Monte Vista

Monte Vista is the seventh world from The Sims 3 Store, released for purchase in The Sims 3 Store on December 6, 2012. Monte Vista is an Italian-themed world, with hills surrounding the world and a coast which leads to an open sea.

The world is available for purchase through retail stores, or through The Sims 3 Store. In The Sims 3 Store, it can only be purchased in cash and not with SimPoints. However, part of the purchase price of the world is a bundle of SimPoints for use in The Sims 3 Store. Currently the two bundles are:
 * Monte Vista, plus 100 SimPoints, at US$25
 * Monte Vista, plus 1900 SimPoints, at US$35

Description
''At Monte Vista you can discover a landscape rich with charm and money, where villas featuring sweeping views dot the gently rolling hills. Explore the vibrant community by visiting renowned museums, taking a stroll across the piazza, or learning the culinary arts on an authentic wood-fire oven. Fill your Sims’ homes with the smell of fresh-baked pizzas, calzones, lasagnas and breads. Will your Sims find the inspiration to fuel their culinary fires?''

Backstory
Recipes from the Beyond 

Vol. 1

I know what you’re thinking. What does a dead guy know about baking? This dead guy knows it all. I’m Valentine Monty and the Montys have been a part of Monte Vista for as long as anyone can remember. Now that I’ve gotten my second chance I’m giving you all of the “to die for” Monty dishes in my new series: Recipes from the Beyond!

Now here’s the recipe for my world famous Pizza Margherita and it all starts with a fresh lump of dough and a wood fire oven:


 * 1. Pull a lump of lightly-oiled dough from your refrigerator.
 * 2.Lay the dough on the counter and knead it carefully and thoroughly until fairly flat
 * 3.Toss the dough in the air to achieve perfect flatness and perfect lift.

Now for the hard part:


 * 4. When the dough is flat, sprinkle it with “Monte Vista Magic Seasonings”. This invisible magic seasoning is a MUST for any wood fire oven recipe.
 * 5. Once properly sprinkled use the paddle to place the pizza in the Wood Fire Oven. Safety First!
 * 6. Cook until nice and toasty.

What about the cheese and tomatoes you ask? What did you think we were doing with all of that sprinkling? When your pizza comes out of the oven, the toppings will be perfectly arranged making for a *perfect* pizza margherita. That’s it from me. Until next time, Buonasera!

Features

 * The Wood Fire Oven - Expand your Sims' culinary world with new recipes! Make a variety of Breads, Calzones, Lasagnas and Pizzas!
 * A Whole New World Awaits - Meet new Sims, explore new locations, and experience the gorgeous views of Monte Vista!
 * Exclusive New Items - Customize your game with dozens of all-new exclusive objects and clothing that are only available in Monte Vista.
 * Sims 2 Legacy Family – Meet the Monty Family from Veronaville! Before they started their dire feud with the Capps, the Monty family spent their time whiling away their days peacefully in Monte Vista.

Families
There are 27 families in Monte Vista.

New families

 * Almeria family 21 Verona Way
 * §20,000
 * Difficulty: 3
 * Adora Almeria, Diego Almeria, Marta Almeria


 * Bianchi family 6 Regalia Court
 * §20,000
 * Difficulty: 3
 * Franco Bianchi, Kaela Bianchi, Beppe Bianchi


 * Costa family 11 Regalia Court
 * §30,000
 * Difficulty: 4
 * Dante Costa, Giovanna Costa, Cipriana Costa, Victoria Costa


 * DeLuca family 31 Verona Way
 * §10,000
 * Difficulty: 3
 * Teresa DeLuca, Dario DeLuca, Veronica DeLuca


 * Ferrari family 16 Regalia Court
 * §20,000
 * Difficulty: 1
 * Gino Ferrari


 * Giordano family 83 Chorus Court
 * §6,000
 * Difficulty: 3
 * Georgia Giordano, Paloma Giordano, Alessandra Giordano


