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Instantly Italy

Italian speaking practice and grammar tutoring

10 Awesome Italian Christmas Sweets That Are Not Panettone

12/08/2016

Christmas sweets in Italy are not just panettone or pandoro: there's a huge variety of regional sweets to enjoy. In this blog post, I selected ten of the most popular Italian Christmas sweets that are not panettone, but there's more, much more!

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Panettone is undoubtedly the most typical Italian Christmas dessert. 

Born in the north of Italy, it can now be found on the table of every Italian family at Christmas. If you do not know about it, panettone (which can be translated as big bread) is a sweet bread loaf with a cupola shape, usually weighing more or less 1 kilo.

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Filed Under: Italian food 2 Comments

[Family Recipes] Antipasto piemontese

08/19/2016

Antipasto piemontese is a staple in my family cooking tradition, something that is prepared every summer to be enjoyed later in winter. The recipe is super easy yet full of taste and a perfect way to bring summer with you all year.

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Cooking is not just warming food to fill your stomach when you are hungry.

Cooking is choosing ingredients carefully to prepare something healthy and tasty. Cooking is taking the time to prepare things with the people you love and for the people you love. Cooking is sharing your knowledge with others and learning something new. Cooking is making memories for the future.

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Filed Under: Italian food 4 Comments

10 great Italian vegetarian dishes

07/14/2016

10 great Italian vegetarian dishes

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I’ll never get tired of saying it: you can’t really appreciate a trip to Italy without properly tasting its food. 

Food is such a big part of Italian culture that you can’t say you have really seen Italy if you came here and just ate hamburgers and fries.

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Filed Under: Italian food 2 Comments

[Family recipes] Chiacchiere

02/09/2016

My mother's recipe for chiacchiere, the traditional sweet Italians eat at Carnival

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Carnival has come and almost gone, it’s definitely time to eat some chiacchiere!

As I told you last week, Carnival is in full swing here in Italy and we are eating loads of chiacchiere – as they can be found at this time of the year only.

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Filed Under: Italian food 3 Comments

[Family Recipes] Panettone genovese

12/23/2015

My family's recipe for panettone genovese, one of the traditional Italian Christmas sweets

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Warning: this post contains a lot of sugar! 

One of the great things about Christmas is that you can eat sweets without feeling (too) guilty. It is time to cheer, to celebrate, to be happy, not exactly the time to count calories. And I love it, let me confess!

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Filed Under: Italian food 11 Comments

[Italian Traditions] All Saints’ Day in Italy

11/03/2015

All Saints' Day in Italy: Italian traditions and celebrations

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How do we celebrate All Saints’ Day, here in Italy? 

First of all, let me just tell you one thing: we do not celebrate Halloween. Ok, I should be more precise: we used not to celebrate Halloween in the past, we have been doing it only lately.

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Filed Under: Italian culture, Italian food 12 Comments

[Family recipes] Stuffed Chili Peppers

10/13/2015

Family recipes: my mother's recipe for stuffed chili peppers

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I am baaaaaaack!

As you may know if you are a subscriber of my newsletter, I have been on holiday. My husband and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this year and we wanted to do something special.

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[Family recipes] Confit Cherry Tomatoes

08/31/2015

Family recipes: the recipe we use to prepare confit cherry tomatoes

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I am back, finally.

Summer has been quite rough, over here. My mother-in-law fell seriously ill at the beginning of July. We have gone through some very hard times.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Italian food 2 Comments

[Family recipes] My mother’s traditional limoncello recipe

06/26/2015

Family recipes: my mom's traditional limoncello recipe

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Summer is in full swing, finally. 

After some rainy and cold days in late Spring, it is finally time to go out and enjoy the sunshine. The moment has come for endless days at the beach, outdoor concerts, day trips to the mountains, bike rides, feet in the grass, and long nights spent chatting with friends.

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When do Italians drink cappuccino? The final words about the cappuccino rule

05/29/2015

When do Italians drink cappuccino? Some thoughts about the cappuccino rule

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I have been reading a lot about Italy lately.

I started thinking about this site and working on my products more than one year ago, and I haven’t stopped reading blog posts, articles, and books about Italy ever since.

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Filed Under: Italian culture, Italian food, Visiting Italy 4 Comments

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Ciao!

My name is Cinzia and Italy is the place I call home.

Books feed my soul, music fills my days and travelling makes my life richer. I am a day dreamer, tireless walker and believer in the power of little things.

I’ve created Instantly Italy to take you to Italy with me and explore together this crazy but “oh so lovely” country. Read More…

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