Staff

Divieto (dee-vee-ai-toh) means “prohibition” or “interdiction” in English. It comes from the verb divietare, which was first attested in the 14th century, and that we no longer use today, preferring the shorter version vietare. Of course, both old and “new” …

If you think about special effects, Hollywood comes immediately to mind, but these days Cinecittà may be where the magic really happens, quite literally. Since 2015, the historical cinematic studios of our capital have been the home of Makinarium, the …

In the 18th century, at the height of the Baroque period, Naples, one of Italy’s most beautiful cities, was known as the città delle cinquecento cupole, “the city with five hundred cupolas,” because of the number of churches one could …

If you’ve ever been camping, you definitely own one: the ubiquitous foldable chair. You may have one with a full back, or perhaps a simpler, more portable version, the one with legs shaped like an “X” and a seat made …

Il buon vino fa buon sangue, “good wine makes your blood good:” Italians love to say it while pouring another glass of hearty red, often while dining with friends. But where does this popular expression come from and is there …

Pietrapertosa is a small village in the Potenza province of Basilicata, with 1,200 residents. It is beautifully located in the Dolomiti Lucane, a mountain range that shares name and beauty with its more famous cousins, up North. Its name comes …

Romans love them, and their name gives away when they happen, but do we know what they are? Let’s take a look at our capital’s most loved autumnal tradition, the ottobrate. In the good old days and up to the …

In English, we call it Indian summer, in Italian estate di San Martino. They both refer to that unusually warm period we often experience in the month of November. Far from being a safe bet, the estate di San Martino …

Quindi (kween-dee) comes from the vulgar Latin expression eccum inde, “here from this point,” which then turned into cum inde, through a series of key linguistic mutations that change the way we pronounce words when speaking them fast. Ah, the …

Intanto (een-tan-toh) is today’s word. Attested for the first time in our beautiful language in the 13th century, it is formed by two terms, the preposition in and the adverb tanto. It is very common and we like to use …