Saint Valentine's Day is approaching and many couples have already started planning a romantic evening to celebrate their love. Whether you plan a simple dinner at home or a fancy night out, choose Italy as the theme of your date and you will not be disappointed as "that's amore"!
Here are some romantic Italian gift ideas for your special Valentine:
La Dolce Vita! Rome in the 1950s, there's nowhere quite like it. The narrow stone streets, the fountains and piazzas full of life in the heat of the day, the cafes and bars full of music and desire by night...Serafina never dreamt she'd meet her hero - America Tenor Mario Lanza ... joining the Lanza household, where luxury and splendour mix with alcoholism and depression, Serafina realises that all that glitters is not gold after all. Nicky Pellegrino’s novel is a captivating tale of love and music, food and passion, that takes you on a journey to a city of beauty and heartbreak, at one of the most glamorous points in its magical history.
"When in Rome" on Amazon UK.
"When in Rome" on Amazon US.
Is there a more romantic movie than "Roman Holiday"? A royal princess, Audrey Hepburn, and a reporter, Gregory Peck, falling in love while going for a Vespa ride through a magnificent 1950s Rome.
"Roman Holiday" on Amazon UK.
"Roman Holiday" on Amazon US.
If you are in the mood for a modern romantic comedy and love Tuscany, then "Under the Tuscan Sun" is the perfect choice. Based on Frances Mayes' 1996 memoir, the film starred Diane Lane and Italian actor Raul Bova, who represents, for many women, the Italian handsome man of their dreams.
Under the Tuscan Sun on Amazon UK.
Under the Tuscan Sun on Amazon US.
And since 2013 is the bicentennial of Verdi’s birth, we propose a 2011 remastering of the private tape of 1958 live performance of his most romantic masterpiece "La traviata" at Covent Garden starring Maria Callas.
La Traviata on Amazon UK.
La Traviata on Amazon US.
Italy and Beauty, aren’t these two words a perfect fit? For a great Italian gift to pamper your senses and make you feel like an Italian beauty, we thought of Florentine Nesti Dante soaps and Pupa’s make-up kit.
When the Medici Family was in power in Florence, soap-making became a real profession; the corporation of Master Soapmakers was formed under the noble Art of Physicians and Pharmacists, with an alley in the heart of Florence still bearing the name of the Via dei Saponai (Soapmaker’s street). Nesti Dante is still producing soap using the classic cauldron method, so you can feel like Katerina dei Medici using this classic Tuscany dedicated soap collection.
Nesti Dante Soap on Amazon US
Nesti Dante Soap on Amazon UK
Since 1976 Pupa produces make-up, bath and after bath products and fragrances, but they are especially famous for their creative beauty kits which feature among the top Saint Valentine's presents for Italian women. We chose the classic Angel Globe for you and may cupid be with you!
Angel Globe on Amazon US
Angel Globe on Amazon UK
Below are two collections of Italian love poems. The first one regroups poems by various Italian poets, the second is a selection of Petrarch's poems from "Il Canzoniere".
"A Treasury of Italian Love" on Amazon US.
"A Treasury of Italian Love" on Amazon UK.
"Petrarch: The Canzoniere, or Rerum vulgarium fragmenta" on Amazon US.
"Petrarch: The Canzoniere, or Rerum vulgarium fragmenta" on Amazon UK.
Food lovers can enjoy a special Italy magazine readers 20% discount on Lovesicily cookery holidays in Sicily. The cookery school is set in a beautifully restored family home, in the romantic baroque atmosphere of Modica city centre, in South-East Sicily. A way to enjoy Sicily through great food and wine, handson cooking classes, inspiring locations and wonderful people. The offer is valid until the end of February, just contact Lovesicily via the Italy website here.
Below you can find two Italy magazine gifts to our readers and fans:
One of Dante Alighieri's most famous love poems "Amore e ’l cor gentil
sono una cosa":
Amore e ’l cor gentil sono una cosa,
sì come il saggio in suo dittare pone,
e così esser l’un sanza l’altro osa
com’alma razional sanza ragione.
Falli natura quand’è amorosa,
Amor per sire e ’l cor per sua magione,
dentro la qual dormendo si riposa
tal volta poca e tal lunga stagione.
Bieltate appare in saggia donna pui,
che piace a gli occhi sì, che dentro al core
nasce un disio de la cosa piacente;
e tanto dura talora in costui,
che fa svegliar lo spirito d’Amore.
E simil face in donna omo valente.
....and in English:
Love and the Gentle Heart
Love and the gentle heart are one thing,
just as the poet says in his verse,
each from the other one as well divorced
as reason from the mind’s reasoning.
Nature craves love, and then creates love king,
and makes the heart a palace where he’ll stay,
perhaps a shorter or a longer day,
breathing quietly, gently slumbering.
Then beauty in a virtuous woman’s face
makes the eyes yearn, and strikes the heart,
so that the eyes’ desire’s reborn again,
and often, rooting there with longing, stays,
Till love, at last, out of its dreaming starts.
Woman’s moved likewise by a virtuous man.
Finally, "I baci proibiti". The famous forbidden kisses scene from popular Italian movie Nuovo Cinema Paradiso
