Caspita, il tempo vola! Non ci credo che oggi è bloghiversario numero 4 per Un po’ di pepe!  How time flies. I can’t believe it is already 4 years since publishing my first post on Un po’ di pepe.

This was another exciting blogging year.  I wish I could post more often, but until I can manage to get 27 hours out of a day, twice a month will continue to be the average. Here are some highlights of the year…

• Blog love!  In June I met photographer Flynn at my mercato bancarella. He bought a tiny print and wrote a very nice and well-timed post on his blog about inspiration and art.
• I was interviewed by Silvia for her blog in October.  It was amazing that someone actually wanted to interview me.  Now I actually have the ability to quote myself-as I did in my last post, and will continue to do so as often as I can! Just because I can.  Link to the bilingual post here.
• In February, honorary Calabrese Karen of the blog and book Calabria: The Other Italy nominated me for the Unique Blogger Award.  This is a pay-it-forward, share-the-love blog vehicle.  Nominees answer a set of questions, then nominate others. I have not found the time to respond yet, but Karen did say there was no pressure, no time limit.
• To celebrate follower#250, Mlle Cher was sent one of my ‘Espresso per Uno’ linocut prints!  Hopefully it arrived before she left NY for Pietrasanta.
• I managed to squeeze in a spontaneous ‘extra’ trip to Italia in November to attend an art retreat and Fucacoste e Cocce Priatorje!
• Many of you enjoyed my attempt at contemporary art criticism in La Grande Cacata.  The title says it all!
• I joined the #DolceVitaBloggers linkup for my last post.  The group posts on a selected topic from the 7th to the 14th of every month.  I hope to participate again!
• You may have noticed those pesky ads for things like toenail fungus removal have disappeared from the bottom of the posts!  Yipee!  I upgraded my wordpress plan.  Now I can use videos, once I learn how to load them.
• My pronunciation guide Italiano per Ristoranti continues to be the most viewed post.  I am still planning to turn the downloadable PDF into an e-book once I figure out how to do that. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
  

  Bruschetta (broo.SKET.tah)

Today is also La Festa della Liberazione d’Italia, the anniversary of the liberation of Italia from Fascist occupation in 1945.  Viva la libertà!  Last year, I said I was going to write about Le Donne Partigiane-women who were partisans in the Italian Resistance. Well… that post is not written yet, so instead, I will include a book review of a book with una donna partigiana as the main character.

Bridge of Sighs and Dreams is written by fellow blogger Pamela Allegretto.  I loved it and here is my Goodreads/Amazon 5/5 star review:

Grazie to all of you for taking the time to read, comment, send messages and especially for giving me an excuse to research and write about things that interest me!  If you have any suggestions for posts or just want to say ‘ciao‘, leave me a comment.

Grazie a tutti per leggere e darmi una scusa per scrivere di cose che mi piacciono.  Lasciami un messaggio se hai un idee per un post o se vuoi dice ‘ciao’.  Un abbraccio, Cristina