In 1662 Leonardo Di Nucci was a shepherd moving his herds along the tratturi. The wide tracks that weave through Abruzzo and Molise down to the plains of Puglia. The Di Nucci family have been making award winning artisan cheese here in the Apennine hills, in Alto Molise, ever since. Today, the 11th generation of the family use the same…
I arrived in Lecce after a long train journey from Milano and was happy to be met by Maria Rossini, my Italian teacher and host for the next two weeks, who created “Scuola Mondo Italia Homestay”. Maria had arrived on foot and was waiting at the station for me with Maya, her cute, little pug dog. Italian lessons given enthusiastically,…
Doing some dedicated research on the ancient town of Isernia, about 30 minutes away from Agnone, our base at Live and Learn Italian. I always knew Isernia was there, not least to use the train station, but I had not explored the old town until last summer. It was a revelation – originally settled over 700,000 years ago, it then…
When you take the Strada delle Crete, the road that leads down from Siena towards the south, the last strip of Tuscany before Umbria, you need to drive carefully. Every 100 metres or so there will be somebody who has pulled their car to a halt along the side of the road, and is taking photographs, totally enrapt, unaware of…
I live in a small Apulian town, very cozy and typical in the province of Brindisi called Villa Castelli. The origin of the name is still undefined, but it is said it derives from either “Li Castelli” or “Monte Castello”, due to the presence in the area of two castles: the Palazzo Ducale built with towers and cannons and the…
Why do you study Italian? “because I love Italy!”, “I like art”, “I like Italian movies”, “my girlfriend is Italian, and I’d like to know what she’s muttering on Monday mornings”. But what about studying Italian to understand 20 pages-long menus handed out in Italian restaurants ? Non turistic restaurants seldom have menus translated in English, and you’ll have to…
ITALIANS DO IT BETTER! This famous and yet sometimes ambiguous mantra becomes more than appropriate when it comes to talk about sports: as a matter of fact, in spite of its size, by all means Italy has an incredible tradition in achieving oustanding results in many disparate disciplines. LET’S TAKE A QUICK LOOK AT THE NUMBERS. With a population…
« everything lies underneath the idle talk, the noise, the silence and the feelings, the emotion and the fear … Rare and fickle sparks of beauty. And then the dreariness and the miserable » After several months « The Great Beauty » is still debated among movie lovers : is the movie about Rome, about its inhabitants, about Italy’s decadent middle-upper class, or just a…
With “The Great Beauty”, prized as best foreign movie at the Academy Awards, it seems that the city of Rome has taken back a central role in the international movie industry.With the once-glorious Cinecittà Studios decayed beyond repair, Rome can at least exist in the Cinema as an elegant movie set. In recent years, many international productions were set in…
Quando lo scrittore Roberto Saviano ha pubblicato la sua inimitabile lista delle 10 cose più importanti per cui valga la pena vivere in Italia, ho cominciato a stilare anche io una mia piccola lista. Ho cominciato a immaginare anche una lista dei dieci motivi per cui valga la pena visitare la Puglia e apprezzare la sua ‘Grande Bellezza’… La lista…
