Rome Private Excursions

21/11/2024

🇮🇹 The Italian Way: An Italian-style Birthday
Italian-style birthdays are renowned for their warmth, delicious food, lively atmosphere, and emphasis on spending quality time with loved ones. In this guide, we'll walk you through the essential elements to throw a memorable Italian-style birthday celebration.

🎂 La Torta in Faccia: In certain regions of Italy, particularly in southern regions like Sicily and Calabria, it’s a playful tradition to smash a piece of birthday cake into the birthday person’s face.  This lighthearted gesture is believed to bring good luck and laughter, symbolizing a wish for abundance and joy in the coming year.

🌜 La Vigilia di Compleanno: The night before a birthday, known as “la vigilia di compleanno,” holds special significance in Italian culture. It is often celebrated with a festive dinner attended by family and close friends, setting the stage for the main birthday celebration the following day.

🤑 Your birthday, your treat: In Italy, the birthday person usually pays for the celebration. If you invite friends for dinner or drinks, you’re expected to cover the bill. Many people prefer home celebrations to save money. At work, the birthday person brings treats to share.

🫂 No big bashes: Unlike other cultures, extravagant parties are less common. Italians often celebrate with intimate gatherings of close family and friends.

How to Say “Happy Birthday” in Italian?
👉  Buon compleanno! (Formal and most used)
👉  Tanti auguri di buon compleanno! (Formal with added wishes)
👉  Feliz compleanno! (Informal and borrowed from Spanish)
👉  Happy Birthday! (English is widely understood)

Birthday Gift Etiquette  
✅ Do’s in Gifting
- Consider bringing a thoughtful gift, such as a bottle of fine wine, artisanal chocolates, or a bouquet of fresh flowers.
- Consider practical gifts like gift cards, experiences, or homemade items.
- Wrap your gift nicely, presentation matters in Italy.

❌ Don’ts in Gifting
- It’s not considered polite to show how much you’ve spent on a gift. Make sure to remove or cover the sticker price to avoid any embarrassment or awkwardness.
- Don’t arrive empty-handed.

01/11/2024

🎃 Halloween in Italy: a crosspath of respect, tradition and spooky fun

Do Italians Celebrate Halloween?

Yes! 🦇 Halloween is celebrated in Italy, and it’s becoming more popular each year!

How is Halloween celebrated In Italy?
In big cities like Rome, Milan, and Florence, you’ll find bustling streets filled with kids in costumes shouting “Dolcetto o Scherzetto!” (Trick or Treat!). Stores and markets are decorated with spooky decorations.

Costume parties are all the rage, with many people dressing up as traditional monsters or spooky characters from popular films. Some towns host themed events like haunted houses or Halloween fairs, making it a fun outing for families and friends alike. You might even stumble upon Halloween-themed parades, where participants showcase their creative costumes while marching through the streets.

The modern and the ancient together

In Italy, Halloween often overlaps with La Festa di Ognissanti (All Saints’ Day) and Il Giorno dei Morti (Day of the Dead), both significant dates on the Catholic calendar.

Traditional Italian food eaten around Halloween
While Italy may adopt American Halloween customs, it also maintains its own unique food traditions around the holiday. Two popular treats associated with All Saints and All Souls Day in Italy are “fave dei morti” (beans of the dead) and “ossa di morto” (bones of the dead). These sweets, often made with almonds and sugar, are symbolic offerings in honor of the deceased.

Another fall favorite is pan dei morti (bread of the dead), a spiced cookie made with dried fruits and nuts. In some regions, Italians bake special breads or cakes as part of the ritual of remembering and celebrating the dead. These traditional dishes reflect Italy’s deep connection to food and family during times of remembrance.

Come to Italy and enjoy the mixture of ancient rituals and spooky modern celebrations!

23/10/2024

🤌The Italian Way: The typical Italian breakfast

The food items may not be so certain, but surely everyone can guess that no traditional Italian breakfast is complete without a coffee. Some Italians prefer espresso, which is the coffee of choice throughout the day, but breakfast is also an acceptable time to have a cappuccino.

🥐 vs 🍳 Do Italians prefer sweet or savory food for breakfast ?

There is no doubt that Italians in general prefer a sweet breakfast to a savory one. In fact, only approximately 7% of Italians say that they eat a savory breakfast.

A savory Italian breakfast would typically include thin slices of meat such as prosciutto, bresaola, mortadella, salami, along with eggs, and cheeses on bread.

The most common classic breakfast food in Italy is the “cornetto”.  A cornetto is often filled with some kind of cream, custard, jam or chocolate spread, and accompanied by a coffee.

The cornetto is also wrongly called croissant or brioche. Real cornetto takes its origin from the kipfel, a traditional pastry from Wien, which is different from the French croissant in shape and ingredients, such as eggs.

Some Italians choose to eat cereal, and these are readily available in supermarkets, but are generally more popular among children. If adults eat cereal for breakfast in Italy it is usually with yogurt as opposed to milk, or milk alternatives, which are also becoming increasingly popular in recent years. It is very common to see Italians choosing soy milk, oat milk, or other alternatives to cow’s milk these days.

🏠 vs 🍴Does the traditional Italian breakfast take place at the bar or at home?
One peculiarity of Italy is the amount of Italians who prefer to have breakfast at a “bar” rather than at home.

These bars are not to be confused with British or American bars which primarily serve alcohol, but are more similar to what would be considered a small cafe.

