passione on BlueRay
  
• Deal of the Week:
  • 6-night Italy package trip, Rome-Florence-Venice, includes airfare, rail transfer, & hotel – from $1399 in May, $1799 in June-July-August, $1399 in September-October
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

• Foxy John: the unforgettable American accent on Ballando con le Stelle (Italian Dancing with the Stars) – (@ 1:30 and later when he calls the scores) – he really speaks Italian better than most Italians.
• His site: http://www.foxyjohnproduction.com/

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Updates on previous stories: Jersey Shore taping and Berlusconi’s Bunga Bunga trial delayed.
• Italy issues temporary permits to “economic migrants from Tunisia,” & consequently France is threatening to resurrect its border with Italy: [Wall Street Journal, EurActiv, Bloomberg]

Special Guest

Elizabeth Minchilli is an American writer who divides her time between Rome and Umbria. She has a hard time believing people actually pay her to write about the things she loves: beautiful homes and hotels, delicious food and interesting people. Elizabeth has contributed to over 40 magazines over the last 15 years and is the author of six books on the joys of Italian life. She blogs at Elizabeth Minchilli in Rome and is also the developer of the new iPhone app Eat Rome.

Where to find Elizabeth:

• http://www.elizabethminchilliinrome.com/
• http://www.elizabethminchilli.com/Home.html
• http://1bookpress.com/
• http://domenicominchilli.com/
• http://web.me.com/minchilli/Pergolaccio/home.html
• http://twitter.com/eminchilli

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Bunga Bunga Trial to Begin on April 6 — Without Television Cameras; Tax Fraud Hearing Continues; Facebook group Birrozzo e popcorn mentre si segue il processo a Berlusconi (H/t listener Anne in Maine)
• Italy backs Libya rebels; dismisses Gaddafi message
  

• Non basta una vita.
  • A lifetime is not enough (to explore Rome, for instance).
    

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Venice Backstage via Metafilter [Thanks also to Jill in Venice for sending this to Michelle]
  
• Jessica: Funniest soccer warmup ever [video]
• Michelle: Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia [Galleria fotografica]
  
• Deal of the Week:
  • 4-star Venice hotel near La Fenice opera house from $180/night between April 18 and May 11
    
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals
    

Video of the week:

• How does Venice work?

Venice Backstage. How does Venice work? from Insula spa on Vimeo.

Note: You may notice in this week’s episode there is some extraneous background noise in some parts of the podcast – the speakers are still clear and very easy to understand. It’s due to a bug with our recording software & the new Skype, and we’re in touch with the developers about fixing it. Sorry!

A warm welcome to this week’s sponsor:

Spend a week in the idyllic Italian countryside, while you practice yoga, meet new friends, explore, hike, relax, sweat, experience…and of course EAT amazing Italian cuisine, PRAY in mindful contemplation, and MOVE through powerful poses. Eat.Pray.Move.

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Former podcast guests honored: Dianne Hales becomes Cavaliere & Rosetta Costantino up for a cookbook award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals — Podcast with Dianne; Podcast with Rosetta
• Fake earthquake victims praising Berlusconi spark anger
• Italy puts 1 year moratorium on nuclear

Special Guests

Rebecca Winke moved to Italy from Chicago in 1993 and shortly thereafter opened an agriturismo in her husband’s renovated family farmhouse at the foot of Mount Subasio near Assisi, Umbria.

She spends her time taking care of guests at Brigolante, blogging about the lovely region she now calls home at Rebecca’s Ruminations, and wondering about what strange winds blew an urban vegetarian to a farm in Umbria. She is also on Twitter @brigolante.

Michelle Schoenung is an American journalist and translator who has lived in Italy for eleven years. She lives in Milan, which serves as a great base for visiting other parts of Italy and Europe, but which does not offer the “slow life” or “bella vita” she hears other expats in Italy refer to.

She is an infrequent blogger, and her most recent blog Viva La Pappa focused on life and, among other things, feeding her three-year-old son by taking the best from both of her cultures. She has been a vegetarian for almost her entire life despite being born into a “normal/carnivorous” family in meat-and-potatoes Middle America. She posts most frequently on Twitter at @mschoenu.

Note: We’re not going to be able to cover every possible diet here, but hopefully we’ll be able to give you some ideas for options that will work for you.

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• ci penso io
  • Let me do it / I’ll do it / I’ll take care of it
    

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Gluten-free restaurants & food in Italy on Ms. Adventures in Italy
  
• Jessica: 100 Years of Movie Locations (via @thenotoriousmeg on Twitter)
• Michelle: How Italian Food Conquered the World by John Mariani
  
• Rebecca: The Italian Celiac Association‘s website (in Italian); Printable celiac restaurant cards in Italian; iPhone app for celiacs in Italy; http://www.campagnamica.it/ – A bit like an Italian farmers association (in Italian); being gluten-free in Umbria
• Michelle: NaturaSì, “il supermercato della natura”
  
• Deal of the Week:
  • 4-star hotel in Florence near Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio, overlooking river: from $180/night through most of April & into May
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals
    

Video of the week:

• Being Vegetarian, Vegan or Raw in Europe: Venice, Italy

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Silvio Berlusconi booed at event to mark anniversary of Italy’s unity
• Foto celebrazioni per i 150 anni dell’Unità: fotoracconto italiano via Alex Roe, @newsfromitaly on Twitter
• An Aria for Italy’s Unity Also Sounds Like an Elegy – NY Times

Special Guest

• A recent story by Anthony for National Geographic Online about Perugia

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• festa
  • a national holiday, also a party
  • oggi e’ festa

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Italy at the Tech Summit in SXSW – a presentation with lots of facts & links, Fare Gli Italiani (150 years of Italian history) – an exhibition in Turin until Nov 2011
• Jessica: Benvenuti al Sud [2010 film; Italian film trailer]
• Michelle: Eat Rome iPhone App ($2.99 on iTunes) by upcoming guest Elizabeth Minchilli
• Anthony: ExpatsinItaly.com; Expats in Italy’s bulletin board; real estate for expats – La Porta Verde & Green Umbria (for Umbria); Do-It-Yourself site Tecnocasa (there’s an English language version, just click on the Union Jack)
• Deal of the Week:
  • New Italy rail tool on WhyGo Italy, allows travelers outside Italy to get Trenitalia discounts (up to 30%) without using the Trenitalia site
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

guest photograph taken by Zoë Gemelli

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Pompeii Exhibit in NYC Shines Light on Buried City
• Michelangelo’s David ‘could collapse due to high-speed train building’

Special Guest
Cinzia Rascazzo is co-founder of the Stile Mediterraneo Cooking & Wine School in Puglia, a Harvard MBA, wine sommelier, olive oil taster and professional pianist. After living abroad for 15 years, in 2005 Cinzia realized she was missing the good food, blue sea, and the slow life she had in Italy, so she quit her finance job in NY/London and went back to Puglia. Now she and her sister Marika, a cardiologist, run the Stile Mediterraneo School as a way to share their cuisine, culture and love of Puglia while focusing on the simple, home-made and healthy cuisine they learned from their grandmothers.

She blogs about food, wine and travel in Puglia at her blog Stile Mediterraneo Cooking Puglia and is on Twitter @Puglia4Foodies and on Facebook at Stile Mediterraneo Italian Cooking and Wine School.

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• orecchiette
  • literally: “small ears” – also: pasta shape typical of Puglia
• pausa and pisolino
  • pausa = the break after lunch when shops close in many Italian towns
  • pisolino = nap; usually a pisolino is taken after lunch or a heavy meal

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Olivetti Lancia Olipad, il primo tablet italiano (in italiano)
  
• Jessica: New way to buy Italy train tickets on WhyGo Italy – with the great Trenitalia advance-purchase discounts, without the need for an Italian credit card
• Michelle: Tuscany for Foodies iPhone app; Calabria Table Tour with Cherrye Moore & Tania Pascuzzi
• Cinzia: Trailer of the Focaccia Blues Movie; Pizzica Tarantella dance video from Lecce Salento area
• Deal of the Week:
  • New York-Milan from $610 roundtrip, late March
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Videos of the week:
Pizzica Tarantella:

Focaccia Blues Trailer:

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• March 17th voted new holiday in Italy
• Italy’s first Holocaust museum to be built in Rome
• “Made in Italy” museum to to open in EUR
• Vatican warns of papal ticket scams

Special Guest

• Context Travel – Context has tours in 14 cities worldwide: Naples, Venice, Florence (& Tuscany), and Rome, in addition to other cities outside Italy
• The Venice of Casanova Context Travel walk
• Context Italy on Twitter
• Context Travel on Facebook
• List of Context Travel docents & their bios (including Monica)

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• La Quaresima – fare la quaresima – “lungo come la quaresima”
  Lent – keep Lent – “long like Lent,” i.e., never-ending

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: B&B Day, March 5th, Rai’s YouTube channel with links to all the other Rai YouTube channels.
• Jessica: J.Crew goes to Italy [video]
• Michelle: Guide to Rome and Small Town Lazio: written by husband of expat friend Kataroma, together they own Chaplin B&B & Little Italy B&B in Rome.
• Monica: Volo dell’Angelo video (opening ceremony of Carnevale) – see video below

• Deal of the Week:
  • 6-night Italy trip from $999 – including airfare to/from NY, airline fuel surcharges, 6 nights in hotels (Rome, Florence, Venice), breakfast daily, & rail transportation between cities
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

• Volo dell’Angelo

The 2011 “Flight”

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Berlusconi to stand trial in prostitution case
• Amanda Knox’s parents to face trial in Italy
• Mozzarella cheese in Italy may be contaminated
• Sanremo 2011 recap

Special Guest

Daniela Losini is an author, film critic, and journalist. Her short stories and articles have been published in Marie Claire, Anna, Giallo Mondadori, Confidenze e l’Editrice Entronauta, Sperling & Kupfer. She was published and managed the online presence of the noir anthology “Alle Signore Piace il nero – Storie di crimini, delitti e misfatti,” published by Sperling & Kupfer in 2009. As a journalist, she focuses on the film industry, film & technology, and costume. She currently works for Grazia Magazine and she can be found at Danielaelle.net.

