Monthly Archives: August 2002

Dante: the Ultimate Pickup Line

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Italian men on the beach trying to pick up women are relying more on the heavyweights of literature than bodybuilding.
According to a magazine survey of over 1,000 Italian men, some 68% of those aged 18- 55 take a book to the beach in hopes of catching the eye of a bathing beauty.
Most have a very clear idea about what sort of literature seduces — eighty percent of these tome-carrying Romeos rely on the Divine Comedy and the Bible.

“If you’re trying to make conversation, there’s nothing like a good book,” Paolo Bordoni, a 24-year-old student from Genova, told zoomata. “Dante is an easy choice because you don’t have you actually read it — I had to learn whole passages in high school by heart anyway. You just have to look like you’re reading it.”
Other pickup favorites for Italians are Giacomo Leopardi’s poems and Alessandro Manzoni’s epic love story “The Betrothed.” Although some 27% admitted favoring books instead of the usual crossword puzzle or gossip magazine because it’s important to appear ‘cultured,’ around 20% said the books were also a source of inspiration — for pickup lines.

Related resources: An Italian Affair
An autobiographical tale of an American woman and — what else — a university professor…

Berlusconi Opens ‘Premier’ School

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If you’re interested in leading Italy, a new course organized by current Premier Silvio Berlusconi could help you reach the goal. A three-day ‘training course’ for politicians held in the medieval jewel of Gubbio (Umbria) this week.

The billionaire, often referred to simply as The Knight, has long been recognized for revolutionizing the Italian political scene — borrowing easy-to-remember sports metaphors, using snappy songs, slogans and marketing campaigns worthy of his mainstream television networks. He has often doled out advice for his Forza Italia candidates, most notably to avoid eating garlic and have a firm handshake, but this is Italy’s first political boot camp.

"The setting is similar to a spiritual retreat," explained spokesperson Sandro Bondi. "It’s the right place for an exchange of experiences for people from all over Italy." The town, currently governed by the left, may also remind would-be leaders of future challenges.

Politics, apparently, aren’t Berlusca’s only forte — newspapers reported today that three soccer stars who accompanied him on a morning jog were all practically k.o. by the portly premier. After the run, Guido Viceconte was confined to bed for the rest of the day while Mario Pepe says he almost had a heart attack and Antonio Tajani confessed that he, too, had to take it easy for the rest of the day.

Related resources:
www.forzaitalia.com
the official party site….

Italy by Numbers: Cost of Celebrating the Saints

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2.5 million euro, Santa Rosalia (Palermo)
150,000 e. San Giovanni (Turin)
100,000 e. Sant’Agata (Catania)
45,000 e. San Giovan Giuseppe (Ischia Ponte)

Every saint in Italy has his or her day — if they are the patron saint of a city it can also be a costly one. Topping the list of expensive venerated martyrs is Santa Rosalia of Palermo. The protector against plagues, epidemics and earthquakes as well as the patron of engaged couples, has been celebrated in mid-July for over 375 years. The three-day festival for the beloved "santuzza" features processions of holy relics and elaborate historical floats with a total cost of 2.5 million euro.
Turin, on the other hand, stretches out celebrations for St. John for 9 days with an industrial thrift typical of the city: between fireworks, concerts by youth orchestras and a parade in costume the city spent a modest 150,000 e. The most economical fete takes place on the isle of Ischia, where thanks to contributions of returning immigrants, the local government spends ‘only’ 45,000 e. Celebrations for these these feast days can often be more heartfelt than other religious holidays and are well worth taking in if you get the chance.

Related resources:
www.italiantourism.com/previss.html
For more on Italian celebrations: click on region of interest, then hit the ‘festivals’ link….

Web Wise Aug. 27- Sept. 3

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Tix & Flicks: The Venice Film Fest • Italian forums & newsgroups • Sample Subsonica’s Funky Sound • Check out Luisa Corna, starlet of the second…

Tix & Flicks: The Venice Film Fest
The 59th annual celebration of movies starts Aug.29 and runs til Sept. 8 — and aside from the usual bickering over whether the prizes mean anything and the startling lack of Italian films, it looks like an interesting one. Some picks: "Frida" with Salma Hayek, "Dolls" by Takeshi Kitano (a Venice veteran, formerly prized for "Hana-bi"), "The Hours" by Stephen Daldry with Nicole Kidman. Of the three Italian films in the running,, look out for Piergiorgio Gay, "La forza del passato"
with Bruno Ganz (from "Pane e Tulipani") and Sandra Ceccarelli, and "Velocità massima" with Valerio Mastandrea, (of "Tutti giù per terra" fame).
http://194.185.28.38/it/cinema/59mostra/index.cfm

