Archive for January, 2014
Pear and Chocolate Indulgence! Posted by Serena on Jan 31, 2014
Do any of you like chocolate? How about pears? If the answer to those two questions is yes then this is the perfect recipe for you. Preamble … Over the Christmas holidays we were inundated with chocolate: boxes and boxes of assorted pralines, and massive bars of the stuff, some of them weighing 500 grams…
How Not to Say I Love You in Italian Posted by Serena on Jan 29, 2014
Italians are very romantic, and town walls all over Italy are covered in graffiti with big passionate declarations of love. Ma amore non fa sempre rima con cuore (but love does not always rhyme with heart), as we say in Italian, so despite the good intentions these romantic graffiti are often full of grammatical mistakes…
Fire and Ice in Sicily Posted by Geoff on Jan 27, 2014
Did you know that Italy has the highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world, 49 in total, followed by China with 45, and Spain with 44? One of the most recent additions to the impressive list came last June when the ever spectacular Mt. Etna, Europe’s highest active volcano, was added. Mitologia…
Pinocchio Part 2 – The Doctor’s Diagnosis Posted by Geoff on Jan 23, 2014
In part 1, I took a look at the ‘real’ Pinocchio, as created by Carlo Lorenzini, better known as Collodi, and explained how I was finding the book surprisingly dark and sinister compared to the sugary Disney version that I grew up with. Were Italian children disturbed by this classic fairy tale? Perhaps, but they…
Italian Grammar Quiz – The Solutions Posted by Serena on Jan 22, 2014
Here, as promised, are the correct answers to the quiz that we published a few days ago. If you haven’t already had a go at it you can find it here. 1. It keeps the wind off your face in the car. The correct answer is il parabrezza (literally ‘the breeze stopper, the windshield/windscreen of…
Will The Real Pinocchio Please Stand Up Posted by Geoff on Jan 20, 2014
My current bedtime reading, Le Avventure di Pinocchio, given to me by my brother in law Gippi, is turning out to be a real revelation in several unexpected ways. Having grown up in England my only previous knowledge of Pinocchio was the endearing mischievous puppet from Disney’s famous 1940 musical animation. Certainly a classic piece…
Italian Grammar Quiz Posted by Serena on Jan 17, 2014
How many of you made a new years resolution something like this: “This year I’m going to really make an effort to study Italian”? Well here’s a little quiz to give you a kick-start. This quiz highlights some subtle but important grammatical differences. See how many you can solve. 1. It keeps the wind off…