The green wall around Lucca Italy, is actually used as a park for walking, biking, and sitting under the trees

The fabulous wall of Lucca is enjoyed by locals and tourists

Standing 40 feet high and 60 feet wide, and 3 miles around the city, it was originally built to protect but today has become a lovely park. You can walk, jog, run, bike, and even rollerskate. There are bicycle rental shops located in many places within the walled city.  I rode my bicycle  several times around the wall on a warm sunny September afternoon. It took about 20 minutes each time around.  You can see views of gardens on patios, the church towers, and the city streets from on high. There are many paths, not stairs, that lead you to the top of the wall. Actually, once you’re on top, you don’t feel like you’re even on a wall, because it is so wide.

Lenora bicycling on the wall of Lucca

For my 4th Annual Italy Retreat for Women to live La Dolce Vita, we will visit the Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera for 6 nights and then Lucca in Northern Tuscany, for three nights.

Lucca was founded in Roman times and the buildings are a mix of Renaissance and Medieval. But there is a feeling of lightness in Lucca and some say it may be due to the fact that Lucca was ruled by women at different times.  In the twelfth century, the Longobard Matilda, then two ladies who focused on public works and cultivation of the arts.  Maria Anna Elisa Bacciocchi, sister of Napoleon Bonaparte, was one of the female rulers. It is surrounded by mountains in the distance and a 30 minute drive to Via Reggio, on the Ligurian/Mediterranean shore.

Lucca home and garden from the wall

I think many visitors to Italy agree, that one of the special tourist attractions, is people watching. For me it exemplifies la dolce fa niente, the sweetness of doing nothing.  It’s easy here in Lucca to sit at the many piazze (town squares) to eat a meal or enjoy a gelato, and watch women pushing elaborate baby carriages, senior citizens on bikes, playing cards and teens playing tag, all in an almost synchronised dance.

The essence of authentic Italian shopping, eating, church viewing (almost 100) and medieval towers, are all wrapped in a small beautiful package called Lucca. I think you’ll love it.

Have you been to Lucca? What do you like about it?

Photo Credit of aerial view: initaly.co.uk
Other photos from Lenora’s trip to Lucca

La Bella Lingua by Dianne Hales

Last week, I sponsored a giveaway for a fabulous book about the Italian language, La Bella Lingua-My Love Affair with Italian, The World’s Most Enchanting Language, by Dianne Hales.

This morning, (via Random.org) I am announcing the winner!  Melissa Muldoon, who is an American writing her blog in Italian (you can read it in English), Diario di una Studentessa Matta. She will receive her copy soon.

I appreciate all of you who celebrated the 3-year anniversary of my blog by entering this contest and posting here, or on twitter and facebook. Please stop by any time!

Monterosso Beach, Cinque Terre, Italy

On a cold January morning, three years ago, in an Iowa coffee shop, a friend helped me  create my second blog, ItalyRetreat.blogpost.com, so that I could post information about my workshops in Italy. Now, three years later, I’m celebrating my 3 year blogiversary by moving to wordpress.  In addition, my blog name has morphed into ItalyRetreatForWomen.com.  All old posts have been moved, many manually. Of course, all inquiries to my old address will be now forwarded to Italy Retreat for Women.

I am challenged keeping up with writing posts, but I love all things Italian, so I write as much as I can.  My daughter, Grace, who has two successful beautiful blogs, has been instrumental in many ways, answering my many techie questions, and giving me encouragement and fresh ideas. My readers, all of you, have also blessed me with your support.

Besides, the whole purpose for this blog is to write about my passion—Italy! I share my thoughts and experiences about all things Italian, including my travels to Italy, Italian food, growing up as an Italian American in the US, and sharing why it’s important to join me in ITALY at my annual Italy Retreat for Women to live la dolce vita, the sweet life!

The Sweet Life is all about an enriched life, changing limiting beliefs, and living a big happy life. It is going on adventures, making life at home sweeter, having fun with friends, cooking together, walking together, learning together – all in the spirit of La Dolce Vita.  I have come to realize that my life’s work helping others to be happier and more successful has been about living the sweet life. The ultimate? Go to Italy with me!

I hope you enjoy the new look and location.  Please subscribe, and then you will receive regular updates in your email. You can subscribe by scrolling down in the right hand column, and entering your email address, and transcribing a code word.

