Archive for the ‘People’ Category

Ciriaco de’Pizzicolli

Wednesday, September 16th, 2015

Avete mai sentito parlare di Ciriaco de’Pizzicolli?
Di recente c’è stato un programma alla BBC chiamato “The Secret History of Archaeology” in cui il presentatore, Prof. Richard Miles, ha discusso del ruolo di certe persone meno conosciute persone nella storia di archeologia. Nel programma ha raccontato la storia di Ciriaco de’Pizzicolli che è stato chiamato il padre dell’archeologia.
Ciriaco de’ Pizzicolli è nato ad Ancona nel 1391. Era un umanista e antiquario interessato agli edifici e ai monumenti romani e greci. Durante i suoi viaggi nel mediterraneo dell’est li ha descritti e li ha illustrati nei i suoi taccuini (i Commentarii).
Non ha mai stampato i Commentarii che nel 1514 sono stati distrutti in un incendio nella Biblioteca degli Sforza a Pesaro. Fortunatamente alcune copie dei suoi taccuini erano già in circolazione. Pizzicolli è chiamato il padre dell’archeologia perché è stata la prima persona dell’epoca moderna ad avere registrato accuratamente le rovine dal passato.

Ciriaco de'Pizzicolli

Ciriaco de’Pizzicolli


Have you ever heard of Ciriaco de’Pizzicolli?
Recently there was a programme on the BBC called “The Secret History of Archaeology” in which the presenter, Prof. Richard Miles, discussed the role of some lesser-known people in the history of archeology. The program told the story of Ciriaco de’Pizzicolli that has been called the father of archeology.
Ciriaco de ‘Pizzicolli was born in Ancona in 1391. He was a humanist and antiquarian, interested in Roman and Greek buildings and monuments. During his travels in the Eastern Mediterranean he described and illustrated them in his notebooks (the Commentaries)
He never published his Commentaries, which in 1514 were destroyed in a fire in the library Sforza in Pesaro. Fortunately copies of his writings were already in circulation. Pizzicolli is called the father of archaeology because he was the first in the modern era to have accurately recorded the ruins of the past. .

Giovanni Pernice

Wednesday, September 16th, 2015

“Strictly Come Dancing” è un programma televisivo popolare in Inghilterra. Lo spettacolo è simile a quello italiano “Ballando sotto le Stelle”, cioè Ie celebrità ballano con i ballerini professionisti. Una differenza fra I due spettacoli è che il programma inglese, per fortuna, è più breve. Sabato sera c’è la gara che dura un’ora. Il pubblico vota e il risultato viene dato la Domenica sera, in un altra puntata che dura mezz’ora.
Tra I membri della diuria c’è Bruno Tonioli, un italiano che da anni vive in Inghilterra. Bruno è molto popolare tra il pubblico inglese perché sembra un italiano stereotipico, almeno dal punto di vista inglese. È appariscente, passionale e muove le mani continuazione.
Ora c’è un altro italiano nel programma ma nel ruolo di ballerino professionista. Si chiama Giovanni Pernice. È siciliano ma a quattordici anni si è trasferito a Bologna per continuare a studiare danza. Nel 2012 è diventato campione d’Italia. Secondo i giornali da anni Giovanni sogna di apparire in “Strictly come Dancing” e ora il suo sogno è stato realizzato. Sabato sera Giovanni ha incontrato la sua partner, Giorgia May, un’attrice di soap opera inglese. Tutti e due sembravano felici di essere compagni di ballo. Ma Giorgia deve stare attenta perché prima dello spettacolo Giovanni si vantava dei suoi attributi italiani e ha rivelato di essere un Casanova (in inglese: a ladies man), e che le donne si indeboliscono quando guardano nei suoi impressionanti occhi blu. Dunque Giovanni sembrava molto felice quando la presentatrice lo avesse presentato al pubblico, con le parole di un altro stereotipo, ovveroe un “italian stallion” (un stallone italiano).

