Instantly Italy

Italian speaking practice and grammar tutoring

[Places I Recommend] A Hostel That Makes You Feel At Home: The Beehive Hostel in Rome

Subscribe to the Vespa rides and get full access to Your Italian Toolbox, a library of language learning materials that you can use to practice Italian.

I don’t like traveling alone, I have to admit it. 

I am a solitary person and I love spending time alone but when it comes to traveling, that’s a whole different story. If I travel alone, I tend to become anxious and feel the need to be with people. Moreover, when I visit a new place I really like to share what I see and feel with somebody else. [Read more…]

Expats in Italy: An Interview With Tiffany Parks, A Writer Living in Rome, About Life in The City and Raising A Kid in Italy

It’s time to chat with an expat again and I am over the moon with joy!

I have been interviewing expats for a while now – you can find all interviews linked at the bottom of this post – but I never get tired of doing it. I love it because I am a very curious person and I want to know everything about other people’s lives but also because every interview, even if my questions are more or less similar, is an opportunity to learn more about my culture and reflect about it. 

[Read more…]

Do You Know How To Properly Use Prego When Speaking Italian?

Subscribe to the Vespa rides and get full access to Your Italian Toolbox, a library of language learning materials that you can use to practice Italian.

Last week, while I was chatting with a student, I got asked one of the simplest questions ever. 

I was having a Chiacchieriamo session with a lovely lady I get to catch with every morning at breakfast time. She has been living in Italy for a few years now and has a very good command of the language but is still struggling with some very simple things.

[Read more…]

Instantly Italy Has Just Turned Four, Let’s Celebrate!

Subscribe to the Vespa rides and get full access to Your Italian Toolbox, a library of language learning materials that you can use to practice Italian.

I almost can’t believe I have been running Instantly Italy for four years now!

Every year the birthday of my business arrives without me thinking about it. It is always a surprise but also a time to look back and reflect on my work. I always take this moment as an opportunity to think about what I have done, what I could have done better, what was good and what not and to see how can I improve and do better in the future.

[Read more…]

How Italians Celebrate Carnival: Three Traditional and Unique Festivals in Italy

If you want to read this article in Italian, you can find a downloadable bilingual PDF file in
Your Italian Toolbox, the page where I upload all language-learning materials, under the section Miscellaneous(You can access the page by subscribing to my newsletter.)

Carnival is a quintessentially Italian festivity, and there are a lot of festivals everywhere in the country at this time of the year.

Around mid-February, depending on when Carnival falls each year, every town – even the smallest one – celebrates Carnival. The most common way of doing it is having a parade with floats, music, and people wearing masks. People parade along the streets and then meet in the main city square for some frittelle (fritters) and drinks.

[Read more…]