Posts from June 2009

A visit to Portovenere

Posted by Serena 6 Comments
Jun 15 2009

Last week my husband, my uncle and I went for a day out to Portovenere, a little jewel on the Riviera di Levante (the Eastern Riviera) in Liguria. Portovenere is a medieval fishing village situated on the southern tip of the Golfo di La Spezia also known as Il Golfo dei Poeti (the Gulf of the Poets), which takes its name from the 18th century British poets Byron and Shelley, who loved this area and lived here for a while. On arriving we set out along the promenade which is backed by an impressive wall of multicolored case torri (tower houses). Reaching the end of the promenade, we climbed up the stone steps to the small church of San Pietro situated on a rocky outcrop on the very edge of the peninsula. This small church, originally constructed in the the 6th century A.D. was rebuilt in 1277 in the typical Genovese Gothic style, with its grey and black horizontal stripes of local stone. From the cool dark shade inside the church you can walk out onto a tiny balcony at the back that affords a great view accross the stretto (straight) that divides terraferma (the mainland) from the luxuriant, green Isola della Palmaria (Isle of Palmaria). On the western side of the church there is a small portico with romantic arches facing towards the beautiful coast of Le Cinque Terre and its magnificent scogliere (cliffs). The church of San Pietro is said to be built on the remains of a Roman temple dedicated to the goddess Venere (Venus), and from this comes the name of the village, Portovenere, literally “Venus’ port”.

After a quick visit to La Grotta di Byron (Byron’s grotto), from which Byron famously swam to visit his friends the Shelleys in Lerici on the other side of the gulf, we walked down the main street to the molo (pier) where we were picked up by a beautifully stylish motoscafo (motor launch). The motoscafo took as across the narrow stretto to a famous restaurant on the Isola della Palmaria: I felt like a film star arriving at the Cannes festival! We had a wonderful meal of fish and frutti di mare (fruits of the sea, e.g. shellfish etc.) accompanied by a deliciously refreshing Vermentino (a white wine), and ending with a fantastic dessert, Torta di pere e cioccolato con salsa di cioccolato calda (pear and chocolate cake with hot chocolate sauce), and a creamy sorbetto al limone (lemon sorbet). All of this was a treat from my uncle, who regularly brings his guests to this place when he wants to fare bella figura (make a good impression). While waiting for ‘our’ boat to take us back to Portovenere we chatted to an old pescatore (fisherman) who was cleaning his catch of cozze (mussels) ready to be sold in the pescheria (fishmongers). He told us that Portovenere’s bay is one of the biggest farms for cozze in Italy, and that they export le sementi  (lit. ‘the seeds’, i.e. the baby mussels) to other Italian mussel farms. He also showed us the trecce (plaits, or cables), that are attached to poles planted in the water, and on which the cozze live and breed, complaining that nowadays they are all made of plastic because it lasts longer, and you can no longer find the old ones made from canapa (hemp).

When we got back to Portovenere, my uncle had another surprise for us: he sent us off on the Giro delle Tre Isole (Tour of the Three Islands) on a battello (passenger ferry). Situated in front of the very tip of Portovenere are three islands all in a row. Firstly there is Palmaria, (where we had our wonderful lunch) which is the biggest and has very few houses which are lived in by civilians, the bulk of the island being a military base. Then there is Tino, the middle island, which is owned entirely by the military, and is only open to civilians once a year, on the 13th of September for the celebration of the festival of San Venerio. San Venerio was a hermit who lived on the island in the 6th century A.D., and on stormy nights used to light fires to warn ships of the presence of rocks and shallow waters. He is now the patron saint of semaforisti and faristi (signals people and lighthouse keepers). The third island is Tinetto, which is just a largish rock in the sea. During our tour the remains of the cave di portoro (quarries of the local marble) on Palmaria were pointed out to us by one of the crew. Portoro is a precious black marble with golden veins which was quarried here until about 30 years ago, and in a small sheltered bay on the far side of the island you can still see a scivolo (slide) running down the steep hillside which was used to carry the portoro down to the sea and load it into boats, a pretty dangerous operation! Also on Palmaria is the Grotta Azzurra  (Blue Cave), which can only be visited in una barca a remi (a rowing boat). On the island of Tino there are the remains of fortifications built by the Germans during WW2 in defense of La Spezia’s harbor, which was (and still is) an important naval base; some of these fortifications and the sheer cliffs on which they are located were used as a set in the famous film I Cannoni di Navarrone (The Guns of Navarrone).

