Heather Broster
Have you got a romantic side to you? If so, let’s take a look at the word for heart in Italian, which is cuore (masculine, plural: cuori). As in English, the word cuore can refer to the muscular organ that pumps blood around the body, the symbol ♥ represented by two equal curves meeting at …
One of the most memorable scenes from the movie Eat Pray Love is when the protagonist Elizabeth (played by Julia Roberts) is sitting in a local barber shop, talking with her Italian tutor and his friend about the Italian expression Il dolce far niente. In the words of the tutor, this phrase translates as the …
Today is the first day of February (il primo giorno di febbraio) and that means the days are getting longer and winter is finally on its way out! 🙂 Febbraio is the second month (secondo mese) of the year according to the Julian and Gregorian calendars. As is the case with all months of the …
The room in the house where all the cooking is done is called a cucina (feminine, plural: cucine) in Italian. It is closely related to the verb cucinare which, as you’ve probably guessed, means to cook. Ho cucinato un pollo in cucina oggi. I cooked a chicken in the kitchen today. When talking about the layout of …
Just as in English, the word pesce (masculine, plural: pesci) can refer to the living aquatic animal, as well as any kind of culinary dish made out of the animal. If this word sounds familiar, it is because it shares the same etymological origin as the English word pescatarian (someone who eats fish but not …
Did you know that we have Italy to thank for La Festa di San Valentino (Saint Valentine’s Day)? Saint Valentine, or San Valentino as he is known in Italian, was a Roman priest. Legend has it that he began marrying persecuted Christian couples in secret, and after being discovered by Emperor Claudius Gothicus and refusing …