Fried Brains – How to use Italian Reflexive Verbs in the Past Tense Posted by Serena on Apr 24, 2014
Knowing how to use double pronouns in Italian is a task that makes you suffer from cervelli fritti (fried brains), as one of our readers so nicely put it. Therefore, it’s important to keep revisiting the topic. Suppose you wanted to reply to the question: “Ti sei ricordato di comperare il pane?” (‘Did you remember…
Dave the Sniper Posted by Geoff on Apr 22, 2014
It’s not the first time that a great work of art has been used, or abused, in order to sell a product, but the transformation of Michelangelo’s celebrated sculpture of David into a gun toting sniper seems to be ruffling a lot of feathers … Left: Michelangelo’s celebrated sculpture of David. Right: ArmaLite’s version. Is…
Tears of the Virgin Mary Posted by Serena on Apr 18, 2014
Pianto della Madonna (Tears of the Virgin Mary) is a dramatic poem written by the Umbrian poet Jacopone da Todi (1236-1306). The poem narrates Jesus’ Passion using the dramatic form of a dialogue between four characters: il nunzio (the herald), la Madonna (the Virgin Mary), il popolo ebraico (the Jewish people), and Gesù (Jesus). Pianto…
The Italian Tattoo Tax Posted by Geoff on Apr 16, 2014
Not long ago, in my blog The Pursuit of Happiness – Part 1., I wrote: “I’m not generally a big tattoo fan”. Well according to an article in the Giornale del Corriere it seems that I’m not the only one: Scade il 30 Giugno il pagamento dell’ISE (Imposta Sanitaria Estetica), al quale si dovranno adeguare…
How to Write a Hotel Booking Letter in Italian Posted by Serena on Apr 14, 2014
Thinking about taking a well deserved holiday in Italy? Perhaps it’s time to start booking that hotel. Last week we looked at how to structure a formal letter in Italian, so let’s expand on that by concentrating on the corpo (content) of a hotel booking letter. The sample letter below contains a range of questions…
How to Write a Formal Letter in Italian Posted by Serena on Apr 11, 2014
Writing a formal letter is never an easy task unless you’re a trained professional, and it’s even more difficult of course if you have to do it in Italian. In a formal letter it’s important to use the correct opening and closing formulas, and to use the appropriate formal language. Here’s a formulary that you…
What’s Happening in the Garden? Posted by Geoff on Apr 9, 2014
…. Flowers are Happening! Yesterday I had to do one of my least favourite chores … tagliare l’erba nel giardino col decespugliatore (cut the grass in the garden with the strimmer/brush cutter). I dislike this job for two reasons, 1: it’s noisy and smelly, and 2: although I know it’s necessary I hate cutting all…