Archive by Author
Fried Brains – How to use Italian Reflexive Verbs in the Past Tense Posted by Serena on Apr 24, 2014
Knowing how to use double pronouns in Italian is a task that makes you suffer from cervelli fritti (fried brains), as one of our readers so nicely put it. Therefore, it’s important to keep revisiting the topic. Suppose you wanted to reply to the question: “Ti sei ricordato di comperare il pane?” (‘Did you remember…
Tears of the Virgin Mary Posted by Serena on Apr 18, 2014
Pianto della Madonna (Tears of the Virgin Mary) is a dramatic poem written by the Umbrian poet Jacopone da Todi (1236-1306). The poem narrates Jesus’ Passion using the dramatic form of a dialogue between four characters: il nunzio (the herald), la Madonna (the Virgin Mary), il popolo ebraico (the Jewish people), and Gesù (Jesus). Pianto…
How to Write a Hotel Booking Letter in Italian Posted by Serena on Apr 14, 2014
Thinking about taking a well deserved holiday in Italy? Perhaps it’s time to start booking that hotel. Last week we looked at how to structure a formal letter in Italian, so let’s expand on that by concentrating on the corpo (content) of a hotel booking letter. The sample letter below contains a range of questions…
How to Write a Formal Letter in Italian Posted by Serena on Apr 11, 2014
Writing a formal letter is never an easy task unless you’re a trained professional, and it’s even more difficult of course if you have to do it in Italian. In a formal letter it’s important to use the correct opening and closing formulas, and to use the appropriate formal language. Here’s a formulary that you…
A Chat with Cocò the Cat Posted by Serena on Apr 7, 2014
Ciao … sono Cocò! Serena: “Buongiorno Cocò, come stai? dormito bene?” “Good morning Cocò, how are you? Did you sleep well?” Cocò: “…giorno, uffa! Dove sono i miei croccantini?” “…morning, humph! Where are my biscuits?” Serena: “Sempre molto gentile, eh? Pensare che da piccolino eri così allegro e chiacchierone. La mattina venivi sempre a salutarmi…
Pancakes from Pontremoli? Posted by Serena on Apr 3, 2014
Italian pancakes? Well sort of … Yesterday evening I went to a very interesting workshop all about il testarolo pontremolese cotto nei testi (Pontremoli testaroli cooked inside testi). Il Testarolo is a sort of pancake made with water, flour and salt which is cooked in un testo, a large heavy cast iron skillet with a…
The Latest Gossip … Famous Film Star Buys House in Local Town! Posted by Serena on Mar 31, 2014
pettegolezzi = gossip “George Clooney ha comprato casa a Pontremoli!” questo è il pettegolezzo più gettonato negli ultimi giorni qui da noi. Questa mattina mi trovavo dal fruttivendolo a fare la spesa quando ho sentito Renzo il negoziante dire: “Adesso poi, signore belle, avrete anche Clooney” “George Clooney has bought a house in Pontremoli!” this…