Italian Insects – Part 1 Posted by Geoff on Nov 13, 2018
Do you like insects? Personally, I find them fascinating, which is just as well because out in the countryside where we live there are plenty of them! Some of these creature are present for most of the year. I ragni (the spiders), for example, find our rustic stone house the perfect sojourn, constructing their intricate…
A Poem For November Posted by Serena on Nov 8, 2018
Here’s a beautiful poem written by Giovanni Pascoli in 1891, which perfectly describes these early November days. In this poem, published in the poetry collection Myricae, Pascoli describes the period from the 2nd of November (I morti = All souls) to the 11th of November, San Martino, normally referred as l’estate di San Martino (Saint…
Il Dottore Delle Bambole – Part 4 – Translation Posted by Geoff on Nov 2, 2018
Here’s the English translation for part 4 of ‘Il Dottore Delle Bambole’. How much of the Italian text did you manage to understand? Let’s find out! Il Tenente Ciceri bussa alla porta della cella 3 con trepidazione. In mano ha il rapporto appena ricevuto dalla questura di Bari. Lieutenant Ciceri knocks at the door of…
Il Dottore Delle Bambole – Part 4 Posted by Serena on Oct 30, 2018
Here’s part 4 of our detective story ‘Il Dottore Delle Bambole’, starring Inspector Augusto and Lieutenant Ciceri. Il Tenente Ciceri bussa alla porta della cella 3 con trepidazione. In mano ha il rapporto appena ricevuto dalla questura di Bari. “Avanti!” gli risponde dall’interno la voce burbera dell’Ispettore Augusto. “Aveva ragione lei, Ispettore … guardi qui…
La Casa Del Balilla Posted by Serena on Oct 25, 2018
Sabato scorso siamo andati a Carrara per visitare un’interessante mostra d’arte intitolata ‘Colori e Forme del Lavoro’. Last Saturday we went to Carrara to visit an interesting art exhibition entitled ‘Colours and Forms of Work’. Erano quadri e sculture della fine dell’Ottocento – inizi Novecento, che rappresentano gente comune nella fatica del lavoro. Fra le…
Italian Adjectives Quiz Posted by Geoff on Oct 22, 2018
How would you describe someone’s character? Vocabulary lists are useful, but in everyday conversation you need to be able to come up with the appropriate vocabulary on the fly. Here’s an exercise that puts you in that situation. You’re chatting with an Italian friend (in Italian obviously!) who’s asking you about other people. See if…
Describing People’s Character In Italian – Part 2. Posted by Geoff on Oct 18, 2018
In Describing People’s Character In Italian – Part 1. we looked at some important adjectives that also happen to be ‘false friends’, and a few others that have very straightforward translations. Let’s move on to common adjectives that don’t have an obvious meaning. We’ll divide these attributes into three categories: positive, neutral, and negative. affidabile/i…