Posts in November 2008

A visit to the Archaeological Museum in Florence

Posted by Serena
Nov
29
2008

The first time my husband came to Italy I took him to Firenze (Florence) of course. I warned him before hand not to dress like a tourist (no shorts or sandals, no cameras dangling from the neck) because I intended to take him to a place that is very important to me: not the Uffizi, not Palazzo Pitti, but the Museo Archeologico.

I worked at the Archaeological Museum for three years as a part time cataloguer of Egyptian antiquities. Every morning during the summer I would walk from the railway station past Santa Maria Novella, Santa Maria in Fiore and the Battistero, through Piazza SS. Annunziata and enter the back door of Palazzo della Crocetta where the Museum is located. I’d then go through some of the exhibition rooms passing, along the way, the Chimera di Arezzo and greeting the bronze sculpture of the Arringatore (the Orator) before arriving at the storerooms, where boxes and boxes of Egyptian artifacts were stacked up on both sides of the corridor and just about everywhere in the office. The Museum houses the second largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in Italy, the largest being the Museo Egizio di Torino, which is itself one of the biggest in Europe.

Once at my desk, with a ruler and a caliper I’d start measuring and describing in detail all sort of objects, from vases to amulets, from ivory spoons to make-up pallets. I loved to turn these beautiful 5,000 year old zoomorphic pallets over and over in my hands, to feel the smooth texture of the grayish-green polished schist stone.

There were some memorable moments in my job, like the time I couldn’t resist trying on a 3,000 year old faience ring that got stuck on my finger! After a few moments of panic I managed to get it off without breaking it. Another ‘interesting’ moment came when I had to catalogue a mummified human left foot! I can still visualize the nail of its big toe sticking out from the linen bandages. I must admit that this time I tried to handle it as little as possible and I wore a pair of disposable gloves.

A visit to the Museo Archeologico is well worth while even if you don’t have the opportunity to rummage through the boxes in the storerooms. Aside from the Egyptian collection the Museum houses one of the biggest collection of Etruscan antiquities in Italy, amongst which are some exquisite pieces. In the Galleria dei bronzi (Bronze Gallery) are some famous monumental bronze sculptures such as the Chimera di Arezzo (5th cent.BC) and the Arringatore (3rd cent.BC).

The Museum is housed in Palazzo della Crocetta, built in the 17th century by Giulio Parigi for Maria Maddalena de’ Medici, sister of Prince Cosimo II. A corridor links the building with the nearby church of SS. Annunziata. This corridor was constructed to allow the Princess Maria Maddalena, who was physically deformed, to attend religious functions without being seen by the public.

If you happen to visit the museum on a Saturday morning and fancy a breath of fresh air there is a lovely 18th century garden designed by Francesco Romoli who was head gardener of the Giardino di Boboli at Palazzo Pitti.

 

Buona Visita!

 
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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Posted by Serena
Nov
27
2008

A few days ago we came across a DVD of the famous spaghetti western movie ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’, starring Clint Eastwood, directed by Sergio Leone and made memorable by Ennio Morricone’s haunting soundtrack. Its Italian title is Il Buono, il Brutto e il Cattivo, and this prompted the question from my English husband: “Which is the Bad and which is the Ugly?” “Bad is cattivo and ugly is brutto” “Why do you use brutto for ugly and then you say: fa brutto tempo (the weather is bad)?” “OK, mi arrendo (I surrender)! I’ll go and do a bit of research.” So, here are the results according to my Vocabolario della Lingua Italiana Treccani:

Cattivo derives from the Latin “captivus” (lit. prisoner); its modern meaning has its origins in the Latin Christian expression captivus diaboli (lit. prisoner of the devil). Cattivo is the opposite of buono in almost all its various meanings. For the use of “buono” see the blog Buono o Bello? .

  • From its religious origin comes the main meaning of cattivo as bad in a moral sense. With this connotation it is used to describe people, animals, actions, thoughts and words: una persona cattiva (a bad person), il lupo cattivo (the Big Bad Wolf), parole cattive (words said with the intention of hurting somebody).
  • Cattivo is also used to describe somebody who is not good at his/her job or duty: un cattivo padre (a bad father), un cattivo insegnante (a bad teacher). In a similar vein it is used for physical and mental activities that are not functioning properly, or things that are in a bad state: cattiva digestione (poor digestion), cattiva memoria (poor memory), una strada cattiva (a bad road), un motore in cattive condizioni (an engine in a bad state).
  • Just like buono, cattivo is used for something that is unpleasant to the taste and the smell: cattivo sapore (bad taste), cattivo odore (bad smell).

