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Formaggio Vaccino, Caprino, Pecorino, what do we know about Formaggio Italiano?
‘Formaggio vaccino, caprino, pecorino, venite alla macchina dei latticini locali (come to the car of our local milk products)…’ shouts the man in the white van around Botricello’s lanes, our small Calabrian village. What a great idea: here in the south of Italy shops are on wheels and they come to your house! Ma, cosa […]
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Fluency Classes? Caffè italiano!
During our Fluency classes we talk a lot, ONLY in Italian, of course. We talk about Italian regions, Italian food, Italian dialects, Italian traditions, Italian holidays, Italian good and bad habits, Italian gestures and many more topics. Right now we are talking about ‘Caffè italiano’ and, believe it or not, there is so much to […]
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Il Presepio a casa di Kevin
Our presepio is getting better and better. My son adores this Italian tradition and this year we shared it with his schoolmates who were very impressed. Every year we add some new features, improvements and ideas for the following Christmas. As you might already know in Italy we have the tradition of building a nativity […]
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Fluency Classes in Cork
Fluency Classes We talk a lot here during our Fluency classes… in Italian of course… ONLY in italiano! When we study grammar rules in the grammar book they seem clear enough, but to implement them FLUENTLY in a real conversational context, is another story. This is why Fluency classes are so useful. Here some practical […]
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A Carnevale ogni scherzo vale (any joke is allowed)
It’s Carnevale time in Italy and everyone in every town, village and school is working on costumes, masks or floats. Children are taking it very seriously and they spend all their savings on ‘scherzi di Carnevale’… (Carnevale’s tricks). There is a great variety of them: fialette puzzolenti (smelly vials), cushions which sound in a very […]
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ZAMPONE o COTECHINO questa notte?
Zampone o Cotechino questa notte? Those who are preparing the Cenone per Capodanno (New Year’s eve feast) will be faced with this conundrum ‘Are we having zampone or cotechino with our lenticchie tonight?’. ‘Are we having zampone or cotechino with our […]
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L’Italia in miniatura
Il giro d’Italia in … 2 ore!! Have you seen the pictures? Aren’t they spectacular? This is a wonderful place for grandi e piccini (little people and grown ups)… it is called ‘Italia in miniatura’ and is in Rimini. You can read more about it on their website qui. You’ll be amazed at the detail […]
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La Costa dell’Emilia Romagna
Emilia Romagna, the coast Italian tourists are used to saying that ‘I Romagnoli hanno saputo tirare fuori il meglio dalla loro terra’ (Romagna people were able to get the best out of their land. This is to say that la Romagna (the part of the coast of the Emilia Romagna) is not as beautiful as […]
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Want to go to Italy with small children…
A few months ago a student and friend asked me where would be suitable to go on holidays in Italy for a family with small children. I told her that two years ago we did a house swap with an Italian family who have their holiday home in Pinarella, a small town located in Emilia […]
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Obliterate, validate, timbrate, il biglietto, but DO IT!
Obliterate, validate, timbrate, il biglietto, but DO IT! I don’t know if other countries have this rule, but in Italy it is compulsory to validate (obliterare, validare or timbrare are the Italian verbs) train tickets BEFORE GETTING ON A TRAIN. In fact, the majority of train tickets are ‘open tickets’ which last a month or […]
