Natalie Kennedy - Picture credit - An American in Rome

1) How did you end up in Italy ?
I moved to Rome for graduate school. I did my master’s degree in economics (with a focus on international policy) at an Italian university. That led to an internship and eventually a job. Though, a few weeks after I arrived, I also met the man I would later marry – so there were many reasons to stay.

2) How much of the Italian culture were you familiar with before you moved there?
Oh god. I wish I could say that I knew a lot but I have learned something new about Italian culture every day for the last eight years and I can only imagine how much there is left to learn. I was familiar with the Hollywood version of Italian culture and Italian-American culture but neither are a great reflection of real day-to-day life in Italy.  

3) What were the biggest cultural differences you experienced ? Are there any you dislike? Which one is your favourite?

Personal space. In America, we have a lot of space and we leave a lot of space. This applies in all public places – from the bus to a restaurant. But in Italy, even if the metro is nearly empty, you can almost be sure that someone is going to sit near you. And if it’s not empty – someone is likely to be right up against you.

Coming from a workaholic culture, I actually love the work-life balance and the insistence that Italians have on taking their holidays. If they are away, the business is closed and they will not be responding to your email, phone call or text. I love that this “break-taking” is built into the expectations of the way life is lived. I also like that this singular focus stretches to other pleasurable parts of life like meals – it is about taking the time to really enjoy.

Picture credit - Natalie Kennedy

4) Is Italy all roses and as romantic as people like to portray it is?
Not when you are waiting for the bus that never comes, or paying taxes, or trying to achieve one of the countless bureaucratic tasks that life in Italy is made up of. However, I think that the good outweighs the bad and I really enjoy the kind of things that we can do, places we can see, and delicious foods we can eat without ever stepping foot outside of Italy.

5) What were the biggest challenges you faced when you moved there?
Understanding all of the unwritten rules about how things are done that locals understand innately. I didn’t know how and where to pay for things, how to ask for what I needed, or how to insist when I was indeed right. A part of it has to do with language, but it is also really about the ways things work (which you take for granted in your own country of birth).  

Picture credit - An American In Rom

6) Would you recommend moving to Italy and why?

Moving to Italy was the most difficult and the best decision that I ever made. Living here can make complete sense and make your wildest dreams come true, or it can be 100% the wrong move. It depends entirely on your priorities. If you want to make money: Italy is not the place for you. If you are a planner who likes things to work a certain way – Italy might frustrate you. If you want a life that makes do with what you have, but is filled with friends, family, food, and wonderful places and people – then you might want to think about moving to Italy.

7) How does it feel being foreign but wanting to embrace and feel part of a culture that is not yours? Do the Italians treat you like an Italian or do you always feel a little foreign or more like a visitor than a local?
I am very comfortable with being a foreigner in Italy. I’m not Italian, but I absolutely feel like a local. Rome is my city and I have spent nearly a decade researching and exploring it, but mainly I simply live here. I shop at the market, visit my neighbours, take my coffee at the bar, and am a part of the community. And I have a true curiosity and appreciation for Italian culture.  I don’t have any shyness about asking Italians to explain something to me so that I can have the chance to understand it better. I will always be American but it does not diminish how much I embrace Italian culture while maintaining my own traditions. But one of my favorite things about watching my son grow up here is how Italian my neighbors consider him. He may have an Irish father and an American mother but he will always be “Testaccino” in their eyes.

Picture credit - An American in Rome

8) Is the saying 'home is where the heart is' true for you? Do you think of your birthplace often and your family and friends back home?

Living in Italy is amazing but I miss my friends and family immensely. I hate living 14 hours flying and 9 time zones away. Especially now that we have a child of our own, I feel very far away. I miss California a lot, so living in Italy is often bittersweet.

9) Do you think you will reside there forever or will you return home one day?
I always say that I am from San Diego but Italy is home. Italy has been the place where I have spent most of my adult life. It is where I finished my education, where I lived when I got engaged and then married, and where my son was born.

If moving to a new country has taught me anything, it is that I can’t say what forever will bring. I would like to find a way to spend more time in California (I usually go back once a year for a few weeks), but I honestly cannot imagine leaving Rome.

Picture credit - An American in Rome

You can find Natalie Kennedy 'An American in Rome' on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/anamericaninrome/
and click here https://anamericaninrome.com/wp/ to read her amazing blog where she shares local tips on how to travel in Rome, Italy, and beyond.

