IL FATTO BELLO
Il Fatto Bello
Violets
Il fatto bello della settimana.Moments from everyday Italy
Whenever Marco ends up in an
article it means he's in trouble. Or that I am. But we love each other deeply,
and I say this to preface the story and save readers the worry
that I'll be fired for bad-mouthing the publisher. Marco …
Florentinisms
Botolo, Brusotto/blusotto, Sito, Sizza/sizzola, Sortire
Your in-progress dictionary of the florentine dialect
Bòtolo: A chubby person.
Example: ‘Tù sei diventato un botolo di nulla...o quanto tù mangi?!'
(You've gotten chubby as all get
out...how much do you eat?!)
Brusotto/blusotto: Jacket.
Example: ‘Mettiti i' brusotto, lè un gran freddo!' (Put
your jacket on; it's cold out there!)
Sito: A bad …
Life
Women of strength
The dragon boat ladies
by Meagan Brown
Amici ci aspetta una barca... (Friends, a boat is waiting for us...)
I recognized Libby Cataldi
immed-iately though we had never met before. I was waiting for her on the steps
of the church of Santa Maria Novella when I saw her walking across …
Life
Garden of sadness
The Old Jewish Cemetery of Florence
Vera Bolaffio, 18 years old, might have been known for
her wit, her waist-length ebony hair, or her talent as a poet. But her story
ended in August 1944 in Florence,
Italy.
A German grenade struck her while she was searching for drinking water …
Italian Sketches
Cesare Lombroso
The first profiler
A century ago, on October 19, 1909 Cesare Lombroso, physician,
psychiatrist and the founder of the Italian school of criminology or, as we
know it today, criminal anthropology, died at age 74 of angina pectoris at his
home in Turin.
In his trailblazing works,
especially the …
Life
Alessandro de' Medici: Renaissance race card?
In a sarcophagus in the Chapel of San Lorenzo, the one surmounted by the brooding figure of Michelangelo's Il Pensieroso, and on which two of his even more famous nudes recline, is interred the first Duke of Florence, Alessandro de' Medici, called Il Moro …
Il Fatto Bello
Shoulder talk
Il fatto bello della settimana. Moments from everyday Italy
Spalla-the word for
‘shoulder'-is the term Italians use to describe the ‘straight man' of a comedy
routine duo. Front-and-center comedians need a straight man to act as a
sounding board for their frequent one-liners.
Writers intent on understanding
the ways of this world need something similar.When …
Florentinisms
Allampanato, Bubare, Boccia, Barroccio/barroccino
Your in-progress dictionary of the florentine dialect
Allampanato:
Lanky.
The word
can also be used with another expression that denotes extreme thinness:
ciucciato dalle streghe.
Example: ‘Quel ragazzo l'è secco allampanato...e sembra
ciucciato dalle streghe!' (That
guy …
Be Green in Florence
The trash trail - Part two: organic waste
One man's potato peelings are another man's gold (in theory)
Something strange appeared in suburban Florence
about a year ago. We woke up one morning to find shiny brown bins for organic
waste in the street and neat plastic bins and wads of organic-waste-disposal
bags on every doorstep. The rubbish fairy had come in …
Il Fatto Bello
Cats who copy
Il fatto bello della settimana. Moments from everyday Italy
Dusty chalk
is free for all who can stand to use it, but safe electrical plugs and screws
tight enough to keep the chairs from losing their seats are not entirely
guaranteed. Nonetheless, the principal of the commerce-inspired high school
where I've just been hired …
Florentinisms
Coccoli, Gestrini, Fogato, Manfano,
Your in-progress dictionary of the florentine dialect
Còccoli: Pasta dough fritters. Usually
served with stracchino and prosciutto.
Marimettere o smarimettere: To
open something (usually a food product).
Example: O che hai belle marimesso la Nutella? (Hey,
did you already open the Nutella?)
Gestrini: Facial expressions. Usually used in reference to
babies.
Example: Ohh bellino! Guarda fà …
Be Green in Florence
A student-friendly green guide to Florence
When you're in a foreign country, there's a great temptation to leave all your green habits at home. After all, you're only here for a few months and you want to make the most of your stay, not waste time worrying about turning lights …
Italian Sketches
Fausto Coppi
Triumph and tragedy
A game-shooting safari at Ouagadougou in Upper Volta
(today Burkina Faso) proved fatal for Fausto Coppi, one of Italy's greatest and
most idolized cyclists who, in the 1940s and 50s, was acclaimed by his fans as
the Campionissimo or the Airone (Heron), like the …
Economy + Society
Here today, gone tomorrow
by Sabine Eiche
If you've been living in (or
returning to) Florence
for a while, you may have noticed that stores here have a way of disappearing
practically overnight. One day you go out to get your carton of eggs where
you've always bought your eggs, and instead …
Il Fatto Bello
Una bella litigata
Il fatto bello della settimana. Moments from everyday Italy
From the window of my front room, one can watch the
whole world wander by, but you don't even have to get near the sill to know
exactly what's being told in the piazza below. No shutter can shut out the
hullabaloo of everyone …
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The English-speaking news magazine in Florence
Monday, May 20, 2013