Posted in Articles on Apr 15th, 2014
Guest post by Daniele Bondi It’s a fact that Italians played a key role in the discovery, exploration, settlement and destiny of the Americas. Cristoforo Colombo (I don’t know why his name was translated into Christopher Columbus: nobody will ever translate American names like Jimmy Carter, Bruce Springsteen, Jack Lemmon,…) was from Genova (Genoa) and was the […]
Posted in Articles, Italian culture on Feb 6th, 2014
Did you know that in Italy some days can be fat? In fact Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday have this privilege! But this happens only during Carnival, that time of the year when anything goes. Carnival officially starts in January and lasts till the end of February, but it varies every year, since this celebration follows […]
Posted in Articles, Events, Italian culture on Dec 6th, 2012
Get to know what kind of traditions Italians celebrate in the month of December and learn a few new words in Italian. On December 1st, Italian children start a brand new Advent Calendar (Calendario dell’Avvento). This is a one page calendar with 24 little windows. The children open one window each day, starting on December […]
Posted in Associations on Apr 16th, 2012
The Italian American Community Center of Rochester, NY offers a wide range of interesting activities. They include dinner dances, receptions, graduations, weddings, and meetings in the Ballroom, bocce tournaments and soccer games, just to name a few. The Community Center has a library with a collection of Italian publications. The Italian language and Italian culture are being promoted […]
Posted in Associations, Italian culture on Feb 17th, 2012
If you live in the Northern New Jersey area, you should check out this interesting organization: D’Italia Programs, a community based not for profit organization dedicated to Italian American Culture. Within the D’Italia programs you will find: The Coro d’Italia singing and dancing Ensemble established in 1932. The Scuola d’Italia (Italian School) offering culture and language […]
Posted in Articles, Italian culture, language tools on Jan 23rd, 2012
In Italian, idioms (figures of speech) are called “espressioni idiomatiche”. They can be tricky and hard to understand, because when you translate an idiom, you don’t get its real meaning, but only the meaning of the words it is made of. That is why, for those interested in understanding the Italian language and culture, it […]
Posted in Articles, Italian culture on Jan 18th, 2012
Young Italian children play a game that is very similar to the one known as “Ring-a-Ring-o’-Roses”. It is called Girotondo. How to play: The children make a ring by holding hands and walking in a circle while chanting a short rhyme. At the end of the song they throw themselves down onto the ground and […]
Posted in Articles, Italian culture on Dec 2nd, 2011
Italian families all over Italy are getting ready to celebrate Christmas in their homes. In the cities decorations and Christmas trees adorn streets and squares, while many churches display nativity scenes. A nativity scene (Presepe, in Italian) is a representation of the nativity story of Christ, and can be done in a live form (Presepe […]
Posted in Articles, Italian culture on Oct 25th, 2011
October is a great month for Italian festivals, especially food festivals and wine harvest celebrations. But what about Halloween? Well, Halloween is not a big celebration in Italy and does not belong to the Italian tradition, but it is becoming more popular especially in the larger cities. Halloween in Italy is All Saint’s Eve. All […]
Posted in Associations, Italian culture, Organizations, Schools on Oct 21st, 2011
Searching for Italian classes or Italian themed cultural events? For those living in Canada here are some organizations that might be a good starting point: Casa D’Italia in Quebec Casa D’Italia is community centre where the Italian community meets, Italian culture is fostered and shared, and many intercultural exchanges take place. http://www.fcciq.com/e_casa.asp Scuola Dante Alighieri […]
Browse a selection of books for Italian language students and bilingual children here.