Italian Christmas Traditions

This week I have been asking my students if they are familiar with some of Italy’s Christmas traditions. Surprisingly the majority said they aren't, so for our last week of Italian language classes we will be reading about Italian Christmas traditions while we enjoy a sip of caffe` or limoncello with a little bit of traditional Italian Christmas cake ‘il Pandoro.’ Excuse the lack of photo's in this blog...it’s a little hard to find any when the last Christmas you spent with la famiglia (family) in Italy was in 2004 and photos were taken with a camera that had a roll of film you’d have to get processed. Before the kids came along we used to alternate between my family and my husband’s, so every second Natale (Christmas) was in Italy.

If there’s one season I am not too fond of, it’s winter. The long Italian winter was one of the reasons I swore I’d never be able to live there for good, hence our annual return always being during the summer months. But there is that one thing I miss dearly about Italy during the freezing cold months and that is Christmas with all of it’s traditions, and spending those wonderful moments with our family and friends. There have been many laughs and fun games of tombola on an overly full belly following a Christmas feast. Luckily my nonni (grandparents) continued the traditions when they migrated to Australia like most other Italian families did... but out on the streets & in the shops. there's always that little something missing. 

Christmas in Italy doesn’t show it’s face in the streets, shops or homes until the 8th of December, the day of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. In Italy the festive season is more about family than it is about consumerism, and you can really ‘feel’ it all around you. I know that sounds so cliche, but it really is like that. Of course this would be different if you were holidaying there, but for those who have family, it really is the best!

What can you do on holiday in Italy during the Christmas Season?

In pretty much every citta` (city) and paese (town), you will be able to lose yourself in the many little markets that take place. You'll no doubt find a religious event here and there, various little concerts, and you’ll also be able to enjoy the Christmas lights and decorations that veil the towns and cities. Italian Christmas traditions are heavily based on religion, so there are many pretty churches to visit where you will be able to see the stunning Nativity Scenes (il presepio). Italians are huge on Nativity Scenes, but take note… you won’t be seeing any sign of ‘bambino Gesu`’ (baby Jesus) in his crib until la Vigilia di Natale (Christmas Eve)! Some of the most beautiful Nativity Scenes can be found in the stunning city of Naples and are a must see. Some people dedicate a whole room in their home to creating one, and you might even find a live presentation of a Nativity Scene if you are lucky. When it’s freezing cold outside, it’s a great activity to give the kids to do, but I can’t imagine my kids getting out of the pool to stay inside to build a nativity scene!

Picture from Pinterest

Traditional Christmas ‘cibi’ (meals)

Traditionally on Christmas Eve, Italians get together with the family to indulge in a feast of fish before heading off to midnight mass. No meat is eaten on the day before Christmas.

Instead, on Christmas day the family get together again to enjoy a feast of everything! Each region in Italy has their own traditional dishes. Generally we begin with an antipasto, then onto some sort of pasta dish, a meat dish, a side dishes and then most families all over Italy will enjoy either panettone or pandoro, and perhaps some torrone (noughat), along with some other type of desert.

Dov'e` Babbo Natale? (Where’s Father Christmas?)

In Italy, our Father Christmas is known as La Befana. She is an old kind witch who takes presents to well behaved children during the night and leaves coals in the stockings of those who have been naughty!

La befana is celebrated on the 6th of January, the day of the Epifany, which is the day the 3 wise men arrived at baby Jesus’ crib.

Apparently, 3 wise men were following the star in the sky to find the Son of God and passed her house to ask for directions. La Befana wasn’t sure of how to get there, but took them in for the night so they could rest. The next day they took off and asked La Befana if she’d like to join them but she was too busy, only to find later on she had a change of heart, and went off searching for the 3 wise men to catch up with them to bring baby Jesus a gift. She was not able to find them, so to this day she is still searching and takes presents to all the little children in the world on her way on the the night of the 5th of January.

We have promised our children we will brace the cold and snow for them one year and spend a Christmas in Italy very soon. I know I’ll probably curse the cold weather the whole time, but I also know the novelty of the snow will be a great experience for them and there will be some fond memories made with the only ‘cugini’ (cousins) they have, which is definitely worth shivering for!

