Italy's 150° Anniversary :: Buon Compleanno Italia!!

Today I supposed to be at home on holiday, but considering all the work is expecting me at the office, I feel better to be productive and go to work.

By the way, today most of italians are on vacation and they have rediscovered a new national holiday. In fact today we celebrate our 150th anniversary since Italy has been united in one State in 1861. At that time we had a king and Italy wasn't a Republic (as it is known in the modern era) but it was a Reign (Regno d'Italia). The first capital was Turin, later Florence and in the end, only in 1870, Rome. At the beginning Turin was the seat of the kingdom and the place where the parliament was. Trentino-Alto Adige (the region where we live) was Austria in that period and we were annexed to the rest of the country only in 1919, after WW1. My ancestors, who left Italy to go to the U.S.A. before 1919 were registered upon arrival at Ellis Island in New York as austrian people and I had proof of this when I went to search their registration books when I visited Ellis Island in 2003. What an experience it was!!! :)

I must admit that Italians aren't usually very patriotic, but today something has changed. We identify ourselves more into the idea of State, upon politic parties or religions. Today my perception and prospective of being italian has improved a little more, and - beside the facts that I haven't an italian flag to expose on my balcony and that I have arbitrary decided to go to work today (sorry, mr. President!) I feel somehow proud to be part of a country that - among many problems and difficulties - has always been competitive and willing to excel in arts, manufacturing, design, fashion, food and so on. Italy has grown much in the last 150 years, and even though much has been done to reach what we are now, the road to perfection is still long and full of perils, so we must be united - today more than before - to face a world that is changing and a continuous economic competition from emerging countries.

Italy is an amazing place where to live, where to come visiting, where to have fun and where come to eat the best food. We are far from being the perfect place, the paradise is far far away and we are conscious of that, but I find it's a great idea to have a day to celebrate our status as citizens and our country, to improve our sense of State and a new sense of unity from the Alps to the greek temples in Sicily. Our story put together different parts - some very different from one another - of a country that has always been divided into different states, under the domination of foreign countries such as Austria, Germany, Spain and France. This diversification of people in a small country like Italy didn't help immediate identification into a whole country, but things have changed and now we try to be good citizens in a country that is rediscovering patriotism and love towards the 3-color flag.

Happy Birthday, Italia! Let's celebrate! ;)

9 on 10 :: March 2011 :: Hurry up! I forgot today it's 10 on 10!!

Today Ely and I completely forgot it was the 10th and...in fact we forgot to start photographing for this month's installment. By the way, while I was out, Ely had a family dinner at home with her mom, dad and granddad. So she captured some (only 9, instead of 10!) glimpses of the preparation of the dinner.

Happy 10 on 10 everybody! :)

Weekend out-of-town :: Munich :: Germany

Last weekend Ely and I decided to go visiting our friends Steffen and Katja, who had a baby (Lisa) last September. Lisa is a cutie and with her parents we had a nice - even short - catching up and we had a yummy sushi dinner promptly delivered to their home.

With the occasion we spent a nice weekend in Munich. The weather was great, so we had the opportunity to visit the city, do some shopping and - obviously when in Munich - drink some good healthy german beer and eat some fatty german food in one of the many famous historical locals in town. One of our favourite is HB (Hofbrauhaus), the most famous local, founded hundreds of years ago by the royals of Bayern, where traditions remain untouched since that time for beer brewing, food serving and typical music played. The place is huge, with old wooden tables. You can take a seat wherever it's free, sharing a table with strangers that, after the first liter of beer, become your best friends ever!!! The atmosphere is cherish and people sing typical bavarian musics played by men in typical dresses. Ceilings are very high and in some cases richly decorated. Waiters run around very quickly and there are girls going around with huge pretzels (mmhhh...my favorites!!) for sale. Food served is typical bavarian, with high concentration of typical sausages (wurst). My favorites are Nurbergers. Ely got a Laeberkase, a slice of pork meat that is basically made with the same paste of the wurst. Everything was delicious and we really enjoyed the mood of the place. Recommended for everyone who will visit Munich next.

In Munich we also have some "must" shopping places, such as Magazin in Funf Hofe, Manufactum and Dallmayr. It was fun.

We spent also some time at the Therme Erding, said to be the biggest of Europe (and on some brochures, the biggest of the world (??)).It can be, because they are huge, lots of saunas, thermal water and treatments to relax body and spirit. It was extreme, but very relaxing, to go out at -1°C after being in the 85°C sauna. Sort like a thermic shock that makes you feel great afterward. If you like thermal spas, saunas and treatments, don't miss this incredible place, right 40 minutes drive from the Munich city center, in Erding.

On the way back home we found some bad weather, expecially on the border between Germany and Austria. But around Innsbruck it stopped raining and the rest of the trip was ok.

Fortunately we are only a 4 hour drive from Munich. We'll go back - especially to the thermal spa - as soon as possible. We are already looking forward for our next weekend there. :))

Have a nice week, folks! We'll wait for the next 10 on 10 for a new post.

02.03.2011 :: Mia is born

With great happiness, we want to make a celebration post for the birth of Mia, on March, 2nd 2011 at 5.40am. She is the first doughter of our best friends Eleonora and Paolo. Congratulations to the newly parents! We visited them at the hospital the other day, but we can't wait to see baby Mia tranquil at home as soon as possible. More photos to come. :)

xoxoxo