There are 3 excellent things in life, listed here in no particular order:

1. Good food;
2. Friends;
3. Traveling.

Combine two of them are you are in ecstasy: Dining with friends, traveling with friends, going to your favorite restaurant.  Combine all three and you’ll be high on life: traveling with your friends and be able to savor and share your favorite meal at your favorite place: life doesn’t get any better than that!

“What about the family?” I hear you thinking that!  Well, it’s very simple.  Family falls under #2: Friends.  Your family members should be your better friends, even better: YOU should be your family’s best friend.  If not . . .  I am sure you have memories (nightmares?) of traveling with family, or dinner with family that would make excellent material for good comedy.

Traveling to Italy is not that complicated, a few tidbits to know:

• Weather: North of Italy is cold!  Keep in mind that on the Alps there are glaciers that enable people to ski 12 months out of the year, so traveling to Milano or Torino during the winter can be challenging with cold and snow.
  The south is a lot warmer, you can easily swim in the ocean in the south side of Italy in March.
  While in the US, people like to divide Italy in two parts: North and South, Italians actually like to address Italy in 3 parts: North, Center and South.
  North is everything but the boot.
  Center is the northern part of the boot, up to Rome. Tuscany is the main part of Central Italy.
  South is from Rome all the way to Sicily.
  If you are traveling to Central Italy and you are close to the ocean you will experience weather a lot milder than Boston (MA); while if you are traveling to places far from the ocean e.g.: Florence or Assisi, be prepared for snow and cold temperatures.  Yahoo Weather is a great source.
• Flying there.  There are 3 main sources for good flights:
  • Kayak;
  • ATI Flights;
  • Alitalia.
• Where to stay, where to eat, what to do:  Italy is an adventure, and a very personal one.  Discovering, trying, and going back over and over is part of the whole experience. Web searches can be overwhelming, and other people’s personal experiences . . .  well they are just other people’s personal experiences, not yours. At least not yet.  One great reference that provides objective highlights and practical information is the line of books by DK Publishing called EyeWitness Travel Guides, highly recommended:

• Just go, enjoy, repeat.

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{Photography by Briters.com staff, Copyright 2008, all rights reserved}

Tags: Italy, Travel, Airfare, Books

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Going to Italia?

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Movie: Everybody Wants to be Italian

Forget the "other" chain coffee shop, go where the old world of espresso and cappuccino meet the new world of free wi-fi internet, add to that a wide selection of excellent coffees, teas, pastries (this is the North End after all), bagels, and lunch items.  And it doesn’t end there, the place is roomy and clean, with plenty of seats at small tables, the most coveted seats at the window, a large sofa and two comfy leather chairs surrounding a coffee table, and enough power for your laptop:  this is what a cafe’s was meant to be. Come here long enough and Tony and the rest of the crew will befriend you, and you’ll befriend them and the other patrons who will have the same patterns as you, it’s one of those places where everyone knows your name, and where you can discuss poetry, travel, food or whatever else fits your style. And if you work in downtown, it’s a short walk for a different lunch. Find it at Google Maps.

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Working from the Boston Common Coffee Co. (Salem Street)

Would you like to contribute to TheNorthEnd.org community by submitting articles, photos, movies, and other original creative content?  Showcase yourself, write about The North End, Italy and the Italian Culture, cuisine, food, tradition, travel . . .  let your imagination and creativity run free.

A few simple rules:

• Original content only, no syndication. The only exception would be if you have movie clips on YouTube or similar services, or photos on Flickr or similar services.  In these cases forward the link to the video clips or photos that you would like to showcase.  Absolutely no syndication of written text.
• TheNorthEnd.org reserves the right to edit articles and other text submission.
• Please limit self promotion to inline credit at the end of the article, limited to your name and your site/blog.  Deliver some content that is of value to the audience, something worth reading and worth watching; then, and only then, show off with your credits! For privacy reason we discourage you from publish your phone number or email address.

For more info or to submit your contribution, send us an email at:

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Photography by: Kendra Chaparral, (cc) Demi Brooke (cc), Brymo (cc).

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Show your North End pride: searching for contributors

A few block from Downtown Boston, right in the middle of the North End you can find Polcari’s coffe shop, a place frozen in time, in an era when everything was more genuine, the food taste better and people really cared.  If you want to experience it all again, including the human touch, a savoir faire of customer service and customer relationship that is so hard to find today, treat yourself to a trip to Polcari’s Coffee.  You can find food for your soul and body, from the coffees (Best of Boston), italian coldcuts, italian coffee machines, herbs and spices from the world over, and many hard-to find items like artisan ceci arrosto (roasted garbanzo beans) probably the healthiest and most delicious snack, to the artisan orange or lemon oil, natural ingredients a must for any baker.
Keep coming back, and little by little you will recognize the faces of the friends of Polcari that keep coming back for more and more of good food and good service.

Since 1932 Polcari’s Coffee can be found at 105 Salem Street at the corner with Prince Street (Google Maps), and you can reach them by phone at 617.227.0786.

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Photography by: haydnseek (cc)

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Polcari’s Coffee on Salem Street at Prince Street: the quintessential North End Store

Coming soon!  The ultimate directory of everything’s North End: restaurants, shopping, restaurants, entertainment, food, espresso, cappuccino, cannoli, travel, nightlife, shops, people, recipes, book, photos, memories, events, services, feasts, flavors, colors, life, and culture.  Did I mention food & restaurants?

Mangia, Mangia!

Stay tuned for advertising opportunities.

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Photography by: Mr. Littlehand (cc)

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Boston’s North End community on the map