Blogger dinner in Milan

Had a fantastico time last night at a blogger dinner organized by Paolo Valdemarin, a consultant who's one of the big thinkers in Italy's social media scene. The gathering at Il Verdi Trattoria in Milano brought together 17 people, including Massimo Esposti, whose new Unwired Media publishing venture (see the Area 51 blog) will debut next month with the Italian version of Darknet. (Howard Rheingold's preface and the Introduction are available for a free download in Italian.)

Also met Fausto, Marco Zamperini, Gianluca Brugnoli, Andrea Lawendel, Luca Lizzeri, Giogio Baresi and several other great folks. I'm hoping we can get a few volunteers in Italy to help out with Ourmedia; we're looking for moderators, coders and administrators.

Earlier in the day Deirdre Straughan gave us a tour of the offices of TVBlob, an interactive communication startup using TV and broadband. (Deirdre was a welcome addition to the blogger dinner as well.) Stayed for two nights at Deirdre's place in Lecco, and I'll post some video and a slew of photos when I get back. (When you've spent years mastering Photoshop, it's hard to bring yourself to upload photos that need lightening, cropping and sharpening.) So far: Rome, Venice, Lake Como and Milano. Just got to Florence. More soon.