(Read in Italian) As you know, the purpose of this blog is to give myself an outlet to use Italian everyday and to wax on poetic about all things Italian. If you are like me you are on the constant lookout for new ways to improve your Italian language skills. So when I come across something that I think is really great or breakthrough for language learning, I am happy to share it with you all! Just a few weeks ago I discovered a new on-line program called Rocket Italian. I am enthusiastic about the program’s unique features and think it will be a beneficial tool for Italian language learners.

I started learning Italian about twelve years ago and for the most part have self-taught myself the language. Being a full time mom and running my own business I didn’t have time to attend language classes taught by a teacher where I could hear the language spoken directly. I relied instead upon books and tapes but didn’t have a way to correct my pronunciation and intonation. If I had had the Rocket Italian on-line Audio course when I first started learning Italian, it would have been such an advantage and put me way ahead of the language learning curve because this program incorporates a unique audio recording experience that allows the student to hear and speak the language and compare their recordings to that of a native Italian speaker.

Each Rocket Italian course is based on conversations between two native speakers with an English speaking guide. There is a friendly exchange amongst the guides, at times a little corny, but still relaxed and casual. At first time the dialogues are repeated and broken down into short phrases. Your guide explains how the grammar works and why certain tenses are used. He also provides alternative ways or word phrases that you could substitute into the sentence and have it mean the same thing. I really liked this aspect of the program. As you know there are so many ways of expressing the same thing and it always bugged me in other audio courses that they don’t point that out. After you have listened to the Rocket Italiandialogue several times, and given ample time to practice it yourself, you are then given the opportunity to record your own voice to compare yourself to the native speakers voice in the “Practice Section”. In my opinion this is the best part of the course. You can match your recording to the teacher’s recording and repeat it over and over to correct your pitch, rhythm and intonation. It is like having our very own language teacher available to perfect your Italian accent!

I found out about Rocket Italian when the folks at Rocket Italian approached me and asked me to review their on-line language course. They gave me access to the three levels of Italian courses they offer: Level 1 – Rocket Italian Premium, Level 2 Rocket Italian Premium Plus, and Level 3 Rocket Italian Platinum. I started with Level 1 Rocket Italian and dabbled a bit with the elementary lessons and then jumped forward to Level 3 Rocket Italian. Each course level is broken into three sections: Conversation (in which you listen to Interactive Audio Conversations), Language and Culture (in which you listen to expressions and learn about culture) and Survival Kit (in which you listen to and learn new vocabulary). After completing an audio lesson you take audio based quizzes and then you rate your own progress. I have been working through the Level 3 Rocket Italian Platinum and I have to admit that I have found a few errors, several mistranslated things and a couple of recordings that didn’t align with their written counterparts. However, after notifying the folks at Rocket Italian they immediately set about to correct the errors. They are committed to putting out a quality product and ready to improve their program.

Rocket Italian is like having your own language lab, complete with an Italian instructor, to help reinforce vocabulary, grammar and intonation. If you are like me, everyday you pick up new vocabulary from books, newspapers and from radio and films but, if you don’t use it or hear it often enough it goes right out the window and you forget it. Rocket Italian is wonderful because it reinforces not only words and phrases, but it embeds the Italian sounds in your brain. The interactive audio experience I find is much more effective and engaging than just learning from a book or scrambling to repeat one-sided audio dialogues, as with other audio CDs. The course is reasonably priced at $99 and you can sign up for a free Trial period. I give Rocket Italian two thumbs up!

(Read in Italian) Ever since I was a little girl my family traveled the world together. I always thought that my parents gave me a wonderful gift, because beginning at an early age I have always wanted to travel. When I was only six my parents took me with them to Chile. By car we travelled all over the United States and I have been in almost every state including Alaska. When I was ten my family went to Japan and when I was sixteen I lived for a year in Hawaii. When I was twenty I left America for Italy where I lived and studied. My parents did a fine job of instilling in me the passion for travelling and for meeting people in other countries and when I became a mom I couldn’t wait to take my children by the hand and cross the threshold of the house with them. There are so many wonderful things that happen when the door is thrown open and you venture out into the world. Children are very impressionable and are filled with a desire to see new things and I think it is a gift that all parents can give their children – the passion for adventure and the curiosity to know what is down the road and around the bend.

