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      • 2026 June Matta Arezzo City Language Program
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    • About BookClub
    • Commissario Ricciardi: Il posto di ognuno
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    • La Libreria dei Gatti Neri
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      • Buy Dreaming Sophia
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Studentessa Matta

Traveling, Cities, Excursions

  • Cities
  • Italian Cities
  • Travel Tips
  • Travel Tips
  • Traveling & Excursions
  • Sarah Stevenson: Why I’m Learning Italian — A Matta Reader’s Journey

    Sarah Stevenson: Why I’m Learning Italian — A Matta Reader’s Journey

  • Bergamo & Lake Como with Elena. Home sweet Homestay!

    Bergamo & Lake Como with Elena. Home sweet Homestay!

  • After 2 long years Matta programs have returned to Italy… we are jousting again!

    After 2 long years Matta programs have returned to Italy… we are jousting again!

  • Love Italian? Then You Will Love, Love, Love Bologna!

    Love Italian? Then You Will Love, Love, Love Bologna!

  • Just the Important Phrases, Please!” Pocket-Size Italian Phrase Guide for Travelers

    Just the Important Phrases, Please!” Pocket-Size Italian Phrase Guide for Travelers

  • Austin, Texas. Dove abito io (quando non sono in italia)

    Austin, Texas. Dove abito io (quando non sono in italia)

  • Le vere voci: Things the Aretini Like Best About Arezzo

    Le vere voci: Things the Aretini Like Best About Arezzo

  • Trentino una zona tranquilla nel cuore delle dolomiti piena di leggende

    Trentino una zona tranquilla nel cuore delle dolomiti piena di leggende

  • Stanley Tucci is Searching for Italy… even speaking the language!

    Stanley Tucci is Searching for Italy… even speaking the language!

  • Discover the Wonders of Ravenna: Art, Literature, and Beyond

    Discover the Wonders of Ravenna: Art, Literature, and Beyond

  • Experiencing Magic Heights — Climbing Towers in Italy

    Experiencing Magic Heights — Climbing Towers in Italy

  • Let’s Go to the Market in Arezzo! Andiamo!

    Let’s Go to the Market in Arezzo! Andiamo!

  • Lost Luggage, Found Fortune: A Lesson in Traveling Through Italy with Phil Rosen

    Lost Luggage, Found Fortune: A Lesson in Traveling Through Italy with Phil Rosen

  • 2020 — I should be traveling to Italy today… instead world shut down by COVID

    2020 — I should be traveling to Italy today… instead world shut down by COVID

  • Italy on Lockdown: The Darkest Hour, But We’ll Make It!

    Italy on Lockdown: The Darkest Hour, But We’ll Make It!

  • 2019 Matta in Montepulciano: A Journey into Language, Culture, and Discovery

    2019 Matta in Montepulciano: A Journey into Language, Culture, and Discovery

  • Politian Apartments — a slice of heaven in Montepulciano

    Politian Apartments — a slice of heaven in Montepulciano

  • Vi mando una cartolina da Arezzo! Postcards from Arezzo. Wish you were here!

    Vi mando una cartolina da Arezzo! Postcards from Arezzo. Wish you were here!

  • How to Breeze Out of an Italian Airport: A Survival Guide

    How to Breeze Out of an Italian Airport: A Survival Guide

  • Un Tuffo in Sicilia: A Sicilian Adventure and New Year’s Tradition

    Un Tuffo in Sicilia: A Sicilian Adventure and New Year’s Tradition

  • Two Foreigners — jeweler and author — celebrate culture of Arezzo!

    Two Foreigners — jeweler and author — celebrate culture of Arezzo!

  • In the piazza waiting for you! Arezzo, Jousts and Italian learning what could be better?

    In the piazza waiting for you! Arezzo, Jousts and Italian learning what could be better?

  • Dov’è Melissa? Blogger Italiana e la sua Passione per la Campania

    Dov’è Melissa? Blogger Italiana e la sua Passione per la Campania

  • Montepulciano here we come! Sara will greet us for next Matta Italian Program!

    Montepulciano here we come! Sara will greet us for next Matta Italian Program!

  • 3 Things folks in Montepulciano like about their Tuscan town

    3 Things folks in Montepulciano like about their Tuscan town

  • 2018 – 2019 – 2023 Matta Italian Program Highlights: Snapshots of Montepulciano

    2018 – 2019 – 2023 Matta Italian Program Highlights: Snapshots of Montepulciano

  • 2017 Arezzo: Highlights from the Matta Program video recap

    2017 Arezzo: Highlights from the Matta Program video recap

  • 2017 Matta & Lucca Italian School Language Program begins!