Movies, Actors & Directors mentioned in the podcast:

• Seven Pounds & The Pursuit of Happyness – Gabriele Muccino
• Il Divo di Paolo Sorrentino and This must be the place with Sean Penn
• Gomorrah (Matteo Garrone)
• La prima cosa bella (Paolo Virzì)
• Zeder (Zombie Movie) di Pupi Avati
• Nirvana (Sci-fi) di Gabriele Salvatores / Mediterraneo
• Nuovo Mondo di Emanuele Crialese
• La casa dalle finestre che ridono di Pupi Avati
• C’era una volta in America – Sergio Leone
• Kim Rossi Stuart
• Pierfrancesco Favino
• Romanzo Criminale di Michele Placido
• Cinecittà History

Sites to keep up with Italian cinema:

• IMDB
• Rotten Tomatoes
• i400calci
• Cinebloggers Connection

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• doppiaggio [from the verb, doppiare, "to dub"]
  • “dubbing,” as dubbing a foreign movie

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Baci Perugina Love Notes iPhone app; UPS tracking app expands to Italy (both free)
• Jessica: Campania Artecard [discounts on sights, transportation in/around Naples; post at WhyGo Italy]
• Michelle: Le Quattro Volte trailer; 2010 award-winner at Cannes Film Festival; post at Bleeding Espresso.
• Deal of the Week:
  • Airfare to Rome from the US is down; Boston-Rome from $589 roundtrip, Las Vegas-Rome from $708 roundtrip (both in late March)
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

Robert Benigni gets a standing ovation for his interpretation of the Italian national anthem:

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Frecciarossa trains offering 1-cent WiFi through end of February [via @MyMelange on Twitter]
• Italian gelato scoops Chinese interest P.S. Italians eat 28 kg of pasta/year

Special Guest

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Italy’s parliament backs Berlusconi in sex scandal
• Sex Scandals in Italy Fuel Discontent of Women [via Deirdré Straughan on Twitter] ; more discussion at Bleeding Espresso on FB (Scroll down to February 3)
• Italian TV presenter urges viewers to stop buying Pachino tomatoes
• World Nutella Day recap; World Nutella Day Roundup Part 1 and Part 2

Special Guest
Erica Firpo says she “grew up in Philadelphia, grew immature in Los Angeles, got culture in Venice, and got to business in Southeast Asia.” She’s a collector of things as well as words and information, got her writing start with The American Magazine talking about bringing pets on your travels, and she has authored or co-authored several books about Rome – including her self-published Little Black Book Rome and city guides for Luxe, National Geographic, and Fodors. Her newest book is Rome Select, published by Insight Guides.

Erica has lived in Rome for about 10 years, keeps a personal blog called Moscerina, is the NileGuide local expert for Rome, and is on Twitter as @NG_Rome and @moscerina.

• Companion Guide to Rome by Georgina Masson and John Fort
• The Passion by Jeanette Winterson (set in Venice)

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• fidarsi – fiducia
  • to trust someone, trust

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: The Arcore’s Nights [2nd video of the week]
• Jessica: Google Art Project, like street view for museums (including Florence’s Uffizi) [via @italyfrominside on Twitter]
• Michelle: La Cucina Italiana iPhone App
• Erica: Roma & Piu
• Deal of the Week:
  • Boston-Rome from $590 roundtrip, March-April
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

• Rai – Fratelli d’Italia ads – featuring a variety of Italian dialects

• The Arcore’s Nights

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• World Nutella Day on February 5th
• Pauly D on Italy: Maybe I should get a Rosetta Stone…

Special Guest

Carol Coviello-Malzone is a writer, speaker, and hopeless Roma-phile who divides her time between Florida and the Eternal City. She has traveled to Rome more that 40 times over the past 18 years and has made it her personal mission to celebrate and glorify Rome’s often over-looked and under-appreciated authentic cuisine, and to “set the record straight” on the commonly held misconceptions about the food of Italy. She is the author of Flavors of Rome: How, What and Where to Eat in the Eternal City (ISBN 978-1450737067), which is a practical guide to the art of eating in Italy, as well as a highly personalized guide to 70 Roman restaurants; she also wrote Flavors of Rome Presents Best Restaurants of Rome 2010 for eBook readers.

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• carciofo – carciofi
  
  • artichoke – artichokes: one of Rome’s most notable winter vegetables

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: World Nutella Day on February 5th
• Jessica: “If it were my home” site, compare any country to another (here’s the USA compared to Italy) [via gmcguireinrome on Twitter]
• Michelle: Huffington Post’s Italy section
• Carol: Italy Connoisseurs (Carol’s tour operators); Daniela’s Italian Cooking School; Susan Van Allen, author of 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go; The Italy Daily; The Lazio Daily; The Awaiting Table, Silvestro Silvestori in Lecce, Puglia
  
• Deal of the Week:
  • April & May round-trip fares – NY to Venice from $353 on Spanair
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

• Harry & Paul show: Berlusconi with the English Prime Minister, on BBC Two

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• New Rome hotel tax
• Caligula’s tomb found
• Pope John Paul II to be beatified May 1, body moved into St. Peter’s Basilica
• Wiretaps of Berlusconi’s teenage friend emerge

Special Guest:

Gene Openshaw is a writer, composer, tour guide, and lecturer on European art and history. He’s the co-author of ten books in the Rick Steves travel series, including “Europe 101: History and Art for the Traveler.” He also contributes to the Rick Steves TV shows on PBS. (For more information on the Rick Steves world of travel, see www.ricksteves.com.) As a composer, Gene has written a full-length opera, a violin sonata and dozens of songs. Besides his interest in Italy and Michelangelo, Gene’s two main passions in life are his ten-year-old daughter and the Seattle Mariners.

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• auricolare and cuffie
  
  • earpiece and headphones

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Legacy of Letters: Italy Typographic tour; Survive Milano & 02 blog current events / locals blogs’ about Milan (both in Italian)
• Jessica: When Rome Ruled, National Geographic Channel
• Michelle: Conde Nast Best of Italy iPad App ($4.99) h/t Poynter
• Gene: Virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel
• Deal of the Week:
  • NY-Venice roundtrip in April from $352 – and even Seattle-Venice roundtrip in late March/early April from $788
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

The Guardian’s tour around a small market in Lazio [via @MyMelange on Twitter]:

Your Questions: Our Answers

1. Emma: Do you have any advice for sending resumes and cover letters to companies, if you think it is better to call first or just email, and if how interviews are?

2. Ryan: Basically I want to move to Italy for no more than 3 months, I missed the chance to study abroad in school and I’ve always wanted to travel to Italy for more than a vacation experience. My questions are:

• I need a temporary job to support myself while I’m there for 2-3 months. In terms of paperwork, what do I need if I’m only staying for that short of time. Just a simple work visa? Any other paperwork relating to just being there?
• In terms of temporary housing, what do you recommend? The cheaper the better, I’m not too concerned with living lavishly or anything like that, I just need simple amenities. I will be trying to stay in a city environment, most likely Roma.

3. Lisa: My mother was born in Italy. Would you recommend that I apply for an Italian work visa or dual citizenship?

4. Lisa, take 2 : I am a teacher, and would love to teach English in Italy for the summer (two months). Would it be possible to teach for this short period of time?

• Italy Volunteer Program – Teach English in Italy
• Teach English in Italy from Transitions Abroad

6. April: As someone who has never lived in another country, what should I prepare myself for being the most difficult to adjust to. In other words, what did you find tough when you first moved that you were not expecting?

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• domanda
  
  • a question, also an application for a job

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Perfect Italiano video (see below)
• Jessica: “Heat” by Bill Buford
• Michelle: Impariamo l’Italiano con l’Aiuto della Mano by Giuliana Sica; on Amazon
• Deal of the Week:
  • Dallas-Milan roundtrip airfare from $480 – dates in March
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

• Perfect Italiano: Listening face:



Eye on Italy News Stories:
Some of the topics we cover in this episode are:

• Vote of confidence in Italian parliament
• Fighting that broke out in parliament during the vote
• Protests that turned violent after the vote in Rome, Milan, Turin, Palermo, Genoa
• Results of vote & what Berlusconi is doing now to maintain power
• Berlusconi-related Twitter fiasco at EU summit last week
• Vote on university reforms (& more protests) scheduled for 22 December

Further reading:

• Alex Roe’s Blog from Italy & his first appearance on the Eye On Italy podcast
• Alex’s post on “The Berlusconi Effect“
• Alex’s post on “Did Berlusconi create Italy or did Italy create Berlusconi?”
• Silvio Berlusconi vote sparks violence in Rome [Telegraph]
• The ministry of education’s guide to the University reform

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• rissa : fight (as in fisticuffs)

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Repubblica’s Best in Rome weekly downloadable guide to events in Rome, in English
• Jessica: New hotel tax in Rome starting January 1, 2011; 2-4 euro per person per night, depending on star-level of hotel, up to 10 nights maximum (thanks to @MyMelange on Twitter)

Deal of the Week:

• Crazy good deal – New York to Milan roundtrip from $251 for Jan-Feb dates
• See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:
Roma players on “Let’s Dance” from @ItalianMeetup

http://www.video.mediaset.it/video/lets_dance/clip/195845/balla-con-la-roma.html#tc-s1-c1-o2-p1

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Yet another Pompeii collapse (occurred during a UNESCO site visit)
• Berlusconi no confidence vote 14 December: What Happens Next Q & A; No confidence in Berlusconi online petition
• WikiLeaks Julian Assange figures in Christmas nativity

Mark provided us with a copy of “Beyond the Pasta” to give away to one lucky Eye On Italy listener – leave a comment on this post to be entered to win. [US mailing addresses only]

• cucina
  
  • both cuisine and kitchen -  la cucina italiana is Italian cuisine.

