Italian Enthusiasts who've seen my videos of the Casalvento retreat in the heart of Tuscany's Chianti region, including Luxury Tuscan Resort, Barbecue at a Tuscan Vineyard, and Winemaking in Italy, agree that a piece of heaven does exist on earth.  If you've been to Tuscany, seen it in videos, or even read about it, the desire to visit can get intense. Gudrun Cuillo, the owner of Casalvento, has opened up her Tuscan properties to tourists to experience life at the retreat.  For those who are not able to visit, she's now opened up Casalvento to readers worldwide in her new bestselling novel, Casalvento - House of the Wind. Ms. Cuillo's new novel intertwines romance and family secrets in the precise setting of Casalvento, where she not only found her inspiration to write, but also penned the entire novel looking over the breathtaking vineyard.  A summary of the novel can be found here. Casalvento With summer 2023 approaching and Italy's tourist season already in full swing, there is no better time to purchase Casalvento - House of the Wind, which was released today!  If you enjoy Tuscany, romance and suspense, then this book is a must read for all Italian Enthusiasts.

Summer months in my family are spent equally in Florida and in Florence.  With a first grader and kindergartener, one of our goals is to find good summer camps for the children to keep their minds active and to maintain socialization with a diverse group of peers.  We've discovered, however, that one of the main differences between American camps vs. Italian camps (other than the obvious language differences), is the food selection. As an American, my recollection of school lunches consists of pizza wedges, tater tots, nuggets, and chocolate milk.  Fast forward to 2023 with my children in school, lunch menus in the US seem to have only slightly developed, now offering a few other options such as chicken patties, PB&J, and cheeseburgers.  Aside from the limited selection at schools and camps, school food in the United States has a terrible reputation, believed to be neither desirable nor nutritious by students and parents alike. A 2009 report by USA TODAY found that meat served in the United States schools wouldn’t meet the quality or safety standards of fast-food restaurants.  Further, according to a GREEN MATTERS article, "[b]ecause of the low budgets ... and in order to have ingredients with longer shelf lives, school cafeterias often opt for processed foods that are high in preservatives" which is why many of the meals on American lunch trays consist of "shriveled hamburgers, browning iceberg lettuce, stale fries, and greasy AF pizza." For these reasons, my wife often packs a lunch for our children during the school year, and after seeing the lunch menus for summer camps here in Florida, we decided to opt out of the lunch program altogether.  My children will therefore spend the first half of their summer in Florida bringing with them bagged lunches to camp. The second half of the...

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Italian Enthusiasts proficient in the Italian language are quick to recognize strange names of Italian foods, drinks and places, especially if they have vulgar meanings.  America, for example, censors nudity on television and in magazines while Italy takes a more open approach, often displaying nudity to the public across all channels.  Similar to Italy’s approval of nudity (in comparison to the United States), Italy takes a similar approach with its language, often referring to foods, drinks and towns by names most Americans would find inappropriate.  For Italian Enthusiasts, however, they are funny and culturally fascinating.  See below for some examples, broken down by categories of Food, Wine and Towns. FOOD Gnocchi.  Gnocchi is a type of pasta we all love, but the meaning comes from the female private part.  The name derives from La Gnocca, which in Italian means “pussy” because of the shape and the softness of the pasta.  So when you order Gnocchi for dinner, you are also asking the chef for a plate of pussy. Cazzilli di Patate.  In Palermo, there is a popular dish called Cazzilli di Patate, which means “Small Dicks of Potatoes”.  The name comes from the fact that the food is small and shaped like penises, sort of like croquettes. Spaghetti alla Puttanesca.  In Naples, a popular spaghetti is called Spaghetti alla Putanesca, which in English means “Whore’s Pasta”.   This dish includes poor ingredients, such as olives, capers and tomato sauce - very easy ingredients to find in Naples.  The dish was regularly served in brothels for this reason. Palle del Nonno.  In Tuscany, there is a popular salami called Palle del Nonno, which means "Grandpa's Balls".  It is pig salami that has a falling shape, appearing like an elderly man's testicles. Coglioni di Mulo.  In Abruzzo, there is a popular salami known...

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