Dear Travelettes,

Preparing for an upcoming trip usually means a lot of reading. Be it in guidebooks, articles, blogs, forums – going into your trip well prepared much increases your chances of seeing all the good stuff and not missing out on stuff the brochure from your hotel doesn’t mention.

And so it is that for my trip to Italy in 4 weeks I’ve begun browsing the net in search of potential highlights. Funnily enough, while I ought to be looking out for the best bars and beaches, I seem to get stuck on always the same subject – food. Vivere per Mangiare – eat to live, an Italian proverb says, and who could blame them when their food is so good. And so it happens that I’ve come across some pretty interesting blogs run by Foreigners living in Italy and blogging about food.

msadventuresinitaly.com - Sara Rosso moved to Italy in 2003 from Silicon Valley where she now works as a digital analyst when she is not eating or taking pretty photos for her blog. Sara is a real fan of Italy, even after living there for 7 years. Apart from food, she blogs some great tips about coming to Italy and gives charming insights as to what it’s like to be an American in Italy.

rubbahslippahsinitaly.blogspot.com – Author behind this oddly-named blog is Rowena, originally from Hawaii but now, happily married, living, loving and eating in Italy. Loking through her blog, Rowena seems to be cooking all the time with no occasion too little to justify dishing up a feast. Luckily she takes her readers along on ever little food journey she takes. Her photos take the cake when it comes to mouth-watering portraits of pasta and other Italian dishes. She can have me over for dinner anytime. In fact, I might invite myself over, should I be in the neighborhood of Lecco, where she and her hubby live.

luculliandelights.com – Did I just say that Rowena takes the best food photos? Well, this blogger has some pretty good arguments to hold against that. More delicious-looking photos and recipes are blogged by Ilva Beretta, a Swedish lady who also fell for an Italian with whom and their 3 kids she lives in a small village in Tuscany (somehow her story makes great material for a romantic comedy, don’t you think?). Her blog allowed her to change careers (Ilva holds a PhD in English Renaissance poetry) and turn to food photography full-time. Lovely, me thinks.

Hungry yet?