Some Italian news to get you through the weekend:
The largest whale fossil ever recovered in Italy was found recently in a Brunello vineyard
Italian researchers tell us what different emotions dogs express with their tails
Italy has some experience with hostages being killed when the government didn’t negotiate - former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro was killed in 1978 by his abductors
A prosecutor in Italy wants to put former PM Berlusconi in jail
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You might imagine Italy to be a land of traditions - the kind of traditions you don’t mess with if you know any better - and you’d be right. For reasons I don’t quite understand, for instance, the number 17 is extremely unlucky. Let this be a lesson to you - if you want to host a party in Italy and have anyone show up, don’t have it on the 17th of any month. It’s like Friday the 13th, only worse. I feel for the poor Italian kids who just happen to be born on the 17th, through no fault of their own.
Festivals and celebrations are rife with traditions - and weddings are no exception. Shelley has been planning her own Roman nuptials, and she went on an errand recently to get the supplies for the traditional party favor: confetti. Not the kind you throw at people on their way out of a wedding reception, though; these confetti are edible. We know them as sugared almonds, but in Italy they’re practically an art form.
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Stromboli is one of Italy’s active volcanoes and, along with Mt. Etna on Sicily, it belches every once in awhile. Stromboli’s been grumbling lately, although it’s apparently calmed down since… But still - we’ve got some excellent videos of the recent eruptions for you! Yay for digital videos!
First, this fellow has four videos up on Stromboli erupting - these videos are taken from on the island right next to the volcano, remember. That’s a supreme level of nuttiness. Check them all out, they’re short, but this is the one that’s most dramatic (right at the beginning):
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A few newsy tidbits for your Sunday afternoon reading:
Italy is surprised by negative reactions to hostage exchange, and recent hostage Mastrogiacomo won’t go back to Afghanistan - he recounts his ordeal here
Italy’s paparazzi king exposed as blackmailer - Berlusconi’s daughter, footballer Totti among those blackmailed
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Winter term just finished at the community college where I teach beginning Italian, and I’ve got a week now before the Spring term starts and I get a whole new crop of eager students. This last term was a tough one for me, mainly because I had a disproportionately high number of students who were really on top of their studies… Which is a good thing, don’t get me wrong - it’s just that it meant I couldn’t hang out on auto-pilot the way I have for the last few terms.
For instance, one student brought something to my attention that I had literally never seen before in the book that I’ve had in my possession for probably seven years - and had never noticed in other Italian books or classes (though of course as soon as I realized it I heard it everywhere, figures). I’ve been teaching it incorrectly for the past year. While it should be exciting for me to learn something new, furthering my own language studies and skills, it was quite discouraging to know that I’ve been confidently (blindly?) teaching something and my students have been trusting enough to accept it. It only reinforces in my head that the more one learns, the more one has to learn.
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Italy, along with much of Europe, has just gotten through the hottest winter in years - in January some regions were recording temperatures in the 70s. If you’ve been to Italy (especially the center and south) in the summer, you know it’s hot enough already - what will it be like this year? A few recent articles in the news discuss the recent weather:
Sicily, routinely hotter than much of the rest of Italy, is in danger of drying up according to this article.
There’s a looming water emergency, says Italy’s Environment Minister, which was discussed on World Water Day.
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Venice seems to inspire either love or hate - I’ve yet to meet someone who is wishy-washy about it. Before my first visit, I remember being warned of the smelly canals and cruise ship crowds - and despite being there in the heat of mid-July, there wasn’t a whiff of anything foul in the air; and we overnighted in Venice for a couple days and so were treated to the post-crowd city. As it turns out, I’m one of those people who loves Venice.
A visit to Venice isn’t about checking off a list of things to see, rather the city itself is the thing to see. I might think you can’t leave Venice without setting foot in the Basilica San Marco (perhaps my favorite church anywhere), and while there you might as well take a tour of the Doge’s Palace nextdoor and take the elevator to the top of the Campanile (the church’s bell tower). If you’re an modern art lover, there’s a Guggenheim museum on the Grand Canal, and Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man is housed in a Venetian museum.
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One of the many charms of being in Europe is seeing what the rest of us calls “the old world” in action. Sure, there are modernizations all over the place, but it’s still easy to have an old world moment no matter where you go in Italy. (Which is a very good thing, as that’s one of the reasons people keep going to Italy.) Shelley of At Home in Rome got one of those old world moments on video recently when she captured her neighborhood arrotino drumming up business.
First, however, a bit of background. When she first heard the call of the wild arrotino, Shelley was confused by it - and understandably so. She finally learned that it was a wandering knife sharpener, and when people heard his call they would come out with knives to be sharpened. She’s heard that some people still even lower baskets full of knives to him from upper storeys, though she’s not seen it. And I agree with her, that sounds more than a little dangerous to me. Maybe the arrotino has a metal umbrella he can put up when someone can’t be bothered to walk down the stairs.
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If you just can’t get enough of the Sanremo Song Festival (like me!), here’s a great review from a guy called Joe Grima in Malta who watched the whole thing this year - and is very glad he did:
This has been the San Remo of the highest standards of music composition and lyrics. This San Remo has brought together the best batch of professionals in all fields and they have left in their wake the most impressive festival of song that I have ever seen.
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Not surprisingly, the US and British governments aren’t thrilled that the Italian government apparently traded jailed Taliban officials for the Italian reporter who was being held:
The United States and Britain criticized Italy’s hostage deal with the Taliban on Wednesday, saying the release of five guerrillas in exchange for an Italian reporter put NATO troops in danger and encouraged kidnappings.
A senior U.S. administration official said Washington had formally complained to Rome through diplomatic channels for putting pressure on Kabul to release the Taliban, adding the deal ‘caught the U.S. by surprise.”
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