Italian 101: ...these are a few of my favorite words!

Ciao a tutti!

It's been a rather uneventful week, with lots of rainy weather.  We finally finished our midterms this week so now we are settling back into our usual workload.

Bubu studying Ghirlandaio for the art history midterm

I thought it might be fun to make series of posts to teach you all some simple Italian words and phrases, so I made a list of my top 10 favorite silly-sounding Italian words to share with you. :)

10. Coccolare, co-co-là-re

This verb means to cuddle and the "coco" part always makes me imagine that warm feeling of being curled up with a blanket and a nice mug of hot chocolate.  One of my professor's dogs is named coccolina, which is from the noun coccola and basically means little cuddles. :)

9. Muffa, moo-fa

This word sounds kind of like "muffin" but it actually means mold, which I didn't know until I came to Italy and we talked about blue cheese in our sustainable food class. I also didn't know that it derives from the Latin mucere, to mold.  Unfortunately, given that I usually translate either battle scenes or love poems, I probably won't come across it in Latin anytime soon.

8. Chiacchierone, kiac-kieh-rò-ne

This word is a mouthful!  Chiacchierone is the Italian equivalent to chatterbox, from the Italian verb chiaccheriare, to chat.  The kiac-kieh sounds mimic indistinct chattering, making it particularly fun to say.

7. Urlare, ur-là-re

One of the many words associated with screaming, urlare means to yell.  It derives from an even more silly-sounding Latin word, ululare which has the same meaning -- and I have seen it many times in my translations. :)

6. mucca, moo-kah

Remember this word?  It is one of the Italian words for cow!  I think it is really cute and easy to remember because it sounds so much like "moo".  It comes from the Swiss-German "Mugg" and was originally used in reference to Swiss cows.  Fun fact: one of the local milk brands here in Florence is called Mukki.

5. Svenire, sve-nì-re

Very similar to venire, to come or arrive, this word means to faint.  In Italian, usually when you see a word with an "S" at the begin, it means the opposite.  For instance, contento means happy and scontento means unhappy.  That rule doesn't apply here but it helps me remember svenire because fainting is rather like the opposite of coming or arriving.

4. Topolino, prononced exactly as written

The very unique Italian word for mouse.  Topolino is actually the diminutive form so it means little (or cute) mouse.

3. Fanciulla, fan-chu-la

A poetic term deriving from the word fanciullezza (childhood), which in this case means youthful, adolescent girl.  Fanciullo is the masculine form.  This word is part of high register language so it isn't used much in daily conversation.  I have only heard it as a term of affection from a mother to her children.

2. Zanzara, zan-zà-ra

One of the most fun words I know for mosquito. It comes from the Latin zinziare, which means to chirp or buzz (like mosquitoes!).

1. Pipistrello, pronounced exactly as written

This is my all-time favorite silly-sounding word in Italian and it means bat (the animal).  I'll leave it at that. :)

Hope you enjoyed learned some new words!  This weekend we are taking a field trip to the mountains to learn more about typical Tuscan mountaineer cuisine and cooking techniques, so stay tuned!

If you have time, leave a comment - I love hearing from you all :D  Please let me know what you think of the posts and what else you would like to see on this blog.

Blog Updates + Lots of Photos

Ciao!

This is my second post this week because I wanted to share a few more things with you all:

1. I have now added labels to my blog.  On the right hand side there should be a list of all the topics I have covered.  If you want to see what I wrote about churches, click on the label "church" and you will get a list of all relevant posts.  This makes it easier if you are trying to search for a previous post.
2. Orientation finished about three weeks ago and I wanted to share some photos from my weekend trips with you all.  Enjoy!

I live far from il centro (the center of town) but close to a small town called Fiesole.  Fiesole was an Etruscan town originally and is full of Roman ruins....which are noticeably absent from Firenze and which this Classical Studies major really wanted to see.  It also has splendid views of Florence!  The first time I didn't get to go into the archaeological site but I recently went again last week during "culture week" so we got a reduced entrance fee which made us very happy.  It is a beautifully maintained site.

Fiesole: Street View

View towards Florence on a cloudy day

The Roman theater

Tuscan countryside view from the archaeological site (looking away from Florence)

 The next weekend my friend and I went to the Expo Rurale on the opposite side of town.  There was lots of food, plants, and animals to be petted and photographed. :)  It was a fun Saturday afternoon activity that also let us explore another side of town.

