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Today’s word is wonderful, because just saying it cheers you up. Buffo (boof-foh) means funny or silly, in a nice, good-hearted way. Something is “buffo” when it makes you smile because of its awkwardness, clumsiness or because it’s just curious, …

I think I must use the word parecchio (pah-rai-keeoh) at least a dozen times every day and, like me, every Italian does. Parecchio means “a lot,” “in large quantity,” “very” and can be used in all contexts you can think …

It doesn’t matter if you’re from the North or the South: a colomba will find its way on your Easter table. This sweet and fragrant “lievitato” is very reminiscent of another traditional Italian cake, panettone, and there are plenty of …

In the US Capitol building, there is a marble bust of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the popular hero of the Italian Risorgimento, signed Giuseppe Martegana, 1888. The official catalogue “Art in the United States Capitol” lists the bust as the  gift of …

Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore are thou Romeo? Who doesn’t know these heartfelt, love-filled words and the person who spoke them? It’s Juliet, of course, perhaps the most well known of all Shakespearian heroines, unfortunate lover and misunderstood child.  Her relationship …

In the outskirts of Capannori, a quaint village in the Tuscan countryside not far from Lucca, in the beautiful park surrounding Villa Carrara, there is a 600 years old oak, so famous and so distinctive that it is officially recognized …

Pasticcio (pah-stee-tchoh) comes from the vulgar Latin pasticium, in turn related to another late Latin word we know much better, pasta. It is attested in our beautiful language for the first time in 1525, a tad too late for our …

Italians often use the word mannaggia (mahn-nadj-dja) instead of others they think more offensive. It usually expresses annoyance or spite and can sometimes come in association with other words to create colorful sayings, such as mannaggia la miseria!, which we …

The combination of great food, fine wines, heritage and history, culture and climate continue to make Italy a firm favorite with travelers from around the globe. Many visitors to Italy return time and time again for romantic breaks, family holidays, …

Jakob Philipp  Hackert (1737-1807) non ha bisogno di presentazioni nel contesto dei massimi artisti pittori europei del 1700. Nel 1793 intraprese un lungo viaggio nell’Abruzzo dell’epoca, provincia del Regno di Napoli, e più esattamente nel cosiddetto Abruzzo Ulteriore II tra …