The Italian term sasso is fairly comprehensive in that it can be used to denote anything rock-like, from the smallest pebbles and stones to rocks, boulders, and even larger masses. In fact, it can even refer to rock faces and mountains, especially in toponyms such as Gran Sasso d’Italia, a massif in the Apennine Mountains …
One of the words for a dandelion in Italian is dente di leone. However, it is also known by a number of other names including insalata matta (literally ‘crazy salad’), soffione (literally ‘big blower’ due to the fluffy white head of seeds that can be easily blown off) and dente di cane (literally ‘dog’s tooth). …
The word raffica in Italian is difficult to translate into English using just one blanket term. Raffica is a feminine noun. The plural is raffiche. la raffica una raffica le raffiche delle raffiche What’s important to know is that raffica is used to describe things that are relentless, fast and continuous. In weather terminology, for …
As I was taking my son to nursery school early this morning, I noticed him looking at the sidewalk and grass, mesmerised by the shimmering layer of brina (frost / hoarfrost) that had powdered them white overnight. Brina is a feminine noun whose plural form is brine. (Note, however, that the plural form is very …
One of the more traumatic memories from my time living in Italy involves a walk along the River Po in Torino with a little girl I used to babysit. About halfway along the path, she decided to climb up the river bank, and took an unfortunate tumble into an enormous patch of nettles. Between her …
The Milky Way, or Via Lattea as it is known in Italian, is the spiral galaxy (galassia) that we call home. An estimated diameter of 100,000 light years (anni luce), it contains the Sun (Sole) and the Solar System (Sistema Solare) in addition to at least 100 billion other stars (stelle), planets (pianeti), clusters (ammassi), …