Buon Natale!

My personal favorite....now my co-workers Jeremy and Nic's most hated...

Natale nel Vaticano

Seeing as how it is that time of the year, I thought I would share with you all a small article I read about the Christmas tree in Piazza di San Pietro in Vatican City:

"Vatican's Christmas tree lit

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican's tallest Christmas tree is twinkling in St. Peter's Square. The Vatican says the 109-foot (33-meter) red spruce from Austria's Piesting Valley is the tallest since Pope John Paul II started the tradition of setting up a tree in the square in 1982. Hundreds of pilgrims from Austria sang carols in the pouring rain Saturday as the tree was officially unveiled.

It is decorated with 2,000 gold and silver balls, white lights and a shining star. It stands next to a larger-than-life-sized Nativity scene which will be unveiled Christmas Eve. Pope Benedict XVI met with the Austrian pilgrims Friday to thank them for the tree, saying it would give him joy to see it from his apartment window."

I also found an article that I found to be really interesting and cool. The Vatican will be recycling their tree this year and making wooden toys out of it to donate to children. I wonder what they do with the one in Rockefeller Center?

"Big Vatican Christmas tree to be recycled into toys

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The largest Christmas tree ever to be placed in St Peter's Square in Rome was lit on Saturday and Vatican officials said its wood will be recycled to make toys for needy children.
The 33-meter-high tree, which came from the forests of southern Austria, was lit at an afternoon ceremony as rain that has brought the nearby Tiber River to one of its highest levels in decades started again after a one-day break. The Vatican said all the wood from the 120-year-old tree will be recycled to make toys for needy children and garden furniture such as benches for schools.

The decision to recycle the wood from the tree was the Vatican's latest effort to go green. Last month it activated a large system of solar panels on the roof of its audience hall and announced an ambitious plan that could one day make it an alternative energy exporter. "

Next Stop...Sorrento

Ok so every now and then you need a little vacation...a side trip. A place that exudes old school Italy and is (in my opinion) one of the most beautiful places in the world is...well if you read the title this is no shocker...Sorrento.

Below are images from my time spent there. The food is fresh, the seafood was amazing, the shopping is fabulous...yea I said fabulous...and the atmosphere is so unbelievably relaxed.

I bought some clothes and the best gifts for people in Sorrento and it is very affordable, the key however, haggle haggle haggle!!! For you shoe lovers out there (I am speaking mainly to the women) there are a few tiny (almost missable) stores where you can get shoes CUSTOM MADE and they are inexpensive too. This was recommended by my dear friend Elizabeth Batman Superfly Praino who purchased these shoes and loves them.

Here are some images I took throughout the trip.

The lemons were the size of my head!

The places to go out were really trendy...all while and the floor and bar was all lit up....unfortunately this was the only picture I was coherent enough to take.

We ate fresh seafood on the water...literally this place was on top of the water, gorgeous place and amazing food....Oh yea I rolled deep overseas.

I was told I had to put this picture of the romantic scenery...this was on the balcony outside my hotel room...it was gorgeous...so was my crazy canadian hahaha

A Taste of Roma

Ok so let's be honest, you go to Italy for the food. Yea you go for the culture, the history and the excitement but if the food was crap none of that would matter. During my time there I ate at many MANY places but one place that I went to nearly everyday was a pizzeria just outside of American University of Rome (the school I attended while in Roma) called Pizzeria da Simone.

This is one of the typical "fast food" pizzerias. Here you go in and tell them how much pizza you want in measurement not slices. It is then weighed and price is according to weight, they then fold it and you eat it like a sandwich.

It is unbelievably good, the pizza is so fresh and crunchy (a plus in my book) and rather inexpensive. It is a lot better than American pizzerias because if you only have a buck (or a euro rather) you can still get something to eat. Also it takes about 30 seconds from walking in to paying, to get your pizza.

They also have a lot of other great choices besides pizza. Such as lasagna, gnocchi, stuffed tomatoes, potatoes with broccoli rabe and my personal favorite Suppli (soup-lee) which are fries rice balls with tomato sauce and center filling of mozzarella cheese. Seen in the picture below.

FYI...Yes that is a tray of 20 some odd Suppli that my buddy bought to bring back to America with him and YES they let him bring it on the plane. Unfortunately, as soon as they left Italy airspace they never tasted the same again.

If anyone wants recipes or recommendations on where to get the closest version...let me know.

OK I am going to go eat now....God I miss Roma.

Ready, Set, Disco!

During my time in Roma I made spending cash as a club promoter...I made good cash too..actually had different companies try to "steal" me but I digress...Tonight's post is regarding one of my favorite clubs that I think is one of the classiest/best in Roma. It used to be a castle and was converted into a restaurant downstairs and a club upstairs. It was truly authentic with Italian music mixed with club and dance hits...drinks were moderately prices and the atmosphere was sick, very classic look but trendy at the same time. It is called La Cabala and some photos from my experience are below. Enjoy!

This is an external shot of La Cabala



This place had some legit bouncers/security luckily I knew them so my buddy Mike didn't get his butt kicked while taking this picture.



This is us not drunk (surprisingly) just having fun and dancing like crazy, this place had a huge dance floor that was always packed...in a good way.

New Look, New Theme, New Fioretti Fun

Today is the beginning of a new Fioretti Fun. Aside from the new look, this blog will now focus on everything Italy specifically Roma. I spent four months in Roma and I grew up going to Italy almost every summer, I will share all kinds of tips for eating, travel, sightseeing and photos that I took or that I find. Feel free to submit stuff and ask questions.


So to start it off, here is an image that I took from the top of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City back in the Summer of 2007. Let me now what you think.

I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!

Ok so my laptop has been out of commission for about a month. That being said I am just now able to post.

