No one wants to be a tourist, but everyone wants to travel. Everyone wants “the local experience” without actually being local. So, how does that work out? Well, more and more, I think we’re seeing a big difference between The Tourist and The Traveler.

The Tourist tends to organize his/her trip around guidebook suggestions and the list of what must be “done”:

“First we did Rome; then we did Florence; then we finished by doing Venice for two days.”

What did you do to them?! Bomb them? Wear them as clothing? Have sex with them? Or just check them off some prescribed notion of a list of things one must DO in Italy?

Ok, so I’m a bit harsh towards the average tourist. But the verb to do in place of to go to is just lazy, bad English. Plus, it sounds really condescending to non native speakers. How would you like it if some foreigner came and did your home town? It’s weird. Just plain weird.

Rant finished.

The Traveler, on the other hand, relies on blogs and social media to get tips from those of us actually living in Italy. This way, The Traveler benefits from the years of experience we bloggers have in this one specific location. Blogs are invaluable as a travel resource. They are a peek into the reality of a place. So much so that even travel sites benefit from blogger knowledge, each one searching for the more obscure fact about to feature on their front page. It seems that obscurity and originality are now the mark of The True Traveler.

Well, if obscure and original Italian destinations is what you seek, here’s a good place to start: Italy Magazine (big travel site) has recently issued their nomination list for the Best Italy Blogs of 2014. This list of blogs is a treasure trove of useful information for specific locations.

A few of my fellow COSI bloggers have been nominated:

Rick of Rick’s Rome has been nominated for Best Overall Blog for Lovers of Italy

Three fellow COSI bloggers were nominated for the Best Living in Italy Single Post category:

• Misty of Surviving in Italy with her post: Dog Boarding, Adoption, And Dog Parks In Florence, Italy
• Rick again with his post: The Definitive Guide for the Permesso di Soggiorno
• and Andrea from Sex. Lies, and Nutella with her post: 10 Things I Hate About Italy

And I’m flattered to say that my little blog is on there too, in the category “Best Living in Italy Blog”. I’m up against so many other great sites, including the brilliant Sex, Lies and Nutella, of previous mention.

VOTE FOR ME!! VOTE FOR ME!! CLICK HEEEEEERREEE!

I may have to resort to bold tactics to solicit the vote. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

Anyway, I highly recommend that you check out all the great blogs on the nomination lists. I mean where else are you going to get such great historical context on Michaelangelo’s David and his alluring sexuality? Where else can you get a peak inside a Roman slaughterhouse turned gallery/organic market? Where else can you get valuable info on how to be a single lady in Italy direct from an Italian man?

What’s your favorite Italy blog?