 * James household 731 Bella Vista Drive
 * §15,000
 * Difficulty: 2
 * Jayden James, David Haynes


 * Lin family 14 Regalia Court
 * §45,000
 * Difficulty: 1
 * Erika Lin


 * Lombardi family 729 Bella Vista Drive
 * §12,000
 * Difficulty: 1
 * Nicoletta Lombardi


 * Mancini family 2 Regalia Court
 * §20,000
 * Difficulty: 2
 * Camillo Mancini, Carlo Mancini


 * Modena family 80 Desdamona Drive
 * §25,000
 * Difficulty: 1
 * Giacomo Modena


 * Moretti family 23 Verona Way
 * §18,000
 * Difficulty: 1
 * Pepe Moretti


 * Perry family 726 Bella Vista Drive
 * §10,000
 * Difficulty: 2
 * Noel Perry, Emma Perry


 * Rasi family 16 Via Veronaville
 * §5,000
 * Difficulty: 1
 * Lia Rasi


 * Rivers family 12 Regalia Court
 * §25,000
 * Difficulty: 1
 * Jalissa Rivers


 * Romano family 727 Bella Vista Drive
 * §16,000
 * Difficulty: 3
 * Paola Romano, Orlando Romano, Luigi Ricardo


 * Rossi family 13 Regalia Court
 * §100,000
 * Difficulty: 2
 * Constanzo Rossi, Adalina Rossi


 * Russo family 3 Via Veronaville
 * §10,000
 * Difficulty: 1
 * Sebastiana Russo


 * Seng family 723 Bella Vista Drive
 * §12,000
 * Difficulty: 3
 * Vanna Seng, Kannitha Seng, Chan Seng, Khang Seng


 * Stefani family 67 Stella Street
 * §10,000
 * Difficulty: 3
 * Su Lin Chang, Marcello Stefani, Rosaria Stefani


 * Taylor family 37 Bard Boulevard
 * §4,000
 * Difficulty: 1
 * Florence Taylor


 * Toledo family 719 Bella Vista Drive
 * §10,000
 * Difficulty: 1
 * Luis Toledo


 * Valenci family 33 Verona Way
 * §7,000
 * Difficulty: 1
 * Simona Valenci

Returning families

 * GilsCarbo family 8 Via Veronaville
 * §14,000
 * Difficulty: 3
 * Eduardo GilsCarbo, Carlotta GilsCarbo, Goopy GilsCarbo
 * The GilsCarbo family lives the simple life. Eduardo expresses his passion for music and Carlotta joyfully cares for her family. They love their happy baby, Goopy, and find his early obsession with cowboys and plaid endearing.


 * Monty family 718 Bella Vista Drive
 * §10,000
 * Difficulty: 2
 * Valentine Monty, Silvia Monty
 * Silvia lived a full life with a loving husband and a perfect son. After her son left to start a family and her husband passed away she was worried about spending her final years alone. But with grandchildren nearby, topped with the fact that she's starting to see her husband around again lately; Silvia knows that she won't be alone for long.


 * Monty family 33 Summer Street
 * §13,000
 * Difficulty: 4
 * Patrizio Monty, Isabella Monty, Bianca Monty, Antonio Monty
 * The Monty's are everything that a family should be: happy, successful (sic), loved. They have a rich and wonderful life with a large family and tons of friends. There is no way they could one day meet another family who would become their ultimate rivals...


 * Pantalone Family 5 Via Veronaville
 * §10,000
 * Difficulty: 2
 * Francisca Pantalone, Vincentio Pantalone
 * Vincentio and Francisca Pantalone had one beautiful daughter and their one beautiful daughter got married and gave them MANY beautiful grandchildren. Will they be able to keep up with the multiple bundles of joy.

