Welcome to my blog/benvenuto nel mio blog! My name is Cristina and I’m passionate about art and Italian culture. I was born in Orsara di Puglia, Italy, and immigrated to Canada with my parents when I was a young child. I love spending time in Italy, including Orsara, every year. In this blog, you will find all the things I like…..art, art history, Italian travel, history, traditions, folklore, food and language….along with my photos and images. This really should be 3 or 4 different blogs, but I only have time for one, so here it is! For more about me, read my first post ‘Perché questo blog? / Why write a blog?’ and my interview by a fellow blogger L’intervista con Silvia.
11 year old me on my first visit to Roma!
Benvenuto nel mio blog. Mi chiamo Cristina e ho una grande passione per l’arte e per la cultura Italiana. Sono nata ad Orsara di Puglia ed emigrata in Canada con i miei genitori quando era bambina. Ogni anno, passo un po’ di tempo in Italia e mi piace proprio tanto! In questo blog, trovate tutte le cose che amo di più….arte, storia dell’arte, tradizioni, cultura, lingua, e storia italiana …con le mie fotografie ed immagini. Veramente, ci sarebbero voluti 3 o 4 blog diversi, ma ho tempo solo per uno. Eccolo qui! Potete leggere un po’ di più nel mio primo post ‘Perché questo blog? / Why write a blog?’. e anche L’intervista con Silvia
Un po' di pepe 
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Love your blog…brava!!
Grazie Diana. It’s still a work in progress. Thanks for visiting!
Cute pic! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by my blog – maybe you found me through my sis who I see commented above. 🙂 Looking forward to reading along.
Ciao Lynda-yes I was actually reading one of Diana’s posts and I dropped my iPad and must have hit your link. I picked it up to find those wonderful photos of bambini playing in the desert!
Oh how funny! I hope your ipad survived unscathed!
Cristina, I met you in 2009 at Peppe Zullo’s . Both sets of my grandparents were born in Orsara di Puglia and I have been bringing customers from my restaurant to visit that beautiful little town and Puglia. We are fortunate to stay with Peppe although my family would love for me to stay with them, it makes it difficult when you bring a group of people. I just discovered your blog and love it.
Carmella Fragassi
Grazie Carmella! Yes I remember meeting you and your brother at Peppe’s while you were waiting for a bag of farina di grano arso. I’m usually in Orsara for part of July and August so hopefully we will see you again. Ciao, Cristina
What a cute picturee!
Hi Cristina! Piacere di conoscerti. Congrats on your beautiful blog! Thanks for helping preserve the Italian culture! You deserve a “Cannolo Award” as an Authentic Italian Food Blogger. I’ve already added you to the list! And I’ll tweet the announcement in a few minutes.
http://www.disgracesonthemenu.com/p/cannolo-award.html
If you want to display the badge, it’ll make me really happy. But if not, I’ll be happy anyway 🙂 BTW, are you on Twitter?
Grazie Paolo! I’m honored to be in the company of some of my favourite ‘ bloghisti’… Or is it ‘ bloghiaioli’? I will definitely display the badge-it is so cute and I love cannoli. I am not on Twitter but I recently started on Instagram. Ciao, Cristina
Cristina, are you interested in being my guest in my podcast? We could work together on the outline.I think it will be interesting and a lot of fun 🙂 Let me know what you think!
Ciao Paolo. Sounds interesting! i’ll email you via your blog when I get home from work today. Ciao, Cristina
Cristina,
So happy I found your blog. I just spent 12 days in beautiful Puglia!! Thank you also for commenting on my blog!!
Grazie Margie. Yes Puglia is stunning. There is so much to see, even if you go every year like me. I saw your beautiful photos from Ostuni-another place i want to go. Too much work, too little time! Ciao, Cristina
My lovely, lovely pomegranate arrived yesterday!!! Thank you so much!
I am going to the local market today to look for a little frame for it! 😀
you are Awesome my dear 🙂 love the way you are 🙂
Grazie Vikas, you made my day!
🙂 My pleasure dear, really u are so so sweet and innocent as i found in your writing. hope we will become a good friends forever 🙂 🙂
Hi Cristina,
My name’s Molly and I’m a journalist for Bellavita magazine – an Italian food magazine based in London.
We love your blog and we’d love to get in touch with you about featuring you in our magazine – do you have an email we can contact you with?
Hope to hear back from you soon.
Molly
Grazie Molly! It’s so nice to hear from you. I will send you my email address. Ciao, Cristina
Dear Cristina,
Just discovered your blog after you left a comment on mine, and I’m looking forward to exploring. Puglia is a region that holds special sentimental value for me, since my paternal grandfather came from a small town outside of Bari (Grumo Appula). But truth be told, I know relatively little about the region—so I’m looking forward to letting you be my guide.