To prevent your head from spinning with everything that happened over the past month, I will give you the abridged version:

1st and one of the most important things is that I ran a 5K...well if you consider periodically stopping to take pictures running then yes I ran a 5K. I was proud to be a part of the Robert P. Giaimo 5th Annual Memorial 5K they are a great family that consists of another one of the Fioretti 4. They do tons to help the community and they deserve a lot of praise and admiration for being the angels on earth that they are. I will upload some images of the event soon.


I will skip over all of the other things that happened because to be honest...I don't remember them and if they aren't good enough to remember then that aren't good enough for me to share with you fine folks.


I can sum the rest of my month with 1 sentence....I bought an xbox 360 and my life is now over.

I am still a rookie (at best) but I have come to the level that I like to call....not completely shitty.


Also, for some reason, I am the planner of my friends and I am now planning my friend's girlfriend's 21st extravaganza....including limo, vip in a club, and the destination....don't ask why I am doing it because to be honest....I don't know either....I guess I am just f*cking good at what I do.


I gotta start charging people.


That is it for now....I promise to post more frequently for the 2 people that check my blog(one being me and the other being the guy who stumbles here by accident when looking for a pornstar with the name "Fioretti")

Guy Test

Thanks to Maven for this:

5,000 men were asked to complete a survey on what THEY liked best about ‘Oral Sex’ :

a.. 3% liked the warmth.

b.. 4% enjoyed the sensation.

c.. 93% appreciated the silence.

I Forgot!

SO one of my Rome friends sent me this video...It was amazing, I love her....and it is such an amazing viral campaign by the Obama campaign.

Watch and enjoy!

Thanks Mother Russia!

Good-bye Miguel

So I haven't posted in a little while so let me quickly sum up my weekend.  One of my best friends, Mike, is moving to California for his career.  It's sad for sure...but we are not the kind of guys to let something sad stop us from having a good time.  Friday night: I have never had so many shots in such a short period of time and not fallen on my face. It was an impressive night, we talked to more women than I could count and no I don't remember any of their names, sorry but as I stated earlier, I drank a lot. We then followed the night with a long journey to umm...a gentleman's club to smoke cigars and chat with classy young women.

Saturday we broke out the coals, cuban cigars, bacardi and cola and drank around the fire pit for a few hours. We reminisced, smoked cigar (a trend) and got sad...again....So when the sadness kicked in...we bounced to a local bar.  Again we threw back some drinks and partied. Probably more fun this weekend than the whole summer when everyone was home but hey we had to make sure Mike would come back to visit ha.

We ended the night with the best place on earth Versailles Diner for (if you are from Jersey...this is an obvious answer) cheese fries and gravy...We several orders which killed my diet but I make sacrifices for my friends haha.

That's it for now, It was an under par post but there will be more/better ones to come.

-Ciao

Step 1...

So I was exhausted today and was messing around online all night and wound up on a video that made a constant appearance in Fioretti apartment...I always laugh to this....Enjoy

SNL A Special Christmas Box - Watch more free videos

A New Favorite

I heard this song this weekend and I thought I would share it. It isn't like the older OAR stuff that I love but it is really good.

U Can't Touch This!

So this past friday I went to a bar/lounge called Alphabet Lounge in you guessed it Alphabet City in the lower East Village.  I had checked this place out and it seemed pretty chill....then I got there haha.  I surprisingly got into the city in 20 minutes (shocking...I know) but drove in 30 minutes of traffic to get to the bar and another 45 minutes to find a place to park. BUT my friend Mike and I didn't let that get us down....we met up with friends from Rome that we hadn't seen in almost a year. When we got into the bar I literally laughed out loud because the place was about 30 feet long and 10 feet wide...aka tiny...and it was filled with Indians lol...but luckily it was '80s & '90s dance music night...so good times were to be had. 

I made friends with the bartender (Babu...hahaha) and we ended up drinking for free the whole night which was awesome. I busted a move to such classic greats as Bel Biv Devoe's Poison, Sir Mix-A-Lot's Baby Got Back and of course Will Smith's Gettin' Jiggy Wit it.

We ended the night with a slice from one of the many "Original Famous Ray's Pizza" which was 5 bucks....nuts!

All in all...I went to the city and spent $20!!!

Shit yea!

The Back Story

Ok so here is the back story to my blog.  I spent 4 months in Rome, probably...scratch that....definitely! the best time of my entire life.  It was a time in my life that will stay with me forever, I met some of my best friends and had experiences that will last a lifetime.  I have felt in the past that something was missing from my life...I come from a strict family and went to school locally so leaving home to go all the way to Rome was that something missing.  I learned a lot about myself, the person I am, the person I can be when pushed and the person I see myself being.  

While I was in Rome I lived in the best apartment out of any of the ones I was in (despite what any others might say...you ladies know who you are) it was on the great street "Via Mario Fioretti".  I had 3 roommates that I spent every day with, every time we went out..we did it together. We were know as the "Fioretti 4" yea I know...lame...but it stuck and I like it so...deal.  One of my good friends that I met there and her roommates hung out with us on a very regular basis and one day while hanging out at school one person asked her, "why do you hang out with them so much?" She eloquently replied, "Because we always have fun with the Fioretti boys."

She is a huge dork, but I always remembered it so...long story short, the 4 of us separated, but two of us (my best friend and I) live a town over from each other so the Fioretti Fun continues.

This blog is dedicated to everything and all things going on in my life.  Some things may seem trivial and some may seem long winded but to me they are exciting and fun.  A different kind of fun...yep you guessed it, Fioretti Fun.  Believe me....you are in for a treat.

First Blog EVER!!!

So it is 12:34 a.m. and this is my first blog ever written and I am tired so I am going to bed...BUT there will be much much more to come....promise.

Peace out!
Guc Life