To also celebrate, I invite you to a wonderful BOOK GIVE-AWAY!  I’m very excited that Dianne Hales, author of one of my all time favorite books, My Bella Lingua, is offering an autographed copy of her luscious book to the winner of my drawing right here on Italy Retreat for Women.

I have read this book a couple times because Dianne is an excellent story teller who captures the enchantment, history and culture of Italy, while teaching us about the beauty of the language.

What Amazon says about La Bella Lingua is that ‘it’s a celebration of the language and culture of Italy. La Bella Lingua is the story of how a language shaped a nation, told against the backdrop of one woman’s personal quest to speak fluent Italian.’

In order to enter the free giveaway, please ACT NOW, IT IS SO EASY to take ONE of the following actions:

1.)   Like my BeHappyLifeCoach facebook fan page, if you have not already done so in the past.

2.)   Tweet about my 3 year blogiversary.  You can use this: Celebrate 3 yr. blogiversary @lenoraboyle. Free book give-away, new blog address at ItalyRetreatForWomen.com.

3.)   Comment on this blog post between today and Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at midnight, Eastern time.  A winner will be chosen and an autographed copy of “La Bella Lingua” will be sent to you anywhere in the world!

The winner will be chosen through random.org and  will receive a confirmation email, so be sure I have your contact information.  I will also post the winner on this blog, so check back in by Thursday morning,  January 26.

Welcome and please stop back anytime! Remember to live the sweet life, la dolce vita, wherever you are!

Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life.”          –Anna Akhmatova

I was nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by Nicole at Cultural Comments Blog. Thank you for the honor. I ‘met’ Nicole through her blog when she was updating the world about the October 25th mudslide and flood devastation that occurred in Vernazza and Monterosso, in the Cinque Terre, Italy.

I want to be part of the solution for full quick recovery for these two beautiful towns. Each September, I bring a group of women to Monterossso, where I teach a transformational workshop, ITALY RETREAT FOR WOMEN to live la dolce vita. We also travel to Italian Riviera towns, including Vernazza. I love most areas of Italy, but especially the Cinque Terre. It’s a magical land, and Nicole is one of the bloggers who has kept the world informed about the devastation and recovery–a sweet gift of service. The Cinque Terre is a listed as a world heritage site, and I’m just saying they must be rebuilt.

DONATION TO CINQUE TERRE: So, before reading any further, if you would like to donate to their recovery, (any amount is appreciated), please click HERE The money goes directly to rebuilding Monterosso and Vernazza. Another local site created by four expats, that directly supports Vernazza is SaveVernazza.

Now….back to the Versatile Blogger Award! There are a few rules:
Rule #1: Link back to the person that gave you the award
Rule #2: Pass this award on to 15 other deserving blogs
Rule #3: Share seven facts about yourself

15 Bloggers I read and enjoy for many different reasons. Some write about Italy, travel, food, or life experiences in general…but all inspire, educate and comfort me. Read their blogs and enjoy!

I nominate the following wonderful BLOGGERS for the Versatile Blogger Award.

1) Bleeding Espresso

2) 2 Baci in a Pinon Tree

3) My Bella Vita

4) Diario di una Studentessa Matta

5) Euro Bimbo

6) Who’s Your Gladys?

7) My Melange

8 ) White Hot Truth

9) SpeakStrong

10) MamaMaryshow

11) A Path To Lunch

12) PaniniGirl

13) Bell’ alimento

14) Doniree.com

15) SusanVanAllen

7 Things About Me:

1. I have dual citizenship with Italy. I have 100% Italian heritage as both sets of grandparents immigrated to the US from Italy in the early 1900′s. I love all things Italian.

2. When I traveled to Italy in 2006 for the first time, I met over 40 relatives. One aunt I met was Aunt Carmella, who was 92 years old, and my maternal grandfather’s baby sister. When my grandfather was 17, he left for America alone, before she was even born. They first met when she was 50 years old and he was 67.

3. I have meditated twice a day and have done yoga for 38 years since I was 20 years old.

4. My life’s work has been focused on helping individuals to be happier, to create an enriched life, and all the possibilities that brings. I started teaching workshops on marriage and parenting three decades ago, and have been focused on helping individuals break free from limiting beliefs, so they can be happier and healthier for the past 20 years. Love my one-one-one work that I do coaching over the phone and in person.

