How do you say "plain flour" in Italian?!

Some days are just crappy, even if you're in some people's dream holiday destination of Italy!

I should have written this post yesterday!  Yesterday, we had good news, and Mr RR and I went out to celebrate with a few post dinner drinks and nibbles in the main square of the old town.

Aperitivi ("appetisers") Don't tell anyone we ate dinner first at 6.30!

There was a drumming parade by a group for disabled people and a reading/discussion by an author promoting his book about the mafia and all seemed well and good with the world.  Afterwards, we wandered the streets for a bit, even rediscovering a cat and her kittens we spotted for the first time last week.  I mean, what more can you ask than an evening of cocktails, culture and kittens?!

Gattini ("Kittens")

Then today I got 2 pieces of frustrating news regarding properties back home where we will be penalised financially for other people's ineptness and sneaky underhandedness and, excuse my extreme lack of eloquence, but it all just feels a bit rubbish.  Rather than head straight to my old friend chocolate, Mr RR suggested we head to the sea as I have been amazed before at how swimming in the clear blue sea after a tough day can make everything better, but today it just didn't work.

So now here I am at home, feeling a bit sorry for myself, not sure what will help, but anticipating I'll revert to Plan A and try chocolate!   Following this notion however, I'm frustrated that I can't even make my usual home-baked goodness as I haven't got my head round how the flour works here!  In UK, you have plain flour and self-raising flour which is plain flour with some baking powder thrown in.  I was told Italian 00 flour was the same as plain flour but I've tried a couple of basic recipes that work fine with plain flour with Italian 00 flour instead and they weren't even recognisable.  So now, (given my fragile emotional state!) I'm wary of trying to bake again today of all days as there's a real danger that if a batch of my celebrated chocolate brownies come out wrong I will dissolve in a mess of tears!

Oh dear, oh dear!  What's a ragazza to do?!