    2017 Matta & Lucca Italian School Language Program begins!

  • 2017 Florence “Dreaming Sophia” 4-Day Author Fan Tour

    2017 Florence “Dreaming Sophia” 4-Day Author Fan Tour

  • La Giostra del Saracino! A journey back in time to Arezzo

    La Giostra del Saracino! A journey back in time to Arezzo

  • 2016 Welcome to Arezzo! Kicking of the Matta Italian Language Program 

    2016 Welcome to Arezzo! Kicking of the Matta Italian Language Program 

  • Eccoci a Lucca! A taste of what awaits you on the next Matta Language Program!

    Eccoci a Lucca! A taste of what awaits you on the next Matta Language Program!

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Receive “5 Things to Do Every Day to Learn Italian” FREE!

🇮🇹 Un consiglio dalla Matta 🇮🇹  Matta Italian Lang 🇮🇹 Un consiglio dalla Matta 🇮🇹 
Matta Italian Language Tip!

Read the latest Studentessa Matta Blog Post about Italo Calvino’s novel “Il Barone Rampante.” 

Learn new ways to study Italian, words like — RAMPANTE (cavallo rampante, giovane rampante)and RAMPICANTE (piante rampicanti)

Discover the curious expression: ARRAMPICARSI SUGLI SPECCHI

Espressione curiosa che significa: To climb mirrors.

“Arrampicarsi sugli specch”means trying desperately to justify oneself with weak, flimsy, or impossible arguments. The image is perfect: attempting to climb a smooth, slippery mirror, finding no foothold, and inevitably sliding back down.

In English, similar ideas include: to make desperate attempt, flimsy excuses, to grasp at straws, to try to justify the unjustifiable, oppure to attempt something logically impossible or futile.

Discover more on the http://StudentessaMatta.com website, study and travel with Melissa and take your Italian language skills further!

#StudentessaMatta #LearnItalian #ItalianWithCalvino #TheBaronInTheTrees #ItalianLiterature ItalianVocabulary
Muldoon 🇮🇹 Un consiglio dalla Matta 🇮🇹  Matta Ital Muldoon 🇮🇹 Un consiglio dalla Matta 🇮🇹 
Matta Italian Language Tip!

Take the Playful Path to Learning Italian!

Imagining “What If…” in Italian
How to express hypothetical or unreal ideas
When you want to express a hypothetical or unreal idea in Italian, you often use the periodo ipotetico, the Italian “if” structure. 

In English, we say things like: If dinosaurs lived in Rome, I would go to the Colosseum. Italian can do this in several ways, depending on your level.

For beginning students, don’t panic and don’t wrestle the subjunctive dragon yet. You can still express “what if” ideas using simpler structures using present and future tenses. 

Advanced students can gallop straight into the glorious grammatical empire of the congiuntivo, where hypothetical dinosaurs roam freely!

Beginner-Friendly Options

You can use se + present tense + future tense for a simple, possible idea.

Se i dinosauri vivono a Roma, andrò al Colosseo e sceglierò un dinosauro come animale domestico.

If dinosaurs live in Rome, I will go to the Colosseum and choose a dinosaur as a pet.

For More Advanced Students

Use se + congiuntivo imperfetto + condizionale presente for an imaginary situation in the present.

Se i dinosauri vivessero a Roma, andrei al Colosseo e sceglierei un dinosauro come animale domestico.

If dinosaurs lived in Rome, I would go to the Colosseum and choose a dinosaur as a pet.

Use se + congiuntivo trapassato + condizionale passato for an unreal situation in the past.
Se Didone avesse sorvolato Cartagine sul dorso di uno pterodattilo gigante, avrebbe visto tutto il suo regno dall’alto.

If Dido had flown over Carthage on the back of a giant pterodactyl, she would have seen her whole kingdom from above.

Read the latest http://Studentessamatt.com article about Emanuele Aloia’s song Cartagine and a Playful Path to Learning Italian

EmanueleAloia #Cartagine #LearnItalian #ItalianMusic
Cartagine: la musica di Emanuele Aloia, la storia Cartagine: la musica di Emanuele Aloia, la storia e imparare l’italiano in modo creativo

