When you meet someone with a passion for the Italian lifestyle—food, wine, family, history, culture, heritage—you just know. There is something special about La Bella Italia that creates an immediate bond between people who have been influenced by her charms – and sometimes a shared smile says it all. This is how we felt when we met Eleonora Baldwin, the food and wine writer behind the popular Wednesday Wines series here on The italyMONDO! Blog. Eleonora, or Lola, writes about Italian food and wine with an infectious enthusiasm and warm simplicity that just invites readers to knock on the door, pull up a chair and join her for dinner. (And we know it would be a delicious dinner!) So pull up that chair, raise your glasses and join me in welcoming Eleonora Baldwin to the italyMONDO! family!

Born in America, but having grown up in Italy from a young age, Eleonora learned all about Italian family cooking from her mother who was born in Rome. Just like many Italians, her grandmother’s cookbook is a cherished family treasure. Eleonora’s heritage in Italy is from the region of Piemonte—birthplace of her maternal grandmother—and from the city of Sora, Frosinone in the heart of “La Ciociaria,” (Where my great-grandfather was born as well, making Eleonora and me paesani!”) Raised in a bilingual family, Eleonora has a natural talent for languages and now speaks four—English, Italian, Spanish and French—a real advantage in her career as a script supervisor in the film industry. Having come from a family with a strong film making tradition, after a career in graphic design Eleonora eventually felt herself drawn to explore this path – and it’s certainly one with plenty of excitement and adventure!

When asked if she feels Italian or American, Eleonora answers, “I feel Italian.” And her passion for Italian cooking, traditions and culture certainly comes across in her writing for The italyMONDO! Blog and on her personal blogs where she writes regularly on a variety of topics. At her food blog, Aglio, Olio & Peperoncino, you’ll find tempting recipes accompanied not only by charming stories and also a wealth of information about true Italian home cooking. Over at her restaurant review blog, Forchettine (in Italian), you’ll find reviews of Eleonora’s favorite restaurants. And avid photographer as well as writer and blogger, Eleonora also shares a glimpse of daily life in Rome at her photo blog Roma Every Day.

What drives Eleonora’s passion for sharing good Italian cooking? Having cooked her whole life, she realized one day she hadn’t ever fully celebrated the importance of it in her daily life. It was all bubbling up inside until it finally found an outlet through blogging. She shared with us that she was hooked from the first post, and now can’t stop – which is very lucky for all of us Italy-loving readers!

Having cooked her whole life, Lola realized one day she hadn’t ever fully celebrated the importance of it in her daily life. It was all bubbling up inside until it finally found an outlet through blogging.

Here on The italyMONDO! Blog, Eleonora brings a fresh view to the sometimes daunting topic of Italian wines in her weekly Wednesday Wines column. She teaches us about the richness of Italy’s wines while at the same time reminding us that there are no set rules when it comes to wine. It’s not necessarily the name on the label or the price tag that determines a good bottle of wine, but instead it’s what your own taste buds tell you. Or, as Eleonora tells us, “Wine is meant to go well with food, like a good marriage.” Be bold, be daring, try new wines, and don’t be afraid to break some of the rules out there. After all, red wine can be very good with fish.

In the end, Eleonora’s writing reminds us to have fun and enjoy your wine with family and friends when possible. That’s often the best combination – and to us, the true definition of La Dolce Vita.

Stop by every Wednesday to learn more about Italian wines as Lola continues to share her insights, tips and passion for one of the most important elements of the Italian table – a good glass of vino italiano!

Can’t get enough of La Dolce Vita? Visit Lola’s other blogs!
Aglio, Olio & Peperoncino – All about Italian cooking
Forchettine – Italian Restaurant Reviews (in Italian)
Roma Every Day – Rome Photo Blog

For this week’s Saturday Spotlight, we’re heading all the way down the boot and into Italy’s “toe” to shine the spotlight on a fellow admirer of Calabria’s charms. The italyMONDO! Blog has introduced us to an entire world of Italian blogs as well as the enthusiastic and passionate writers behind them. It has been a wonderful experience to meet so many people—both online and in person—who share our deep passion for Italy and Italian culture, and as a result it has been equally rewarding to be able to introduce you to our new friends through this new weekly column. Stop by again next Saturday as we shine the Spotlight on yet another fellow Italophile!

Way down south in Calabria you might not expect to meet a Texan, but that is just one of the delightful surprises of Cherrye Moore, a freelance writer who lives in Catanzaro. Also called the “City of the Two Seas” for its location between the Ionian and the Tyrrhenian Seas, Catanzaro is the capital of the region of Calabria and the province of the same name. Cherrye write about her bella vita in bella Calabria at her aptly named blog, My Bella Vita.

With her charming Texan accent and sweet nature, Cherrye is the picture perfect example of southern (Italian!) hospitality. In fact, she and her husband keep busy managing the Il Cedro Bed and Breakfast, which they opened together in 2007. Surrounded by a citrus garden (by the way, a cedro is a type of citrus fruit that looks like giant lemon!), the four-bedroom bed and breakfast is located right in the heart of Catanzaro. Cherrye loves how the bed and breakfast offers the chance to meet new people and to introduce them to the treasures of Catanzaro and Calabria.

My Bella Vita was born in 2006 when Cherrye first moved to Catanzaro. Like many expatriates, she was eager to keep in touch and share her new life with family and friends back home. While My Bella Vita began as a personal journal online about learning to live in Calabria, through it Cherrye also began to meet other expats living in southern Italy who became fast friends. Blogging was an introduction to a community of people sharing similar experiences across Italy, and writing about life in bella Calabria has introduced Cherrye to many people who share her interest in exploring the region.

