Cooked Twice! Posted by Serena on Jan 23, 2019
Have you ever thought about the word biscuit? “Yes, everyday!” I hear you say … Biscuit were originally cooked in a two stage process: first they were baked, then they were dried out in a slow oven in order to preserve them. From this process comes the French word bescuit, which itself comes from the…
A Classic Italian Design – Part 2 Posted by Geoff on Jan 17, 2019
In Part 1, I wrote about the circumstances that gave rise to the world famous Vespa motor scooter. Today we’re going to look at her big sister, l’Ape. We saw the Ape in action in our recent blog, Italy’s Smallest Library, and I’m sure that if you’ve visited Il Bel Paese (Italia!) you’ll be familiar…
A Classic Italian Design – Part 1 Posted by Geoff on Jan 15, 2019
Did you know that in 1948 an Italian wasp gave birth to a bee? At that time, Italy was still struggling to recover from the devastation caused by World War 2. Amongst the many problems that had to be dealt with was a sever shortage of mezzi di trasporto (means of transport), with many people…
Italy’s Smallest Library Posted by Geoff on Jan 10, 2019
In our previous blog, A Positive Message For The New Year, we looked at 9 of the 33 individuals who were praised by il Presidente della Repubblica, Sergio Mattarella in his new year’s honours list. Today we’re going to focus on another fascinating individual who’s on that list: Antonio La Cava. We’d been planning to…
A Positive Message For The New Year Posted by Serena on Jan 4, 2019
Having celebrated Christmas with a bit of seasonal humour let’s begin the new year with some positive news. 2018 has certainly been an incredibly turbulent and troubling year, especially in terms of international politics. It can often seem that we’ve learnt nothing from the past, and are doomed to repeat our errors ad infinitum. But…
Barzellette Festive Posted by Geoff on Dec 28, 2018
Humour, that wonderful antidote to life’s trials and tribulations. It can certainly come in handy during the midwinter festivities … Due contadini vanno in un bosco per cercare un albero di Natale. Dopo due ore di intense ricerche uno dice all’altro: “Ora basta, il prossimo albero che vediamo lo prendiamo, che abbia le palle o…
A Seasonal Quiz – Answers Posted by Serena on Dec 21, 2018
Here are the answers to our quiz based on Italian culture during the Christmas period. How did you get on? 1. Qual è il titolo dell’inno natalizio italiano più famoso e chi l’ha composto nel 1754? Risposta: ‘Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle‘, di Sant’Alfonso Maria de Liguori. Alcuni anni dopo Liguori scrisse una versione in dialetto napoletano…