5. I love gardening and have been eating healthy wholesome organic foods my whole adult life. I’m a foodie. It’s important for me to eat well, spend time in nature and get exercise.

6. Cooking and traveling are great passions. Love to watch the cooking channel and Food Network shows. Italy is my favorite place to visit, and my life’s goal is to visit every part of each region of Italy, and to live here several months every year. I have visited France, Holland, Germany, Italy, England, Cayman Islands, Mexico, India, Canada, Cayman Islands, Virgin Islands, and Tahiti.

7. Reading has always been a fun past-time for me. I usually read self-help books and cookbooks, but also memoirs, novels and books about Italy.

Blessings to all of you!

I wanted to bake a light cookie for the Christmas holidays, and the Florentine Lace Cookies fit the bill. This recipe is from An Edible Mosaic which was adapted from Food Network Kitchens. I made a few changes also. For one thing, I used agave liquid instead of corn syrup. There are only three tablespoons of flour in the whole recipe, so almost gluten-free, if that matters to you. I love the nutty orange taste combination, and the kitchen smells deliciously of nuts and citrus for several days after. Besides, they are so lacey thin, how could they have many calories!?

Please note: Only place 9 cookies on the cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, or else they will run together. It’s highly suggested that you just bake one pan at a time, which keeps you in the kitchen longer, but well worth the effort.

Florentine Lace Cookies: 6 dozen (3-inch) cookies

1 3/4 Cups sliced blanched almonds or pecans (5 oz), finely chopped
3 TBL all-purpose flour
1 orange zest, finely grated (about 2 TBL)
1/4 tsp fine salt
3/4 C white sugar
2 TBL heavy cream
2 TBL light corn syrup (I use agave as I do not use corn syrup).
5 TBL unsalted butter
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2-4 oz semisweet chocolate (I use ghirardelli)

Place a rack in the center of oven and preheat to 350 F; line a baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

In food processor, pulse almonds until ‘finely’ chopped but not pasty.

PHOTO #1: In separate bowl, stir together the nuts, flour, zest, and salt.

PHOTO #2: In small saucepan, add the sugar, cream, liquid agave, and butter. Cook over medium heat (stirring occasionally) until sugar dissolves and comes to a rolling boil; continue to boil for 1 minute. Turn off heat and add vanilla.

Then pour liquid into almond mixture and stir just to combine. Set aside until cool enough to handle, but do not let it cool as it will harden!

NOTE: (I’ve read that the dough must be dropped onto cookie sheets while it is still warm. Once it cools, it crumbles and becomes unworkable. So, you may need to place cookie balls onto many pieces of parchment paper, while dough is warm. They will then be ready for the oven, as soon as one pan comes out. If cookie dough gets too cold, try adding 1/3 C water, so it is workable, NOT crumbly).

PHOTO #3: Scoop 1/2 teaspoonful onto parchment lined cookie sheet. 9 to a sheet. (Cookie balls should be smaller than a quarter). Cookies will end up being about 3 inches in diameter, as they spread a lot.

Bake one pan at a time until the cookies are thin and an even golden brown color throughout, about 8-10 minutes, rotating the pan after 5 minutes. Set the timer as they can burn easily. Once cookies are out of the oven, slide the parchment paper off the cookie tray, and allow cookies to cool completely before removing from parchment.

PHOTO #4: Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, or place chocolate inside a smaller pan, that fits into a larger pot with boiling water. You can drizzle chocolate on top of cookies or sandwich it between two cookies. Or add chocolate into a sandwich bag, then place the bag in a pan of barely simmering water to melt. Remove bag when chocolate is melted and snip off the corner of bag to squeeze chocolate squiggles onto cookies. Allow chocolate to set on cookies before storing.

Store in an air tight container at room temperature. They freeze well also.

Enjoy your holidays! Buon Natale! Merry Christmas. May your cookies fill your house with sweetness.

Let me know how your Florentine Lace cookies turn out.

Hiking Trail and the Vernazza Harbor BEFORE THE FLOOD:

Last week I wrote about the flooding and mudslide devastation in Monterosso, and today, about another beautiful Cinque Terre town, Vernazza.

It’s hard to believe that only a month ago, I was hiking the Cinque Terre Trails, and marveling at the beauty of the five villages. When I think of Vernazza, I remember eating pesto pizza under colorful umbrellas on the promontory by the sea, and then lying on the stone walls in the harbor watching the Italian water taxi owners navigating into the idyllic turquoise waters of the harbor.

