Italy from the Inside

The fair of San Nicolo’

December is a magical time in Italy, the Christmas spirit is everywhere and people are immersed in a world of colorful lights and jolly sounds.

Every 6th of December, Trieste celebrates San Nicolo’ (Saint Nicholas, who had a reputation for secret gift-giving) with a popular fair, which becomes the city’s main attraction for several days and attracts vendors from all over Italy.

The fair takes place in the famous Viale XX Settembre, a long pedestrian avenue with many shops, gelaterie and cinemas that has been one of the main social points since forever.

The fair is the delight of the adults who can buy food specialties (like succulent olives from Sicily, torrone candy or goat cheese from Tuscany) and unusual gadgets to give as a present for Christmas, and the joy of the kids who can get candy and toys.

It is almost impossible not to meet an old friend or schoolmate while walking by the booths, and this makes the whole experience even “merrier”.

An Italian drugstore that is 100+ years old


Everyone knows that it is not unusual to find century year old churches, buildings and architectural jewels in Italy, however it is quite rare to find stores that have remained substantially unaltered during the years.
One example is the Drogheria Toso in Trieste. This drugstore started its activity in 1906 and since then has continued its business without any interruption. What makes it interesting is not only its century long activity, but also its interior design that looks exactly like 100 years ago.

Spending 4 months in Italy with my kids


Have you ever considered spending an extended period of time in Italy? If you are like me, you probably did many times. And if you’ve kids, you might have shelved this dream considering all the complications that come with any international move.

As an Italian mom living in the US for more than 13 years, the idea of giving to my kids the opportunity to experience Italy more than just as tourists was extremely appealing. So after some long conversations with my husband and some careful planning, we decided it was worth the try.

My two young kids (Alessio, 6 and Silvia, 9) would attend a local elementary school for four months. For conveniency, we chose our hometown Trieste as our destination. In Trieste we still have our extended family that helped us with some of the logistics such as finding a rental apartment and getting some of the school paperwork done. Admittedly, knowing the language and having local support made things smoother, especially due to the time difference (9 hours) and the inability to use the Internet to get through some of the school red tape.

As a small business owner, I was able to put on hold my activity. My husband’s job in high tech wouldn’t let him leave for too long, so he decided to stay in the US and reach us later for a vacation.

So, here I am, back to my hometown, Trieste, where I’ll stay until Christmas, with my kids attending the same Italian elementary school I was attending when I was their age…

While there, I’ll try to cover some of the curious aspects of this experience. If you’ve some questions feel free to email me or post a comment below.