Monday, April 9, 2012
Welcome to day nine of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.
Today's letter is "I" and my topic is = ITALY.
My lovely friend Lucia who is from and lives in Italy is going to tell us a little about it.
Hello everybody!
I’m Lucia and I’m an Italian, so, as you have probably guessed, today’s post is about…Italy!
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| Perugia, Italy |
What do you know about my country apart from pasta, pizza, spaghetti and mafia? In case you are wondering, there is so much more than this. Italy is a wonderful place, with many historical cities and picturesque towns, lot of arts and delicious food. You may have visited ancient Rome, Renaissance Florence, romantic Venice or trendy Milan, but probably you’ve missed out many medieval towns or the peaceful countryside, with gentle hills and small villages. Which is actually where I live. Currently I am in Umbria, the most central region of Italy (there are 22 regions, just so you know). It is called ‘the green heart of Italy’ and its most important town is Perugia. Do you know why my town is famous? Every year, in October, there is a huge festival dedicate to chocolate! It’s called Eurochocolate and if you happen to visit it, make sure to taste everything, especially our local chocolate, Bacio Perugina.
I don’t want to get you bored with many historical facts (Wikipedia does that just fine), so I’ll tell you just some facts about my country:
· 1. We are a fairly ‘young’ Republic: we’re only 150 years old, although our history dates back to Etruscan and Romans. Our national holiday is June, 2nd.
2. Pasta is pretty much one of our favorite national dishes. We have thousands of different types of pasta and so many different kind of sauces that is hard to know them all. Among the most famous dishes you should really try pasta alla carbonara (with eggs, parmesan cheese and Italian bacon) and pasta al pesto (basil, pine nuts, olive oil and garlic). And yes, we do eat pasta almost every day!
3. You won’t believe it but we don’t have Starbucks. Italians are very proud of their strong coffee and don’t like the way coffee is prepared outside their country. And if you ask for a cappuccino after lunchtime we will probably think you’re a foreigner.
4. Our national poet is obviously Dante Alighieri. We are required to read his Divine Comedy in high school (that’s why we hated it back then). Roberto Benigni, a very famous Italian actor, gained a great success by reciting Dante’s Inferno in a very unusual way.
5. Italian latin lover myth is…well, just a myth! The mama boy myth is much more realistic: never try to say something about a guy’s mother! Not even his girlfriend can be better than sweet mommy.
6. There are so many dialects in Italy that it’s almost impossible to keep track of them. If somebody from Milan or Naples speaks fast in their own dialects you cannot possibly understand a word of what they say. It’s like they speak another language!
2. Pasta is pretty much one of our favorite national dishes. We have thousands of different types of pasta and so many different kind of sauces that is hard to know them all. Among the most famous dishes you should really try pasta alla carbonara (with eggs, parmesan cheese and Italian bacon) and pasta al pesto (basil, pine nuts, olive oil and garlic). And yes, we do eat pasta almost every day!
3. You won’t believe it but we don’t have Starbucks. Italians are very proud of their strong coffee and don’t like the way coffee is prepared outside their country. And if you ask for a cappuccino after lunchtime we will probably think you’re a foreigner.
4. Our national poet is obviously Dante Alighieri. We are required to read his Divine Comedy in high school (that’s why we hated it back then). Roberto Benigni, a very famous Italian actor, gained a great success by reciting Dante’s Inferno in a very unusual way.
5. Italian latin lover myth is…well, just a myth! The mama boy myth is much more realistic: never try to say something about a guy’s mother! Not even his girlfriend can be better than sweet mommy.
6. There are so many dialects in Italy that it’s almost impossible to keep track of them. If somebody from Milan or Naples speaks fast in their own dialects you cannot possibly understand a word of what they say. It’s like they speak another language!
So, if you are considering taking a vacation, I think Italy will make a perfect destination: after spending the day visiting the Uffizi, discovering Rome or doing some crazy shopping in Milan (Prada? Gucci? Versace?) you can eat an ice-cream or go and have dinner with a Pizza Margherita.
If you have any questions or you are curious about something in particular, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer!
Thanks Amy, for hosting me today, and please forgive my English mistakes!
* * *
Okay, so that was totally awesome.
Thank you so much, Lucia. You totally rocked my socks off!
Please remember to leave any comments and/or questions that you might have for Lucia.
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9 comments:
Excellent post. Thanks so much for the insight into Italy (which is on the plans for our next trip). The first thing I think of when I think of Italy is the coffee and wine. :) Italy is very good at both.
I love all things Italian---so this was a great post!
---Damyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2012
Twitter: @AprilA2Z
#atozchallenge
I love love love Italy - been there several times: Rome, Florence, Venice, Sienna and surrounding Tuscany. Will come back some day. Nice to "meet" you.
Karen
what a fascinating post--i looks so lovely---i would love to come on the chocolate day----very interesting about the mama's boy thing---i just bought some versace cologne today on sale!!
Thanks Amy for hosting me! It has been fun! And it's good to see some love for my country :)
Mmmm pasta . . .
I LOVE your country, Lucia, and your language! Molto grazie for this great post :)
Lovely post! One country I have not been too - and my husbands family is Italian. When my parents went to Rome years ago they weren't letting young children in (or maybe that's what they told me!) Nice to be in the A to Z with you
Being half Sicilian I loved your post, especially the comment about pasta every day - my husband frequently requests can dinner not be pasta!
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