Thanks Amy for the addition to last week’s angolo d’italiano!

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: How to find great restaurants with Gambero Rosso online (@MadelineJ)
• Jessica: Marling Menu Master for Italy [since my favorite menu/food book for Italy is no longer in print], among many of my favorite Italy gift ideas
• Michelle: Italy in Books challenge; AmaMi card for Milan: 48 hours to fall in love with Milan.
• Deal of the Week:
  • 4-star Venice hotel near Rialto Bridge from $78/night, 27 Dec through 19 Jan
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

• Sara Musella has 75,000 FB Fans…she’s 8.
• Fabri Fibra is a signed Italian rap recording artist with 7 albums and 355,000 fans.

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Berlusconi laughs off wiki-leaks info [some background on what the WikiLeaks documents said about Berlusconi]
• Carfagna not quitting, says Berlusconi
• Mario Monicelli dead at 95
• Italian test requirement for stay permit starting Dec 9th and new points-based residence-permit system for young non-Europeans
• Another collapse at Pompeii [English] Another Building Collapse at Pompeii [Italian]
• Stills from Amanda Knox filming

Special Guest: Kathy McCabe

Kathy McCabe is the founder of Dream of Italy, a subscription travel newsletter. Dream of Italy has been around for 8 years and has been recommended by outlets like USA Today, National Geographic Traveler, & BusinessWeek. Her travel writing has appeared in a long list of publications such as Saveur, Fodor’s, USA Today, and Budget Travel. In addition to publishing Dream of Italy 10 times each year, Kathy also leads occasional tours in Italy as well.

• Dream of Italy website
• Kathy on Twitter @dreamofitaly

• Museo Internazionale Tipologico del Presepe (presepe museum in Rome)
• How to See the Pope at Christmas and Throughout the Year
• Advice for celebrating Christmas in various parts of Italy
• Parla Food – What restaurants are open in Rome at Christmas

Don’t forget – comment on this post to win a free subscription to the Dream of Italy newsletter! That’s 10 issues, a $79 value, for free. We’ll choose one lucky winner on December 13, 2010 – just in time for Christmas, so you can decide to give the subscription to an Italophile on your shopping list or keep it for yourself.

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• presepio (singular); presepe (plural)
  
  • Nativity scene

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Bar Portraits by Piero Martinello, What I See – a new blog about Italy by Ms. Adventures in Italy
• Jessica: Passports with Purpose, & Sara’s extra bonus for PwP promotion/donations
• Michelle: WhyGo Italy’s Milan Guide
• Kathy: Free Christmas in Italy Guide from Dream of Italy
• Deal of the Week:
  • New Year’s trip to Rome: 6-night trip with airfare & hotel, from $999
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

• Everything on Berlusconi and Fini, in English

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Berlusconi Government Loses Fifth Minister in a Week
• Italy PM Replaces Penis on Statue, Angers Experts
• Gap Milan Store Key to International Expansion – Valentino for Gap

Special Guest:

Mark Langone, @mlango on Twitter, first came to Italy from the Boston area in 2004 to play baseball professionally in Parma, the elegant northern city more known for its prosciutto ham and parmesan cheese than its baseball fields.  What was to be a one-summer experience following graduate school to explore his great grandparents’ birth country one baseball campo at a time, very soon became permanent home, as Mark has just completed his 7th baseball season in the boot.  He now calls Milan home, where he works full-time as a client consultant for Nielsen BASES, a division of The Nielsen Company.  He enjoys visiting small-town Italy, most of all the tiny family birthplace in the mountainous southern Basilicata region, where he has discovered living relatives and walked the exact patch of land from which his great grandparents emigrated to the United States in 1892.

More links about Italian baseball:

• Italian Baseball Softball Federation (in English and Italian)
• Italy Baseball League (in English)
• Codogno Serie A baseball – Mark’s team
• Baseball.it – Baseball news (in Italian)
• ESPN’s overview of baseball in Italy

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• Some baseball vocabulary:
  • Base – Prima, Seconda, Casa Base : First, Second, Home Base
  • Ruba – Steal (the base)
  • Giocatore di baseball – Baseball player

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Italian Insider – a new English Italy newspaper (via @missexpatria)
• Jessica: Visiting Pompeii & Herculaneum in one day without a tour – Parents, bring a backpack!
• Michelle: Thirteen things you can do to start tracing your Italian ancestry
  
• Mark: The Book Baseballissimo by Dave Bidini

Deal of the Week:

• Newark to Venice, round-trip airfare from $615 in December-January, from $412 in March
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

Berlusconi: Inception, subtitled in English by co-host Sara:

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Italian Leader Plans to Call for Confidence Vote; Fini loyalists quit government ; Berlusconi Ministers Quit to Force Government Collapse
• Bunga-Bunga Nation: Berlusconi’s Italy Hurts Women – Not Berlusconi’s bimbos
• Dino De Laurentiis, storied movie producer, dies at 91 ; De Laurentiis Mourners Asked to Wear Red

Peter Farina, @ItalyMondo on Twitter, is the founder and president of italyMONDO! LLC, a cultural heritage company with offices in both New York and Naples, Italy, which offers premium on-site research in Italy to build your family tree and discover your long-lost relatives, as well as services for Dual Italian-American Citizenship. An Italian-American himself, Peter decided to dedicate his life to the Italian culture after discovering his own roots researching his family tree, finding his cousins still living in Italy, visiting Italy and becoming a dual Italian-American Citizen.

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• origini italiani, ho degli origini italiani
  
  • Italian ancestry / heritage

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Win a copy of My Calabria from Eye on Italy Podcast!; A Guide to Podcasts at When I Have Time
• Michelle: Share Your Golden Moment in Italy, Past or Future, and Win a Book! at Susan Van Allen’s Golden Moments in Italy: 10 books being given away plus a subscription to future Eye on Italy guest’s Kathy McCabe’s Dream of Italy newsletter; Susan’s 100 Places iPhone App ($5.99)
• Deal of the Week:
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

• Benigni sings the properties of Berlusconi:

Sponsor: We’re excited to welcome our first sponsor to the Eye on Italy podcast, UKUnlock.com. UKUnlock.com is a new service to watch BBC and other English programmes from your computer anywhere in the world. And they’re giving everyone at the Eye on Italy podcast a free weekend pass at http://ukunlock.com/freepass – so go check them out, and thanks UKUnlock.com for sponsoring us!

Interested in advertising with us in an episode, or on the website? Information about advertising on Eye on Italy.

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Building Collapses at Pompeii; Pompeii’s building collapse calls for privatisation of city; Pompeii’s ‘House of the Gladiators’ Collapses; Italian Government Accused of Neglecting World Heritage Site
• Premier: “Meglio passione per le donne che gay”; Berlusconi: Better to Love Women than Gays
• Knox indicted for slander commentbegins hearing for slander comment (and Colin Firth starring in UK Knox movie!) & Italian judge oks slander trial for Knox
• Italian museums protest cuts with closures on 12 November 2010

Special Guest:

Rosetta Costantino (@RosettaCalabria on Twitter) is the author of the new cookbook, My Calabria: Rustic Family Cooking from Italy’s Undiscovered South. She was born and raised in Verbicaro, Calabria until her family moved to California when she was fourteen. In 2004, the San Francisco Chronicle did a story on her family called “Calabria from Scratch — Foods of Calabria,” which showed Rosetta just how much interest there is in Calabrian cuisine . . .  and so My Calabria, the cookbook, was born. Rosetta also now does culinary tours to Calabria, which include cooking classes.

• Website: Cooking with Rosetta
• Blog: Calabria from Scratch
• Facebook: My Calabria

GIVEAWAY: As promised, we are giving away a copy of Rosetta’s My Calabria to one lucky listener. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to listen to the podcast and then comment here with an answer to this question:

Based on Rosetta’s interview, what aspect of Calabria or Calabrian cuisine are you most interested in exploring further?

Note the contest will run until November 22nd, and is open only to those with North American shipping addresses by the publisher’s restrictions.

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• appassionato/a
  
  • to be passionate about something

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Free (unregistered) wifi in Italy in 2011 (more on Blog from Italy)
• Michelle: Don’t Get Caught with Dirty Drawers…and 64 Other Tips for Traveling in Calabria by Cherrye Moore, My Bella Vita (Eye on Italy guest on Episode 3: Doggie Bags? Over My Dead Body); Giveaway of three copies of Rosetta’s book at Bleeding Espresso.
• Jessica: Herculaneum, another city preserved by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius; personally, I prefer it to Pompeii.
• Deal of the Week:
  • 9-night trip in Rome, Florence, Tuscany with airfare, hotel/villa, rail transfers, car rental, wine tasting (plus hotel taxes & airline fuel surcharges) from $1299 – dates in November-March
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

• Nichy Vendola, (gay) governor of Puglia responds to Berlusconi on YouTube

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Silvio Berlusconi accused of having uncontrollable sickness for women; Berlusconi under fire over help for a teen. Bonus: Silvio Berlusconi’s women slideshow on the Telegraph
• Sesso in auto: ora si rischiano 3 anni di carcere
• Miniskirt Ban to Take Effect in Italian Town; Italian women face 500 euro fine for wearing miniskirts
• Change of judge adds questions to Knox’s appeal

Special Guest:

Susan Van Allen, @100placesItaly on Twitter, is the author of 100 Places In Italy Every Woman Should Go. Her love for Italy stems from her maternal grandparents, who emigrated from Southern Italy. She was born in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up on the Jersey shore amidst wonderful food and drama. When she first stepped off the train into Roma Termini in 1976, she got hooked on Italian travel. Since then she’s explored the country up and down the boot–visiting relatives, immersing herself in the country’s masterpieces and culture, taking language and cooking classes, and going on boating, biking, and hiking adventures.

