Becoming Italian Word by Word

The Year of Italian Language and Culture: Machiavelli

Niccolò Machiavelli

As part of its celebration of "The Year of Italian Culture," Italy is commemorating the 500th anniversary of the writing of a classic work: Machiavelli's  Il Principe (The Prince). Although completed in 1513, the treatise by the man who "put the science into political science" wasn't published until 1532, five years after his death. Machiavelli's name since penetrated  the global vocabulary as an international byword for  political cunning and pragmatism. However, no one,  as T. S. Eliot observed, “was ever less Machiavellian than Machiavelli.” 

After fourteen years as a civil servant and diplomat in the Florentine Republic, Niccolò Machiavelli was tried, tortured, and exiled  after the Medici reclaimed power.  Frustrated in his forced retirement to his modest country home, Machiavelli began work on The Prince in the hope that a clear-eyed, no-nonsense tactical handbook would  display his political acumen and win him a government position. 

His  dreams, personal and political, never materialized. He died—“of a surfeit of failure,” one historian stated—before the printing of his masterwork. But by analyzing affairs of state dispassionately, with logic and objectivity, Machiavelli put the science into political science. 

Five centuries after Machiavelli’s time, The Prince still compels and shocks readers for two reasons: what its author says and how he says it. What if a prince acts so ruthlessly that he loses the adulation of his people?  Better to be feared than loved, shrugs Machiavelli. Since men are generally ungrateful, vacillating, cowardly, and greedy, he observes, they might promise their souls to a prince yet  desert or betray him because love is fickle, while fear is not.  Machiavelli never agonized over whether the ultimate end might justify any means.  He was sure it would.   

Just as remarkable as The Prince’s unflinching pragmatism is its language. Considered by some the finest Italian stylist of the Cinquecento (1500s),  Machiavelli wrote in a clean, stiletto-sharp  vernacular that echoed the everyday speech of his fellow Florentines (including, in some of his more ribald works, their earthiness). 

Machiavelli, whose satiric play The Mandrake is still revived and performed around the world,   couldn’t resist mocking the pretensions of some of his  newly prosperous countrymen.  In his own twist on bella and brutta figura, he recounts the story of a character named Castruccio.  A man from Lucca invites him to dinner at his house, which—thanks to a recent windfall--he has just remodeled in the most ostentatious manner possible. During the meal Castruccio suddenly spits in his host’s face. Rather than apologize, he explains that he did not know where else to spit without damaging something valuable.

Shortly before his death, the heart-broken political strategist wrote to a friend,  “I love my country better than my very soul.”  His country, which ignored him in life, didn’t know quite what to say of him in death. His  monumental tomb in Florence's Santa Croce, the burial site for Italy’s titans of history, reads simply, “To so great a name, no epitaph can do justice.”

Words and Expressions

machiavellismo –- political cunning

machiavellico –- crafty

machiavellicamente –- in a crafty manner

vivere da principe –- to live like a prince

principesco -– princely, prince-like 

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language. Click here for more information on her "writer's studio" in Capri this fall. 

Biking in Italy and the Italian Language

biking

andare in bicicletta

 by Susan Van Allen

Spring (la Primavera) is prime time for biking (andare in bicicletta) in Italy--mild temperatures (le temperature miti) and flowers (fiori) bursting into bloom are inspiration to get outside, immerse yourself in the heaping helping of beauty Mother Nature (Madre Natura) has bestowed on the Bel Paese, and get an endorphin rush while blending in with the great passion Italians have for biking. 


Here are five of my favorite biking places:

1: Borghese Gardens, Rome: Enjoy this elegant city oasis as the Romans do: Go to Bici Pincio (Viale di Villa Medici) to rent bikes (noleggiare bici) and then glide along sun dappled paths shaded by umbrella pines (pini), inhaling the smell of orange blossoms, amidst 65-acres of manicured green, highlighted with statuary, fountains, a pond, and Bioparco (zoo). 


2. Lucca, Tuscany: Going to Lucca and not biking around the town’s medieval wall is like going to Paris and not visiting the Eiffel Tower. The three-mile loop along the structure that once protected Lucca now makes for a sublime ride (easy and great for families), with stunning views of the historic center (centro storico) below and, in the distance, fields of wildflowers (distese di fiori di campo).


