Your hosts of the #DolceVitaBloggers link up, Kelly, Kristie, and I, invite you to dream big and share your perfect day in Italy for the April 2018 link up topic!
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Perhaps you’d like to share a memory of a blissful day you’ve already experienced, or perhaps you’d like to share a hypothetical perfect day that you’d like to experience if money were no object.
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• Who are you with?
• What would you do?
• Where would you go?
• What would you eat?

Dream big and inspire us with your perfect day in Italy! It’s a perfect opportunity to inspire others visiting Italy this summer with a dreamy itinerary for a perfect day in the bel paese.

HOW TO JOIN OUR LINK-UP:
For instructions on how to join, click here.
For an instructive video on how to join, click here.
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The link up will be open from April 7th to 14th. You’ll be able to add your blog post or vlog below as always by clicking the BLUE BUTTON. 

Past #DolceVitaBlogger Link-Ups:
​#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #4 March 2018 - International Women's Day
​#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #3 February 2018 - A Love Letter to Italy
#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #2 January 2018 - Favourite Italian City
​#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #1 December 2017 - 'The Italian Connection'

​Inspirational women come in all shapes and sizes. My inspirational woman is about 5 feet 2 inches and has the most infectious laugh of any of my family members. You can typically find her in the kitchen, cooking up a storm for twenty people, or singing in her church choir. She is kind and caring and most of all, strong. Strong in the face of adversity when she first arrived in Canada with my grandpa where they opened a grocery store, despite not speaking the language very well at first. They worked long hours to give their children the Canadian dream that so many immigrant parents wanted for the next generation and they were rewarded- my mom and her two brothers are all university graduates and between my cousins and I, we share innumerous numbers of degrees and titles. I think what many immigrant families are after is to prove themselves worthy of the country that accepted them and to bring a sort of prestige to the family name and while I hope we’ve done my grandparents proud, what we learned most never came from our formal education. We learned from my grandmother, that no task is too big and no dream unattainable. That with hard work and dedication, you truly can build something from nothing. When she first moved to Canada, my grandmother didn’t even know how to boil water. Now, she is our family’s most beloved cook and chef of all big, festive gatherings. Nowadays, younger generations might balk at the idea of moving to a new country where they don’t speak the language and have to sustain themselves by finding a job, making new friends, and essentially re-creating a life. I did exactly that because I had the living proof that it was possible. My grandma showed me that. If you think about it, I followed her footsteps and I hope that in some small way, I might be able to inspire others as she did me. Her strength has always been her greatest strength and while we were all devastated by the unexpected death of my grandfather (that's him in the photo above!) this past January, she maintained that steadfast demeanor that we’ve come to admire. It doesn’t mean tears were not shed or the loss intensely felt, but it means she watched a whole lifetime of memories with a smile, strong in her love and held up by her incredible faith and family. If I accomplish anything in this life, it would to be regarded by my friends and family as sharing and emulating even the tiniest bit of her. So to end this post, I'd like to raise my glass to my grandma and all the other wonderful women who continue to inspire us. Cheers to you, you're beautiful! 

If you're interested in another piece I wrote about my grandparents and language learning, you can find that here: Why Learning Italian Made Me Appreciate My Grandparents

This is part of the March #DolceVitaBloggers Linkup:
#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #4 March 2018 - International Women's Day​

Past #DolceVitaBlogger Link-Ups:
​#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #3 February 2018 - A Love Letter to Italy
#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #2 January 2018 - Favourite Italian City
​#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #1 December 2017 - 'The Italian Connection'

March: Inspirational Women

In honour of International Women’s Day on 8th March, tell us all about the woman or women who inspire you. (You are welcome to write about any women from around the globe, not only Italian women!).

Whether it's someone famous or revered worldwide, or maybe someone not so famous but admired by you and you alone, whoever the woman that inspires you is, we want to know her.

The linky will be open from 7th March and you will have one week to submit your own posts and a full month to read and share everyone's stories. We will obviously share and comment on them all as well! 
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Marzo: La Festa Della Donna
Per commemorare la Giornata Internazionale della Donna dell'8 Marzo  raccontateci di una donna o delle donne che vi hanno ispirato. Potete scegliere qualsiasi donna nel mondo, non solamente Italiana. Non vediamo l'ora di leggere tutti i vostri commenti.