Our Befana (bought from the markets in Italy many years ago)

I often wake early in the morning and love to bake when it's quiet and the kids are still asleep. I usually always make the same Ciambella al Limone, which the family love for 'la colazione' (breakfast), unless there is something in the fridge like ricotta, cream or yoghurt that may be close to it's use by date. If so, then I'll usually use 'un po` di fantasia' (a little imagination) and add something different to the ciambella. I hate waste, and this is such a great way to waste less. I often create our evening meals like this too, but that's another blog...

now back to la ciambella...

Another thing I find hard to do is follow methods. I find that if ever I have tried to read a method while cooking, the dish loses my attention and often lacks something. Since I was a young girl I have watched my mamma & nonna cook, and realised that preparing food is about using all of the senses, so if you put the recipe book down, you'll magically be able to connect to your dish through 'touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste' and your meal is sure to taste delicious! Give me the ingredients and I'll create the dish. Because cooking really is that simple, as long as you've been taught, or taught yourself, the basics. If it's too complicated, I don't care for it. Simple is key.

So this morning I woke up to check what may be going out of date in the fridge, and it was the good old plain greek style yoghurt. Here are the ingredients, step by step and quite roughly for you to recreate this really easy Ciambella with a twist:

You'll need...

a whisk and a bowl

3 eggs

12 tablespoons of sugar (or less if you prefer)

12 tablespoons of sunflower oil

3 tablespoons of plain greek style yoghurt

12 tablespoons of self raising flour

a handful of dates (or more if you like them)

a handful of walnuts (or more if you like them)

some vanilla (either from a pod, or essence or whatever you have or usually use)

** greese your tin and put the oven on to a moderate heat

Crack your eggs and add the sugar and whisk

add the yoghurt and whisk a little more

Add the sunflower oil, and then add your flour and vanilla and whisk again.
Then add the dates and walnuts and mix with a spoon gently at this stage.

Pop in the greased baking tin, then into the heated oven.

Bake until it's golden and smells delicious! Poke a knife in if you're unsure and if it comes out dry you're good to go. Serve with some thickened cream or with some breakfast caffe` e latte (milk and coffee)...

When do we change the ending of the word 'Molto' in Italian?

This week in one of our Italian language classes, we stumbled on the word 'Molto' with a different ending, which led to the question of 'why' and 'when' does the word change. So I decided to write a quick blog about it...

Wouldn’t it be great and much easier if the endings of Italian words were all the same?! But if they were, then the saying ‘la dolce lingua’ would no longer be. The sweet sound of the Italian language is partly made of just that. Almost everything rhymes!

The word ‘molto’ means ‘very’, ‘a lot’, ‘very much’, ‘ a great deal’ and so on. This blog is to explain, very basically, why the ending of the word ‘molto’ changes sometimes and when we need to change it.

Location: Campobasso, Italy

If we are using the word ‘molto’ as an adverb then it doesn’t change.

Here are some examples:

La ragazza e` molto bella.

The girl is very beautiful.

Il bicchiere e` molto pieno.

The glass is very full.

Queste mele sono molto buone.

These apples are really good.

Questi occhiali sono molto carini.

These glasses are very nice.

If the word ‘molto’ is used as an adjective then changes like so:

C’e` molta neve.

There is lots of snow.

C’e` molta gente.

There are a lot of people.

Ci sono molte mele.

There are a lot of apples.

Ci sono molti libri.

There are a lot of books.

Hopefully this helps Italian language learners a little!

Here are the ingredients and very rough method of how I put together a couple of crostata's this morning because I had dozens of eggs from our wonderful chooks to use and my nonna handed me some sweet red ripe strawberries yesterday she got from a farm she went to with her friends on the community bus. (Her social life at 94 years of age is more full on than mine!)

First of all : make some custard! and let it cool. 

Pasta Frolla Ingredients:

250gr butter

approx 250 grams (half packet of) La Molisana Flour 00 

5 tablespoons sugar

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon of lievito per dolci

1 small satchel of vanilla powder

Lemon rind from 1 lemon

2 eggs (whipped by fork and poured in at the end)

Mix, knead and let rest in fridge for half an hour

Strawberry Mixture

Cut up a 2-3 punnets of strawberries, add a few tablespoons of brown sugar and a tablespoon of plain flour. Stir through and let sit.