She’s written about Italian travel for many media outlets, including National Public Radio, Town & Country, Student Traveler, Tastes of Italia, Chicago Daily Herald, several Travelers Tales anthologies (including Best Travel Writing 2009), and CNN.com. Van Allen also writes for television, and was on staff of the Emmy winning sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. When she’s not in Italy, she is based in Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband and makes scrumptious lasagne.

More info:

• SusanVanAllen.com
• Golden Days in Italy (Susan’s blog)
• 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go on Facebook
• @100placesItaly on Twitter

Helpful links:

Opera:

• www.teatroregio.torino.it
• www.teatropergolesi.com

Skiing:

• www.bormio.ski.org
• www.altabadia.org

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• semaforo (rosso)
  • traffic light (as opposed to the Red Light District — quartiere a luci rosse)

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: International Rome Film Festival – October 27th – November 6th, and accompanying, Roma Film Festival iPhone app; Flickr maps: Where tourists & locals take pictures in Italy at WhyGo Italy.
• Michelle: Georgia’s Kitchen by Jenny Nelson: fun, delicious read partially set in a Tuscan trattoria and Taormina, Sicily.
• Jessica: The local Italian wine isn’t always red. Falanghina wines in Campania are white & delicious with the region’s seafood. Sciacchetrà wines in the Cinque Terre are white & sweet, & perfect for dunking biscotti in. Find out what’s local before you instinctively order a carafe of red!
• Susan: Flavors of Rome: How, What and Where to Eat in the Eternal City, by Carol Coviello-Malzone; Soul of Sicily, based in the Baroque town of Noto, offers cooking classes in the spring and fall.

Deal of the Week:

• San Francisco to Rome round-trip airfare from $815 in November, $866 in December
• See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

• Bunga Bunga from the Elio e Le Storie Tese

Eye on Italy News Stories:

1. No Google Street View Photos Without Three Days’ Notice in Italy
2. Update on Naples’ Trash Vesuvius - Naples calms after garbage clashes - Italy to clean up or face fines - Tensions rise in Italy rubbish row - Bad News Travels Fast from Napoli Unplugged

Special Guest:

Alex Roe, @newsfromitaly on Twitter, is a teacher, trainer, translator, and blogger based in Milan, Italy, where he has lived for more than 10 years. Alex has blogged about news, life and goings on in Italy via his Blog from Italy site for five years.  Alex’s semi-journalistic commentary on Italian affairs has been referenced by Reuters, Huffington Post and Italian news magazine L’Espresso, amongst others. Some of Alex’s articles are used as reference sources by Wikipedia, and even the CIA pops in now and again.

Mentioned during Alex’s interview: An interesting Italian word: Furbo

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• mandare in tilt: Italian idiom based on pinball meaning to send into confusion

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: iRioni app for Rome (Italian, free), iTranslate the universal translator iPhone app (free)
• Michelle: Virtual Visit to the Sistine Chapel (h/t friend and past guest of the podcast, Dianne Hales)
• Alex: “Romanzo, Love and Corruption Italian Style” by Angela Montgomery

Deal of the Week:

• See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the Week:

• The video of the week will be back next week

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Tiziano Ferro comes out as gay on Vanity Fair
• Arrivederci, Italia: Why Young Italians are Leaving
• Venice Mayor Mocks Billboard Critics (via @everywherist on Twitter)

Special Guest:
Alexandra Korey, An expat in Florence for a decade, a study abroad professor of Renaissance art history, and now a full time blogger for the Regione Toscana’s social media team. Alexandra Korey invests all her love and knowledge of Italian art history in the blog “Tuscany Arts” (http://arts.allthingstuscany.com). Her geek side also enjoys curating the Tuscany Arts facebook fan page (http://www.facebook.com/tuscanyarts), tweeting (@tuscanyart – no S), and most recently writing tips on the region’s official Foursquare channel (http://foursquare.com/visittuscany)! [And from a personal angle, you can follow her while she kvetches about expat life and blogs about the rest of Italy on www.arttrav.com .]

Mentioned during her interview:

• Obscure museums: other than the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, San Marco, and the Laurentian Library from my readers, Alexandra suggested: 1) Palazzo Davanzati, 2) the costume gallery of Palazzo Pitti, 3) Museo Stibbert [update: Alexandra wrote a post on Tuscany Arts on Eight "other" museums in Florence]
• Contemporary Art in Tuscany – where to see it:
  Right now, there are two temporary exhibits by one of Italy’s most famous contemporary artists – see Michelangelo Pistoletto in Tuscany. The main contemporary museums/galleries (that host rotating exhibits) are: Strozzina (part of Palazzo Strozzi), Galleria Continua in San Gimignano, Centro Pecci in Prato (currently being greatly expanded to house its permanent collection), and Palazzo Fabroni in Pistoia.
• Where to find news of arts events in Tuscany: The arts events list on Tuscany Arts, APT Firenze, and the upcoming “Events of Tuscany” calendar from the social media team

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• rinascimento, primo e alto
  
  • early and high Renaissance
    

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Fodor’s iPhone apps (Rome) (Special 2 week introductory price $3.99 – regular price $5.99), Amazon ships free to Italy for purchases over 25 (sterling) pounds.
• Michelle: The History of Rome podcast by Mike Duncan
  
• Jessica: What to Eat (& When) Around the World: truffles in Italy aren’t just a winter food, & summer truffles are cheaper than their costlier winter cousins.
• Alexandra: Regione di Toscana Foursquare picks
  

• Deal of the Week:
  • San Francisco to Milan airfare from $741 round-trip on bmi, November dates
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

• We wanted to include a Tiziano Ferro video this week, but they haven’t understood that the more they allow official videos to be embedded elsewhere, legally, they can diffuse the pleasure of their music. So, trust us, and click through and listen to some of Tiziano’s videos.
  • Tiziano Ferro’s official YouTube channel

• Video review of the Bronzino Exhibit that’s on in Florence right now:

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• US State Dept issues general warning for Americans traveling in Europe
  • Christine’s post about the warning & France
  • “No clear indications (re: Italy)” – Italian press
• Traveler’s Guide to Strikes in Italy
  • Official Italy strike schedule – a must-have for travelers!
• Rome Colosseum’s underground level opens to public via @TravelwithJulie
• Italy to Apple: remove app
• Frecciarosa trains go pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• sciopero – strike! If you want to chant this with friends, you’d chant scio-per-O! scio-per-O!

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Botticelli’s “Primavera” in HD and other masterpieces (hat-tip: @Gillo), 25 Language Phrasebook for Kindle
• Michelle: Zampogna: The Soul of Southern Italy documentary; also blog post at Bleeding Espresso with my video
  
• Jessica: Americans traveling abroad, register with the State Department and get travel insurance before you leave

• Deal of the Week:
  • London-Rome from $55 roundtrip on Ryanair, November & December dates
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

• The entire history of the American soap opera “The Bold & the Beautiful” (“Beautiful” called in Italy) from 1987-2010 in 6 minutes, in Italian. Genius!!!



We’re looking for episode and website sponsors! Find out more about advertising on Eye on Italy.

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Police, protesters clash as trash rises in Naples
• Apple has feature on how the iPad is contributing to the uncovering of Pompeii
• Pompeii house offers sensory reconstruction of eruption
• Hayden Panettiere to play Amanda Knox in Lifetime Movie; In prison with Amanda Knox

Special Guest:

Laura Thayer, @ciaoamalfi on Twitter, is an American art historian and travel writer living on Italy’s Amalfi Coast. It was love at first sight when she first visited Amalfi in 2007, and since then she’s been discovering and writing about the beauty, traditions and history of this stunning coastline in southern Italy. She contributes to the DK Eyewitness guidebooks, several online publications and blogs about daily life on the Amalfi Coast at Ciao Amalfi.

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• scavare: scavare nella roccia
  
  • to excavate, dig

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Tomato museum in Colecchio
• Michelle: Italyrics, from Martha at Roam2Rome, website with English translations to popular Italian songs.
  
• Laura: Mamma Agata – Simple and Genuine cookbook by Chiara Lima
  
• Deal of the Week:
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

• Social Media Week in Milan - a video interview our co-host Sara Rosso gave about the Girl Geek Dinners, geo-localization services and social media in Italy, in Italian

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Italian press pans Eat Pray Love as kitsch, Shocker: Italy Hates Eat Pray Love And Its Tired Italian Stereotypes
• Italians discover brain’s “guilt” spot

Special Guest:

Dianne Hales,  @becomingitalian on Twitter, is an award-winning journalist and author. She has a thousand articles in national publications, including Family Circle, Glamour, Good Housekeeping, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Woman’s Day. She is also the author of La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language. Dianne’s main site is Becoming Italian, and her blog is Becoming Italian Word by Word.

