Treviso, Italy just became Sarasota's Italian Sister City and I just became a member of the welcoming committee. I joined the Sister Cities organization last summer.
The Treviso delegates are arriving around the 20th of February. I am the head of the "Business" team and our job will be to introduce our guests to the business community. We're looking forward to working with the newly formed international business group at the Chamber. Other members are planning cultural events and another team will conduct tours of our educational system including the Ringling School of Art and Design.
With at least 24 people on the committee and five different teams and several special programs planned, we had to consider carefully how to handle the project management. Many people suggested a blog, and since I was the only one who had ever set one up, Starr Communications has had a blog for a while now, I was elected to do so.
I set it up on blogspot.com because it is 1. Free and 2. It has the capacity for a team blog.
On a team blog at blogspot.com, you select the administrators who have access to the settings and list the e mail of everyone who is permitted to post to the site under a tab called permissions.
As we proceed, team members will post developments and schedules and our Italian guests can also read what we are planning and respond to what interests them most.
Interested? Check out CiaoTreviso.blogspot.com.
Since it is a new blog, it won't show up in the search engines for a while, so use your address bar.
Here are a few things I know about Treviso:
Treviso is in the Veneto region outside of Venice, the northeastern part of Italy.
It is well known for its vinyards producing prosecco (the sparkling Italian wine) and its forests producing white truffles - among other culinary delights.
With Sarasota emerging as a national leader in the sustainability and green building arena, it turned out to be a happy coincidence that the Treviso area is a leader in Europe for their eco-friendly agricultural practices.
It has become a very popular spot for eco-tourism.
Final note:
To refresh my Italian, I am in Italian class.
I lived in Rome a couple of years and spoke Italian but some time has passed since I returned to the states and I find my grammatical constructions now to be a bit too creative.
It's very enjoyable to spend an evening discussing Julius Caesar, the antiquities of Rome and whether the adjective goes before or after the noun.
ACE - Adult and Community Education is offering all levels of Italian - there should be something for anyone who is interested.