Roll out your pastry wider than the pie dish you are cooking it in. Fill it with custard on the bottom layer and then top it with the strawberries. Don't use all of the juice they have made while soaking in the sugar, but a little bit is ok. Flap the pasta frolla hanging over the dish on top of your pie as shown below. Cook it in a really hot oven (mine was on fan forced 220 degrees but it's old and almost had it's day I think). When it's nice and brown take it out. You'll should be able to smell when it's cooked.

Ecco la crostata! Let it cool to set. Don't worry if the juices flow out while it's cooking. They add a nice sticky sweetness to the edges. We don't mind imperfections in our home!  

Enjoy :)

Pictured Paola's parents just arrived in Australia

Tell me a bit about yourself and where in Italy your parents were born?

When asked what I do, my first response is that I am a cookbook author, a photographer and a home cook who runs an Italian cooking school at home. But there are many who know me as a public health dentist and manager, as over the years I ran a number of clinics.  The urge to write, cook and take photos came to me quite late in life; some 10 years ago. My parents came from the northeast corner of Italy; mamma from a town just out of Treviso in Veneto, and papa from Istria, a region that became Yugoslavia as part of the Paris Treaty after WWII. However they met and married in Monfalcone, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. If asked, I say I am a Giuliana.

How old were they when they came to Australia? Which suburb did you grow up in?

My mother was 22 and my father had just turned 27. They had been married for just under two years when they migrated.

They came to Australia as war refugees; they had to work for 2 years in exchange for the passage over from Italy. They ended up in the suburb of Box Hill South, which at the time was on the outskirts of Melbourne. My mother’s two brothers were sponsored by my parents and moved out here and the three families formed a community of houses built on neighbouring blocks. This is where I grew up until I was six, when we sold the house and moved back to Italy (only to return to Australia disappointed some two years later as my father could not find work).

Pictured Nello Bacchia, Livia Bacchia e Zio Fidenzio Carli (Paola's mum's brother)

What is your favourite memory about growing up in your childhood home?

As I moved out of my childhood home at 6, the memories are not that distinct. The memories I do have involve different spaces within the house: the backyard where my father grew vegetables and the garage in which he made wine and grappa; and the kitchen where mamma used to cook. My fondest memory is probably the musty smell of fermenting grapes emanating from the garage when papà was making wine. He used to get the grapes with his friend Signor Silvano (which is what I called him). I remember him pouring the dark red liquid into giant 4 litre glass bottles and sealing them with a cork. And seeing the bottles all lined up in a cool corner of the garage to be used through the year.

What school did you go to and were the other students predominantly Italo-Australians? Did you feel different or did you fit?

I went to Catholic schools for both primary and secondary school. My parents were very conscious of my sister and I fitting in with the country they had migrated to and so went to great lengths for us to fit in with all the Australians. Many of their friends were Australian and what Italian friends they had were from Istria and Venezia Giulia. My sister went to school knowing no English but because I am ten years younger than her, I spoke English with her at home (out of earshot of my father who insisted we speak dialetto in front of him).

At school I was known as Paula, though to my parents I have always been Paola. I was always the tallest girl in the class and with blonde hair; so I did not look obviously Italian compared to most of the other Italian-Australians at school. My friendship group was all Australian girls until the later years of school when I bonded with two other girls whose parents were from Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Istria. My school lunches were much like the other kid’s lunches – white bread sandwiches with vegemite or Strasbourg; Monte-Carlo or Mint Slice biscuits for play-lunch. I saved the mortadella and salame for meals at home. When friends came over they LOVED the food my mother made; it was like another side of me that was revealed to my friends but not obvious in the school yard.  

Thinking back on it now, I went to great lengths to fit in and it is only when I was in high school that I really felt my Italian-ness.

Pictured zio Mario, zio Livio, zia Clara, Paola, zia Dina Taken in Monfalcone about 12 years ago

What was it like growing up as an Italo-Australian? Were you proud or embarrassed of your culture?

Interestingly I viewed my parents as being Italian “new” Australians (the term that was used a lot in the 1970s). I was proud of my parents; my father was quite intellectual and had studied in Italy until the war broke out; and my mother was incredibly supportive of her daughters to make sure we were loved, well-fed and well-clothed. I felt at one with the Australian culture especially at school but had Italian traditions at home – we spoke only Italian at home and ate Italian food. I was never embarrassed of my Italian-ness.

