Archive for the year 2011
Farfallina Bella Bianca Posted by Serena on Jul 14, 2011
Learning a foreign language is hard work when you’re an adult! It’s always a humbling experience when, having diligently studied Italian for many years, you travel to Italy only to hear a group of four year olds playing together and speaking much better Italian than you! Non è giusto! Well obviously those children have had…
Zucchine alla Scapece Posted by Serena on Jul 11, 2011
Zucchine, zucchine, e ancora zucchine. Ci pacciono tanto, ma ci sembra di non mangiare altro che zucchine in questi giorni. E pensare che di piante ne abbiamo soltanto tre! Questa è una bella sfida, e bisogna essere molto inventivi con le ricette. Eccone una tipica del Sud d’Italia, che ci piace molto: Zucchini, zucchini, and…
Il Verbo Fare Posted by Serena on Jul 8, 2011
The Italian verb fare is one that students learn fairly early on. It is most often translated as ‘to do’ or ‘to make’: ti faccio un buon caffè – I’ll make you a nice coffee mi scusi, ho fatto un errore – excuse me, I made a mistake stamattina devo fare un paio di lavori…
Luglio Posted by Serena on Jul 5, 2011
The month of luglio (July) is named after the Roman consul Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar), who was born on the 12th of July 100 B.C. Sopra: Giulio Cesare Unbelievably there aren’t any national holidays or festivals in luglio here in Italy (cosa?!) However, quite a few famous Italians were born in July. Here is a…
La Cicala: favole e leggende Posted by Serena on Jul 2, 2011
There are many popular sayings and proverbs about la cicala, and not surprisingly his frinio (strident song) plays an important part in most of them. Probably the most famous cicada favola (fable) is that written by Esopo (Aesop): La Cicala e la Formica. Here is an adaptation of the tale by the French poet and…
La Cicala Posted by Serena on Jun 29, 2011
It’s official, summer is here. The announcement was made a few days ago by la cicala (the cicada). Throughout the hot days of summer and into the autumn il frinio, the monotonous strident song of the cicala can nearly always be heard somewhere in the background. It’s a sound that I’ve always taken for granted…
Il Referendum: come funziona? Posted by Serena on Jun 26, 2011
Firstly, I’d like to thank all of the readers who added their positive, supportive comments to my blog “Il Referendum”. It’s very encouraging to see how many people appreciate what an important democratic outcome the referendum had for us Italians. When I wrote my first blog about the referendum I had a feeling that people…