San Valentino in famiglia!
Saint Valentine’s day is known for its celebration of the love between lovers. Of course a lover need not be…
A Teaching Guide to Lazzaro Felice
Lazzaro Felice, by Alice Rohrwacher, is an impressive commentary on Italian contemporary politics, deeply rooted in religious traditions, both domestic…
Ferragosto Fever
You may have seen our Instagram posts explaining the origins of Ferragosto and some of the kinds of celebrations that…
Sì, banana, No, banana.
When my parents-in-law were visiting from Italy, they often found themselves dissuading my son from eating yet another banana (No,…
5 Things Learning a Foreign Language Can Teach You– that have nothing to do with foreign languages!
I always tell my students the same two things about language learning: firstly, that the work they do outside the…
Remembering New Words and Grammatical Structures: 5 Tips for Adult Learners of a Foreign Language
Learning a language becomes more difficult the older you get. Up until the age of twelve or thirteen, the human…
On Bad Behaviour
“Badly behaved women seldom make history.” It’s a phrase frequently (falsely) attributed to Eleanor D. Roosevelt or, still more often,…
Education: Regionalism in Italian Representation – PALIO
A look at the history of the “palio” in Tuscany, with a focus on a very unusual variant in Pienza – “Cacio al fuso,” or the cheese palio.
Education: Building and Bending – The History of Italian Architecture Spotlight on Architecture and Fascism
This seems a particularly good time to talk about the legacy even a fascist government can bequeath to a city….
Education: The French Connection Spotlight on Vocabulary: POCOCURANTE
Pococurante: 1. Italianism: blasé, indifferent, elitist; 2. proper noun: the name given to a rich Venetian patrician in Voltaire’s Candide…