I love traveling to Italy. Is there anyone who doesn’t? One way I immerse myself in local culture when in Italy is to go see a movie, even if I don’t completely understand the language. I do this whenever I travel and it’s always fun. Movie-going culture is so different and fascinating around the world. I’ve noticed that often movies use dubbing rather than subtitles.
Has this ever happened to you? You read about someone’s travel experience of a certain place or site and it’s so different from yours that you have to double check to see if maybe your experience wasn’t what you thought. That happened to me when I read this post from Traveling the Globe 4 Less. Avoid the Milan Cathedral… no way. Like the plague… seems a bit extreme.
Milan Cathedral. Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan_Cathedral
If you start talking about gelato, a huge smile will come over my face. I just adore gelato, BUT it has to be really good gelato. And I’m picky! When I was in Italy this past year (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3), I asked around to see if there were gelato making classes. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to take one, but I realized I forgot to share the classes I found out about. So here we go… let’s make some gelato! In general, these classes are 2-4 hours long, held either at gelato shops or at cooking schools, and can be taken by kids, too.
Near Venice, in Padua, Mama Isa, the owner of Mama Isa’s Cooking School, offers a four-hour private gelato-making lesson at her house. She has family recipes that she teaches you, and lunch is included. The fee starts at 130 euros per person.
Image source: https://isacookinpadua.altervista.org
Have you ever gotten lost while on foot in a city? Sure you have! And some cities are more confusing than others to navigate on foot. New York City… easy. Rome… not so easy. Venice, Italy… whoa, who hasn’t gotten lost there? And not just wandering through the canal streets, but the whole city boggles the mind. Here’s a great story that intersects a few of my passions. As a long-time running coach and long-time lover of Italy, and having recently been to Venice, I can feel for the elite runners who this past weekend got lost during the Venice Marathon. I can also cheer for the Italian fellow who was able to take advantage of the situation and win the marathon. It’s been 22 years since an Italian won the race. See for yourself. It’s a fun story!
#atletica
l’azzurro Eyob Faniel
conquista la #Venicemarathon
in 2h12:16#record personale migliorato
di oltre tre minuti pic.twitter.com/mXF47Uo2qx— Atletica Italiana (@atleticaitalia) October 22, 2017
When you’re in certain European countries, thanks to the concept of a midday siesta, conducting business or even going out for a meal can be a challenge. Recently, when I was in Florence, I needed to go to a travel agency to see about purchasing a train ticket. The staff at the hotel told me they better call ahead because at this hour (it was about 1pm) the agency would likely be closed for the long siesta midday lunch. Sure enough, the agency was closed and I was told to go there much later in the day. I wasn’t really sure if the siesta idea was followed outside of the smaller towns and cities, but judging from my most recent trip to Europe, it’s definitely still being honored.
But this article explains it all: the history of the siesta concept, as well as its current status. Did you know it didn’t even originate in Spain? It was imported from Italy! How those Italians can take a midday nap after all that espresso is beyond me :)
Anyway, I think this article is a fun read and hope you will too!