PAPAVERO
(pah-PAH-veh-roh):
poppy

Yes, the glorious poppy keeps its quaint reference to a dad (pop) even in Italian. Padre is father, of course, but a more informal term for dear old dad is Papà, accent on the second syllable just like in papavero (accordingly, pah-PAH).

If you’re referring to the Pope, however, the accent is on the first syllable, so he is simply il Papa (eel PAH-pah).

Un papavero can also refer to a big fish, a big shot, a VIP (pronounced VEEP in Italian) — and you may also find yourself rosso come un papavero (red like a poppy, where we’d use red as a beet or beetroot) if you’re blushing from embarrassment — which, incidentally, can happen if you refer to the Pope as your Papà, or vice versa.

Or so they tell me.

Until next time!
Alla prossima!

You can find out more about the gorgeous cucina of Mark and his partner Richard Norris in the “Rebels” section, which asks whether Mark and Richard’s kitchen is a “glamorous dining room or hardworking kitchen.”

From the photos and accompanying interview, it’s clear that the answer is a resounding “BOTH!” from the stove’s backsplash comprised of the couple’s favorite bat-themed prints to the breathtaking white marble countertops.

You can have a look inside House Beautiful Kitchens: Creating a Beautiful Kitchen of Your Own and purchase at Amazon.com, among other places.

Auguri Mark and Richard!

* Image source: House Beautiful Kitchens: Creating a Beautiful Kitchen of Your Own by Lisa Cregan

As I type, there are two wonderful five-star reviews for Gemelli Press’s latest release on Amazon.com:

From LMJH: “I LOVED this book! I found it hard to put down as I had to know what was going to happen next to this little guy from Italy. Both heartwarming and heartbreaking, but ultimately triumphant, this tender and true tale is a beautiful testimony to the worthy struggle that is The American Dream.”

From noow7: “A truly inspirational story that made me laugh, cry and cheer, but this story is so much more. Infused with Italian food and red wine throughout it will make you want to sit with a glass of your favorite vino while turning the pages!”

Thank you early readers!

If you’ve read the book and loved it too, please take a moment and leave your review at Amazon and/or goodreads to help spread the word!

ALTRETTANTO

(ahl-treht-TAHN-toh):

as much; as many; the same

This is one of those words that can be a little tricky to use in its most traditional sense, but at least now if you hear it, you’ll know what it means. Examples given by Word Reference include:

sei cucchiai e altrettante forchette – six spoons and as many forks

cerca di fare altrettanto – try and do the same

non altrettanto costoso – not quite as expensive

But there’s another usage I want to focus on because it’s *by far* the most common way I’ve heard altrettanto used — as a response to “Buon appetito!”

Yes, Italians wish you a good meal pretty much every time you’re sitting down to eat, or at least the Italians I know do. You can always say “buon appetito” right back, but if you really want to wow them, throw out:

“Grazie, altrettanto!”

Whoa.

You just made it look like you know way more Italian than you might know. And who doesn’t love that feeling?

Well, at least until the person responds in Italian at breakneck speed because they think you understand everything perfectly — then it gets a little awkward.

But still, use “altrettanto” next time an Italian wishes you a “buon appetito” or another similar phrase to which you’d respond “same to you!” and see if they’re not impressed. Besides, this is another word that is just too darn fun to say to let it go to waste.

Until next time!
Alla prossima!

* Image source: Buon appetito! by Eugene Peretz on Flickr (CC license)

On Twitter, I saw via @ABrushWithItaly (artist Penny Ewles-Bergeron) that Naples was planning to do something special for the celebration — flying a bunch of kites. Penny kindly directed me to Bonnie Alberts’ Napoli Unplugged, which has an excellent recap of the events in Naples; you can see one of Bonnie’s gorgeous kite photos at the top of this post.

OK, so “kite” is probably not a word you’ll use a lot in Italy (assuming you also don’t use it all that frequently in English), but it is a fun word to say — and you will impress people if you *are* able to pull it out in the right situation, so why not? It’s the Italian Word of the Week!

AQUILONE

(ah-kwee-LOH-neh):

kite

Yes, this is the kite that you fly in the sky.

You may have heard of the city of L’Aquila in Abruzzo, particularly after it suffered a devastating earthquake in 2009. The city takes its name from the word for eagle, aquila, so you can see how un aquilone has a lot in common with un aquila — both soar through the air with the greatest of ease. Or something like that.

In English we also have birds called kites — large, soaring raptors that indeed look like eagles to many of us not particularly schooled in featured creatures:

In Italian, however, a kite of the animate variety is called un nibbio, so if you happen to see one of these flying overhead, please don’t call out, “Oooh, un aquilone!” You’ll get very strange looks (even though, in my humble opinion, your logic would be sound).