Mentioned by Dianne in the podcast:

• LearnItalianPod.com language podcast
• Her new book, La Bella Storia, which she’s currently working on

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

colpa – senso di colpa – colpevole

• guilt – feelings of guilt – guilty / your fault

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Social Media Week and BlogFest in Riva del Garda, September 24 – 26th
• Michelle: Palermo by Roberto Alajmo
  
• Jessica: iPhone/iPod Touch app: TripDoc (more info on official site)
• Dianne: Ristorante Camponeschi, favorite restaurant in Rome

• Deal of the Week:
  • San Francisco (SFO) to Milan (MXP) from $739 round-trip in November
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

• The Colosseum is on fire: – “Colosseum on Fire” video exhibit (it ran last weekend)

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Eataly in NYC - More Eataly in NYC and coming to Rome, too
• Mushroom hunter “massacre” claims 18 lives in Italy
• Parma Ham festival starts Sept 10

Special Guest:

Nan McElroy, @LivingVenice on Twitter, has been writing, rowing and wining full time in Venice, Italy since 2004. She is the author of the practical, palm-sized Italy: Instructions to Use (soon to be in electronic format) and the popular Vap Map vaporetto guide. She contributes to Fodor’s as both a writer and photographer, is an AIS sommelier, and maintains LivingVeniceBlog.com. Nan is a passionate practitioner of the Voga alla Veneta (rowing like a gondolier), unique to Venice and its lagoon.

• Mentioned in the interview – Rowing lessons in Venice : http://www.rowvenice.com

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• disdire / disdetta
  • to cancel or retract – used with events and reservations, too.

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Eataly’s iPad/iPhone app (hat tip: @robbin_g) $4.99, & Love Padlocks invade the world
• Michelle: Piemontescapes: Flavors and Textures of Northwestern Italy by Diana Baur (link to Diana’s appearance on Eye on Italy); Peperoncino Festival in Diamante, Calabria
  
• Jessica: Anthony Bourdain: How I Travel
• Nan: Try a white wine from the Friuli-Venezia Giulia or Veneto regions if you come here! Get someone to recommend one for you.

• Deal of the Week:
  • Airfare from Newark (EWR) to Venice (VCE) from $554 round-trip, dates in October-November
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:
idea – there are previews of Nan’s voga documentary on the voga site – http://vogadoc.org/the-vogadoc-project/preview-the-voga-documentary/

Grit and Grazia – Beyond the Gondola from Living Venice on Vimeo.

• Michelle’s redesigned Bleeding Espresso site, & her “Gita Italiana” series
• August in Italy
• Eye On Italy on Facebook

Feel free to send your ideas and recommendations to tips (AT) eyeonitaly (dot) com.

In recent soccer news in Italy:

• After the Italian national soccer team’s regrettable showing in the 2010 World Cup, the organization needed a shake-up. New coach Cesare Prandelli is shaking things up in a big way, naming legendary Italian superstar (and legendary troublemaker) Antonio Cassano to the team for a friendly match against the Ivory Coast. Cassano has at times been a liability, but when he’s on form he’s brilliant to watch. This retrospective of Cassano in pictures traces his history with the sport and the national team.
• Here’s the rest of the lineup for the national friendly match with the Ivory Coast, and more information about the jersey numbers the team were given and the formations Prandelli might use.
• The 2010-2011 season for Serie A, the country’s highest level of soccer, starts up again on August 29 – none too soon for those of us who have been chomping at the bit for some good Italian footy since the last season ended in May. As much as Jessica loves the Italian ingenuity that went into crafting the online version of the Italian soccer schedule, it’s a bit of a challenge to figure out if you’re not familiar with it. So here’s a link to the 2010-2011 Serie A season calendar, and here’s how to read an Italian soccer schedule (read the second link and then open the first one, you’ll be happier). And if you want a little more, here are a few more notes about the upcoming Serie A season.
• Planning a trip to Italy during the Italian soccer season? There are games most weekends in cities all over the country, and not just at the top level of the sport. If you want to see one of the big Serie A teams play, here’s a list of the Serie A teams for the 2010-2011 season – but just about any city in Italy will have a local team that’s likely to be playing on the weekends and sometimes during the week. Ask at the local tourist information office to see if there’s a game going on while you’re in town.
• Here’s a list of articles with more detailed information for anyone who wants to travel to Italy for Serie A soccer games – and it’s full of useful tips about getting to the stadiums as well if you’re just looking for a game going on while you’re in town. And for a first-hand account of how to buy tickets to a Serie A game and what it’s like to go to a match, here’s Jessica’s article about going to a soccer game at Milan’s San Siro stadium.

Even after going to an Italian soccer game you may not share Jessica’s enthusiasm for the sport. But at least you’ll understand what she means when she says it’s practically a national religion – all it takes is attending one game to see how true that is.

Are you a soccer fanatic? Have you been to an Italian soccer match? Do you want to go? Let us know in the comments!

And if you’re new to Eye On Italy, this is a great time to catch up on the 14 episodes of the podcast we’ve already recorded. We’ll be back in a few weeks (when Italy is back from their summer break!), and we’ve already got some great guests lined up for your listening pleasure. Follow @eyeonitaly on Twitter or the Eye On Italy Facebook page to stay in the loop when we have new episodes coming up.

photo by nobbiwan

Caravaggio's The Crucifixion of St Peter (Photo by John McNab on Flickr)

Although we’re away from the podcast for all of August, we don’t want you to miss out on important news coming out of Italy. So throughout the month, we’ll be posting short roundups of articles and blog posts we hope you’ll find as interesting as we do.

In recent Art & Culture news in Italy:

>> Arts guide: exhibits in Italy: Ansa has shared a wonderful listing of museum attractions throughout the country running now through October. Cities covered include Florence, Genoa, Milan, Pompeii, Rome, Rovereto, San Severino, Tivoli, Trento, Turin, Udine, and Venice.

>> Verdict on suspected Caravaggio disappoints fans: It’s been a news-filled summer for Caravaggio admirers. Back in June, excavators uncovered his bones and subsequent tests showed he died of lead poisoning. Then a stolen $100 million Caravaggio was found in Berlin, but the huge news was that a “lost” Caravaggio may have been uncovered in Rome! Or not, as experts from Rome’s Museum Authority and lead Vatican art historian concluded the painting was nice and all — just not Caravaggio’s work. Harumph.

>> Italy seeks private sponsors to restore Colosseum: The Colosseum needs a serious facelift, and Italy is looking for some serious cash to get things moving. The Culture Ministry estimates about €25 million (about $32 million) will be required to restore this ancient treasure; interested sponsors can bid between August 4 and September 15. Don’t be startled, by the way, come January 1 when you’re asked to pay a bit more in taxes around tourism-related ventures (hotels, double-decker buses, museum fees, etc.) in Rome — those revenues are also expected to help pay for the Colosseum’s touch-ups.

>> Veteran Italian screenwriter Cecchi D’Amico dies: In sad news, we mark the passing of one of Italy’s finest screenwriters of Italian cinema, particularly considering she was a woman in an extremely male-dominated field. D’Amico contributed to classic films such as The Leopard and Bicycle Thieves and was awarded a lifetime achievement “Golden Lion” at the 1994 Venice Film Festival. She was 96 years young.

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the stories, so please share!

And if you haven’t become a fan yet on Facebook or follow us @EyeonItaly on Twitter, now is a great time — this way you’ll be sure to be caught up when we return to podcasting in September.

Thanks for listening . . . and reading!

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Celebrity spottings in Italy: Clooney in Milan for a fraud trial, The Office’s John Krasinzky marries Emily Blunt in Villa d’Este on Lake Como, Denzel Washington in Portofino
  • Leading Hotels of the World
• Will the Moka pot become America’s next coffee tradition?
• Milanese Honor at Stake on new MonopolyItalia board

Special Guest:

Christine Cantera is a freelance writer who lives full-time in Europe, splitting her year between Montpellier (in southern France) and Rome. She’s known to many as Miss Expatria, and recently started writing BootsnAll’s France Travel Guide and Travel News Daily sites, in addition to maintaining her own blog, Miss Expatria. You can find her on Twitter as @MissExpatria, @WhyGoFrance, & @TravelNewsDaily.

• Day Trips from Rome & Favorite Rooftop Bars in Rome
  
  • Day trips – Orvieto & Frascati
  • Rooftop bars – Terrace Roof Bar (on the Hotel Mediterraneo), Zest Bar (on the Radisson), Tazio & Living Bars (on the Hotel Excedra)

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• Paparazzi
  • Calabria: Home of the Paparazzi at Bleeding Espresso
• “Fa caldo!” - It’s hot!

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: My Own Private Milano a short ebook of photos of Milan taken by non-Milanesi and Milanesi that put words to the image of their city (in Italian), Beatriz Macias & her custom painted Moka art on Etsy
• Michelle: Cafè Orzo: caffeine-free roasted barley coffee alternative; giveaway on Bleeding Espresso and at Bleeding Espresso on Facebook
  
• Jessica: iPhone app: SmarthistoryTravel: Rome, a First Look [included in my Rome iPhone Apps article]
• Christine: Basilica: The Splendor & the Scandal: Building St. Peter’s – by R. A. Scotti

• Deal of the Week:
  • Newark-Venice in November starting at $707 round-trip
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

• Video bonanza from the 1968 Sanremo music festival:
• Stevie Wonder, Sanremo 1969: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YKlxp2qIck

More from the 1968 Sanremo festival
• Dionne Warwick, Sanremo 1968: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZODWwIn0cDY
• Shirley Bassey, Sanremo 1968: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogg5pl6Q518
• Eartha Kitt, Sanremo 1968: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7nkXUD1PBk
• Louis Armstrong, Sanremo 1968: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgHu2BfLp6g
  • from Christine: Louis Armstrong BUTCHERING italian, so full of win and lulz
• Wilson Pickett, Sanremo 1968: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlfF3GkJsNQ
  • from Christine: he eventually goes into english, but the intro to this song makes me wish my name was deborah. jesus christ. so hot.

Eye on Italy Q&A:
Include legal mumbo-jumbo: we are not immigration lawyers, government officials or anyone else. Do your homework, too.