Growing up did your parents take you back to Italy to visit relatives? Do you return to Italy often now? How often and how important is it for you?

We went to Italy a couple of times when I was of primary school age: once when I had just turned six. We then returned back to Australia to sell our house and then migrated to Italy. I therefore did grade one (la prima elementare) in Monfalcone, where I was teased for being an Australian and for only speaking dialect. The Australians had never teased me.

When I met my husband (who is Maltese) some ten years back, I started wanting to connect with the Italian heritage as he wanted to connect with his Maltese heritage. So we went back a few times together and in more recent times my work has taken me over there more often. I have run a couple of workshops at the Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking school in Sicily, and researched both my cookbooks in Italy. In September I will be returning to run a food tour of Trieste and the surrounds; and in April 2019 I will be running one in Puglia with Southern Visions Travel.

Did you speak Italian at home growing up?

We spoke dialect at home, a type of Venetian dialect that is spoken in Trieste and in coastal Istria. My father insisted we only speak Italian at home when he was present. My sister and I would get into trouble otherwise. He would tell us that we had plenty of time to speak English at school and we were lucky enough to know a second language, so we had to practice it or else we would lose it. I am forever grateful to him for this.

My Italian language skills were excellent when I was 15 and lived in Monfalcone for a year and completed my junior high school certificate (Scuole Medie). It was pre-internet days so I spoke and read no English whatsoever as I lived with my nonna and aunt and uncle.  These days I find it difficult to write creatively in Italian though I watch TV shows in Italian on RAI a couple of times a week and have at least one Italian novel on the go. I listen to the Italian show on SBS radio most mornings.  

Pictured Paola and her mamma Livia

How important is it for you to teach your children the Italian way of life and culture even though they are growing up in Australia, and how do you do it?            

My daughter learnt the Italian way of life from her grand-parents. She spent a lot of time with them when she was younger as I was a young single mother and worked full-time from when she was two. More so than the language, she learnt the Italian way of life from spending time with her nonni and being involved in the activities that were at the heart of their culture: growing produce in the garden, cooking from scratch and shared meal times. She went to Italian social clubs with them on weekends, playing card games and helping the women cook a feast to share at the club.

These days it is pretty cool to have an Italian background; Italy is held in high regard for its design, food and fashion. Also if you want to practice Italian, it is so much easier than it was; everything is online; travel to Italy is comparatively cheap (an economy airfare from Australia is not that different in price then it was in the late 80s) so you can get a good dose of Italy often. But it is difficult to immerse yourself in Italian culture in Italy when you are bombarded by advertising and social media in English. In many ways I think it is harder now to maintain that Italian cultural immersion, even when in Italy.    

Do you have an Italian passport? Is it important to you and why?

I do have an Italian passport and have had since we migrated there when I was six. It was personally important to me when I was in my 20s to somehow prove my Italian-ness. These days it is less important to me; I book all my travel tickets with my Australian passport. I have been caught switching between passports mid-trip (in Germany actually) and officials at passport control were not impressed! So I carry it with me when I travel, just in case. If I ever live there or decide to work there, then it will be important, I carry my Italian identity in me; I do not need my passport for that. 

How do you identify? Do you feel more Italian or Australian and why?

That is a difficult question! I am an Australian, I was born here and live here. My parents are of Italian heritage but chose to live in Australia; I grew up in an Italian home and I have learnt so much about Italy through travelling there, living there and researching the food traditions for my two cookbooks, “Italian Street Food” and “Adriatico”.  Italy is also my passion. I am therefore going to fence-sit and say I am an Italian-Australian.

Pictured 2011 - Nello, Paola, Barbara e Livia Bacchia - the whole family the year before papà passed away

How much do you know of the Italy of today? Has it changed significantly in your eyes? Would you want to go and live there or keep it as a holiday destination and why?

I keep up to date with the Italian news so know quite a bit about Italy of modern times. I lived and went to school there during the terrible days of the Aldo Moro kidnapping, of the endless strikes and of the terrible problem with organised crime. It has changed since when my parents lived there (under the fascist regime of Mussolini) and left (aftermath of World War II) but I do not think it is an easy place to live.