Il linky aprira' dal 7 Marzo e avrete 1 settimana di tempo per inviare i vostri post ed un intero mese per leggere e condividere tutte le vostre storie. Noi lasceremo dei commenti e condivideremo tutti i vostri post.

​HOW TO JOIN OUR LINK-UP:
For instructions on how to join, click here.
For an instructive video on how to join, click here.

Past #DolceVitaBlogger Link-Ups:
 ​#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #3 February 2018 - A Love Letter to Italy
#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #2 January 2018 - Favourite Italian City
​#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #1 December 2017 - 'The Italian Connection' 

You were like the captain of the football team, such a stereotypical choice that I wanted to avoid making. I had to avoid making. It’s almost shameful to utter the words “I fell in love with Italy” however, I suppose I should have considered that I used to be a cheerleader and therefore you were my inescapable fate from the start. I’ll come right out and say that it was lust at first sight and not love. It was not love for a long time because of your beauty. Captivating, impossible to ignore or deny. That summer, I was in awe of you. You made me marvel before I knew the word. You were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Wide-eyed, I took to your cobblestone streets, negotiating the path of Gods and lesser gods in high-heels and dodging glances from your entourage, dark-eyed and tempting. But it wasn’t them I was looking at, nor the men nor the women. Seductive as they are, I couldn’t take my eyes off you and you alone.

You have that kind of hold on people, and dare I say it, on virgins especially. First-timers. Yet the more I came to you, entranced and enthralled, the more I realized that amongst your beauty there were ruins. I began to see your faults because we all have them. Not even you are perfect, actually, you are the farthest thing from perfection. You hide behind this façade of slow dinners out in the piazza at twilight, the laughter of friends over clinking glasses filled to the brim with Aperol, prosecco, soda water and ice, the cypress-lined drives in the Tuscan countryside, a wake of white dust following a red 1960 Alfa Romeo Giulietta, a silent prayer after wine-fueled nights of passion in a language created for courtship and opera.

Your façade is literally in the façade of buildings that not only house history but are history themselves. You seduce easily, using all these things as part of your armory, but you let only a select few in. I get it. I’ve done it too. It’s a self-preservation thing. So many have thought they loved you until they saw the you without makeup in the morning, with fluorescent lighting after a sleepless night when nothing is going right and everything in the world is wrong. Full of secrets and corruption, of bureaucratic failures and few everyday successes. You like to dwell on the past, your past conquests, your past glories. You live in the past, but this isn’t high school anymore and it’s like everyone grew up around you. You’re vain as well. Sometimes too arrogant to admit your faults but depending on the day, you’re self-deprecating at the same time, quick to react and slow to change.

​The others, they want only the beauty without the beast. But Italy, my dearest, you are both. A paradox of sorts and a riddle that can never be solved. And only a handful of us are content with an unsolved riddle, with getting lost in it and with losing ourselves in it. Some people might say that a love like ours is destructive. I say it’s the only kind to live for. Where I am so entwined and tangled up in you that I can’t discern where you start and I end up. To live with you is to be you and to know that on some days, there are ruins in our beauty and that on others, there is beauty in the ruins. You’ve taught me not only about love but of life. I left behind so much for you, sacrificed everything that I thought of as sacred before you came along. But in you, I finally found what is sacred: slow dinners out in the piazza, twilight, the laughter of friends, the cypress-lined drives, Tuscan countryside, a wake of white dust, a red Alfa Romeo, wine-fueled nights, a language, courtship, opera, and most of all and in it all, passion.

February: A Love Letter To Italy

As February is the month of love and Saint Valentine, we thought what better than to write a love letter to our beloved Italia!

What do you love about Italy? What's your relationship with the country? Does it make you fall head over heels one minute and frustrate you the next? Tell us how you feel. As always feel free to interpret this theme as you wish...An idea could be to write it to Italy as a person, starting with "Dear Italy...", for example.

​Take it as a chance to express your love ❤️ for il bel paese. Maybe the love is unrequited, maybe it's been a lifelong affair, maybe you took a "break" but you wanna get back together, maybe she's caused you so much heartache that you have to walk away, whatever it is, we want to know why you love or have loved Italy.

We can't wait to read your letters!

The linky will be open from February 7th and you will have one week to submit your own posts and a full month to read and share everyone's stories. We will obviously share and comment on them all as well!

Please fill in our form here where you can tell us what topics you'd like to see and how you prefer the Linky to be run! This is all so we can create a wonderful Italophile community! Talk to us!

