POST ON YOUR DREAMBOARD
Easter in Italy — it’s a thing. A real thing. Incredible processions in all the towns and cities. Off-season travel is yours — but Easter is the official start of the tourist season in Italy. That means you’ll find even the sleepy “closed all winter” villages open with all their services. Some towns have bigger plans for Easter — one town in Sicily has 2000 people participating in the procession and the party lasts for a week. Do your research before you go — and like I’ve been saying for months — if you’re traveling in 2022 do not delay your bookings. The 2022 season is special and you’ll need advance bookings. Our list of dates is coming via email. Watch for it! Decide if “Italy 2022” is on your radar — and if it is — snatch up one of our trips. You can do that for just a $495 deposit and nothing else for now. Be ready!
Image Credit: Monica Kelly
SLEEP HERE
Well, aren’t I the pusher of all the luxury whitewashed sleeps in the southern zone? I do adore the Rocco Forte collection of hotels — I will often recommend them to some of our clients who extend their stays in Italy and look for a bougier stay. Look, I like fancy sheets and a comfy bed like the next girl, but I cringe at the pricing in the high season in Italy for some of these hotels. Avoiding July and August travel (we don’t run tours at those times for many reasons, and rates are one of them) will allow you to stay at fab properties without the gouge. This property is a fabulous masseria in Puglia — Masseria Torre Maizza, a fab area which I’ve been to many times. You gotta go!
MANGIAMO
One of the most inexpensive (but at the same time decadent and satisfying) eats in Italy is a panino, bought from the specialty stores throughout the country. These places are sometimes quite literally holes in the walls (the one in the photo is in Florence, and you can see how tiny it is). You know the places when you see them because at lunch, they have lineups full of locals and tourists who have made the trek specifically to eat there. Here’s how you do it. Get in the lineup. Ask a local what you should have when you’re in line. Order (incredible meats and cheeses and roasted veg of all sorts are yours). Pay just a few euros (so cheap! In Vancouver you’d pay 20 bucks) and eat it in the street, just like everyone else is doing, gathered right around the place. It’s the ultimate people watching scene. Keep your eyes peeled for these panino-only places, especially in the cities.
Image: All’Antico Vinaio (Florence)
WHAT WE’RE LOVING RIGHT NOW
Building Italian Fix has been a journey. It’s not my baby, I have one of those. But it’s definitely not just a business … it’s a calling. It’s also a lifestyle — I’ve raised my family, raised myself, raised a team, raised my clients spirits … and all that raising was made possible because I raised this company from nothing. And now I’m on a new quest — something that I care very much about — and that is passing down skills and knowledge and encouragement to whoever knows they want it, so that they can build their “own thing”. A lifestyle business is something different than just any other business — because integration is at the core. I’m teaching about business live on Sunday and Tuesday. You can be there live only if you register. Please share with your friends. Grazie!
WISH WE WERE HERE
Picture this. You’re on a boat, bobbing in the bay of a Siclian island. The sun is going down. You’re in your bathing suit ‘cause the air is still warm. The water is calm with rosy light bouncing off the surface. There’s clatter in the galley and you’re smelling all the good smells that waft from an Italian kitchen (like garlic sizzling in oil, yum). And hearing all the sounds of two men negotiating dinner preparations. Dinner is served by the barefoot captain — spaghetti! La vita è bella.
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With love + handmade spaghetti
Bianca