Artists and photographers love capturing this perfection. Participants of my Italy Retreat for Women and I passed a lazy afternoon digesting the pizza and resting from our 90 minute breathtaking hike from Monterosso to Vernazza, which included hundreds and hundreds of steps. A wedding was taking place at the church, and my group and I thought we were in heaven or shangri-la. We truly deeply experienced la dolce fa niente, the sweetness of doing nothing.

Then, like a horror movie, on Tuesday, October 25, this jewel on the Italian Riviera was covered with up to 12 feet of mud. Cars, boats, and possessions were sucked like corks in an undertow, into a mudslide and street turned into a raging river.

I have spent a week each year, for the past three years, in Cinque Terre, and this year I repeatedly commented that the water was crystal clear, more beautiful than any other time. It reminded me more of the Caribbean. Now the harbor water is muddy and the streets and piazza covered with mud.

But, they will recover, although our support is crucial.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Firstly, plan to visit the Cinque Terre during the tourist season, so that their businesses can prosper. Secondly, please give to their recovery fund. Every small amount will add up. This is a part of the world that is paradise, and we can help insure that it rebuilds.

Several ex-pats from the US, who now live in Vernazza, have created a website called Save Vernazza ONLUS, so you can donate DIRECTLY to Vernazza. Please spread the word.

If you have ever visited Cinque Terre, you would know this is a cause worth supporting. And if you have not had the pleasure, please add Cinque Terre to your travel list in 2012, or join me in September 2012 as I will be returning there for my Italy Retreat for Women.

The residents of Vernazza were evacuated, however, members of the army and rescue team have continued with the clean-up.
You can view a video of the clean up progress that has been made so far at YouReporter.it.

Be sure also to visit Nicole at CulturalComments Blog for more photos and updated information on Vernazza.

Photo credit: Before photos I took in September of Vernazza Harbor and some of the steps on the Vern-Monterosso Trail
Photo credit: After the flood: from Come To Liguria Blog.

The people of Cinque Terre, Italy are open-hearted and strong spirited. It’s a little paradise on earth.

I lead the Italy Retreat for Women to live la dolce vita in Cinque Terre, and I must say, it charms all of us every time.

Shockingly, on Tuesday, October 25, mudslides and flash floods turned beautiful Monterosso and Vernazza upside down (along with other towns in southern Liguria and northern Tuscany). Cinque Terre, a World Heritage Site, consists of five pictueresque villages, where annually tens of thousands of tourists hike the connecting trails, and visit the quaint stores, restaurants, and hotels. Even more distressing is the idea that hundreds of the local people are homeless.

Before and after photos of Monterosso can be seen in The New York Times in an excellent article, or you can see videos posted in The Telegraph from London.

FOR DONATIONS:  http://www.rebuildmonterosso.com/p/donate.html.The Cinque Terre is very dear to many of us, and if you haven’t been there yet, please do yourself a favor in the future and go! One way to help them, is to vacation there, once tourist season opens.

The page is in Italian, but just enter your PayPal password, then your donation amount. Please be sure to  write the amount using a comma instead of a period.  For example, Twenty dollars is written in Italy as 20,00.  That is 20 with a comma NOT a period, followed by 2 zeroes. There is some English on this page.

Be sure to click the final donation button at bottom of page after you put your password in for your paypal.You will know you’ve successfully finished when you receive a pop-up donation receipt from the Commune of Monterosso.  Several days later, you should receive a thank you email from the Mayor of Monterosso.

Please see Kate’s blog at Little Paradiso. You can view photos of the devastation. Mud and debris have filled the ground floors, six feet of mud left behind against first floor doors and windows of the buildings.

FOR DONATIONS DIRECTLY TO: Vernazza, the beautiful town next to Monterosso, now reminds me somewhat of Pompeii, with 12 feet of mud filling their stores. Rick Steve’s has a slideshow on his site that is heartbreaking to watch, but maybe if more of the world sees this, they will rise to the occasion to help bring back this delightful town. Donate directly to SAVE VERNAZZA.

Any small donation is hugely appreciated and put to good use, like buying wheelbarrows, gloves and rubber boots.

Photo Credits: After the flood, CNN.com of rubble in Cinque Terre
Photo Credits: Before the flood, Lenora Boyle

“Art has a magic quality:the more minds that digest it, the longer it lives.”~~~Michelangelo

My Italy Retreat extended this year because we also wanted to explore Florence and Tuscany after our Cinque Terre adventure and workshop.

