Summary of Kate Langbroek's Ciao Bella!

Book excerpt: Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The name of a place becomes synonymous with its atmosphere or experience. When you say you are going to a certain country, others immediately know what kind of experience you will have. Italy is a land that transcends cliché by simply piling on more of them: afternoon slumbers, wine, church bells, saints, terracotta-colored villas, and glittering seas. #2 In Italy, we were once stopped in front of a delivery van that was casually downing a shot of espresso in the middle of a street. We were looking for agriturismo accommodation, but we ended up on a narrow dirt road flanked by tiny plots of farmed land. #3 The author and her husband went to visit their friends in Italy, and spent four days by the pool. They drank spritzes, and heard about their travels. They tried to mount the giant inflatable popsicle that was the children’s hotly contested pool toy. #4 The hotel we were staying at in Milan was unbearably hot. We had checked in, and the seven of us had been assigned a trio of modern rooms on top of a four-storey building. The air conditioning didn’t work, and the rooms were brutally hot. We went back and forth to the front desk to ask about the engineer who was supposed to fix things, but they lied to us and said everything was fine.