3. Sant’ Erasmo, Venice: This island (isola), nicknamed The Secret Garden of Venice (il giardino segreto di Venezia), lies between the well-known islands of Murano and Burano, about a 40-minute vaporetto ride (#14) from Venice. Delicious vegetables that you see at the Rialto market are grown here, such as artichokes that put forth gorgeous purple flowers in June. Rent bikes at Lato Azzurro B&B, pedal the 3.5 mile island loop, and join the locals for a refreshing swim at the quiet beach.

4. Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna: The historic center of this chic town, adorned with a mix of Renaissance and medieval architecture, is a “no car” zone (chiusa al traffico); 90 percent of the residents own bikes. Rent one at the train station and join in with senior citizens, mamme with their bambini in bike seats, and students, pedaling through the enchanting maze of cobblestoned lanes (viottoli), amidst the awe-inspiring D’Este castle and Romanesque-meets-Baroque duomo.

5. Puglia: Italy’s flattest region is my favorite (la mia preferita) for countryside biking. A springtime trip there with Backroads  sweeps me past groves (frutteti) of cherry trees heavy with deep red clusters of fruit, fields of crimson poppies (papaveri) and golden zucchini flowers, gentle rolling vineyards, beaches (spiagge) with views of the sparkling Adriatic, and the most gasp-inspiring: endless fields of olive trees (olivi) --the oldest in Italy, with humongous trunks the size of Volkswagens. Add to all that the sight of trulli, traditional conical shaped homes from medieval times, which bring a fairytale touch to your biking adventure.

I thank my friend Susan van Allen for this delightful post, which brings to mind an Italian saying: “Hai voluto la bicicletta? Adesso pedala!” (Didn’t you want the bycicle? Now keep pedaling!) It refers to someone who obtained some long-desired object or outcome and then confronts unexpected consequences--good, bad, overwhelming, or challenging . The best advice: Pedal!

Words and Expressions

bicicletta a due posti -- tandem bike

biciclettina -– child’s bike

ciclista –- cyclist

maglia rosa –- the pink jersey awarded to the winner of Giro d’Italia

pedalare -– to pedal

Susan van Allen is the author of 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go and Letters from Italy: Confessions, Adventures and Advice.

Dianne Hales is the author of La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.

Come Write, Cook, and Enjoy Capri with Me!

La Bella Lingua in Capri

I’m very excited to announce a new program that brings together my passions for Italian, for writing, and for sharing what Italy has taught me about its greatest art: the art of living.

Cooking Vacations, a leader in customized travel in Italy, has invited me to host an extraordinary Literati Culinary Week, set for October 12 to 17, 2013. The beautiful island of Capri will serve as our “Writers’ Studio.”

Here you can walk in the footsteps of writers such as Graham Greene, Norman Douglas, Somerset Maugham, Thomas Mann and the great poet Pablo Neruda. But whether you are a professional writer or someone who simply wants to express yourself more effectively in words, I will work closely with you to expand and deepen your writing skills.

In daily sessions, we will focus on fundamentals essential to every genre of writing: how to choose and research a subject, how to create scenes and a narrative arc, and how to get the most out of the art of rewriting. You will return home with a finished piece of work, either a collection of very short stories or a narrative essay based on your stay in Capri.

Writing is a solitary pursuit, but coming together in a group provides a chance to see how others respond to your work, through kind but honest critiquing. Being away from your usual settings and routine, particularly in a setting as spectacular as Capri, allows you to tap into your creativity in ways you never have before.

Writers cannot live by words alone. And so we will pursue other Italian passions and pleasures, including a hands-on cooking class. Chef Maria, who specializes in local Caprese cuisine, will teach us how to create authentic southern Italian foods while learning the important cooking techniques for each recipe.

For inspiration, you can stroll through Capri’s charming streets. Stop off for an aperitivo in the piazzetta and watch the (very elegant) world go by. Visit the villas of the various writers who found their muse on Capri. Head out to the island’s many panoramic view points to soak up some of the world’s best loved views. Find a little corner of some well-tended garden and soak up Capri’s unique atmosphere as you gather your thoughts and draft your story.

