Italy Safety Tips for Kids (video)

A family trip to Italy is a joyful event. If your kids are as young as mine (3 and 6 years old), then you probably already expect to devote some extra attention to prevent they could get lost in some crowded tourist attraction, market or local event.
I've asked my daughter Silvia to share on camera some tips and simple Italian phrases that your kids may learn ahead of time in order to minimize some of these worries.

- Can't see the video? Watch it from YouTube
- iPod version (MP4 - 9Mb)
- Zune version (WMV - 7Mb)

Italy audio tour guides for your iPod

If you're planning to bring along your iPod, Zune or other MP3 player in your next trip to Italy, here is a good way to maximize the use of your device. WhiteHot Productions has released a series of personal audio tour guides of some key Italian destinations called Great Discoveries.

I had an opportunity to review their product and enjoy the professionally produced recordings with historically appropriate background music. You can preview some of the audio tour clips directly on their site. For several destinations, such as Palazzo Ducal in Venice, you can download and print floor plans and maps in PDF format as well.
Priced around $16 per audio guide, you may already enjoy some savings if you've two or more family members planning to rent the official audio devices offered by the museums.

Being a podcaster myself, I love the idea and I appreciate the quality implementation of these audio guides.

Venice Carnival 2007 (video)

In our February trip to Italy, we had the opportunity to spend a day in Venice during Carnevale. I'm always fascinated by the beauty of the costumes that make their appearance in a very crowded Piazza San Marco. Children and adults line up to have their pictures taken with these wonderful 'walking artistic expressions'. Animation, popular music and dancing bring together locals and visitors.

This short 3-mins video captures some of the spirit of this year's Venice Carnival.

- Can't see the video? Watch it from YouTube
- iPod version (MP4 - 13Mb)
- Zune version (WMV - 10Mb)

Romance in Italy: your iPod can help!

Picture this scenario: Jennifer is a pretty American woman traveling solo in Italy. She stops at a nice restaurant in Florence for dinner, and is promptly approached by Mario, an Italian man who doesn't speak a word of English. Despite Mario's various attempts to communicate, it's clear that Jennifer is not interested in him.

With class, she takes out her iPod, and after a few wheel clicks, she shows Mario one of the iTalian iCards.
Mario is disappointed, but with a gentleman's smile, he goes back to his table.


After an hour, Giuseppe comes to the same restaurant. He is Mario's friend, just much nicer looking, yet not much English skills.

Giuseppe sees Jennifer alone at her table and approaches her for a drink.
This time Jennifer takes her iPod, and picks a different iTalian iCard.

Success!

iTalian iCards are a series of translated phrases converted into digital images. Once loaded on your iPod, they can be shown to other people to make yourself understood. No need to say a word, just smile and show the screen of your iPod.

This series is about Relationships and contains the following phrases and related Italian translations:

- What's your name?
- My name is <…>
- I come from <...>
- Sorry, I can't speak Italian
- Sorry, but I've to leave soon
- Please, leave me alone
- Sorry, but you are not my type
- You are really a nice person
- When can I see you again?
- What's your phone number?
- Can I invite a (male) friend?
- Can I invite a (female) friend?
- I love you
- I like you very much
- Let's do something crazy?
- Let's make love

Installation instructions
- Download the iCards-Relationship.exe file onto your desktop (EXE - 600K )
- Run the self-extracting file and browse to your My Documents > My Pictures folder. Then press Unzip. The folder iCards - Relationships will be created
- Connect your iPod, launch iTunes, and click the name of your iPod under Devices
- Then go to the Photos tab and make sure to include your new iCards - Relationships folder (17 photos) among the photo folders to synch-up with your iPod.
- Synchronize your device, disconnect it and navigate to the Photos menu of your iPod. Your iCards folder should appear as one of the items of the Photos menu
- iCards are compatible with any iPod Video, iPod Nano and Microsoft Zune. Enjoy!

How do you like the iTalian iCards concept? Please send your feedback to paolo@tosolini.com

Podcast #4 - Francesca Tosolini comments her eBook about the Italian culture

In this show, my wife Francesca Tosolini reviews the new 2007 release of her eBook Italy From The Inside: The Definitive Survival Guide for travelers. She explains why this eBook is different than traditional guidebooks and what triggered the effort to write this unique publication.

Listen / Download this episode in MP3 format
(4Mb - 8:30 mins)

We welcome your feedback and suggestions for future shows. Please write to paolo@tosolini.com.

