A short post today for a busy day yesterday.

There’s lots to report but not much time to do so as we spent a late night and a not inconsiderable amount of time putting to bed our monthly news magazine – Dolce Vita. For those of you who are blog readers/subscribers only (and both of you know who you are), you might be interested in signing up for our Bella Italia newsletter. Each week we send out an email newsletter highlighting the week’s news at our retail store in Bethesda – new products, upcoming events, news you can use (!).

And once a month we publish our online magazine – Dolce Vita – chockablock with regular features of interest (we hope) to Italaphiles everywhere. Each month we feature a favorite town of ours (Florence, Bevagna, Calcata), bringing you our own spin on what makes it special, release a new Oscar-worthy video produced by Bella Italia Films (check out our shorts featuring cooking class in Cannara, Claudio the butcher of Norcia and a documentary on the annual Umbria Jazz Festival), recount a travel anecdote from our past, tell the story of one of our favorite artists (the paper makers of Fabriano, Sicilian ceramicist Elisa Messina and coffee roasters extraordinaire Caffe del Doge from Venice). Other monthly features include the Dogs of Bella Italia, the Recipe of the Month and Corrado’s Corner – a monthly humor column featuring the wit (no wisdom, please) of our good friend and colleague Corrado Natali.

All this and Dolce Vita is free! To receive your free copy, suitable for printing out and lining birdcages, you only need to sign up once by clicking here. Do it today. Your children will thank you.

* * *

So in the brief moments when we weren’t busy yesterday running our vast publishing empire we stole a few moments to enjoy Umbria and the Umbrian experience with our guests on a not unbusy day (note the double negatives, please). And a glorious itinerary it was – an unforgettable walking tour of Assisi with much of it spent learning about the life of St. Francis, how he changed the church, the world of art and the world in general from one of the area’s most accomplished tour guides,

a relaxing lunch at the Geribi ceramics studio followed by a four hour (plus) painting class under the watchful eye of Gerardo Ribigini and his daughter Claudia

and an evening visit to the nearby hilltown of Spello with a guided olive oil tasting, a meeting with artist Paolo Proietti (from whom we commissioned a large painting that hangs in the villa’s living room) and a memorable dinner at Ristorante Porta Venere.

We’re in Italy and life is good. It’s another way to experience la dolce vita.