Grasshopper, thanks so much for the suggestion of the Italian recipe book and CD. It looks fabulous and would make a great gift for the mothers. Ordering several today - one for me, too!

I first went to Italy in the Summer of '95, I was hooked even before that trip. Growing up in an Italian Amercian family, the celebrations are what stick out most - St. Joseph's Day, the Feast - and probably what started my desire to explore this culture even more. I read anything I can get my hands on, I just finished Ferenc Mate's book about living in Tuscany. Enchanted April started my love affair with italian themed flic's, among my favorites are Il Postino, Big Night, Much ado about nothing. We just returned this month fromour honeymoon in Tuscany. Today I took my 9 year old step daughter to the Italian import store, it was something to see her face light up at the sight of the prosciuttto di parma and genoa salami hanging from the ceiling along with the huge case of cheeses and cookies. She's completely taken with Italian culture. Tonight I will crack open the bottle of Lamole di Lamole chianti I bought, put on the big night CD, and reminisce about our near death experience on the "white road" to Lamole. The time between visits is much too great, but for now this is how I will keep italy with me.

Good ideas!

I sustain myself between visits by bathing in tomato sauce.

A little Italy every day? If you want to "live" Italy this summer than select whatever transportation you use to get to work, to shop, to travel. Now, look for an alternative because the method you have chosen will be on strike (trains, planes, buses, gas stations). <BR><BR>Also, don't shop on Sundays, half the day on a weekday and several hours in the middle of the day.<BR><BR>Get all of your dry cleaning, repairs and other services completed by Aug. 1 because those stores will be closed until September. That goes for many restaurants, newstands and other so-called services.

<BR>&gt;Message: Try this site for Italian language learning: &lt;<BR><BR> Thank you, Nigel.<BR><BR>

Sensory reminders work well for me. I lived in Italy for a summer once and I wore the same Victoria's Secret lotion and perfume every day. Now, when I want to feel nostaligic for Italy, I just dab a little perfume on. The sense of smell can be an intense reminder of things past.<BR><BR>Music works the same way, for me, regardless of whether it is Italian or not. For instance, during that same summer, the same American pop song was playing every time I went into one of my favorite gelaterie. Now whenever I hear that song, I can't help but be transported back to the wonderful world of fresh "fici" and "fragole."<BR><BR>I'm a writer, so keeping a travel journal is essential for me. I bought a journal on my first trip to Italy and I take it with me every time I return. When I write, I'm sure to use sensory details. Also, a fun exercise is to make observations--little "snapshots." Here are some examples from my journal:<BR><BR>"The crush of the wave against my back, <BR>The salt taste of a different sea."<BR><BR>"Young woman on knees, hands in lap, looking sorrowful. Small sign on ground in front of her reads simply 'Aiuto.'"<BR><BR>"Three pigeons roofing it."<BR><BR>But the best thing I have done to bring Italy "home" is to get an Italian pen/e-pal through http://www.mylanguageexchange.com. I have met a very lovely lady who has become my friend. She helps me with my Italian, I help her with her English; we talk about our daily lives, and we send each other postcards.<BR><BR>This is a great thread, thanks for reviving it!

In addition to the above great ideas, there is a wonderful course on everything about Venice at La Guardia Community College in New York City, which includes a trip to Venice to see and enjoy everything you have learned. Also, a here is a terrific, easy recipe for Lemoncello--Add the zest of 8 lemons(yellow skin only) to a quart of grain alcohol. Leave for 2 weeks in a covered pot. Don't refrigerate. Mix 12 ounces of sugar with 52 ounces of water. Filter the lemon zest from the grain alcohol. Mix the sugar/water combo with the alcohol. Chill in the freezer. Serve very cold in frozen glasses after a bene Italian meal. Salute.

topping with longing..........

Ah, Italy. I found a CD called "Dinner in Italy" that has traditional Italian music (lots of mandolin - probably no Italians would listen to it). I crank it up real loud, drink red wine and make a general ass of myself dancing around the backyard under the moon (which I just did last night). What a great pick-me-up. Then I started my get-out-of-Dodge and into Italy list (sell/rent out house, get Mom settled, how can I make a living, so on). In the meantime, garlic, pasta, limoncello (martinis), proscuitto, etc etc. Need to sign up for Italian classes if work will allow me to stay home long enough to attend. Keep on dreaming . . . .