And finally, if you want to tell someone to “go fly a kite” (as in, go away)?

Well that’s “va’ a quel paese,” which is the much more polite way to say something I bet most of you have heard–vaffanculo. I’ve always thought of “va’ a quel paese” as a rather poetic way to tell someone to “go to hell” — in which hell is indeed another country (paese), but that’s neither here nor there. Ha!

Still, it’s not a very nice thing to say, so do refrain yourself from telling anyone to go anywhere out of anger or frustration.

Maybe you should take up kite-flying instead. You know, like they do in Naples.

Until next time!
Alla prossima!

*Top image source: (top) Bonnie Alberts of Napoli Unplugged (with photographer’s permission)
*Second image source: Red Kite by Tony Hisgett on Flickr (CC license)

Plucked from his beloved Italian country-side, severed from his family, and placed on an ocean liner in the bay of Naples, Antonio Russo, just ten years old, embarks on the journey of his life. As he steps foot onto New York soil with not a word of English, his pockets stuffed with salami and provolone cheese and wearing a pair of shoes for the occasion, Antonio recalls the promise from his mother that in America he would find family members to take care of him and the trees blossoming with gold.

This young Italian boy finds himself hit hard with a large dose of reality, obstacles at every turn. These obstacles would become the demons with which Antonio finds himself doing constant battle, but as fate would have it, he one day comes to realize that he is good at something. He finds by chance that he has a natural instinct and ability in the sport of wrestling. As his story unfolds, it would be the sport of wrestling that ignites a passion and guides him to the realization of his true potential, giving meaning to the struggle he and his family would endure in their journey from Southern Italy to the United States to create a better way of life.

Right now, it’s only out in hardcover — makes a *fabulous* gift with both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day coming up, by the way — but it will be out in other formats, including Kindle, shortly.

If you do get yourself a copy and fall in love with Coach Russo’s story like we did, please feel free to leave a review at Amazon and/or Goodreads, and mention it on social media; every kind word counts, and we’re always most appreciative!

TRUCCO
(TREWK-koh):
makeup; trick

Yes, trucco is the makeup that women (and some men) apply to their faces — cosmetics like blush, eye shadow, eyeliner, mascara, etc. It’s the general term that covers everything, though of course each individual member of a makeup bag has its own name as well.

If a woman is wearing makeup, she is truccata (trewk-KAHT-ah), and a makeup artist is a truccatore (trewk-kah-TOHR-eh) if a man and a truccatrice (trewk-kah-TREE-cheh) if a woman. And yes, guys can even trick out their cars using the verb truccare (trewk-KAHR-eh).

But as you can see above, trucco also means trick — as in something that deceives someone else.

And isn’t that an awesome alternate meaning for the same word that means make-up?

As we apply our trucco, ladies, we’re playing the ultimate trucco on the world! You’ll never know what we really look like! Mwahahahahaha!

Ahem.

Trucco also happens to be part of one of my favorite Italian expressions:

“Il trucco c’è ma non si vede.”

There’s a trick there, but you can’t see it.

Think of a magician, and kindly refer back to our discussion of furbo from weeks ago, and perhaps you’ll begin to see a theme.

Note, however, that one of our favorite English expressions that includes “trick” is not translated as trucco; “trick or treat” in Italian is “dolcetto o scherzetto,” so as you can see “trick” isn’t always the literal translation.

Sometimes in Italian, you’ll want the word for joke (scherzo) instead. Scherzetto, of course, is just a little joke, especially when you’re talking about a harmless prank. Trucco can imply something more sinister and scheming than a simple scherzetto, like rigging an election, though it can also be a magic trick (trucco magico) or un trucco con le carte (card trick).

Oh, and it’s also what you use when you want to ask, “What’s the catch?”

Dov’è il trucco?

So yes, it’s safe to say that this can be a tricky word to use in Italian, and for all of the reasons above, absolutely one of my favorites.

Until next time!
Alla prossima!

*Image source: Makeup by Ariel Grimm on Flickr (CC license)

The Expat Writers Book and App Fair

This event will feature expat writers in Italy of books, e-books, and iPhone apps. This is a great opportunity to meet and chat with expat writers in the center of Rome on what we hope will be a gorgeous spring day!

Drinks and snacks will be available for purchase.

The event will take place Saturday, May 12, 2012 at 3 p.m. in the garden of The Beehive Hotel conveniently located near Rome’s Termini train station.