The highlight of our Giro delle Tre Isole, however, was the fact that we had the good fortune to see two pesci luna (moon fish), which are also known as pesci tamburo (drum fish). This was my first encounter with pesci luna despite the fact that they are native to the Mediterranean sea, and I must say they are amazing! This peculiar creature is a flat, round fish that can reach over two meters in diameter. It comes up to the surface to sleep, and in fact on first sight I thought that the first one we saw was dead, but after a couple of seconds it flipped its fin as if saluting us and disappeared into the deep.

For more info. on Portovenere, and some photos have a look at this website: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porto_Venere

Parliamo L’Italiese, part 2

Posted by Serena 5 Comments
Jun 12 2009

In my last blog I had a look at the way in which English words have been incorporated into the Italian language. In part two I thought it would be interesting to take a look at ‘the other side of the coin’, and discover some of the less obvious Italian words that we use in everyday English, i.e. not pizza, spaghetti, cappuccino, and so on. But first of all I’d like to direct you to this interesting BBC article which indicates that Anglicization is not necessarily that popular amongst us Italians: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7608860.stm

Italian words have long been a feature of the English language, particularly in the fields of art, architecture, and music. In fact the vast majority of expressive musical terms are Italian, largely due to the fact that the practice of indicating speed and strength in musical notation began in 17th century Italy. The huge popularity of Italian music helped to disperse this practice and we continue to use the terminology today. Let’s look at a few examples:

Forte – in musical terms means loud. In Italian it can also mean: strong, tough, considerable, severe, and, if you’re describing a color, bright.

Piano – in musical terms means soft. In Italian it can also mean: slowly, flat, floor (as in lui abita al primo piano – he lives on the first floor), plain (geographical), carefully (as in andarci piano – go carefully), and plan (as in piano d’emergenza – emergency plan).

From these two musical terms derives the name of the musical instrument, Piano, which is an abbreviation of pianoforte. The name pianoforte (originally piano e forte) describes the qualities of the instrument, literally soft and loud.

Adagio – in musical terms means slow. This isn’t used much in spoken Italian, we prefer to use piano.

Allegro – in musical terms means lively or fast. In spoken Italian it means happy, or jolly.

Andante -in musical terms means ‘at a moderate pace’. Andante, (walking/going) is the present participle of the verb andare which means ‘to walk’, or ‘to go’, and is not commonly used in spoken Italian.

Then there is Andantino, which instructs the musician to play faster than Andante, and Andante ma non troppo which literally means: at a moderate pace but not too moderate! So how fast is that? che ne so io! (how would I know!).

This is just a small selection of the many descriptive musical terms which have been adopted from the Italian language. There are also, of course, many musical instruments other than the pianoforte that have Italian names, e.g. Violin from violino, which is a diminutive of viola, then there is cello which is an abbreviation of violoncello which is itself a diminutive of violone or ‘big viola’, and so on, ……………phew!

Closely linked to music we have the word ballerina which is a female ballet dancer. In Italian we also have the word ballerino for a male ballet dancer, and both of these words come from the Italian verb ballare meaning to dance. The word ballet itself has come into the English language via French, and originated in Italian as balletto, which is the diminutive of ballo (ball).

In the field of architecture we have such words as balcony from balcone, and campanile from…..well campanile (bell tower), however many other words that are often cited as having been adopted from Italian have actually come into the English language from Latin via French or various other convoluted routes. Baluster is a particularly interesting example, having come into English from the French word balustre which came from the Italian balaustra, which came via Latin from the Greek word balaustion, the name of the wild pomegranate flower which is shaped like? yes a baluster! Then of course there’s the word balustrade which is a row of balusters with a railing on the top to form a kind of banister, and just to stretch things a bit further banister is a corruption of barrister, which is itself a corruption of baluster! mamma mia … mi fa male la testa!

From these examples we can see that the adopting of ‘foreign’ words is nothing new, especially when a new art or science, with its own special terminology, spreads throughout different cultures. For me it also highlights what a rich and rewarding experience learning a new language can be, because in the process you also relearn your own language, and discover something of its roots. If you would like to do a bit of research yourself you will need a good English dictionary which gives you the etymology, or linguistic roots, of each word. Beware, however, of lists which you might find on the internet, they are usually full of errors! If you find anything interesting please share it with us in the comments section.

