In This Issue
Our Christmas Gifts to you! This week only!
  This year we have some special gifts for you to thank you for choosing to spend your Christmas dollar with us!
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Spend between $40 and $100 at Dream of Italy and get two packets of 6 genuine Italian Gift Cards to attach to your Christmas gifts this year! These gift cards are part of our Stationery collection and are fantastic quality (as you'd expect of paper made in Florence!).
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Spend over $100 and get two packets of Italian Gift Cards PLUS a lovely almond-scented Italian Soap in a nice gift package.
Remember, if you order online, there is FREE SHIPPING and also you get these gifts absolutely FREE. Let your fingers do the walking! If you come into our shop, please bring this email to claim your gifts.
This offer expires in one week from today (27th November) so don't miss out!
What's new at Dream of Italy!
New Products
 Just in from Murano is a huge shipment of 12 boxes of Murano Glass Ornaments and Jewellery! One of the benefits of visiting our suppliers in person is that we get to choose each piece and having seen them all, we are delighted with the quality and beauty of these new items now they have arrived.
Highlights are our army of new Murano Glass Clowns. These amazing clowns are available from only $125. Our supplier had tears in his eyes as he described to us the skill that is required to make these, with the temperature of the molten glass varying between the different colours and it all has to be kept molten at the same time. If not, it explodes in front of the artisan!
The picture at left shows one of our large clowns with a Murano Glass Balloon from our current shop window display! This balloon looks SO realistic it is amazing! Just peaking in to the left in the picture is a huge Murano Glass Egg which is nearly 300mm high!
In addition to these and many more amazing Murano Glass Ornaments, we have a large number of new Murano Glass jewellery items as well.
 Check out some video footage from our recent trip to Italy that shows our supplier Francesco talking to us and some of the amazing things he has in his huge Murano Glass showroom.
Auckland Italian Festival 2012
The Italian Festival 2012 was the biggest ever and was a huge success. Five Ferrari's parked at the front for the guys and they started them all up at once at one point! Lots of activities for children and lots of lovely Italian cuisine and of course the Dream of Italy stand, right in the middle of the piazza! We had great fun catching up with some of our customers and meeting some new ones! See you next year at the Festival!
Top Shop Award
We were honored to have been judged a finalist in our category for 'Top Shop' Auckland this year! We did not win our category but were in the top 3. Thanks for the support of our customers. We know we have more work to do to win the competition in 2014, when it next returns.
Tourist Italy Real Italian Life!
In this section of our news letter Gail (from Christchurch), who contributed in the August issue returns with an insight into what it is like to live in the real Italy, not the tourist Italy. This is a delightful story.
Living in Italy half my life for the past few years the locals have become part of my world
they are very special too me.
For many years they couldn't understand why a couple from New Zealand would want to buy a house in this little village, but as time has gone by they've discovered that we are a useful source of interest and gossip.
With people coming and going from many countries, it has broadened their horizons a little.
 Lucia, my neighbour, had become a large part of my existence here, with her beautiful sparky eyes and big smile. In the summer we would walk around the village; this area is quite steep being in the old centre and directly under the Castle, so we walk slowly and talk. It was good for my Italian and I would learn much about the Vittoretesi families and the past history.
We would walk up the hill and cut the wild asparagus in season and collect the almonds that fell, they grow in abundance here; the blackberries were picked and turned into jam.
We also would gather kindling on our journeys, even though Lucia had gas central heating, to keep the cost down she kept a small chip burner going when it was very cold.
There is no outdoor living for her apart from the street corner and some flat concrete pads that the Comune (ed - the local council) kindly built for her to grow a pot garden. I remember when this was done and her standing there with her arms folded looking grumpy until she got exactly what she wanted. She could be a tough Italian Mamma when required.
The pot garden looked great and her basil grew to 2m high - much better than mine. I had an open invitation to help myself.
Every so often for miles around the village there is the lovely smell of pizza cooking. Lucia cooked the most delicious one with anchovies.
 to read the full interview!
.jpg "Italia, Jo Seagar") We are very privileged to be able to feature this month Jo Seagar's book 'Italia' for sale on our web site. Jo has kindly authorised Dream of Italy to be a re-seller of her fabulous book which is full of both fantastic Italian recipes and amazing photography. Both were taken on location in Umbria, Italy. One of Jo's recipes from the book is our featured recipe this month.
Purchase 'Italia' by Jo Seagar before 30th November and get it at our special introductory price of $39.50 including free shipping! This book has a recommended retail price of $65. Please note this offer may not be used in conjunction with any other offers and does not qualify for the free gifts (sorry!).
Under our books section, take a look through the Italian book reviews on our 'Recommended Reading' section of the website. All of these books are available for your purchase via Amazon.
Send us in the name of your favourite Italian book and a review and we will publish that too! Let someone else enjoy a fantastic Italian read over the Christmas period.
November Italian Recipe
 This month we feature a recipe to use all summer! Direct from Jo Seagar's book 'Italia', this recipe is a winner now the days are starting to warm up and it is one if you start now you will have perfected for those great summer evenings with friends around the barbeque. Wouldn't it be great to offer a round of your own Limoncello to guests this year??
From Jo Seagar:
This is Papà’s special recipe and the best limoncello I’ve ever tried. It is quite easy to make but you have to produce it over a couple of days, then wait at least a few days until you can drink it. It is worth the wait!
To get the correct sharp lemon flavour, you need to use true Italian lemons such as Villa Franca, Lisbon or Yen Ben. Don’t use Meyer lemons, which are a hybrid of a mandarin. Only the peel of the lemons is used for this recipe, not the juice, which can be squeezed and frozen. Papà uses pure alcohol available from the chemist in Italy, but I’ve successfully made it with vodka
for the full recipe.
Feedback
We would love to hear back from you and get your thoughts on our products or services!
If you have any feedback at all for us you can send an email to alan@dreamofitaly.co.nz.
 Please don't forget to forward this email on to someone you know who would be interested in things Italian! We are continuing to develop this newsletter to make it informative, interesting and a way to stay connected with Italy and all things Italian. Just send us an inquiry to request to be put on our database to receive future newsletters.
 If you have a great story about Italy, send it in. We would love to hear from you.
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