Viva la Befana

Jan
6
2009

“Epifania, tutte le feste si porta via” (Epiphany brings an end to all the festivities).

Epifania, a Latin word with Greek origins, means “(festival of) the apparition” or “manifestation (of the divinity)”. In the Catholic church the Epifania celebrates the visit of the Re Magi (the Wise Kings) to Gesu’ Bambino (Baby Jesus) on the 6th of January. In common speech however Epifania has been transformed into the word befana.

The Story of La Befana

Legend has it that on their way to Bethlehem, the Re Magi met an old woman, la Befana, and invited her to go with them to visit Gesu’ Bambino. As it was a very cold night the old woman decided against travelling with the Re Magi but to follow on instead at daylight. The following morning la Befana prepared a basket with some presents to take to Gesu’ Bambino, but when she arrived at the stable she found it empty, the Holy Family having fled to Egypt to escape the wrath of King Herod. Every year thereafter la Befana, full of remorse, travels far and wide on the night between the 5th and the 6th of January to leave a present for every child in the hope that one of them may be Gesu’ Bambino.

“La Befana vien di notte con le scarpe tutte rotte” (the Befana comes in the night with her shoes all broken) and leaves presents in the calza (stocking) that children hang near the fireplace or at the bottom of the bed. La calza della Befana (the Befana’s stocking) usually contains some cioccolatini (chocolates), torrone (nougat), noci (nuts), mandarini (tangerines), and a little present sticking out at the top. But “se il bambino e’ stato cattivo” (if the child has been naughty) then he/she will find il carbone della Befana (the Befana’s charcoal, which is actually a black colored rock sugar) instead of a present. When my older brother was 5 years old he had been very naughty over the Christmas holiday, and my parents decided not to give him a present but, as we lived abroad, they couldn’t get hold of any carbone della Befana, so they got some real carbone instead. On the morning of the 6th of January when my brother looked in his calza he was shocked to find a lump of charcoal. After a few speechless moments he turned towards my father with a big grin and said: “Guarda papa’, la Befana ti ha portato il carbone per la griglia!” (Look dad, the Befana has brought you the charcoal for the barbeque!).

Traditionally Italian children used to get presents only from the Befana at the end of the Christmas holiday and not from Papa’ Natale (Father Christmas) or Gesu’ Bambino. When we were older my mother told us that as a child she used to get very upset about only receiving her presents on the day before going back to school, having spent the whole of the Christmas holidays playing with her old toys. When she grew up and found out about Papa’ Natale, she decided to adopt his tradition so that when she had children they could enjoy their presents for the whole of the holiday. I would imagine that something similar has happened in most Italian families because these days every child gets presents both on Christmas day and for Befana! But despite the arrival of Papa’ Natale and Gesu’ Bambino, la Befana is still a deeply rooted Italian tradition, and when some years ago the Italian government decide to delete this festivity from the school calendar because they believed it was redundant, most Italian families refused to send their children to school on that day. After a couple of years the government had to give in and reintroduce la Festa della Befana.

Viva la Befana!

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Il Regista Italiano, Sergio Leone

Jan
5
2009

Last Saturday, the 3rd of January, was the 80th anniversary of the birth of the legendary Italian regista (director) Sergio Leone, an event that has been commemorated here in Italy by the many journalists and individuals who have payed tribute to his genius.

According to an article in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra (3rd Jan 2009) entitled ‘Leo Mania, Il regista rivive in Rete’ ( ‘Leo Mania, the director lives again on the Internet’) Leone, who died nearly 20 years ago has become a myth even for the younger generation many of whom are able to recite from memory entire dialogues from his films. Apparently at the time of writing the Facebook page for Sergio Leone registers 21,534 fans, a huge amount for a dead Italian director who made relatively few films.