Deceased Sims
One Sim is already deceased at the start of the game, but still playable as a ghost: In the Monte Vista cemetery, there are five Sims already deceased. Unlike Valentine Monty, they are not playable at the start of the game.
 * Valentine Monty (Old Age)
 * Octavius Capp (Electrocution)
 * Portia Monty (Old Age)
 * Marco Mancini (Starvation)
 * Malvolio Romano (Drowning)
 * Dara Graham (Old Age)

NPCs

 * Elma Rizzo (Paper Delivery Girl)
 * Amalea Ricci (Babysitter)
 * Tamara Leung (Maid)
 * Lupita Duarte (Mail Carrier)
 * Gillian Johnson (Firefighter)
 * Giulia Capp (Repairwoman)
 * Maria Monty (Pizza Delivery Girl)
 * Elisa Alaria (Repo-woman)
 * Andrea Marina (Burglar)
 * Chiara Goth (Social Worker)
 * Gina Avanetta  (Social Worker)
 * Daniela Rossari (Policewoman)
 * Claudia Caro (Science Geek)


 * Lai Yoon (Paper Delivery Child)
 * Hudson Thomas (Babysitter)
 * Luca Gallo (Maid)
 * Eugenio Conti (Mail Carrier)
 * Vikas Shah (Firefighter)
 * Sergio Acosta (Repairman)
 * Hajime Himowari (Pizza Delivery Boy)
 * Raul Bolivar (Repo-man)
 * Antonio Bruno (Burglar)
 * Loyd Baker (Social Worker)
 * Oscar Franco (Social Worker)
 * Cliff Gains (Policeman)

Townies

 * Michelle Harris
 * Suriya Nguyen
 * Pedro Robles
 * Tara Lee
 * Vaughan Robinson


 * Ace Delacruz
 * Giuseppe Esposito
 * Arona Bhatt
 * Irene Medina
 * Alrigo Colombo

Announcement
Monte Vista was announced on October 10, 2012 in the Maxis live broadcast. There were no rumors to the world before the announcement. It also features a premium content known as The Woodfire Oven, which Sims cook new recipes such as pizzas, calzones and lasagnes. On November 21, there was an announcement stating that Monte Vista would be available for purchase from the store in December 6, 2012 and from retail stores in January 8, 2013.

Live Chat
A live chat was announced on November 21st 2012 and broadcast on November 27th at 10am PST/6pm GMT. Lisa Smith and Sarah Holding, the producers of Monte Vista and the hosts for the chat, gave an in-depth walkthrough of the town and questions from the community were answered.

According to the live chat:
 * Monte Vista is fully compatible with The Sims 3: Seasons.
 * There are various mixed rabbit holes.
 * Several Sims from Veronaville from The Sims 2 made a comeback to this town for The Sims 3, such as the Monty family.

Trivia

 * Several street names are referenced to make Monte Vista "Italian" themed.
 * Desdamona Drive - Desdamona (in a play Othello) is the name of a character who is Venetian, a person who lives in Venice, Italy.
 * Verona Way and Via Veronaville - Verona is a city in the Veneto region at northern Italy. Verona is famous for the play Romeo and Juliet and in The Sims 2, for Veronaville.
 * Toscana Drive - Toscana is Tuscany in Italian, a region in Italy.
 * Bella Vista Drive - Bella is "beautiful" in Italian. It may be referenced to Bella Goth as well, and "Bellavista" is also the Italian name for Pleasantview.
 * Stella Street - Stella is "star" in Italian.
 * Regalia Court - Regalia means the privileges and the insignia characteristic of a sovereign in Latin. Italy was under the Roman Empire, a sovereign.
 * A few street names are used from Veronaville.
 * Avon Avenue
 * Bard Boulevard
 * Chorus Court
 * Stratford Street
 * Via Veronaville
 * Monte Vista sounds like Mona Lisa, a famous painting made by an Italian artist called Leonardo Da Vinci; it roughly translates to 'Mountain View'.
 * Monte Vistas is themed after a typical Italian hilltop towns, and resembles Volterra and Monteriggioni to an extent.
 * The Monty family and the Capp family appears to be a reference to the Montagues and the Capulets from Romeo and Juliet.

Gallery
"Promotional images"=