Initially, many Italians found Facebook a little off putting, and did not take to it.  Maybe Italians did not like having to deal with settings and an interface in English.  Now Facebook is in Italian, Italians are all over Facebook.  Now, the same thing seems to be happening with regard to Twitter.

Before the summer I mentioned Twitter to students doing a tourism management master at the business school where I teach English.  Out of a class of 20 odd, only one or two had heard of Twitter, and none had, alas, tweeted.

From what I understand, this is all about to change.  Soon Italians will be twittering as much as they are facebooking, if not more so.

I do have a few Italians in amongst my almost 400 Twitter followers, but recently a couple of major league organisations here in Italy have started Tweeting, and, oddly enough, two are following Blog from Italy’s twitter stream: newsfromitaly.

La Gazzetta Dello Sport and Microsoft Office

The two major league players following newsfromitaly (1000+ tweets, following 340, 389 followers ) are:

• La Gazzetta Dello Sport (21 tweets, following 1230, 542 followers), Italy’s biggest sports newspaper, and
• Microsoft Italy’s Office outreach team (25 tweets,  following 1782, 294 followers ) – unless you come from another galaxy or dimension, I imagine you probably know something about Microsoft.*

Having such fabulous followers makes my newsfromitaly Twitter alias feel important, although I suspect I’ll lose these mega-followers once they realise that in world media terms, Blog from Italy is about a tenth the size of one of Rupert Murdoch’s toenail clippings – and even that’s probably something of an overstatement.

Oh well, for as long as these two eminent Twitter followers follow me, I’ll feel cheerful, and it is a dull and drizzly day here in Milan this Monday.

By the way, I generally twitter in English.

Twitter Hits Italy

Anyway, regardless of whether Gazzetta Dello Sport and the Microsoft  Office team should be following this here media toenail clipping, it’s interesting to see the Twitter phenomenon finally sink it’s teeth into the Italian techno-psyche.

For the moment at least, (today, probably!) I can say I’ve got more Twitter followers than Microsoft! Well, sort of.

*Those from other galaxies or dimensions should try Wikipedia – in this dimension – to find out about Microsoft.

You’ve been to Italy, either on vacation or on business and you’ve tried an interesting new drink here – and I’m not talking wine  – you even made a note of the name on your iPhone or Blackberry.  Maybe you photographed the bottle with your mobile phone camera.

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that the drink you tried, and liked, was ‘Braulio Riserva’ bitter.

Once back home, wherever that may be, you hunt high and low for a bottle of Amaro Braulio Riserva.  Aside from a couple of online stores which quote scary prices and terrifying delivery charges, you just cannot find Braulio Riserva anywhere.  You become somewhat desperate and even resort to leaving a comment on some Blog from Italy or other, in the hope that this may help you in your quest.  No joy though.  You resign yourself to having to wait until the next time you go to Italy, or, you buy a bottle of whisky.

The funny thing is that while certain Italian drinks can be devilishly difficult to find outside Italy, Scotch Whisky, shipped all the way over from the rugged and bleak highlands of Scotland, is to be found in abundance in Italy.

If the Scottish can sell whisky here in Italy, and, for that matter all over the world, then why oh why can’t Italians sell more of their interesting drinks outside of Italy?

The Scotch situation borders upon a ’selling coals to Newcastle’ situation, in that Italy already has a very passable spirit called Grappa.  Between you, me, and the gatepost, I prefer Grappa to Scotch.  Now, before any Scottish readers go off in a huff muttering expressions such as ‘ignorant Sassenach’, or worse, under their whisky-soaked breaths, I do like whisky, and I like it rather a lot.

The trouble is the whisky I like costs a bomb, whereas the grappa I like does not.  Yes, I wish I were a rich man.

After going through the wood, up the garden path, round the house and back again, the point I’m trying to make is non-Italians, like me, do quite like some very Italian tipples.  Aside from the Braulio Riserva scenario which was based on a comment left here on Blog from Italy, there are other examples.

Potentially Popular Italian Drinks

My father, who is over seventy and would admit to not being a great whisky fan, quite likes a drop of Grappa from time to time, and he’s happy when he sees a bottle or two on the shelves of his local supermarket all the way up in his northern England neck of the woods.

