Italian language, culture and travel tips
My job gives me the amazing opportunity of chatting with people from all over the world and since I teach Italian, most of those people – ok, all of them – are in love with my country.
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.
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.
You may remember my most recent post about the city, where I gave you a list of reasons not to miss it when you come to Italy, the one about a food tour to discover its delicacies, or another one about the oldest confectionery shop in Italy, which is in Genoa.
No matter how I complain about Italian culture and lifestyle – we Italians always do it, every day – there are some traits of our culture that I really like and that I think can make life better, so I thought I might share them with you.
If Christmas is not your thing, you are in heaven because you can avoid the traditional celebrations and the parties you don’t care about, without even needing an excuse. But if you like Christmas, you may feel a bit out of place.
Speaking of work, I have lived two very different lives. Before doing what I currently do, which is running this website and working freelance as a translator, I have worked for some years in the corporate world.
Sometimes the trick is so powerful that you start dreaming about visiting such place – or even moving there – and you feel that you absolutely HAVE to go there, sooner or later.
But probably it is worth writing one more post about the topic because I still hear too many people ordering “un espresso” when asking for coffee, here in Italy. So let’s take some time to recap a few basic guidelines you need to follow if you want to order coffee in Italy.
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.
