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Life in South Italy
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My Bella Vita
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Travel Tip Tuesday: Calabria’s Airports
Many Calabria-bound travelers are unsure of how to get to Calabria without either driving from their first point in Italy or taking a train from their international arrival point, which is usually Rome. Given the overwhelming number of times I’ve been asked about airport options-and the few times I’ve been told, “I heard there are [...]
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Tips for Adjusting to Life When You are Married to a Foreigner
I get a lot of hits and a good deal of personal emails from people who are either involved in a long-distance relationship with an Italian or are planning to tie the knot with a foreigner and want to talk to someone “who’s been there.” Interestingly enough, I’m actually the “foreigner,” in this relationship, but [...]
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- Five Tips for Surviving an International Long Distance Relationship Surviving a long distance relationship is not impossible....
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Italian Coffee Terms Explained
With the recent influx of English-speaking guests visiting our B&B, it has come to my attention everyone might not get Italian coffee. Sure, Starbucks taught us the words “Cappuccino,” “Macchiato,” even “Grande,” … for its worth, but if you want a true Italian coffee experience, there are a few things you should know. I’ve been [...]
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- Ciao Chow! Five Things to Try When You are in Calabria Last week I was invited to join the...
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Travel Tip Tuesday: Tips for Reducing Stress When Traveling
Traveling-walking through a new country, adapting to a new culture, learning new words or phrases, dining on new-and sometimes unidentifiable-food … it is all part of the experience travelers crave upon entering a new land. Unfortunately, along with those new sounds, sights and smells, comes a healthy dose of stress, but that doesn’t have to [...]
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A Few of my All-Time Favorite Italy-themed Posts
I’ve spent hundreds of hours over the last few years reading blog posts and articles about Italy-many of which were written by my real-life expat friends and blogging buddies. Some of those posts serve their immediate purpose, offering a good laugh, a useful tip or an encouraging word of expat life-related advice. Other times, they [...]
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- A Few Things to Love About Southern Italy Last week my friend and expat-in-southern-Italy counterpart, Tina...
- Speak Up or Shut Up! Four Words I Constantly Mispronounce in Italian You’d think having an Italian husband who speaks...
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Continental Airlines: Review of a Customer Service Experience
With my Auntie Adventures a not-so fading memory, I now have time to go through my “draft” folder here at My Bella Vita and pull out some posts that are a long time coming. Reviewing a recent customer service experience I had with Continental Airlines is one of those posts. Continental Airlines has long been [...]
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Travel Tip Tuesday: How to Pack a Carry-on Suitcase
Last week’s Travel Tip Tuesday post listed five reasons why you should switch to carry-on only-and Facebook fans and commenters listed many more. After that post, I had a few FB comments and even an email or two asking me how I do it. I’ve listed my general carry-on list before, but here are five [...]
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Watch Your Mouth! Three Words You Shouldn’t Say in Italian
Some of my favorite-and most popular-posts are about the complex, intriguing, sometimes difficult, but always charming … bella lingua italiana. A couple of months ago, Jessica from Why Go Italy shared her favorite Italian words, a week later, I listed five of mine and Melanie from Italofile started a meme that lists favorite Italian words [...]
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If You are What You Eat, What Does That Say About Sicily’s Milza?
Earlier this week I wrote a guest post for Mangia Monday, a weekly column over at Wanderlust Women Travel. The site’s owner, Lisa Fantino was interested in how Sicilians are taking a bite out of crime and it reminded her of some of her favorite culinary memories as a child. Welcome, Lisa. “You are [...]
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Restaurant Review: Villa Marinella in La Sila National Park
There are many places you can go when you are traveling in Calabria near Catanzaro … you could see Le Castella, visit the ruins in Roccelletta or spend a morning driving through Sila Piccola in La Sila National Park. And that, my friends, is what I want to talk about today. If you’ve spent much [...]
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Auntie Adventures: “But, Cici … It’s the Real Deal!”
For many kids, spending a month in southern Italy-without their parents-is a summer they’ll never forget. Well, it’s also a summer this auntie won’t forget soon. So far, we’ve talked about falling in love on the lungomare and about meeting a real-life beach bum in Pizzo but today, in our final installment of Auntie Adventures, [...]
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Tips for Learning Italian … in Italy
Many a’ language learner will tell you that the process of becoming one with a language begins after your classroom experience ends. But that doesn’t mean it is easy. Today’s guest blogger, Katie of Olio di Oliva e Sogni di Vino shares five tips for learning Italian, after you’ve put away your books and tapes. [...]
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Travel Tip Tuesday: Five Reasons to Go Carry-on Only
I’ve written often about my carry-on only packing process. I’ve shared my lists, talked about luggage and stressed the importance of packing light-several times over. Still, I know old habits die hard and some of you might not be convinced. If your luggage is still weighing in at the 50lb line, listen up. Here are [...]
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How to Ruin Your Trip to Calabria
More and more people are choosing to travel to Calabria, which is a good thing for those of us in the tourism industry. They read our sites, maybe book a room at our B&B … they might even buy the eguide full of Calabria travel tips … then, they ignore us. Sadly, this summer, my [...]
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A Few Things to Love About Southern Italy
Last week my friend and expat-in-southern-Italy counterpart, Tina of Tina Tangos wrote about three things to love about living in Italy. And yes, it is all about the food. The thing is, Tina and I are both lucky not only to live in Italy, but to live in southern Italy, where the food is apparently [...]
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Auntie Adventures: Italian Beach Bums
A couple of weeks ago I started off my Auntie Adventure tales with a story about how Cole, my nine year old nephew, stalked met some Calabrese women on the lungomare in Catanzaro. Unfortunately (for me) it didn’t stop there. You see, I’m convinced there really is something to that Aria Calabra that changes a [...]
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Things Southern Italians Know … like how to ward off the malocchio
Adjusting to life in southern Italy-without a drop of Italian ancestral blood in my veins-took a bit more practice than it did for my Italian-American counterparts. You see, I didn’t grow up eating seven fishes at Christmas or fearing the dreaded malocchio. But as Lisa Fantino of Wanderlust Women Travel explains, most Italian-American kids know [...]
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Travel Tip Tuesday: Sleep Sweetly (without paying a penny)
One of the most expensive portions of a world travel's trip is accommodations, so imagine how far your Euro would go if you didn't have to worry about paying for your resort, a hotel, your B&B, that week-long apartment rental … campgrounds. From now until July 24, Radisson Blu hotels are hosting a contest-aptly named the the Greatest Holiday [...]
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Spotlight on Capri
Over the last few months I’ve tried to feature southern Italian travel destinations outside of my beloved Calabria-and few places in the bel paese are more beloved than Capri. If you are considering a visit to this chic and stylish island, here are a few ideas to add to your itinerary by avid Italy traveler, [...]
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A Traveler’s First Aid Kit
Remember how I said I just got back from Texas and have been busy chasing two super cute and ooh-too-charming American boys around Calabria? Well, all of that running has caught up with me and I’m smack dab in the middle of a head cold/sinus infection/strep throat-like mystery illness that has me up all night [...]
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