I see the current employment difficulties especially for young people and the continued political problems. It has a wealth of history, beauty, culture and food but has a lot of bureaucracy; a difficult marriage of trying to do modern business with an old way of doing things. It is not consistently that way across the country but there is enough of it to leave you an impression of it being that way in general. I love Italy very much but as a place where I could spend up to 3 months a year happily; however I could not live there. Several Italian friends who live in Australia say the same – they love Italy even more now that they are in Australia, and miss it terribly, but do not see it as a place that is easy to live in, and frankly would prefer to live here.       

You can find Paola on the following:
website:      www.italyonmymind.com
email:          italyonmymind@gmail.com
instagram:  italyonmymind
facebook:   Italy on my mind

It's Almost Pasqua!

For every region it Italy, Easter comes with many different traditional recipes. In my papà's region, with 'Pasqua' come 'I Fiadoni Molisani', sweet or savoury. It is a recipe you'll need a load of eggs for! 'Le uova' (eggs) being symbolic of spring and abundance. 

Other names for 'i fiadoni' are 'casciatelle', 'sciarone' or 'fiarone'. Whatever you choose to call them, they are delicate and delicious, and pair beautifully with an aperitivo, or a simple glass vino rosso or bianco.

They are shaped like a mini calzone, and are filled with a tasty cheese & black pepper mixture, or you may prefer the sweet version which is filled with ricotta and choc chips or candied fruit. While cooking they puff out, like a balloon ready to burst. Each town has it's own variation of how to make these little traditional Easter morsels, but the one I'm going to share with you is my mother-in-laws savoury version. They are very easy to make and smell absolutely delicious while they are cooking. Enjoy!

La Ricetta 

Il Ripieno

Let's start with the filling....

500gr of grated pecorino cheese 

5 eggs

1 small sachet of yeast for sweets (lievito per dolci)

Black pepper (I put a few pinches but you can put more or less)

Nutmeg (a couple of pinches)

2 beaten eggs put aside to paint the tops of the fiadoni before they go into the oven which should be preheating at 180 - 200 degrees

Once mixed together it should look a similar to this. 

La Pasta

Now for the pastry...

500g of plain flour 00

4 eggs

1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup milk

1/2 sachet of yeast for sweets (lievito per i dolci)

Place everything in a bowl like so and mix into a messy ball

Knead away!

Make smaller balls to roll out with a rolling pin before putting them through the pasta machine

Work the dough through the pasta machine until you get to around number 6 or 7 on your machine 

Flap the pasta in half so it covers the filling and with your hand gently push around the edges of the filling. With a glass or cookie cutter, make a half moon shape.

Place them onto a tray, snip the top of the pastry with some scissors or poke with a fork, then paste them with the beaten egg before placing them in the oven.

Place them in the over until golden brown. They should puff up and some of the cheese will ooze out of the small hole you made in the pastry.

Buon appetito and Buona Pasqua!

Benvenuti a casa nostra !

Around November last year I had the pleasure of having the company of  Kristie Castagna from Elements at Home and Denise Rix Photographer at my Italian School. Kristie wanted to shoot our home above the school for one of her blogs.

When a vision becomes a reality

I always knew our home was very close to my heart. It’s a twelve year old girl’s vision made a reality. With a lot of double shifts and penny saving over the years my husband and I were finally able to make it happen. Though I wasn’t really aware of just how close to my heart it was until Kristie drove up the driveway with a boot full of props to style it! My heart sank and I had a million things running through my head. I wondered where on earth she would put all of it and I had visions of this minimal contemporary Italian farmhouse becoming a ‘trendy’ space of clutter.  

I like what I like

We all have different taste, and to be honest, when I designed and styled our home, I didn’t design it so it would appeal to anyone but myself. I’ve never been one to be influenced by what others think or by what’s on trend. I simply like what I like. For me, it's classic, timeless, less is more beauty. The only thing we like to clutter our home with is family and close friends eating and drinking! I'm not a big fan of colour because I find it too busy and I tire of it easily. I’d say it reflects my personality a lot too. I'm just a black and white, what you see is what you get kind of person. Fancy is definitely not my forte! Boring for some but perfect for me. Probably not the ideal person for Kristie to work with! 

