Italian language, culture and travel tips
I have been chatting with foreigners who moved to Italy for a long time now but there’s always something new to learn from them, a different point of view, a peculiar experience with Italian life. This is why I feel really honored to be given the chance to speak, even if virtually, with so many different people.
Today I have the pleasure of chatting with Sonia Piacente, who very kindly shares with us her experience of moving to Italy and growing a family here and also tells us a bit about life in Turin as an expat.
When I think about autumn, there are some images that always come to my mind: the fire burning for the first time in the season, walking on a carpet of crunchy leaves, going into the woods to hunt for some mushrooms, and eating the first roasted chestnuts.
Jokes aside, when I met Isabella – the expat I am interviewing today – on Instagram, I found the fact that she had a YouTube channel very interesting because I believe that making videos is a great way to tell about life in a certain country. Needless to say, I have immediately asked her if she was interested in being interviewed and I am super happy she said yes!
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 always say the same things but you can’t imagine how happy – and honored – I am to chat with people who share with me – and with you all, guys – a bit of their personal life and their experience of Italy. Thank you, I’ll never get tired of saying this!
This is one of the questions I get asked the most by non-Italians when we chat about Italian eating habits. I actually have no quick answer and I always just reply with a smile and “I don’t know”. But after having been asked such a question so many times, I started thinking about it.
Well, this is basically what Susan Zimmerman, the lady I am interviewing today, had to face when she arrived in Italy, after marrying her Italian husband. It must have been challenging to say the least and Susan is great at describing how she felt and how she managed to overcome the frustration of being in a completely foreign environment without knowing the language.
To be more precise, it’s not someone but a couple: Ilene and Gary Modica of Our Italian Journey, a blog that tells the story of their one-year trip around Italy. As it happens in most cases, I have virtually met Ilene because she commented to a post on my blog. In the comment, she left a link to her blog: when I checked it and briefly learned about their story, I immediately sent an email to Ilene asking her if she was interested in being featured here.
Today I am chatting with Paul and Lucy Spadoni. Actually, it’s Paul who is answering my questions but his wife Lucy is part of the story as well. And their family too!
