Imagine yourself making the first ever Pizza outlet based on what you’ve learned in culinary schools. Would that be very exciting to do business like having your own Pizza business in front of the many schools in your country? Italy is considered the maker of the world’s best and tastier Pizza and Pasta. In fact, there are lots of universities and colleges in most historic country that are campaigning for the best culinary schools. Well, if you love cooking and specializing on a certain products like Pizza you can enroll Italy’s top culinary schools. You can enroll in Tuscany, a very promising place in Italy. In this particular place there lies one of the oldest restaurants named Porta del Fabbri owned by great chef Paola Baccetti. This restaurant is been there for more than ten years already. Ms Baccetti also has an Italian cooking school at Casa Ombuto near the old center in Bibbiena, nestled in Tuscany’s beautiful valley. You can enroll in Ms Baccetti’s school if you do love cooking and master Italian cuisine.
There are also culinary universities that teach Italian cooking such as the Lorenzo de Medici, one of the respectable culinary schools in town enrolled by many foreigners. Lorenzo de Medici is located in Florence. If you enroll there you can also meet Prof. Paola Baccetti there as she also teaches culinary subjects in said university. You can really enjoy your stay in Italy’s top universities because there are Italian expert chefs that teach you everything about Italian food and how they are best serve to the people. Superior preparation just like the Crostini, Torte Verdura and Bruschetta are loved by many tourists in Italy. You can enjoy all these best food preparation by expert Italian chefs. That’s why when I had visited this place last year I really enjoyed the sumptuous dinner on that very memorable resto-hopping experience before proceeding to the Vatican City to attend a very important business transaction. We had our breakfast in Vatican and again we tasted the discriminating taste of the Italian version of roasted chicken and grilled seafood. The experience was really very exciting and our vacation in Italy was never a dull moment.
NO wonder why Rachel Bilson is cast in the movie Jumper which made Hayden Christensen’s female and gay fans confused on whether to adore him as Jumper or Anakin Skywalker. That’s because Rachel Bilson is Italian-American and most of the scenes in the movie Jumper are set in Italy. My parents are all Italian immigrants but I’ve never been to Tuscany, hometown of both sets of my grandparents. But I will surely be there during spring break.
Of course, I will also be visiting Rome on my trip with my parents. In fact, my parents have already bought through Expedia the Alitalia airline tickets for the four of us (including my younger sister Monica). I am not just a movie buff and as a fan of economic studies, I am glad that we Italian-Americans have contributed in our own little ways to help steer the United States economy from recession and being patriotic by spending a few bucks through our one-week vacation to Italy. By spending in hotels in Rome and Tuscany during spring break, we also play ode to our Italian heritage and contribute to the economy there.
My Italian actress idol is Monica Bellucci. I first saw her convincingly perform as Jesus’s mother in The Passion of the Christ. Later, I saw her playing opposite Bruce Willis as a missionary in Africa in Tears of the Sun. She must be a good actress because she has captured the fancy of Hollywood producers. And they are not just B-rated movies that Monica is hired, they are big-budgeted productions such as The Passion of the Christ and Tears of the Sun. Remember that Tears of the Sun has been handpicked by West Point as a supplemental tool in teaching their students how to do a covert Special Forces military operation accurately.
Monica Bellucci really did justice to the producers of all the Hollywood movies that she has starred in and that’s what makes her my idol. In one of the saddest movies I have ever seen, Irreversible, she played the role of a pregnant woman who was mercilessly raped and killed. And that’s why I adore Monica Bellucci as an actress. But then again, Monica is pure Italian. I also want to throw my moral support to actors of Italian descent in the United States like Anthony LaPaglia who is an Australian-Italian but now in the United States as a mainstay in Jerry Bruckheimer’s Without a Trace.
IN Italy, the people in 2008 are already growing more liberated in this country of mostly Roman Catholic which hosts the headquarters of Roman Catholicism itself at the Vatican. When Pope Benedict XVI attempted to visit University of Rome last week, he was jeered by students who do not like his seemingly anti-science views. As the chief of the Swiss Guards protecting the Pope lamented, it’s easier to visit a dangerous country such as Turkey rather than visiting the University of Rome.
This is just a testament to the fact that Italy is really a free country outside the influence of the Vatican City. In return, Vatican City is mum on the nation’s politics. Even during World War II at the height of Benito Mussolini’s reign when the dictator allied himself with the Axis Powers, Vatican City is tightlipped on the issue.
Right now, what Italy is doing is to protect its own economy from a credit crisis which has gripped the United States hard in 2007. Banks in Italy are shielded from the crisis because they do not follow the same credit structure implemented in the United States. Despite that, the central bank of Italy is not taking chances. This early, the Bank of Italy has urged its citizens to cut on spending for consumer items as well as other services if they want to avail of tax cuts. This is to protect their economy even though their constituency is that democratic – they can urge the government to cut their taxes. But that is certainly not a feasible measure right now as every euro in Italian hands must be let go so the economy can keep on revolving. But with the constant influx of tourists to such cities as Rome, Venice and Milan, the economy in Italy is still very robust and very vibrant to this day indeed.
These three cities have lots of tourists for a variety of reasons. Rome hosts the Vatican City whose Roman Catholic religion encompasses all around the globe as well as it is also the center of prehistoric European civilization. Do you know that Rome has long been there before Christ was born and it is the origin of contemporary European languages such as English, French and German? On the other hand, Venice stands out for two reasons – it is the only pedestrian city in the world as well as the only city on earth sitting on a lagoon. Milan is of course the fashion capital of the world - even those from London, Paris and Madrid are catching flights, vols and vuelos to get here!
Another strategic measure that the central bank of Italy has imposed is to encourage merger among local banks so their assets can be consolidated and they can withstand any possible economic outfall in the future. Another thing that the central bank of Italy has to look out for in 2008 is for prices of commodities in the nation not to fluctuate. So when you visit Italy, help us maintain the bullishness of our economy. Dump your cash here in return of memorable giveaways to your families back home.