Febbraio: Una Lettera D'Amore

Poiché febbraio è il mese dell'amore e di San Valentino, abbiamo pensato... che cosa c'e' di meglio che scrivere una lettera d'amore alla nostra amata Italia?

Cosa amate dell'Italia? Qual è il vostro rapporto con il Bel Paese? Vi fa innamomare un minuto e vi frustra un istante dopo? Diteci come vi sentite? Come sempre sentievi liberi/e di interpretare questo tema come desiderate ...

Non vediamo l'ora di leggere tutti i vostri commenti.

Il linky aprira' dal 7 febbraio e avrete 1 settimana di tempo per inviare i vostri post ed un intero mese per leggere e condividere tutte le vostre storie. Noi lasceremo dei commenti e condivideremo tutti i vostri post.

HOW TO JOIN OUR LINK-UP:
For instructions on how to join, click here.
For an instructive video on how to join, click here.
​

Past #DolceVitaBlogger Link-Ups:
#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #2 January 2018 - Favourite Italian City
​#DolceVitaBloggers Linkup - #1 December 2017 - 'The Italian Connection'

Starting the new year off with the topic “Favourite Italian City” is certainly a challenge because as most of us know, every Italian city has its own charm and I would choose more than a handful as my favourites if I could but alas, I had to go with my bias and pick my adopted hometown: BERGAMO.

Bergamo is a hidden gem. I know everyone say this about their town but mine really is. It’s constantly overshadowed by nearby Milan and unjustly so because Bergamo is about a million times better (please note that I have been slightly brainwashed by my husband who is “bergamasco”, born and raised!). Bergamo is located about 40 minutes from Milan by car or train and is perfectly situated with a view of the mountains on a clear day. It’s ideal because it’s a smaller city, completely walk-able but with medieval flair that brings a touch Tuscany hill-top villages to mind.

Her claim to fame is that she is bipolar. What I mean by that is that the city actually has a split-personality because she’s made of two “separate” cities: Città Alta (the Upper City) and Città Bassa (the Lower City). Città Alta is home to the medieval section and completely surrounded by stone walls that were recently named a UNESCO World Heritage Site last year. You can walk the cobblestone streets and take in one of Italy’s most well-.preserved and stunning squares: Piazza Vecchia. Caffè del Tasso sits on the square and has been in the same spot since 1476 where it has served coffee to the likes of John Nash and Charlton Heston through the times. It was also in Città Alta that an Italian favourite, “stracciatella” gelato was invented. While I love this flavor, my absolute favourite is “Rosa”, gelato flavored with rose extract and rose petals and there’s nothing I love more than to stroll the streets in the summer with a cone in hand.

​In contrast to the Upper City, Città Bassa is the modern part of the city where you can find a smorgasbord of restaurants and shops just like in any other city in Italy and Europe, for that matter. The nightlife is in the lower section, the romantic panoramas in the upper. Is there more perfection than this?

Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever visited my city or if I’ve convinced you to after this post! 

*Photographs of Bergamo featured in this post are from Daniele Boffelli because I'm a terrible photographer and I needed to do the city justice.
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​If you enjoyed this post, you may also like to "dare un'occhiata" at these ones:
​EAT, PRAY, LOVE-esque in Bergamo
One Lucky Californian Expat's Enchanting View from Bergamo's Città Alta An Instagram Photograph of Bergamo Looks Like a Dream 
a sunday stroll in città bassa (bergamo) It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...in Bergamo and Milano... Bergamo Through The Lens of Daniele Boffelli ​
Bella Vita in Bergamo Screenshots from House Hunters International ​
The Best of Bergamo ​
​A Tale of Two Cities: Bergamo and Edmonton
​An Interview with Raffaella and Margherita of Bergamo City Kiwi
​A couple Sundays ago- views of Bergamo from Città Alta

January's Topic is: FAVOURITE ITALIAN CITY 

Happy New Year and Buon Anno! 

Our topic for the month of January as voted by you all is 'Favourite Italian City'

Which is your favourite city in Italy? Tell us about what to do there, or share a wonderful memory of you visiting this particular place. Please interpret this theme as you wish... 

I can't wait to read your suggestions! 

The linky will be open from 7th January and you will have one week to submit your own posts and a full month to read and share everyone's stories. We will obviously share and comment on them all as well! 
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ONCE MORE IN ITALIAN....

Buon anno a tutti!