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selling salame

Having fun with Pinocchio

Another Friday after class we went to Settignano, which is another small town that is easily accessabile by bus.  There wasn't as much to do there as in Fiesole but we admired the view and enjoyed being away from the hustle and bustle of the city.  There seem to be good hiking trails here...when the weather cools down I need to convince my friends to go with me! ;)

A picture my friend took of me taking a picture :)

 The next weekend we took a trip to Viareggio beach, which was very relaxing.  To get there we had to take the train from centro at the Santa Maria Novella station.  It was the perfect time go to as it wasn't crowed with summer vacationers but it was still sunny and warm enjoy to enjoy the beach.

Santa Maria Novella train station (www.florence-on-line.com)

Viareggio beach with mountains in the background

Our final weekend was full of studying for our language and art history finals and spending quality time with Bubu:

Surprised Bubu

Lazy Bubu

Napping Bubu

So that's about it for orientation!  I am definitely more confident with navigating around the city and speaking Italian most of the time.  From now on we have class trips about twice a month and I will be posting about those.  Last week we went to Ravenna -- I'll tell you all about it in my next post!

Ciao!

Ciao from Firenze!!

Ciao a tutti!
Hello all!

After three flights I made it safely to Italy and have survived my first week of orientation classes.  Before we officially begin the fall semester, we have three weeks of orientation classes: Language, Art History, History of Florence, and Italian Cooking.  But, before we get into that, let me tell you a bit about where I'm living.

After spending my first night at a hotel, I moved in with my host family.  I am living with two other Smith students and this lovely kitty named Bubu:

 I am living about 40 minutes walking distance from the center of town which is where the Smith center (where all my classes currently are) is located.  If we take the bus, it is about a 15 minute ride to Piazza San Marco and then we have about 10 minutes of walking to the Smith center.  On my walk to the Smith center I pass crowds of tourists admiring il duomo:

What I pass everyday on my way to class

Because we generally have a couple of hours between classes, I try to go out and explore the city during that time.  I've been to two different grocery stores, Conad (not Conrad as my friend thought) and Meta, as well as a small Korean market, a wonderful place called Panino Vegano where they serve all vegan and gluten-free food (which means I was able to have pizza!!), the library, Ponte Vecchio, and countless piazzas including Santa Croce.  The Smith center is actually located on Piazza della Signoria so we have a lovely view of il Palazzo Vecchio:

Piazza della Signoria after huge hail storm.  All that white stuff on the ground is hail.  And yes, this is very unusual weather for Florence!

Orientation classes are pretty fun so far.  We had an assignment for language in which we had to ride on a bus we hadn't been on before for the entire route and make observations about how it is different than the buses in the US.  We also had to interview a passenger and ask them their opinion of the buses in Italy.  One major difference is that if you have a bus ticket, you must validate it as soon as you enter the bus.  If you don't do so, you will be fined anywhere from 55 to 240 euros!  I actually saw this happen to some tourists today.  We now have bus passes which do not have to be validated but we must have it with us when we are on the bus.  When the officials come on the bus to check, passengers must show either their ticket or their pass as proof that they have paid their fare.

For our art history class we are learning about the different architectural styles of churches.  We took a trip to San Miniato on Thursday, which was lovely.  I'll tell you more about it in my next post. :)

In my history of Florence class, I learned that Florence was actually founded during Roman times, which makes this classical studies major very happy!  Although the ruins are no longer standing, our professor took us on a tour and showed us where certain buildings, including a Roman amphitheater used to be.  He also told us that parts of the old medieval walls and gates are still standing in parts of Florence.

And finally in our cooking class, we learned to make tiramisù, pollo in fricassea, pappa al pomodoro, and panzanella.  Pappa al pomodoro (soup made of tomatoes, bread, garlic, basil...) and panzanella (salad made with chunks of bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and herbs) are traditional Tuscan farmers dishes.  Our instructor bought me gluten-free bread so I could make my own gluten free version.  I don't have pictures (too busy cooking and eating) but I'll most certainly write a future post for you all about all the wonderful food I've been eating lately. ;)

This has been very long, but there is just so much to say!  Hope you are all doing fantastic!  I'll leave you with a few pictures of this beautiful city.

A presto! (lit. until soon!)
-Isabella

The Arno

Firenze

Yours truly