The choice of whether an Italian has breakfast at home or at a bar depends on a few things, including time, family habits, and budget, but in general, it is possible to have a traditional Italian breakfast at a bar for very little money.

   

14/09/2024

HEY FRIENDS...

IT IS OFFICIAL, I WILL BE THERE AGAIN
MARCH 1ST, MARCH 6TH

SEE YALL IN ORLANDO

13/04/2024

Happy ween end everybody from Luca and Shane Lawrence

see the video below

Call Imagine Travel today!

07/04/2024

Cristiano, Carlo, Angelo, Marc and Johnny

My guys today in Piazza Tasso in Sorrento

31/03/2024

This am I open up my inbox and I see this... a picture sent by a client, who today became an agent from about 16 years ago.

Me and Manny, parked with the 16 seater right in front of the Courthouse of St Inquisition next to the Vatican (Basilica exit).

A group of wonderful people. So! This was today 16 years ago!

We are still here.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

05/03/2024

This is how everything started!! ❤️❤️❤️
Younger and thinner about 5 years ago 🫣🫣🫣

14/02/2024

Local food: Agnolotti del Plin
Recipe
Ingredients
For the pasta & filling:
Pasta dough (follow our fresh pasta recipe)
1tbsp butter
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves
450g minced veal
450g minced pork
675g fresh spinach, roughly chopped
85g Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
3 large eggs
Freshly grated nutmeg, generous pinch
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the butter sauce:
140g butter
1tsp salt
10 sage leaves
100g Parmigiano Reggiano, grated

Method
1️⃣ Make the pasta dough
Make a well with the flour on a work surface. Crack the eggs into the well and whisk with a fork, incorporating the flour, until you see some lumps of dough coming together. Carry on with your hands, kneading the dough until you have a smooth, elastic ball. Flatten it into a disc, wrap it in cling film and leave it to rest for half an hour.
2️⃣ Make the filling
Heat the butter and add the garlic and rosemary. Add the veal and pork and cook until brown on each side, for about 10 minutes
Season the mixture with salt and pepper
Cook the spinach for 1 minute in boiling water, drain it well and add to the meat mix
Stir in the Parmigiano Reggiano, eggs and nutmeg and add salt and pepper to taste, combine well and set aside
3️⃣ Make your agnolotti
Split the pasta dough into 3 parts and start rolling out 1 piece, on a floured surface, until it’s about ⅛ inch thick (pretty thin), lay it out and trim the edges to make them straight
Place the filling at intervals along the pasta sheet, leaving a 1½ inch border at the bottom of the dough and on each side of the filling
Pull the top edge of the pasta over the filling, seal each agnolotti by pressing your index finger on the edges and ensure there are no air bubbles
Then, starting at one end of the dough, place your thumb and forefinger of each hand together, place your hands about an inch apart and pinch vertically at small intervals to seal each piece of agnolotti separately
Separate the agnolotti strip from the rest of the pasta sheet using a sharp knife. Place each piece on a floured surface and leave to rest for about 25 minutes
4️⃣ Cook your pasta
Cook for 3 minutes in boiling water.
Buon appetito!

28/01/2024

Happy Sunday every one!!!

2024 looks more crazy than 2023!
- tickets to attractions are hard to find
- restaurants are always full
- guides are booked up throughout April, May, June!

What's going on?
Dear friends, speed up!

And... if last minutes always try to organize tours that don't involve entrance tickets to major sites

24/01/2024

Learn how to make Tortellini in Brodo:
Ingredients
BROTH
600g of chicken bones, a carcass or wings will work too
3l water
1 onion, peeled and halved
1 carrot, peeled
1 stick of celery
1 potato, peeled
salt

PASTA
200g of plain flour, sifted
2 eggs

FILLING
200g of pork loin, finely diced
2 tbsp of unsalted butter
200g of prosciutto, thinly sliced
200g of mortadella, thinly sliced
100g of Parmesan, grated
2 eggs
nutmeg, freshly grated
salt
freshly ground black pepper

TO SERVE
Parmesan, grated

Method

1- Begin by making the broth. In a large pot set over a medium heat, combine all the ingredients for the broth. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 2 hours, removing any foam that forms on the surface.

2- Make the pasta dough. On a work surface, form the flour into a well. Crack the eggs into the centre of the well. Whisk the eggs with a fork, incorporating the flour a little at a time, until the dough starts to come together. Carry on with your hands, kneading the dough until you have a smooth, elastic ball. Flatten into a disc, wrap in cling film and leave to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge

3 - Make the filling. Melt the butter in a frying pan set over a medium heat. Brown the pork on all sides. Remove from the heat and use a knife to mince it together with the prosciutto and mortadella. Combine the meat with the Parmesan and eggs, then season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg

4 - Divide the pasta dough into 3 pieces. Roll the balls out on a pasta machine. Spread the sheets over a floured work surface. Cut each sheet into 3cm squares, then place a small amount of the filling onto each square. Fold the square diagonally in half onto itself to form a triangle, then fold it agin so that the corners at the bases come together to form a pocket.

5 - Once you have sealed all the tortellini, reheat the broth. Season to taste and, once simmering, add the tortellini. Cook for about a minute, then remove from the heat

6 - Divide the tortellini and broth between 6 serving bowls and top with grated Parmesan

Buon appetito!

13/01/2024

FEBRUARY 5TH AND 6TH

ANYBODY IN MILAN AT BIT?

Luca will be there as visitor! DM Luca Orlandi here