Six Reasons Why This is the BEST Week to Become a Dream of Italy Subscriber

1. Because this is the best summer/year in a decade to go to Italy so you better get planning... In an effort to get seats filled, airlines are pricing their summer and fall fares this summer and fall at about half what they were last year. The same thing is happening with hotels and villa rentals. Smart travelers are taking advantage of the best deals in a decade! Plus with the recession holding others back from traveling, you will enjoy fewer tourist crowds. The information you get from Dream of Italy will help you plan where to go, where to stay, where to eat, what to see, who to show you around, where to shop, and more!

2. Our award-winning print newsletter is NOW in FULL COLOR! The colorful photos literally bring Italy to life on the page and the new look only enhances our fresh, rich travel content. You will receive 10 color issues over the coming year, either via the Internet in PDF format or by postal mail (with online access to the PDFs as well). See a sample issue in color!

3. You'll have complete access to best Italy travel library anywhere! As soon as you subscribe, you will choose a username and password to immediate access nearly 65 issues in PDF format including special reports on Venice, the Lakes, Sicily, Tuscan Hideaways, Villa Rentals, Puglia, Florence and more. All of our articles - over 700 in all - are completely searchable once you are subscriber.

4. FREE BONUS: You will receive our Rome e-book - 80 pages of our best recommendations and advice on touring the Eternal City, updated. Dream of Italy's Collected Rome
is valued at $39.

5. Upon purchasing your subscription (on or before July 20th), you will automatically be entered to win a copy of the Rosetta Stone 1-2-3 Italian Language Learning Program. ($499 value!)

6. You'll save $15 to $25 when you subscribe before July 20th. That's when our subscription rates go up to $79 to $109. Before then, you can purchase a subscription for as little as $64.

A Villa Rental in Umbria: Fattoria del Gelso

Fattoria del Gelso is one of three Umbria villa rentals profiled in the June 2009 issue of Dream of Italy:

As the owners of Bella Italia, a successful Italian gourmet and ceramics store in Bethesda, Maryland, Suzy and Bill Menard found themselves spending plenty of time in Deruta, Umbria's ceramics capital, sourcing imports for their store. In time it made sense to look for an Umbrian villa to use as for both their own frequent visits and as the centerpiece for the travel services they hoped to add to their store's offerings.

They settled on Fattoria del Gelso, a former agriturismo on 90 acres in the town of the Cannara, just a few minutes from Assisi. For the Menards, its location and size were key selling points. While the fattoria is part of a small farm (growing the famous Cannara onions which are protected by the Slow Food organization), it is also within walking distance of the charming town center. Plus it is perfectly situated for an easy and quick drive to a number of towns including Perugia, Spello, Bevagna and more.

Read the rest of the article

Great App for Pairing Italian Wines and More

I've had my iPhone for many months but have only now just added "apps" or applications and feel like I have entered a whole new world. (Watch this space for more on travel and Italy-related apps - I'm testing a bunch of them out now.)

As a sign that my priorities are clearly in line, my very first app download was one related to wine. I downloaded the Nat Decants Food + Drink Matcher designed by wine expert Natalie Maclean.

Boy did I pick a useful tool as my first iPhone app. When you install an app, you want it to be something that is especially useful when you are away from home and on the go. This app offering a staggering 380,000 food and drink (that's right it pairs more than just wine) pairings. It is perfect to use when you are at the store shopping for wine for dinner or at a restaurant deciding what to eat and drink.

The level of detail is just awesome. When I wanted to select a wine to drink with pizza, I was given 27 choices of pizza from Chicago-style to pesto pizza. Maclean recommends aglianico, chianti, sangiovese or valpolicella wines for Chicago-style pizza and for pesto pizza her selections include ale beer and pinot grigio, primitivo and sauvignon blanc wines.

Here's a great summary of the inner workings and offerings of the Nat Decants Food + Wine Matcher:

Start with either a drink or a dish
Choose Bubbly, White, Red, Rosé, Dessert
Pair beer, spirits, cocktails, liquor, coffee, tea
Select from 292 grapes, wines and blends
219 cheeses and cheese dishes
61 pasta dishes, 118 vegetarian & salads
57 chicken, 59 beef, 41 pork, 112 seafood
27 types of pizza plus other take-out favorites
48 herbs, spices and sauces
94 Asian, Indian and Chinese dishes
123 types of chocolate and desserts
More than 380,000 pairings, with new ones added daily

You can use a free online version of the matcher at http://www.nataliemaclean.com/ or the iPhone and Blackberry apps are $2.99 to download - and well worth-it since this is the kind of info. you want when you're out dining and traveling.

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(This is an ad.)

Our First Full-Color Issue Is Here!

Get a preview of our first full-color print newsletter. Become a fan of Dream of Italy on Facebook on/or before July 1st and we'll send you a link to this full 12-page special report on Umbria - for free! Our new color printing means prices have to go up so subscribe or renew by July 15th and save $15 to $25!

New in Florence: Day Capers

For years now, Da Vinci Capers has remained a standout in small group tours of Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast, mostly because of owner Barbara Hardesty's devotion to her company's mission: to spark the imagination and feed the soul in the tradition of Leonardo Da Vinci. Each week-long programs incorporate Leonardo DaVinci's teachings, especially sfumato, an open mind and playfulness allowing for creative expression. The activites on a DaVinci Caper - cooking, creative writing, sculpting, language lessons and more - are famous for incorporating sensazione (feeling), dimostrazione (demonstration) and curiosita (curiosity). Yet not everyone can take a week or so to explore their inner Leonardo.

