Blogs from Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy, Europe

Maria Chiara had been invited to two weddings in Italy two weeks apart from each other in the second half of June, with me as her Plus 1. What better excuse to escape the wettest British early summer in recorded history and get involved in the Italian heat wave! Maria Chiara comes from Udine in Friuli - it may be very Northern but it can still be hot; during these weeks Italians had to search for increasingly formidable titles for the barrage of weather systems that brought cloudless skies and increasing heat. We arrived at the beginning of the "Anticiclone Africano" (African anti-cyclone) and left during the "Caronte" named after the boatman who rides damned souls over the River Styx on the way to the gates of the underworld! Italians know how to do weddings. Renaissance ... read more

I was recently lucky enough to win a flying two-day trip to the Bepi Tossolini Distillery in Friuli in the extreme North-East of Italy, off the back of a work competition to see who could sell the most limoncello. The distillery itself sits on the Eastern corner of the Po Valley with a vast shelf of mountains in the near distance. We were 50 km from Austria in the north and far closer to Slovenia to the east. The houses had a slightly Germanic look to them - and I think even the locals themselves would admit to having weird accents. Bepi Tossolini's central significance in the pantheon of fine tipples is the distillation and production of Grappa. The Ancient Greeks called Italy "Vinotria" (meaning "land of wine") so it is appropriate that even the country’s ... read more

Today marks the eight month point in our journey. Evy's cousin Laura picked us up at the farm this morning and drove us to Luciano and Teresa's house for a BBQ. Their house is recently built and next to a large field that was bright yellow with the crop of canola planted there. Here we also were joined by Evy's cousin Fausto and Barbara as well as their baby girl, Alice who is just getting over the chickenpox. Evy's poor cousin Robbie, who also managed to get the chickenpox, was quarantined to the kitchen as we are not sure if Joshua has been innoculated against them or not. While Luciano barbecued, Joshua, Benjamin, their cousin Simone, and the dog, Brick, played in the large yard. We had a great dinner, the first barbaque that we have ... read more

Spending Christmas in Italy always means snowboarding and eating... read more

Era da troppo che non facevo un viaggio in famiglia. Noi in realtà non viaggiamo spesso, anche se a tutti i componenti piacerebbe farlo di più. Così per queste vacanze siamo andati a Udine, che uno non se lo aspetta, visto che non è esattamente una meta turistica, ma è un posto davvero gradevole, tutto sommato colorato, tranquillo e vivibile. con dei centri commerciali notevolissimi. :)... read more