Italy by Numbers: Stretching the Language

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29 letters: longest Italian word
52% Italian words contain between 7-12 letters
20% increase in length, from 19th century

A statistical analysis of 114,000 Italian words from several dictionaries revealed a new record for length–the 29-letter tongue twister is "esofagodermatodigiunoplastica."
Sounds as bad as it looks, referring to the complex surgery required after a patient’s esophagus and stomach have been removed. Probably won’t crop up in everyday conversation, but the 22-letter "internazionalizzazione" just might.
Egidio del Boca, from the Center for Lexicographic Studies in Vercelli, noted an increase in common word length compared to the 1800s, mostly due to new inventions. Among these are everyday items like the vacuum cleaner (aspirapolvere) the hair dryer (asciugacapelli) and farm equipment like the combine harvester (mietitrebbiatrice).
Superlatives were left out of the study, which is why the famous "precipitevolissimevolmente" (very hurriedly) doesn’t crop up.

Related resources:
Pronouce It Perfectly in Italian…
Get your stress on the right syllable & your diphthongs in order–with this book & audio pronunciation guide…

Everybody Bingo!

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Roars from the 400-strong crowd in Italy’s first bingo hall in Treviso were fit for a stadium–nothing like the indigenous version "tombola," a classic time-killer during holidays.
Bingo is the latest pastime in a country where 62% of the population gambles regularly–Italians currently place their money on three soccer-betting schemes, wagers on horses and numerous state lotteries.
The first winner, Tina Bianchin, was surrounded by fellow players jumping up and down and shouting "been-go! been-go!" as she was presented with about $400 winnings on a silver tray by the hall’s glamorous hostess. "I’m taking the family out to dinner," enthused Bianchin, a janitor. Rome’s first bingo hall opens this week while a total of 800 halls, expected to bring in $25,000 a day, will dot the country by 2003.

Related resources:
www.anib.it/storia.htm
Brief history of the game in Italy, traced back to Renaissance lotteries. From the Italian Bingo Association…

Web wise: Nov. 18-26

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Life-lesson portal for Learning Italian • Peek at Pompeii’s "Pleasure Spa" •Frances Ford Coppola: Java on the Set •Job announcements: sales manager, satellite network, English teachers, Italy wide

Italian portal teaches everyday practices
That’ll teach you! (così impari) is the cheeky slogan for Italian educational portal eudidia…The free lessons on management, computers, the home, personal life offer a heap of easy-to-read modules that are not only good for learning the language–but picking up on the customs…Where else are you going to find out what’s considered a proper Italian breakfast, how to prepare for a job interview or how to behave at a funeral?
www.eudida.it

Peek at Pompeii’s "Pleasure Spa"
Despite the quality of the photos, it’s not hard to figure out what Pompeii’s pleasure spa was all about– adornments of the unisex changing room are thought to show a sort of erotic menu. Discovered in the 1950s, the terme suburbane are not the only erotic images in the city, though the baths boast what was described by officials as Pompeii’s only "sapphic love scene." They’ll be open to the public from December on and will likely make up for two other areas (Il Lupanare and Casa dei Vettii) closed for restoration…
http://ricerca.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Cronache/11_Novembre/14/POMPEI.shtml

Italian Cinema + Espresso
What’s the connection? Boh….Frances Ford Coppola & Illy manage a cute send up on Fellini’s "White Sheik" with Valentina Cervi ("Portrait of a Lady")…Clip & backstage…
http://151.99.129.54/luxavideo/clienti/illy/back/illy.htm

Job announcements:

IT-LAZ-Rome-Sales Manager/Account Executive
————————————————————————
EXCITING Pre-IPO specializes in SATELLITE NETWORKING TECHNOLOGY that focuses on the "last mile" of network issues. Provide IT hardware and services to the "edge of the network"…Services include Corporate Data Networking, Internet Access, Content Delivery, and Event Services.
Position & Requirements:
The Sales Manager will be responsible for selling to the LARGEST customers (Global 2000) in Italy. (Virtual office)
Applicant must have:
* experience identifying and qualifying opportunities, building strong relationships, and closing prospective opportunities with both new and existing accounts.
* 5 – 15 years of either telecommunications or networking services sales in this territory.
* a strong understanding of data communications concepts, products, and services.
* ability and desire to work independently
* ability to work closely with customers
* ability to coordinate both technical and financial proposal strategies
* proven negotiation and presentation skills with Global 2000 accounts
VERY AGGRESSIVE compensation package: $80 – 90K (USD) base salary plus commissions = $180 – $200K (USD). PLUS excellent stock options and an extensive "Full" Benefits package.
Please forward "Word formatted" resumes in English to: KLB@SCNorthJersey.com

