[Life in Italy – Episode #1] A day in Finalborgo

Hey here! How are you?

It’s quite uncommon to see me blogging on a Monday, but last week I had an idea for a new series of post and I immediately decided to try it out. I basically thought that I always blog about Italy, which is a cool thing because I really love Italy, but somehow I never really write about myself.

Since one of the most popular posts, here on this blog, is the About Me Game, where I answered twenty random questions about myself, I thought that maybe it would be nice for you to know more about me and the things I like.

Moreover, I have always wanted to share things with you which are not necessarily about Italy, and never found the proper outlet. And here it is!

Each Monday I’ll be sharing random thoughts and things I did and stuff I like and whatever comes to my mind. I decided to call this series Life in Italy because Italy will undoubtedly play quite a big role in every single post – I can’t help it since I live here!

I really hope you’ll like it and you’ll find it interesting, please let me know in the comments below!

As some of you may already know, I live in Liguria, which is a tiny little region in the North of Italy. Liguria is mainly renowned for Portofino and Cinque Terre, but there’s much more than that and the scenery can be quite different.

For example, I live in the countryside and this means we also get some snow in winter – which is exactly what happened last week. I am not exactly a fan of the snow, which is great and everything but not when you are already craving for Spring. However, there’s always someone who’s very happy about the snow: my dog Ely May!

(walking the dog in the snow)

Luckily, last Saturday we had a gorgeous Spring day and my husband and I took the chance to go to Finalborgo and enjoy some sunshine. Finalborgo is a cute little Medieval village, whose paved streets are lined with nice shops and restaurants.

Nowadays it is mainly a destination for bikers and climbers, due to its wide outdoor and climbing areas, but there are remains of its glorious past as well and you can visit some interesting monuments there – like Gavone Castle, the monastery of Santa Caterina and the Archaeological Museum.

I love Finalborgo because it is nice and cozy and it makes a perfect destination for a relaxing day! 

We went there because there was the Salone Agroalimentare Ligure, which is a yearly food and agricultural fair displaying the typical products of Liguria. We go there every year to buy plants and flowers for the garden and to buy some good food as well. I basically stock up on jam, tapenade, oil (Liguria is famous for its olives and oil) and cheese.

Since the day was nice and warm, we could enjoy a nice aperitivo and sipped a glass of prosecco while sitting in the sun. We also had a nice lunch in a newly refurbished restaurant, which is called I torchietti: don’t miss it, if you happen to be in Finalborgo, the food is awesome and the location is lovely.

(buying plants at the market in Finalborgo)

(a nice corner in Finalborgo)

(frescoes at the Chiostro di Santa Caterina in Finalborgo)

(another corner in Finalborgo)

(the amazing menu at I torchietti, the restaurant where we ate in Finalborgo)

On Saturday night, we went to the movies. I have to say that I do not like going to the cinema that much, since I do not like people talking and munching popcorns and I prefer watching movies at home, but there was a film I was dying to see.

The title of the movie is Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot, which can be translated as “his name was Jeeg Robot”, and I wanted to see it because it is the first Italian movie about superheroes.

You know, Italian movies are quite usually low budget ones and Italian cinema is basically made of dramas or comedies. It is quite unlikely to make action movies, here in Italy. I was really curious about this one because it had rave reviews and I was not disappointed.

The story is that of Enzo, a petty thief living in the suburbs of Rome who gets superpowers by inadvertently touching some radioactive barrels. Being a superhero will change his life in many ways and he will also discover new aspects of his character.

I don’t know if it will be distributed abroad, but keep an eye on it. If you like this kind of movie, it is definitely worth watching. Just don’t expect the kind of American superhero movies, as the budget was super low and there aren’t many special effects! It’s a superhero movie in the Italian way! 

Well, that’s all for today. But tell me, what have you been doing at the weekend? Let me know!

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If you are looking for interesting ways to practice your Italian daily, I’d suggest you check my brand-new program called Giorno dopo giorno, a daily Italian practice.

If you sign up to Giorno dopo giorno, you will receive an email every other day for 365 days. Each email will contain a prompt, a little exercise, something to watch, read, listen or something that will gently force you to practice your Italian every day, making it part of your daily routine.