I’ve been reading about Cortina d’Ampezzo and daydreaming about taking a long, lazy holiday there..oh bliss! BUT…reality sets in, the phone rings, the usual distractions return and so in a desperate bid to bookmark my brain, I want to get my thoughts down before they disappear!
Bear with me - most of the websites are pretty [...]

[Read more →]

I read Aldo Palazzeschi’s “Rio Bo” in class yesterday and felt compelled to share my first impressions.
The thing that struck me immediately was the piece’s simplicity - no rhyme, an absence of grand, ‘baroque’ type imagery, use of modern language and narrative.
This is simple, accessible prose. I get this!
It’s like no other Italian art [...]

[Read more →]

For any student of Italian language and culture, it is worth exploring the ongoing debate around the revenue equalisation regime, because it mirrors the important historical tension between the wealthy north and the less affluent south.
A brief background
Under the 1948 Constitution, the equalisation regime has been used by the State to distribute federal revenue amongst [...]

[Read more →]

The Beloved is very excited! She’s off to see Eros Ramazzotti in concert in October.
I don’t mind a bit of Eros from time to time…his songs are a bit too soft-rock for my liking and the “I love you always, forever and there is no other love but you” type lyrics are not really my [...]

[Read more →]

Still stuck on the romantically futile idea of a 2nd home in Italy…
And it’s burning away because I’m immersed in Frances Mayes’ fabulous memoirs “Under the Tuscan Sun” and “Bella Tuscany”.
Heavenly, sensual writing…her intensity, vitality and this kind of poetic density of language just drip from the page. There’s this very personal love of…I dont [...]

[Read more →]

I apologise up-front if this posting sounds self indulgent…tune out now (I hope you don’t!!) if that bugs you.
For a cranky, dopey, near ‘middle aged’ stranieri ignorante, learning italian ‘e molto difficile.
If you’re a mature aged student, you know what it’s like…
By the end of the day, the office has fried your brain, the train [...]

[Read more →]

So I’m sitting on the train stopping all stations and it’s going to take FOREVER to get home; the tough boys have spread themselves across the walkway, daring people to walk past, pumping out their trashy pop ring tones as loud as possible so that someone, ANYone will look at them (…please???); an old guy [...]

[Read more →]