Fortunately, Barbara has developed mini-versions of Da Vinci Capers -- Day Capers, launching this summer in Florence. She's tapped her impressive collection of scholars, artists and maestros to provide unique half-day and day-long experiences in the city of art. Walk in the footsteps of Da Vinci with a tour of the Uffizi and exploration of his Florentine haunts accompanied by a Da Vinci scholar. Take a private painting and drawing workshop (complete with a live model) in the great Vasari's former palazzo. Hit the streets of Florence with a professional photographer who will teach you how to get the best shots before reviewing your work at a digital lab. For more information, visit the Da Vinci Capers Web site.

The Colors of Italy NOW in Dream of Italy

The big news at Dream of Italy these days is that we are switching over to producing and printing our paid print newsletter in full color. These means all of our photos will now be bold, lucious and vibrant - like Italy itself. You will see this change in both the PDF and print versions of our paid newsletter. Plus we have a special change for our online-only paid subscribers - all forthcoming PDF versions of our newsletters will include live links.

Because of the cost of color design printing, our subscription rates will be going up in mid-July! We want to make sure everyone knows this well ahead of time. If you subscribe now, you will lock in our current sale rates:

• Current one-year print subscription in U.S. - $74 (will increase to $99 July 15th) - includes 10 mailed issues, online access to 60+ back issues, bonus Rome e-book


• Current one-year online subscription - $64 (will increase to $79 July 15th) - includes 10 PDF issues, online access to 60+ back issues, bonus Rome e-book


• Current one-year print subscription to Canada - $84 (will increase to $99 July 15th) - - includes 10 mailed issues, online access to 60+ back issues, bonus Rome e-book


• Current one-year print subscription international - $84 (will increase to $109 July 15th) - - includes 10 mailed issues, online access to 60+ back issues, bonus Rome e-book

Save 5% With DOI's Auto Europe Discount Code

It is that time of year again when many people are planning their summer adventures in Italia. We're happy to remind you that we can help you save a few dollars or euros on your travel with Dream of Italy's special 5% discount on Auto Europe car rentals!

To take advantage of this offer, call Auto Europe at (800) 223-5555 or visit this special link to the Auto Europe Web site. Please be sure to use or mention this coupon code: 72002261

A Dispatch From High Atop a Tuscan Hill

This is the first in a series of guest posts from Italy by Anthony Capozzoli of How To Tour Italy:

Dante writes La natura e l’arte di Dio (nature is the art of God).

You can see the storm coming in for miles. Like most things in Italy it is a gradual build-up. But when it hits it is as fierce as they come. Perched high atop a Tuscan hill the view from where I sit is exceptional. The valley seems to have been decorated by a master artisan. The clouds slowly roll in to cover everything in a cool mist. The wise olive trees are perfectly placed, while the sad bending and weaving Cypress trees hold their own against the wind.

Eight kilometers, 20 minutes by cab, one hour by bus if you catch both on time, and about 10 degrees cooler Villamagna seems trapped in history. The locals speak very little to no English (which I love). There is one little café, one little restaurant, and small bar. Nothing seems to have changed here in decades. Walking into the café you hear the record skip while being greeted with a very warm buon giorno.

Villamagna is just outside Bagno a Ripoli which is just outside of Florence, but the worlds are so different. The locals have lived here for generations. The little house I’ve rented has been in the owner’s family for three generations. That is a foreign concept to most Americans.

It takes some time to beat the American out of me. Waiting for the bus is a little like therapy. I walk far too fast for my own good in a hurry to get nowhere. I barely enjoy my dinner before I’m asking for the check. But gradually, surely, the American in me seeps out like the comfortable feeling you get when you secretly loosen your belt after a three-course Tuscan meal. It is quite good for the soul to let life pass you by while enjoying it. I’ve come to learn as I do every year that Italy really is a lifestyle and not a destination.

There are few things as good as Fagioli Uccelletto, the Bargello, or the smell of Villamagna after the rain. I wonder how many times the serpents tail would encircle me to deliver my fate in Dante’s hell? I’m guessing four times around due to my avarice nature. I seem to squander things away with no thought of tomorrow. I hope my search within my soul that began so many years ago leads me to Beatrice and inner peace. If it doesn’t I can say that I truly gave it everything and I’m ok with that.

Italy Travel Deals of the Week

There’s still time to scheme up a summertime getaway to Italy. Check out these flight and hotel deals -

Flights:

Airfare Watchdog has found round trip flights between New York and Rome for as little as $296 INCLUDING taxes for late August, September and October. These are unheard of prices!!

Kayak is a great site for finding low priced flights and hotels, particularly in the site’s “Deals” section. This week, Kayak lists discounted peak summer fares to Italian cities, starting at $635 roundtrip from East Coast locales and Chicago. You’ll have to act fast – book by June 17 – and travel sometime between June 4 and August 16, 2009.

Also, Delta is offering 25,000 to 50,000 bonus Skymiles for flying on its new international routes. On June 4th, Delta introduced service between Detroit and Rome so that route qualifies.

Hotels

Starwood Hotels lists some good deals on hotels in Rome, Bologna and Florence in July. For example, at the Sheraton Firenze Hotel & Conference Center, rooms can be found for 80 Euros per night. And at Four Points by Sheraton Roma West Hotel, rooms start at 90 Euros per night in mid-July.

There’s also an enticing Starwood sale going on now. Starwood includes several brands – Sheraton, Meridien, Westin and St. Regis among others – and if you complete the free registration to become a Preferred Guest, you can earn one free weekend night at any Starwood property for every two nights you book. The number of free nights you can rack up is unlimited, but the freebies must be used by September 27. -- Sarah Amandolare