Subscribe to the Vespa rides and get full access to Your Italian Toolbox, a library of language learning materials that you can use to practice Italian. I do not go to the cinema often, I have to confess. I am very fussy about movies and do not like people chatting, eating, or, even worse, using their phones when they are in a cinema. In an ideal world, everybody should shut up and simply watch the movie. I know this is impossible, that’s why I stopped going to the cinema! This is mainly why I am always “a bit” behind when it comes to new movie releases. So the movies I am recommending today a ..read more

Subscribe to the Vespa rides and get full access to Your Italian Toolbox, a library of language learning materials that you can use to practice Italian. Murder mystery novels are probably the books my Italian students enjoy reading the most.  It’s not my favorite genre but I perfectly understand the passion for this type of novel. Also, crime novels obviously are a perfect read for language students because they are heavily focused on action, have a lot of dialogues, and are generally way easier to understand than other books. However, these novels – or movies – use a specific vocabulary ..read more

Subscribe to the Vespa rides and get full access to Your Italian Toolbox, a library of language learning materials that you can use to practice Italian. Speaking about the past in Italian requires the use of two tenses: the imperfetto and the passato prossimo.  Knowing when to use the imperfetto or the passato prossimo when speaking about the past can be quite difficult for Italian students. Over the years, I noticed that even advanced students struggle with this grammar topic, which seems quite simple at first but has many nuances that can be difficult to comprehend. This is why I wrote ..read more

I am a big book lover, that’s an absolute fact.  I have loved books all my life and started devouring books ever since I learned how to read. I am always reading something: reading books is my favorite pastime, it makes me very happy and I don’t think I’ll ever stop. If you have been following me for a while, I bet you already know about my passion for books. This blog is full of posts about books because I strongly believe that books make your life better and also really help you learn a foreign language. My English is far from perfect but I owe most of what I have learned to books (and ..read more

Subscribe to the Vespa rides and get full access to Your Italian Toolbox, a library of language learning materials that you can use to practice Italian. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know I love visiting villas. Whenever I go somewhere, I always make a point of finding interesting historic villas – and possibly beautiful gardens – to visit. One of my favorite houses in Italy is Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan while one of the quirkiest and most eclectic ones I visited recently is Villa Grock in Imperia, not far from where I live. So, when my husband and I decided to go so ..read more

It’s that time of the year again.  Summer is over and you had a lot of fun but you somehow left your Italian practice fall by the wayside. You would like to start practicing Italian again but you don’t know exactly how. Probably you just need someone – or something – to hold you accountable and get you back in the swing of things. If you feel this way, I think that Pausa Caffè is the best way to start practicing Italian again. I created this Italian speaking challenge two years ago as a way to help students overcome their fear of speaking Italian but the feedback I got showed me that it i ..read more

Subscribe to the Vespa rides and get full access to Your Italian Toolbox, a library of language learning materials that you can use to practice Italian. For this series of posts I normally pick Italian books that have an English translation as well. I do it to give people the opportunity to read good Italian books even if they can’t read in Italian. However, I’ve decided to make an exception today because the book I want to tell you about tells a true Italian story that is really worth knowing even though you won’t read the book. The book I am referring to is Al di qua del fiume by Alessandra ..read more

Subscribe to the Vespa rides and get full access to Your Italian Toolbox, a library of language learning materials that you can use to practice Italian. Visiting old Ligurian villages is one of my favorite pastimes and I have been to a lot of them over the years. I have been to Triora, which is famous for being il paese delle streghe, to Apricale and Perinaldo, two lovely perched villages in the west of the region, to Verezzi and its scenic beauty, to Bussana Vecchia and its unique story, and to many other interesting places but there was one village I still had to cross off my list: Seborga ..read more

If you have been reading this blog for a while, I bet you know what Pausa Caffè is. But if you are new here, let me tell you that it is a fun way to speak Italian daily for a month and therefore practice the language in a fun and engaging way. Pausa Caffè was born two years ago as a way to help students overcome their fear of speaking Italian. In fact, one of the things students tell me most frequently is that they can read and understand Italian quite well but the struggle comes when they have to speak. Some of them are just too shy, while some others think that they should only speak when th ..read more

Subscribe to the Vespa rides and get full access to Your Italian Toolbox, a library of language learning materials that you can use to practice Italian. I know I am saying something really obvious but music is a great tool to practice a foreign language. I have always loved music a lot and this has been really helpful to practice and improve my English. Over the years, I have consumed hours and hours of English music, which has helped me memorize thousands of English words and phrases. I started learning English in middle school and soon after my love for British music began. So I remember spe ..read more