This is my third time to view David, Michelangelo’s 14 foot sculpture. It brings tears to my eyes every time. My heart expands, my mind slips, and my soul soars. Just having read The Agony and The Ecstasy by Irving Stone, I had a deeper connection to the David because I understood what Michelangelo experienced from age 13 to his death at about age 90. The 700 page book serves us a delicious treat with every turn of the page. So, in returning to the Accademia Museum in Florence a few days ago, I really feel like I knew the man, the artist and the essence of the Renaissance. Irving Stone expertly invited me to walk beside Michelangelo, sharing his agonies and ecstasies. I hope you can read the book, and then visit David in Florence.

The Renaissance was a period of history where art, life, and the essence of humanity were lifted to extraordinary heights. Now in the 21st century, every day we have a chance to experience our own renaissance. To spend time each day enjoying beauty and upliftment through nature, music, art, literature, conversation, connection….and in our thoughts.

Take notice of the thoughts you are nurturing each day. Do they uplift your personal renaissance, or contract your history? Do they lead you to expansive changes or shackle you to limitations?

It’s been said that at least 60% of the world’s art is housed in Italy. 100% of the world’s beauty is housed in each of you. Are you nurturing that beauty? What thoughts are you sowing for your future production? Yes, art has a magic quality, and so do your thoughts.

I see that if each of us focused on beauty every day, what a glorious world we could create.

May you rise to your own renaissance every day!

12/13/11: This is the photo that Rosalie sent showing how her husband’s family makes the ‘Pita Piata’ in a pan:

Fred Plotkin is a pleasure activist, expert on opera, traveling in Italy, and Italian cuisine.

I’ve interviewed him a few times in previous posts, and on our local grassroots KRUU radio with Steven Boss during Steve’s Great Taste Radio Show.

The 5th edition of Italy for the Gourmet Traveler, came out on book stands in 2010.

An article in The Guardian gives you some samplings from the book.
I love that this is a fully updated 5th edition of Fred’s classic book that covers 504 towns in every Italian region. It’s not a directory of where to eat in just the major cities like Rome and Florence, but he takes us to small towns in all the 20 regions of Italy, even San Giovanni in Fiore, in Calabria, where my paternal grandparents are from. I used his book to sample restaurants in the 10 towns on the Italian Riviera that we visit during my Italy Retreat for Women from September 10-18, 2011.

This is not only a gourmet guide for food and wine in Italy, but an encyclopedia of knowledge Fred has gleaned from traveling, working and living in Italy for much of the last 35 years. You’ll find lists of cooking schools, festivals, and even museums dedicated to pasta, olive oil and wine. I also love how he weaves stories with a wealth of information about opera, history, and the culture of Italy.
Besides, how can you not love a book written by a ‘pleasure activist’? Fred’s short explanation of this passionate title is “a vibrant and positive approach to everything we experience.”

One of the reasons I teach annual is so we can discover the sweet life, “La Dolce Vita”. To me, this means that you create your life by choice not by default. That you find joy in the moment, that you dare to dream and think of bigger possibilities. Dare I say, that we all can become ‘pleasure activists’?!

Fred further explains the meaning of a ‘pleasure activist’ on his website:

If we meet a new, interesting person and open all of our senses to him or her, we have a much stronger experience of why that person is so compelling. In the media and in our social training, our minds are filled with so many strategies for happiness and success, but they all involve calculated behavior that may be counter to our nature and instinct, which form the sixth sense. When we are alive to all that we see, hear, smell, savor and feel, we refine what we call taste and, moreover, add to that mysterious but essential human characteristic we call instinct.

I would never say that the fullest use of our senses is the secret to happiness and fulfillment. Such an assertion is too pat and general. But any behavior that can contribute to our becoming more fully human and insightful is one that should be prized. And that, to me, is pleasure activism.

Do yourself a favor, and order Italy for the Gourmet Traveler now. Do yourself another favor, and join me in Cinque Terre, Italy on my Italy Retreat for women to live La Dolce Vita, the sweet life, this year from September 10-18, 2011.

What’s your favorite place in Italy? Leave a comment and let us know! Have you been to Cinque Terre or the Italian Riviera?

Photo Credit: Sophocles Alexiou