Just one week after the Italian Prime Minister announced a plan to reopen Italy to foreign travelers, South Florida-based travel news site, Live in Italy Magazine reached an all-time high in website traffic. Over 17,000 page impressions in one week indicates the pent-up demand for travel to il Bel Paese. However, as the tourism industry door swings open, plans for how to continue travel without jeopardizing businesses and the environment will need to be considered. Live in Italy Magazine aims to connect travelers or people wishing to live in Italy with locals so they can discover the real Italy. Plus, offer a personalized marketing strategy accessible to all sizes of businesses.
“Live in Italy Magazine is my pandemic, passion project,” comments Lisa Morales, founder and editor-in-chief. “The magazine idea was born from a conversation about how to give exposure to both small and large Italian businesses impacted by the tourism industry shutdown during COVID.”
As a result the small team has created a 360 digital marketing platform that includes a website; digital magazine; YouTube channel; social media; and audio interviews currently available on SoundCloud, but will eventually turn into a podcast. This strategy goes way beyond SEO and the objective is to tell compelling stories and feature in-depth video interviews.
Contributing writers are from Florida, New York, Cozumel, the UK and Italian regions: Piemonte, Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Umbria, Lazio and Sicily. Most articles are in English and some are offered in Italian since after the United States, the second largest readership is from Italy. While the remaining readers come from English speaking countries, the largest growing audience is from Italian descendants living in Argentina. Morales plans to add a Spanish translation of the website.
The Format Includes:
Chat with An Expat: Interviews with foreigners now living in Italy and giving back to the local economy. The magazine’s first YouTube interview with New Yorkers, Ashley and Jason Barter who run La Tavola Marche inn and cooking school in Le Marche, has been viewed over 32,000 times. Other popular interviews have been with filmmaker, Kylie Flavell from Australia; Ohioan, Katie Quinn (author of Cheese, Wine and Bread: Discovering The Magic of Fermentation in England, Italy and France); Podcaster, Rafael Di Furia; Katie Harris (UK) of Easy Italian; and Chantelle Kern (Canadian) co-founder of The Italian On Tour.
Real Estate and 1 Euro Homes: Real Estate stories have received about 32,000 views in the past 90 days and an article about 1 Euro Homes has generated many inquiries both from the website and magazine’s social media.
Living in Italy: Marco Permunian of Italian Citizenship Assistance discusses Italian Citizenship by Descent and the many benefits of acquiring it. Readers can also take a virtual Italian lesson.
Food and Wine: What better way to learn about regional Italian food and its history, as well as native grapes and boutique wineries than from Italians? Live in Italy Magazine’s food and wine writers are certified experts.
Top 8: In an effort to support local, Live in Italy features some of its new Instagram followers in a monthly round-up. Follow and tag @liveinitalymag for consideration.
“My passion project has become their passion project,” concludes Morales. “The magazine has quickly evolved to become a story of the Italian people. The amount of stories waiting to be told by both our writers and the people we interview can’t be tapped! I am touched by the emails, direct messages and social media conversations that we receive each day.”
Live in Italy Magazine is offering customized advertising packages and in-house content creation services at special prices, from now until the end of 2021. They will work with businesses to develop an affordable marketing program. For information, email sales@liveinitalymag.com. Send story ideas to liveinitalymag@gmail.com. Peruse the website, digital magazine, video interviews at www.liveinitalymag.com. Follow @liveinitalymag on social media and YouTube.
About Lisa Morales
Lisa Morales has over three decades of experience in marketing, public relations and journalism that began in her birthplace, Toronto, Canada. She owns Allegory PR Services, a boutique public relations and marketing agency and is the Public Relations and Social Media Manager for Pace Advertising. She formed Live in Italy Magazine in September 2020 and acts as its editor-in-chief while continuing to write for a variety of visual arts and travel publications. Seeking solace from her marketing life, Lisa cooks and blogs about her food and wine pairing adventures, travel and art escapes. She continues to study the visual arts and photography online, is WSET 2 Certified with Distinction and a member of the International Food Wine Travel Writers Association.
