Posts from November 2008

Buono o Bello?

Posted by Serena 1 Comment
Nov 6 2008

Good or nice? These two adjectives, together with a couple more, have a very strange habit when they precede a noun. Lets look at them! But before doing so you may want to have a look at the articolo indeterminativo (indefinite article) and articolo determinativo (definite article) that I summarized in my previous post “Articles, articles, articles”. OK! Are you ready?

 

Buono/a follows the rules of the indefinite article un/uno/una before a singular noun: buon giorno (good day), buon anno (happy new year), buono studio (good study), buona vacanza (good holiday). The plural form is regular: buoni for the masculine and buone for the feminine.

 

Bello follows the rules of the definite article when placed before a noun: il bel quadro (the nice painting), il bello specchio (the nice mirror), il bello zoo (the nice zoo), il bell’orologio (the nice watch), la bella macchina (the nice car), la bell’arancia (the nice orange). The same rule applies in the plural: i bei quadri, i begli zoo, i begli orologi, le belle macchine, le belle arance. When bello follows the noun, it behaves regularly: bello, bella, belli, belle.

Two more adjectives behave like bello: quello (that, those) and dello (some).

 

Having explained how to use these adjectives I would now like to write a little on when to use them:

 

Buono is used to express a positive opinion of personal qualities: un uomo buono (a good man), un buon film (a good film, because it deals well with a difficult theme). Buono is also used to describe flavors and smells: una buona pizza (a good pizza), un buon profumo (a nice smell). Finally buono is used to express good wishes: buon viaggio! (have a good journey), buona vacanza! (have a nice holiday).

 

Bello is used to express a positive opinion of the formal, aesthetic aspect: un bell’uomo (a good-looking man), un bel film (a good film because it’s enjoyable), fa bel tempo (the weather is nice).

 

There are two more words that often create some confusion: bravo and bene.

Bravo is an adjective expressing positive qualities and is used only with human beings and animals, not objects: un bravo ragazzo (a well behaved boy). Bravo is also used to say that you are good at something: sono brava a cucinare (I’m good at cooking). N.B. bravo is an adjective, so it changes from masculine to feminine, from singular to plural: bravo, brava, bravi, brave. Show off your knowledge of Italian next time you go to a concert, and shout “brava” to a female performer, or “bravi” if it’s a group!

 

Bene is an adverb, therefore does not change and is used with verbs to express a positive opinion: canta bene (he/she sings well), sto bene (I’m well). Bene is also commonly used to say “it’s a good thing”: è bene imparare l’italiano (it’s a good thing to learn Italian).

 

I hope I haven’t confused you too much!

 

Buono Studio!

Man Rides Pig Underwater! – Part 2

Posted by Serena No Comments
Nov 3 2008

I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for part two of the story of the Maiali (Pigs) or SLC Human Torpedoes that were pioneered by Italy during La Seconda Guerra Mondiale (The Second World War).

In part one I explained that the Maiali were transported to the area of operation on board a specially adapted conventional submarine, this however presented various problems. Firstly it was risky and uneconomical, what’s more a potential target spotted by Italian observers based in Spain could easily have moved on by the time the sub arrived with its cargo of SLC’s. Then there was the problem of the operators getting ‘stale’ during the long voyage. This is where that special combination of Italian inventiveness and good fortune stepped in.

On the 10th June 1940 the Italian nave cisterna (tanker) “Olterra” was in the Bay of Algeciras waiting to unload in the Port of Gibilterra (Gibraltar) when a coded message arrived to say that Italy had entered the war and that the captain should scuttle his ship.

The reluctant captain however decided to ground his ship in the shallows near the coast by blowing a hole in the hull, all documents were destroyed and a skeleton crew of five was left on board to protect the property.

The Olterra remained in this state for the best part of two years before a team of palombari (divers) arrived to repair the hull and refloat the vessel before towing it into port.

