L’Italia in Cinque Parole – la risposta! Posted by Serena on May 21, 2010 in Culture
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog entitled ‘L’Italia in Cinque Parole’ in which I asked readers to describe Italy and the Italians in five words or short phrases. The response was quite overwhelming, and I began to think that I’d bitten off more than I could chew! The hardest part of the exercise was to get our Italian friends to participate. Either they replied with the ubiquitous ‘Boh!’ or they composed lengthy odes to their country and culture, see for example my mother’s comments at the end of this blog.
However, after much head scratching, heated discussion, and writing of lists, here is what we have come up with. The table below is an amalgam of all of the readers’ comments. There are five categories listed in order of importance, with the most frequently recurring words highlighted in red. The sixth row lists general observations:
| People friendly passionate helpful family expressive celebratory proud warm happy ‘appreciative of food’ bella figura |
– welcoming temperamental loving healthy cynicism anarchic generous emotional unpretentious pleasantly crazy religious formal |
– music loving traditional conversational gracious cheerful open animated ‘unfriendliness towards tourists’ distant sultry |
| Food delicious excellent great wine great cuisine pizza |
– slow food strong coffee good seafood good olive oil |
– pasta ice cream fresh ingredients Parmigiano |
| Country/Landscape beauty beautiful landscapes vineyards mountains plains ‘varied land & seascapes’ |
– le piazze beautiful towns historical cities quaint mountain towns touristy nature |
– beautiful houses beaches ‘heavenly Tuscan landscapes’ fertile gardens |
| History & Arts Art Roman ruins architecture (history of) Renaissance |
– historical cities churches elegant design expressive art/music |
– opera folk music ‘key to development of Western civilization’ |
| Politics Berlusconi Mafia |
– ‘hostile to centralization’ |
– ‘cynicism towards government’ |
| General fashion football chaotic disorganization crazy/erratic driving ‘quality rather than quantity’ elegance |
– Mediterranean sea surprising/predictable shopping passeggiata (going for a stroll) beautiful language Catholic Church |
– sun/climate endangered variety exquisite light festivals doggie do do! good public transport |
Now let’s see what Italians have to say about themselves:
| People creativi/immaginazione indisciplinati ‘attaccamento alle radici’ ‘paurosi verso tutto ciò che è diverso’ mentalità anziana mammoni ‘negati per le lingue straniere’ furbi altruisti mangioni buoni spendaccioni disordinati ‘genii nella disorganizzazione’ ‘artisti nell’artigianalità’ ‘In Patria tendiamo a disprezzare la nostra Nazione e all’estero se qualcuno disprezza le medesime cose noi andiamo facilmente in bestia’ ‘straordinaria capacità di confondere la passione con l’amore’ |
– creative/imagination undisciplined ‘attachment to our roots’ ‘afraid of everything that is different’ old mentality ‘tied to our mother’s apron strings’ ‘hopeless at foreign languages’ shrewd altruists big eaters good big spenders untidy ‘geniuses of disorganization’ ‘artists in craftsmanship’ ‘In our own Country we tend to scorn our Nation, and abroad if someone does the same thing we get angry straight away’. ‘extraordinary capacity to confuse passion with love’ |
| Country/Landscape ‘bella in tutte le sue varietà’ ‘paesaggio di una bellezza incredibile’ ‘ricchezza dell’habitat’ ‘varietà di paesaggio e clima’ |
– ‘beautiful in all its varieties’ ‘incredibly beautiful landscape’ ‘richness of habitat’ ‘variety of landscape & climate’ |
| Food buon cibo buon vino cucina regionale |
– good food good wine regional cooking |
| History & Arts bellezza artistica stupefacente ‘grande ricchezza storica e artistica’ ‘il fardello della storia’ |
– astonishing artistic beauty ‘great historic and artistic wealth’ ‘the burden of history’ |
| Politics Mafia ‘Non cittadini ma sudditi (non vogliamo prendere decisioni)’ ‘L’Italia è poco coraggiosa nel far sentire la propria voce nel mondo’ |
– Mafia ‘not citizens but subjects (we don’t want to take decisions)’ ‘Italy lacks courage in making its voice heard to the rest of the world’ |
| General varietà culturale diversità linguistica/dialetti sole ‘armonia nel comunicare con tutto il corpo’ ‘la bellezza della lingua e del modo di esprimersi con tutta l’anima’ ‘vita vissuta all’aperto’ |
– cultural variety linguistic diversity/dialects sun ‘harmony in communicating with the whole body’ ‘the beauty of the language and of the way in which one expresses oneself with the whole soul’. |
Here are my mother’s comments:
‘L’Italia è un Paese bello e vario, scaldato dal sole, accarezzato dal mare, rivestito di verdi boschi, incoronato di bianca neve’ (Italy is a beautiful and varied country, warmed by the sun, caressed by the sea, covered by green forests, crowned by white snow).
‘L’Italia è il giardino di tutte le Muse, però purtroppo ormai invasa da tutti gli pseudo intellettuali e artisti autodefinitisi tali’ (Italy is the garden of all the Muses, but unfortunately it has now been invaded by all the pseudo, self proclaimed, intellectuals and artist).
‘Gli italiani sono un popolo geniale, ospitale, generoso, ma insofferente di ogni ordine e legge’ (Italians are ingenious, hospitable, and generous people, but are intolerant of any order and laws).
