Rita Levi Montalcini

(Foto: ANSA) E' morta Rita Levi Montalcini. Trovo questo suo pensiero bellissimo: "Il corpo faccia quello che vuole. Io non sono il corpo. Io sono la mente." Mi sembra un'ottima idea per finire l'anno!

Pomodori...in Dicembre

Pomodori dal giardino....in Dicembre. Incredibile...ma vero!

1st Christmas regalo

My beloved aunt and uncle sent Leo a book of Italian nursery rhymes! Now that's what I call a perfect Christmas gift! GRAZIE!

The time for Panettone has arrived

I opened the panettone.

I wasn't going to. I bought it last week at the Whole Foods store on Ponce with the idea of bringing it somewhere as a special treat.

But then I thought, well, I would like a special treat. Right here, right now.

So I opened it, and still mulling over a long-awaited email I had received from a British friend this morning, I had a flashback to (of course, what do you expect?) the days when I lived in Florence and I would buy a panettone to bring for Christmas dinner.

It bears noting that I lived in Florence just after college and I think those early years of adulthood, no matter where you spend them, remain disproportionately impressed upon the brain, perhaps because it's then that we launch our own independent lives, with their own rhythms and routines, separate from Mommy and Daddy.

Specifically, I remembered going to order a specially-made panettone from a bakery on Borgo San Iacopo to bring to my British friend's family in Luxembourg.

They had invited me to spend Christmas with them that first year that I lived in Florence, and as I counted down the days until I boarded the overnight train from Santa Maria Novella station, I made the rounds of neighborhood stores to pick up treats and gifts.

I remember walking over to the bakery along the narrow, cobblestone street on the other side of the Arno from the Duomo, and pausing a moment in front of the glass storefront.

You know the type, either from movies or real-life.

It had a large front window through which you could see a display case full of Christmas delicacies and everyday pastries, and perhaps the baker had stuck his head out of the kitchen for a moment to share a laugh with the girl behind the counter.

Condensation had formed on the window from the heat of the kitchen, and there was a clutch of older women, in their quilted jackets, identical grey, knee-length wool skirts, and sensible brown leather shoes, issuing specific instructions about the items they wanted.

It seemed so evocative of city or village life, the neighborhood bakery. Ever since, I've always wanted to live in neighborhoods that are anchored by a bakery, but alas it's not so easy in America.

And while I was cutting myself a piece of panettone this morning, I wondered why that chore had remained lodged deep inside my mind. Living in Italy, one would not find it unusual to buy a panettone.

But I think the idea of rushing around town, preparing for Christmas, crossing chores off your list -- it all constitutes such a fundamental activity that it almost seems like a scene out of Dickens.

Going to the neighborhood bakery and ordering a Christmas treat is as far as you can get from the suburban shopping mall or car traffic or the incessant intertwining of romance with the birth of Jesus (doesn't that seem a bit odd?).

And it was enough just to breathe in the scent of the panettone this morning to unearth this memory.

Ok, so, if you buy a panettone this Christmas, you may not remember the same thing, but they are seasonal treats. And nothing is more Italian than eating a particular dish at a specific time of year -- and then not again until next year.

Babbo Natale (da piccolo)

Il nostro angelo vi augura un buon natale!

Ammaniti

Sto leggendo "Come Dio Comanda" di Niccolò Ammaniti ed a volte voglio proprio smettere solamente perché i personaggi nei suoi libri soffrono! Soffrono a bestia!

Voglia dell'estate

O si che si mangia bene durante l'estate, anche qui ad Atlanta! Ora fa un po' freddino e quei bei giorni dell'estate mi mancono tanto tanto....

Ilaria Graziano è mitica!

Ammaniti!

Sono andata a trovare un professore d'italiano all'università e guardate che cosa ho trovato! Lui aveva in vendita dei romanzi italiani! Ganzo! Io mi sono approffittata e ne ho comprato tre (compresi questi due di Ammaniti). Ho già letto 'Io E Te.' Però esito di cominciare a leggere l'altro libro perché temo che mi farà rattristare (ne avevo già letto un po' qualche anno fa.)

Jovanotti in Atlanta -- Oct 8!!!!

Jovanotti will be in Atlanta October 8 at the Variety Playhouse and I will be there, too! Non ci posso credere!!!

I think it's the Italian rapper's first Atlanta concert ever. I can't believe he'll actually be here; last time I wrote about him he was about to play a concert in New York.

My hope is he plays "Ragazzo Fortunato," my absolute favorite Jovanotti song. SEI BELLA (O) COME IL SOLE!



