Heather Broster
The Italian word for a vineyard is vigneto. It derives from the Latin vinetum, which in turn comes from vinum, the Latin word for wine. Note: Vigneto is easily confused with the similar-sounding term vignetta, which is the word for a cartoon or comic strip, so pay attention to the pronunciation! Vigneto is a masculine …
If you’re planning on visiting Italy, there are a few basic needs you will want to express in Italian. Most importantly (or perhaps second only to finding the public facilities), you need to know how to go about filling your empty stomach up with food. The first step? To tell someone that you’re hungry! In …
The most I’ve ever eaten in one sitting was at a wedding (matrimonio) in the south of Italy. I made the amateur mistake of filling up on the first course – which, to be fair, was a mouthwatering array of freshly caught seafood – only to discover that there were seven courses to go! By …
Before anyone jumps on me for writing about what is essentially a North American tradition, let me take a moment to say that I know Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated in Italy, nor does it show any sign of taking root in Italian culture. That said, I felt it was important to cover this greeting because a …
The humble centrepiece of the Thanksgiving (Festa del Ringraziamento) dinner table: is the tacchino (turkey). Tacchino is a masculine noun ending in -o, making its plural form tacchini. Note that the feminine versions also exists for a female turkey: tacchina and tacchine. il tacchinoun tacchino la tacchinauna tacchina i tacchinidei tacchini le tacchinedelle tacchine The …
The reflexive verb raggomitolarsi is quite evocative as words go. The best word-for-word translation would be to wind oneself up like a ball of yarn but it actually means to curl up. It derives from the noun gomitolo which is the word for a ball of wool or yarn. Il gatto si raggomitolò accanto alla …