In This Issue
August Update
 "How is the recession impacting you?" was a question we frequently asked our suppliers on our recent trip to Italy. The recession has had a huge impact overall on Italy, but we were very surprised to learn from some of our suppliers that they have continued to grow during these tough times. In particular, 'Dalaiti' who supply our calligraphy and pens. We were delighted to visit them and see their manufacturing operation first hand in the lovely town of Tuscania (not Tuscany, but just as good and NO tourists!)..jpg "Festival Italiano, Auckland 2013")
In Australia and New Zealand we are also celebrating Father's Day soon and we are pleased to be able to bring you some great ideas to surprise and delight him with some real Italian items, including in laid chess boards and pieces from Florence, a beautiful calligraphy set or even a pewter warrior or statuette.
Coming up next month is the Festival Italiano 2013 in Auckland. Please mark your diaries for 29th September and if you are on Facebook, like this page to keep up to date with news. It is going to be bigger and better than ever before and is located in Newmarket this year, so it will be an event not to miss!
In addition, you have the chance to win a $2,000 travel prize for a trip to Italy - raffle tickets available in our shop!
This month's story is a continuation from last month, with a little more detail of what came next when we arrived in Abruzzo to start the adventure of our our Italian house purchases:
When we went to Italy to buy a house that had not been lived in for over 30 years, our imagination went a bit wild... Cobwebs would be in abundance for sure, but what about other Italian specialties such as scorpions, snakes and of course common rats? Had they taken up abode there and would our arrival disturb a well-established ecosystem of several decades? We thought this was possible and prepared accordingly with leather gloves and ankle top boots.
Each cupboard was opened gingerly to see what would come rushing out….
With plenty of pasta, parsley and walnuts, this month's recipe has both chew, taste and texture. Pasta is a classic choice when it comes to Italian cooking, and this easy-to-cook recipe is guaranteed to satisfy a rumbling stomach.
Recipe courtesy of e-rcps,
Feedback
We would love to hear back from you and get your thoughts on our products or services! Any ideas on how we could improve our service to you our customers would be welcomed too!
 When in Italy I discovered that the philosophy of "Slow Food", "Slow Travel", indeed "Slow" everything is embedded into their culture! Invariably when local Italian people asked us about how our house renovations were going their response to our status update was "Piano, piano..." ("slowly slowly does it" - sub translation "don't stress!"). Another great quote from one of our builders was 'Why do anything today that can wait until tomorrow" or something similar. It is embedded in the Italian culture and sometimes can be infuriating for an "A" type driven personality, but is a lovely, refreshing change as far as I am concerned!
  Every month we try to include an interesting video into our newsletter. The past month has been totally absorbing for us with our property in Italy, so I have included a very short video of the view we miss already our down stairs living area. To view it click here.
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