Ciao, Maria, e benvenuta a Tripatini! It's great to have you with us -- and we think you'll find our site productive as well as interesting and enjoyable.

To get the most out of Tripatini, you may want to take a moment to join several of our many groups which you may find of particular interest, such as Media Only, IFWTWA, Italy, Eating/Drinking the World, Wine Tourism, Illinois, our Italian Language/Culture Club, and plenty of others covering many other topics and most destinations across the globe.

FYI, on your profile you'll see a green bar marked "Text Box," which you can turn into a box containing not just text but also photos and even videos about yourself, your interests, your travels, and your writing/outlets.

Finally, if you would, please be so kind as to spread the word among your travel-interested friends, family, colleagues, associates, and readers. It's fast and easy to use our "INVITE" function above left on the navigation bar to enter e-mails (even your whole list at once!). If you have the chance to cover us in any of your outlets, that would be great, and if you might be interested in blogging for us on occasion rates/guidelines are available upon request.

Thanks much for joining us, Maria; we wish you an outstanding rest of 2009 and look forward to seeing you online.

Salute!