L’arte delle parole
The Art of Words
As part of Florens 2010, an international week of cultural events. two of Italy’s great institutions—the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia della Crusca—are celebrating art and letters in a presentation on ”Parole e Immagini dei Mestieri e delle Arti” (Words and Images of the Crafts and Arts) in the Uffizi biblioteca (library) on Friday, November 19.
Although less famous than the Uffizi, with its renowned collection of paintings (pitture) and sculptures (sculture), “La Crusca,” the oldest scholarly academy in Europe, deserves acclaim for a different masterpiece: the Italian language (la lingua italiana).
During the 1500s, an unheralded but invaluable invention transformed Italian agriculture: il frullone, a sieve-like device that separated wheat from chaff to produce flour. A group of irreverent Florentine intellectuals, passionately devoted to preserving their language’s più bei fiori (loveliest blooms), decided to become human frulloni and separate the linguistic fior di farina (the flower of the wheat) from the coarse crusca (chaff or bran).The self-declared Crusconi formed L’Accademia della Crusca (the Academy of the Bran) and took on a lofty mission: creating the first dictionary of officially recognized words in any language.
This was no dry academic venture by uptight language police. The Crusconi playfully gave themselves names related to farming, cooking, and baking, such as Lievito (yeast or leaven), Macinato (milled into flour), Sollo (soft or spongy), and Grattugiato (grated). Each Cruscone also selected a related symbol, such as a sieve or sheaf of wheat, which was embossed in vibrant colors upon a wooden pala (above), a shovel-like paddle bakers used to slide loaves of bread from an oven.
Among La Crusca’s traditions was an annual stravizzo, a term members used defined with understatement as “eating that happens together with pleasant conversation.” The menu from one stravizzo presents five staggering courses that included eight types of meat, even more varieties of pasta, fruit, vegetables, cheese, biscotti — and stuzzicadenti (toothpicks).
Despite their jocularity, La Crusca’s founding brothers took their mission seriously. Over decades of research, discussion, and debate, they created the Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca, published on January 20, 1612. The 960 oversized pages of this unique compendium contained only words that qualified as “belle, signifcative, e dell’uso nostro” (“beautiful, noteworthy, and of our use,” that is, from Italian authors such as Dante, Petrarca, and Boccaccio).
When I had the privilege of turning the stiff, dry pages of a first edition of the Vocabolario, I was so moved that I became senza parole (speechless). This volume, constructed of words chosen to please the ear, the eye, and the soul, contains Italian’s genome. No less than the artists laboring in a Renaissance bottega, the language “bakers” of La Crusca had painstakingly created a living work of art: la più bella lingua del mondo (the most beautiful language in the world).
Last week brought belle notizie (good news) for Italian’s belle parole: The College Board has reinstated the AP Italian placement exam, a decision heralded as a triumph for Italy, Italian-Americans, and all who love the language “baked” by Florentine wordsmiths some four hundred years ago.
Words and Expressions
parolina, paroletta -- nice word
parolone -- big or long word, pompous-sounding word A
avere la parola facile -- to have the easy word, to be articulate
in parole povere -- in poor or plain words
È una parola! -- it’s a word (easier said than done)
in poche parole -- in short, in brief
Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language.
Click below to hear Italian music icon Mina dismiss the "parole, parole, parole" (words, words, words) of Alberto Lupo in a famous pop tune:
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