Giovanni Pernice

Giovanni Pernice


John Partridge
“Strictly Come Dancing” is a popular TV program in England. The show is similar to “Dancing with the Stars” in Italy i.e. celebrities dance with professional dancers. One difference between the two shows is that the English programme, thank goodness, is shorter. On Saturday night there is the competition that lasts an hour. The public votes and the result is given in another programme, on Sunday night, which lasts half an hour.
A jury member is Bruno Tonioli, an Italian who has been living in England for many years. Bruno is very popular with the British public because he seems a stereotypical Italian, at least from an English perspective. He is flamboyant, excitable and constantly moves his hands.
Now there is another Italian in the program but in the role of a professional dancer. His name is Giovanni Pernice. He is Sicilian but at fourteen he moved to Bologna to continue studying dance. In 2012 he became the champion of Italy. According to the newspapers Giovanni has dreamed for years of appearing in “Strictly come Dancing” and now his dream has been realized. Last Saturday night John met his partner, Georgia May, an actress from a soap opera here in England. They both seemed happy to be dancing partners. But Georgia has to be careful because before the show John boasted of his “Italian attributes” and revealed that he was a ladies man, and that women go weak when they look into his striking blue eyes. So John looked very happy when the presenter introduced him, in the words of another stereotype, as an “Italian stallion”.

Elena Ferrante

Friday, March 20th, 2015

Di solito gli inglesi sono abbastanza chiusi quando cercano qualcosa da leggere. Preferiscono leggere  scrittori inglesi o americani.  (Quando sono in Italia penso che sia la stessa situazione  perché mi sembra che I libri più venduti in Italia siano traduzioni degli scrittori americani).

Perciò era una sorpresa trovare, nella mia libreria locale, un’esposizione dei libri di Elena Ferrante. Di recente i tre volumi della sua serie “l’amica geniale” sono stati ripubblicato e l’esposizione incoraggiava la gente a leggere i tre volumi prima della publicazione del quarto volume a settembre.

Molti anni fa ho provato a leggere il suo libro “i giorni dell’abbandono” ma non l’ho mai finito. Forse il mio italiano non era abbastanza buono per apprezzare il libro o forse il tema di una donna abbandonata non mi interessava. Ma forse é il momento giusto per leggere “l’amica geniale”. L’anno scorso c’erano articoli sul Ferrante (o sulla Ferrante, chi sa?)* in alcuni giornali inglesi come per esempio Il Guardian e Il Telegraph e in ogni articolo il libro é stato descritto come un capolavoro.

*Ferrante evita la pubblicità. Nei giornali i critici discutono  se è una donna o un uomo. Solo qualche gente nella sua casa editrice sa la verità.

Books of Elena Ferrante

Libri di Elena Ferrante

Usually English people are somewhat insular when looking for something to read. They prefer to read English or American authors. (When I am in Italy I think that the situation is the same because it seems to me that the best-selling books in Italy are translations of American writers.

Therefore , it was a surprise to find in my local bookshop a display of Elena Ferrante’s books. Recently the 3 volumes of her series “my brilliant friend” have been republished and the display was encouraging people to read the 3 volumes before publication of the 4th volume in September.

Many years ago I tried to read her book “The days of abandonment” but I never finished it. Perhaps my Italian was not good enough to appreciate the book or perhaps the theme of an abandoned woman didn’t interest me. But perhaps it is the right moment to read “my brilliant friend”. Last year there were articles on Ferrante (man or woman, who knows?)* in some English newspapers e.g. The Guardian and The Telegraph and in every article the book was described as a masterpiece.

*Ferrante avoids publicity. Some critics in the newspapers discuss whether it is a woman or a man. Only a few people in her publishers know the truth.

We’re in the wrong job.

Monday, May 14th, 2012

The Guardia di Finanzia are cracking down on tax evasion. Last week they had a go at lawyers, doctors etc in all of Italy. One case highlighted was a lawyer who declared a taxable income of 10 euros a year but was driving a 60,000 euro car. More evasion was highlighted at the weekend when the local paper told us about a 68 year old women from Rimini. Her local bank was suspicious that she was paying large sums into her account every month and informed the authorities. They discovered that the women had 2.5 million euros in the bank and was also claiming 450 euros a month social security. She denied that the large sums of money regularly deposited were part of a money laundering scheme but claimed it was her earnings from prostitution. Obviously clients pay well in Rimini.

Man’s brush with fashion in San Giorgio

Friday, May 11th, 2012

john in shirtsleeves

After the rage within the UK of the statement “Does my bum look big in this…”San Giorgio has been swept with “Are my sleeves rolled up to the same length” .Fashionista John Roscoe has spent many an hour asking his wife and others this very question. When asked why this was so important, JR is reported to have responded “That gentlemen never show more than four to five inches of bare arm flesh, as more might inflame a ladies passion”.

Contrary to JRs view most Italian men seem to be earnest in their desire to show as much of their arms and other parts of their bodies as is humanly possible. We await JRs showing on the beach this summer with interest. Will he continue to lead and others follow? Will the knotted handkerchief be displayed on Torrette beach this summer?