The first room Kristie wanted to shoot was the dining area. She used an old table cloth I picked up at the markets in Italy last year and put our citrus bowl in the middle of it. The most colourful I've ever seen our home look! On the fireplace, I usually keep a little ceramic sculpture our friends gave us for our wedding in Italy. Kristie replaced it with a small sculpture of la Madonna that my nonna gave me, an African wooden wall piece our friends gave to us in Italy when we left to move to Australia, an enlarged photo of my nonna from her passport when she moved to Australia, and a print of a religious piece I bought in Italy about fifteen years ago.
Once the kitchen/dining was done, it was onto the bedroom, bathroom and terrace. One of Kristie’s beautiful floor vases I really loved was used in the corner of the main bedroom where I usually keep a pretty white cane chair.

Hand Me Downs     

The handmade bed spread from Italy was given to me by my nonna who is 94 this year and as amazing as ever, and it’s so stunning it takes my breath away every time I walk past it. For me, most of the beauty of our home is in the architecture more than the furniture, and most of all, in the energy of all the little hand me downs from family members here and in Italy. I’m very sentimental and I just absolutely adore all of our little family hand me downs. They are part of what gives life to our home, and they create warm conversation when we are entertaining and tell our stories. I think they also help to create that 'lived in' feel we are told our home has.

A Great Experience

In the end, it was a fantastic experience, and the girls did an amazing job considering I'm not the easiest person to persuade!  Kristie’s blog at Elements at Home is where you’ll be able to see the final product soon. Denise and Kristie both did a wonderful job of capturing the spaces of our family home above the Italian school. Lessons are held in the ‘tavernetta’ part of the home where we entertain and make our sausages, vino and pickled products from the garden when it’s not full of students learning ‘la dolce lingua’ or making pasta and other traditional Italian dishes.

C'e` or Ci sono ?

This week in one of my private classes I touched on when to use c'e` (there is) and ci sono (there are).

C'e`

Ci in Italian means a variety of things, but in this case it means ‘there’.

So ci means there and e` means is. Ci + e` = c’e` (take away the i and throw in an apostrophe. (When there are two vowels together one usually gets dropped.)

Therefore c’e` means ‘there is’.

Ci sono

Ci again meaning there, and sono means ‘are’.

So, ‘ci sono’ means ‘there are’.

Ecco ! some examples:

There is an apple on the table– c’e` una mela sul tavolo

There are two apples on the table– ci sono due mele sul tavolo

There is a boy at school – c’e` un ragazzo a scuola

There are five boys at school – ci sono cinque ragazzi a scuola

There is a car ……– c’e` una macchina.

There are eight cars ….– ci sono otto macchine.

If you are using c’e` or ci sono when asking a question, you would simply change the tone of your voice using the same sentences. For example, 

"there are two cars" - ci sono due macchine (statement) and "are there two cars?" - ci sono due macchine (question).

If you want to make the sentence a negative affirmation you would use ‘non’ at the beginning:

There is not an apple on the table - Non c’e` una mela sul tavolo

There aren’t two apples on the table – Non ci sono due mele sul tavolo

There isn’t a boy at school –  Non c’e` un ragazzo a scuola

There aren’t five boys at school – Non ci sono cinque ragazzi a scuola

There isn’t a car… – Non c’e` una macchina…

There aren’t eight cars… – Non ci sono otto macchine…

So as you can see, if we are speaking about something in the singular (one of something) we use c’e` and if what you are speaking about becomes plural (more than one) we use ci sono !

Esercizi

La frutta  (fill in with the missing c’e` or ci sono)

1.               una pere verde      2.                un’arancia grande.     3.               tre mele rosse.    

4.                 delle fragole piccole.     5.               un’anguria grande.  

6.                una banana gialla.    7.               tre pesche dolci.       8.                  sei albicocche.

 C’è o ci sono? Complete the following phrases

1. ………. una scuola vicino casa.
2. Sul tavolo ………… un piatto.
3. Sulla scrivania ……….... due penne.
4. Sotto il tavolo ……… un cane.
5. Accanto alla banca …….. un bar.
6. ……….... tante persone al bar.
7. Non ………..… piu` ragazzi a scuola.
8. ……….…. tutti i nostri amici.
9. Guarda, ……..….. un topo!
10. …………. due persone.