Finally, a thought from my friend Cecilia:
‘L’Italia può essere paragonata alla maschera carnevalesca di Arlecchino: il suo vestito multicolore fatto da tanti pezzi diversi di stoffe rappresenta l’Italia che è fatta dall’unione di tanti piccoli stati diversi. Inoltre, Arlecchino è sempre allegro, ma anche molto povero e sfortunato’ (Italy can be compared to the Carnival character of Harlequin: his multicolored costume made from many different pieces of fabric represents Italy, which is made from the union of many different little states. Moreover, Harlequin is always cheerful, but also very poor and unlucky).
I would really like to hear your thoughts and opinions about these lists of words and phrases. What conclusions can be drawn from them, how does the list of comments from readers of this blog who live in other countries compare with that created by the Italians who live in Italy? I think there is enough material here for another interesting blog, so if you would like to contribute please leave your comment below.
A presto!
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Comments:
Vince Mooney:
Salve Serena:
I am a little surprised by the high degree of agreement between what Italians think of themselves and what foreigners think of Italians. In fields where Italians are superior, like art, cooking, and design, I guess the world knows this and there is no argument.
Politics seems to be the problem. Italians don’t seem to be able to govern themselves. The Italians did well during the Principate (27 BC – 284 AD) which Edward Gibbon called: “the happiest and most productive period in human history.” (Unless you were a slave, of course. Also, I’m not sure during how much of this period the Italians had Roman citizenship.)
Since the Principate, politics seems to have gone downhill on the peninsular.
Vince
Nathan:
I think all Italians (at least south of the Rubicon) had citizenship prior to 27 BC. And if we are looking for other examples of fine government in Italian history, we can always recall that the world’s longest and most stable republic was Venice. And the Medieval Northern Italian Comunes were amongst the earliest examples of citizen-rule, in a period when the rest of Europe was kneeling to kings and feudal overlords.
Very interesting and a great topic!!
Vince Mooney:
Hi Nathan:
I was tempted to mention The Republic of Venice but then I remembered that they had the most convoluted and bizarre election system ever devised by man.
Here is a description of the complex elective machinery taken from Wikipedia:
“Thirty members of the Great Council, chosen by lot, were reduced by lot to nine; the nine chose forty and the forty were reduced by lot to twelve, who chose twenty-five. The twenty-five were reduced by lot to nine and the nine elected forty-five. Then the forty-five were once more reduced by lot to eleven, and the eleven finally chose the forty-one who actually elected the doge.”
Modern day politicians wouldn’t stand a chance in old Venice. : )
Vince
John:
“Gli italiani sono un popolo geniale, ospitale, generoso, ma insofferente di ogni ordine e legge’ (Italians are ingenious, hospitable, and generous people, but are intolerant of any order and laws).
forse c’è una errore anglofono nella questa frase per le traduzione di “geniale”. forse usa invece “cordiale”, inglese “genial” (Zanichelli,2010)
serena:
@John Salve John,
non c’è nessun errore, in Italiano quando si dice ad esempio ‘un artista geniale’ ha il significato di ‘a gifted or talented artist’. O si puo dire ‘ha avuto un’idea geniale’ (he had a brilliant or ingenious idea). Infatti la parola ‘geniale’ è un falso amico come molte altre parole che sembrano uguali, per esempio ‘attualmente’ e ‘actually’.
Saluti da Serena
Fatoom:
i loved it! so true and interestinh..
i was reading what i think i wrote..i eman that’s exactly the way i think abt italians and italy 🙂
Serena:
Well done! bravissima!
😉
Bill Rohwer:
Cara Serena,
Grazie mille for giving us such a wealth of reactions, from so many perspectives. Your work era “una fatica d’Ercole!”
In reading all of the data you collected, I wondered about the sources of some of the variations in opinion. For example, my experience, come un straniero, of the openness and accessibility of individual italian people, has varied dramatically between North (e.g., Bergamo) and Centro (e.g., Viareggio). So, I’m curious about the places we stranieri have been that have formed our opinions, and the places where your Italian informants live.
Comunque, grazie mille ancora, Serena,
Bill Rohwer
Jeff:
This is off-topic from your latest post, but I have a request for a future post. Lately I’ve been looking at articles for tourists who want to blend in when they come to Italy. Suggestions range from the obvious (don’t hang a camera around your neck, leave the fanny pack at home) to more subtle hints that don’t seem to apply as much these days (no athletic shoes, no jeans, no shorts).
My question is: what do Italian tourists look like when they travel? Let’s say you live in Genova and you’re visiting Roma for the first time. Aren’t you going to bring a camera and “dress down” for comfort just like all the other tourists?
p.s. When I travel I like to blend in more than the average tourist, but you’ll never catch me wearing man-pri’s! lol
serena:
@Jeff Salve Jeff, Thanks for the interesting blog idea, I’ll publish one soon.
A presto, Serena
andreas:
Salve Serena!
Come mi sono piaciute le parole di tua madre!
Poesia e realismo uniti.
Andreas
William Auge:
Salve Serena, finalmente ho tempo per respondere alle liste!
La lista dei lettore riflette la ragione Italia e’ un luogo simpatico vistare. Italia offerte cosi tanto stimolare la vostra mente e i vostri sensi. La lista rappresenta anche quella che noi tourista andiamo al vostro bel paese a esperienza. Si puo migliorare esperienza italia se azzardarsi via da zona touristica. Ma, un visatore non puo esperienza le lotte, le frustrazione e le gioie di tutti giorno vita.
Queste esperienze hanno riflettato nella lista fatto dei italiani. Anche, io vedo in questa lista un grande amare della terra di Italia, l’orgoglio nella cultura italiana e la perseveranza del popolo italiano.
Serena, tu appari avere ereditato la sua espressivita’ dalla sua madre.
A presto, William