Making a living from change tossed into a fountain is an unusual job — but a perfectly legal way to put bread on the table. Italian courts ruled that Roberto Cercelletta, who has been scooping out coins tossed into Rome’s Trevi fountain for about 20 years, is not stealing public money. Charities who wish to [...]
+7,000 words added 75% new words (circa) high-tech related 145,000 words total +200 false friends The authoritative Italian-English 2003 dictionary published by Zingarelli presents an interesting dilemma for students of contemporary Italian. Most of the new terms — the last edition was published in 1995, before the Internet made much headway in the Bel Paese [...]
The Italian senate is bitterly divided over who will become the official patron saint of Italy. In the running are two much-loved saints, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Joseph, with the adoptive father of Jesus ahead three to one. The new bank holiday must crowd into a calendar where most cities already shut down [...]
Web-wise July 29-Aug 6 Italian practice: writing love letters • Plan Your Route, Check Traffic Online • Biagio Antonacci’s Ballads — MP3 • Farm Holiday Database Italian practice: writing love letters Plenty of ideas & pre-written messages for the amorous who need a little help. Click on ‘personali’ for live chats with the editorial staff [...]
Almost ten years after a Mafia bombing ripped it apart, the ‘Room with a View’ hotel has reopened in Florence. Room number 411 of Hotel degli Orafi was used to frame the unforgettable kiss between newlyweds Lucy and George in the film version of the E.M. Forster classic — because the hotel stand-in for the [...]
So much for fat is beautiful: Italy’s recently-elected Miss Chubby, weighing in at 427 lbs, confessed she would like to lose a few pounds. Thirty-six year old Maria Dore, a housewife whose cites pizza with mushrooms as a favorite food, won the crown of the 14th-annual contest but admitted shortly afterwards that her girth ‘weighs [...]
28.7% Italian men work Saturdays 21.3% EU men work Saturdays 31.7% Italian women work Saturdays 24.2% EU women work Saturdays Statistics bear out what many residents of the Bel Paese have long suspected: the country’s legendary disorganization doesn’t lead to a more relaxed lifestyle but in fact a longer working week. The numbers, which come [...]
Italian practice: verb conjugator tool • Finding Events/Food Fairs • Rome’s Fashion Event • Italy’s Immigration Law: consequences & debate Verb conjugator tool If you can’t remember the difference in spelling between the conditional and the future or get stuck on the historic past tense, this free tool will become one of your favorite bookmarks… [...]
A plate of the national dish will take on a new significance when ‘anti-Mafia pasta’ arrives on Italian store shelves in the fall. A courageous anti-Mafia group is reaping the fruits of a protracted battle with local organized crime: they’re harvesting the first grain from confiscated fields of Mafia boss Tot? Riina and his relatives [...]
178 circa, combined films Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida 16 bit parts/tv shows Manuela Arcuri 2 Academy Awards, Sophia Loren 0 monuments: Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida 1 monument: Manuela Arcuri Italians have short memories for native beauties: last week the town of Porto Cesareo (Lecce) erected a statue to curvy starlet of dubious talent Manuela Arcuri. [...]
