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It’s All In The Accent – Part 2. Posted by Serena on May 21, 2014
Last week in It’s All In The Accent, we took a look at how we use accents in written Italian, and how they can completely change the meaning of some words. Astute students of Italian will have noticed though that we use two different accents: ` accento grave (grave accent) used in open sounds such…
Spinning Wool … The Hard Way! Posted by Serena on May 15, 2014
Have you ever tried to spin wool? It looks so simple when you see an old peasant lady sitting there on a rustic wooden chair, turning the spindle with one hand and holding a distaff under her other armpit. But the truth is actually very far from this charming bucolic image. I can personally testify…
It’s All In The Accent Posted by Serena on May 14, 2014
Last week Geoff wrote a silly blog about tè (tea), which played on the fact that some Italian words change their meaning depending on whether they use an accent or not, e.g. tè (tea), te (you). Let’s have a look at a few more words that fall into this category, plus some other cases in…
Wild Daffodils Posted by Serena on May 12, 2014
By Serena, with Photos and Translation by Geoff The Prati di Logarghena, with the rugged peaks of the Apuane Alps in the background. Mai prima di sabato avevo visto così tante giunchiglie selvatiche! Mi era stato detto tante volte che a maggio i Prati di Logarghena sono ricoperti di giunchiglie, ma pensavo che fosse la…
Italian Herbs and Spices Posted by Serena on May 5, 2014
Italy is famous for its amazing cuisine, one of the most notable aspects of which is the simplicity of the recipes. Wonderful fresh ingredients, blessed by the Mediterranean sun, are combined in inventive ways, and flavoured with a range of traditional herbs and spices. Let’s find out what the most common of these spezie ed…
A Brief History of the Italian Railways Posted by Serena on Apr 29, 2014
There are many ways to explore the beauties of the Italian landscape, but surely one of the most romantic and evocative must be by steam train. Treno Natura, a romantic journey through the heart of Tuscany by steam train I’ve just read a brief history of the Italian railways, which I raced through in un…
Brain Fritters Posted by Serena on Apr 25, 2014
In my last blog I mentioned my mother’s famous fried brains recipe. Well today, not only am I going to share her culinary secrets but I’m also going to really fry your brains by writing in Italian … without an English translation. If you find yourself struggling, or I use vocabulary and grammatical constructions that…