Archive for 'Culture'
Parla come Mangi Posted by Serena on Sep 1, 2009
Browsing through a magazine a few days ago I came across an article about a recent survey which set out to discover the best known Italian words throughout the 27 countries of the Unione Europea. Although the article itself was rather trivial it did remind me of something quite important: the existence of La Società Dante Alighieri…
La storia di un’autovelox Posted by Serena on Aug 29, 2009
A few blogs ago I wrote about the tough new laws which are being applied to cyclists here in Italia despite the continuing infringements committed by the idiosyncratic ‘Italian Driver’: Ancora una nuova legge da dimenticare As a ‘coda’ (sequel), I thought you might enjoy the following article which I read a few days ago…
Ancora una nuova legge da dimenticare! Posted by Serena on Aug 20, 2009
Recently my English sister in law, who lives with her family in France, came to stay with us for a week here in Italy. Having bravely driven right across France in a car packed with herself, her French husband, her three young children and all the paraphernalia necessary for a family holiday, she had the…
Challenging the Stereotype! Posted by Serena on Aug 14, 2009
Every country seems to have its own simplistic interpretation of stranieri (foreigners), reducing them to a limited set of stereotypes. For example, most Italians that I have met since I returned to Italy a couple of years ago seem to see London as synonymous with England, although when pressed they will concede that there is a…
Traditional children’s games Posted by Serena on Jul 9, 2009
Here in Italy the schools are closed for the summer holidays, and children are at home playing. A few days ago I saw a small group of bambini (young children) aged around 2 to 8 playing an old traditional playground game: Il Girotondo (the equivalent of Ring-a-Ring-a-Roses). I felt a touch of nostalgia as many happy memories came…
All roads lead to Rome – part2 Posted by Serena on Jun 27, 2009
In part 1 of this blog I took a brief look at the origins of the expression ‘tutte le strade portano a Roma’ (‘all roads lead to Rome’), and at some of the famous Vie (roads, or literally ‘ways’) that were the backbone of the Roman empire. In this second part I’m going to leap…
All roads lead to Rome – part 1 Posted by Serena on Jun 24, 2009
Tutte le strade portano a Roma (all roads lead to Rome) is an expression that we use to mean that there are many different ways to arrive somewhere or achieve something. But a couple of millennium ago this famous expression was a statement of fact. One of the many great achievements of the Roman empire was…