Ciao tutti,
I am a little late sending out this week’s newsletter as we only recently returned from a spontaneous trip to Bologna. For those of you who don’t know, when I decided to move to Italy, I actually moved to Bologna. It was such a joy to be back there and perfect weather for cozying up to a big bowl of tortellini in brodo! I will share more about our trip below in case you are interested in visiting too one day.
I wanted to let you know about a few other exciting things. If you are interested in joining me on the Untold Italy tours this Spring/Summer, we are offering a very juicy bonus (see below). Bookings are closing very soon (14 Feb!) so please make sure you let us know if you want to come.
Did you watch my Instagram live chat with Michele from Intrepid Italian last week? It is saved on my Instagram if you missed it and were interested in her learning Italian courses. The registrations are closing very soon (Feb 6), so don’t delay if you wanted to sign-up.
Finally, I am back with my weekly live city tours in Italy! Last week we virtually explored Palermo with the wonderful Linda. This week, we head to Milan with Thea from Doing Italy and I can’t wait for you to meet her!
Untold Italy Tours Spring/Summer 2022
Bookings close 14 February
We still have some places available on our May Piedmont, May Cilento/Capri, June Puglia, and June Umbria tours. If you are willing to give us feedback on these very first tours, we are thrilled to offer you some exciting bonuses.
$200USD OFF all Spring tour departures
BONUS 12 months membership to Untold Italy Amici - our club for Italy loving travelers
We are also offering full refunds should tours not be possible due to COVID restrictions. See our terms and conditions for details. If you would like to join us, do not delay as bookings must close by 14 February.
If you would like to know more about what to expect on tour, I recently recorded a live Facebook chat with the Untold Italy founder (Katy Clarke) all about our tours. You can watch that here.
Learn Italian with Intrepid Italian
Are you travelling to Italy this year? I always encourage friends and family to learn a little bit of Italian before they visit so they can have an even better experience. Whilst you will have no trouble getting around in the main cities, learning even just a little bit of Italian will enrich your experience here so much and give you a chance to connect with local people. Italians absolutely love it when foreigners try to speak their language too and will be thrilled if you make the effort to say a few words. If this sounds like you, I wanted to remind you to take advantage of Michele’s languge course for travel.
Michele offers online video self-guided courses for beginners (A1), Advanced Beginners (A2), and Intermediates (B1). Enrollments are closing Feb 6 2022, so please don’t miss out on signing up if you are interested! She has a special bundle deal available right now too which is worth it if you’re interested in going beyond her travel/beginner course.
I recently recorded a live on Instagram with Michele to find out more about her course and what exactly the 80/20 method is. If you are at all curious about it, you can watch our recorded chat here.
Instagram Live City Tour: Milan with Thea
Wednesday 2 February, 10:30am Italy/8:30pm Melb/Sydney
This week we are heading to the capital of Italian fashion - Milan! I am so excited to chat with Thea as she tours us around the centre and gives us a view of the beautiful Duomo. Thea is an American who fell head over heels in love with Italy in 2002, and decided to make it home. She runs a site called Doing Italy designed to help foreigners create the life of their dreams in Italy, while avoiding the pitfalls that plague so many expats when they move abroad. We would love to see you on Wednesday, and let us know if you have any questions in the meantime!
Livguine YouTube Channel
Have you checked out my YouTube channel yet? You can find my virtual tours all uploaded here (some more still to come!) I don’t know about you, but I find YouTube a lot easier to consume video content- you can easily pause or jump forward if you have to watch a video in a few separate sittings too, which is rather difficult to do on Instagram. I’ll start with uploading my virtual tours on this channel for now, and then who knows what else you might find here in the coming months! Make sure to subscribe so you get notifications when a new video goes live too.
Highlights from Bologna
Have you been to Bologna before? It’s known as ‘la grassa, la rossa, e la dotta’, referring to the city’s history of food, communism/left-leaning views, and study (with the world’s oldest University!) I was there for 6 weeks in 2019 and studied at an incredible language school called Academya Lingue and lived with a beautiful Bolognese family too. Last week was my first time back in town and just what the doctor called for. I had time to reflect on how far my Italian language has come, my understanding of the culture, as well as how much our world has changed since I first moved to this country. It was particularly thrilling to bump into my old Italian teacher and have an entire conversation is beautiful, flowing Italian - seriously, worlds beyond my language capabilities when I last lived here!
If you would like to visit Bologna, I suggest staying for at least a few days. It also makes for an excellent home base if you would like to explore Parma (for prosciutto), Modena (for balsamic vinegar), Ravenna (for UNESCO heritage mosaics) and Florence is only 30 mins away on the high-speed train! Here’s some of my favourite things to do in Bologna:
Lunch at Sfoglia Rina (fresh pasta!)
Cooking class / buy pasta to cook at home from Le Sfogline
Market shop at Mercato delle Erbe
Market shop/wandering through the Quadrilatero
Climb the Asinelli tower (498 steps!)
Climb the clock tower
Hike to San Luca (note this takes around 75-90 mins one way!
Check out the University library
Relax at the Giardini Margherita
Dinner at Ristorante Biagi
See the Finestrella
Cinema festival in Piazza Maggiore in June
Gelato at Cremeria Cavour
See the Neptune fountain
Visit Piazza Maggiore and the Duomo
Coffee and pastries at Pasticceria Santo Stefano
Wishing you all a beautiful start to February! I hope your Italian travel dreams are alive and well - I really do hope to see some of you here this year.
Liv x