Nonna Grazia's Tiramisu recipe

Every time Nonna Grazia (my mother in law) visits us from Italy, I gain a few pounds. Among her specialties is the Tiramisu. I documented the steps she took to make this magic, yet simple dessert (recipe is for 4 people - total time ~15 mins).

Ingredients
- 4 yolks
- 8 oz. Mascarpone cheese
- Sugar
- 1 cup of coffee
- 10-12 Savoiardi cookies
- Milk
- Powder cocoa (optional)

Start by making the coffee. She usually uses a traditional Italian Espresso coffee machine, which makes the coffee in about 4 minutes. You can even use some ready coffee, since there are many brands and kinds available at the superstore.

Meanwhile, beat the yolks with 4 tbs of sugar until creamy (1-2 minutes). Use an electrical handmixer which makes the job faster and the cream smoother. Add the mascarpone cheese and beat for an additional minute until the cream becomes very smooth.

Pour the coffee in a bowl and add some milk and sugar (or nothing at all if you like the coffee strong). Dip the Savoirdi cookies quickly on both sides to avoid that they become too moistured and eventually break.

Lay them on the bottom of a flat serving dish (a Pyrex is ideal), cover them with the cream and, right before serving, spread the top with some powder cocoa. Cover and chill for a couple of hours.

Quick poll: would you like to see more recipes posted on this blog?

Podcast #3 - Friuli Venezia Giulia region

This show is about my region, Friuli Venezia Giulia. I interview Sabina Basile of Pansepol Travel, an agency specializing on local theme tours, including excursions in the nearby Slovenia and Croatia.


Listen / Download this episode in MP3 format
(8.8Mb - 13 mins)

We welcome your feedback and suggestions for future shows. Please write to paolo@tosolini.com.

2007 Edition of our eBook released!

We're happy to announce the new 2007 release of our eBook Italy From The Inside.
Following our recent trip to Italy, we spent some quality time updating links, images and other information to make the content of our eBook super-fresh and relevant for the upcoming holiday season.
Here are some excerpts from our customer comments:

"I've never read anything that prepares a traveller better for a trip to Italy"

"I hope your book is getting a great response, I think it is a masterpiece"

"It's indispensable reading!"

"I have read no less than 10 of the big name "guide books" about Italy, and none of them had the detail and "hands on" usefulness of your e-book. Not even close."

"...an extraordinarily useful practical guide book"

"...fun, fascinating and full of very useful facts."

Don't wait any longer!

Click here to download a
FREE evaluation chapter
about trains in Italy

p.s. Existing customers are entitled to a free eBook update by following the download link reported on their purchase receipt email.

Trieste, a free screensaver

In anticipation of the upcoming podcast about the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, we thought to share some pictures of its capital, Trieste. We're particularly attached to Trieste as it's where my wife and I grew up. Located just a couple of hours far from Venice, Trieste is a beautiful city that thrives particularly in the summer, with music, theater, food festivals, sailing regattas and other frequent outdoor happenings.
A couple of years ago, we created a photo CD-ROM about Trieste. We are sharing some of these pictures with you as a screensaver. As usual, it's FREE (yes, no cost, no viruses, no adware, no spyware, just pure enjoyment). Please let us know what you think.

- View some pictures of Trieste
- Visit Trieste in Pictures CD-ROM site
- Download Trieste screensaver
(Self-extracting EXE file - 3.9MB)

How to install this screensaver (Instructions for Windows XP machines)
1) Click on the link above and save the file Trieste.exe on your Desktop.
2) Double-click on it and extract (unzip) the file Trieste.scr onto your C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 folder
3) Right-click in the Windows Desktop background (yes, the empty background) and select "Properties". A dialog box opens. Select the "Screen Saver" tab. Select the screensaver called Trieste in the list (it should appear in this list if you copied it in the correct folder). The screensaver appears in the Preview screen.
4) You can adjust the screensaver settings or display it full screen.
5) When all done, click OK. You can now remove the file Trieste.exe from your Desktop.
6) To uninstall it, just delete the file Trieste.scr from the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 folder.

We're back from Italy

If you were wondering why we haven't been posting anything new recently, well... we were in Italy! During our brief 12 day trip, we had the opportunity to visit the International Travel Expo (BIT 2007) in Milan, experience carnevale both in Venice and in my home town Muggia (in Friuli Venezia Giulia region), and do some more research for the upcoming 2007 refresh of our eBook.

We have plenty of new multimedia content that will feed several podcasts for the coming months. Just give me some time to package them all, and you'll not be disappointed.