American tv series that became iconic in Italy The first time I’ve visited the US, I found everything so new, yet utterly familiar at the same time. You see, as pretty much everyone of my generation, I grew up watching american tv shows on the telly. Rigorously dubbed into Italian, […]
Author: Francesca Bezzone
More than a room: Italy’s historical hotels
I don’t know about you, but I love spending time in hotels: the simple idea of not having to worry about cleaning around cheers me up and don’t even get me started about queen size beds and room service. I admit I don’t get the chance to stay at hotels often: […]
Saro Rubei’s Amatrice did not crumble down
Since the earthquake, Italy has been wondering how many lives could have been saved had only Amatrice been built following proper anti-seismic regulations. If, possibly, many of the town’s older medieval buildings may have not been entirely rescued anyway, it is still true that reinforcing structures could have avoided many deaths: as the […]
Itineraries by the sea: il Sentiero degli Dei
Sentiero degli Dei, Path of the Gods. Ph. flickr/Sandra flic.kr/p/gnZaCy Il Sentiero degli Dei, the path of the gods. These were truly the lands of the gods. When you think of a quintessential backdrop to the lives and actions of Graeco-Roman divinities, it is to the blue of the Mediterranean and the deep […]
Totò
Totò in the 1930s (wikimedia) The legend of Totò Antonio De Curtis, better known as Totò, is not really popular outside of his home country, but here in Italy, he’s a true legend. His name’s largely associated with 1950’s and 1960’s comedy movies, however Totò marked with his talent also the […]
The temple of world music: La Scala
Il Teatro del Mondo Third of August 1778: it is a warm evening in Milan, but a breeze of novelty makes the air sparkle with expectation. The iconic Teatro alla Scala, in Milan, celebrates its 238th birthday (Lorenzoclick/Flickr flic.kr/p/rfefTZ) Young Antonio Salieri, already official composer of the imperial court in Vienna, stands […]
My first trip to Italy!
Spending time in Italy today is not much of a cultural shock: in the end, both the US and Italy belong to the same western cultural context and share a good amount of habits. There are quirks and differences, though, and it’s often these that make each of these countries […]
Five Italian words you should start using
Sure, this is not the first article of its kind: a very recent one appeared on the Rai News webpage and was penned by the author of a popular column on the Babbel’s language learning website, Ed. M. Wood, who chose words both for their meaning and phonetics. Wood’s words are, […]
Back to basics
Agriculture, tourism and the food industry are essential to Italy’s economic growth I was born in the late 70s and, to my memory, there has not been a time when my country was not economically struggling: I have no recollection of the news mentioning anything different from “unemployment rise,” […]
Italy ages with grace, but aging is also an issue
Demographics have been showing Italy has been getting older. Indeed, aging in Italy is a real trend. And both a curse and a blessing. The numbers of aging in Italy ISTAT, the Italian National Institute for Statistics, recently confirmed a scary statistics. In fact, 2015 has been the year with the […]