Italy from the Inside

Hot chocolate made the Italian way

February 5, 2008

Among my favorite treats I get all the times when I visit Italy are the cream filled croissant (brioche alla crema) and the hot chocolate (cioccolata calda). Every coffee shop (bar) will sell fresh croissants as they are part of the traditional Italian breakfast cappuccino e brioche.

American hot chocolate is usually prepared by mixing hot water with cocoa powder. If you order one in Italy, you’ll find that the barista will mix the cocoa powder with real milk and stir and foam it for 15-20 seconds until a thick consistency has been achieved.

I often found that hot chocolates that could hold my spoon standing still were the most delicious ones.

Trentino: Traditional Flavors (video)

January 23, 2008

Enjoy this video about traditional food flavors of Trentino region. I previously covered this area in a podcast with the Trentino Tourism Office, which kindly granted me permission to post this video and a few more to come.

– Can’t see the video? Watch it from YouTube

Italy online maps getting more sophisticated

January 20, 2008

Last January I posted a video demoing how you can explore Italy from the sky using Google Maps and Microsoft’s Live Search Maps. They are both excellent tools and you’ll not be disappointed either way.

Working myself at Microsoft though, I’ve done some extra research about the recent coverage improvements of the Italian territory using our services, and here is what I discovered.

New bird’s eye views
Live Search Maps now offers bird’s eye views for 70+ Italian cities. What it means is that you can enjoy aerial views at low altitude of several important cities in Italy and at different angles too!
Check out Udine, Milan, or Padua.
Here is a current unofficial list which will grow overtime.

To try yourself, go to Live Search Maps, enter one of the cities in the list, zoom a little closer until the Bird’s Eye label in the toolbar is enabled. Then click it and enjoy!

Photosynth technology meets maps
I already blogged about this cool technology which turns photo into 3D experiences. Photosynth is still an unreleased product incubated by Microsoft Research. What excites me are the integration possibilities with online mapping services.
For example, you can start from a satellite view of Rome and drill down to the details of St. Peter’s cathedral.
This video demos exactly this scenario.