Archive for November, 2012
Michelangelo’s Pietà Rondanini Moves Home Posted by Serena on Nov 30, 2012
A few days ago, while browsing through the newspaper ‘Corriere della Sera’, I came across an interesting article about Michelangelo’s last sculpture, la Pietà Rondanini. Michelangelo is thought to have started working on this Pietà (pietà is the name used for a representation of the Virgin Mary mourning over the dead body of Christ) in…
Piove di Ada Negri Posted by Serena on Nov 27, 2012
Poet and writer, Ada Negri was born in Lodi (Lombardia) in 1870. Her father, a coachman, died when she was only one year old, and her mother worked as a weaver in a factory. Ada recounts in her autobiography “Stella Mattutina” (Morning Star), published in 1921, how she spent many years of her lonely childhood…
Non c’è nessuno Posted by Serena on Nov 23, 2012
Non, meaning ‘not’, or its abbreviation n’t, e.g. didn’t, won’t, can’t, etc. is a negative adverb used to negate or change the meaning of the verb, adverb, adjective or pronoun which it precedes. For example: non vengo alla festa = I won’t come to the party, or, I’m not coming to the party come stai?…
Gli Amaretti di Saronno Posted by Geoff on Nov 20, 2012
I see this bright red tin a hundred times a day. It sits on a shelf in our kitchen and is full of delicious … croccantini (cat biscuits)! Yes, an empty Amaretti di Saronno tin makes the perfect storage container for dried cat food, and none of our six gatti have yet worked out how…
Il Gerundio–Part 2 Posted by Serena on Nov 16, 2012
Last week we looked at the most common uses of Il Gerundio (the gerund) in Italian. Today we are going to look at cases in which the gerund is used in English but not in Italian. In Italian, we do not use the gerund: 1. After another verb In this case we use the infinitive whereas…
Il Piede Della Mummia Posted by Serena on Nov 15, 2012
Tanto tempo fa, quando ero una neo-laureata in Egittologia, lavorai per un paio di stagioni al Museo Archeologico di Firenze. Il mio compito consisteva nel catalogare svariati reperti, come vasi, amuleti, gioielli, e così via, conservati nei magazzini della sezione egizia del museo. Per ogni oggetto dovevo misurarne l’altezza, la larghezza e la profondità massima…
Il Gerundio Posted by Serena on Nov 9, 2012
Il gerundio (the gerund) refers to the use of a verb in its –ing form. For example ‘I am writing’, I was thinking, he is talking, etc. In Italian il gerundio (the gerund) is characterised by the following endings: Verbs ending in –are = ando e.g. mangiando (eating) from the verb mangiare (to eat) Verbs…