What city is it? Try to figure it out… meanwhile, we hope 2009 fulfills your desires. Best wishes for a good start to the new year from the whole whaiwhai team.

On the youthful wings of the Greek god of love, we arrived in Verona, which is now the fourth whaiwhai city. Last Friday, the municipal library hosted our official presentation of Amor — Verona. The new gamebook is already on sale in three bookshops in the city of the House of Scaliger — for more information, see the sales points section of our site.

The romantic theme of this whaiwhai story is a perfect match for a holiday visit to Verona. And for Valentine’s season in February, we’re concocting a special event where lovers can chase down Eros as they delve into Verona’s extraordinary love stories.

We don’t want to tell you too much, because now is the season of surprises, unexpected gifts, vacations and winter travels.

In the midst of these cold December days, the fourth whaiwhai adventure will be born. It’s a “romantic” creation, perhaps a great idea for an original weekend getaway to a beautiful city like Verona.

We’ll present the new whaiwhai gamebook on Friday, December 12th at 12:30 at the city’s Biblioteca Civile (Public Library): it’s called AMOR - Verona, and it’s the story of the winged god Eros and of the lost tools of his vocation, the story of a city that has been the backdrop of so many love stories.

Order your Verona gamebook today in the shop section of our website.

Yesterday, the press room of the Province of Florence was the venue for our press conference to launch 2054: Florence. We were welcomed considerately and attentively by the President of the Province, Massimo Mattei, and his administration: they see our gamebook as a new opportunity to learn about and fall in love with the Tuscan city.

Our collaboration with Luciano Artusi, the author of the stories in 2054: Florence, looks more and more like the right choice. Years of in-depth research on Florentine history have made Luciano (pictured bottom left) an icon of a rich and outstanding cultural heritage.

The first 30 gamebooks printed have already been distributed to journalists in Tuscany. The next stack will arrive within the next few days, and 2054: Florence will officially go on sale starting December 10th. Our most important retailer in the city will be Libreria Edison, which is located in a historic building, an ex-cinema that is now a very well-stocked bookstore. So in less than two weeks, Florence too will be a whaiwhai city.

whaiwhai is also our journey to places in search of the stories they can tell us. Following Venice and Rome, we’re finally ready to take on another city. The new gamebooks are in production as we speak: we’ll have the first copies available soon and we’ll bring them hot off the press to the presentation on November 27th. What city – and what story – are we talking about?

Dear friends, this time we’re talking about the capital of the Renaissance, Dante’s home town and the cradle of the Italian language: it’s Florence’s turn. Florence too has a whaiwhai story to help uncover its most fascinating secrets. We’ll be in the Tuscan capital to present the new narrative, 2054: Florence, to the media on November 27th at the headquarters of the Province of Florence. The author of the stories, Luciano Artusi, will be there with us.

In the shop section of our website, you can already reserve your Florence gamebook; we’ll send it to you as soon as possible. But first, read this extract of the prologue to the Florence stories and tell us what you think.

Good news! We’ve even made it onto the site of National Geographic’s magazine Traveler. The journalists at Traveler have discovered The Ruyi: Rome gamebook and talk about it in an entry to their “Intelligent Travel” blog. Have a look at Intelligent Travel… it’s a really interesting blog for travelers like you.