Brutto is the direct opposite of bello (see blog Buono o Bello?) and is used to describe an aesthetically unpleasant sensation in relationship to people, animals or objects: una persona brutta (an ugly person), un brutto naso (an ugly nose), un brutto cane (an ugly dog), un brutto vestito (an ugly dress). Because of its aesthetic judgment, brutto refers to things that are unpleasant to the senses of hearing and sight: una brutta voce (an ugly voice), una brutta musica (an unpleasant piece of music), un brutto quadro (a bad picture), un brutto film (a bad film).

There are also situations where brutto and cattivo are interchangeable such as when talking about weather, news, manners, events and fame: fa brutto/cattivo tempo (the weather is bad), ricevere una brutta/cattiva notizia (to get bad news), brutte/cattive maniere (bad manners), fare un brutto/cattivo viaggio (to have a bad journey), avere un brutto/cattivo nome (to have a bad name).

To return to the title of the film ‘Il Buono, il Brutto e il Cattivo’ (in Italian: The Good, the Ugly and the Bad) you may now notice that the word order has been changed. This has probably been done for alliterative reasons as Il Buono, il Cattivo e il Brutto simply doesn’t sound right in Italian. For example, when young children are very angry and want to insult a person, particularly an adult, they say “brutto cattivo!”. Trust me, it’s an aesthetic thing, cattivo before brutto sounds……well, brutto!

Finally, a word on male: this is the opposite of bene (see blog Buono o Bello?). Male is an adverb, not an adjective like the previous two, therefore it qualifies verbs, not nouns: stare male (to be unwell), comportarsi male (to behave badly), funzionare male (to not work properly).

I think I’ll stop now and go and watch that film!

 
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È arrivata la neve, the snow has arrived!

Posted by Serena
Nov
24
2008

Opening the shutters this morning I was greeted by a world magically transformed overnight by la neve (the snow). The late autumn mauves, blues, golds and ambers of yesterday now seem a thing of the distant past, having been replaced by an almost monochromatic landscape. As usual, when the snow arrives, the world seems strangely hushed and subdued.

Va bene (O.K.), I thought to myself, time to put a few logs on the fire and write a wintry vocabulary blog.

Questa notte è nevicato (last night it snowed) and today there is enough snow to make palle di neve (snow balls), which we can then tirare or lanciare (throw): tirare/lanciare palle di neve (to throw snow balls).

If we are feeling really ambitious we can even try to make a pupazzo di neve (literally “puppet of snow”, or snowman).

Going out and about in this weather you have to be very careful not to scivolare (slip) on a lastra di ghiaccio (sheet of ice) or get hit on the head by un ghiacciolo (icicle).

Of course for some people scivolare is exactly what they do want to do. I’m thinking of those who enjoy lo sci (skiing). In order to ski, apart from a good sense of balance, you will obviously need gli sci (skis). To understand why we say lo sci and gli sci see this blog articles-articles-articles

 If you’ve got a really good sense of balance (and a padded backside) you might fancy a bit of pattinaggio (skating) for which you will need un paio di pattini (a pair of skates).

As we live in a small mountain village we are always glad to see lo spazzaneve (lit. snow brusher or snowplough) arrive, however it’s advisable to have a set of catene (chains) to put on your tyres if things get really bad, in fact in certain cases it is compulsory to have snow chains. Yesterday, for example, whilst driving on the autostrada (motorway) near Genova we noticed signs saying: “Obbligo di catene a bordo” (It is obligatory to carry chains in your car). 

 

 

Personally I think that for today I’ll just stick to sitting by the fire and admiring the landscape through the window: “ah, che bello!”

 
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Mamma Mia!