We will be staying at the former home of a famous writer in the heart of Anacapri. We will begin each day there with a theme-focused breakfast session and come together again each evening for a three-hour meeting I’m calling our “Story Hours.” In between, we’ll allow time and opportunity for both inspiration and contemplation.

The group will be limited to a small, intimate number. Non-participating partners are welcome. For details about the program and pricing, click here. If you have specific questions about the Writers' Studio, you can reach me at dianne@diannehales.com or via the La Bella Lingua group on Facebook.

I look back on very moment I’ve spent on Capri as a magical one. I look forward to creating more unforgettable memories with some of you this fall.

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's  Most Enchanting Language.

Touring the Great Gardens of Italy in the Italian Language

I grandi giardini d’Italia

The Great Gardens of Italy 

a guest post by Barbara Philip

A while ago I bought the book Edith Wharton’s Italian Gardens, by Vivian Russell, and fell in love with the Renaissance gardens (giardini rinascimentali) that she described with such enthusiasm. But way back in 1904 Wharton wrote and published her own definitive book: Italian Villas and their Gardens (Le ville italiane e i loro giardini).

Since then thousands of travelers have set off to Italy clutching this book in search of the hidden treasures (i tesori nascosti) she described. I too would love to follow in their footsteps and take a painting tour (fare un tour pittorico) of Italian gardens. 

In her book, Wharton spoke of her delight at the ordered symmetry (la simmetria ordinata) that she noticed throughout Italy -- in the olive groves (olivi), the avenues of cypresses (viali di cipressi) and in the architecture (nell’architectura). I also love the formal structure (la struttura formale) that pervades Italy's gardens -- in the clipped box hedges (siepi di bosso tagliate), the balustraded terraces (le terrazze balaustrate) and the fountains and statues (le fontane e le statue).

Wharton understood that Italian gardens had almost nothing to do with the art of gardening (l'arte del giardinaggio) and everything to do with the garden as a work of art (il giardino come opera d'arte). Renaissance gardens are seeped with the symbolism (simbolismo), allegory (allegoria) and vision (visione) of the poets, philosophers and writers of Italy’s history.

Asked to name one thing that symbolized the Italian garden for her, Wharton said that it would not be the splashing fountains (le fontane spruzzanti), the lines of boxwoods (le linee dei bossi), or the statuary (la statuaria) but a single lemon tree (un albero di limone) planted in a terracotta pot (piantato in un vaso di terracotta). These lemon trees, the pride (l’orgoglio) of Italian gardens, poignantly evoke the glory of Italy’s past (la gloria del passato in Italia).

Here are some of my paintings inspired by the Boboli Gardens, behind the Pitti Palace in Florence:

 

I also admire the gardens of Villa Pamphili and Villa D’Este in Tivoli, Valsanzibio south of Padua, and the Giusti Gardens near Verona. Here is an image of Cetinale near Siena,

I can only dream of visiting the magnificent flamboyant Baroque showpiece island garden (magnifico esempio di sgargiante giardino barocco), Isola Bella, named after Count Borromeo’s wife Isabella, in the tranquil and picturesque (tranquillo e pittoresco) Lake Maggiore. That would be heaven indeed! (Mi sentirei proprio in paradiso!)

Words and Expressions

giardino zoologico -- zoo

giardino botanico -- botanical garden

giardino d’inverno-- literally a winter garden, a glass-roofed and walled greenhouse

giardino pubblico / privato -– public / private garden

Giardino dell’Eden –- Garden of Eden

Barbara Philip is an accomplished artist from South Africa who paid me the lovely tribute of collecting all my blog posts in a handbound book (below). Click here to view a sampling of her wonderful paintings and designs.

Giving Thanks in the Italian Language

Thank you

Italians don’t observe the all-American holiday of thanksgiving (la festa del ringraziamento). There are Italian words, but no cultural equivalents for the Pilgrim fathers (padri pellegrini) and the American Indians (Amerindi) who came together to celebrate the harvest (il raccolto) in the new world (il Nuovo Mondo). Italians do eat turkey (tacchino) and pumpkin (zucca) but not in the traditional way (modo tradizionale) that Americans prepare them on Thanksgiving.