Ciao Frank! Puglia is full of meraviglie! I haven’t been to Grumo Appula, but I’ve been close to it. There are so many wonderful places to go nearby, you must make it there! I go every year and I’m always discovering new things. The closest places I’ve written about are Alberobello and Matera (although it is in Basilicata), but I will be writing more about Puglia, and vini di Puglia. Ciao, Cristina
Cristina, lovely blog, so happy to be here. Mi dispiace, I thought I was following you for many months. Now I’m here, sono contenta! Thank you for being on my site too, love having you there. 🙂 — Stacy
Grazie Stacy e Benvenuto!
Would love to get your thoughts on Puglia. If we are only spending a week there, is there an ideal base for the week or are we better off doing 2-3 days in a couple of different spots?
Ciao Napoli
Che bellezza you are going to Puglia. There is so much to see, and a lot of area to cover. With 1 week you are likely better off having one base, especially if you don’t have a car. I will send you my email address in case you have some more specific questions. Buon Viaggio, Cristina
Hi Cristina
I found your blog about Italy and I wondered whether you would be interested in having a look at my about to be published “Living in Italy: the Real Deal – How to survive the Good Life”.
The creative non-fiction book contains sixty short stories about my adventures as a Dutch expat who moved to Italy in 2008 to start a bed and breakfast. It is the translation of the Dutch original that met with considerable success (sold 3000 copies) and had very positive readers’ reviews. It is published through Babelcube and contains 280 pages, 67.000 words.
Author bio:
Stef Smulders was born in The Netherlands in 1960 and moved with husband Nico and their dog to Italy in 2008 to start bed-and-breakfast Villa I Due Padroni in the beautiful wine region Oltrepò Pavese south of Milan. In 2014 he published his first volume of short, anecdotical stories (in Dutch) about daily life among the Italians entitled “Italiaanse Toestanden”. It was well received by readers, leading to a second volume of witty anecdotes. A third volume is to be published spring 2017.
Book summary:
In 2008 the author emigrated to Italy, bringing husband and dog along, to start Bed & Breakfast Villa I Due Padroni. But a lot of hurdles had to be taken before the first guests could be accommodated. In 2014 Stef reported about his adventures in buying and reconstructing the house, obtaining a tax number and a bank account, registering at the commune and at the national health service, importing their car and a range of other things that lead to a myriad of bureaucratic troubles. These problems were always resolved in a truly Italian fashion, leading to raised Dutch eyebrows and hilarious scenes. As a reader you will encounter a range of characteristic Italians, from sympathetic to villainous, from moving to shameless. Real Italians of flesh and blood, sometimes cliché, somtimes surprisingly original. But always worth encountering.
Goodreads page:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32572055-living-in-italy
Have a look at my presentation page as well with fragments and a sneak preview if you like:
http://italiaanse-toestanden.duepadroni.it/index-UK.html
I could send you the epub or pdf if you want to.
Hope to hear from you
Cari saluti
Stef
Ciao Stef! Books, and books about Italia…2 of my favourite things! Of course I would love to read your book. I will have to wait a few weeks as I have some deadlines coming up, but I will check out the links and let you know if I need you to send me the pdf. A presto, Cristina
Great thanks!
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Hi Cristina,
I’ve come across your blog and it is great, I love how you seamlessly change from Italian to English and vice versa!
I went to Puglia once – Bari and Alberobello. I was amazing how white and exotic Bari felt. If you fancy escaping to the Veneto region, say hello 🙂 I’ve had the joy to try gnocchi di zucca too!
Edie 😀
Grazie Edie! I’ve been moving between Italian, English and dialetto since I was a child-I think it’s been good for my brain😎 I have been to th Veneto-to Bassano, Montebelluna, Fossalunga, Castelfranco Vento, Marostica and of course Venezia, but it has been a long time. I’m du for another visit. My compagno is from Cavarzare and has relatives in Rovigo near Padua and Asolo, so we need to make a trip sometime soon. It has been hard to plan ahead with him! I love anything with zucca! A presto, Cristina
You have a great blog here Christina. I’m. glad I have discovered it after just a month of blogging. Grazie Mille 😉
https://amindfultravellerblog.wordpress.com
Grazie! Benvenuto al blogosfero-wow, your first month of blogging! it was 3 years for me in April and it seems like just yesterday i was having trouble finding a blog name. Good luck with the blog, Cristina
Grazie Cristina. Time flies when you’re having fun! 😉
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Great to meet you!
Many thanks for stopping by my Travel and Photography blog.