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Italian Stereotypes Posted by Serena on Jun 17, 2015
‘Abbiamo fatto l’Italia, ora dobbiamo fare gli Italiani’ (we have made Italy, now we have to make the Italians) said Italian writer and politician Massimo d’Azeglio shortly after the unification of Italy in 1861. Over a century and a half later we still haven’t got ‘standard’ Italians, but rather an eccentric collection of regional cultures…
A Carpet of Flowers Posted by Serena on Jun 11, 2015
By Serena with an English translation by Geoff Domenica scorsa era la festa del Corpus Domini, e in molti paesi e città italiane c’è la tradizione di celebrare questa solennità con una ‘infiorata’. ‘Infiorata’ viene dalla parola ‘fiore’ e consiste nel creare dei quadri religiosi usando i petali colorati dei fiori raccolti il giorno prima…
La Casa della Strega Posted by Serena on Jun 2, 2015
Quando ero bambina la scuola finiva il trentuno maggio, e dal primo giugno al trenta settembre ci godevamo le meritate vacanze estive: quattro mesi completi di mare, sole, giochi e niente compiti, niente sveglia la mattina. Poi ad un certo punto l’Italia si dovette adeguare alle normative europee, e così le vacanze scolastiche furono ridotte…
La Canzone del Piave Posted by Serena on May 25, 2015
My grandparents used to live in Via XXIV Maggio (24th of May Road), and that date was an enigma for me in my childhood days. “What is the importance of the 24th of May?” I used to ask myself, “ There are lots of important dates in May: dad’s birthday is on the 6th, dad…
Belgium’s Got Talent … Italian Style! Posted by Serena on May 21, 2015
Un Italiano di 22 anni stupisce tutti e vince il Belgium’s Got Talent (A 22 years old Italian amazes everyone and wins ‘Belgium’s Got Talent’). This is the sort of news title that I usually try to ignore, but then I invariably end up reading anyway. So, after a token resistance, I clicked on the…
Una Notte fra Nudisti Tedeschi Posted by Serena on May 15, 2015
The publicity on the internet advertised our lodgings in Freiburg, Germany, as a Hostel/Spa, but in reality it was a nudist spa with a few mixed male/female dormitories! Hence, the first night of our long journey from Italy to England turned out to be not quite what we’d hoped for … as Serena recounts below…
Luisa’s Caponata Posted by Serena on May 8, 2015
Caponata is a fabulous vegetable stew in a sweet and sour tomato sauce, but unfortunately it’s a real calories and cholesterol bomb. However, a few days ago I was talking to my friend Luisa, who is from Sicily, the original home of this dish, and she told me that she had recently learned a variation…