A few years ago, my father proudly showed me a family heirloom. He brought out a big leather-bound seemingly ancient book and carefully lifted the cover. It was a collection of German fairy stories and folktales. But this was no ordinary book, it was an illuminated manuscript, hand painted in gold, blue and red, with pages that unfolded to reveal intricate and spectacular illustrations.
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I have been meaning to look up this word for a while. You can also say frignare which means basically the same thing, but I prefer piagnucolare because its a bit more onomotopoeic. You almost have to whine just to say it.
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When I first found this tiny street, it got me so excited that I had to admit once and for all what a huge dork I am.Vicolo della Spada d’Orlando: Orlando’s Sword Alley. Now, if there isn’t a good story behind this street, then I don’t know my Rome!
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Today’s word is aiuola (flowerbed) which I love simply because it feels so good to say. It’s like a diction exercise in one word! If you’re an actor or a singer and need to get your facial muscles warmed up, just repeat this word several times and you’re good to go! I also love that, even at only 6 letters and 2 syllables, it has 5 vowels!
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Last night I was at a dinner party and made some new acquaintances. One of them was a very cute two year-old Italian girl. Just before it was time to eat, her mother tied a tiny red apron on her, which I thought was much sweeter than a bib, which a big girl of her age might have resented. When I complimented her style, saying “Mi piace la tua parannanza!”
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Since our Roman King of the moment, Numa Pompilius is credited with reforming the calendar, I figured it would be an opportune moment to discuss what the months we still use today actually mean. Although the calendar was reformed two more times after Numa, first by Julius Caesar and much later by Pope Gregory XIII, Numa made the most significant changes.
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Click here to read my interview over at Reading Italian Maps. Maja, the author of that fantastic blog, is starting a feature clevered entitled The X-pat Factor, in which she will be interviewing expatriates living, working and blogging in Italy. I was thrilled to be her first subject! Check it out, particularly if you are considering taking the plunge yourself to move to Italy!
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We're spoiled for choice in Rome right now with all the great new exhibits on at the moment. The biggest new show is that of Filippino Lippi and Sandro Botticelli at the Scuderie del Quirinale. The Scuderie plays host to some of the most important exhibitions in the city, such as the mind-blowing Caravaggio exhibit last year, and Lorenzo Lotti earlier this year, so everyone had high hopes for this exhibit
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After the all-important Halloween on Monday, and the, for some, even more important Ognissanto (All Saints' Day) yesterday, how about a brief tribute to today's lesser-known holiday, All Souls' Day. If Halloween is the day the dead are permitted to walk the earth, and Ognissanto is the day we celebrate all the saints in heaven, All Souls' Day is the day to reflect upon and remember those we have personally lost.
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