Here’s the questions we answered during the podcast:

• Travel to Italy
  • Eating Cheap in Milan, from Steve:
    • I will be in Milano for a month and am interested in budget restaurants for $15 or less.  I can’t eat cheese, so pizza restaurants are out.  Can you recommend any restaurants in my desired category in that city? Also, I read in one of your blogs that chicken isn’t eaten that much in Italy.   I eat that and also tuna and turkey and wild salmon, but no red meat.  Can you recommend any groceries in Milan that sell those three types of meat?
  • Ordering Coffee Right in Rome, from Denise:
    • My family and I are going to be in Rome for 10 days in August.  We are very excited!  I will be printing this off (my How to Order an Italian Coffee) so we don’t look like stupid Americans ordering coffee wrong.  From what I understand it is going to be hot when we are there.  I am not really a coffee drinker, but I will be trying your favorite drink the marocchino at least once.  Does Italy have any cold drinks that we can order that would be along the lines of a Starbucks Carmel Frappuccino? Or if I order a blended Chai (which is my favorite drink) will they throw us out of Italy?
      • Link to How Order an Italian Coffee in Italy
      • Summer Drinks in Italy from Sara’s blog
• Living in Italy
  • Money Matters, from Maria:
    • First I want to say that I love your podcast! I am studying abroad in Rome next semester and your podcasts have been really helpful. I was wondering if you could do an episode on money. I am trying to figure out that best way to handle my money. Do you know of any banks that work well over there? I’ve talked with my current bank and they told me not only would I get charged a fee from them I would also get charged a fee from the ATM I use over there. I am just overall clueless about money while being abroad. I would really appreciate some insight from you all.
      • http://www.postepay.it/Postepay_Standard/postepay_standard_home.html
      • Services for foreigners (in Italian) Servizi per gli stranieri http://www.poste.it/azienda/ufficipostali/eli2/serviziperglistranieri.shtml
  • Love and Legality, from Lauren:
    • I studied abroad in Italy for a year, and my Italian boyfriend moved to California with me for my remaining year in college. Now I have graduated and we both have our plane tickets back to Italy in August! Unfortunately, I have not started any type of visa process because there is no availability at the embassies for an appointment! I am seriously considering going there and staying illegally– only for about 10 months, until I come back to California for my Masters program. The problem probably won’t be getting in or staying, but LEAVING, right? I don’t want them to ban me or fine me!
      I also wanted to ask you what you think about our Plan B option– which is to get married in Las Vegas and have me apply for a “Joining family member” visa once I get to Italy. As long as I can apply for and receive a visa in Italy without returning to the U.S for it, it would be perfect. Time is the issue!
  • Language questions from Melissa
    • How are expats dealing with language?
      Did you all arrive speaking Italian?
      Do you speak in Italian with significant others or in English?
      How long did it take to feel comfortable with the language?
      Any funny stories about your language experiences with the natives?
      How do Italians relate to you?
      Do you have Italian friends or do you hang out with other expats due to language barriers?

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• Burocrazia: bureaucracy
• Italian creates world’s largest maze (inspired by Italy’s bureaucracy?)

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Ugly Italy photo contest [FB page], Having It Your Way: Is Too Much Choice Ruining Coffee?
• Michelle: My TSA (Transportation and Security Administration) app; Nike Goal (Nike Italy) app
  
• Jessica: How to Create the Perfect Italy Itinerary [on WhyGo Italy]

• Deal of the Week:
  • Contemporary 4-star hotel in Rome from $91/night, July 26th through August 18th
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

• Terremotati Manganellati – Aquilans protest in Rome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7fFs_59bfQ

]]> http://www.eyeonitaly.com/podcast/episode-13-qa-travel-in-moving-to-italy-part-1/feed/ 2 1:02:57 Summary: Hosts Sara, Michelle and Jessica tackle reader questions on travel in Italy & moving to Italy: cheap eats in Milan, ordering coffee right in Rome; love and being legal in Italy, money matters, and lots of language questions.. Eye on It[...] Summary: Hosts Sara, Michelle and Jessica tackle reader questions on travel in Italy & moving to Italy: cheap eats in Milan, ordering coffee right in Rome; love and being legal in Italy, money matters, and lots of language questions.. Eye on Italy Q&A: Include legal mumbo-jumbo: we are not immigration lawyers, government officials or anyone else. Do your homework, too. Here’s the questions we answered during the podcast: Travel to Italy Eating Cheap in Milan, from Steve: I will be in Milano for a month and am interested in budget restaurants for $15 or less.  I can’t eat cheese, so pizza restaurants are out.  Can you recommend any restaurants in my desired category in that city? Also, I read in one of your blogs that chicken isn’t eaten that much in Italy.   I eat that and also tuna and turkey and wild salmon, but no red meat.  Can you recommend any groceries in Milan that sell those three types of meat? Ordering Coffee Right in Rome, from Denise: My family and I are going to be in Rome for 10 days in August.  We are very excited!  I will be printing this off (my How to Order an Italian Coffee) so we don’t look like stupid Americans ordering coffee wrong.  From what I understand it is going to be hot when we are there.  I am not really a coffee drinker, but I will be trying your favorite drink the marocchino at least once.  Does Italy have any cold drinks that we can order that would be along the lines of a Starbucks Carmel Frappuccino? Or if I order a blended Chai (which is my favorite drink) will they throw us out of Italy? Link to How Order an Italian Coffee in Italy Summer Drinks in Italy from Sara’s blog Living in Italy Money Matters, from Maria: First I want to say that I love your podcast! I am studying abroad in Rome next semester and your podcasts have been really helpful. I was wondering if you could do an episode on money. I am trying to figure out that best way to handle my money. Do you know of any banks that work well over there? I’ve talked with my current bank and they told me not only would I get charged a fee from them I would also get charged a fee from the ATM I use over there. I am just overall clueless about money while being abroad. I would really appreciate some insight from you all. http://www.postepay.it/Postepay_Standard/postepay_standard_home.html Services for foreigners (in Italian) Servizi per gli stranieri http://www.poste.it/azienda/ufficipostali/eli2/serviziperglistranieri.shtml Love and Legality, from Lauren: I studied abroad in Italy for a year, and my Italian boyfriend moved to California with me for my remaining year in college. Now I have graduated and we both have our plane tickets back to Italy in August! Unfortunately, I have not started any type of visa process because there is no availability at the embassies for an appointment! I am seriously considering going there and staying illegally– only for about 10 months, until I come back to California for my Masters program. The problem probably won’t be getting in or staying, but LEAVING, right? I don’t want them to ban me or fine me! I also wanted to ask you what you think about our Plan B option– which is to get married in Las Vegas and have me apply for a “Joining family member” visa once I get to Italy. As long as I can apply for and receive a visa in Italy without returning to the U.S for it, it would be perfect. Time is the issue! Language questions from Melissa How are expats dealing with language? Did you all arrive speaking Italian? Do you speak in Italian with significant others or in English? How long did it take to feel comfortable with the language? Any funny stories about your language experiences with the natives? How do Italians relate to you? Do you have Italian friends or do you hang out with other expats due to language barriers? Eye on Italy Angolo d’[...] Italy, travel, culture, Europe Eye on Italy.com no no http://www.eyeonitaly.com/podcast/episode-12-the-mystery-surrounding-jesus-christs-foreskin/ http://www.eyeonitaly.com/podcast/episode-12-the-mystery-surrounding-jesus-christs-foreskin/#comments Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:57:38 +0000 Eye on Italy Podcast http://www.eyeonitaly.com/podcast/?p=42 Summary: Hosts Sara, Michelle and Jessica talk about fake Murano glass, the anti-ageing super-tomato, and speak with writer David Farley about his book, “An Irreverent Curiosity” about the quest for Jesus Christ’s foreskin in southern Italy.

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Italian police seize 11 million fake Murano glass objects
• Italians unveil anti-ageing ‘super tomato’

Special Guest:

David Farley, @DavidFarley on Twitter, is a food & travel writer whose work has appeared in places like the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, Conde Nast Traveler Magazine, Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel, & National Geographic Traveler (among many other places). He teaches writing at NYU and is a champion of and cheerleader for up-and-coming travel writers with the Restless Legs Reading Series he founded in New York. We’ve invited him onto Eye On Italy to discuss the book he wrote, “An Irreverent Curiosity: In Search of the Church’s Strangest Relic in Italy’s Oddest Town,” which just came out in paperback.

• David Farley’s site [including information about "An Irreverent Curiosity"]

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• colanzo – colazione + pranzo similar to the concept of brunch
• prepuzio (foreskin) – you probably won’t have many opportunities to use this in a sentence!

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Slow Travel for Women – Travel agency for women by two expats in Lombardia, [La Repubblica]; The Blonde Salad, a mega-popular fashion blog in English and Italian by Chiara Ferragni @ChiaraFerragni
• Michelle: Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo
  
• Jessica: The difference between ice cream & gelato (from a gelateria in Seattle)
• Farley: Il Giardino dei Tarocchi; in Tuscany – mosaic garden - http://nikidesaintphalle.com/

• Deal of the Week:
  • 9-night trip through Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice) including round-trip airfare, all hotel nights, rail transfers between cities, hotel taxes, & continental breakfast: from $1149 in September, $1399 in October, $1049 in November
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

• Wedding March in Italy set to the Waka Waka song by Shakira in Torregrotta – Messina. Auguri Anna e Tommaso! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKyYzsmQ-GU&feature=popular

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Italian politicians demand Lippi hand back World Cup wages
• In Italy, love it, hate it, gotta have a vuvuzela

Special Guest:

Diana Baur @DianaBaur on Twitter, is an innkeeper, artist, writer and potter living and working in Acqui Terme, Piemonte, in the northwest corner of Italy.  Much of the last seven years have been taken up with perfecting the art of luxury innkeeping and the restoration of her four hundred year old farmhouse and barn, Baur B&B. She writes regularly for Italian Notebook, Slow Travel and Travel Dudes as well as for her own blog, Creative Structures, and spends her free time either in her studio, playing with her dog, or finding new local wineries to showcase with her husband Michael.  Together they offer a variety of services, including wine tours, cooking classes, wine tastings and pottery classes.

