I choose to live in Bologna for, among other things, its cultural life. Especially music. And I was not prepared for 3 of the best orchestras I don’t think you’ll ever hear of. I’ve already been to a mediocre performance of Ariadne auf Naxos with an unprofessional soprano who spoke more than she could sing,…
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Meal II Osteria Francescana: The best meal of my entire life
This post is updated with extra photos courtesy of Brian Ng. With a title like that it is hard to imagine how one can pull off a meal like that. Well, in order to do that a chef must transcend their genre and hit something universal and that is exactly what Osteria Francescana did. First, it…
Sicilia: first impression, first measurement
Our trip to Sicily was an amazing adventure, I will try and give some of the highlights of our trip, out of sequential order. I already related my finest trattoria experience and here is my initial impressions of Sicily. I was never in Sicily before so I was prepared for anything … so I thought.…
Meal I: A parade of fish in Sicily
I have a lot of catching up to do in this blog. So look for some updates on music, film, wine, art and food. Here is the first of 4 entries of the 4 best meals I had ever had in my life. This one in a worker’s neighborhood in Sicily. One of the main…
Reboot: Return of the blog. The Double Life
My Blog is back so I can keep friends and others informed of La Dolce Vita. This first post is a post about some thoughts I have had since I arrived back in Europe now almost a month and a half ago. I left with a strange yet familiar feeling of having come home from…
UPDATE Buying a house in italy? Except to pay more than you think
I read with great alarm the premiums and taxes one has to pay in order to buy a house in italy. If you are not buying a fixer-upper this can be a very substantial part of the purchase price from 25% all the way up to 40% for houses classed as luxury houses. Using this…
Three ring binders in the 21st Century
As I prepare for my November application to the Italian Consulate I am already assembling the documentation I have been requested to provide. This will also help me from any last minute rush or at least mitigate such rush. Reading other blogs and I thought I would a get a tabbed binder to assemble everything.…
Old Banks and New Craziness
I am now in full swing getting documents ready for the Visa Application. Among the requirements are letters of references from my banks and financial institutions. But they don’t write these things any more. Luckily , one of the banks is First Republic, one of the last old school banks where I am assigned a…
4 Pasta Recipes in 20 minutes
This is just a short post to let you know I made a video where I make 4 of the pasta’s I have eaten in my travels in 4 Trattoria’s. These dishes are extremely easy to make and I did the video with the help of Sarah, Jim and Larry. So if you have a…
The documents for the Elective Residency
After consulting a series of consulates I came up with a superset of 20 plus possible documents I needed to get. They were: US Passport National Visa application, signed in the presence of the Consular Office 2 Passport Photographs Letter from applicant explain reason and length of stay (some want it notarized) Documents of substantial…