Sample Subsonica’s Funky Sound
The music has been called reggae – house – electro-synth pop, if that’s a definition. Sample tracks from three albums & see for yourself…
www.mtv.it/music/profili/subsonica/subsonica_jukebox.asp

Meet Luisa Corna: starlet of the second…
It’s her moment: after years of doing infomercials Luisa Corna has stepped into the spotlight. The Mediterranean knockout did a bare-all calendar, lied about her age & sang at the San Remo songfest. She’ll be presenting an as-yet unnamed show airing prime time this fall…Take a look from her innumerable TV appearances:
www.adorabilidelizie.com/fan_site/luisa/gallery1.htm

Italian forums & newsgroups
Looking for a place to practice? Try these forums in lingua:

Italian bloggers…
www.blog-it.net

www.bloggando.com

Newsgroups:
http://usenet.libero.it

http://groups.google.it

Portal forums:
http://forums.caltanet.it

http://forum.ciaoweb.it

http://www.kwforum.kataweb.it

http://forum.clarence.com

http://www.excite.it/newsgroup

http://www.lycos.it/community/forum

Just forums:

http://www.postare.it

http://www.forumfree.net

http://www.freeforumzone.com

Web Wise Aug. 20- 27

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Italian practice: interactive quizzes • Cool Italian dishes for Hot Weather • Italian MP3s: resource guide • Scholarships for online Italian course

Italian practice: interactive quizzes
Test your vocabulary with these interactive quizzes aimed at kids: choose from categories like animals, the human body, the universe etc.
http://junior.virgilio.it/directory/cgi/dir.cgi?ccat=46930

Cool Italian dishes for Hot Weather
Expand your repertoire of Italian cooking with these offbeat summer recipes from this eclectic site…Choose from vegetarian, sea, country or city as well as gourmet and happy hour dishes…
www.mangiarebene.com/accademia/index.html

Italian MP3s: resource guide
Listen to the latest or old favorites with these sites…

http://directory.virgilio.it/dir/cgi/dir.cgi?ccat=12248
Vast selection of Italian music, broken into categories by type…Ranges from traditional Neapolitan ballads to Reggae.

www.lycos.it/webguides/mp3/
The homepage has the most downloaded MP3s — a few Italians among the international hits..

www.mp3sky.net
Scroll down to music download for a selection of new Italian bands in different musical styles…

www.tizioandcaio.com/home.asp
Large selection of Italian pop music..

www.happymusic.it/default.asp?page=classifica
The best in dumb/satirical music…

Scholarships for online Italian course
The Aug. 31 deadline is nearing for scholarships for this online Italian course sponsored by the Consortium of Italian Universities, ICON. Nearing because the administration will be closed from Aug. 3-18. We’ve included the entire press release below for more information…

==================================================================

il Consorzio ICoN bandisce 15 borse di studio annuali per immatricolarsi al Corso di laurea in Lingua e cultura italiana per l‚anno accademico 2002-2003. Le borse sono riservate a cittadini stranieri e italiani residenti in:
Africa (tutti i Paesi);
America Latina (tutti i Paesi);
Asia (Cina, India);
Europa Centrale e Orientale (Albania, Bosnia-Erzegovina, Bulgaria, Croazia, Macedonia, Polonia, Repubblica Ceca, Repubblica Slovacca, Repubblica Federale Yugoslava, Romania, Slovenia, Ungheria).
Ogni borsa di studio da’ diritto ad immatricolarsi al primo anno del Corso di laurea con tutorato, fruire di tutti i servizi didattici on line, partecipare alla comunita’ virtuale e sostenere le prove d‚esame, a titolo completamente gratuito, per un anno accademico (10 settembre 2002 – 30 agosto 2003).
Per poter richiedere una borsa di studio occorre:
– risiedere nei Paesi elencati;
– essere di nazionalità non italiana, oppure essere cittadini italiani residenti all‚estero;
– possedere un titolo di studio che dia diritto a iscriversi all‚universita’ italiana (12 anni di studio complessivi);
– possedere una buona conoscenza della lingua italiana, da verificare con il test di lingua presente sul sito (il punteggio minimo per essere ammessi è 80/120);
– non essere iscritti ad altre universita‚ italiane.
Le domande di partecipazione, attestanti i requisiti di cui sopra, vanno presentate attraverso il sito www.italicon.it a partire dal 31 luglio e fino al 31 agosto 2002.
Informazioni dettagliate sulla struttura del corso sono disponibili nella sezione Laurea del sito ICoN:
http://www.italicon.it/index.asp?AREA=04
Per un panorama dell’offerta didattica e delle modalita’ di frequenza e’ invece disponibile la visita guidata:
http://www.italicon.it/index.asp?SECTION=MNUINFO_L=23=laurea/visita