Leone is probably best known for his so called ‘Spaghetti Westerns’, especially the ‘trilogia del dollaro’ (dollar trilogy): Per un pugno di dollari (A Fistful of Dollars), Per qualche dollaro in piu (A Few Dollars More), and Il Buono il Brutto e il Cattivo (The Good the Bad and the Ugly). (see my previous blog here: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly)

Born in Rome the son of cinema pioneer Vincenzo Leone and Edvige Valcarenghi, Leone began working in the film industry at the age of 18. From writing screenplays in the 1950’s he progressed to directing low budget ‘Hollywood’ style epics such as ‘The Colossus of Rhodes’ in the 60’s.

When the market for epic productions collapsed at the end of the 60’s Leone was fortunate enough to be involved in the genre that took their place, namely the revival of the Western.

With the ‘Spaghetti Western’ Leone developed a gritty realistic style quite unlike that of earlier Hollywood Westerns in which the characters looked like they had walked straight out of a fashion show. In Leone’s productions the lines between the ‘Goodies’ and the ‘Baddies’ become blurred as he introduces greater moral ambiguity, a style which continues to influence filmmaking today, not only within the Western genre. It seems rather ironic that an Italian who spoke no English and had never experienced the ‘Old West’ should have almost singlehandedly redefined the vision of the American Cowboy.

In 1967, due to the success of his ‘Dollar Trilogy’ (also known as ‘The Man With No Name trilogy’) Leone was invited to America by Paramount Studios to make the film C’Era Una Volta il West (Once upon a time in the West). The film, which many regard as Leon’s greatest, was shot mainly in Almeria, Spain and Cinecitta’ (Cinema City), in Rome, and was released to great acclaim in Europe. However, probably due to drastic editing by Paramount Studios, the film was not a success in America, a fate which also awaited  his later production ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. Originally running for the best part of four hours ‘Once Upon a Time in America’, a project that occupied Leone for ten years, was an epic tale of the lives of a group of New York gangsters from the early 1900’s through to the late 1960’s. Unfortunately the film was hacked down by Paramount to just over two hours and was a flop in America. In the rest of the world, however, where the full version was released, it was received with great appreciation by both the public and critics. It wasn’t until the release of the uncut version on DVD that the film finally received the critical acclaim it deserved in the USA.

Well known for his compulsive eating and consequent obesity Leone was struck down at the age of sixty on the 30th April 1989 by a heart attack. Amongst unrealized projects was the outline for an epic based on the siege of Leningrad entitled ‘Leningrad: The 900 Days’. Shooting of the film was due to begin in 1990 but was cancelled due to Leone’s untimely death.

For more information about Sergio Leone including a full filmography visit imdb.com Sergio Leone

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A different point of view!

Jan
3
2009

Mi piace l’italiano. The preceding sentence is a good example of the confusing difference between English and Italian when we talk about what we like. Literally translated as “Italian pleases me” what it actually means is “I like Italian”. Whereas in English the action of liking moves from the person to the object, in Italian it moves from the object to the person. Not surprisingly English speakers find this a difficult concept to grasp as the point of view is reversed. It’s important to understand that the verb piacere literally means “to please” (“to please” in English comes from the French “plaisir” which in turns comes from the Latin “placere” = Italian “piacere”).

The verb piacere is only used in two basic forms: piace (lit. it pleases) if you like one thing, and piacciono (lit. they please) if you like several things. For example: mi piace l’arte translates literally as “art pleases me” meaning in English “I like art”; mi piacciono le mostre is literally “exhibitions please me” meaning “I like exhibitions”. Let’s have a look at the present tense:

Mi piace il vino = I like wine

Ti piace il vino = you (informal) like wine

Le piace il vino = you (formal) like wine

Gli/le piace il vino = he/she likes wine

Ci piace il vino = we like wine

Vi piace il vino = you like wine

Gli piace il vino = they like wine

Or:

