Years ago while I was a young teacher at one of Rome’s prestigious international schools, I found myself teaching Beginning Italian to a class of adolescents. As newcomers to Italy, they were learning the language by osmosis and not just in the classroom.
Juicy, descriptive expletives were learned daily on the soccer field while dialogues pertaining to food and transport were next in order of importance as these teenagers went out to explore the Eternal City and interact with their Italian counterparts, especially those of the genteel sex. But what about “la bella lingua” Dianne Hales describes in her bestseller ? What about a bit of culture and history?
Italian actor Roberto Benigni ‘s successful theatrical readings of La Divina Commedia are proving to modern audiences that la lingua di Dante has never gone out of fashion. Hopefully my former students are still using this poem they learned to impress the ladies.
Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare
la donna mia, quand'ella altrui saluta,
ch'ogne lingua devèn, tremando, muta,
e li occhi no l'ardiscon di guardare.
Ella si va, sentendosi laudare,
benignamente d'umiltà vestuta,
e par che sia una cosa venuta
da cielo in terra a miracol mostrare
Mostrasi sì piacente a chi la mira
che dà per li occhi una dolcezza al core,
che 'ntender no la può chi no la prova;
e par che de la sua labbia si mova
un spirito soave pien d'amore,
che va dicendo a l'anima: Sospira.
If you are not up to memorizing a quatrain or two in the 13th century Tuscan dialect which later became Italian, you can settle for a few of these simple rhyming quotations to impress your friends with your knowledge of Italian language and culture.
Here are a few popular sayings still in daily use among my neighbors here in central Italy. Perhaps few city dwellers remember or use these snippets of country wisdom, but in the Viterbo province also known as Etruria or Tuscia, they are still understood and used…for country wisdom is graphic and funny as well as being time-less.
· Quando Montefogliano mette il cappello, non uscire senza l’ombrello
When Montefogliano (local hill) puts on its hat (clouds), don’t go out without an umbrella.
· Il gatto nella dispensa quello che non fa, pensa
What the cat doesn’t do in the larder, he thinks about.
· Il letto è una rosa, chi non dorme si riposa
The bed is a rose (comfy), if you don’t sleep, you rest.
· Latte e vino, veleno fino
Milk together with wine is a fine poison.
(in other words, no cappuccino after a meal with wine)
· La scolatura alla più bella di natura
The last drop of wine - to the most beautiful
(in homage to a beautiful dinner companion, while emptying the wine bottle )
· Il mondo è fatto a scale: chi li scende e chi li sale
The world is like a staircase, some go down and some go up.
· Monache, preti e polli non sono mai satolli
Nuns, priests and chickens are never full /satiated.
And, since it is August,
· Ad agosto, moglia mia non ti conosco
