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Friuli-Venezia Giulia Travel Blogs

Background: Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI established a Fascist dictatorship. His disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II. A democratic republic replaced the monarchy in 1946 and economic revival followed. Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC). It has been at the forefront of European economic and political unification, joining the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999. Persistent problems include illegal immigration, organized crime, corruption, high unemployment, sluggish economic growth, and the low incomes and technical standards of southern Italy compared with the prosperous north.

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By Synnott
July 11th 2009

Bella italia Europe » Italy » Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Immagine 001

Nous sommes arrives par les montagnes du Nord de lItalie apres avoir traverse lAutriche. Les montagnes sont si belles et on commence a voir des champs de citron *enfin je crois... Nous sommes a Venise. La ville est tres touristique, ce qui est un peu dommage... Par contre, cest tres beau. Comme Nic le disait il n<y a pas tant de choses a faire. C<est simplement agreable de marcher le long des canaux. Nous avons visite la Basilique St Marco et Rialto. Bonne journee Chloe [View Full Entry]

By The Joy Family
May 4th 2009

Our final day in Italy Europe » Italy » Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Joshua drives the tractor

We got a reasonably good start to the day today, heading down to the post office to do some final mailings. After this we had lunch and finished packing and weighing suitcases (we are flying to France) as well as cleaning up the house. In the afternoon, Joshua and Benjamin joined Luigi in the fields and spent the afternoon cutting hay with the tractor. The weather has turned very summer like, though there is a storm building and everything seems unusually quiet as we pass a rather lazy final day here in town. [View Full Entry]

By The Joy Family
May 3rd 2009

Saying goodbye Europe » Italy » Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Walking with Zia Mine

With just two days left in our stay, we have several people to get together with to say goodbye today. In the morning, we headed over to Evy's cousin Anna and her husband Gianluigi's apartment which is just a short distance from the house we are staying in. Their apartment is huge and very nice with high ceiling and a large balcony. Anna had kindly bought goodbye presents for our children as well as a DVD for Evy and myself. After this, we all headed over to Giovanin's farm for a barbecue lunch in which we stuffed ourselves yet again. After [View Full Entry]

By The Joy Family
May 2nd 2009

One last Set of cousins Europe » Italy » Friuli-Venezia Giulia

The whole family

Though we have met virtually all the relatives now, there are some that we only met briefly at the family reunion and have not spent much time with. Today we had been invited to Anna and Bruno's house for dinner. After doing school work for most of the afternoon, Bruno picked us up at the house to take us to their house near Udine for dinner. On the way, we stopped off at a high vantage point and took some photos of the surrounding countryside including a castle in the distance. Their house is just a short distance outside of Udine, [View Full Entry]

By The Joy Family
May 1st 2009

Visiting the Argentinean Cousin Europe » Italy » Friuli-Venezia Giulia

At dinner

Evy's father has a sister who emigrated to Argentina. A few years back, one of her daughters, Lucia, moved back to Italy and she lives in Codroipo. Evy called her recently, and we have plans to see her tonight. We spent the morning today doing school work before heading to the cousin's for lunch. After lunch we took a tour of Luigi and Giuditta's new house, which is being build next door. Later the afternoon, Evy's uncle Giovanin had kindly offered to drive us to Codroipo to both look around and to join Evy's cousin Lucia for dinner. In Codroipo, we [View Full Entry]

By nickdawn
April 30th 2009

Italy... you might want to read this before you go Europe » Italy » Friuli-Venezia Giulia » Pordenone

As an American living in Italy, I have the opportunity to see Italy, the Italians and their EU neighbors in a light that few natives are willing to admit. Many have dreamt of traveling abroad to absorb the beauty of the gondolas in Venice, the Sistine Chapel in Rome, the vineyards of Tuscany and awe at the beauty of Piancovallo atop to Dolomite Mountains; myself included. The country offers beautiful, picturesque sites that constantly surround you, regardless of the region of Italy you’re traveling through. I have filled my camera many times just driving from my home to one of the [View Full Entry]

By The Joy Family
April 30th 2009

Joshua Learns to Drive The Tractor Europe » Italy » Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Joshua learns to drive the tractor

Today was rainy and cloudy. As we will be flying to France next week, we need to mail some things home to lighten our load. Evy and I headed off to the post office in the morning to get some idea of what it was going to cost to send home school books that we have finished with. In the end it wasn't too bad, but like all things official here, seemed to take an inordinate length of time to accomplish. In the afternoon, Joshua joined Luigi in the fields where he had his first turn to drive the tractor, which [View Full Entry]

By The Joy Family
April 29th 2009

Building A Geodesic Dome Europe » Italy » Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Counting faces and vertices

Some of the things that Joshua and Benjamin need to do for their school work are difficult to accomplish on the road. We have taken advantage of our longer stay here to get some of these projects, such as the ones involving paints, done. In math, Benjamin has been asked to build a large Geodesic dome out of rolled up newspapers. We took advantage of the rainy weather today for him to build this in the living room of the house where we are staying. The resulting structure was quite impressive, though it did need a bit of help, in the [View Full Entry]

By The Joy Family
April 28th 2009

A trip to the big City (Udine) Europe » Italy » Friuli-Venezia Giulia » Udine

At the mall in Udine

We have all worn out some of the clothes that we packed eight months ago, so Uncle Giovanin's family has kindly agreed to take us shopping today at a mall near the city of Udine. The mall was quite a decent size, and we were able to buy an ethernet card to fix Paolo's computer before taking a tour of the many clothing stores. Prices in Italy seem to be somewhat higher than at home, though we eventually found a sporting good store where Joshua, Benjamin and I managed to buy pants and we found running shoes for Joshua. After a [View Full Entry]

By The Joy Family
April 26th 2009

Visiting the South African Cousins and a trip to Cividale Europe » Italy » Friuli-Venezia Giulia » Udine

The whole family (but no Robbie)

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 [View Full Entry]

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