We begin the month of October with our extensive festival and event list, there definitely is a lot to look forward to, from Eurochocolate to Hot-Air balloons over the ancient town of Matera. We also cover the Pope’s recent visit to the USA through a photo diary. October is Italian American Heritage Month in the US, so a great way to celebrate while contributing to a good cause is this special ‘Taste of Italy’ event in Los Angeles. Our Maremma expert Elisa lets us know how to deal with life in a small town, while search engine giant Google picks Italy’s six most beautiful “borghi” - quaint historic little villages - complete with beautiful street view images. The language-learning tips of the week include a fun dual-language article on the mystery shrouding Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, and a cute video helping you count to 100 in Italian. The arrival of a new month means recipes centered on fall in Italy, we include a delicious fillet steak wrapped in filo pastry and a dumpling-like dish popular in South Tyrol. For Italy-themed gifts, browse our shop! Our picks of the week include an easy-to-store and clean pasta drying rack, and Vinturi's Reserve Essential Red Wine Aerator and Carafe Set, which opens up your wine and speeds up the aeration or breathing process and aerates a full 750ml bottle of wine directly into the carafe in less than 30 seconds This week our featured properties include this storybook chalet in the heart of Alto Adige, in Italy’s Dolomites and a beautiful beach front apartment in Sicily’s Taormina. Don’t forget to join our community of Italophiles where we encourage you to post (or answer) any Italy-themed query. You can also join the #ITALYMagazine fun with us on Instagram, tag us and we will share the best of the boot!