My Bella Vita was born in 2006 when Cherrye first moved to Catanzaro. Like many expatriates, she was eager to keep in touch and share her new life with family and friends back home.

Recently re-launched with an attractive new design, My Bella Vita is where Cherrye shares her passion for writing, a job path she has really enjoyed developing here in Italy. Over the years, My Bella Vita has evolved from a personal journal to a multi-featured blog focused on sharing travel tips, tidbits of Italian life in Calabria, recipes, and fun stories about her daily life running the Il Cedro Bed and Breakfast.

Cherrye is quick to add that the friends she has made and the meetings with fellow expats were priceless in helping her as she adjusted to her new life in Calabria, and that adjusting to life in southern Italy has had both its challenging and charming moments, Cherrye now cherishes the fact that Catanzaro isn’t touristy or crowded. She relishes the “authentic Italian experience,” as she describes it, that she’s been able to experience in Calabria. There is something captivating in the fresh Calabrian air, and Cherrye says that she “loves where she lives and wouldn’t trade it for anything!” I look forward to meeting Cherrye on my next trip through Calabria, but until then I’ll continue to enjoy following My Bella Vita and reading stories of Cherrye’s life in southern Italy.

Welcome to Saturday Spotlight, our newest weekly feature on The italyMONDO! Blog. Here we will shine the spotlight on those who share our deep love of Italy and passion for the Italian culture. Over the past few months the Italian blogging community has warmly welcomed us into their ranks. Through this weekly feature, we look forward to spotlighting many of the friendly and interesting bloggers living and writing from Italy or around the world, as well as expatriates who have chosen to call Italy home. We also look forward to introducing you to great businesses both here in Italy and around the globe that promote the appreciation of the Italian culture in all of its forms—from family-run bed and breakfasts, agriturismi and restaurants to Italian language schools and various online boutiques

So start your weekend out with a healthy shot of Italian culture with our weekly Saturday Spotlights, and be sure to return next Saturday as we shine the Spotlight another fellow Italophile!

I recently had the pleasure of enjoying a sunny afternoon at one of the many cafés surrounding Sorrento’s busy Piazza Tasso chatting with Leanne, a cheerful Australian expat who has been living in Italy since 2006, and italyMONDO! blogger Laura Thayer. Leanne is also a blogger, maintaining the popular blog From Australia to Italy. Through her blog she has taken her readers along on her journey working in Rome, Taormina, Sicily and, most recently, Sorrento. Born in Melbourne, Australia, Leanne comes from a large Italian-Australian family with roots in both Calabria and Puglia. When I met up with Leanne (and her bel ragazzo!) in Sorrento she regaled us with her family stories, her experiences living and working in some of Italy’s most famous spots and her decision to return to the country her family left behind.

Leanne first visited Italy in 2002 and immediately felt that something inside her changed the moment she set foot in Rome. After spending a month traveling around Italy, including visiting the small town in southern Italy where her family had come from, she realized why she felt so at home here. Growing up in an Italian-Australian family, she often felt like she stood out for her expressiveness and what her friends described as her “tendency to be loud.” (Any other Italian can relate, right?) During her first visit to her grandparents’ hometown in Puglia, it hit her – the people were just like her! This sense of belonging inspired her to pursue a job that would allow her to follow her dream of living in Italy. Along the way she met her bel ragazzo, and the rest of the story you can read about by diving into the archives of From Australia to Italy.

Leanne is just the type of person I really enjoy meeting, since I love hearing stories of how rediscovering your family roots in Italy can be such a life-changing experience. Of course it is not only Italian Americans that can experience the joy of uncovering their Italian heritage. Italians have emigrated all over the world, including Australia, Canada, South America and throughout Europe. In fact, Italians form one of Australia’s biggest ethnic groups. As Leanne shared stories about growing up in Melbourne, I was reminded of the countless similarities to growing up as an Italian American—the big families, the wonderful home cooking, the big Italian meals and, above all, the strong sense of community. It is these similarities that bind us as a community, and the reason why I called the company italyMONDO!(Mondo meaning World).

Leanne is just the type of person I really enjoy meeting, since I love hearing stories of how rediscovering your family roots in Italy can be such a life-changing experience.

Leanne could write a book (and hopefully will someday!) about her family and their journeys from southern Italy to Australia. She describes herself with the fun saying: “Half Calabrese + Half Pugliese = 100% Australian. You do the math, but that’s me.” Leanne’s maternal side of the family comes from the village of San Marco in Lamis, northeast of Foggia in the region of Puglia. Her father’s side of the family comes from the small village of Policastrello, a frazione (hamlet) of San Donato di Ninea. (Policastrello is so small, in fact, that she couldn’t find it on her first visit to Italy!) In 1956, Leanne’s grandparents decided to leave Policastrello to attempt to give their eight children a chance of a better life in Australia. Her father was 14 years old at the time, and set off for a new beginning in Australia, not returning to Italy again for 52 years. Since moving to Italy, Leanne has been back to visit both Policastrello and San Marco in Lamis, each time discovering a little piece of her family’s heritage in Italy.

While Leanne has just left for a vacation back home in sunny Australia (It’s summer there, you know!), be sure to follow her blog From Australia to Italy to follow along on her adventures. Tante grazie to Leanne (and her bel ragazzo, of course) for sharing her family stories and enthusiasm and love for Italy. I’ll be looking forward to the next time!