Instantly Italy

Italian language, culture and travel tips

[Italian Vocabulary] La Cena: Words and Phrases to Be Used at Dinner Time

I have prepared a pdf file with all the words and phrases we learned in this post. If you are subscribed to my newsletter, you will get it in your inbox. If you aren’t, you can get the pdf file by subscribing here.

Food is a key part of the Italian culture. 

If you come to Italy, you’ll immediately realize that food is really important for us Italians. Eating is some sort of ritual, not just a way to fill your stomach when you are hungry. The time you spend eating is not considered a waste of time, but an essential part of the day. The quality of food is a serious matter and food traditions are taken as principles of a religion.

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Il Bel Centro: a book about moving to Italy with kids and experiencing expat life as a family

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

Even if I am Italian and I know quite a lot about living in Italy, I am a big fan of books about expat life in my country.

I started reading this kind of books before Instantly Italy was even a remote idea in my mind and enjoyed them very much. I started with Under The Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes, back in the days, and kept on looking for other accounts of life in Italy as a foreigner ever since.

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[Family Recipes] Torta pasqualina

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

Despite all traditions, I firmly believe that what makes festivities really special is food.

If you are Italian and think of Christmas, the smell of panettone immediately comes to your mind. You may think of the presents, the parents, the gathering but what you really crave is that slice of sugary paradise, which just doesn’t taste the same if eaten some other time during the year.

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10 Reasons Why You Should Include Torino in Your Italy Itinerary

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

If you are looking for a cool, off-the-beaten-track location for your holidays in Italy, Torino might be the perfect place for you. 

If you have already been in Italy and want to see something different from the usual Venice-Florence-Rome itinerary or if is your first time in the country but want to add a lesser-known tourist destination to your itinerary, you won’t go wrong if you include Torino in your list of places to see.

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Tips for Visiting Italy: an Interview with Ishita Sood of Italophilia

As natives, there’s always a lot we can learn from foreigners who visit our country.

Sometimes, I come across people who seem to really, really love Italy – way more than I do, in some cases. Speaking with them is refreshing because for a moment I forget about all the problems my country has and just focus on the positive things. It is as if you are looking at your country with fresh eyes and you start seeing things you were not used to noticing anymore. And you fall in love with your country again. 

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