The Venice Experiment: A Year of Trial and Error Living Abroad
The Venice Experiment: A Year of Trial and Error Living Abroad book cover

The Venice Experiment: A Year of Trial and Error Living Abroad

Hardcover – July 13, 2011

by
Price
$26.95
Format
Hardcover
Pages
254
Publisher
Savory Adventures Publishing
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0983614111
Dimensions
5.5 x 0.69 x 8.5 inches
Weight
1.01 pounds

Description

"For anyone thinking of an overseas adventure,The Venice Experiment is a laugh out loud readand insightful journey through the risks and rewardsof packing up and settling into a new culture."xa0Kimberley Lovato, award winning author of Walnut Wine & Truffle Groves and former expat"Barry is a masterful storyteller."Sandra McKenna, Co-Host/Producer, MidLifeRoadTrip.TV Lured by Venice's colorful history and its labyrinth of walkways, canals, and bridges, Barry wanted to be more than just a tourist. He convinced his wife Debbie to join him in his Venice experiment, a one-year cultural immersion.Through their initiation into Venetian society, Debbie and Barry discovered the close-knit family of its inhabitants and the oddities of living in Venice, the improbable city built upon millions of tree trunks driven into the mud sixteen centuries ago. xa0From the exasperating bureaucracy to high tides endangering their ground-floor apartment, these expatriates get far more than they bargained for.xa0The quintessential storyteller, Barry Frangipane draws us into the inner life of Venice. xa0With his inexhaustible humor, he takes the reader on his journey abroad, a journey filled with a cast of remarkable characters who will touch your heart. Barry Frangipane, a native of Florida, hosts luxury vacations to Italy. While he has read many Pulitzer Prize winning novels, this is his first attempt at writing one. He is very proud that his new book exemplifies the writing style of Ernest Hemingway, in that both of their books contain multiple words combined to form sentences, and occasionally even paragraphs. He knows Italian, French, and the names of many other languages.Ben Robbins, also a Florida native, has slightly better punctuation skills than his co-author. A writer most of his career, he is now a published author. He knows this because his name is on the cover of this book. When not writing books, he enjoys travelling with his family, exploring the outdoors and working two jobs to pay the bills. He takes great pride in being extraordinarily humble, but of course would not want you to know that. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • My secret plan to move to Venice was ready. It was time to see if my wife would buy into the idea of leaving our home to live for an entire year in a foreign country.
  • And thus the journey begins - Barry and Debbie Frangipane, a middle-class couple tired of the rat race leaves it all for the lure of Venice. But can they make it in a foreign land? Read about the hilarious twists and turns their lives take during their year in the city of water, as they show us a Venice we never knew existed.
  • The Venice Experiment
  • is about fulfilling dreams on a journey that any of us could make - but would we?

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(104)
★★★★
25%
(87)
★★★
15%
(52)
★★
7%
(24)
★
23%
(80)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

Adventure for those of us who live vicariously through others...

This is a very enjoyable, light read. I have only visited Venice (and it was a very short visit), but I plan on returning someday. In the meantime...books.

Barry's (Giuseppe) book gave me a very strong feeling for the sights, sounds, and most importantly, the people of Venice. The stories of the author's experiences were sincere and often funny and made me want to return even more than I already want to.

My only beef with the book: I really dislike when men (and men who write) think with their pants. Aloud. This is a theme that comes up more often than I prefer. Each time I encountered his comments about short skirts and figures, I cringed. Fortunately, there is a lot of great material to counter balance the "Do you like Piña Coladas?" type of stories.

Anyway, overall an enjoyable and informative book about a wonderful personal experience.
4 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Adventures Abroad - How a Couple Lived Their Dream Life for a Year

Barry Frangipane is fascinated with Venice, a city built on millions of tree trunks that is sinking and often flooded. He and his wife Debbie decided to live out their dream of living in Venice for a year and ended up staying for 13 months.

What an exciting life to live abroad and then to write about it so others can live vicariously. I enjoyed reading about all the delicious foods they ate including panettone, lasagna, brioche, lemon torte, gourmet sandwiches, fresh pizza and crepes. Gnocchi with butter and fried sage leaves also sounds delicious. But what is surprising is how Debbie cooks an entire Thanksgiving dinner without a proper stove. In fact it seems that things we take for granted are rare in Venice.

Imagine not being able to have a hot shower unless you turn on water in two rooms so the water will heat up. Then there is always the problem of getting an Internet connection set up or having the electricity go out all the time. Then once they have passed out cards with their new post office address on them the mail place seems to go out of business.

But besides these inconveniences there is a lot to love about Venice. The people are especially friendly and seem very kind and loving, often going out of their way to make each other happy. This book reminded me of A Year in Provence and Under the Tuscan Sun. If you loved those books you will adore the Venice Experiment. I laughed at least ten times while reading this completely charming book.

~The Rebecca Review

I received a free copy of this book for review.
4 people found this helpful
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Along on the Journey!

I felt that Barry Frangipani took me on his journey! I am very passionate about Italy and even though I love all of Italy, I never thought of spending more than a week in Venice but this has changed my mind. I really enjoyed BF's humor in telling his story and taking us on his journey. I felt like Debbie and I could be great friends and really enjoyed his characters that I met through this experiment. I hated to end the book and cannot wait for his next one! This would make a great gift for any Italiafile!
2 people found this helpful
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A Life Well-Lived and Intimate View into the Real Joy of Living in Venice

I began to read this book on the hope that I would be able to see Italy, and Venice in particular, through the eyes of someone who had taken the initiative to go off of the beaten path; to learn and grow along with the city. I was not disappointed.

The style of writing was very approachable and drew me in to a life filled with an appreciation for the unexpected. While reading, I felt transported to Venice, seeing the sights, walking the calle, and savoring the flavors of both the cuisine and the sweetness of a life filled with the appreciation of "just being". Through this book, I was living life at a slower, but immensely meaningful pace; friends and family sharing the love of life over a cup of steaming caffè or a glass of prosecco, creating relationships, not transactions.

Though this book is not in and of itself a tour guidebook to Venice, it is a breezy and intimate series of snapshots that certainly should be on the Italian Department of Tourism's "Must Read" list.

Highly recommended!
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Two Stars

I anticipated this book but it didn't live up to my expectations Thought it would be more humorous

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