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February 2013 Newsletter

In This Issue

February Update
$50 off Florentine Wooden Tray!
Kiwi Sheep Farming in Italy!
February Italian Recipe - Torta di Albicocche

February Update

Italian life is overtaken at the moment by one thing: 'CARNEVALE'. Many towns all over Italy are celebrating this festival before Lent kicks in. (The literal translation of 'Carnevale' is 'farewell, meat!').

Check out these amazing photos from Viareggio, the second best place to celebrate the Carnevale in Italy! Thanks to Tracy Goodall (contributor to our January newsletter) for publishing these on Facebook.

In Venice of course, it is the biggest celebration of all, with people coming from all over the world see the amazing colour, costumes and all sorts of events that are occurring all over the floating city. We are doing our bit with a new shipment of Venetian Masks just arrived in! Lots of colour and vibrancy! Check out the 'New Arrivals' tab on our website!

Whoops, we had a glitch!

We were very grateful last month to those who pointed out to us that our website was doing some funny things, asking some users to install a Google Chrome add on. It took us a while, but we have found the issue and fixed it, so there should be none of those problems this month! We do apologise for this annoyance - thanks for staying with us and letting us know.

People Changes

This month we also welcome Elena to the Dream of Italy team! Elena joins us as a Marketing Assistant until May this year. Elena who is originally from Russia has been studying Marketing in New Zealand for 2 years and is now in the final year of her degree and we are hosting her on her work placement.

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$50 off Florentine Wooden Tray!

Beautifully hand decorated wooden tray from Florence!

Normally priced at $125,
reduced only for our email customers to just $75 with free shipping nationwide in New Zealand.

These trays are both beautiful and practical. They are resistant to alcohol and hot drinks.

Order on line and quote coupon 01100 to receive your special pricing.

Click on the picture at left for more details and to order your beautiful Florentine Tray.

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Kiwi Sheep Farming in Italy!

This month's story is a tale of a New Zealander becoming enchanted with Italy, its land, its people and lifestyle. Chance meetings brought a huge change to Mac, who has embraced the life of an Umbrian farmer. A fantastic tale. Read on....

Yes, you may laugh, as most friends and visitors do - I

abandoned New Zealand to become a sheep farmer in Italy.

Certainly it was nothing I had planned or intended to do - it was totally by chance that I met the man who is now my father-in-law while strolling through a very beautiful olive grove on the rolling slopes of Montefalco, the wine capital of Umbria. He was grazing the family flock of milking sheep under the olive trees and, he being a very sociable bloke as most Italians are, we got chatting. He told me that in the spring they walk the sheep from his farm in Montefalco to his family’s ancestral lands in the nearby Appenine mountains.

I enquired if I could come along and he replied that all I needed to do was to front up at his house on the 10^th of June at three in the morning. I was there well before three, waited in the pitch dark until he came out of the house, jumped into his jeep and drove off. Shortly after his daughter, Francesca, came out and said "Let’s go!" and together we walked the flock and a large pack of dogs across the valley and high up into the Appenine mountains. We’re now married with two kids.....

February Italian Recipe - Torta di Albicocche

Torta di Albicocche is a delicious, moist, dessert-type cake. It is fabulous if you have fresh apricots, but you can successfully make it with canned apricots too.

Here's a recipe for you to try ...

Check out the full recipe!

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Feedback

We would love to hear back from you and get your thoughts on our products or services (and the changes we have made to our website)!

If you have any feedback at all for us you can send an email to alan@dreamofitaly.co.nz.

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Please don't forget to forward this email on to someone you know who would be interested! 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 enquiry to request to be put on our database to receive future newsletters.

We have sold out of some items during the Christmas period, so we have new orders in process for jewellery, masks, pewter warriors and Florentine Trays. Keep an eye on the website over the coming weeks under the New Arrivals tab for new Italian products.

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