italian culture

Italian Travel Destinations

Rome is the capital of modern Italy. Rome is full of history everywhere you look. It has many ancient monuments, interesting medieval churches, beautiful fountains, museums, and Renaissance palaces. The Pantheon is a temple that was built in 27 BC under the Roman Empire. It is decorated with paintings and a garden. The Coliseum is

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Italian Children’s Songs

Some favorite children’s songs include: Una Casa Carina (A Crazy House) Ci son due coccodrilli (Two Crocodiles) Nella veccia fattoria (On an Old Small Farm) Ci vuole un fiore (We Need a Flower) Giro Giro Tondo (Round and Round) The Italian National Anthem (Fratelli d’Italia) La bella lavanderina  (The Beautitul Laundress) Madama Dore (Madam Dores

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Italian History

By 500 B.C., Italy was shared by a number of groups.  Small Greek colonies were on the southern coast and the island of Sicily.  Gauls, ancestors of the modern French people, roamed the northern mountain area.  The Etruscans, a group of people from western Turkey, settled in central Italy.  They built a number of city-states.

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Italian Foods

Pizza is surely one of the most famous foods in Italy.   It is often baked in a wood-fired oven.  The pizza in Italy is usually very thin but loaded with fresh vegetables or thinly sliced ham, salami, artichokes, and olives.  The pizza was invented in Naples, Italy around 1860. Calzone, a popular variety of pizza,

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Italian People

How can you describe the Italian people?  Italians love sports.  Cycling, skiing, soccer and motor racing are some of their most favorites.  The family is very important for Italians. Often, the grandparents will live in the same home as parents and children. Italians are famous for their inventions and discoveries. Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci

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The Italian Flag

The Italian flag is called a tricolor because it has three colors:  green, white and red.  Some Italians think that the color green on the flag is for the hills and plains of Italy, white is for the snow-capped Alps and red is for the bloodshed during the war to win Italy’s independence to become

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About Italian Culture

Italy Geography Italy is a southern European country shaped like a boot. The country is nicknamed “Bel Paese” which means beautiful country. Since it is surrounded by water on three sides, Italy is called a peninsula.  The southern part of Italy extends into the Mediterranean Sea. The country covers 116,306 square miles (301,230 square kilometers)

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Popular Children’s Literature of Italy

–          Aesop’s Fables (Dover Children’s Thrift Classics): (Author- Aesop, Pat Stewart) Ages 4 to 8 –          The Adventures of Pinocchio: The Story of a Puppet: (Author- Carlo Collodi, Iassen Ghiuselev)  Ages 9 to 12 –          Pompeii: (Author- Peter Connolly) Ages 9 to 12 –          The Buried City of Pompeii: What It Was Like When Vesuvius

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Historical Figures of Italy

–          Donatello: Donatello (Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi) was born in 1386 and died on December 13, 1466. He was a famous sculptor and artist of Florence in the Early Renaissance. Famous statues include Gattamelata and David. –          Columbus: Cristoforo Columbo (Christopher Columbus) was born in 1451 and died May 20, 1506. He was

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Homemade Italian Pizza

Ingredients: 1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar, divided 1/2 cup water (105 F to 115 F), 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can whole canned tomatoes, undrained 1 medium onion, chopped 1 garlic clove, minced 2 tablespoons tomato paste 1

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Italian Inventors

Buffalo Chicken Wings–Teressa Bellissimo———– 1964 Electric Battery———–Alessandro Volta———— 1800 Jacuzzi——————– Jacuzzi Brothers—————1968 Ice Cream Cone——– – Italo Marcioni————–1896 Pretzels——————- Italian Monks————— Circa 610 AD Thermometer———— Galileo Galilei—————-1593 Wheel Lock————– Leonardo da Vinci———–16th century Telephone————— Antonio Meucci————–1871 Piano——————— Bartolomeo Cristofori—————-1709 Big Mac—————— Jim Delligatti——————-1976 Catapult—————— Dionysius the Elder of Syracuse————399 B.C. Eyeglasses————— Salvino D’Armate————-1268-1264 Radio——————— Nikola

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Top 10 Italian Names and Meanings

Girls ADRIANA: Feminine form of Latin Adrianus, Spanish Adrián, and Italian Adriano, all meaning “from Hadria.” ALLEGRA: Italian name meaning “cheerful and lively.” ANJELICA: Variant spelling of Italian Angelica, meaning “angelic.” ELISABETTA: Italian form of Greek Elisabet, meaning “God is my oath.” GABRIELLA: Feminine form of Italian Gabriele, meaning “man of God” or “warrior of

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