1. Non ………….. più pasta?
2. …………. qualcuno a casa?
3. I miei amici ………….… ancora?
4. Non ………….. più speranza.
5. ……….….. un cane in piazza.
6. ………..…tanti studenti.
7. …………..… molte persone in chiesa.
8. ……..….. ancora molta strada da fare.
9. Non ……….…. più pane.
10. …………….…… tante fragole.

My childhood memories of ‘mamma’ and ‘nonna’ are fond. Very fond!  I was raised by a mum I call ‘ma’ and a nonna I also call ‘ma’, because she looked after us while my parents ran restaurants. Mum and nonna raised us as a team. For Italians there's not much difference between the two. Italian mothers live for their children. Here are some common traits of ‘la tipica mamma italiana’ (the typical Italian mum)…

My eldest child and I

Sleep overs

Absolutely not. Not a chance. Unless of course you sleep at your cousin's house or your nonna’s house. That’s different because that is ‘famiglia’ and your mum knows your family will treat you exactly the way she treats you. They will make sure you are fed, and that definitely puts an Italian mothers mind at ease!

My mamma and I

Affection in public

Age is not an issue for an Italian mother. She will show you affection in public whether you like it or not. She is the matriarch. The boss. You have no say! But you respect her like no other and you like it just like that…

My son and I at the family farmhouse in Italy

No vitamin supplements required

You will always come home to a two to three course meal and there will be enough to feed an army! It’s actually ‘the norm’ to you and you only realise this when you bring your non Italian friends over for a feed and their eyes pop out of their heads.  Pasta, carne, insalata, verdura, zuppa, pane, formaggio, frutta, acqua, vino, caffe`, amaro and the list goes on….
Every part of a balanced diet will be waiting for you at meal time and she does it with such ease.She even has her own cure for the common cold via food. It’s called ‘pastina in brodo’ (little pasta in chicken broth).

My bambini with their nonna Luisa making lasagne

Mum’s night out?

I don’t think so! An Italian mother won’t even go to a wedding unless her children are invited.  ‘Wherever I go, my children come!' She’ll tell it loud and proud and won't care who she offends. As a matter of fact, it’s her who’s offended! And oh how that makes us feel loved.

My nonna (94 year old) and I

Cuore mio (or mia if she is referring to a daughter)

This is what Italian mums call their kids. It means ‘my heart’, which really says it all. That love is so profound it hurts, and it’s no wonder Italian kids are as sassy, confident and as bright as they are! I’m so darn proud of my Italian mum and nonna. They’ve made me ‘la mamma italiana’ that I am today !There are so many songs in Italian about la mamma it was really hard to choose one! I picked this very old, beautiful classic Italian song you may be familiar with. I have also added the English translation of it.  Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNmT7UswM7E

Mamma

Mamma son tanto felice

Mamma I’m very happy

Perche ritorno da te

because I’m returning to you

La mia canzone ti dice

My song tells you              
ch'è il più bel giorno per me!                                               

That this is the most beautiful day for me
Mamma son tanto felice...

Mamma I’m very happy
Viver lontano perché?

Why would I live far away?

Mamma, solo per te la mia canzone vola,

Mamma, only for you my song flies
mamma, sarai con me, tu non sarai più sola!

Mamma, you’ll be with me, you’ll never be alone again!
Quanto ti voglio bene!

Oh how much I love you
Queste parole d'amore che ti sospira il mio cuore

These words of love that my heart sighs to you
forse non s'usano più,

Perhaps are no longer used,
mamma!,
ma la canzone mia più bella sei tu!

Mamma but my most beautiful song is you!
Sei tu la vita

You are life
e per la vita non ti lascio mai più!

And for life I will never leave you!

Sento la mano tua stanca:

I feel your tired hand
cerca i miei riccioli d'or.

Search for my golden locks
Sento, e la voce ti manca,

I hear you fading voice
la ninna nanna d'allor.

The lullaby of once upon a time
Oggi la testa tua bianca

Today your grey hair
io voglio stringere al cuor.

I want to hold close to my heart

Mamma, solo per te la mia canzone vola,
mamma, sarai con me, tu non sarai più sola!
Quanto ti voglio bene!
Queste parole d'amore che ti sospira il mio cuore
forse non s'usano più,
mamma!,
ma la canzone mia più bella sei tu!
Sei tu la vita
e per la vita non ti lascio mai più!
Mamma... mai più!