It is always a challenge for non native speakers of any language to learn and assimilate into a new country but Italy has its own particular surprises reserved for struggling expats. Before moving to Italy permanently I thought I was quite savvy with my Italian. After all I had almost majored in Italian, lived…
Continue reading ➞ Tongue tied in Italy
Next up on the Blogging Around the World bandwagon is a delightful chit chat with Joanna from Multifarious Meanderings who enlightens us about family, humor, life and misadventures in the Hérault region of France. Joanna says on her about page that: Multifarious Meanderings is simply an opportunity for her to write up and share a few…
Continue reading ➞ Blogging around the world: Multifarious Meanderings
The scirocco is an infernal African air current from the desert who whips up the heat in the Mediterranean to unbearable levels during the summer . If this hot wind is still the day is pleasant but if it is on the prowl it makes the air too hot to breathe. Someone who…
Continue reading ➞ Sicilian word of the day: Scirocco
I'm a bit of a postcard addict, always on the lookout for original or vintage images from wherever I am visiting. I recently found this great series of cards depicting ancient arts from Sicily. Work that is no longer needed or has simply disappeared as the world has become 'modern'. It saddens me to…
Continue reading ➞ Postcards from Sicily: ancient crafts
When I was a child I had an Uncle who was terribly capricious, a real joker (he still is until this day) and he took great pleasure in teaching my brother and I all the colourful Italian swear words possible. My Uncle thought it was all terribly funny and hoped we’d use them in front…
Continue reading ➞ Sicilian’s flare for uttering profanities
I managed to get a glimpse of the metaphorical 'Primavera' while jostling in the crowd at the Medieval parade as part of the Infiorata festival at Noto, Syracuse but I'm afraid I've seen very little of her since. I wonder where she has gone?
Sicilian playing cards are works of art. There are many versions around, these ones are Neapolitan and I picked them up at my local Tabaccheria. This is the ace of spades a wonderfully baroque angel holding a cascade of flowers and an Arabic vector. I grew up playing Sicilian card games and love the…
Continue reading ➞ Postcards from Sicily: playing cards
I’ve always been a lover of the travel writing genre, ever since my mother gave me a paperback of Bill Bryson’s ‘Neither here nor there’ which took me backpacking through Europe before I left high school. Since then I have made my way through many travel writing classics from Paul Theroux to Bruce Chatwin. Many…
Continue reading ➞ A Sicilian Summer with Brian Johnston
What’s it like for a Sicilian to be married to a foreigner? Living in the south of Italy is very much like living in a Middle Eastern country, Sicily isn’t the south of the Italian peninsula but rather a northern state of Africa. Sicilian’s are very traditional and proud of their culture. An islander is…
Continue reading ➞ So you’re married to a foreigner … an Italian perspective
Lately, I’ve noticed a new development with my language skills. I think I’m going native. Many missionaries from past centuries wrote of how after years of living with a foreign culture and language they have felt like a constant outsider until the day when they realise their tongue has somehow assimilated elements of the local…
Continue reading ➞ Picking up a Sicilian vocabulary
1. I unashamedly buy my underwear at the markets. I used to be embarrassed at the prospect of buying undies and bras from market stalls, the idea of everyone observing me was once crippling. Now I don’t blink an eye and happily rummage around the lingerie stand. I also occasionally buy fruit and vegetables from…
Continue reading ➞ Ten ways to tell you’ve been living in Sicily too long
1. Ask for a discount, cos you can! Its normal to ask for a discount on expensive items particularly jewelry, designer items and white goods. Ask for it, demand it and you will get it! 2. Be careful with technology GPS off the main roads and the autostrada has a tendency to take you off…
Continue reading ➞ 5 things you probably didn’t know about Italy
I am constantly surprised by the wonderful people I am meeting and the connections I am making thanks to my blog. Not only do I give my flabby writing muscles a work out but I also seem to be meeting friends and perhaps even will get some paid work out of it. I am even…
Continue reading ➞ The Beauty of Blogging
Frederico De Roberto’s I Vicere’ or The Viceroy’s was another accidental discovery for me, thanks to the Italian’s flare for rich television series period drama. I fell in love with De Roberto’s characters thanks to the screen adaptation I watched a few years ago on the RAI television network in Italy (2007). I was so…
Continue reading ➞ Literary Islands: Federico De Roberto
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