Sunday, March 11, 2018

Vado in Italia ... questo maggio! (I'm Off to Italy...in May!)




Italy, Italy, Italy. Italian cooking. Italian music. Italian movies. Italian language. And, of course, Italian books. 

I'm all-things-Italian right now.

After two months of slowly making my way through Italian Days by Barbara Grizzuti Harrison and Italian Folktales collected by Italo Calvino, I finally closed the books. There couldn't be any better way to travel around Italy than to visit via a travel memoir of one writer's trip around Italy combined with a huge collection of old Italian stories from all over Italy selected by an Italian master writer. 

I'm cooking Italian, including lasagna (see my post here) and deep dish pizza (my post is here). I'm watching movies set in Italy. I'm listening to Italian music. I'm practicing Italian on the great app Duolingo; I'm happy to tell you that I am currently 34% fluent in Italian.

In a little more than two months, my husband, sister, brother-in-law, and I will be traveling to Italy to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary and the double retirement of my husband and me from our jobs. My sister has led us in the planning of a great adventure in Italy; she's helped us create stops in Rome, Florence, and, our family's hometown, Lucca. 

If the trip is a quarter as much fun as the preparation for the trip, we will have a lovely time.

Do you have any recommendations for wonderful books or movies set in Italy? Any places we must visit when we go?





What are you reading today?




What is the Sunday SalonImagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them,and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....That's what happens at the Sunday Salon, except it's all virtual. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together--at their separate desks, in their own particular time zones--and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly, mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book. Click here to join the Salon.

The Sunday Post is a meme hosted by Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news and recap the past week.

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share books that we found in our mailboxes last week. 
 It is now being hosted here.

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which you can share the books you've acquired.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from! I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is now being hosted at The Book Date.

23 comments:

  1. I have no recommendations or suggestions, but hope that your trip is all you've dreamed of. Sounds like a great time will had by all! Congrats!

    ReplyDelete
  2. If you have the time... a trip to Sorrento will not disappoint! Lovely shops, quaint restaurants, and lemon trees lining the sidewalks bearing fruit as big as softballs.

    You will have a wonderful time and I look forward to reading all about it when you return :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like an exciting trip... preparations can be just as much fun. Enjoy every moment!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a great way to celebrate retirement! And, of course, that 40th anniversary. I am sure you will have a fabulous time. Enjoy!

    Thanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  5. No recommendations, but I am so excited that you are going on this trip; I LOVE Italy! The food, the architecture, the leather goods, the art. It is all fabulous.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Happy Retirement and Happy May for you! I hope you have a good week in reading. I just got back in my home after a week of no power so I am behind in things. Have a good week. =)

    Mary #SundayRoundup #9

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ohhhhh how wonderful!!! A well researched trip to Italy!!!! Perfetto!

    For our 40th Wedding Anniversary, my husband surprised me with a trip to Paris. Something I had always wanted. This was way back in 1999, and at the time, I was Net-friends with a couple of people there. One woman met with us, when we first got there. The young man met with us, 3 times, and showed me, "the real Paris," which he knew I wanted to see. :-)

    I did not try to learn to speak French, but I did read up on customs. So that we could try to follow them. Unless one does research, one does not know many simple little customs. And you have been doing loads of research!!!!

    Yes, the anticipation is always a great part, of the whole enjoyable experience.

    ReplyDelete
  8. At the moment, I am finishing "The Chalk Pit" (Ruth Galloway series #9).

    The library will tell me, when her latest-in-this-series book, comes in. It will not be till May I think. But I am the one who requested that my library buy it. So I will be "first on the list"! :-)))))))

    Have another book waiting, beside my chair, but the title escapes me, at this moment.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a wonderful way of celebrating two massive milestones:)). A rather lovely novel that revels in the Italian landscape and the food, as long as telling an entertaining, inter-generational story is The Villa by my former writing tutor Rosanna Ley... It is not particularly profound, but it is a real celebration of Italy. In the meantime, have a wonderful week, Deb.

    ReplyDelete
  10. You should read The Olive Branch by Jo Thomas. It’s a sweet romance. Ruthie buys an Italian home online. She tries to fit in with the locals by restoring the home to its former glory and learning how to run an olive grove.
    Happy Anniversary & Retirement! Have fun in Italy!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hmmm, movies set in Italy... I quite like Letters to Juliet. Have you seen it? It's light-hearted, sweet and romantic.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love planning trips! Sounds like you have a lot to celebrate.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a wonderful trip. I have loved traveling in Italy. I just finished The Italian Party which is set in Siena of the 1950's. It was a fun, lite read which I very much enjoyed. You got a real flavor for the people and the countryside.

    ReplyDelete
  14. It sounds like you'll have a great time celebrating your milestones in Italy. I love the way you are preparing. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I will be traveling to Florance, Tuscany this year also. Enjoy your anniversary and family time. What a great idea on reading a book set in Italy. I will have to research.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I've only been to Rome. I do hope you get a tour of that city and visit the catacombs and the Vatican if you can. Anyway....safe travels and all of that jazz. I speak a little french and can make my way around most of Europe with that language. Italian is a little similar in many ways.Here is My IMWAYR post

    ReplyDelete
  17. Italy is one of the places I really want to go someday. In pictures, it looks so pretty! Have a great week!

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Have you read the classic Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim? Another great classic is The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It's so beautifully written (and very very different from most of his other novels).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I've read the book, and the movie is one of my all-time favorites.

      Delete
  19. Your trip will be wonderful. It's impressive you learn Italian. Italy is beautiful and I'd love to visit that country someday.

    ReplyDelete
  20. How exciting! I've never been to Italy but it just looks so beautiful :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. I'm excited FOR you!

    ReplyDelete
  22. I have always longed to go to Italy! I hope you have a fabulous trip and what a wonderful way to celebrate your anniversary and retirement. Life is good!!

    ReplyDelete

I hope you will leave a comment so I know you have visited. If you stop by my blog, I will always stop by yours.

Note: Disqus commenting is only available on the web version of the blog. Please switch to the web version if you are using a mobile device.