Mi piacciono gli spaghetti = I like spaghetti

Ti piacciono gli spaghetti = you (informal) like spaghetti

Le piacciono gli spaghetti = you (formal) like spaghetti

Gli/le piacciono gli spaghetti = he/she likes spaghetti

Ci piacciono gli spaghetti = we like spaghetti

Vi piacciono gli spaghetti = you like spaghetti

Gli piacciono gli spaghetti = they like spaghetti

Note that the person “who likes” is expressed by the indirect pronoun (dative pronoun): mi, ti, gli, le, ci, vi, gli. However in certain cases piacere is used with a plus the stressed pronouns me, te, lui, lei, noi, voi, loro. Stressed pronouns are more emphatic than indirect pronouns, so we use this construction in a comparison or a contrast: e.g. a me piace il caffè, ma a lui piace il tè (I like coffee, but he likes tea); a me piace il mare, e a te? (I like the sea, how about you?). This type of construction is also used after anche (also) when we agree that we like something: a me piacciono gli spaghetti al pesto. Anche a me! (I like spaghetti with pesto. Me too!). Anche a te piace il vino rosso? (Do you like red wine too?). Using the two constructions together – a me mi piace – is incorrect, but it’s often used by children, who desperately want everybody to know what they like e.g. “a me mi piace il gelato!”

The preposition a is also needed with a person’s name or a noun: e.g. a Stefano piace il tennis (Stefano likes tennis); a mia figlia piace la musica (my daughter likes music).

To finish off, a note on the use of piacere with the passato prossimo (present perfect). The passato prossimo of piacere is built with the present of the verb essere plus the past participle of piacere: piaciuto, piaciuta, piaciuti, piaciute. As we have seen, the action of piacere moves from the object to the person, so the past participle must agree in gender and number with the objects(s), not the person “who likes”: e.g. a Mario è piaciuta la torta di mele (lit: “the apple cake pleased Mario”, meaning “Mario liked the apple cake”); a Giovanna è piaciuto il libro (lit: “the book pleased Giovanna”, meaning “Giovanna liked the book”); mi sono piaciuti i fiori (lit: “the flowers pleased me”, meaning “I liked the flowers”); mi sono piaciute le tue poesie (lit: “your poems pleased me”, meaning “I liked your poems”).

As the title says ‘It’s all about a different point of view’.

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Papà Natale è brutto e cattivo

Jan
1
2009

In response to my blog “La Leggenda del Panettone” I had an e-mail from a reader asking me to write something about Christmas traditions in Italy.

 

When I was eight years old a new girl came to my school. One day, talking with her about regali di Natale (Christmas presents) I discovered with great astonishment that her presents were brought not by Papà Natale (Father Christmas) but by Gesù Bambino (Baby Jesus). I had never heard of such a thing, and so we started arguing about who it was that brought the presents, Papà Natale or Gesù Bambino? To settle the matter we decided to go and ask our parents and they gently explained to us that we were both right because Gesù Bambino cannot deliver all the presents by himself so he needs a helper, Papà Natale. My friend turned triumphantly to me and declared: “I’m more important than you! I get Gesù Bambino to bring my presents, not his helper!” to which I replied: “Yes, but at least I’ve seen Papà Natale several times and I know he’s real. You have never seen Gesù Bambino for real and will never see him, because solo i bambini molto buoni possono vedere Gesù Bambino (only the really good children can see Baby Jesus)”.

Talking of bambini molto buoni, the daughter of a friend of mine doesn’t like Papà Natale because, according to her, he is brutto e cattivo (ugly and bad). So this year she wrote a letter to Gesù Bambino asking him not to send Papà Natale to her, but to come personally because she is una bambina buona (a good girl).

 

Gesù Bambino or Papà Natale usually leaves the Christmas presents under the albero di Natale (Christmas tree) in the living room. In another corner of the room you will often find a Presepe (Nativity) with la stella cometa (the star) above la grotta (the grotto, usually called the stable in English Nativities), where Giuseppe e Maria (Joseph and Mary) kneel around the empty mangiatoia (the manger, from the verb mangiare, to eat). Gesù Bambino, following the tradition of the Nativity story, is only placed in the manger on Christmas night. The Presepe is deeply rooted in Italian tradition, the first one having been created in 1223 in Greccio, Umbria, by San Francesco d’Assisi (St. Francis of Assisi). The Christmas tree on the other hand has only become popular in recent years.

