In This Issue:
What's new at Dream of Italy!
New Products
 Having just returned from visiting Southern Italy, we are delighted to be able to bring to you some new products from our travels.
If you go into almost any Italian home in November or December, you will find their Christmas Nativity Scene ('presepe' in Italian) as a central feature of family life in the lead up to Christmas. Friends are invited to visit to view the presepe and enjoy special Christmas fare and hospitality.
There is a street in old Naples that is the home of traditional presepe ornaments. All you will ever need to make a beautiful Christmas nativity scene can be found here. The tradition in these parts is for pieces to be handmade in terracotta, and then handpainted. Walking up the street you pass shop after shop, most of them with an artisan in full view, carefully painting each individual piece.
We have brought in a small selection of Nativity Ornaments so you can participate in a real Italian Christmas experience this year! Check out our selection here.
If you have never heard of 'Presepe' before, check out this video from an Italian in New York; it contains footage from the exact shop we purchased our pieces from!
What else did we find? Well, we have 11 boxes of Murano Glass on their way - they should be here before the end of the month. We also found a fantastic supplier of quality cameos - visiting this family who has been making traditional cameos for generations was an absolute highlight of our visit. We are hoping to see these before Christmas as well. We developed relationships with two new ceramics suppliers - one on the Amalfi Coast and the other in Caltagirone in Sicily (another famous ceramic tradition).
We have more beautiful Italian stationery arriving in time for Christmas, as well as new masks. If we can help you choose the perfect Christmas gift please let us help.
Auckland Italian Festival 2012
 The Italian Festival is bigger and better than ever this year. You may have seen the advertising for it on buses and bill-boards around Auckland. It will be exciting - don't miss it!
Dream of Italy will have a stall at Italian Festival on the 28th of October in Ponsonby and it would be great to see you there!
There will be Italian music, food and Italian products of various kinds, so there is plenty to see and do.
This year Dream of Italy is doing something different and you'll be able to take advantage of our specials on masks and other selected products, huge savings to be had!
 Top Shop Award
We made the finals of the Auckland NZRA Top Shop Competition and are currently waiting to hear the final decision of the judges at the Top Shop Auckland Awards Dinner later this month. We are holding our breath to see how we do! Hear our news first by following us on Facebook or Twitter!
People Changes
This month we said farewell to James who is heading back to his University studies for the final push for his Marketing Degree. We wish him all the best and have really appreciated his input over the last two months, especially assisting Hayley to 'hold the fort' for us while we were in Italy.
Stories from Southern Italy
In this section Dream of Italy Director, Kathy, answers some questions about growing up in Southern Italy.
How did you come to be living in Italy?
My Dad was born in Italy and spent the first 18 years of his life there. When he was close to retirement he fulfilled his dream of living in Italy again by taking his family back there for six years.
How old were you when you arrived in Italy?
I left New Zealand on my 8th birthday and arrived in Italy five weeks later on the Castel Felice, in the days when you could travel from one side of the world to the other by ship.
 What was it like going to an Italian school on your first day?
I was dressed in my uniform which consisted of a white apron (worn over your clothes) with a big bow tied at the neck. Every teacher had her own bow colour and the students in her class wore that colour bow for all the time they were at primary school. We had the same teacher every year. My teacher’s colour was blue. I always wished I was in my friend’s class, their bows were red, white and green stripes!
It was scary going to school on my first day but I remember how excited the other children were to meet me – they certainly didn’t treat me like an alien. It was the opposite, I was the most popular girl in the class and they all wanted to sit with me. I had some wonderful experiences learning Italian by playing with new friends (including some interesting words my Dad would not have wanted me to learn) and some ... interesting ones including the time a coffin fell off a hearse on the motorway ...
 to read the full interview!
Oops, We Goofed Last Month!
Some of you received up to three emails from us last month.
 We'd like to apologise for the old newsletter which was accidentally sent out to you on the 26th of September and for the double up some of you received of our normal newsletter.
This was a mistake on our part and we promise that it won't happen again. We hate spam as much as the next person.
It's our intention to send you only one email per month, if you are reading this we'd like to thank you for not unsubscribing!
October Italian Recipe
Spaghetti With Aubergines
You will be impressing your family and guests with this delicious authentic pasta recipe straight from Italy. This dish would go great with a nice red!
for the full recipe
Feedback
We would love to hear back from you and get your thoughts on our products or services!
Thank you to everyone who voted in our Facebook survey. The winning product was 'Ceramic House Numbers', so look out for news about these! We don't stock these at present, but these are highly likely to feature in our next ceramics order!
If you have any feedback at all for us you can send an email to alan@dreamofitaly.co.nz.
 If you are able to send us a video testimonial of your experience with Dream of Italy, you will go straight into a draw for a $100 Gift Voucher to spend on any Dream of Italy Product! Turbo charge your start to Christmas gift buying! It's easy! Just answer 3 questions (click here to see these) and have someone video you on their phone or video camera and email it in!
 Please don't forget to forward this email on to someone you know who would be interested in things Italian! We are continuing to develop this newsletter to make it informative, interesting and a way to stay connected with Italy and all things Italian. Just send us an inquiry to request to be put on our database to receive future newsletters.
 If you live in Auckland, don't forget to come along on Sunday 28th October to the Italian Festival in Freeman's Bay Primary School! It promises to be a great day with some great food and Italian culture! See you there!
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