The Decima Flottiglia Mas (Mas being short for Mezzi d’Assalto or assault vehicles) planners had been searching for a fixed base for their operations near Gibraltar, and it was Tenente di Vascello Licio Visintini a young maiale operator who hit upon the idea of using the Olterra for this purpose.

In the autumn of 1942 Naval officers and engineers arrived secretly in Algeciras to begin work on converting the Olterra into a human torpedo base. Their cover story was that they were repairing the tanker to be ready for use at the end of the war.

Disguised as tanker engineers the Naval personal began to transform the internal structure of the Olterra. A compartment was created to house the torpedoes and other equipment, and a secret underwater tank was provided by flooding part of the prow. A hinged door was cut through the hull to allow the SLC’s to exit and enter the submerged compartment.

The torpedoes themselves, together with limpet mines etc. were smuggled past the unsuspecting customs officers disguised as spare parts such as piping and machinery for the ‘legitimate repair’ of the ship.

So it was that, right under the noses of the Allies based at Gibraltar, a secret Italian Naval base began to carry out operations against enemy ships, the Maiali leaving covertly from below the waterline of the innocent looking Olterra, and continued to do so undetected until the end of operations.

If you ever happen to be in the La Spezia area, perhaps during a stay in the nearby Cinque Terre, a trip to the Naval Museum is highly recommended. Here you can see one of the famous Maiali together with a section of the Olterra’s hull proudly bearing it’s name. Also on display are large parts of the wreckage of the Italian submarine Scirè which was used to transport the SLC’s into action and which was sunk with the loss of all it’s crew on August 10th 1942 just outside the port of Haifa in Palestine by a British torpedo-boat.

E’ morto l’ultimo reduce della Grande Guerra

Posted by Serena 1 Comment
Nov 1 2008

Born on the 23rd August 1898 Delfino Borroni, who died earlier this week, was the last surviving Italian reduce (veteran) of the Grande Guerra (Great War, i.e. WW1).

Borroni was called up in 1917 at the age of nineteen to serve in the Bersaglieri Ciclisti (infantry with bikes), and began his combat career on the front line of the altopiano di Asiago (Asiago plateau). After a spell fighting at Pasubio he ended up in the infamous trenches at Caporetto.

“Caporetto was the worst place that I saw during the war”, maintained Borroni, “trench life was terrible, the cold, the hunger, the rumble of the bombs, then there were the gas attacks”.

“When it rained there was the temptation to sleep, but that was the moment in which an attack was most likely, so the Captain passed amongst us in his black cape and shouted at us to stay alert”.

One day the Sergeant ordered him to leave the trench for a reconnaissance, “I asked him why he was sending me, the youngest one, out to die and he replied that all the others had children”, recounted Borroni.

“As soon as I had crawled out of the trench a bullet hit me on the boot. I pretended to be dead lying beside two corpses, and when finally the Austrians had gone I managed to rejoin my comrades in retreat. The sergeant took my head on his lap and cried when he saw me alive”.

Some weeks later Borroni was captured but after only a few months of imprisonment he found his opportunity to escape when, after a long day of marching, the Romanian officer on guard fell asleep and Borroni made a run for it. Joining up with a cavalry battalion Delfino then made his way by train to Piacenza from where he wrote to his parents to come and get him.

“ I was resting in a tent, I raised my eyes and saw the boots of my father. Mia madre lancio’ un urlo cosi forte, che quasi mi moriva fra le braccia (My mother let out such a strong cry, she almost died in my arms)”.

After the war Borroni recommenced work as a mechanic, then married and moved to Castano Primo where he found work as a driver on the famous “Gamba de Legn”, the historic Milanese tram.

Delfino Borroni passed away on Sunday 26th October at the age of 110.

You can find a video of Delfino talking about his experinces (in Italian with Italian subtitles) here: Delfino Borroni

There are now only seven survivors of the Great War: Three in Great Britain, two in Canada, one in Australia, and one in America.

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