Archive for August, 2018
Italian Popular Sayings – A Quiz Posted by Serena on Aug 31, 2018
Here’s a fun little quiz about detti popolari (popular sayings). In Italy we have many weird and wonderful detti popolari, some of which have a similar equivalent in English, and others which need a bit of explanation in order to be understood. In the list of detti below, we’ve given their literal translation rather than…
Idiomatic Verbs Using ‘Ci’ Posted by Geoff on Aug 29, 2018
In my previous article about ‘ci‘, we looked at its use as the personal pronoun ‘us’, ‘each other’, or ‘we’, and as the adverb ‘there’ or ‘here’. Today, things get a bit more complex as we move into the mystic realm of idioms. Ci is used in a number of important idiomatic verbs that can…
‘Ci’ Posted by Geoff on Aug 27, 2018
Like an elusive butterfly, she flutters from sentence to sentence. Just when we think we can grasp her, with a swift beat of tiny wings, ‘ci‘ flies out of reach, only to alight somewhere else totally unexpected. Luckily, I have a special grammatical butterfly net. Let’s capture her and take a closer look at her…
Ciappa La Rocca E Il Fus Posted by Serena on Aug 23, 2018
I mestieri nel borgo (the old village trades) which takes place in the beautiful little village of Ponticello, near Pontremoli, is undoubtedly my favourite festival of the year. I love it not just because of the merry atmosphere that permeates the whole hamlet, but also because it re-evokes a period of history that’s within living…
Le Bambole Della Nonna Posted by Serena on Aug 20, 2018
Do you ever have the feeling, dear reader, that contemporary western culture could do with taking a step back and rediscovering a few lost pleasures? Introduction by Geoff … pleasures such as the simple act of making things for yourself rather than buying mass produced plastic cianfrusaglie (knick-knacks). As children we often made our own…
Putting Together The Pieces – Translation Posted by Serena on Aug 16, 2018
Here’s the English translation of the final chapter in our detective story The Strange Case Of The Irregular Body. La sera successiva al raid sull’Isola di Montecristo e l’arresto del Dottor Franco Sasso, il Tenente Ciceri può finalmente rilassarsi un po’ con la famiglia. A cena in pizzeria, davanti ad una bella pizza marinara, i…
Alla Ricerca Della Freschezza – Part 2 Posted by Geoff on Aug 15, 2018
Whilst mad dogs and Englishmen are out in the midday sun, we’re heading for the mountains. Specifically, to Lago Santo, a beautiful mountain lake at 1,507 metres above sea level in the Parco Nazionale dell’Appennino Tosco-Emiliano. In part 1 I described the debilitating heat of August and gave examples of some of the vocabulary that…