Heather Broster
Since our young son started crawling last week, I can’t count how many times I’ve had to call out the phrase Vieni qui! (Come here!), especially when I see him cheekily inching his way towards the staircase! Vieni qui! Come here! Vieni, in addition to being the second-person singular present of venire (to come), is …
The Italian word for patience is pazienza (feminine, plural: pazienze). You can trace the origin of the word back to the Latin patienta meaning suffering. Learn with our video Some common verbs you’ll see used with pazienza include: Sto per perdere la pazienza! I’m running out of patience! In Italy, you will often hear the …
Don’t let the appearance of today’s word fool you: fattoria (feminine, plural: fattorie) is the word for farm in Italian, not factory! (If you’re interested in learning about even more “false friends” in Italian and English, check out our dedicated article!) It derives from the word fattore, the name for a person who manages a …
Gnocchi is the plural of gnocco, an Italian variety of dumpling that has been around since Roman times. Although recipes vary from region to region, the three most basic ingredients are cooked mashed potato, flour (farina), and eggs (uova). Other common additions include semolina, cheese (formaggio), ricotta, spinach and polenta. Origin of the word: The …
The new Pixar film Luca is full of classic Italian songs that will soon get your toes tapping and your spirits soaring. A particularly jolly tune called Il Gatto e La Volpe (The Cat and the Fox) can be heard during the scene in which Luca and his new friend Alberto are trying to build …
At the very beginning of Pixar’s Luca, we see two Italian gentlemen out fishing on a boat at night. As they talk about the existence of sea monsters, the elder of the two starts playing a song on his gramophone. The song was O Mio Babbino Caro, a soprano aria from the opera Gianni Schicchi …