Yet Italian has a wonderful array of ways to say thank you: grazie (thanks), grazie infinite (endless thanks), grazie mille (thanks a thousand, literally, but it translates as thanks a million), molte grazie (thank you very much), and grazie di cuore (thanks from the heart).

Italian appreciation (like everything else) becomes more effusive on paper. If you are writing a lettera di ringraziamento (a thank-you letter) for a gift, a meal, or a kindness, you might use phrases such as: 

*Non so come ringraziarLa -- I don’t know how to thank you (formal) 

*Grazie per la squisita ospitalità -- thank you for your exquisite hospitality 

*Grazie infinite per la Sua (formal)/ tua (informal) gentilezza -- thank you for your kindness 

*La ringrazio per tutto quello che ha fatto per me -- thank you for all that you have done for me (formal) 

*Il più affettuoso grazie per...la cena, il regalo, ecc -- most affectionate thanks for…the dinner, the gift, etc. 

*Le porgo i miei più sentiti ringraziamenti -- I profer to you my most heartfelt thanks (formal) 

*Non trovo parole per dirLe quanto ci ha fatto piacere -- I cannot find the words to tell you how much pleasure it gave me 

So what do you say when someone thanks you? Here are some options: 

*Prego -- please, not at all, comparable to "you're welcome"

*Di niente -- It’s nothing 

*Non c’è di che -- Not at all 

*Ma immaginati!  Ma figurati! -- That’s all right (literally, imagine or fancy that) –

*Non dirlo neanche -- Don’t even mention it 

*Non dire sciocchezze -- Don’t be silly (to friends) 

*È il minimo che potessi fare -- It is the least I can do 

*È stato un piacere -- It was a pleasure 

And then there's my husband's favorite: L'onore e tutto mio! -- The honor is all mine.

Words and Expressions 

ingraziarsi -- to curry favor 

grazie a Dio -- thank God 

Grazie, a buon rendere! -- Thank you, I owe you one! 

essere grato di –- to appreciate, to be grateful for

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.  

If I could show my appreciation in a song, this is the one I'd choose. You can find the lyrics on the youtube site. 

 

Celebrating 500 Years of the Italian Language

 Il Vocabolario

This year marks an extraordinary birthday (un compleanno straordinario): the 500th anniversary of the Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca (Vocabulary of the Academy of La Crusca), one of the monuments of Italian cultural and linguistic history (uno dei monumenti della storia linguistica e culturale italiana), published in 1612.

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, a shovel-like paddle bakers used to slide loaves of bread from an oven.

Despite their jocularity, La Crusca’s founding brothers took their mission seriously. Il Vocabolario defined words rather than listing synonyms and traced their origins and history through prose and poetic citations. Its 960 oversized pages contained only words carefully chosen as “belle, significative e dell’uso nostro” (“beautiful, noteworthy, and of our use,” that is, from Italian authors such as Dante, Petrarca, and Boccaccio).

The Vocabolario so impressed international scholars that France, England, and Germany set to work on similar compendiums. For Italians, La Crusca’s Vocabolario, like Dante’s Divina Commedia, became a “gran libro della nazione” (a great book of the nation).

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 speechless (sono rimasta senza parole). 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 (workshop/studio), the language “bakers” of La Crusca painstakingly created a living work of art: la più bella lingua del mondo (the most beautiful language in the world).

Viva l’italiano!

Words and Expressions

 parolina, paroletta -- nice word

parolone -- big or long word, pompous-sounding word 

parolaio –- a windbag

in poche parole -- in short, in brief

mantenere la parola -– to keep one’s word

mettere una buona parola –- to put in a good word, to recommend

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language.

Click below to hear a lovely ode to la bella lingua italiana:

Italian-Americans and their Stories in the Italian Language

Italo-americani

Italian Americans

As many as 26 million Americans claim some Italian ancestry (origini italiane). In the greatest surge of immigration, between 1880 and 1920, some four million Italians left their fatherland (patria) for the United States. About 80 percent came from the impoverished south of Italy (Sud Italia), mainly from Sicily, Campania, Abruzzo, and Calabria.

