Welcome To The Dream of Italy Blog

My friend and fellow travel writer Barbara Benham has come up with a fantastic concept for a blog — travel contests. In addition to giving the details of various contests, Barbara shares some of her vast travel knowledge in each blog entry. Italophiles listen up! Barbara has found two contests offering a trip to Italy as the prize. One will …

The New York Times reports that summer bookings for travel to Europe are way up over last year. If you’re planning to visit Italy this summer, plan ahead to get the best flights and accommodations. Here’s what the Times says: Among Europe’s capitals, Rome, above, is expected to be particularly popular. The city was ranked No. 1 among European cities …

Torino was so intense, we had to take a rest after the trip, but we’re back and will be blogging about “all things Italian travel.” So check back a few times a week and we’ll have new tanatalizing travel tidbits for you!

Our personal and professional friend, Anna Maria Sorrentino, who was born in Torino and was here with us last week runs a fantastic specialty tour company called Shop, Wine and Dine. In honor of the Olympics, she’s offering $200 off any of her fall trips to the region of Piemonte. The $200 per person discount will be honored if the …

Updated 2018. I mentioned our fantastico culinary tour of Piedmont and have been meaning to return to write further installments of all that we saw and ATE. I was so impressed with the new restaurant the Ceretto wine family has opened in Alba that I rushed it into the February issue of Dream of Italy. Here’s an excerpt: Owned by …

Italy has hosted the Olympic Winter Games once before – exactly half a century ago in Cortina d’Ampezzo. These were the first Winter Games to be televised, and were the first in which the Soviet Union competed. Forty meteorologists and nivologists (snow experts) from the Piemonte meteorological office are continuously mapping temperature trends and snow movements so athletes can choose …

Legend has it that the Holy Grail is buried underneath Torino’s Chiesa della Gran Madre di Dio. Updated 2018

Updated 2018. I don’t really understand how the number “17” can be considered unlucky but then again, I was born on the 17th day of August, so I’m partial to thinking highly of the number. I almost forgot the significance of Friday, the 17th, to Italians, until this report from the Associated Press reminded me. Here are some of the …

Updated 2018 Torino’s name sounds like the Italian word for bull (toro) and there are bull emblems all over the city. But Torino is named after a Celtic tribe and the word means, “of the mountains.” Torino was the first place in Italy to adopt cross-country skiing. Swiss engineer and resident of Torino Adolf Kind helped found the Ski Club …

Updated 2018. Despite the cold and an early event time (I had to get up at 6 a.m. to make it on time), spectators were out in full force at Pragelato Plan for the Men’s Team Nordic Combined competition. If you’re not really sure what the Nordic Combined is, you’re not alone. In this event, 4 members from each country …