Some links mentioned in the interview:

• Slow Food website
• Enoteche Regionali in Piemonte – regional wine shops (in Italian)

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• vergogna, vergognarsi – an embarassment/shame, to be embarassed
  • e’ una vergogna! vergognati!
  • Chi si vergogna di lavorare, abbia vergogna di mangiare
  • Chi sempre mente, vergogna non sente.

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Stanza, an ebook reader available for iPad, iPhone, and for your desktop. (How to read an Ebook)
• Michelle: Marcus of Umbria: What an Italian Dog Taught an American Girl About Love by Justine van der Leun (@justinevdl)
  
• Diana: my pick of the week will be the website Aglio Olio e Peperoncino by Eleonora Baldwin in Rome

• Deal of the Week:
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:
Italian fans disgusted at the loss (CNN International)

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Nutella at risk [Italy Magazine] Hands off Nutella campaign [Huffington Post]
• Italy raises alarm over blue mozzarella [more information on the story on AP, NY Daily News, & ANSA]

Special Guest:

Candace Dempsey is an award-winning Italian American journalist and the author of MURDER IN ITALY, the true story of Amanda Knox, the American college student convicted of murdering her British roommate. She has discussed the Amanda Knox case on CNN Headline News, KOMO-TV, K13 TV and many other media outlets. Candace’s true crime blog is hosted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, has been featured on Anderson Cooper 360, and is read around the world.

You can find Candace at:
True crime blog: http://blog.seattlepi.com
Professional website: http://candacedempsey.com
Book tour: http://www.booktour.com/author/candace_dempsey
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Candace_Dempsey

More resources on the Amanda Knox case:

• Perugia Shock, true crime blog; only blog written by a Perugino in English for an international audience.
• Prosecutors appeal Knox sentence, seek life terms [AP, CBS]
• Knox book to be released
• Murder in Italy
• Amanda Knox to give television interview [Telegraph]
• Amanda Knox in court over police beatings claims [BBC]
• Guede Denies Clearing Amanda Knox of Murder [CBS]
• Italian mobster claiming his brother killed Kercher [CNN]

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• Giallo: Literal meaning is “yellow,” but also term for crime fiction/mystery/thriller/whodunits that comes from the fact that cheap paperback crime books (like those of Agatha Cristie) used to come with yellow covers. It’s also used to describe real-life mysteries.
  • “Murder, She Wrote” when it’s broadcast in Italy is called “La signora in giallo” which is literally “the woman in yellow” but in this case is “the woman in mystery.”

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: World Nutella Day and World Nutella Day Facebook Fan Page
• Michelle: Eurochocolate: Annual chocolate festival in Perugia; October 15-24, 2010.
• Jessica: Concerts on top of the Milan Duomo – check with local tourism office to find out what special events are going on wherever you are — also, Jessica will be at the TBEX Travel Bloggers Exchange conference in New York this weekend
• Candace: Over a Tuscan Stove: Judy Witts, an American chef and culinary instructor married to an Italian man also featured in Murder in Italy.

• Deal of the Week:
  • New York to Milan in December (including over Christmas & the New Year): $609 round-trip
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week:

Blue mozzarella video

Nutella ad

Special Guest:

Sara Maternini, @SaraMaternini on Twitter, Italian food blogger and Community Manager was born in Varese, and has a Modern History PhD. She has several food blogs, Mele al Forno in Italian, the Kitchen Pantry in English (check out her extensive archives!) and Y Eats, her new Italian food blog focused on feeding her child.

Some links mentioned in the talk: Bimby; Top 100 Baby Puree by Annabel Karmel

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• Malocchio: “Bad Eye” a.k.a. the evil eye; a southern Italian superstition based on envy with symptoms can include headache, excessive yawning, and a general malaise. For more information, see Malocchio: Conquering the Evil Eye One Plastic Red Horn at a Time at Bleeding Espresso.

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Turisti a 4 Zampe the site for travelling in Italy with your pets (also in English!), ZeligTube.com and ZeligTube iPhone app – the premier site for Italian sketch comedy videos
• Michelle: Micheal Castaldo‘s new Aceto CD and blog
• Deal of the Week: See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week: An oldie but goodie: How to Tell Time in Italy

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Italy in World Cup [First Italy game on June 14th vs. Paraguay; complete World Cup schedule]
  • Italy arrives in disarray at World Cup
  • Video of Italian team leaving for South Africa and arriving in Johannesburg [via @ItalianMeetup]
• Traditional Rome changes course with first modern art museum

Special Guest:

Madeline Jhawar lived in Italy for a total of 5 years at different points in her life, and remains an Italophile to this day. She’s a Canadian living in Chicago who writes a travel blog and creates custom trips for Italy. [@MadelineJ on Twitter; Madeline's Italy Photo Contest on Facebook]

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• Creative Italian ways to remind someone to close the door:
  • Hai la coda? = Do you have a tail?
  • Abiti al Colosseo? = Do you live in the Colosseum?
  • An English equivalent: Were you born in a barn?

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: 10 Mistakes Tourists make when visiting Italy, Postful.com for sending snail mail from the Internet when you’re on the go, and Postcrossing.com for sending a postcard and receiving them from others!
• Jessica: World Cup Blog, Beginners Guide to the World Cup, 2010 Italy “hot soccer player” team photos
  
• Michelle: Great early summer recipe of Cannellini Beans & Chicory
• Madeline: Autogrill & the Autogrill Cookbook [Madeline was unable to find all of the Autogrill cookbooks for sale online, aside from this site selling one of the books. She says they were released in Spring 2009, and may have been offered for only a limited time, but if you're in Italy and at an Autogrill restaurant it can't hurt to look since that's where they were sold. The 4-book series is called "La Primavera in Tavola," or "Spring at the Table."]

• Deal of the Week:
  • New York to Milan round-trip from $594, October-December dates
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week :
Bruno Bozzetto : Italy vs. Europe – an oldie, but a goodie.

Special Guest:

Livia Iacolare, 28, @liviacolare on Twitter, is the Community Coordinator and Assistant Producer for the Italian edition of Current. She has written many articles on social media and online collaboration which have been published on Italian and international websites (including the popular Mashable), and several print publications, among which the Italian edition of Wired Magazine. She is passionate about books, comics and videogames. Her blog is at liviacolare.com.

Links to stories/sites we discussed with Livia:

• Bavaglio law – English open letter on La Repubblica, English article on World Editors Forum
• TG1 anchor resigns - About Maria Luisa Busi [in Italian]
• Talk show host in resignation flap – About Michele Santoro
• Freedom House – Independent association that gives information on the status of freedom of the press in the world. Have fun and check where Italy is in the global chart
• Valigia Blu (and the official Valigia Blu Facebook group) – La Valigia Blu is a group of citizens who are monitoring what the Italian newscasts say and how they tell the news, so that they can highlight the occasional lack of information and the evidence of disinformation.
• Internazionale – Website of the weekly magazine “Internazionale” which collects the best articles published on all the newspapers and magazines in the world in the past week. [in Italian]
• Current TV – Has an online database of videos produced in Italy and abroad, trying to shine light on dark “matters”. In the section Senza Censura you can find short clips telling stories that you rarely see in the newscasts, along with interviews to Italian and foreign journalists on hot issues. In the Vanguard sections you can find the Current-produced reportages in Italy and abroad. Some of the videos are in English and have Italian subtitles.

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• “Solo in Italia” – Only in Italy : Ragazzi del Post-It – Online protests of the Bavaglio law

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: ANSA.it English Italy news, Barilla iPasta app
  
• Jessica: Tobias Jones’ “The Dark Heart of Italy“
  
• Michelle: Corriere della Sera (in English); Paulo Coelho’s L’Alchimista (What I didn’t mention on the show: I think books translated into Italian can be easier than original language Italian books for beginners to intermediates, so they are a good way to gain some confidence.)
• Livia: Le città invisibili by Italo Calvino

• Deal of the Week:
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for the latest travel deals

Video of the week :

• Marco Travaglio’s monologue on Raiperunanotte
• and his newspaper: Il fatto quotidiano – the blog of Il Fatto Quotidiano

Eye on Italy News Stories:

• Pink Hitler posters provoke fury
• Ryan Air will appeal ash fine
• Saving Towns by Filling Rooms in Italy
• First woman priest in Italy
• Italy busts cocaine trafficking ring in nunnery

Special Guest:

Katie Parla @katieparla is a certified art historian, food expert, and sommelier. She has lived and worked in Italy since 2003 as a freelance writer, providing content for guidebooks, and contributing to a variety of publications including The New York Times. She also blogs daily about food on ParlaFood.com.

• Roma Sotterranea [where Katie became a "certified archaeological spelunker"]
• Zetema.it [organization running cultural events on behalf of the city of Rome, including the Roma Nascosta, or Hidden Rome, week]
• Roma Nascosta 2010 [from May 28 through June 6]
• 060608.it [site to visit to find out more about archaeological sites you can visit during Roma Nascosta week; +39 060608 is the number to call for many of the bookings, & operators do speak English]

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• Italian food idioms (from Vanessa @ItalyinSF)
  • Jessica’s favorite – “É buono come un pezzo di pane” [buona for women]
  • Michelle’s favorite – “Sono piena come un uovo” [pieno for men]
  • Sara’s favorite – “Sono rossa come un peperone” [rosso for men]

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: A Taste of Italy by Mondadori and (new) ebooks section on IBS.it
  
• Jessica: Groupon Europe: Groupon buying CityDeal, which covers several European countries – including Italy
  
• Michelle: DITALIA’s How to Grill Italian Meats. DITALIA is a online retailer and wholesale distributor of imported and Italian inspired specialty foods; Cucina in Calabria by Mary Amabile Palmer book giveaway at She Who Blogs (plus interview with me) until May 29.
  