The current list of writers is as follows:

• Eleonora Baldwin (Frommer’s Rome Day by Day, 3rd Edition)
• Terry Bhola (Searching for Wild Asparagus in Umbria)
• Flaminia Chapman (Rome Insider’s Guide app)
• Mary Jane Cryan (Etruria: Travel, History & Itineraries in Central Italy)
• Erica Firpo (Rome Select)
• Arlene Gibbs (The Rebirth of Mrs. Tracey Higgins)
• Chris Harrison (in absentia) (Head Over Heel: Seduced by Southern Italy)
• Linda Lappin (The Etruscan)
• Mark Leslie (in absentia) (Beyond the Pasta)*
• Francesca Maggi (Burnt by the Tuscan Sun)
• Gillian McGuire (Rome for Expats app)
• Katie Parla (Rome for Foodies app and National Geographic Walking Rome)
• Sara Rosso (How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy; The Unofficial Guide to Nutella)
• Pamela Sheldon Johns (Cucina Povera: Tuscan Peasant Cooking)

 
We’ll be raffling copies of books, promo codes to apps and the chance to win a lunch in Vetralla on 19 May with Creative Writing Professor and authors at a private home in Vetralla a town about an hour north of Rome. Also, an attendee can also win an exclusive chance for one person interested in writing to meet and exchange ideas with Teresa Cutler-Broyles, a US professor of Creative Writing, as well as enjoy some specialties of genuine local food.

*Yes, that’s our very own Mark Leslie, who wrote Beyond the Pasta, who will be there in spirit!

WHERE: The Beehive Hotel & Cafe
Via Marghera 8
Rome, Italy 00185

WHEN: Saturday, May 12, 2012 at 3 p.m.

If you’ll be in the neighborhood and would like to attend, please be in touch so we can send you a Facebook invite for the Expat Writers Book and App Fair; the space we’re using (photo above courtesy of The Beehive website) allows us to keep things casual, and that also means an approximate head count would be very appreciated.

Hope to see you there!

Republic won.

And when Italia boots out a monarch, she means business: the royals — and any future male descendants — were forever banned from even entering Italian territory.

But nothing lasts forever, especially in Italy, so in 2002, the ban was lifted, and one royal (though the titles are not officially recognized by the Italian republic) in particular has made a splash on the Italian social, if not political scene; the Savoia family is still banned from participating in politics.

It’s not hard to find Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Venice and Piedmont (son of Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples and grandson of Umberto II, the last King of Italy) on Italian television; he is often the butt of jokes on the popular program Striscia la Notizia, where the hosts enjoy poking fun at his Italian language skills. As a non-native Italian speaker, though, I empathize, so let’s talk instead about the prince’s prime position in that oh-so-magical of places:

Reality Television

In 2009, Prince Emanuele Filiberto won the Italian version of Ballando con le stelle (Dancing with the Stars), and now he has his very own reality show in which he does the work of ordinary citizens like a dogwalker, pizzaiolo (pizza maker), and construction worker.

Just in case you can’t quite get the visual of what that might look like, I’ve taken the liberty of scanning two advertisements for the show from Italian magazines a.k.a. vista in rivista:

Yes, we’ve got our own “situation” right here in Italy –

The Prince of Reality!

On a serious note, Prince Emanuele Filiberto recently announced that he is once again battling cancer after having had a tumor removed from his nasal septum in 2009. Of course we wish him all the best on his recovery along with a future filled with many, many reality shows (and we promise that we’ll even watch one of them sooner or later).

*Top image source: House of Savoy Coat of Arms via Wikimedia Commons

PASQUETTA
(pahs-KWEHT-tah):
Easter Monday

Pasquetta is Pasqua (Easter) with the diminutive ending -etta added on to denote “little.” And indeed, Pasquetta is Little Easter in Italy, a national holiday, so most businesses and stores are closed.

Italians tend to go “fuori porta” (literally “out the door”) with family and friends today (usually friends) and spend the day (what else?) eating, talking, laughing, and possibly even singing. I’ve been at quite a few Pasquetta celebrations that featured a guitar!

Pasquetta often means a trip to the countryside for a picnic and/or cook-out, but as so many of us who live in Italy know, the weather on Pasquetta can be less than predictable, so it’s not always possible.

In fact, here in Calabria today, although the sun is out, it’s quite windy and chilly (we had hail overnight!), which means barbecuing outside is not in the cards for us. I had been saving the ribs from our slaughtered pig this year for Pasquetta, but it looks like we’ll just have to wait a bit longer to enjoy them. Oh well.

If you’re not able to properly celebrate Pasquetta today either, perhaps these posts can help you live vicariously:

* Celebrating Pasquetta in Calabria with Cherrye at My Bella Vita
* La Pasquetta in Italy with Laura at Ciao Amalfi!
* Pasqua, Pasquetta, and Primavera Musings with Marla at Bella Baita View

* Image Source: Picnic Basket by uberculture on Flickr (CC license)

Buona Pasquetta a tutti!

Alla prossima!
(Until next time!)