Santa Claus in San Giorgio

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

santa claus

Outside the Osteria Casa Mina they had been using a tailor’s dummy to advertise the restaurant. Normally he was dressed as a waiter. Coming up to Christmas they decided to use Father Christmas instead. Unfortunately, a recent windy day caused a problem and Father Christmas literally bit the dust. Attempts were made, like Humpty Dumpty, to get him back together again and now Father Christmas had disappeared from the streets of the town.

Modem trouble resolved without Marizio’s help.

Thursday, April 7th, 2011

John and Pam Roscoe have returned to San Giorgio for a few weeks. In bringing them up to date with events in our busy lives I mentioned the problem we had had with the modem/router. Later in the evening John said that he had tried to get onto the internet but had failed. It seemed that he the same problems we had had and so I offered to bring my now fully funtioning modem across to him and if we couldn’t connect to the internet then it was definitely a problem with the telephone line.

The next day I took my modem, cables and laptop across to John and Pam’s house, plugged in the power cable and finally the phone cable from the modem to the Telecomm splitter on the wall. Just before I switched on the laptop John exclaimed “Oh no! I hadn’t put the phone cable in. No wonder I couldn’t connect to the internet”. And so after a couple of minutes John was connected up, the internet was available and Pam and I were enjoying looking at each other and smirking.

Is there an excuse for John. Could it be because he is Scottish or because he was tired after driving from England for two days?

Italian National Anthem.

Sunday, March 20th, 2011

Mameli

One of the advantages of the copy of the Constitution sent by the mayor was that in the back were the words of the Italian National Anthem and some notes about its author, Goffredo Mameli. 

This has allowed Bill and I to start learning the words and so we can sing along when occasion demands. (We are even able to practice singing accompanied by music as the Conad Supermarket was giving out small booklets about the reunification of Italy and included in the pack were 16 songs from the period of unification including the National Anthem).

Watching the Italian equivalent of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” last week we discovered the interesting(?) fact the the Italian national anthem, known as “Inno di Mameli” (inno is the italian for anthem), is the only national anthem in the world which had the author’s name in the title.

Goffredo Mameli had a rather short life. He was born in 1827. In 1848 he lead a group of 300 volunteers in a rising against the Austrians who at that time controlled Milan. In 1849 he was at Rome where a Republic was proclaimed and Mameli was in the front line of the people attempting to repel an attack by French troops. On the 3rd June Mameli was wounded in the leg which became gangrenous and the leg was amputated. Unfortunately the infection had spread and on the 6 July he died, aged only 22.

Fratelli d’Italia,
L’Italia s’è desta;
Dell’elmo di Scipio
S’è cinta la testa.
Dov’è la Vittoria?
Le porga la chioma;
Ché schiava di Roma
Iddio la creò.
Stringiamoci a coorte!
Siam pronti alla morte;
Siam pronti alla morte;
L’Italia chiamò.
Brothers of Italy,
Italy has awoken,
With Scipio’s helmet
Binding her head.
Where is Victory?
Let her bow down,
For God has made her
Rome’s slave.
Let us join in cohort,
We are ready to die!
We are ready to die!
Italy has called!

Pam and Michael

Saturday, April 17th, 2010

A couple of weeks ago we got an email from Pam and Michael Wood who had been told about the blog. They are living in Tavernelle a town about 20 minutes drive away. They came and had coffee (well tea) with us. Pam is Scottish, Michael is English and their giant schnuzer Max is born and bred in Italy. We had a lovely morning sitting in the sun over our cuppa and discovered common interests i.e. gardens and opera (at least on Pam, Michael and Bill’s side).

They invited us over for lunch the following Sunday. They have  beautiful house outside Tavernelle complete with lovely views. We had a really good time and were able to compare notes about gardens, problems restoring old homes etc.

Meet the Roscoes

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

roscoes

Four years ago John and Pam Roscoe bought an apartment in a house across the street from us. We knew the house was to be restored but it was only at the end of last year that work began and we knew that the new owners would be British. They had faced bureaucrtic nightmares at every turn e.g. waiting 18 months for approval from the Ministro Beni Culturali as the house had been willed to a charity and confirmation was needed that there was nothing of artistic or cultural worth. Despite all this they kept battling on and are now on the homeward stretch and, despite the delays, still smiling.

Last week they came to San Giorgio for an inspection visit and perhaps for the first time the visit was positive. Building work was well advanced and they were able to order their kitchen and bathroom. The apartment should be finished by May and they can look forward to spending some happy summer days at the beach and then returning home to sit on the their terrace, drink a glass of wine watch the sunset.