by Dianne Hales | Oct 19, 2021 | Books, books on Italy, culture, history, Italian, Italian folklore, Italian language, Italian words and expressions, Italy, Language, learning Italian, Sayings and expressions, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
For centuries the Italian peninsula was a patchwork of hundreds of dialects, often as different from one another as French from Spanish or English from Italian. Sailors from Genoa couldn’t understand—or be understood by—merchants from Venice or farmers from Friuli. ...
by Dianne Hales | Sep 21, 2021 | autumn, Books, books on Italy, food, Food and Drink, history, Italian, Italian folklore, Italian language, Italian words and expressions, Italy, Language, learning Italian, Sayings and expressions, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs, wine
\ In Italy every season— la primavera (spring), l’estate (summer), l’autunno (autumn), l’inverno (winter) — has a different feel and focus. L’autunno is when farmers reap what they have sown. The harvest (il raccolto or la messe) has already passed for many fruits,...
by Dianne Hales | Aug 10, 2021 | Books, books on Italy, Capri, history, Italian, Italian language, Italian words and expressions, Italy, Language, learning Italian, Roman history, Sayings and expressions, summer in Italy, Travel, Uncategorized, Web/Tech, Weblogs
Years ago I celebrated my first Italian Ferragosto in Capri, a most fitting (though crowded) place to be on August 15. The Roman emperor Augustus, whose name graces summer’s last month, was so enamored with the beguiling island of Capri that he appropriated it from...
by Dianne Hales | Aug 3, 2021 | Books, books on Italy, history, Italian, Italian language, Italian words and expressions, Italy, Language, learning Italian, Sayings and expressions, summer in Italy, Travel, Uncategorized, Web/Tech, Weblogs
Italy goes on vacation in August. Even in not-yet-normal times, shops are shuttered, restaurants closed, streets quiet. Cities empty as residents join the esodo estivo (summer exodus), the mass departure of Italians heading off for their ferie estive (summer...
by Dianne Hales | Jun 29, 2021 | Books, books on Italy, history, Italian, Italian language, Italian words and expressions, Italy, Language, learning Italian, Sayings and expressions, summer in Italy, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
I swam my way through the pandemic. As soon as Covid restrictions eased, our community pool reopened—with social distancing, which meant no more than two swimmers at a time. By coming late in the day I almost always have had the pool to myself. Lovely as it is to be...
