by Dianne Hales | Apr 13, 2021 | art, art history, books on Italy, culture, history, Italian, Italian language, Italy, Leonardo da Vinci, Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, Renaissance, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
More than five centuries after his birth on April 15, 1519, Leonardo da Vinci and his Mona Lisa are still making headlines. A front-page article in the New York Times claims that the Saudi Cultural Ministry, which bought Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World)...
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 2, 2021 | art, art history, Books, books on Italy, culture, Florence, history, Italian language, Italy, Renaissance, Tuscany, Web/Tech, Weblogs, women
Italy’s dazzling pantheon of artistic geniuses seems a man’s world. Yet a few women with singular passion defied all obstacles and created important works of art. As a way of celebrating International Women’s Day, here are three artists whose stories I recount in LA...
by Dianne Hales | Feb 8, 2021 | amore, Books, books on Italy, culture, history, Italian language, Italy, Language, literature, love in Italy, Sayings and expressions, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
On February 14, Italians celebrate La Festa degli Innamorati, often loosely translated as “the Feast of the Lovers.” But no English word quite captures the sensation of innamoramento, of falling head-over-heels in love, deeper than infatuation, way beyond bewitched,...
by Dianne Hales | Jan 19, 2021 | Books, books on Italy, Dante, food, Food and Drink, Italian language, Italy, Language, learning Italian, Sayings and expressions, Travel, Tuscany, Web/Tech, Weblogs
As we celebrate this Anno Dantesco (Year of Dante), I’m reminded of a special pleasure that the poet shared with his countrymen: a passion for the local bread. In his epic Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri, banished from Florence for political reasons, bemoaned...