Italians and their descendants (gli italiani e i loro discendenti) helped shape the modern United States of America and were shaped by it in turn. Most of the new citizens (cittadini) began their American lives as unskilled manual workers (operai or manovali) in factories, mines, and farms. Over time their children moved into managerial, professional, and white collar (carriere di tipo manageriale, altamente qualificato o impiegatizio).

Italian-Americans have succeeded in all fields of endeavor (campi di attività), including sports (lo sport), the arts (le belle arti), politics (la politica), and the media (i media). Some Italian Americans -- such as Joe DiMaggio, Geraldine Ferraro, Mario Cuomo, Al Pacino, and Madonna -- became famous. Others, less well known (meno conosciuti), have made significant contributions, such as Federico Faggin, who developed the first micro-chip, and Robert Gallo, whose research identified a cancer-causing virus.  

One of the joys of promoting LA BELLA LINGUA has been meeting Italian Americans and hearing the stories of how they or their parents came to America.   Antonio Rosso arrived in the United States in 1951 all by himself at age ten, with not a word of English (senza conoscere una parola d’inglese) and his pockets stuffed with salami and provolone (tasche piene di salame e provolone).

As he and his daughter Tonya Hamilton recount in their heart-warming new book, Wrestling with the Devil (Lottando contro il diavolo), little Antonio expects to find trees blossoming with gold (alberi dai fiori d’oro). Instead he confronts obstacle after obstacle—demons (demoni), as he calls them.

In time Antonio makes his way to Portland and an aunt and uncle (zia e zio) who welcome him like a son of their own (come fosse un loro figlio) -- and give him an all-American cowboy shirt and holster (above). His family eventually manages to immigrate from their home town of Roccarainola near Naples (below).

                            

Antonio struggles to find his way until he discovers that he has a natural instinct and ability in the sport of wrestling (una predisposizione e un talento naturali per la lotta olimpica). This passion (questa passione) leads him to success at Arizona State University and a career as a wrestling coach. It also helps him realize values deeply rooted in the “Old World” (Vecchio Mondo), above all the importance of family, discipline, and hard work (l'importanza della famiglia, della disciplina e del duro lavoro).

The motto that sustained him—“Obstacles cannot crush me” (Gli ostacoli non mi piegano)—may sum up the attitude of millions of other Italian-Americans who came to the United States to create a better way of living (per creare una vita migliore) for themselves and their chlldren.

Words and Expressions

un cittadino statunitense –- a United States citizen

l’emigrazione italiana -– the Italian emigration

un quartiere italiano –- an Italian neighborhood, a “Little Italy”

oriundi italiani –- Italian descent, born and raised abroad but with Italian roots

For more information on Wrestling with the Devil and other books about Italy, Italians, and the Italian American experience, go to Gemelli Press.

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language. 

Click below for a fascinating documentary on Italian Americans:

The Father of the Italian Language

Dante

Italian scholars, including the Accademia della Crusca (bastion of the Italian language), are commemorating the 691st anniversary of the death of Italy's foremost national hero--the poet Dante Alighieri--on or about September 14, 1321.

Scholars have quibbled over many facts of Dante’s life, even the year of his birth (the current consensus is 1265) and his name (he was christened Durante—yes, as in Jimmy). Once they assumed that his muse Beatrice was a fantasy or symbol of grace on earth, but she was real, a daughter of a distinguished Florentine family. Dante first glimpsed her in La Badia, a chapel where lovers still leave flowers and notes at Beatrice’s tomb.

Despite Dante’s unrequited, undying crush, the two rarely met and barely spoke. Both entered arranged marriages. Dante’s wife Gemma bore him at least three children, but neither she nor his offspring merit a single mention in his works.

Drawn to Florence’s raucous political life, Dante, as a White Guelf, served as a town prior. In 1301 civil war ripped the city apart. In Rome on a papal mission, Dante escaped the bloodbath but faced trumped-up charges of misuse of public funds. If Dante ever were to return, he would be burned to death.

