Italy in Bits and Pieces

The past few weeks have been pretty busy so I put blog-reading on the back burner. But after just a week I started missing my normal haunts and feeling withdrawal symptoms. I initiated a sort of "rotation system" to try to read a couple a day, just to keep up with things.

Then yesterday I went on a bender. I sat down with my bookmarks and blissed my way through a few hours of unabated blog browsing! Ahhh, I feel so much better now!

Here are some of the highlights from my blitz:

A 23-year old Venetian has broken through the pink curtain to become her city's first female gondolier.

Sara Rosso, best known as Ms. Adventures in Italy, dished about the newest caffeine trend from the makers of Pocket Coffee. (For those who may not know, Pocket Coffee is an espresso-filled chocolate candy that has garnered a cult following.) Because of the melty nature of chocolate, they stop distrubuting their product in the summer. Enter Pocket Espresso, the new hot-weather alternative, a chocolate-espresso sippy cup. I ask you, can Pocket Caffe` Corretto be far behind?

Lola shares a fabulous-looking no-bake raspberry tart recipe at her drool-worthy cooking blog, Aglio, Olio, e Peperoncino.

The cool Rome blog, Eternally Cool, takes us on a tour of some astounding sand sculptures, in their article, Dante's Got Sand Between His Sheets.

Kathy at Dream of Italy tells us how to minimize the Monday Dilemma when traveling in Italy, and make the most of the day when many restaurants and museums are closed.

Read a poignant discussion of why la mamma is more than a mother in Italian life by Barbara at Savour the Sannio.

And finally, find out how a GPS error led a Swedish couple 650 km astray!

Now back to work.