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SweetItalyEstates
Autumn 2011 It is with great pleasure that I list this short interview. This repays from all the efforts and energy I put into this job everyday. I have interviewed Mrs Charlotte Kennedy and this is what she said about her experience. I have chosen to do so as I think it is of help for whom dreams of having a property in Italy but fears bureaucracy and the language barrier. I hope this article will make you understand that things can be done, if you really want them! Good luck on your purchase:
Charlotte Kennedy
A few words for Toby and Charlotte (Carlotta for Italians :-) ...): Thank you so much for your nice words, keep well and thank you for trusting me! Enjoy Abruzzo!!!
May 2011 Abruzzo without borders thanks to "Rai Local", the new free platform for mobile web and new media created by Rai and Massachusetts Institute of Technology that combines the territories with 2.0 technologies and social networks. The project, undertaken in accordance with Abruzzo Tourism , was presented to the Tourism Day Roccaraso the Councillor of Tourism Development and national coordinator of the Abruzzo Region Regional Councillor for Tourism, Dalmazio Di Mauro, the director of RAI New Media, Peter Gaffney and the Director of the MIT Mobile Experience Lab, Federico Casalegno. Active from next June to the site and www.railocal.rai.it Android phones and I-Phone, the project - built with the expertise of MIT's Mobile Experience Lab - is based on the involvement of users through the connection of media assets Rai with the 'physical' regions of Abruzzo. The platform aims to enrich the tourist experience through technology in Abruzzo, with a cell phone that becomes key to access media content and geo-sharing tool for routing and mobility information. There are many possible applications in all stages of the journey, from creating a profile to access maps, information, photos and video to the ability to download e-books and guides, plan the agenda and their own personalized itinerary, explore sites through the GPS navigation. Local Rai is a way of 'social' share of places and territories, for example the exchange of information (including video) and real-time feedback on the community dedicated the major social networks and Twitter. Application in line with the growing use of Internet in the tourist choices: according to the study "Internet factor" Google commissioned by the Boston Consulting Group, the network has become the main source of information for people wishing to travel. Search engines are the most used by both those who travel for work (40%), and who does it for pleasure (48%).
Easter 2011
George Clooney’s film, “The American” is likely to spark new interest in the cookery of Abruzzo. Now there is a book which will not only answer their questions but will also enable them to help victims of the 2009 earthquake as all profits from “Breaking Bread in L’Aquila” will be donated to the earthquake relief fund. The author, Maria Filice, is a Canadian Italian whose parents were from Calabria. She learnt to cook by watching and listening to her relatives, who all told stories as they cooked. In 1997 she married Telos publisher Paul Piccone and moved to New York, where she continued to cook the traditional Italian dishes she knew so well. She also began to visit L’Aquila, her husband’s home town. There, she was immediately impressed by the cooking, based on simple, fresh ingredients. Widowed in 2004, Maria took over her husband’s publishing company, where she works as Mary Piccone. “Breaking Bread in L’Aquila” is Maria’s first book and is intended to be the first of a “Breaking Bread” series. Many of the recipes are inspired by the San Biagio restaurant in L’Aquila but, Maria assures us, do not take hours of preparation or require ingredients which are difficult to find. The 49 recipes are organised in menus for each day of the week but the menus are flexible. This is truly a cookbook written with love. The book is available on Amazon UK and Amazon US.
