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Parole d’Amore — Words of Love

by Mirella Colalillo, February 12, 2015

(English Follows)

Qual è secondo te la parola più famosa della lingua italiana? L’abbiamo sentita cantata tante volte da Dean Martin in “That’s Amore“. Gli italiani la stra-usano ad ogni occasione: “queste scarpe sono un amore”, “quel ragazzo/a è un amore”, “questa canzone è un amore”,… e così via.

Un’inguaribile romantica come me la usa non solo per chiamare tutti i gatti del quartiere, ma anche i suoi amici. Non credo che sia necessario un limite all’uso, anzi, più esprimiamo sentimenti di amore, più stiamo meglio tutti.

L’amore si accompagna sempre ad altre parole e gesti che ne danno il vero significato. In questo video ho compilato una lista di quelle che considero le più importanti.

gioia – joy

fiducia – trust

rispetto – respect

onestà – honesty

stima – praise

sostegno – support

pazienza – patience

creatività – creativity

Questo video è un amore… Una e-card da condividere con tutte le persone che ami.

Per concludere in dolcezza, Febbraio è un mese romantico e anche ricco di peccaminosi dolci di Carnevale. Non ho resistito e ho creato questa golosità. Sapete come si chiama?

Con tanto amore,

Mirella

What do you think is the most famous word of the Italian language? We’ve heard it sung so many times by Dean Martin in “That’s Amore“. Italians over use it at every opportunity: “queste scarpe sono un amore”, “quel ragazzo/a è un amore”, “questa canzone è un amore” (“these shoes are a love“, “the boy/girl is a love“, “this song is a love,”) … and so on.

A hopeless romantic like myself uses it not only to call all the cats in the neigborhood, but also her friends. I don’t think it’s necessary to limit it’s use, on the contrary, the more we express feelings of love, the more we are all better.

Love is always accompanied by other words and gestures that give it its true meaning. In this video, I’ve compiled a list of what I consider to be the most important ones.

gioia – joy

fiducia – trust

rispetto – respect

onestà – honesty

stima – praise

sostegno – support

pazienza – patience

creatività – creativity

This video is a love… questo video è un amore. An e-card to share with all the people you love.

To end on a sweet note, February is a month full of sinful Carnival sweets. I could not resist and I created this delicacy. Do you know what it’s called?

With lots of love,

Mirella

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Michelangelo’s Visual Grocery List

How to communicate if you don’t speak or read a language? Draw it! (disegnalo) Michelangelo, of course, knew that well. It was actually a common practice in the old days to hand-draw (disegnare a mano) items for the illiterate, such as Michelangelo’s servant in this case.

I was still living in Florence when I embarked in an adventure to retrace Michelangelo’s steps while I was reading “The Agony and the Ecstasy” by Irving Stone. I learned much about il Grande Genio; that he was a humble and poor man (un uomo umile e povero), who only obtained wealth in his later years and that paper was a necessity but also a luxury (una necessità ma anche un lusso) for him; therefore, it would never go wasted. He would save and recycle scraps of paper to draw and write on. He would also destroy his sketches (i suoi schizzi) as he only wanted his polished works to be seen. I don’t think he would be happy to know that his grocery list has now gone viral on the internet! He had un caratteraccio, a temper, that’s for sure! But that is what made him great.

Casa Buonarroti in Florence, an important museum, often overlooked by tourists, is where this document is archived. It was my final emotional stop. It’s the house he built and died in after revolutionizing the world for 88 years!

Here are the 15 grocery items written in 16^th century Florentine:pani dua (two loaves of bread)
un bochal di vino (a bottle of wine)
una aringa (a herring;a line like that over a letter or word stands in for an unwritten “n” or “m”)
tortegli (tortelli)

una salama (a salame)
quattro pani (four loaves of bread)
un bochal di tondo (a bottle of tondo, or full ‘rotund’ wine)
e un quartuccio di bruscho (a quarter of rough wine)
un piattello di spinaci (a plate of spinach)
quattro alice (four anchovies)
tortelli (tortelli)

sei pani (six loaves of bread)
due minestre di finocchio (two fennel soups)
una aringa (a herring)
un bochal di tondo (a bottle of tondo).

I find illustrations or drawing the vocabulary myself very useful to be able to memorize it better.

Are you a visual learner like me?

New Year’s Resolution: more Italian!

Do you want to learn or improve your Italian in the New Year? Certo! That’s a bellissimo New Year’s resolution!

Do you want to learn or improve your Italian in the New Year? Certo! That’s a bellissimo New Year’s resolution! (buon proposito per l’anno nuovo)… Include into your life more of everything in Italian: language, cinema, music, books, and food of course! Perhaps even a trip to Italy. I don’t think it could get any better!

The easiest way for me to stick to my goals (i miei obiettivi) is to keep them simple and fun. And this way, by the end of the year I sometimes exceed my initial expectations (supero le mie aspettative iniziali).

Here are some tips (alcuni consigli) to incorporate more Italian into your year:

1) Language – Every single day do some Italian. Learning a language requires daily practice. Only 15 minutes can make a big difference. But make sure you alternate different activities that you enjoy.

2) Music – I can’t live without music. It’s usually in the background (sullo sfondo) almost all day long. I find it the best way to learn a language. Language is music! Any music will do. Pump up the volume (alza il volume) and sing along!

3) Cinema – I love old Italian movies and I watch one almost every month. Italian movies allow you to immerse yourself in the Italian culture. If you’re a beginner, subtitles are fine, if you’re not, challenge yourself! Great Italian directors of the past are Visconti, Germi, Olmi, Fellini, Pasolini, and some recent ones are Golino, Moretti, Benigni, Comencini, Tornatore.

4) Books – Reading is very effective to increase your vocabulary and to practice the grammar with almost no sweat (senza sudore). If you don’t feel ready for a novel just yet, try reading a short story (un racconto) every month. The classics are usually not written in standardized modern Italian and they could be harder to understand. Some of my favourite modern authors are Elsa Morante, Italo Calvino, Alda Merini, Dacia Maraini.

5) Food – Every Sunday, (or even everyday!), why not prepare an Italian recipe in Italian? Or perhaps you can go out to an Italian restaurant. Practice reading the menu in Italian and speaking to the Italian waiter. If he doesn’t speak Italian, there might be some chatty Italians nearby!

Let’s combine duty and pleasure (uniamo l’utile al dilettevole)

What are your Italian resolutions for the New Year? Let me know in the comments!

Buon Anno!

Mirella

p.s. Animals are always very wise (molto saggi) not only when it comes to languages!