Other non-Italians, including me, quite like that lemon drink Limoncello.  As I mentioned at the start of this post, I’ve even had a person on Blog from Italy trying to track down the super-sophisticated version of an Italian bitter drink Braulio, Braulio Riserva.

I’m pretty sure that liquorice, or licorice, fans would love the lovely Eclisse liquorice liqueur, which I have written about before.  Then there is the eggy Floriovo wine, which is quite simply delicious.

Huge Variety of Italian Grappa

Italy’s whisky equivalent, grappa, for instance, comes in many different varieties, or should that be ‘flavours’.  Aged Grappa is not at all bad as a winter tipple either.  Then there are all the fruit flavoured Grappas, and my personal favourite – honey Grappa.

At the moment I’ve got some Grappa alla Ruta lurking in what passes for my drinks cabinet. The bottle is half empty, which will give you some idea as to how well it goes down, or give you the impression that I am a total alcoholic – snot strue, h-honest.

There are, of course, a few Italian brews which I don’t like too much, but I would never tell anyone else not to try them, because my taste is not necessarily the same as yours.

Why should I be thinking about this Italian drink stuff?  Firstly, Christmas is just round the corner and one starts to ‘think drink’ at this time of year, and secondly, and more importantly, there are lots of Italian drinks I like, and I think others would like them too.  They would probably buy them too, if they could  do so without having to jump on a plane.

Not Many Italian Drinks Sold Abroad

It is a shame that many interesting Italian drinks, other than wine, are not available outside of Italy.  This lack of availability may even represent a lost business opportunity for some Italian drinks manufacturers, or even some foreign drinks importers.

Martini, Amaretto and Cinzano are international names. Why not Braulio Riserva? Or Il Mallo Nocino Riserva, for that matter?  Il Mallo Nocino what?  More on this another time, but you can always go google ‘nocino’ in the meantime.

What’s your favourite Italian drink?

As I said, honey Grappa is mine, even if my own list of Italian drinks worth trying is exactly short, hiccups he.  I do like Floriovo too.

All these interesting Italian drinks are yet another good reason to come to Italy!  Would be nice if you could find them in shops upon your return home, would it not?

Those interested in knowing a little more about Grappa might like the ‘Grappa Diaries‘ blog.

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Today has been an interesting day. After I clicked the shutter to take the fog picture from outside my window you saw in the last post, the fog gently took over and blanketed our valley. We waited an hour, then got in the car to go to Aulla and the Saturday street market. The sun drove the fog out as we ourselves drove to Aulla.

By noon it was hot and sunny, so I put the table out on the terrace and we ate our market rotisserie chicken all’aperto.

After the chicken had turned miraculously into pile of bones, we decided to take a walk to Bigliolo. On the way home, clouds had moved in, obscuring the sun except for a single, solitary beam of light. Yes, it appears the little green people have landed. Unfortunately, they are armed with Cynar, a liquor that tastes exactly like dirt.

Anyway, here:

What’s it like in November in the Lunigiana? Well, it can be spectacular to wake up and throw open the shutters to something like this:

Yesterday’s weather: Sunny morning, then intense rain, then clearing, then rain at night, then clearing, then rain early in the morning, then this.

I rather liked Monsummano; especially Monsummano Alto, the medieval high town that looks down on what was once a swampy and likely malarial valley. That’s why Monsummano Terme, the lower town, only dates from the 1700s. The picture to the right was taken on an afternoon of indeterminate weather. Sun, cool air, rain, clouds—it was all mixed up. Then this. Sweet.

The next picture isn’t as distinct. We had to wait until a beam of sun came to rest on the town of Montevetollini, which I know we’ll have to visit some day. The valley was shrouded in fog though, an indistinct fog that couldn’t seem to become esthetically pleasing. Perhaps you could argue that in the summer this would have been a better picture, with those clear blue skies everyone loves to death. I prefer a more brooding sky.

Anyway, I liked Monsummano so much I wrote an article about it: Monsummano Terme Guide. And if you have a chance to eat at the restaurant Da Marino, do go. It’s excellent.