La Scherma Italiana delle Olimpiadi del 2012 Posted by Serena on Aug 22, 2012
The Olympic Games are over, now it’s time to have a little rest and to count our results. In total we brought home 28 medals: 8 gold, 9 silver, and 11 bronze. Nothing compared to the USA or China (we’re only a little country!), but enough to give us a dignified 8th place in the…
Talking About The Past Posted by Serena on Aug 20, 2012
Here’s a brief description of a morning walk. It highlights some grammatical points which will help you when talking about things that happened in the past. Each sentence is translated into English, and for the text in blue we have given a grammatical explanation. Words in red are links to old posts. 1. Oggi ci…
Un po’ di Burocrazia Posted by Serena on Aug 17, 2012
Last week Cathy, an English friend of ours who has a holiday house near Pontremoli, asked me if I could go with her to the Council offices. Her Italian is not fluent and she wasn’t sure if she was up to date with all the different council taxes and so on. So Monday morning we…
Rio Bò Posted by Serena on Aug 16, 2012
A few days ago, browsing through one of my grammar books, I came across a poem that I had to learn when I was at school. I was really pleased to rediscover it because I used to like it a lot, and I must say that rereading it hasn’t disappointed me, it still paints an…
Carlo Rambaldi, Papà di E.T. Posted by Geoff on Aug 13, 2012
Like me, I imagine that most people had never heard of Italian special effects maestro Carlo Rambaldi until his death was announced in the media a few days ago. And yet he was the creator of one of the best known characters in the history of cinema: E.T. Rambaldi was the winner of 3 Oscars…
I Ladri di San Lorenzo Posted by Serena on Aug 10, 2012
When I was a teenager I lived in a small village called San Lorenzo a Vaccoli half way between Lucca and Pisa in Tuscany. The patron Saint of the village is, of course, San Lorenzo, who is celebrated on the 10th of August. Amongst the various celebrations that took place there was (and hopefully still…
VIESTE, PER UNA VACANZA GARGANICA! Posted by Serena on Aug 9, 2012
In this blog, our friend Mattia gives us a taster of the Gargano area in Puglia. I’ve highlighted a few key words and expressions in red, and you’ll find explanations at the end of the article. Yeah, cari lettori. E’ davvero una bellissima giornata qui in Puglia! e proprio come oggi, molte giornate qui sono…