I’ve been posting my answers to some of your questions about Italian culture and travel here, which has been fantastic, everyone seems to be enjoying them. I am nearly finished with the latest batch of questions but I haven’t been getting many more questions lately so I thought I’d simply remind you to send me…
Continue reading ➞ Remember to send my your questions about Italy
How to make friends as a newly arrived Expat in Italy.
I’m not sure how it happened, but it was a gradual transformation. I didn’t even notice it. After many years of living in Sicily, I have become accustomed to its rhythm, to small-town living, and at times it infuriates me, yet I find I have achieved a certain comfort with life on the island. I…
Continue reading ➞ Living a Sicilian life
Sicily at the end of August is a fiery ball of heat, humidity, mosquitoes and desert winds whipping up from Africa. We arrive in Sicily in the final month of Summer; my husband decides to take a couple more weeks off work; to rest and get over jet lag. Italy shuts down at this time…
Continue reading ➞ The end of summer
Deep in the kingdom of the hazelnuts, the Baron of Salleo’s family had wealthy agricultural patronage with many hectares of hazelnuts, olive trees, wheat fields, together with country properties, a residence at the centre of Sinagra and another in the nearby hamlet of Baronia, most probably named in honour of the Baron himself. The Salleo…
Continue reading ➞ A Baron’s dominion
Gesualdo Bufalino wrote about Sicily’s many different faces. He was fascinated by the multifacited nature of the island, filled with many paradoxes and contrasting elements that often exist side by side. The complexity and instability of the island’s cultural history has created an engimantic place which is difficult to define. Bufalino says how there are…
Continue reading ➞ Words from Sicily: 100 Sicilies
The #dolcevitabloggers have chosen to explore the concept of the Dolce Vita in Italy. There is a fine line between loving and visiting the bel paese as a tourist and the reality of living here, in the search for your own personal sweet life. So cheers to Kelly from italianatheart.com, Jasmine from questadolcevita.com and Kristie of mammaprada.com for choosing…
Continue reading ➞ Making your own Dolce Vita
I am constantly sitting down and planning out trips to do through Sicily. Often I don’t do everything on my list as I run out of money but I am generally happy if I do one of the trips every year as they are based on my experiences living here on the island. Sicily is…
Continue reading ➞ Things to do in Sicily
1) Don’t complain too much So it really doesn’t matter if you can’t track down your favorite candy bar or if they do things differently here. Italy is an old country so things are kinda slow, it will be dusty and a little dirty but that’s to be expected. Nothing is going to be…
Continue reading ➞ 5 easy steps to becoming a good tourist in Italy
Yes, there is a difference between Northern and Southern Italy; in fact, it took a major political and social movement to merge the different states of the Italian peninsula in the nineteenth century. The process began with the Congress of Vienna at the end of Napoleon’s reign in 1815 and continued with various…
Continue reading ➞ North verses South in Italy: from stereotypes to rampant individualism
My friends and family think I am totally insane to be living my life in Italy, they are waiting for me to come to my senses and move back to Australia, like I’ve been playing around for the past decade of my life. The truth is it’s been more than chasing a dream, I’m not…
Continue reading ➞ Leading an authentic life in Sicily
The fertility of Sicily’s volcanic soil is well-known and thanks to the Sicilian habit of having a vegetable garden I’ve never been without fresh fruits and vegetables to prepare throughout the year, from eggplants, capsicums, chili peppers, basil and tomatoes in the summer to peas, potatoes, pumpkins and broad beans in the winter. There is…
Continue reading ➞ Sicilian Tomatoes, Benedica
November is a sombre time in Sicily, traditionally it’s not all jack o lanterns and candy rather its about taking flowers to the cemetery and lighting artificial lights instead of candles in memory of the dead. All souls and dearly held saints are prayed for in religious services in the Roman Catholic church and the…
Continue reading ➞ Flowers and lights for our ancestors
Today I want to tackle your questions about living in Italy full-time. To be honest I haven’t been asked many questions so I got my virtual and real Facebook friends to send me some random ones, which I’ll answer below. Maryann asks: How is the plumbing and the water? Well, the average Italian bathroom…
Continue reading ➞ Quirky questions about life in Italy
It is always a challenge for non native speakers of any language to learn and assimilate into a new country but Italy has its own particular surprises reserved for struggling expats. Before moving to Italy permanently I thought I was quite savvy with my Italian. After all I had almost majored in Italian, lived…
Continue reading ➞ Tongue tied in Italy
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