Posted by Serena
Nov
22
2008

Today I’ll try to shed a bit of light on the use of the aggettivi possessivi (possessive adjectives). Lets first have a quick look at them:

 

My = mio, mia, miei, mie

Your (sing.) = tuo, tua, tuoi, tue

His/her/its/Your (polite)  = suo, sua, suoi, sue

Our = nostro, nostra, nostri, nostre

Your (plur.) = vostro, vostra, vostri, vostre

Their = loro

 

As you can see from the above list, with the exception of loro (their) which doesn’t change, all the other possessive adjectives have four different endings: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural and feminine plural. The possessive adjectives agree with the object or person they describe, not with the owner. For example, I’m a woman and I’ll say: il mio libro (my book) and la mia penna (my pen). My brother will say exactly the same: il mio libro, la mia penna.

 

More confusing for English speakers is the use of his/her/its because we don’t specify whether the “owner” is a he or a she or an it, but again the choice of the ending depends on the object. So, if I’m talking about Bruno, I’ll say il suo libro and la sua penna. The same applies if I’m talking about Laura: il suo libro, la sua penna. Usually the meaning of suo, sua, suoi, sue is clear from the context; if not, it’s better to specify the owner: il libro di Bruno, la penna di Laura, etc.

 

You might have noticed that in all the examples I’ve used the definite article (il, lo, la, i, gli, le). But there is an exception to this rule! If a singular family member is described, then we drop the article: mio padre (my father), nostra madre (our mother). However, if there is a second adjective, a suffix or a prefix that modifies the noun, the article comes back again: la mia nonna materna (my maternal grandmother), la mia sorellina (my little sister), and la mia bisnonna (my great grandmother). Mamma (mum), papà or babbo (dad) are considered to be affectionate forms and are used with or without the article: mia mamma or la mia mamma. Of course the form that foreigners are most familiar with is MAMMA MIA! (lit. My Mother!) which is used on its own as an exclamation and can be translated as something like Goodness Gracious!

N.B. Loro always takes the definite article: la loro figlia (their daughter).

 

Finally, in the plural the article is always used: i miei genitori (my parents), le sue figlie (his/her daughters).

 
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La Castagna (The Chestnut)

Posted by Serena
Nov
20
2008

November. It’s time to sit around a log fire and savor a handful of hot caldarroste (roasted chestnuts) with a glass of vino novello (new wine). What more could you ask for?

Large parts of central and northern Italy are covered with castagneti (chestnut woods) and for centuries chestnuts were the main source of food for the winter. This is reflected in the variety of chestnut dishes, both sweet and savory, which are still popular today.

Chestnuts can be eaten fresh, either roasted or boiled. Try the following recipe for boiled chestnuts: remove the outer hard skin and put them in a saucepan with enough water to cover, add a bay leaf and a sprig of green fennel and boil them for about forty minutes. Leave them to cool, peel off the soft skin and enjoy! If you omit the herbs you can then mash the boiled chestnuts to make chestnut purée to for desserts or to make gnocchi di castagne (chestnut dumplings).

But in order to preserve them for the whole winter the chestnuts must be dried first. After having removed the two layers of skin, the dried chestnuts are then cooked in soups or soaked in hot milk for breakfast. I love putting a small piece of dry chestnut in my mouth and chewing it slowly, like a sweet.

Dry chestnuts are also used to make farina di castagne (chestnut flour). In the past each village had its own mulino (mill) powered by water. The flour is used to make a sort of pancake called Pattona in Northern Tuscany, Castagnaccio in the area between Lucca and Firenze, and Torta di Neccio in the area near Siena. There are minor variations between these recipes, and my favorite is certainly the Pattona because it is so simple and wholesome. To make Pattona first prepare a fairly runny batter with chestnut flour, water, and a pinch of salt. Leave it to rest for half an hour. In the mean time soak some chestnut leaves in hot water (these should be collected at the end of the summer and stored for the winter). Pat them dry and use them to line a shallow backing tray (yes, we invented greaseproof paper a long time ago! and a very natural ecologically friendly one). Pour the chestnut batter on the top of the leaves (about 1 cm thick) and cook in a very hot oven for 10-15 minutes until the surface starts cracking. Enjoy the Pattona warm with some fresh ricotta (fresh curd cheese); I love the smell of the roasted chestnut leaves but don’t forget to peel them off before eating it!

 
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