So, I am pleased to let you know about a new project that I am embarking on with four other wonderful and intrepid women. We are all moms. We are all bloggers. We are Melissa, Alessandra, Silvana, Silvia and Valentina. We are enthusiastic about traveling and we have come together to create the “Circolo delle mamme viaggiatrici” : The circle of traveling moms. This great idea was first proposed by Silvia Ceriegi, a dear friend that I met on the internet a couple of years ago. She lives in Tuscany and is so passionate about travelling that at seven month pregnant, being confined to bed rest, she started to write her own travel blog called Trippando. Now with Enrico, her 5 year old son at her side, she continues to think about new ways to promote travel culture for the family. The idea of the writing circle was born from her desire to create a place to meet virtually where it would be possible to share with readers, experiences, suggestions and advice and inspiration about trips designed with families in mind.

In Silvia’s words: “We want to encourage the culture of family trips and the idea that you can explore the world with small children, even if you don’t have a lot of money at hand, and even if you have never done it before.”

With this in mind, once a month we will write a post, each on her own blog, about a common topic. Obviously the theme will be the same, traveling with kids. We have many ideas in mind and we are sure that monthly posts will bloom into other great things. Follow us and find out more! Between the posts that I will write along with this group of great mom traveler/bloggers, you will continue to find my usual posts about Italy from the Studentessa Matta!

Who we are:

▪ Valentina Cappio: has a wonderful husband, Fabio, 2 great kids, Leondardo 5 years and Alessio 3 years. After graduating in England, she returned to Italy because of love. She brought with her her passion for traveling. Today she and her family continue to explore the world. Near and far…Her blog The Family Company

▪ Alessandra Granata: or Lali (as her husband and son Federico call her). At 10 she already knew she wanted to work in the tourist sector. She has travelled around the world by herself and in the company of others, using every desperate means available, sleeping in luxurious spots as well as places no one would would to sleep. She was determined to remain single, but then she met her prince charming and now she travels with her husband, small Federico and their dog Leo. Her blog? LaliViaggi!

▪ Silvana Vukadin-Hoitt: has always travelled, being the daughter of an American military officer and a Yugoslavian mother. She lived in Italy during her early years, but for almost 20 years now has lived in the USA. She has two children, Roark 21 and Anima Chiara 11. Anima Chiara has taken after her mom and together they travel somewhere every month. In April, they will begin a new adventure together as the prepare to move back to Italy and Val d’Orcia. Her blog is called SilvanaMondo. The name says it all, right?

▪ Silvia Ceriegi: is 33 and married to Enrico and has Marco her baby of 5 months. She has a degree in industrial chemistry and a unquenchable love for travel.

▪ Melissa Muldoon: here I am. American mom of three boys and a graphic designer. I live near San Francisco in California. I love Italy so much that I write the blog Diario di una studentessa matta, to improve my language skills. It is my dream to live in Italy someday. For now I must content myself with visiting as often as possibile.

(Read in Italian) I am a big fan of many kinds of entertainment that you can find on TV. As you all know I often watch Un posto al sole on my tiny Ipod screen. Every morning I put on headphones and listen to a new episode when I take the dog for a walk. Recently I have discovered a new TV Soap drama: The Borgias. It isn’t in Italian, but it is set in Italy (which is good enough for me) during the early renaissance. The television series follows the rise of the Borgia family to the pinnacle of the Roman Catholic church and their stuggles to maintain their power and control. Even though it is a rather importante and heavy subject, believe me it isn’t far from the drama and exaggerated emotions of UPAS (shorthand for the Neopolitan soap)