Around 1307 Dante began work on what he called La Commedia (designated a comedy because it begins in sadness and ends in happiness). No one has pulled off an equal literary tour-de-force before or since.

“When I taught high-school students, I’d get them interested in Dante by talking about the artistic technique of rock musicians, their amazing ability to play so many notes so fast and furiously,” says Italian linguist Giuseppe Patota, “Dante wrote poetry the way a rock star plays guitar.”

The medieval virtuoso composed 14,233 eleven-syllable lines organized into 100 cantos in three volumes: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Rejecting Latin as too elitist and regional dialects (including his native Tuscan) as inadequate, Dante fashioned a lustrous new vernacular to portray a fantastic universe that stretched from the depths of hell to the heights of heaven.

A word that Dante concocted best describes how he wrote: sovramagnificentissimamente, “in a very, very, very magnificent way."

Readers often ask me to recommend an English translation of the Divine Comedy. If you have a favorite, please let me know by commenting below or e-mailing me at dianne@diannehales.com.

Words and Expressions

un inferno Dantesco –- a place of great suffering, pain and sorrow

bolgia infernale -- one of the “rotten pockets” Dante describes within the depths of hell; used for an especially unpleasant or chaotic situation

amor, ch’a nullo amato amar perdona -- Dante’s description of a love so strong, like that between the doomed lovers Paolo and Francesca, that it permits “no loved one not to love.”

Fatti non foste a viver come bruti, ma per seguir virtute e canoscenza  --  You were not born to live as beasts, but to pursue virtue and learning.  With these words, which capture the essence of the human spirit, Ulysses rallied his comrades to sail into the unknown.

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchaning Language.

Actor and dantista Roberto Benigni brings the poet's words to life:

Traveling in the Italian Language: Six Secrets of an Italophile

The second edition of one of my favorite travel books, 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go, has just been published, with updated chapters, budget tips, and on-line resources. Whatever your gender, don't head for Italy without it!  In this guest blog, its author, Susan Van Allen, shares some advice for making the most of your journey.

My Top Travel Tips

by Susan Van Allen

1. Lie about when you’re leaving and returning. Tell yourself and those in your world you’ll be away the day before and the day after whatever it says on your plane ticket. It’s not really lying. Mentally you’re in Italy those pre- and post- travel days. This helps me not to leave packing until the last minute, and spares those around me from dealing with my I’m-going-to-Italy-tomorrow-obsessed self. The day after you return, you’ll get no sympathy with, “I’m jet-lagged, just got back from Italy.” Consider these border days gifts to yourself, to ease in and out.

2. Go solo. “I have no one to go with” should not be an obstacle to your Italian travel dreams. Italy is a fantastic place to wander solo, following your very own desires. Since Italians are such welcoming people, you’ll rarely find yourself feeling lonely. Or you can join one of the many group tours to Italy, where you’ll be traveling with kindred spirits. I even enjoy solo time when I’m traveling with my husband or girlfriends. Exploring at my own pace during the day makes dinner times more fun, when we share our separate adventures.

3. Flirt. There’s a shrink in New York who prescribes a trip to Italy for women who need a boost to their self esteem. Italian men have mastered the art of flirting -- it’s one of the country’s masterpieces. Enjoy, without taking it too seriously. It’s all in the spirit of: "You are women, we are men. We are alive! And what a fun game we play!" If you get harassment rather than flirting, a loud “Vai via!” (”Go Away”) is an age-old stopper that usually works.

4. Take a guided tour. I was resistant to this for many years, with visions of traipsing behind a screaming person hoisting an umbrella. At the same time I had the frustrating experiences of waiting in line for the Sistine Chapel, being baffled in the Forum where nothing is marked, etc. It’s great to join in on a small tour group. My favorite is Context Travel, a company that runs tours in Italy’s major cities with limits of six participants.

5. Keep an eye on your stuff. Please don’t become a paranoid traveler, but the truth is there are expert purse snatchers who target tourists in places of major distraction: public transportation, outdoor markets, and crowded sights. Get your offensive style down, so it becomes second nature and you can comfortably roam. While some prefer a secret money belt, I carry a shoulder bag, always closed, tucked under my “inside” arm to avoid whizzing motorini thieves. At sidewalk restaurants, keep your purse hooked to you or your seat.