Graduate mother-language teachers of English
URGENTLY required
For innovative project starting mid-January 2002.
Teaching experience essential.
We are looking for people throughout Italy
Please, send your CV, allowing the treatment of your personal data (L.675/96 tutela della privacy) via e-mail, specifying in the RE: "Rif. 8035 English teacher", to:
SCS Selezione S.r.l.
e mail: corum@libero.it

Truffle Price Index

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Lovers of the fragrant tuber might get something of a price break this year thanks to abundant rains bringing in a larger crop. Truffles will go on the auction block Nov. 10 as part of celebrating the famed tartufo bianco d’Alba in Piedmont.Prices nearly doubled in 2001 due to lack of rain. These prized white truffles from Alba don’t go cheap to begin with, starting at about $100 for an etto (about 3.5 ounces).
The same handful of the pungent-smelling mushroom may run slightly less than previously steep prices which ranged from $175-250.
This year’s biggest truffle, weighing in at a kilo, went for 34,000 euro, bought by two daughters of a Hollywood producer. As always, proceeds go to charity, this year 120,000 euro total will go to earthquake victims in Molise.
Fortunately, a little truffle goes a long way to seasoning everyday dishes–otherwise the $2,000 price tag per kilo would make it an unattainable luxury for most.

Related resources:

Piedmont: Traditional Cuisine from the Piedmontese Provinces

http://www.mangiarebene.net/aphrodisiacs/egg_truffle.html
An inexpensive & simple recipie for a white truffle omelet

Managers Pray to St. Expedite

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by Nicole Martinelli

Italians say a confused person doesn’t know which saint to pray to, but busy managers have little doubt: Saint Expedite is the right one. In the heart of the business district, there’s an uninterrupted flow to Milan’s Santa Maria del Carmine for a quick prayer.

“It’s one of the least known but most efficient saints,” remarked Bernardino Visconti, who pops in every day before heading to work in an insurance company. “I acknowledge the other ones, but I always pray to Sant’Espedito.”
The plaster statue in faded fluorescent colors is placed (for speed?) right near the door. It’s the only chapel in the church with a waiting line to recite the prayer posted on the wall. Surrounded by candles and votive offerings, Sant’Espedito (also known as St. Expeditus) has clearly won favor over the 107 saints in Milan, including city patron Saint Ambrose, according to author Rino Cammilleri, who just completed a work on the holy figures who lived or were born in the city. The popularity surge follows changes in modern life — while Saint Expedite has been burdened with looking after quick solutions, procrastinators, computer programmers and e-commerce, St. Ambrose is keeping an eye on beekeepers, candle makers and domestic animals.

Like many early saints, it’s uncertain whether the quick-fix saint ever existed. The name “Expeditus” was attributed to two different martyrs on two different days in the Roman Martyrology, though celebrations are now held on April 19. Historians once asserted the Saint’s name derives from a package of remains from Roman catacombs — marked ‘spedito’ (sent)– to a Paris convent, but this appears to be another religious legend. Although Saint Expedite has become increasingly popular in recent years, in Turin he was dubbed the patron saint of merchants in Medieval times. Dressed as a soldier (the name expeditus appears to refer to a foot soldier) he has a cross with the word “hodie” (today) and a crow underfoot (symbolizing tomorrow).

Related resources:
www.gahp.org/espedito.htm
Also claimed by Milan’s Futurist art movement, here’s a print & cut St. Expedite prayer card…

Italy by Numbers: Hidden Business Costs

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13.8 billion (USD) yearly cost of criminal activity to business owners
40% of that directly or indirectly funds the Mafia
120,000 shop owners deal with loan sharks
160,000 shop owners pay Mafia ‘protection’ money
80% of these are in Catania and Palermo
Some Mafia stereotypes are better suited to movies but a recent survey shows the “pizzo,” or protection money is still business as usual in Italy. Threatened business owners shell out 8 billion USD a year in “special surveillance” alone, keeping the coffers of the criminal world healthy. The remaining five billion can be totaled up to loan sharks and usurious debt-servicing charges. The numbers come from Confesercenti, the national retailers’ association, in a report released from its “SOS Business” unit. The special unit, formed in Palermo in 1991, offers a free-phone service to help business owners break the Mafia grip.?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.

