U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Italy

Here is the contact information for the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Italy. While you hope to never need their services while you are traveling, it’s good to know they’re there if you do!

United States Embassy in Rome
via Vittorio Veneto, 119/A
00187 Roma, Italy
tel: (+39) 06.4674.1 (main switchboard)
fax: (+39) 06.4674.2356
website: http://rome.usembassy.gov/english/
U.S. Citizen services: Monday-Friday 8:30-12:30
Notarial services: Tuesday and Thursday, 14:00-15:30

Date: August 23rd, 2007 | 1 comment

Limoncello Recipe in Pictures

After posting the Limoncello Recipe a couple months ago, I was inspired to make some for the members of my Italian conversation group. And I figured that while I was at it, I’d document the process for you, the Italy Logue reader! So take this post in tandem with the post about with the recipe for limoncello, so you can see how the stuff develops.

This is a photo of the ingredients necessary to make limoncello - a large jar with a tight-sealing lid, grain alcohol, a vegetable peeler and a pile of lemons. I made a double batch, so I had 16 big lemons in that bowl, all thoroughly washed.

Date: August 21st, 2007 | 11 comments

Who is the Italian Britney Spears?

I am not what I’d consider a real music snob, but I do love good music and I do have certain standards. I never did, for example, like Britney Spears, no matter how popular her music might have been. Which is why, although I love listening to Italian music, I live in fear that I will be caught professing admiration for the Italian equivalent of Britney.

I’m not sure how to go about finding out how Italian musicians relate to the musicians I’m used to, and really, the bottom line is that I just like certain songs or artists for reasons that are probably completely beyond my control. For instance, I’ve become quite a fan of Nek, largely because he enunciates so clearly when he sings that his CDs have become a great language exercise. But more than that, I also just find the songs catchy and very singable. The husband loves Vasco Rossi, whose music I appreciate but whose voice kind of annoys me. Other artists whose CDs we have include Ligabue, Fabrizio Moro, LunaPop, Eros Ramazzotti, Mango, Cesare Cremonini, Laura Pausini and Alex Britti. One song I’ve had stuck in my head for weeks now, after hearing it repeatedly on Radio Italia (which I listen to online), is a duet between Elisa and Ligabue called “Gli Ostacoli del Cuore,” or “Obstacles of the Heart.” The video for the song is below.

Date: August 20th, 2007 | 1 comment

A Mother-Son Biking Trip in Italy

In the July/August issue of National Geographic Traveler, I read and enjoyed the cover story - of a mother and her grown son taking a two-week cycling trip through Umbria and Tuscany - although I remained conscious that I was only getting one person’s point of view. The article was written by the mother, Joyce Maynard, and much of the piece was devoted to her sometimes difficult relationship with her son, Wil. Now, I’m not a parent, but reading about those kinds of combative parent-child interactions make me feel badly for all involved. …

Date: August 18th, 2007 | No Comments

Struggling With Italian Clothing Sizes

I knew I wasn’t the only person who struggled to find Italian trousers that fit on my last trip to il Bel Paese, but sometimes knowing you’re not alone doesn’t alleviate the frustration or depression associated with the experience.

Some friends of mine live not far from a Diesel outlet, as Diesel is based near where they live, so one day the husband and I made our way to said outlet in search of deals on this hot Italian designer’s clothing. Like most outlet stores (the real ones, not the ones made to look like regular shopping malls that seem to crop up everywhere in the U.S.), the racks at the Diesel outlet were in a frightening state of disarray, requiring the patience of Job and an eye for hidden gems that I do not generally possess. (My mother-in-law is a genius at finding the only thing on a rack of crap to bother looking at, and I wish I shared that gift.)

Still, I pressed forward and found several pairs of jeans on the racks in the cramped upstairs room devoted to denim that I thought I’d try on. I even went so far as to ask the surly young lady behind the counter for her recommendations as to what my size might be from the shelves of jeans behind her. I brought my armload of denim into one of the tiny dressing rooms and proceeded to get more depressed with each pair of jeans. None of them, I repeat none, were big enough for me. With several, I was shocked to find I couldn’t get them past my thighs. I should stop here to mention that while I could stand to lose a few (okay, 20) pounds, I am by no means a large woman - at least not by American standards. I wear a size 10 in the U.S. quite comfortably. But in that Diesel shop, when I brought the pile of jeans back to the attendant - who, I might add, was bigger than me - she said I’d just tried on the largest jeans in the store.

Now, if that’s not enough to make a girl want to cry, I don’t know what is.

Date: August 16th, 2007 | 4 comments