Se io potessi sarei sempre in vacanza
se io fossi capace scriverei il cielo in una stanza
ma se devo dirla tutta qui non è il paradiso
ma all'inferno delle verità io mento col sorriso
problemi zero problemi a non finire
un giorno sembra l'ultimo
un altro è da impazzire
ma se devo dirla tutta qui non è il paradiso
ma all'inferno delle verità io mento col sorriso
di 10 cose fatte te ne è riuscita mezza
e dove c'è uno strappo non metti mai una pezza (2 volte)
sono un ragazzo fortunato perché m'hanno regalato un sogno sono fortunato perché non c'è niente che ho bisogno
e quando viene sera e tornerò da te
è andata come è andata la fortuna di incontrarti ancora
sei bella come il sole a me mi fai impazzire s
ei bella come il sole a me mi fai impazzire.
Siddartha me l'ha detto che conta solo l'amore che
tutto quello che ti serve può stare dentro al cuore
ma se devo dirla tutta qui non è il paradiso ma all'inferno delle verità io mento col sorriso
di 10 cose fatte te ne è riuscita mezza
e dove c'è uno strappo non metti mai una pezza (2 volte)
sono un ragazzo fortunato perché m'hanno regalato un sogno sono fortunato perché non c'è niente che ho bisogno
e quando viene sera e tornerò da te
è andata come è andata la fortuna di incontrarti ancora
sei bella come il sole a me mi fai impazzire
sei bella come il sole a me mi fai impazzire
sei bella come il sole a me mi fai impazzire.

Leonardo compie 2 mesi oggi!

Eight weeks old today!

Non ci posso credere!

NYT Visits Gargano in Puglia

The New York Times says Italy's Gargano peninsula in Puglia is the "next stop" in travel. Wow -- I was there five years ago!

A Challenger to the Amalfi Coast?
The Gargano Promontory, on Italy’s eastern coast, has been known as a budget destination. Now it’s trying to change that.

See the article here:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/travel/in-gargano-polishing-italys-spur.html?smid=pl-share

Vi presento Leonardo!

Il nostro caro angelo è nato il 9 luglio!

Il 4 luglio.........(Baby's birthday?)

Come forse sapete, il 4 luglio è il compleanno, se si può dire, dell'America.

E doveva essere anche il compleanno del bambino/della bambina.

Ma sono quasi le 3,00 qui ad Atlanta, e vi posso dire con certezza che lui/lei non c'è!

Immagini che mi piacciono

Stanno sul cassettone, accanto al letto, quindi le guardo tutti i giorni.

Regali insoliti dall'Italia

Il Nostro Inviato è appena tornato dall'Italia e come al solito ha riportato dei bei regali e ricordini per me. Potete vedere nella foto: una confezione di caffe, una bottiglia di vino, una scatola di riso. Insomma, le solite cose. E poi ha comprato questi due libri.....

Eh ragazzi, è vero: sono incinta di quasi 8 mesi! Fra poco un'altro americano comincierà ad imparare quant'è bella la cultura italiana e quant'è sana mangiare all'italiano e quant'è appagante conoscere la lingua italiana (e la gente italiana).

Profumo d'Italia?

I've been begging Il Nostro Inviato to plant the flower you see in the photo since we returned to Atlanta nearly four years ago. In fact just about this time four years ago, I came to visit Atlanta to look at houses and begin figuring out my second tour of duty in the City In A Forest. And this flower -- jasmine -- was blooming and the scent was overwhelming and everywhere and it made me think of one thing and one thing only: Italy! For me, it has a similar power to the Italian liqueur, Montenegro: one whiff of that and I'm transported back to Siena, Italy, circa 1993. But I cannot actually recall where I would have seen this flower growing in Italy, in order to internalize its distinct perfume and forever associate it with Il Belpaese.

I mean, Siena's historic center has little vegetation, and that goes the same for Florence. Anyway if someone can tell me if this is in fact 'il profumo d'Italia,' I would be grateful. Although, in any event I'm over the moon smelling this lovely jasmine plant, growing on -- and I hope soon taking over -- my front porch.

ATL Italian Film Fest -- my picks

The 6th Annual Atlanta Italian Film Festival starts next week. I published the schedule (see below) and now I'm listing my choices for the top picks. I know it may be hard to get to all of the films so I think these two are your best bets.

1. "20 Sigarette"

(Info courtesy of the Atlanta Italian Film Festival)

20 Sigarette
20 Cigarettes
Director: Aureliano Amadei
April 5th at 6:00 PM

Aureliano is a 28 year old youth with a passion for film. Awaiting his golden opportunity he spends his time as an amateur filmmaker in small Social Centers. His one chance comes from director Stefano Rolla who offers to send him to Iraq as assistant director on a film about the Italian military "peace mission”.




2. "La Bellezza del Somaro"

La Bellezza del Somaro
Love and Slaps
Director: Sergio Castellitto
April 5th at 9:00 PM

A house, a modern family, a group of family friends, a grandmother, a foreign maid, a cross section of our society, a micro world. Parents and children are discovered and rediscovered in the unexpected provocation of a daughter, still a minor for a few weeks.