• Deal of the Week:
  • 7-night Tuscany trip: includes round-trip airfare (quoted price is from Atlanta, other cities available); hotel stays in Lucca, Pisa, San Gimignano, Siena, and Florence; rental car for 6 days; hotel taxes and fuel surcharges – from $1444 per person, based on double occupancy, mid-September dates
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for more available deals

Video of the week :

• Nike’s “Write the Future” World Cup ad

Bobby Solo starring as the Italian crooner.

Eye on Italy News Stories:

1. Italy fines Ryanair for not helping passengers stranded by ash cloud
2. Police: Italy mafias run produce markets – 67 Italian mob suspects arrested in market ring
3. Pizza in Naples could be baked using coffin wood
   
4. Firenze Gelato Festival May 28-31

Special Guest:

Our guest is David Lebovitz (@DavidLebovitz ), an American chef, author and blogger living in Paris. David worked at Chez Panisse for more than 13 years as a pastry chef, he was one of the first and remains one of the most popular food bloggers on the Internet, and has published six cookbooks including his latest, Ready for Dessert, which we touch on in the podcast. Learn about his gelato tour he’s leading in Rome, how to taste gelato and about his love affair with gelato.

• David Lebovitz’s site
• David’s books
• From David’s blog: How to make ice cream without a machine
• Chefs lead new Rome walking tours [NYT - Context Savouring Rome]

Eye on Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

Cono e coppa / coppetta?

• How to Order Gelato in Italy at WhyGo Italy
• The Inside Scoop on Rome’s Gelato, by Katie Parla on Budget Travel

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: This Week in Travel podcast, the TWIT.tv network; Fontanelle – a map of the drinking water fountains in Milan (400+ of them)
  
• Jessica: Be adventurous with your gelato flavors! Italian Gelato Flavors Decoded from WhyGo Italy
  
• Michelle: Tour del Gelato from Ms Adventures in Italy; sample some of the best gelato around Italy and also in the US, Madrid, Paris, and Buenos Aires

• Deal of the Week:
  • 6-night trip to Italy (2 nights each Rome, Florence, Venice): round-trip airfare, hotels, train travel – from $1699 in June-July, from $1199 in September
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for more available deals

• Video of the week :
  • Milano Rocks: American Football (& cheerleaders in Italy)
    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GDVWz8eKao

Eye on Italy News Stories:

1. Italy hosts its first divorce fair [Yahoo] [Telegraph] [BBC] [NYT] in Milan May 8-9
2. Priest Starts Mother-in-Law Training to Curb Divorce
3. Berlusconi close to closing divorce support agreement
4. What’s in a (Last) Name? (from Ms. Adventures in Italy)
5. At Italy operas, the Fat ladies are silent also in [La Repubblica] [AP]

Special Guest:

Leif Pettersen, @LeifPettersen on Twitter, travel writer & Lonely Planet guidebook author for Romania, Moldova, & part of Tuscany. Leif talked about some of his favorite parts of the area of Tuscany he writes about, including a few towns where he was the only tourist, some fun summer festivals you might want to include in your trip, and even the Tuscan location of the sword in the stone.

Mentioned in the conversation:

• Leif’s video montage of great meals in Tuscany, from his 2009 trip
• The uphill barrel-rolling race in Montepulciano, the “Bravio delle Botti” – from 2006, and from 2008

• C’è l’accordo tra Berlusconi e la Lario

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week

• Sara: Radio player Italy (iPhone app – $0.99), Tuscany augmented reality iPhone app (free)
  
• Jessica: La Notte dei Musei 2010 is Saturday, 15 May: Free entry & (almost) all-night hours for museums all over Italy (link in Italian, but list of museums categorized by region & easy to figure out) Thanks to @MadelineJ on Twitter for pointing this out!
  
• Michelle: Breaking Bread in L’Aquila by Maria Filice; Filice will be appearing this weekend in Santo Stefano in Abruzzo and there will be a book giveaway on Bleeding Espresso starting Wednesday, May 12, 2010.
  
• Leif: The Frecciarossa train connects Bologna & Florence in 37 minutes, making Bologna a legitimate gateway to Tuscany;  Tuscany doesn’t have to be expensive: best cheap eats in Tuscany, best cheap sleeps in Tuscany

• Deal of the Week:
  • New York JFK to Rome FCO round-trip: from $679-843, late May through very early June
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for more available deals

• Video of the week : Tuscany augmented reality iPhone app (free)
  

and bonus Leif’s Montage of his meals in Italy:

Eye on Italy News stories:

1. Why there aren’t any “doggie bags” in Italy? (by the same blogger who wrote “Who is Alfredo Sauce, and Why Do Americans Keep Talking About Him?“)
2. Muslim Woman Fined for Wearing Burka in Italy; also info at Police stop Muslim woman wearing veil in Italy
3. Vesuvius is Italy’s biggest safety problem – Ischia could blow – Volcano follow-up: Icelandair giving away trip to Iceland for “best” story of someone stranded by the volcano eruption
4. Italy city hall uses smiley face emoticons to gauge customer satisfaction
5. Pope Says Shroud of Turin Is Burial Robe of Jesus Christ

Special Guest

Travel in Calabria & southern Italy – special guest Cherrye Moore from My Bella Vita : traveling around Calabria, if you need to rent a car, where you can fly into to visit Calabria; a recommended 5-day Calabrian itinerary, and some Calabrian culinary specialties not be missed!

Eye of Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

Peperoncino: the hot pepper/chili pepper; Peperoncino Festival in Diamante (Calabria) every September.

• How to Make Hot Pepper Chili Oil (on Ms. Adventures in Italy)
• Chocolate Peperoncino Mousse (on Bleeding Espresso)

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Stream Italian radio stations on your iPhone/iPod touch: Radio RAI iPhone app, iDeejay (Radio Deejay), Radio 105 radio; NoodlesHD – a pasta guide iPad app and Noodles iPhone app
• Jessica: “A Season With Verona” by Tim Parks, Italian Gestures iPhone app
• Michelle: Micheal Castaldo‘s Io Credo on iTunes; also rents out the family homestead in Gioia Tauro, Villetta Mimma Vittoria
• Cherrye: “My Cousin the Saint” by Justin Catanoso

• Deal of the Week: Rooms at Camping Michelangelo Houses in Florence from $20-40 throughout the summer (hint: it’s not “camping” the way you’d t hink of camping in the US!)
  • See the WhyGo Italy travel deals page for more available deals

• Video of the week : LamentaMI: Milan “Complaint” Choir Il Coro delle Lamentele di Milano
  • English subtitles (with the Provincia di Milano)

Eye on Italy News stories:

1. Vatican, U of MD Enter Stem Cell Research Partnership
2. Italian Court Frowns on Workplace Cussing
3. Berlusconi rift with Fini – Lover’s tiff in Italy – Italy’s Fini defiant after clash with Berlusconi
4. Pasta Trend (Il grande salone della pasta, Bologna)
5. Comune di Gorgonzola opens Milk & Cheese library (in Italian)
   
6. “Pink” taxis (in Italian) in Rome and Milan (in Italian)
   
7. Lonely Planet Europe guides for iPhone on “Volcano” sale, ends Friday, April 30
8. Italian test for foreign entrepreneurs pushed by Lega Nord
   1. Boom of foreigner-run businesses in Italy – +40% in 5 years
      
   2. Foreign Service Institute puts language courses online (& Lifehacker crashed their servers, all audio is offline for now)  [Italian content]

Eye of Italy Angolo d’Italiano:

• Lies: “Dice bugie!” (bugia on WordReference) Also: “ha detto una bugia!” “che bugia!” – inspired by Bossi vs. Fini (in Italian)
• Idiomatic expression courtesy of Lorenzo: le bugie hanno le gambe corte.

Eye on Italy Picks of the Week:

• Sara: Dhani Tackles the Globe: Italy (from the Travel channel, season 2); L’espresso La Guida dei vini on iPhone $5.99/4.99euro
• Jessica: “The Hungry Traveler: Italy” book – Regional food guide, menu decoder, food definitions; ideal for avoiding touristy restaurants in Italy
• Michelle: Riace Bronzes at BronzidiRiace.org (site also in English!) Bronzi di Riace: Boom visitatori nella clinica dei guerreri
• Deal of the week Philadelphia to Venice round-trip airfare from $698 – dates in May & June 2010
• Video of the week: Vodafone Italy’s viral Rube Goldberg commercial [YouTube]

Leave us your feedback in the comments!

Eye on Italy News stories:

1. One Volcano to rule them all Italy closes airspace in the north (USAToday) – Merkel lands in Rome, heads by bus – Long lines at Centrale train station – Rail strike postponed b/c of eruption – Map of closed airports in Europe (NYT)
2. Uffizi app for iPhone free through April 26 [iTunes app store]
3. Lonely Planet Europe city guides free through April 22 (1 Italy city=Rome) [story on LP blog]
4. Bialetti moving to Eastern Europe [The Independent]
5. Shroud in Turin: [One India - Nile Guide - Bella Baita View]  The Shroud official site here and the online ticket booking site here. iPhone apps focusing on this [Zoomata] Info at official Piemonte site for pre-booking & visitor’s info)

Eye on Italy Picks

• Sara: DineWithItalians.com, Bialetti Mukka Express
• Jessica: HomeFood also on NYT
• Michelle: Volunteer Vacations in Italy on Italofile – Dynamocamp.org

Deal of the Week, courtesy of BootsnAll.com

• Chicago-Rome from $769 RT in May! http://bit.ly/bzuxzm