2999 Regions...

Hi guys,

Unfortunately I had little response to my suggestion of discussing different areas of Italy every week. However, I still think it's a good idea & could be useful for newbies (and us!)...

I learnt alot of what Derek and others told me about Lunigiana, and I'm sure I'm not the only one looking for other information than just - it's nice, it's touristy, it's lovely...

Aliena has sent me a pm offering her services for the Campania region. Might be a good chance for her to get back to normal stuff...

Topics per area could include living conditions, areas of special interest, history, geography, links to photos, recommended hotels, specialities (food & drink - I know it's a different corner usually...).

What do you guys think? There is still so much to discover about Italy that I think we're losing out - just have to keep it tidy methinks... I also want to ask some regular contributors who live in a certain area for their input.

Any suggestions for topics welcome... :)

Cheers,
S

Category

Moderator's Corner

Hi Iona,

I do fully support your suggestion and would love to see it happen.

I wonder if the best way approach this might be to create sections for each of the regions in order to stimulate people to provide local information. More work for Ronald, I know, but it could be a useful resource to help people find local news, events, the best restaurants etc.

i think this is a great idea.

let me think about the sort of setup it would take to make it work properly and I will get back to you.

all the best,

ronald

Very good idea, Marc - poor Ronald! ;)

Yes, I thought along the same lines so that newbies can find the posts easily. Not sure about the overall size of the forum and its restrictions, though. But if we could have a separate section on Regions, with individual regions as sub sections, we could then use different threads within those for eg, accommodation, restaurants, history, places of interest, local news, hidden gems...

Not sure if this would be possible at all but it would certainly provide a clear path.

Thanks for your input, guys! There's so much to find out about Italy and I got the impression we're running around in circles a bit and need 'fresh blood' !! :D

[QUOTE=Iona]Very good idea, Marc - poor Ronald! ;)

Not sure if this would be possible at all but it would certainly provide a clear path.

Thanks for your input, guys! There's so much to find out about Italy and I got the impression we're running around in circles a bit and need 'fresh blood' !! :D[/QUOTE]

It would involve a fair bit of work but should be well worth it in the long run. There still isn't a 'one stop shop' online for people interested in Italy, so if one can be created here, it would be great.

I thought of involving 'expert' members in certain areas, perhaps ask latoca about Piemonte, Ronald from his corner of the country, Marc about Umbria... I'm sure there are people in the likes of Bologna and Verona too... George from his little hideaway...and Aliena about Napoli (as she offered...).

Ronald, any ideas on set up? I'm happy to pm people and ask for their input! :)

Grazie!

hi iona,

sorry for being a bit slow about this. have been thinking about it and will get back to you this sunday promise!

ronald

As I have noticed that crap gets posted faster on my threads than any others, I'll sit this one out thanks...
G.

Awww George! Sadly crap's everywhere these days... and they cleverly found a way to keep it linked to the threads' subject as well... annoying I agree... but still I think new folks would benefit... :)

ok - here is THE PLAN :)

For 21 days a specific region/town/area of Italy gets a special focus. It gets a dedicate forum with sub-topics, etc. We collect tips on where to go, what to do, what to eat, etc.

I think 21 days will give more time for people to contribute to the forum and come up with useful tips.

The aim is to:

a. stimulate discussion
b. at the end of the week I will generate a nice little guide that will be made available for download through the website to anyone interested in it.
c. moderators will pay particular attention to the discussions so as to make sure things stay on topic and relevant and that by the end of it we have something truly useful.

At the end the person with the most useful contributions (as decided by the moderators) wins a gift certificate to spend in the Italy Magazine shop. It could be a subscription, t-shirt anything they like up to the cost of one UK subscription.

what do you think?

Excellent idea Ronald, should be easy to moderate too, well done.

I agree - very good way to build up a resource of knowledge and stimulate discussion on the forum at the same time.

Great idea, Ronald! You've really done your homework there... :D

Especially I like the idea of creating a small guide & making it available for download. That's very helpful for the many of us who still learn...

Thanks for your efforts! I'm looking forward to discovering the various regions... and happy to go on patrol too! :)

Grazie mille!

great - with which one should we start?

[QUOTE=ronald]great - with which one should we start?[/QUOTE]

How about doing this geographically, going from north to south or south to north?

This list shamelessly copied off another website might be the way to go:

1. Piemonte
2. Valle d' Aosta
3. Lombardia
4. Trentino-Alto Adige
5. Veneto
6. Friuli-Venezia Giulia
7. Liguria
8. Emilia-Romagna
9. Toscana
10. Umbria
11. Marche
12. Lazio
13. Abruzzo
14. Molise
15. Campania
16. Puglia
17. Basilicata
18. Calabria
19. Sicilia
20. Sardegna

hmm... thinking about it we should really start with regions that are morelikely to be popular so as the game grows we will have enough people to also handle something like piemonte or sadegna.

how about we start with Umbria (a nod to Fiona as well) then we can go up to toscana etc and then come down again finishing with sicily or sardegna

[QUOTE=ronald]hmm... thinking about it we should really start with regions that are morelikely to be popular so as the game grows we will have enough people to also handle something like piemonte or sadegna.

how about we start with Umbria (a nod to Fiona as well) then we can go up to toscana etc and then come down again finishing with sicily or sardegna[/QUOTE]

I think this is a good idea - start with the regions where we know we have a fair concentration of members (especially the 'silent' members that have not posted much recently) and then move into the more obscure districts...

I think a key part of succeeding with this will be to break each region down into a number of local areas. In Tuscany, for example, Lunigiana and the Chianti region so far apart geographically that they may as well be in different regions.

If we can give some thought to this I think people will be stimulated to contribute comments on their favourite restaurants, shops, walking trails etc, because they feel 'connected' to them.

Yup, agree to start with the more popular & well known areas... and use them as bait to get people involved!! And divide them into geographic areas seems sensible as there can be quite different outlooks and expectations.

Umbria makes a nice place to start .... ~hints to Marc~ ;)

Shall we ask locals to collate some information on our behalf and put it up or just rely on folks to add stuff as we go along?

[QUOTE=Iona]Yup, agree to start with the more popular & well known areas... and use them as bait to get people involved!! And divide them into geographic areas seems sensible as there can be quite different outlooks and expectations.

Umbria makes a nice place to start .... ~hints to Marc~ ;)

Shall we ask locals to collate some information on our behalf and put it up or just rely on folks to add stuff as we go along?[/QUOTE]

Might be a good idea to 'seed' the thread/forum with some information to start the ball rolling, rather than present members with a blank slate (this can be intimidating).

mark and sano are both right

will get something started asap