Instantly Italy

Italian language, culture and travel tips

What is Ferragosto? All you need to know about this unique Italian holiday

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture! You will also get full access to Your Italian Toolbox, a library of Italian learning materials.

Ferragosto has just gone and summer has a different feeling now. 

But “what is Ferragosto?”, you may ask. What is this weird holiday that makes Italy stop and basically close down in the middle of summer? Why Italians love this day so much? Well, let me try to explain that to you.

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Expats in Italy: A Double Interview With Chris and Eva of Shabby Sheep Design

Today I am super happy because I do not get to interview just one expat but two at the same time!

In this post, I chat with Chris and Eva, a British couple who lives and works in Italy. They lived in the Cotswolds but years ago they decided to change their life, relocating to Tuscany – in La Lunigiana, precisely. They have been living there for 13 years now and have started an online business which clearly shows their love for Italy. 

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Italian Stereotypes: What Do Italians Think Of Other Italians?

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture! You will also get full access to Your Italian Toolbox, a library of Italian learning materials.

What do you think when you think of Italians? 

As it always happens with other cultures, if you look at us from afar, you probably see us as one general group. You may think that we all are very friendly, we like to talk a lot (usually with quite a loud voice and using hand gestures), we have a strong bond with our family, we don’t know how to queue and we all like to take things slow.

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[Italian Books] The Eight Mountains by Paolo Cognetti: A Great Novel by One of The Best Italian Contemporary Authors

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

I am so happy I can finally recommend you one of my most favorite Italian books!

What was stopping me from doing so? well, I was waiting for it to be translated into English and now it’s finally done. So now I can tell you everything about one of the best books I have read lately: The Eight Mountains by Paolo Cognetti.

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[Italian Books] Eva Dorme, A Book About a Long-Forgotten Cultural Issue in Italian Contemporary History

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

Are you interested in Italian contemporary history? Do you think you know everything about it? Well, there might be something you still don’t know. 

It is an issue that has to do with Alto Adige, or South Tyrol, as it is known in English, and what is now the autonomous province of Bolzano. Alto Adige is part of Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy’s northernmost region, which is now famous for the amazing mountains, some of the highest in Europe, and the breathtaking views of the Dolomites.

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Are you Looking for Some Good Italian Movies? Here Are Ten of My Favorites

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

I can’t say I am movie expert but watching a good movie is definitely one of my most favorite pastimes. 

When you are tired or feeling a bit down or simply in need of a boost of energy, sitting on the couch and watching a movie is just the perfect thing to do. Movies can change your mood, make you dream, make you want to go out and explore new places, and also make you discover new cultures.

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La domenica italiana: How Italians spend their Sunday in a little provincial town

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

How’s daily life in Italy? What do Italians usually do? How Italians spend their Sunday, for example?

These are some of the questions I get asked quite frequently, by either students or newsletter readers. It’s always difficult for me to answer this kind of questions, as I have the feeling that each of us lives his or her own life and it is really difficult to generalize.

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Feel like watching a film? Here’s a list of some of the best recent Italian movies

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

Autumn is just the perfect time to curl up on the sofa and watch a good movie. 

If during summer months I am barely at home, trying to be outside as much as I can, in autumn things change quite a bit. I usually have dinner quite early at night – most of the times at 7 pm, which is pretty early for Italian standards – and then I sit on the sofa with my dog and a comfy blanket, ready for a wild night either with a book or with Netflix.

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[Italian Phrases] Facciamo merenda?

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

Sometimes phrases convey a meaning that goes beyond their literal one. 

No matter of well you know a language, there’ll always be hues of meaning that you might not immediately get until a native explains them to you or until you spend some time in the country where such language is spoken.

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[Italian books] A contemporary Italian writer I am sure you will fall in love with

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

I have recently discovered a new Italian writer which you absolutely need to know! 

Her name is Donatella Di Pietrantonio and I am sure that – once you know her – you will love her work as much as I do. She has written three books so far: I have read two of them in the last couple of weeks and I loved them so much that I immediately wanted to share such love with you!

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