Archive for 'Culture'
Ben Tornati In Italia! Posted by Geoff on Jul 13, 2017
All’aeroporto di Genova durante il rientro dall’Inghilterra … Al banco del controllo passaporti: Passaporto per favore ……. Eccolo! Parli l’italiano? Certo, abito qua. La cittadinanza ce l’hai? No, ma ora sto pensando di prenderla. Sarà meglio, altrimenti non ti facciamo più entrare! mi fa con un sorriso di complicità. Poi tocca a Serena, che ha…
Spaesato! Posted by Geoff on Jul 10, 2017
Once again, it’s time for our annual visit to my family in England. As usual, this causes me to reflect on a few cultural differences, and deal with that strange mixture of nostalgia and alienation familiar to expats and emigrants. When Italians discover that I’m originally from the U.K. they usually ask me: “Ci torni…
Non Uccidete Il Mare Posted by Serena on Jun 28, 2017
Last week marked the start of gli Esami di Maturità (the A levels/final exams) for thousands of young Italians. The first exam consisted of writing an essay based on one of seven possible materie (subjects): literature, art, technology-science, history, history-politics, sociology-economics, and general. The students had six hours to complete their task, a break being…
A Poem For Mother’s Day Posted by Serena on May 12, 2017
In Italy, on the second Sunday of May, we celebrate la Festa della Mamma (Mother’s Day). This is a fairly new festival, having been ‘imported’ into Italy from America after the Second World War. I’ve found a very appropriate poem for the occasion by Edmondo De Amicis (1846-1908) for his mother. It’s called Se Fossi…
Popular Italian Names – 2. Female Posted by Serena on May 9, 2017
When I was a child I used to hate it when people asked me: “Come ti chiami?” (“What’s your name?”), because I knew that, nine times out of ten, their immediate reaction to my reply: “Mi chiamo Serena” (“My name is Serena”) would be: “Sei Serena di nome e di fatto?” (“Are you Serene by…
Popular Italian Names – 1. Male Posted by Geoff on May 1, 2017
Beppe, Totò, Fede, Gino … these are all common abbreviations for Italian male names. Where do they come from, and do they have an equivalent in English? The table below gives some of the most common Italian male names together with their variations and abbreviations. Nome Varianti/Abbreviazioni Equivalente Inglese Alberto Alessandro Alessio Andrea Angelo…
Totò In Milan Posted by Serena on Apr 26, 2017
A few days ago was the 50th anniversary of the death of Totò (Napoli, 1898 – Roma, 15th April 1967), one of Italian cinema’s greatest comedians. Totò is the pseudonym of Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfiro-genito Gagliardi de Curtis di Bisanzio. Guess why he used the nickname Totò! Totò (a common abbreviation…