Are you spending Christmas in Italy? Let me give you a friendly advice: eat lightly on Christmas’ Eve or you won’t survive Christmas lunch. This is serious, I’m not jocking. Let me give you an example of how an Italian mind can work when you use the words Christmas and food on the same sentence. …
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Famous Italian artists – Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, mainly known as Caravaggio, was a famous Italian painter of the 15th century. He is particularly known for his alternative style, which combined both Naturalism and Tenebrism. Born in Milan, Caravaggio began his apprenticeship as a painter in 1584 under the Milanese painter Simone Peterzano, who in turn had been the …
Valsesian Christmas markets – traditional products
Christmas is approaching and in many European countries it’s time for Christmas markets. Christmas markets are street markets organized during the four weeks of Advent. This tradition seems to date back at least to 1434 in Dresden, Germany. The first Christmas markets in Italy, instead, began to spread only towards the end of 1900. I …
How to overcome shyness in language class
We are all different. In a language class, you can find yourself surrounded by extrovert people, who start talking from the very first lesson – even if they have never learnt that language before – and by people like you and me, who prefer to stay silent and listen.We are the ones that are usually …
Five Italian books you might like
Reading is one of the best ways to acquire new vocabulary. Indeed, in books words are presented in context, and this makes it easier for readers to understand their use and meaning. Moreover, with the advent of ebooks and e-readers – like Amazon’s Kindle – acquiring new vocabulary is even simpler, since you have instant …
Texting in Italian
If you’re planning to spend some time in Italy, knowing some of the abbreviations people use when texting in Italian can probably come in handy. Since the advent of mobile phones, texting has become always more and more popular. Every day, Italians send more than 150 million text messages. And if at the beginning texting …
American stereotypes about Italians (Part 1)
I already talked about some stereotypes other cultures have about Italians in a previous article – Eight common stereotypes about Italians. However, searching the web, I came across a video entitled “Some questions Americans have for Italians”. I decided to watch it, and I found out that many of those questions are based on American …
Italians and health problems – Il colpo d’aria
According to many tourists, it seems that we Italians suffer from mysterious ailments. Ailments that strike only our population and are unknown to them. But is there really such a thing as Italian-only ailments? According to some tourists, yes. According to Italians no. It’s time to discover who’s right. COLPO D’ARIA I remember that when …
Ten Italian idioms about animals
Idioms are found in any language. While native speakers master them naturally, language learners might have some difficulties remembering them. But what are idioms exactly? Idioms are fixed expressions generally used in a figurative sense, not in a literal one. So, if I say you’ve got ants in your pants, I don’t mean that your …
Halloween in Italy
What can you do if you’re spending Halloween in Italy? Are there some special events or should you resign yourself to having a boring night? As you know quite well, Halloween is a typical American custom. However, it seems that in the last years, Holloween is spreading more and more in Italy too. For example, …
