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")