Il Costo della Benzina Posted by Serena on Jun 18, 2012
Here is a brand new Italian word that has come into fashion in the last few months: l’accisa. I came across this word for the first time last November, just after the floods which brought so much damage to Liguria and Toscana, when the President of the Regione Toscana announced the introduction of un’accisa sulla…
Il Negozio del Papà di Mattia–part 2 Posted by Serena on Jun 15, 2012
Spaziando ancora tra le bontà del suo negozio, posso dire che per esperienza lui tenta sempre di variare la merce che ordina, provando sempre nuove specialità e rarità che lui stesso cerca. Infatti, non ditelo a nessuno, il mio babbo ogni domenica, in sella alla sua bici da corsa, va alla ricerca di specialità nei…
Il Negozio del Papà di Mattia–part 1 Posted by Serena on Jun 14, 2012
Here’s another article by our talented guest blogger Mattia. In this blog, he explains where gets his passion for cooking from, and tells us a bit about his fathers salumeria gastronomia. Words and phrases highlighted in blue are explained in the accompanying Vocabolario e Grammatica. Salve lettori, sono il giovane cuoco italiano, Mattia! Nello scorso…
Non è Marzo, ma amo questa canzone! Posted by Geoff on Jun 11, 2012
It isn’t March, but I love this song by Giorgia, la mia cantante italiana preferita (my favourite female Italian singer), so much that I want to share it with you. Who is Giorgia? well, it seems to come more naturally to say it in Italian: è una bellissima ragazza Romana dalla voce stupefacente che mi…
“Io voglio essere un vero angelo!” Posted by Serena on Jun 8, 2012
On Sunday the 10th of June the Catholic Church celebrates la festa del Corpus Domini (Corpus Christi). The festival originates from the supposed miracle that took place in Bolsena, north of Rome, in the year 1263. It is said that a Bohemian priest, Pietro da Praga, was in crisis about his religious faith, and so…
Verbi Idiomatici in Ci Posted by Serena on Jun 6, 2012
Some time ago I wrote an article about the particella ‘ci’: Tricky Little Words “ci” . Let’s revisit the topic and have a look at idiomatic verbs that use ‘ci’, with a few examples of their usage: Volere (to want) + ci = Volerci (to need, to take, as in quantity, time, materials, etc.): dalla…
La Crisi in Italia Posted by Geoff on Jun 4, 2012
Family and friends in England often ask me what impact the financial crisis is having on people here in Italy. Not an easy question to answer! Certainly the work situation is pretty bad, as described in this article from the Italian newspaper La Stampa: In Italia ci sono 630 mila posti da coprire Le offerte?…