First written for the Studentessa Matta site and proudly featured in November of 2016. Please click here for the original post. — Falling in love with the Italian language has been one of the more beautiful surprises of my life. Growing up in an Italian-American family, with a grandfather who, as a teenager, emigrated from…
Category: Language
7 Reasons to Love Italian
We study Italian because we want to, not because we need to. Because the music of the language moves us to learn it, to engage in this “impracticality”, to throw some of our precious time to the wind and do something simple for the pleasure of being able to pronounce words like piacere. –From “Why…
How to Choose a Language School in Italy
With so many options of learning Italian in Italy, choosing the right program can be daunting. There’s the question of where: a big city, with more options for formalized language programs and an easier home-base for travel; a smaller town with more possibility of language immersion and local charm. There’s the decision of which type…
Four Weekly Practices for Learning Italian
Or, How I Study Italian 2018 In searching for some words of encouragement to begin this post, I typed into Google “why study Italian”? A number of posts of popped up, mostly from language school blogs or university foreign language departments. I clicked the one with the most number of reasons (24). Coming it at #24,…
A Home for the Italian Language
On the outskirts of Florence sits Villa di Castello, country home of Cosimo I de’ Medici (1519-1574), Grand Duke of Tuscany. Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus and Primavera once adorned the walls of the villa, and Castello’s elaborate garden — renowned throughout Europe — influenced other famous gardens including Florence’s Boboli Gardens. Villa di Castello has seen…
Grazie and More: Saying Thank You in Italian
Buon Giorno del Ringraziamento a tutti! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! In the United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated the fourth Thursday of every November. It is one of my favorite holidays, with the focus of gathering as a family, preparing the traditional meal, and taking time to share that for which we are grateful. I especially…
Uno Strumento di Pace
An Instrument of Peace This post is dedicated to longtime reader Bonnie, who recently asked me to publish the entire Simple Prayer for Peace by St. Francis in Italian. “One of the ways I study Italian is by learning prayers,” she shared, which reminded me of how much I enjoy that method of learning as…
5 Romantic Italian Phrases
One of the beauties of Italian is that it is a very specific language. I would say I love that, but that would be very un-Italian indeed. For example, there are different words to indicate playing a sport (giocare) versus playing an instrument (suonare). Or for painting a wall (tinteggiare) versus creating something with paint — like…
How I (plan to) Study Italian, 2017
I have written that, a few years back, I stopped making New Year’s Resolutions, but last week, at the start of a new session of Italian classes, there was a buon proposito waiting for us all: Migliorare il mio italiano | Improve my Italian Our professoressa had written this knowing that certainly this a goal for all of…
Reasons I love Italy and why I learn Italian
Falling in love with the Italian language has been one of the more beautiful surprises of my life. Growing up in an Italian-American family, with a grandfather who, as a teenager, emigrated from Puglia in southern Italy to America, Italy was no big deal to me. I never intended to learn Italian, and I especially never expected…
Prayers & Piazzas 