italian

COMMUNITY

Lost in Translation: Tuscany squared

Translation is never a straightforward linear process; it is all about the purpose, or, to share a technical term, ‘skopos.’ As a linguist, I make choices as I convert text in one language into another. The purpose of a Tuscan agriturismo website is to sell holiday accommodations of

COMMUNITY

D for Domodossola…

I’m a words person, always have been, always will be. I am fortunate to have been born with an eye and a mind for correct spelling—I can spot a mistake from a distance and often intervene by wielding a red pen. As I’ve become

COMMUNITY

AWA has been ‘Wikied’

The Advancing Women Artists Foundation now has its own Wikipedia page.   Have a look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advancing_Women_Artists_Foundation   This new online reference page is one of the outcomes of a daylong ‘Edit-a-thon’ aimed at increasing the number of entries spotlighting women

COMMUNITY

Cursing customs and kids

Once, while out with his nonna, my son, who was just learning to talk, proudly identified the backside of a strange woman standing beside them: ‘Culo!’ My extended Italian family members were highly amused by my mother-in-law’s subsequent retelling of the episode. I, on

COMMUNITY

Farewell, dear friend

Bob Nordvall, who, among other pursuits, wrote for The Florentine,passed away on January 2 in Pistoia, Italy. Especially appreciated for their caustic wit, Bob’s articles and conversations always featured a unique mix of insiders’ advice and expat perspective. Readers of his much-awaited newsletter ‘This

COMMUNITY

Ceppo

Ceppo:  In Italian, a ceppo is a tree stump or a log, but in Florence it was once something much more meaningful. Of ancient origin, the tradition was to take a thick trunk of wood that had been cut down shortly before the holiday and burn it in the

COMMUNITY

A dog’s day

Italian men are dogs and Italian women are cats. The statement feels so very bold that I almost fear to write it. Firstly, because one's childhood habit of comparing people to barnyard critters and jungle animals may best be left to the private sphere. And then there's the

COMMUNITY

Timing and beans

Autumn is upon us. Hurried and harried, Florence's entire population is coming to terms with all that has been waiting in the wings since summertime. Deadlines are harvested far faster than pumpkins, and bosses and colleagues heartily welcome fall storms by generating them.   Perhaps your stomach is steelier

COMMUNITY

A second moment

Catherine sold her house in Leicester, intent on moving to Florence and financing her long-time professional dream: event planning in Tuscany. Villas, castles and monastic courtyards that house no clergy make great backdrops for high-end cultural events, she thought. And fino a qui, I fully agree. Yet, beyond

COMMUNITY

Tortoise versus hare

  Aesop, a slave who earned his freedom through storytelling, became a worthy diplomat for kings, which ultimately got him thrown off a cliff in Delphi for having insulted the ...

COMMUNITY

How to be… Un fiorentino DOC

Luca, a Florentine native, has not crossed the threshold of the Uffizi since his fourth-grade class stomped through its venerable halls, thinking of nothing but the pane e nutella their anxious mothers had prepared for their four o'clock snack on the Duomo steps. And yes, his last view

COMMUNITY

Love and Roman cats

The freccia argento to Rome is a quick but expensive rail line that's worth its weight in silver, where the borrowed English bloke on the loudspeaker invites passengers to visit the dining car by announcing ‘Travelling stimulates your appetite.'     Whether or not that claim is true,

COMMUNITY

Merchant ears and movies

Every year, right around Daylight Saving Time, my friend Paola leaves a lover-and it's usually the same one. I sit on the sidelines and watch it happen, undecided as to whether practice has made this annual ritual easier or more excruciating.     As background noise to our &

COMMUNITY

True and false friends

Way back at the beginning of the second millennium, I was teaching English at a Florentine school whose floors were as scuffed as their blackboards, which-originally white-had turned gray with grammar lessons.      The classes were small and the staff was smaller: Karen, a rainbow-bright

COMMUNITY

A craftsman and a count

Inconveniences aside, there is something about a blizzard that gives you time. Unexpectedly, there's time to wait as energy-saving light bulbs grow bright enough to light something more than a Neanderthal cave. Time enough to notice how quiet the world looks while wearing white. And there's time

COMMUNITY

Buttered eels

One should never ask anything after a party. It is enough to keep a front-row corner of the couch and get full view as your hosts dissect the unfortunate guests who've already gone. Last Saturday when the last of the festa crowd pulled the door closed, the curtain

LIGHT MODE
DARK MODE