I biglietti di Natale (Christmas cards) are not a big thing in Italy, it’s more important to get in touch with people directly, either by visiting or phoning them, therefore we spend a big part of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning visiting friends and family or talking on the telephone. Cards are considered a substitute to personal contact, so I was very surprised on spending my first Christmas in England to see people handing each other Christmas cards.

La Vigilia di Natale (Christmas Eve) is probably more important than Christmas day here in Italy. We have la Cena di Natale (Christmas evening meal) with the family and we eat and drink while waiting for the Messa di mezzanotte (Midnight Mass). The following day we eat and drink again at the Pranzo di Natale (Christmas midday meal) with other members of the family often at somebody else’s house. For example: if the Vigilia di Natale is spent with the husband’s family, the Pranzo di Natale might be spent with the wife’s family, and so on. As for the menu, we don’t have a typical Christmas meal here in Italy, but rather many regional or even family traditional meals. This year for the first time I even heard of stuffed rabbit as the main course! Probably the only two traditional elements of the meal are the tortellini in brodo  (tortellini in broth) for the first course, and Panettone with Spumante for dessert.

The arrival of the Panettone is the cue for young children to stand on a chair and recite la poesia di Natale (the Christmas poem). How well I remember the torment of that embarrassing experience!

After eating finchè non scoppiamo (until we explode) we go out for a stroll in the afternoon and then into a bar for a warming caffè or digestivo.

 

Buone Feste!

 

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Terremoto – Earthquake

Dec
29
2008

Terremoto: from the Latin Terrae-earth and Motus-movement or shaking.

 

In the late afternoon of 23rd December 2008 a deep rumbling vibration heralded the arrival of the latest terremoto to hit the Italian peninsula. The epicenter of the earthquake, measuring 5.1 on the Richter Scale, took place about 40-50 km from us at a depth of 26 kilometers underground in the region between Parma and Reggio Emilia. The fact that the epicenter was so deep meant that the shock waves were felt over a wide area. My neighbor’s mother, who is 83 and completely deaf, was sitting by the stove knitting. When the quake struck she put down her work looked up and exclaimed “Terremoto!”.

“Grande paura, gente in strada” (A big scare, folk out in the street) said the papers the following morning. Being the final run up to Christmas the shops in Parma were packed and there was, naturally, quite a bit of a panic when everything began to shake. Fortunately no one was injured and no serious damage was done.

There is, however, something extremely unsettling about an event like this because the realization dawns that terra ferma (stable ground) is not as stable as you would like to think. It also reminds us that Italia, being on the edge of the African continental plate, is a zona sismica (earthquake zone) and that the worst earthquake to take place in Europe happened a hundred years ago at 5.21 a.m. on the 28th December 1908 in the Stretto di Messina (Straits of Messina). The Terremoto di Messina measured 7.2 on the Richter scale and lasted between 30 and 40 seconds almost completely destroying Messina, located in Sicily, and Reggio Calabria on the Italian mainland. The terremoto was followed by a maremoto (Tsunami), which swept 13m high waves against the coast causing further devastation. It is estimated that about 90% of the buildings in Messina were rasi al suolo (razed to the ground). This was partly due to the construction of the buildings themselves which, unlike those built more recently, were not made to withstand seismic shocks, and had heavy roofs, which tended to collapse comparatively easily. This, together with the magnitude of the quake and the fact that it took place in the early hours of the morning when most people were still in bed, accounts for the horrifying loss of life, an estimated 100,000 people.

The above is a photo of Messina after the earthquake

For a list of the main Italian earth quakes from 62 A.D. to the present day have a look at this link: Lista di Terremoto in Italia

To get an idea of how frequently earthquakes take place in Italy (two so far today, three yesterday!) and view maps of quake locations try this site: www.earthquake.it

 

I hope I haven’t put you off a tranquil visit to Italy!

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