{"id":125,"date":"2009-04-10T11:35:35","date_gmt":"2009-04-10T15:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=125"},"modified":"2009-04-10T11:35:35","modified_gmt":"2009-04-10T15:35:35","slug":"un-cappuccino-per-favore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/un-cappuccino-per-favore\/","title":{"rendered":"Un cappuccino per favore"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Un cappuccino per favore\u2019<\/strong> is probably one of the\u00a0most common\u00a0phrases learnt by tourists visiting Italy, yet as with many things Italian a cappuccino isn\u2019t always what you think it is. To the tourist a cappuccino<\/strong> is nothing more than a fancy cup of coffee with foam on top, but how many realize that a cappuccino<\/strong> is also a monk!<\/span><\/p>\n

In the early 1500\u2019s the Franciscan monk Matteo di Bassi of Urbino formed the austere order of cupuchin monks, so named because of the pyramidal hood which they wore as part of their habit. The word cappuccio<\/strong> means hood in Italian, and\u00a0when we add\u00a0the\u00a0diminutive ending\u00a0\u2018-ino\u2019<\/strong> it becomes cappuccino<\/strong>, or \u2018little hood\u2019,\u00a0hence the name of\u00a0this order of monks who are still extant today: \u2018I<\/strong>\u00a0cappuccini\u2019<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

So what\u2019s that got to do with a\u00a0fancy cup of coffee I hear you ask. Well it\u2019s difficult to give a definitive answer as myths and\u00a0legends abound, but the most likely reason\u00a0that the name of a monk’s hood\u00a0was given to\u00a0cappuccino<\/strong> coffee is, rather boringly, due to it\u2019s color, which is\u00a0similar to the milky brown color of the habit worn by the\u00a0cappuccini<\/strong> monks.\u00a0A more romantic legend however, has it that the invention of cappuccino<\/strong> coffee was due to\u00a0<\/strong>Marco d’Aviano, a wandering preacher for the cappuccino<\/strong>\u00a0order. In 1683 D\u2019Aviano\u00a0was sent to Vienna by the Pope\u00a0to unite Christians in the face of\u00a0the huge invading Ottoman army. D\u2019Aviano is credited with rallying the disparate groups of Catholics and Protestants on the eve of the Battle of Vienna, an act which was crucial\u00a0to halting the advance of Turkish soldiers into Europe. According to the legend the fleeing Turks left behind them sacks of coffee which the Viennese diluted with cream and honey as they found it too strong for their taste. The resulting milky brown beverage, being similar in color to the cappuccini\u2019s <\/strong>robes was\u00a0duly named cappuccino<\/strong>\u00a0in honor of Marco D’Aviano’s order.<\/span><\/p>\n

My neighbor recently told me an amusing true story\u00a0which illustrates\u00a0the possible confusion that can arise when two apparently diverse things share the same name.\u00a0In Italy during the early 80\u2019s there was a monk\u00a0cantautore<\/strong> (singer songwriter) called Padre Giuseppe Cionfoli\u00a0\u00a0who became famous\u00a0with\u00a0the song \u2018Solo Grazie\u2019<\/strong>, which he performed at the 1982 Sanremmo music festival. My neighbor\u2019s\u00a0young daughters were\u00a0big fans\u00a0of Padre Cionfoli, so that when they heard he was to visit their home town for a few days they were desperate to try and meet him in person. Rumor had it that during his visit Cionfoli, being a monk,\u00a0would be staying ai cappuccini <\/strong>(with the cappuccini). Not knowing\u00a0about the order of Cappuccini<\/strong> monks who lived at the local monastery the two girls interpreted this news as meaning that Cionfoli would be staying at the local\u00a0bar\u00a0because they had often heard their parents saying that they were going to \u2018Il\u00a0bar\u00a0in piazza per i cappuccini\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0(to the bar in the piazza for\u00a0their cappuccini). After many long and\u00a0anxious hours of\u00a0hanging around outside the bar the two disappointed girls trudged home to confront their parents. \u2018Ma\u00a0Padre\u00a0Cionfoli non c\u2019era al bar!\u2019 <\/strong>(but Padre Cionfoli wasn\u2019t there at the bar!) they accused indignantly. You can imagine the amusement that the daughter\u2019s little\u00a0misunderstanding caused their parents!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Un cappuccino per favore\u2019 is probably one of the\u00a0most common\u00a0phrases learnt by tourists visiting Italy, yet as with many things Italian a cappuccino isn\u2019t always what you think it is. To the tourist a cappuccino is nothing more than a fancy cup of coffee with foam on top, but how many realize that a cappuccino…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,619],"tags":[652,653,821,892],"class_list":["post-125","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-culture","category-italian-language","tag-cappuccino-coffee","tag-cappuccino-monk","tag-padre-cionfoli","tag-un-cappuccino-per-favore"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}