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Il Parmigiano del Terremoto Posted by Serena on May 31, 2012
Obviously when the disastrous terremoto (earthquake) in Emilia Romagna struck, our first thoughts went out to the people directly involved in the event and their suffering. It’s difficult to imagine what it must be like to become homeless overnight, and to live in constant fear of the next violent tremors. But these disasters always have…
Terremoto in Emilia Romagna Posted by Serena on May 29, 2012
On Sunday the 20th of May, at 4:04 in the morning, l’Emilia Romagna was woken up by a violent terremoto (earthquake) measuring 5.9 magnitude on the Richter scale. During the quake, which lasted 20 seconds, six people died and several more were injured. Four of these victims were doing night shifts in the factories where…
Quanti Pani! Posted by Serena on May 25, 2012
Writing about traditional pane (bread) in a previous article made me realise just how many different variations we actually have here in Italy. Let’s have a look at the names of a few of the different breads that you’ll find at the panettiere (baker’s): la pagnotta is the most common name for a standard loaf…
La Strage di Capaci Posted by Serena on May 23, 2012
I recently read in John Dickie’s book “Cosa Nostra. A History of the Sicilian Mafia”, that the killing of the magistrate Giovanni Falcone was such a shock to the whole country, that most Italians can remember exactly where they were when they heard the news: On the 24th of May 1992 I was in Lusaka…
Il Pane Posted by Serena on May 18, 2012
Bread has been a fundamental part of our diet for thousands of years. Examples have been found in Egyptian tombs dating back more than five millennia. It is not surprising therefore that there are innumerable variations based on the simple ingredients of flour and water. Here in Italy we have our fair share of different…
L’Infinito di Leopardi Posted by Serena on May 16, 2012
A couple of months ago my uncle Luciano gave me a CD on which the great late actor Vittorio Gassman reads some poems from the most important Italian poets of the Romantic era: Ugo Foscolo, Alessandro Manzoni, and Giacomo Leopardi. Listening to them brought to mind the time when, aged eighteen, I had to study…
Bagnato Posted by Serena on May 11, 2012
In our last blog we looked at asciutto and secco (dry). Well here comes the rain again, so let’s see what vocabulary we need to describe … wet! umido = damp: il bucato è ancora umido (the washing is still damp) l’umidità (dampness – noun fem.): dopo tutta questa pioggia c’è molta umidità in cantina…