Italian for Kids: Silvia's Activity Pad #1

My daughter Silvia has come up with the idea of creating an activity pad for kids who'd like to learn some basic Italian words as well as some facts about Italy. In this fist edition, she included a picture to color, a matching game and a word search puzzle. It's fun and free!

Download Silvia's Activity Pad #1
(1.1MB PDF - Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Which game do you like the best? Send us your suggestions for upcoming activity pads!

Pizzeria 'Da Mario' (video)

My friend and co-worker Mario Esposito comes from Salerno, a city nearby Naples, in the heart of Southern Italy. Mario is a unique individual with a high-tech vision, yet deep Italian roots and traditions.

This weekend, I had the pleasure to join one of his Pizza-parties at his house. Mario built a wood burning oven with imported bricks from Italy. In essence, he re-created the experience of a real Italian pizzeria in his backyard.
As one of the twenty lucky invitees, I was asked to sign up on his private pizza-party social network site, where every person could check off the ingredients that they volunteered to buy. Then the video (in Italian) explains the rest. Enjoy!

- Can't see the video? Watch it from YouTube
- iPod version (MP4 - 23Mb)
- Zune version (WMV - 20Mb)

Strikes in Italy

When you plan internal transfers from various Italian locations, it's always a good idea to budget some buffer time for unforeseen circumstances. Strikes (scioperi) and delays (ritardi) are normal everyday events.
In my last trip home, the Venice airport personnel announced a couple of hours strike on the spot because some union negotiations weren't going as they hoped. After traveling for 14 hours from Seattle, that wasn't necessary the best 'Welcome home' news I was expecting. I was lucky to see my luggage showing up on the belt right at the announcement, but I bet the next load of passengers wouldn't be that happy.
Sometimes friends ask me to review their itineraries. When I see their Italian vacation scheduled by the hour and packed with various transportation from city to city, I warn them that is a recipe for frustration. Trains have gotten better in recent years, but strikes are very common. Be flexible and prepared to cope with some delays and you'll enjoy your trip even more.

Our podcast about Italy on iTunes

I'd like to share some positive facts regarding our New Media efforts to disseminate useful tips and information about Italy and its culture. Since we listed our podcast on iTunes just 3 months ago, we have been enjoying a steady growth in our audience.
In fact, under the iTunes category Places & Travel, we rank #8, ahead of bigger brands like Frommers and Lonely Planet.
More important, the 35 customer reviews received so far rate our shows a 4.5/5 stars. Here is an excerpt from their comments:

"Very fun and informative. And never boring as many podcasts can easily lean that way."

"The author and his wife have the unique ability to offer an insight from both American & Italian perspective. The podcasts offer many insights not available from the usual travel guides."

"Excellent. This is exactly what I was looking for. I'll be living in Italy for 3 years and wanted something besides the standard travel book to go a little deeper into the culture and sights. This is it!"

"Love it! I live in Italy and this podcast is right on the mark. Very entertaining and accurate."

"Subscribe to this podcast if you plan on going to Italy!"

"I highly recommend this podcast because it's for people who hate being tourists."


My daughter Silvia has started podcasting too. Her passion is to communicate Italian tips to the younger audience. Every audio episode takes on average 3 hours to plan, record and publish. Video episodes usually require twice as much time.

If you own an iPod and/or have iTunes installed, it's easy to subscribe to our podcast. And if you want to help us keep our shows ad-free, we always welcome your support thru the purchase of our eBook. Grazie!!

Podcast #9 - The Island of Capri

Capri is a very popular tourist location for both Italians and foreigners. Situated on the southern side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region, it has been a celebrated beauty spot and resort since the time of the Roman Republic.
In this epsiode, Lorena de Pascale of the Capri tourism office is guiding us through some important facts and attractions of the island. Don't miss their photo gallery too.


Listen / Download this episode in MP3 format
(7.7Mb - 10:58 mins)

Podcast #8: Undiscovered Naples

In this podcast I interview Gaetano Gambardella of Napoli Mare, a new project that mixes cultural initiatives, events and itineraries linked to the theme of the sea. The goal is to introduce tourists to the spectacular beauty, cultural and gastronomic traditions of the Bay of Naples.


Listen / Download this episode in MP3 format
(6.8Mb - 9:42 mins)

Units & Conversions in your PocketMod

If you travel to Italy from the US, you may find it hard at first to understand the Italian units and conversion systems. As we cover this topic extensively in our eBook, we decided to make it simple for you to carry along this information by extracting the entire chapter and make it available in a new, practical and curious format: a paper PocketMod.
PocketMods are tiny 8-page booklets that fold together from a single letter size sheet of paper. You can print one on your printer, fold it together, and carry it around, in your pocket.

Here is how this works:
- Download our Units & Conversions chapter in PocketMod format (320K - PDF)
- Print the document in high resolution (possibly in colors)
- Go to the PocketMod web site, click on Create a PocketMod (top right link) and follow the video instructions on how to fold your paper into a PocketMod (or review the folding diagram)

Sometimes it's nice to take a break from the extreme virtualization of information and enjoy once again the good old paper :-)

Getting the best exchange for your money

What is the best way to exchange your US dollars to Euros in Italy? The answer is simple: ATMs. Out of the several available options (exchange offices, traveler's checks, credit card withdrawals, etc), the most convenient and practical way remains to use your debit card in one of the many Bancomat machines (that's how ATMs are called in Italy).
Although both yours and the Italian bank may charge a little fee, in our experience a few Euros fee is well worth your piece of mind to avoid carrying along large amount of cash all the time.
That said, it's always a good idea to keep a safe amount of cash for emergencies, possibly in a hidden money belt like Rick Steves' silk one.

Podcast #7 - Folk music from Sicily

Alessandro Castro is a Sicilian musician I met at the International Travel Expo. He kindly agreed to perform some folk songs for me using his accordion (fisarmonica) and Jew's harp (scacciapensieri). Enjoy!


Listen / Download this episode in MP3 format
(5.4Mb - 7:31 mins)