I keep Italy alive in my every day life in many ways. <BR><BR>I started the website The Long Trip Home (www.thelongtriphome.com), which is an online literary magazine for travelers) partly as a way to write about Italy as much as possible, and to read what other people write about travel (I think it's not only keeping Italy alive, but keeping the need to travel alive). I've done good with that, and it's kept me writing about Italy quite a bit. <BR><BR>Also, my boyfriend and I have been planning for the last year or so to move to Italy (and it's finally almost here! this fall!), and each step in the planning keeps me always aware of Italy, and keeps it alive in my mind.<BR><BR>And, I have friends in Italy that I stay in contact with, and that means writing in Italian, and speaking Italian too. I stay in contact with friends that I traveled to Italy with, and that helps quite a bit. And I am always looking for Italian things--food, clothing, etc--to keep a little bit of Italy with me at all times. Oh, and I eat Baci, and read the messages. It keeps me dreaming of Italy, too :).<BR>

This thread is almost like therapy; there's comfort in knowing others feel and act the same crazy way! Along with eating, reading, watching, and cooking Italian, my favorite is to look at my pictures all through the day. I took my digital camera with me in April. I have 300 photos on my computer. My computer background images (at home and work) are a different Italy shot weekly. I have burned my favorite 100 or so photos on cds and I take them to work and look at them when I am having those withdrawal feelings. I've also printed out my favorite Italy shot, matted and framed it, and it's the first thing I look at when I get up in the morning.<BR><BR>Last but not least, I play my Andrea Bocelli cds all of the time. Family and friends roll their eyes when it comes on, but they just don't understand...they've never been there!

For those movie fans. Watch your local listings. Cinema Paradiso is being re-released in a few weeks. It will have enhanced film & sound, with addtional footage added never seen before.

Here's another one; sign up with this and you get a vocabulary word a day sent to your email address, complete with sentence and device to hear it spoken.<BR><BR>http://www.transparent.com/subscribe/subscription.cfm

I make my own Limoncello and I look at the photo album from our 2 trips to Italy. I tear up everytime !!!

Buon giorno from yet another aching soul!<BR><BR>Two more wonderful movies are "IL Postino" and "Il Ciclone" And the music from Il Postino will just always remain with you!<BR><BR>My favourite Lisa St Auban de Teran is: "Slow train to Milan" and "A valley in Italy". And then there is wonderful novel, set in Sicily "La Cucina" but I cannot remember who the author is.<BR><BR>And I re-read "In Tuscany" by Frances Mayes at least twice a year, and dream over the wonderful photo's!<BR><BR>O, am I longing for Roma right now!

Bocelli?! 8-/<BR><BR>One thing that makes me wonder is why so many foreigners who love Italy actually like so much music that in Italy is though very badly of. I have seen Andrea Bocelli being invoked several times on the forum, but in italy Bocelli is appreciated only by people who do not actually appreciate music and do not actualliy olisten to music a lot. The same is true for, for instance, Eros Ramazzotti or Laura Pausini whoc get loads of attention abroad white in Italy they basically sell only to teenagers. At the same time, I never see the names of muscians that are largely appreciated both by critics and by the general audicence, such as De Andr&egrave;, Fossati, Afterhours, La Crus, Guccini, 24 grana etc. I do not mean to comment you tastes, just to make it clear, only that I am curious about such a discrepancy between the Italian taste and the italy lovers' tastes.

What about <BR><BR>The Neck<BR>Gianna Nannini<BR>Zucchero<BR>Adriano Celentano? <BR><BR>Love them all!

That should be just "Nek" (Laura non che)<BR><BR>Forgot to mention Umberto Tozzi. :o(

Gianna Nannini made some good stuff when she was really young, songs like "Morta per autoprocurato aborto", "California", "Sognami" (se non ci sono inventami, l'hai sempre solo immaginata la tua donna. Sognami, se vuoi andare vai, cos&igrave; la libert&agrave; sei tu che me la dai...) and "Primadonna" are great, but she hasn't beeing making any decent song in the last 15 years; she is still a huge star in Germany, AFAIK, but in italy she has lost a lot of fame and appreciation. Zucchero too made some good stuff when he was younger, but in the last 10 years he has been basking in success, alcool anbd a far too wide fame; his sales have been steadily decreasing after "Oro, incenso e birra". The others are thought as something in between a boy band and acommercial country and wester singer by the Italian audience: not that they do not have theit own fans, but Nek fans are not what usually you would call music fans: music fans would rather go for Paolo Conte, Max Gazz&egrave; or Casino Royale, depending on their tastes and age.