Il tema del nostro linky di gennaio votato da voi sara':  "La vostra citta' italiana preferita!

Qual'e' la vostra citta' italiana preferita? Diteci cosa fare in quella citta' o condividete i vostri ricordi di quando avete visitato un posto particolare. (massima liberta' di interpretazione.....citta' da intendere in senso lato, paese, cittadina, citta' di provincia o metropoli piccola o grande).

Non vediamo l'ora di leggere tutti i vostri suggerimenti!

Il linky aprira' dal 7 gennaio e avrete 1 settimana di tempo per inviare i vostri post ed un intero mese per leggere e condividere tutte le vostre storie. Noi lasceremo dei commenti e condivideremo tutti i vostri post.

HOW TO JOIN OUR LINK-UP:
For instructions on how to join, click here. 
For an instructive video on how to join, click here. 

​If you passed me on the street, at first glance, you’d have no idea I have an Italy connection. I look Asian-ish although most of the year I’m “too tanned” to be Chinese or Japanese, I speak English with a Canadian accent and I say “eh” at the end of sentences. But under this deceiving exterior is an Italian-speaking, Italy-loving, quasi-Italian-citizen-by-marriage! Indeed, the secret’s out, I’m one of those girls that fell for a suave tall, dark, and handsome Italian boy once upon a time and got whisked away to the dolce vita and lived happily ever after. This inaugural post for the Dolce Vita Bloggers Link Up is about everyone’s Italy connection and this is mine. One summer, nine years ago, I was out with friends in a local nightclub in Edmonton, Alberta, the city in Western Canada where I was born and raised. From afar, I spotted my future husband and he was a vision in white jeans with long hair. He looked like the cover of a Harlequin novel, very Fabio-esque. He was the best thing I’d ever seen. I might have fallen in love at first sight (but don’t tell him!). We started talking about our past travels after he photo-bombed me and my girlfriends and the Monday following, we had a lunch date on the campus of University of Alberta where I was studying Russian and Biology at the time and where he was doing research for his engineering thesis. Fast forward to present day, I’m writing this from our house in Bergamo, Italy where we’ve been living since 2014 when I started the blog and decided to pack up my Canadian life for completely different way of life, one that I was banking on would be the perfect fit for me. Boy, was I right. Turns out Italy and I fit each other like my favorite pair of Stuart Weitzman. I am in love with the country, the people, the culture, the food, THE WINE,  the language and my brand-new Italian hubby, listed in no particular order of preference just to be clear!  Italian has essentially become my second love affair and I’ve been studying it for almost as long as I’ve been getting to know my husband all these years and in regards to both these things, I’m of the opinion that the learning will never stop. I am beyond excited to be part of this initiative, the brainchild of Kristie, Kelly, and I and we so hope that you share the feeling and our passion for Italy and all things Italian. So cheers everyone, to this sweet life (questa dolce vita) and to living like Italians, no matter where in the world we are! 

Proud to introduce the newest and greatest and maybe even the first, monthly blogger and vlogger link up for lovers of Italy! Kristie of Mammaprada, Kelly of Italian at Heart, and I (Jasmine) are your official hosts for the #DolceVitaBloggers (and vloggers, sorry didn't include you in the hashtag in an effort to keep things concise!) Link Up with our inaugural date set as December 7th, 2017! We want to create a giant Italy-loving family across the globe. We've connected with tons of people already through social media, in fact, Kelly and I have even met in person in Italy after meeting on Instagram!

Awhile back, I created the ​The Unofficial, Community-Curated, Comprehensive List of Italophile Instagrammers which was already a start at creating community but what if you didn't only just creep photos and read the occassional caption? What if we could actually start a conversation between all of us Italophiles? What if we could share our stories and inspire each other along the way?

​That's the goal of Dolce Vita Bloggers. 
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​First of all, if you're scratching your head and have no idea what a "link up" is, please head over to the #DolceVitaBloggers Link Up information page that you can find at the top of my site. Do that first and then come back...! Ah, back already?! Ok, so this is the official place where you can link your post and blog by clicking the BLUE BUTTON (if you're reading this before December 7th, the blue button won't be visible yet). 

December's Topic is: THE ITALIAN CONNECTION 

What is your connection to Italy? Did you marry into an Italian family? Are you Italian? Do you just love Italia? You can interpret this however you wish and we can't wait to read your posts! All of the hosts will also write on this theme. We thought it was a great starting place to all learn a bit more about each other. ​