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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 tlh001
November 17th 2007

I've been busy...with school that is Europe » Italy » Umbria » Perugia

Cold
We're pretty cold

Well, according to my mother everyone’s been asking what I’ve been up too. One word: SCHOOL. Who would have thought they actually want us to do work while we’re here. I’ve been loaded down with papers and presentations (yay for end of the semester!). 1 paper down, 1 paper and 3 presentations to go! By the way, Leonardo da Vinci is not on my good side any more. Besides school work I’ve been hanging out with my friends (I’m really going to miss them) and shopping. I think I will go through shopping withdrawal when I come home. I now see [View Full Entry]

By farfalla
November 17th 2007

Another Night of Meatballs Europe » Italy » Umbria » Perugia

Head Massager
Yes the head massager came to Italy!

So I wanted to have a dinner party and I had the fixings to make MEATBALLS! I know spaghetti and meatballs are not really Italian but that doesn’t stop them from being AMAZING! Hanna, Paige and Oreli came over and the deliciousness began! Non of us made meat balls before, but thanks mom for relaying meatball cooking over the phone...I think it is hilarious you and I are cooking and shopping thousands of miles away...So I had pics from this dinner so I thought I would share...Ciao...Buon appetite!...Afterwards we watched ratatouille...what a cute movie! [View Full Entry]

By farfalla
November 16th 2007

Archeology in Tarquinia Europe » Italy » Umbria

Cremation Urns (Un Pozzo)
Big huh...remember they had a bunch of other things in there besides the ashes...almost like a dolls house.

So I have been taking this archeology class which has its interesting parts including this field trip. The whole class was bused over to Tarquinia, a small Umbrian town with and site of Etruscan tombs. The Etruscans were one of the first societies that settled in the boot of Italy in around 500 BC! Wow...very long time ago...Perugia and Orvieto are the two Umbrian modern Cities that were apart of the 12 Etruscan cities back in the day. I have learned ALOT about the Etruscans so I won't bore you with all the details...it is kind of ironic since there is [View Full Entry]

By Margaret Nigro
November 15th 2007

Thank goodness for Mauro Europe » Italy » Umbria » Perugia

Our landlord made us pretty happy today. Internet is down at the apartment, which is contributing to why I haven't updated, or been on skype, or e-mailed the past few days. Mauro, our landlord, came over and called the company in charge of the phone/internet line, and they're working on it. We also couldn't figure out why our stove stopped working, and he showed us the switch we had apparently flipped off. He also told us that we could leave our heat on all day (we had been hearing otherwise) and explained how the system works. It was so cold in [View Full Entry]

By JoshuaGS
November 14th 2007

Olive Harvest in Umbria Europe » Italy » Umbria

View From Our Window
small towns, vinyards and olive groves in the foreground. snowcapped mountains in the background.

We left Cecina on a sunday. we decided to stay in Florence(Firenze) for a night to break up the 5 hour train ride. we had booked at hotel ester just around the corner from the train station. after dropping off our packs, we explored the city. we walked along the shops to duomo(cathedral). the design is so intricate and ornate that you just stare in wonder at the placement of each block the carving of every statue and pillar. imagining the skill and manpower necessary to construct such a building without technology. we looked around inside admiring the stained glass and [View Full Entry]

By farfalla
November 12th 2007

Pizza Workshop at Pizza Musica Europe » Italy » Umbria » Perugia

Dough
All the dough is pre made the day before and left to rise overnight...

This week has been a bunch of Zach adventures…tonight was Pizza Workshop! I was way excited…I went to La Pizza Musica and a bunch of us crowded around the pizza workspace…They let us learn the top secret techniques of making an amazing brick oven pizza…I will think about sharing the secret tricks…I was amazed cause it takes less then 2 min to make a pizza in a 700 degree fiery oven…mmmmmmm the melty goodness…I was sad to find out that they don’t throw the dough in the air and it is just an American thing although the pizza was amazing&hell [View Full Entry]

By farfalla
November 11th 2007

Olive Harvest Europe » Italy » Umbria » Perugia

Pre picking

I went to the most amazing olive picking adventure with Zach and a few other students. We took a short bus to the Umbrian countryside and walked down a dirt road all the way to this beautiful olive orchard. We hiked up the hills and got to see the most beautiful view of the countryside. Zach explained the ins and outs of olives, olive harvesting, and the process of manufacturing olive oil. We picked olives off one tree although from a lack of rain this year the olives were sparse on most of the trees…on the property there was a huge [View Full Entry]

By farfalla
November 10th 2007

Pilgrimage Europe » Italy » Umbria » Assisi

Architecture

So randomly Matt, Krystoph and I all hoped on a train on Friday to go to Assisi. It was pretty, I would consider it a more touristy Perugia. In Assisi there is the 2nd most popular church, the Church of St. Francis, number one being the church of St. Peter in Rome. A bunch of nuns, priests, and other religious people make their pilgrimages here to pay homage to the mighty St. Francis. He seems like he was a pretty cool guy. His church is massive, which is ironic to contrast it towards his humble life of poverty. We walked all [View Full Entry]

By farfalla
November 9th 2007

Murder in Perugia Europe » Italy » Umbria » Perugia

Polizia macchina

So for all those who were wondering, I am ok. To give you a brief summery, Perugia is considered a college town, similar to the states. There is the Perugian University for Italian students, the small Umbra abroad Institute where I am studying, and the Stranieri (meaning foreigners) which mainly consists of classes to learn Italian. The girl who was killed, Meredith Kercher, went to the Stranieri (University for Foreigners). I did not know her personally although I know of one of the suspects, Mr. Lumumba, who works at a pub here in Perugia. There are plenty of people in the [View Full Entry]

By farfalla
November 8th 2007

Thank God its Thursday Europe » Italy » Umbria » Perugia

Who has the camera?

Finally it is Thursday and a bunch of my friends and I went out to Shamrocks to forget our homework. [View Full Entry]

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