17th March 2011: 150th anniversary of the country’s unification Italy is throwing itself a huge birthday bash for the 150th anniversary of the country’s unification. The celebrations will take place throughout the country, with most of the events centered in Italy’s three capital cities: Turin, Florence and Rome. The festivities will commemorate Italian unification, also known as il Risorgimento, or "The Resurgence.” Il Risorgimento was a movement to unite all the various states on the Italian peninsula into a single country. Following years of revolutions, wars and expeditions, national unity was proclaimed on March 17th, 1861 in Turin. Turin then became the new country’s first capital, remaining the capital city for four years until the central government was moved to Florence in 1865. Rome became the final capital in 1871 when unification was complete. The 150th Anniversary events will kick off in March, with the calendar of festivities extending nine months, through November 2011. The unification commemoration will be a mix of cultural events, sporting events and gatherings. There will also be two major exhibits on display in Turin, including “Beautiful Italy” and “Making the Italians.” Beautiful Italy will feature over 350 masterpieces from Italy’s most beloved artists. While, Making the Italians will showcase 150 years of history, explaining the events and leaders that made Italy the country it is today. One of the largest ceremonies will take place in Rome on June 2nd. The date marks the day in 1946, when Italy became a republic after voting for a referendum to end the monarchy. Invitations to attend the celebration have been extended to European leaders, President Obama, and the heads of other countries with large populations of Italian origin. With events spanning from galas to 28-day bicycle tours, there has never been a more exciting time to visit Italy. A full list of events can be found at Esperienza Italia. Celebrate with us and buy your Italian property: visit us at www.sweetitalyestates.com . Contact francesca@sweetitalyestates.com to set an appointment for your viewing tour. A presto!!
March 2011
The Land of Montepulciano Wine The geographical configuration of the Abruzzo territory and its mild climate have traditionally had great influence on wine culture and winegrowing conditions in this area. The best known red grape variety is Montepulciano d’Abruzzo which is cultivated in all four provinces. It originated in the Peligna Valley in the 18th century and afterwards it widely spread in the region. Poets have talked about wine since ancient times, as we can see in a selection of Ovid’s Art of Life at the bottom. The grapes mainly comes from vineyards on slopes no higher than 500-600 metres above sea level. The area devoted to wine grapes is 17,000 hectares and it is now an ever growing trend. The vines are trained on pergola system (80%) while the new plant are set on rows. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is one of Italy’s most important red berry variety. Young wine has a brilliant ruby red colour and a soft, slightly tannic taste, old one has velvety Liquorice, chocolate taste. In the last ten years the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo wine, whose production is 80 million litres a year, has received innumerable plaudits from critics on the international magazines, and won some of the most prestigious national and international wine tasting events and awards. An increasing quantity of this wine is nowadays destined to exportation, being highly appreciated (besides national) in German(23%), Usa(20%), and Canada(10%) markets. Sales are expected to increase in the UK and other northern European/Scandinavian countries. Although Abruzzo’s Montepulciano is the best known of Doc wines, a number of vines native to the region have gained a reputation for discreet quality. Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo is obtained from the Montepulciano grapes pressed with the skins. So the wine takes on a cherry red colour from which it gets its special name. Very light yellow in colour, Trebbiano d’Abruzzo has a sweet aroma and is velvety, dry and fruity to the taste. It is a perfect accompaniment both to seafood and meat dishes. The white Passerina, Pecorino and Cococciola wines have recently grown in prestige. “Qui properant, nova musta bibant: mihi fundat avitum consulibus priscis condita testa merum” (Ovidio - Ars amandi- liber I) - Let who will hasten to drink new and immature wine. Let me have a rich mellow vintage dating back to one of our elder consuls.
“Vina parent animos faciuntque caloribus aptos: cura fugit multo diluiturque mero”(Ovidio - Ars amandi – liber II) - Wine rouses courage and is fit for passion: care flies, and deep drinking dilutes it.
February 2011
" Here since endless centuries man has tamed the impossible mountain side into terraces, he has quarried the rock, he has fed his sheep among thin woods, he has cut his boughs and burnt his charcoal, he has been half domesticated even among the wildest fastnesses. This is what is so attractive, about remote places, the Abruzzi for example. Life is so primitive, so pagan, so strangely heathen and half savage. And yet it is human life." (D.H.Lawrence) There is a somewhat hidden Italy far from the well-trodden paths of the better-known tourist itineraries where you’ll find that landscapes are of an unusual and spectacular beauty, that nature is undisturbed and unspoilt and captures the heart of those who discover it by chance or happen to come to the area on someone’s precious advice.
January 2011
SUGGESTED ITINERARIES FOR THE REGION OF ABRUZZO
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