A Walk in the Mountains Posted by Geoff on Nov 19, 2008
Anyone who has done a bit of walking in Italy will sooner or later notice the little red and white stripes painted on trees, rocks, telegraph poles, old buildings etc. These segnali (signs) mark the routes of sentieri (footpaths) most of which have been created by CAI the Club Alpino Italiano (Italian Alpine Club). Going…
L’alfabeto telefonico Posted by Serena on Nov 15, 2008
It’s always tricky trying to spell a word over the telephone because several letters are difficult to distinguish from each other, e.g. p and b, m and n, etc. Of course you can use the international alphabet system: alpha, bravo, charlie … but I personally can never remember it. In Italy we use a system…
A Hat Full of Cherries Posted by Serena on Nov 12, 2008
I’ve just finished reading Un cappello pieno di ciliege (A Hat Full of Cherries), the last book by Oriana Fallaci posthumously published on the 31st July 2008, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Oriana Fallaci (1929-2006) was a famous journalist, war-reporter and writer. She had always been interested in her family history, an interest nurtured by…
The Olive Harvest Posted by Serena on Nov 11, 2008
November to December is the period in which the Raccolta delle Olive (Olive Harvest) generally takes place here in Toscana (Tuscany) and last weekend we were busy helping our friends who have several hectares of Olives near Pistoia to collect their harvest. At this time of year the ground under the olive trees has to…
Il Cinghiale in Italia (The Wild Boar in Italy) Posted by Serena on Nov 7, 2008
It’s wild boar hunting season here, and that means that twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays, we have to be very careful where we go for our camminate (walks) as it’s not just the cinghiali (boars) that might get shot, those hunters use some pretty serious hardware to bring down their quarry. Luckily as…
Buono o Bello? Posted by Serena on Nov 6, 2008
Good or nice? These two adjectives, together with a couple more, have a very strange habit when they precede a noun. Lets look at them! But before doing so you may want to have a look at the articolo indeterminativo (indefinite article) and articolo determinativo (definite article) that I summarized in my previous post “Articles…
Man Rides Pig Underwater! – Part 2 Posted by Serena on Nov 3, 2008
I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for part two of the story of the Maiali (Pigs) or SLC Human Torpedoes that were pioneered by Italy during La Seconda Guerra Mondiale (The Second World War). In part one I explained that the Maiali were transported to the area of operation on board a specially adapted conventional…