Ah...L'Italia!
I’m officially dying to go to Italy. I am half Italian...and yet I’ve never been. Don’t speak the language, either...except, naturally, the swear words. (In America, why do so many children absorb only the swear words in their parents’ native language? I know tons of people, from many different backgrounds, who were born here in America, who don’t speak the language of their ancestors, but they all know the swear words in that language! Thanks to all the parents out there who have been such fine linguistic role models...I’d rather have learned how to say “the pasta is overcooked” or “that sweater brings out the blue in your eyes” in Italian, instead of “fuck you”, thanks!)
Italy—land of Renaissance art & architecture, opera, finely-crafted shoes, fabulous food & vino, the Mediterranean, and more history than you can shake a stick at. You may be thinking that I’m romanticizing the place—but I’m not. Like I said, I come from an Italian family (complete with curl-your-hair stories of certain family members who lived long before my time), and I know that the Old World could be as coarse as it was refined. Italians can be fierce sons o’ bitches, excellent at holding grudges for a lifetime. But they can also be very generous, very sensitive, and have much integrity. They can also create such incredible beauty, it brings tears to your eyes. I’m looking for the beauty. The things I’ve only seen in pictures, read about in books and magazines, seen in movies, heard from others who’ve been there. Michelangelo’s David, the Sistine Chapel, the Uffizi, the Colosseum, tombs of popes and shrines to saints, frescoes, vineyards, the ruins of Pompeii, Venice, Rome, Florence, Tuscany, Siena, Calabria, Naples (Burnt Siena and Naples Yellow...where the colors got their names...most likely during the Renaissance, I’d wager). I’ve been told that my family originally hailed from Naples and Calabria—from the front ankle and the toe of the boot, respectively. To be able to find distant relatives who never came to America would be the coolest thing ever!
I’ll need to learn the language, first. My boss’ husband, RG, is learning it right now—the last two vacations they’ve taken have been in Italy and he wants to have more than a guidebook vocabulary. Maybe I can ride on his coattails and learn it while he does. He’s been saying a new phrase just about every day...so I’ll use mnemonics and memorize them, too. I’m sly like that. I don’t think I’ll have a problem with pronunciation, though—all you have to do is latch onto that rhythm: ba dada, ba dada, ba DAda. Of course, if you heard me saying it, it would be a whole lot clearer than reading it, but trust me, that’s the rhythm in my head when I hear them talk. No wonder I’m into percussion—it’s in the blood.
So, yeah...Italy is in my future. I just have to figure out when would be a good time to go, save up some, and plan my itinerary. Does anyone have a currency converter chart? Anyone? Bueller?
Italy—land of Renaissance art & architecture, opera, finely-crafted shoes, fabulous food & vino, the Mediterranean, and more history than you can shake a stick at. You may be thinking that I’m romanticizing the place—but I’m not. Like I said, I come from an Italian family (complete with curl-your-hair stories of certain family members who lived long before my time), and I know that the Old World could be as coarse as it was refined. Italians can be fierce sons o’ bitches, excellent at holding grudges for a lifetime. But they can also be very generous, very sensitive, and have much integrity. They can also create such incredible beauty, it brings tears to your eyes. I’m looking for the beauty. The things I’ve only seen in pictures, read about in books and magazines, seen in movies, heard from others who’ve been there. Michelangelo’s David, the Sistine Chapel, the Uffizi, the Colosseum, tombs of popes and shrines to saints, frescoes, vineyards, the ruins of Pompeii, Venice, Rome, Florence, Tuscany, Siena, Calabria, Naples (Burnt Siena and Naples Yellow...where the colors got their names...most likely during the Renaissance, I’d wager). I’ve been told that my family originally hailed from Naples and Calabria—from the front ankle and the toe of the boot, respectively. To be able to find distant relatives who never came to America would be the coolest thing ever!
I’ll need to learn the language, first. My boss’ husband, RG, is learning it right now—the last two vacations they’ve taken have been in Italy and he wants to have more than a guidebook vocabulary. Maybe I can ride on his coattails and learn it while he does. He’s been saying a new phrase just about every day...so I’ll use mnemonics and memorize them, too. I’m sly like that. I don’t think I’ll have a problem with pronunciation, though—all you have to do is latch onto that rhythm: ba dada, ba dada, ba DAda. Of course, if you heard me saying it, it would be a whole lot clearer than reading it, but trust me, that’s the rhythm in my head when I hear them talk. No wonder I’m into percussion—it’s in the blood.
So, yeah...Italy is in my future. I just have to figure out when would be a good time to go, save up some, and plan my itinerary. Does anyone have a currency converter chart? Anyone? Bueller?
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