Italian Film Fest in Atlanta April 5-7

Here's the press release about Georgia State University's Italian Film Fest:

The 6th Annual Atlanta Italian Film Festival in collaboration with the Italian Film Festival of Miami announces all seven films! Please join us as we celebrate the best of contemporary Italian film as well as the beloved classic The Bicycle Thief to be shown on April 7th at 9:00pm.

All films are shown at the Rialto Center for the Arts on the campus of Georgia State University.

The festival is sponsored by The Center for Collaborative and International Arts.

The entire festival is FREE and open to the public.


20 Sigarette
20 Cigarettes
Director: Aureliano Amadei
April 5th at 6:00 PM

Aureliano is a 28 year old youth with a passion for film. Awaiting his golden opportunity he spends his time as an amateur filmmaker in small Social Centers. His one chance comes from director Stefano Rolla who offers to send him to Iraq as assistant director on a film about the Italian military "peace mission”.

La Bellezza del Somaro
Love and Slaps
Director: Sergio Castellitto
April 5th at 9:00 PM

A house, a modern family, a group of family friends, a grandmother, a foreign maid, a cross section of our society, a micro world. Parents and children are discovered and rediscovered in the unexpected provocation of a daughter, still a minor for a few weeks.

Basilicata Coast to Coast
Basilicata Coast to Coast
Director: Rocco Papaleo
April 6th at 6:00 PM

Nicola, Salvatore, Rocco, and Franco were members of a band when they were young but now each one of them has different jobs such as teacher, actor, etc. Sharing their common passion for music, they decide to attend together a music festival held in Southern Italy that will reunite them for the first time in the last ten years.

Matrimoni e Altri Disastri
Weddings and Other
Disasters
Director: Nina Di Majo
April 6th at 9:00 PM

Forty year old Nana runs a small bookstore in Florence. Despite the constant nagging of her well-to-do family, she has no intention of making anything more of her life. As for her sentimental interests, though secretly in love with Bauer a self centered novelist who takes advantage of her feelings to obtain small professional favors, she has pretty much given up on finding her Prince Charming and living happily ever after.

Il Padre e lo Straniero
The Father & the Foreigner
Director: Ricky Tognazzi
April 7th at 4:00 PM

In a Rome with echoes of the Middle East, a friendship develops between two very different men, the Italian Diego and the Arab Walid. The two men bond through the shared love for their disabled sons who both attend the same rehabilitation centre.

Immaturi
The Immature
Director: Paolo Genovese
April 7th at 6:00 PM
Six ex-best friends find each other again on the verge of turning 40 when a notification from the Ministry of Education informs them that their SATs have been voided and they will have to take them again.

Italian Immersion in NYC

The New School in New York City will be holding two intensive Italian immersion courses this Spring.

(Other languages are also on offer.)

Here's the email with all of the information:

We are excited to share with you our schedule of language immersion On the Go weekends for the Spring 2012 semester.

Here are the following languages and levels offered this semester:

*March 2 - 4*

Arabic Level 1
Chinese Level 1
French Levels 1, 2, 3, and 4
German Level 1
Hebrew Level 1 - NEW!
Italian Levels 1 and 3 - (Level 3 NEW!)
Japanese Level 1
Portuguese Level 1
Russian Level 1
Sign Language Level 1
Spanish Levels 1, 2, 3, and 4

*April 27 - 29*

Arabic Level 2
Chinese Level 2
French Levels 1, 2, 3, and 4
German Level 2
Hebrew Level 2
Italian Level 2
Japanese Level 2
Portuguese Level 2
Russian Level 2
Sign Language Level 2
Spanish Levels 1, 2, 3, and 4

You can register online at http://www.newschool.edu/continuing-education/on-the-go/ or over the phone at 212-229-5690 or 5620.

Department of Foreign Languages
The New School
64 West 11th Street
New York, New York 10011
t: 212 229 5676
f: 212 229 5679
http://www.newschool.edu/ce/foreignlanguages/

I forgot to post this for Christmas

Click to enlarge -- It's an Italian feminist joke! Can you top that?

(No, you can't).

Ital film @ GSU Thu - Feb 2

Georgia State University's student-run movie theater, Cinefest, will continue its monthly Italian film series with a showing of "Toto in the Moon".

If you don't know Toto, get yourself over to the theater. He was an old-school Italian comedic actor who had a touch of Jerry Lewis, Jonathan Winters, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, et al, in him. Very funny!

The film starts at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

The showing is free. Hope to see you there.

For more information, visit:

http://www.cinefestfilmtheatre.com

Or sign up for updates on Facebook.

Cinefest
66 Courtland Street SE, Suite 240
(At the corner of Decatur St.)
Atlanta, GA 30303