Per ogni richiesta e’ possibile contattare la nostra Segreteria didattica:
e-mail segrdidattica@italicon.it
telefono +39 050 2212 690
fax +39 050 2212 697
Attenzione! Il Consorzio ICoN rimarrà chiuso dal 3 al 18 agosto. Durante questo periodo non sarà fornita assistenza telefonica; alle richieste inviate per posta elettronica sarà data risposta a partire dal 19 agosto.

Lighting Up Rome’s Colosseum, in Protest

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Rome’s Colosseum, ancient symbol of blood sport, has become a beacon for protesting against the death penalty. Over the next few evenings, the project called “The Colusseum Illuminates Life” will brighten summer nights as a reminder of the value of human life.Filled with tourists during the day, one of the eternal city’s most famous monuments goes dark at night — but some 20 times this year it has lit up in protest or for celebration. Last week, in fact, the Colosseum brightened to celebrate the suspension of 30 planned executions in Guatemala. Some 46% of Italians are against the death penalty — and actively protest executions around the world.

www.capitolium.org/eng/virtuale/webview.htm
The next lighting-up, Tuesday Aug. 6 — have a look with this webcam

Italy By Numbers: Law-Abiding Vacations

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30 million Italians on vacation (est.)
6,300 flights over weekend
10 mile back-ups (average) on autostrade
6 cops sent from North to keep law in South

About half the country is on vacation the first two weeks in August, known as the ‘summer exodus.’ Most Italians spent the first hours of a much- awaited break in line on the autostrada — in some places like Barberino and Firenze sud up to 25 miles. Despite campaigns urging Italians to take vacations in alternate periods, both Premier Silvio Berlusconi and President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi are relaxing on the isle of Sardinia. Berlusconi is vacationing at his Costa Smeralda villa, with guests including British Prime Minister Tony Blair and family.

Those vacationing on the beautiful isle of Procida (near Naples) will have to mind their manners — the law will be enforced by a police force from Bergamo. The summer reinforcements raised more than a few eyebrows since the police come from a stronghold of secessionist party Lega Nord to keep law in the presumably laissez-faire South.
"We needed someone from outside to keep things above board," said mayor Luigi Muro. "We all know each other here and sometimes that isn’t a good thing." The regular police force, 13 strong, can’t keep up with the nearly tripled summer population.

Related resources:
Eating in Italy: A Traveler’s Guide to Hidden Gastronomic Pleasures
Required reading for your next Italy visit…

The Bug Zapper: Nitpick these Instructions!

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It’s mosquito season and what better way to test your Italian than nitpick for errors in this instruction manual for an electric bug zapper. Everyday proof that universal translators are far from perfect…The first reader to send back a “debugged” Italian version wins an Italian mosquito kit complete with a citronella candle and itch creme, as well as our unending admiration.?1999-2004 zoomata.com

Zoomata is the brainchild of a bilingualjournalist based in Italy who thinks out of the box. This brain is for hire.

Durante l’utillizzazione di apparecchiature elettriche, specialmente alla presenza di bambini, tutte le precauzioni di base devono essere seguite, incluse le seguenti.

Non lasciarlo cadere o farlo cadere in acqua o altro liquido. Se e caduto nell’acqua staccare prima immediatemente la spina.

E’ necessaria una supervisione attenta quando l’apparecchio viene usato da bambini o vicino ad essi o ad invalidi.

Non abbandoni l’apparecchio senza cura quando è in funzione. Tenga il cavo dalle superficie riscaldate.

Non funziona qualunque apparecchio o è stato danneggiato un qualungue maniera.

Non gocciola o inserisce oggetti qualunque in qualunque apertura perché questo può causare un colpo electtrico.

Non mette parte calda dell’unità superficie sensibile del calore quando è caldo.

 Per evitare l’azzardo della scottatura, non lascia superficie riscaldate a toccare il pelle nudo.

Questo apparecchio dovrebbe essere messo un magazino mai quando è caldo o quando è ancora collegato col corrente.

Questo prodotto è inteso per famiglia usa solo.

Non usarlo vicino alle vasche, bacini o altri vasi che contengono acqua.

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