 

 

Parliamo L’Italiese

Posted by Serena 9 Comments
Jun 9 2009

Whether we like it or not, la bella lingua has absorbed a fairly substantial vocabulary from the English language. The language of sport and entertainment in Italy, for example, has long been influenced by English: ‘Il Jazz’ for example, was already in use back in the 1920s. During the fascist years under Mussolini there was an unsuccessful attempt to ‘purify’ the Italian language, and to replace ‘Il Jazz’ with an Italian interpretation: ‘Il Giazzo’. In general though, we Italians seem to prefer to adopt rather than adapt the words we need, and hence we commonly use such terms as il rock, la star, lo sport, il fitness, la mountain bike, il tennis, and so on.  Fortunately perhaps, the name of our national sport, il calcio (football), has avoided Anglicization, as has that other great sporting passion il ciclismo (cycling). Il golf is an interesting case because until recently it was not a popular sport in Italy. The word il golf however has been around a while in our language, and generally denotes not the sport itself but a cardigan or jumper (deriving from the English golfing wear).

Another interesting use of an English word is la spider, which is not, as you may think, an insect, but a convertible sports car. Why? because the name comes from the spider shaped framework of the hood, and we probably use the word spider instead of ragno because it sounds more ‘cool’ or exotic.

This is certainly the case with many ‘lifestyle’ words that have recently become trendy in popular Italian culture. In the world of fashion for example everyone seems to be after ‘il look’. I’m looking at the front of one of my Italian dressmaking magazines called Boutique, and here are some of the eye-catching headlines I find on the front page (English words highlighted in blue): DRAPPEGI SEXY; SUMMER STYLE – LOOK CITTA’, MARE, O COUNTRY; PER LUI, UNO STILE SURF UNISEX, well you get the idea.

Another ‘lifestyle’ area invaded by trendy English words is ‘il fitness’. One that always makes me laugh is ‘il wellness’ which is our version of the term ‘wellbeing’ for which we already have the very nice, but terribly unfashionable word, benessere. Some Italian friends of ours recently asked us about one of the latest ‘English’ terms that has crept in: ‘full immersion’ as in sono andato a un full immersion weekend di fitness. “You’ve lived in England, what exactly does it mean?” they asked. “Boh!”, was my reply, neither me nor my English husband had ever heard anything like it, perhaps it has arrived from America, It didn’t involved scuba diving by any chance?

Recently, with the advent of the computer and particularly the internet, we have had a huge influx of English words and terminology. In computing for example we use: il computer, il monitor (although we also use lo schermo – the screen), il mouse, clicca (an Italianized version of click), on-line, and so on, however we also use the Italian words tastiera (keyboard), stampante (printer), and casse acustiche (speakers)….. as you can see a real pasticcione  (big messy mixture)!

 

 

 

Bisogno or Bisogna?

Posted by Serena 1 Comment
Jun 6 2009

Here is another example of a verb that does not translate very well from English into Italian: “to need”. In Italian the verb bisognare (to need) has become redundant except in its third person form, but we use two different constructions to express the concept of ‘need’ that should not be confused with each other, bisogno and bisogna. So what is the difference between the two, and how do we use them?

Bisogno is a noun meaning “the need”, and is used with the verb avere (to have) followed by the preposition di, literally meaning “to have need of”:

Ho bisogno di un paio di scarpe nuove (I need a new pair of shoes);

tu hai bisogno di riposarti (you need to rest);

Bruno ha bisogno di studiare di piu’ (Bruno needs to study more);

Signora, ha bisogno di aiuto? (do you need some help, Madam?);

abbiamo bisogno di una bella vacanza (we need a nice holiday);

avete bisogno di qualcosa? (do you need something?);

i signori Rossi hanno bisogno di comprare una casa piu’ grande (Mr and Mrs Rossi need to buy a bigger house).

 

Bisogna is a remnant of the verb bisognare which, as I said above, is no longer used except in its impersonal form, having the meaning of “it’s necessary” or “one needs”. It is normally followed directly by an infinitive. For example:

Per diventare un bravo musicista bisogna esercitarsi molto (to become a good musician one needs to practice a lot); bisogna comprare il pane (it’s necessary/we need to buy some bread); bisogna rispettare le opinioni degli altri (it’s necessary to respect other people’s opinions); per andare a Capri bisogna prendere il traghetto (to go to Capri one needs to/must catch the ferry).

In the past tense bisogna is only used in the imperfect form, and not in the passato prossimo (present perfect). For example, to say “it was necessary” we say bisognava: e.g. per andare a Firenze bisognava cambiare treno a Viareggio (to go to Florence it was necessary to change train in Viareggio).

