Instantly Italy

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[Hidden Italy] The Eclectic Italian House of a World-Famous Swiss Clown

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Discovering and visiting hidden places in my region is one of my favorite pastimes.

Liguria is a wonderful region and, even though some of its areas are quite famous among tourists (ever heard of Cinque Terre?), there are still a lot of hidden gems that very few people know of. Sometimes even locals have no idea certain places exist and so it’s always a pleasure to discover them.

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[Hidden Italy] Discover Seborga, An Old Village in Liguria With A Unique Character

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Visiting old Ligurian villages is one of my favorite pastimes and I have been to a lot of them over the years.

I have been to Triora, which is famous for being il paese delle streghe, to Apricale and Perinaldo, two lovely perched villages in the west of the region, to Verezzi and its scenic beauty, to Bussana Vecchia and its unique story, and to many other interesting places but there was one village I still had to cross off my list: Seborga.

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[Italian Books] The Passenger: Rome

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What I have chosen as the topic for today’s post is probably one of the most honest books about Rome I have read recently. 

Actually, it is not exactly a book because of its very unique format but it can absolutely be read as a non-fiction book about Rome and about what it really means to live in the city.

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[Hidden Italy] Alta Langa, A Peaceful Corner of Paradise in Piedmont

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When you say the word Langa, people immediately think of wine, cheese, and truffle.

In fact, the Langhe, the hilly area around Alba in Piedmont, is one of the most famous gastronomy areas in the whole world. In autumn, people literally flock to the region to taste its delicious wine and maybe a bit of its superb white truffle.

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[Family Recipes] Zabaione, A Delicious Treat That Reminds Me of My Childhood

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Zabaione is not exactly a summer recipe, I know.

This glorious mix of eggs, sugar, and sweet wine is normally associated with autumn or even with Christmas but I have recently eaten it and now I absolutely have to write about it.

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The Feast of Saint John in Italy: A Magical Time of the Year

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It’s the day of Saint John tomorrow and there is some magic in the air. 

Saint John, San Giovanni in Italian, is the patron saint of many big and small Italian towns and this makes it a very special day. The day of the patron saint is a public holiday in Italy and this means that tomorrow many people will be taking a day off if the town where they work celebrates its patron saint.

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[What To See in Liguria] The Magnificent Beauty of the Hanbury Botanical Gardens in Ventimiglia

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Sometimes it seems that heaven on earth really exists. 

This is what I thought a few weeks ago when I visited the Hanbury Botanical Gardens in Ventimiglia, some really magnificent gardens with an interesting history that are located on the westernmost side of Liguria, right on the border to France.

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[Italian Books] La figlia oscura by Elena Ferrante, a book about motherhood and life choices

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I have multiple ways of selecting books for this section of the blog.

As you may already know, the only rule I follow is that the Italian books I write about here must be available in English as well because I want to give people who are interested in Italian literature the chance to enjoy interesting books even if they cannot read Italian.

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How to Avoid Crowds in Italy

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How can I avoid bustling crowds of foreign tourists when I visit Italy? 

This is probably one of the questions I get asked the most and I thought it might be interesting to answer it with a proper blog post.

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