Author Archives: Jodina

Che significa Montelupo Fiorentino?

Che significa Montelupo Fiorentino? E che cosā€™e? (What does Montelupo Fiorentino mean? And what is it?) . . If you guessed that Montelupo Fiorentino means Florentine Mountain Wolf, youā€™re right! If you thought it might be the name of an … Continue reading

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Italian Traditions>> Food: A New Year’s Recipe for Prosperity

~Blog Repost~ . Allora, dunque, siamo arrivati a capodannoā€¦ di giĆ ! Caspita! (So, well, weā€™ve arrived at New Yearā€™s Eveā€¦ already! Goodness/Yikes!) And I promised to post a recipe for the yummy traditional Italian holiday dish of lenticchie (lentils). Often … Continue reading

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La Madonnina, La Befana & Babbo Natale

~ The holy trinity of present bringers ~ Ā Ā Ā  As I sit here sipping on limoncello and nibbling biscotti, I am thinking to myself that itā€™s time for another blog post. So why not tell you about la Madonnina, la … Continue reading

Posted in Expressions, Italian Customs, Italian Holidays, Italian Music, Italian Vocabulary, learn italian, Sayings, Vocaboli Italiai | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

“Grazie, Firenze!” Guest Blog #3: A student in Florence

Ecco (Here is) Lisaā€™s latest blog post! If you havenā€™t read her previous entries, theyā€™re here: Guest Blog Part 2,Ā  Guest Blog Part 1 In breve (in breief), Lisa, one of my students, is living her sogno (dream) by spending … Continue reading

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WWMLD? What Would Monsignor Luigi Do?

Ā Ā Ā Ā  What does a monsignor to the Vatican do when heā€™s not in Rome doing what a monsignor does? Inquiring minds want to know, and I, my dears, have the answers! . . Recently I had the pleasure of having … Continue reading

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Guest Blog: Part 2–“La scuola”

A Student in Florence

Ecco (Here is) Lisaā€™s second blog post! If you didnā€™t read the first one, itā€™s here: Guest Blog Part 1 In breve (in short), Lisa, one of my students, is living her sogno (dream) by spending sette settimane (seven weeks) … Continue reading

Posted in Expressions, Guest Blog, Italian Vocabulary, learn italian, Uncategorized, Vocaboli Italiai | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Una Celebrazione di FIBER ARTS>>

Le antiche arti femminili

Ā  Perhaps you practice one of the many varieties of fiber arts, or perhaps you just appreciate i prodotti finiti (the finished products) resulting from skills that have been tramandati da generazione in generazione (passed from generation to generation).Ā  Ā  … Continue reading

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Guest Blog: Una studentessa a Firenze

A Student in Florence

Ā Ā Ā Ā  Una delle mie studentesse (one of my students), la simpaticissima Lisa DeLucchi, is living her sogno (dream) by spending sette settimane (seven weeks) a Firenze (in Florence), where she has affittato unā€™appartamento (rented an apartment) and si ĆØ iscritta … Continue reading

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Si torna a scuola! / Back to School!

. Ā  Eā€™ arrivato quel momento dellā€™anno (Itā€™s that time of year) ā€” si torna a scuola! (back to school!) Ā  Here, to build up your repertoire, una manciata di vocaboli italiani riguardanti la scuola (a handful of Italian words … Continue reading

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Everybody Speaks Italian — The Cool Phenomenon of Language Crossover

ā€œWord Bridgeā€ (photo by Dutch artist Art Rock) . Ā  Ā  ā€œHowā€™s that?,ā€ you say. Well, you might be a student of la bella lingua (Italianā€™s nickname, meaning, literally, the beautiful language) and speak it with some degree of proficiency, … Continue reading

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