I have only watched six of the nine episodes and I have become newly addicted to the Borgia family, or better, a fan of the pre-renaissance era. In this modern retelling of the Borgia family story there are some drops of truth, but more than anything else it is a fictitious story. The things that I like the most are the costumes that are with out a doubt sumptuous…as are the the magnificent sets. It is a banquet for the eye. The characters glide through Renaissance rooms and churches and travel through gold soaked Italian countrysides from Rome and Milan to Florence and Naples. For this I can excuse the story that has a couple of problems. The pace is a bit slow, the acting melodramatic and many events have invented or changed to allow the story to unfold in fluid way. On the other hand, my curiosity has been piqued by the Machiavellian intrigues, such as the love affair between Pope Alexander and Guilia Farnese, the tense relations between the Pop and the Duke of Milan, the French and Savonarola in Florence and certainly the rivalry between the Borgia Pope and his arch enemy Cardinal Guiliano della Rovere. But, being a little skeptical of some of the details of the show, I am watching it with a modicum of tolerance and armed with my lap top I make Google searches and refer to to other sources, such as Maria Bellonci’s biography of Lucrezia, to verify facts and date and to see how precise the show really is.

So, the show has become a reference point to know history better. Some events are difficult to believe, but I have ascertained that Giofre, the youngest son of Pope Alexander was married off to Sancia, the illegitimate daughter of the King of Naples at only 12 years of age. Factoid checked! Now I am trying to figure out if the king, Alfonso II of Naples was really so mad to have poisoned his enemies and then have them stuffed and preserved and put on display in his banquet hall. I also have some doubts as to whether or not the marriage of Lucrezia Borgia and Giovanni Sforzia was as tortured and dark as depicted in this mini series.

I surely don’t want to ruin the end for everybody, but don’t expect that Guiliano della Rovere will be poisoned or knocked off by the Borgias. At least I hope not, seeing as he followed the Borgia Pope and became Pope Guilio II. Remember? Pope Guilio was the patron of Bramante, Raphael and Michelangelo. It was Pope Guilo that commissioned Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel. Some things even a mini series can’t change. At any rate this TV show gives new life and interest to a wonderful time period. Now I have the desire to change my name to Guilia Farnese, put my hair up into a pearl encrusted snood and dress up in luxurious brocades!

(Read in Italian) Have you ever had the urge to throw an orange at someone? Well, certainly every so often we all get a hankering to throw fruit at some pompous politician or a not so funny comedian…or a singer or presenter at Sanremo. But fortunately, at least in most cases, politeness and civility reign and we resist the temptation. However, once a year you can all let yourselves go crazy and launch all the fruit you like in Ivrea, a small city in northern Italy near Turin. In short, I am talking about an event they have at Carnival, a type of mock battle, that involves thousands of townspeople who are divided up into nine squadrons who launch oranges in a rather scary way at their “foe”, the ducal guards. It is a re-enactment of an episode of liberation from the dictatorship of a local duke and goes all the way back to the middle ages. The rebellion was begun by the daughter of a miller. According to one account, Violetta, la Mugnaia (the Miller’s daughter) refused to accept the “right” of the duke of spending the night with each newly wedded woman. In an act of defiance she cut off his head. It makes me think of Judith e Holofernes. In any case la Mugnaia became a heroine and was elevated to symbolize freedom won by a people revolting against Feudal tyranny.

Today the stage for the battle are the principal piazzas of the city. Before the battle there is a procession and people dress in costumes. La Mugnaia, dressed in white, is the guest of honor and principal figure of the celebration. Then enter the carriages pulled by horses and filled with “the dukes guards” who wear terrifying masks. On foot are the revolutionaries o the “aranceri” (orange throwers) that wear red hats to distinguish themselves. Every band on food is formed of tens of orange throwers – men and women – that attempt to assault the wagons that pass from the square trying to hit their opponents above the protective masks. The origins of this orange throwing battle aren’t that clear, especially since oranges aren’t grown at the foot of the Italian Alps and they must be imported from Sicilia. My theory is that the red juice of the blood oranges looks a lot like, well blood! But wow! How many oranges there are! Ivrea must smell like oranges the whole year round! In 1994 it was estimated that 265,000 kilograms of oranges were brought into the city for the event.

This year the battle of the oranges begins today, February 19th and lasts until Febbruary 21. If you want to join in the fun you should hurry up and get yourselves to Ivrea! Perhaps it would do us all a world of good to throw a few oranges to vent our daily problems! It is safer than tear gas and bullets and healthy in a Vitamin C kind of way! Wow. How much do I love this country. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be hit in the head with a great big oozing piece of fruit! What crazy thing will they do next!