6. Experience il dolce far niente (the sweetness of doing nothing). Though you’ll have “must sees” on your itinerary, take time to escape from an agenda and simply be in the moment in Italy. This may be sleeping late with the sound of church bells in the distance, lingering at a caffe while beautiful people-watching, or meandering around a vineyard -- such bliss!

Excerpted from 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go, Second Edition.

Join Susan Van Allen for a Golden Week in Tuscany, an inspiring adventure designed for female travelers to enjoy Italy at Harvest Time (November 3-10). 
Some spaces are still available, For more information, click here.  

Cooking under the Tuscan Sun

Il ricettario de “Il sole della Toscana”

The Tuscan Sun Cookbook 

Some people win you over with "hello"; some books, with an irresistible cover or title.  Frances Mayes had me with one spell-binding sentence about the choreography of the kitchen (la coreografia della cucina). The moment I read it, I wondered how it would sound in Italian. With the help of my invaluable colleague Valentina Medda, here is the translation: 

*I peel (io che sbuccio)

*you scrape (tu che gratti)

*wine spills (vino che si rovescia)

*bag splits (borsa che si rompe)

*beans simmer (fagioli che cuociono a fuoco lento)

*sink slurps (lavello che inghiotte l’acqua avidamente)

*petals fall (petali che cadono)

*flour drifts (farina che scivola)

*crust splits (crosta che si spacca)

*aromas spread (aromi che si diffondono)

*lights flicker (luci che sfarfallano)

*chocolate melts (cioccolato che si scioglie)

*glass shatters (vetro che va in frantumi)

*sauce thickens (salsa che si addensa)

*finger bleeds (dito che sanguina)

*cheese ripens (formaggio che matura)

*crumbs fall (briciole che cadono)

*sweat drips (sudore che cola)

*spoon bangs (cucchiaio che sbatte)

*meat glistens (carne che brilla)

*oil spatters (olio che schizza)

*wine breathes (vino che respira)

*garlic smashes (aglio che si schiaccia)

*lettuces float (lattughe che galleggiano)

*silver shines (argento che brilla)

*apron snags (grembiule che si impiglia)

*you sneeze (tu che starnutisci)

*I sing 'oh, my love, my darling' (io che canto ‘oh, amore mio, tesoro mio’)

*and dough rises (e pasta che lievita ) in soft moons the size of my cupped hand (in morbide lune, delle dimensioni della mia mano a coppa),

*as planet earth tilts us toward dinner (mentre il pianeta Terra ci inclina verso la cena).

The Tuscan Sun Cookbook: Recipes from our Italian Kitchen, by Frances and Edward Mayes, celebrates the soul- and appetite-satisfying essence of la cucina povera (the poor kitchen) of rural Tuscany. If you could  capture the sweet and savory joys of Italian food and friendship in a book, this sumptuous volume would be it. It delights the eye, tickles the taste buds and warms the soul. 

More of a buona forchetta (hearty eater) than a cook, I found the words as mouth-watering as the dishes, including such savory ones as:

*scottadito: finger-burners, small grilled lamb chops you eat with your fingers

*stagionata/o: seasoned, used for cheeses aged about a year until hard and flaky; semi-stagionata/o, aged for three or four months

*sformato: unformed, sort of a quiche without a crust (or form)

*pomarola: tomato sauce. Cans of Italian tomatoes are pelati.

*pasta asciutta / pastasciutta: dry pasta that comes in dozens of tongue-pleasing forms, such as mezze maniche (short sleeves), radiatori (radiators), strozzapreti (priest stranglers), stellette (little stars), orecchiette (little ears), penne (pens), vermicelli (little worms), linguine (little tongues), farfalle (butterflies) and cavatappi (corkscrews).

Another essential lesson: The abbreviations “q.b.” or “q.s.” in Italian recipes stand for quanto basta and quantum sufficit (whatever’s enough) -- something Tuscans always seem to know.

Click here for a sample recipe and below for a virtual visit to the Mayes’ kitchen:

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.