Just to add a bit of confusion, we have another impersonal construction which uses bisogno, but has the same meaning as bisogna, and it works in the following way: c’e’ bisogno di … (lit. there is the need of), e.g.: per diventare un bravo musicista c’e’ bisogno di esercitarsi molto (to become a good musician one needs to practice a lot); c’e’ bisogno di comprare il pane (it’s necessary/we need to buy some bread). Unlike bisogna this form can be used in the passato prossimo: per andare a Firenze c’e’ stato bisogno di cambiare treno a Viareggio.

 

Adesso ho bisogno di mangiare un bel piatto di spaghetti!

 

If I could have …

Posted by Serena 2 Comments
Jun 3 2009

There is an old popular Italian song from 1939 called ‘Mille Lire al Mese’, which somehow seems very appropriate given the present economic climate. The first verse goes:

Che disperazione, che delusione dover campar,

sempre in disdetta, sempre in bolletta!

Ma se un posticino domani cara io trovero’,

di gemme d’oro ti copriro’!

Se potessi avere mille lire al mese,

senza esagerare, sarei certo di trovar

tutta la felicita’!

What despair, what disappointment always having to live

in disgrace, for ever in debt!

But if tomorrow, my dear, I find a little job,

I’ll cover you in golden gems!

If I could have a thousand lira a month,

without exaggeration, I’d be sure of finding

complete happiness!

This song is so poignant today that a modern version of it has been made: se potessi avere mille euro al mese! (if I could have a thousand Euros a month!). But it’s not my intention to depress you with news about economics; in fact my ulterior motive for mentioning this song is not socio-economic, but grammatical! Se potessi avere mille lire al mese, the recurring theme of the song, makes use of a verb form which has more or less died out in the English language: the subjunctive.

Il congiuntivo (the subjunctive) is a modo (mood) or verb form that is regularly used in Italian to express wishes, thoughts, and opinions. The Italian subjunctive has four different tempi (tenses): present (present), passato (perfect), imperfetto (imperfect), trapassato (pluperfect).

In Italian il congiuntivo imperfetto (the imperfect subjunctive that this song makes use of) is mainly used when talking about an imagined situation, and is normally introduced by se (if), e.g. se potessi avere mille lire al mese (if I could have a thousand lira a month); se vincessi la lotteria farei il giro del mondo (if I won the lottery I would travel around the world). To complete the sentence i.e. to say what we would do in the imagined situation, we use the conditional just as you do in English, e.g. sarei certo di trovare tutta la felicita’ (I would be sure of finding every happiness); farei il giro del mondo (I would travel around the world).

Il congiuntivo imperfetto is easily recognizable because of its characteristic –ss- after the verb stem, e.g.:

Arrivare (to arrive) becomes: io arrivassi, tu arrivassi, lui arrivasse, noi arrivassimo, voi arrivaste, loro arrivassero.

Vedere (to see) becomes: io vedessi, tu vedessi, lui vedesse, noi vedessimo, voi vedeste, loro vedessero.

Partire (to leave) becomes: io partissi, tu partissi, lui partisse, noi partissimo, voi partiste, loro partissero.

Here are few more examples of how to use the imperefct subjunctive when talking about an imagined situation:

Se non piovesse farei una passeggiata (if it wasn’t raining I would go fo a walk); se Bruno arrivasse presto potrebbe aiutarci (if Bruno arrived soon he could help us); se partissimo oggi avremmo tempo di visitare Siena (if we left today we would have time to visit Siena); se io fossi in te non andrei a Roma in macchina (if I were you I wouldn’t go to Rome by car).

‘Mille Lire al Mese’, which was the inspiration for a film of the same name, was sung by Gilberto Mazzi. Here are the rest of the lyrics:

Che disperazione, che delusione dover campar,
sempre in disdetta, sempre in bolletta!
Ma se un posticino domani cara io troverò,
di gemme d’oro ti coprirò!
Se potessi avere mille lire al mese,
senza esagerare, sarei certo di trovar
tutta la felicità!
Un modesto impiego, io non ho pretese,
voglio lavorare per poter alfin trovar
tutta la tranquillità!
Una casettina in periferia, una mogliettina
giovane e carina, tale e quale come te.
Se potessi avere mille lire al mese,
farei tante spese, comprerei fra tante cose
le più belle che vuoi tu!

Ho sognato ancora, stanotte amore l’ereditübr d’uno zio lontano americano!
Ma se questo sogno non si avverasse,
come farò…. il ritornello ricanterò!Se potessi avere . . .

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