by Dianne Hales | Nov 16, 2021 | Books, books on Italy, culture, Education, Italian, Italian language, Italy, Language, Sayings and expressions, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
Several years ago I came across this clever and wise anecdote from il Gruppo Castelvetrano in Trapani, Sicily, and translated it into English. I’m sharing it again as we look toward Thanksgiving and the holiday season. A professor at an Italian university, standing...
by Dianne Hales | Feb 23, 2021 | Books, books on Italy, Education, Italian language, Language, learning Italian, pets, Sayings and expressions, Travel, Weblogs, wine
I had my first conversation with an Italian dog years ago while I was jogging near Porto Ercole. A distraught man stopped me to explain that his pet was trapped in a steep ravine. He could push him from behind, but would I call the pup to come to me. The man addressed...
by Dianne Hales | Nov 13, 2019 | Books, books on Italy, culture, Education, Florence, history, Italy, Language, Travel, Tuscany, Web/Tech, Weblogs
In the 1500s, an invaluable invention transformed Italian agriculture: il frullone, a sieve-like device that separated wheat from chaff to produce flour. A group of irreverent Florentine intellectuals, passionately devoted to preserving their language’s più bei fiori...
by Dianne Hales | Oct 7, 2019 | Books, books on Italy, Education, Italy, Language, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
They said it couldn’t be done: There was no way to translate LA BELLA LINGUA into Italian. Too many idioms and colloquial expressions. Too much slang. Untranslatable words in both languages. However, the distinguished Italian publisher Treccani has done the...
by Dianne Hales | Jun 23, 2019 | Books, books on Italy, culture, Education, history, Italy, Language, Sayings and expressions, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
“Of course, you are Italian,” a Roman friend insisted years ago, “You have something more important than blood: la passione.” I accepted the compliment without fully comprehending its significance. Passion, I assumed, can bloom anywhere. Think of France, with its...
by Dianne Hales | Mar 19, 2019 | art, Books, culture, Education, Fashion, history, Italy, Language, Romance, Social behavior, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
In the gleaming kitchen of her culinary academy in Florence, I once asked an architect-turned-chef-turned-restaurateur about the passions that had changed her life: How did she know that she was choosing the right one to follow? “Ah, signora, we do not choose our...
