Archive for 'News'
Is Modern Art A Load Of Rubbish? Posted by Serena on Oct 29, 2015
Geoff and I have a pet hate for the type of ‘intellectual’ modern art which needs a long pretentious statements posted next to it in order to distinguish it from any of the other banal everyday stuff that surrounds us. Unfortunately, a lot of modern art does seem to be simply intellectual rubbish … and…
E’ Arrivato Flegetonte Posted by Serena on Jul 9, 2015
“E’ arrivato Flegetonte” (Phlegethon has arrived) is the main headline in most Italian newspapers at the moment. But what on earth is a Flegetonte? Well, in Greek mythology, Phlegethon was one of the rivers of the underworld, its name meaning ‘flaming’. In his Inferno, Dante Alighieri describes the Flegetonte as a river of boiling blood which…
Belgium’s Got Talent … Italian Style! Posted by Serena on May 21, 2015
Un Italiano di 22 anni stupisce tutti e vince il Belgium’s Got Talent (A 22 years old Italian amazes everyone and wins ‘Belgium’s Got Talent’). This is the sort of news title that I usually try to ignore, but then I invariably end up reading anyway. So, after a token resistance, I clicked on the…
Is it Art? Posted by Geoff on May 19, 2015
Does anyone really know what art is any more? Artists have always pushed the boundaries, posed difficult questions and challenged our preconception. Perhaps it was always inevitable therefore that the line that divides what we considered to be art from ‘everything else’ would eventually blur and fade. One particular genre that has caused much pondering…
Tourists, Beware Of What You Wear Posted by Geoff on Apr 1, 2015
If you’re planning on taking a vacation in Italy this year then pack wisely. New tourist dress code regulations (Regolamentazione dell’Abbigliamento Turistico), which come into effect at the beginning of April 2015, could mean that many visitors to il Bel Paese will be in for a nasty, and expensive surprise if they don’t pay careful…
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes … And Our Wallets! Posted by Geoff on Mar 30, 2015
Here’s a little article which I found in the Italian press the other day. The article itself is not exactly headline material, but it does serve as a useful tool for a bit of grammatical analysis. Rather than translate everything, I’ve picked out some key grammatical point and elaborated on them. N.B. to those of…
The Amatriciana Dilemma Posted by Serena on Feb 17, 2015
What are the true, authentic ingredients of Amatriciana sauce? This was the main topic of discussion in all the Italian newspapers last week. Why? Because master chef Carlo Cracco had the cheek to tell a member of the audience on a TV program that you should add uno spicchio d’aglio in camicia (a clove of garlic…