by Dianne Hales | Mar 16, 2021 | art, art history, Books, books on Italy, culture, Florence, history, Italian, Italian movies, Italy, Language, learning Italian, Renaissance, Sayings and expressions, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
In English the most eagerly awaited of seasons “springs” to life with blunt urgency. In Italian la primavera blossoms into four elegant syllables. My etymological dictionary traces primavera back to radici indoeuropee (Indo-European roots): prima for “before” and vas...
by Dianne Hales | Mar 9, 2021 | Books, books on Italy, history, Italian movies, Italy, Language, Roman history, Rome, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
“Veni, vidi, vici” (I came, I saw, I conquered). These three Latin words summarize the passions of the consummate Roman leader: Gaius Julius Caesar (100–44 BC), who lived to conquer—by sword, word, or seduction. By age thirty, Caesar had proven himself a fearless...
by Dianne Hales | Nov 17, 2020 | Books, books on Italy, culture, Italian language, Italian movies, Italy, Naples, Sophia Loren, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs, women
The Life Ahead, a Netflix movie starring Sophia Loren and directed by her son Edoardo Ponti, marks the return to the screen of a woman with an unquenchable passion for life—and for acting. Born near Naples in 1934, Sofia Scicolone grew up amid Allied bombings that...
by Dianne Hales | Jun 23, 2020 | Books, books on Italy, Fellini, Film, history, Italian language, Italian movies, Italy, Language, movies, Social behavior, Travel, Weblogs, wine
In a business built on dreams, Federico Fellini, born a century ago, may have been the biggest dreamer of all. As a boy in Rimini, he kept a sketch pad by his bed so he could record his vivid fantasies. His lifelong passion was transforming his visions into stories...