Web wise: Nov.12-Nov. 19

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The Cell-Phone Pocket Protector • New Sobriety: The Pirelli Calendar 2002l • The Georgofili Academy–online • Lucio Dalla discovers a "Luna Matana"

The Cell-Phone Pocket Protector
Unlike its low-tech cousin the plastic pocket protector, an Italian clothing manufacturer has designed a mobile phone protector for suit jackets, marketing it as "the intelligent look.” The ‘City Time with Cellular Protector’ jacket, modeled by sheepish-looking soccer player Angelo Di Livio, has an inside pocket with three layers, one with a “special fiber containing silver threads” which supposedly protects the wearer against harmful emissions…Seeing is believing
www.textura.it/cellularcity.htm

New Sobriety: The Pirelli Calendar 2002
Call it pulse, call it luck but one of the world’s most famous girlie calendars got dressed this year. Photog Peter Lindbergh shot 12 fiercely young and Armani-garbed actresses including "American Beauty" Mena Suvari and Charlie Chaplin’s great-granddaughter Kiera…The auto shop will never be the same…If you’re in Milan, check out the "Making Of" exhibit in the new Armani/Teatro space: via Bergognone, 59.
www.pirelli.it

The Georgofili Academy–online
Heavily damaged in the 1993 bombing of the Uffizi, the Georgofili Academy has come back to life–with a new web presence.
Founded in 1753, the academy houses a highly-specialized collection of agrarian texts–but there are frequent exhibits open to the general public…Online, take a look at the "fototeca" for historical photographic exhibits on women in agriculture, machinery and rural Italian life.
www.georgofili.it
In Italian & English.

Lucio Dalla discovers a "Luna Matana"
The somewhat melancholy singer-songwriter is back–take a listen to hit "Siciliano" and sample tracks from his new record which takes its name after the Tremiti Islands.
Lyrics & MP3 downloads–free from his official site…..
www.pressingline.it/dalla/luna_matana/testi_mp3.htm

Battle over ”Dead” Holidays

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Many Italians see the import of Halloween celebrations as harmless excuse to party before the Nov. 1 holiday, but at least one public official is battling the friendly invasion–with cash incentives. Rosario Crocetta, head of public schools in Gela, Sicily offered about $500 as a bonus to schools in his district that don’t throw Halloween parties for elementary and middle school students. Crocetta says the fanfare and candy of the American import overshadow local traditions for the day of the dead, Nov. 2–in which children await traditional marzipan sweets and toys, left the night before ostensibly as gifts from dead relatives. Crocetta’s anti-Halloween plan met with consensus from other local officials. “We must hand down the values and history of our people,” sentenced county council member Alessandro Pagano. “We can’t let ourselves be influenced by trends. In America, this holiday has historical reasons, but not in Sicily. It’s time to put a stop to this exasperated globalization.” It may be harder to convince the kids, though. “I like Halloween better,” said one Sicilian youngster interviewed on RadioRai2. “Terror is much cooler and anyway we get candy for both.”

Related resources:
www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/9369/festedeimorti.html
History of Sicily’s day of the dead traditions, in Italian with rocky English translation…

Theft Alarms for Archeology Sites

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Italy’s vast, unexcavated treasure troves may finally get some protection from theft. The art-alarm idea comes from the National Research Council (CNR), which unveiled the new system at a conference on cultural conservation. “It’s a basic alarm system, good for art in general,” explained Marco Malavasi. “But it was designed to protect sites, like necropoleis, which are underground. Anytime someone starts digging or moving things around, the sensor transmits a signal to notify the authorities.” The would-be theives hear nothing and if the police can’t get there in time, experts at least have a more precise record of where and when the theft happened. For at least a hundred years, tomb raiders “tombaroli” have been ferreting out artifacts and selling them, mostly unhindered, on the international market. Roberto Conforti, who heads the special art-theft patrol of the Carabinieri, says the black market for artifacts rivals Italy’s drug and arms trade. In the last 30 years over 300,000 objects stolen from tombs have been recovered, according to Minister of Culture statistics. The alarm system may also help bring serendipitous findings into the hands of the government–current law pays accidental archeologists a maximum 25% of the value of findings, a pittance compared to what priceless objects fetch on the market.

Related resources:

www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=4890
day in the life of a tomb-raider, in English. Read it & weep..

Italy by Numbers: The New Waistline

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48% Italian women, age 20-64, overweight
36% Italian men, age 20-64, overweight
15% Italian men, obese
21% Italian women, obese
$22 million USD spent by Italians yearly on surgery for obesity
Better to undergo surgery than fulfill the stereotype of the fat, jolly Italian. A recent congress of the Italian Society of Surgeons issued a warning against the flood of Italians requesting stomach stapling or intestinal bypasses for mere love handles. Although about half of Italians can be considered overweight, they still boast trimmer waistlines than many Spanish, Greek, German and Belgian counterparts. Surgeons cited sedentary lifestyles and “American-style” fast food as plumping up the national girth, warning that in a few years Italian rates may catch up with U.S. obese averages, currently about twice as high.