Archive for the year 2009
La Vendemmia – un po’ di vocabolario Posted by Serena on Oct 7, 2009
One of the great pleasures of living in our little village in Lunigiana, is being surrounded by nature and her changes of season. The lives of the contadini (peasant farmers) are still closely tied to the ancient rituals that have always accompanied natures rhythms. Late September, for example, is the period of la vendemmia, a…
Il Congiuntivo Part 2 – Verbi Irregolari Posted by Serena on Oct 4, 2009
As I promised in part one of this article: il congiuntivo part-1 presente, here is a list of the most useful irregular verbs conjugated in the congiuntivo presente (present subjunctive). Essere (to be): io sia, tu sia, lui/lei sia, noi siamo, voi siate, loro siano Avere (to have): io abbia, tu abbia, lui/lei abbia, noi abbiamo, voi abbiate…
Il Congiuntivo Part 1 – Presente Posted by Serena on Oct 1, 2009
Several readers have asked me to explain how and when to use the congiuntivo (subjunctive), a verb form which is not used very much in English but is quite common in Italian. This is quite a big topic, so in order to make it more ‘digestible’ I have decided to divide it into several “chapters”. Let’s begin with the Congiuntivo Presente (present subjunctive). The…
La Festa della Santa Croce Posted by Serena on Sep 28, 2009
By far the most important religious and social event that takes place in Lucca is La Festa della Esaltazione della Santa Croce (The Festival of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross) which happens each year on the 13th and 14th of September. This year, for the first time in ages we decided to go into…
La Mantide Religiosa Posted by Serena on Sep 25, 2009
September is the time of year when we start noticing le mantidi religiose (the praying mantises), which are very common here in Italy. I had always wondered why they seemed to appear so late in the year, and where they arrived from, but a quick investigation revealed the simple fact that they are already present…
A night at the opera Posted by Serena on Sep 22, 2009
‘O.K., before all you opera fans start getting excited I will openly admit that on the whole I’m not that keen on it. That is, I’m not completely adverse to some of the tunes, especially the famous arias such as Nessun Dorma, but I wouldn’t normally go out of my way to see a performance, in…
Mind where you put your adjectives! Posted by Serena on Sep 19, 2009
At the end of my previous blog dealing with adjectives and their positions I said: “Finally, there are some cases in which adjectives change meaning according to their position, but I will save that for a rainy day!” Well il giorno piovoso (the rainy day) has finally arrived after almost two months of siccità (dryness), so…