Italian Popular Sayings – Answers Posted by Serena on Sep 3, 2018
Here are the translations to last week’s blog Italian Popular Sayings – A Quiz avere la luna storta/di traverso literal translation = to have the moon sideways meaning = to be in a bad mood avere la luna sul gomito literal translation = to have the moon on your elbow meaning = fake! I woke…
Italian Popular Sayings – A Quiz Posted by Serena on Aug 31, 2018
Here’s a fun little quiz about detti popolari (popular sayings). In Italy we have many weird and wonderful detti popolari, some of which have a similar equivalent in English, and others which need a bit of explanation in order to be understood. In the list of detti below, we’ve given their literal translation rather than…
Idiomatic Verbs Using ‘Ci’ Posted by Geoff on Aug 29, 2018
In my previous article about ‘ci‘, we looked at its use as the personal pronoun ‘us’, ‘each other’, or ‘we’, and as the adverb ‘there’ or ‘here’. Today, things get a bit more complex as we move into the mystic realm of idioms. Ci is used in a number of important idiomatic verbs that can…
‘Ci’ Posted by Geoff on Aug 27, 2018
Like an elusive butterfly, she flutters from sentence to sentence. Just when we think we can grasp her, with a swift beat of tiny wings, ‘ci‘ flies out of reach, only to alight somewhere else totally unexpected. Luckily, I have a special grammatical butterfly net. Let’s capture her and take a closer look at her…
Ciappa La Rocca E Il Fus Posted by Serena on Aug 23, 2018
I mestieri nel borgo (the old village trades) which takes place in the beautiful little village of Ponticello, near Pontremoli, is undoubtedly my favourite festival of the year. I love it not just because of the merry atmosphere that permeates the whole hamlet, but also because it re-evokes a period of history that’s within living…
Le Bambole Della Nonna Posted by Serena on Aug 20, 2018
Do you ever have the feeling, dear reader, that contemporary western culture could do with taking a step back and rediscovering a few lost pleasures? Introduction by Geoff … pleasures such as the simple act of making things for yourself rather than buying mass produced plastic cianfrusaglie (knick-knacks). As children we often made our own…
Putting Together The Pieces – Translation Posted by Serena on Aug 16, 2018
Here’s the English translation of the final chapter in our detective story The Strange Case Of The Irregular Body. La sera successiva al raid sull’Isola di Montecristo e l’arresto del Dottor Franco Sasso, il Tenente Ciceri può finalmente rilassarsi un po’ con la famiglia. A cena in pizzeria, davanti ad una bella pizza marinara, i…