Cartagine: Emanuele Aloia's music, history and Learning Italian Creatively

Un amore grande come un impero 
A love as vast as an empire

Con la sua canzone Cartagine, Emanuele Aloia ci porta in un viaggio in cui l’amore non è solo un sentimento, ma una forza che attraversa il tempo.
#Aeneas #ArtHistory #Cartagine #Carthage #Congiuntivo #Dido #EmanueleAloia #ItalianCulture #Italiangrammar #italianlanguage #ItalianMusic #LanguageLearning #LearnItalian #StudentessaMatta

https://www.studentessamatta.com/emanuele-aloia-cartagine-learn-creatively-italian-music-history-endless-love/
Il finale che non c’era… e quello che ho scritto i Il finale che non c’era… e quello che ho scritto io

The Ending That Wasn’t… and the One I Wrote Myself

Un anno con Ricciardi
A Year with Ricciardi

Per quasi un anno mi sono lasciata conquistare dal mondo del Commissario Ricciardi, un personaggio di fiction creato da Maurizio de Giovanni.
#BookLovers #CommissarioRicciardi #FanFiction #Italianbooks #ItalianCulture #LearnItalian #MauriziodeGiovanni #Napoli #StudentessaMatta

https://www.studentessamatta.com/commissario-ricciardi-fan-fiction-matta-epilogue/
Ciao from San Francisco! Siamo tornati! Ciao from San Francisco! Siamo tornati!
🇮🇹 Un consiglio dalla Matta 🇮🇹  Matta Italian Lang 🇮🇹 Un consiglio dalla Matta 🇮🇹 
Matta Italian Language Tip!

Vuoi smettere di flirtare con l’italiano e fidanzarti sul serio?

Want to stop flirting with Italian and get engaged instead?

From Passive to Powerful: How to Finally Start Speaking Italian with Confidence

A word does not become yours when you simply recognize it on a page. It becomes yours when you sit with it and absorb it, use it, play with it, and make it part of your life.

Here’s your daily Matta mini-challenge:

1. LEARN 3 NEW WORDS A DAY.

But do not just admire them like pretty little souvenirs. Put each one into THREE sentences out loud so your brain begins to hear them, feel them, and remember them.

2. NARRATE ONE SMALL MOMENT OF YOUR DAY IN ITALIAN.
Talk to yourself as if you were telling a tiny story. Describe your coffee, your walk, your grumpy mood, your missing sock, your heroic trip to the grocery store. Small moments are where real language starts to live.

3. WRITE 5 WHIMSICAL SENTENCES IN ITALIAN EVERY DAY.
Make them strange. Make them funny. Make them unforgettable. Ask things like: What would cows say if they could talk? If dogs took over the world, what would they do first? What would Dante have said to Shakespeare over dinner?

The more playful and personal your practice is, the more the language sticks. Italian loves attention. Give it a little every day, and before long, it will start talking back.

Read the Matta Post about moving from PASSIVE to ACTIVE language learning.

https://www.studentessamatta.com/active-vs-passive-italian-learning-speak-with-confidence/

#italianlanguage #italianfluency #speakitalian #languagelearning #languagelearningtips italianpractice learnitalianonline

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  • Blog
    • Italian Language Learning, Tips, Motivation
    • Art & Artists
    • Cultural Anecdotes & Current Affairs
    • Food & Wine
    • History, Holidays, Festivals
    • Literature, Music, Film
    • Traveling, Cities, Excursions
    • Matta Posts with Quizlet Vocabulary Flashcards
    • Sofia la piccola Matta teaches beginner Italian to children
    • Blog Signup
  • About
    • Get to know Melissa
    • What people are saying…
    • Matta Guest Posts
    • Other sites by Melissa
      • Melissa Muldoon Author Site
      • Art of Loving Italy Blog
      • Pinterest Art of Loving Italy
      • Matta Youtube Channel
      • Matta Music Spotify Playlist
      • Matta Podcast
    • News, Awards
    • Studentessa Matta Theme Song
    • Why are you learning Italian? Share Your Story
  • Learn with Melissa
    • Online Lessons + Conversation
    • Learn in Italy with Melissa
    • Join the Matta Italian Book Club — Private & Group Reading Experiences
    • Matta Quizlet Interactive Flashcards
      • Book Club Vocabulary: Io Non Ho Paura
      • Book Club Vocabulary: Guida Astrologica
      • 2022 Italian Words of Week
      • 2021 Italian Words of Week
  • Learn in Italy
    • Matta Travel Programs – Study in Italy with Melissa
      • 2026 June Matta Arezzo City Language Program
      • 2026 September Matta Tuscan Villa Language Program
      • 2026 September Matta & ItalianME Florence Language Program
      • 2026 Arezzo Jousting Festival September Weekend Program
      • Matta Travel Philosophy
    • Previous Matta Language Programs Italy
    • Italian Language Homestay Vacations
    • Walk in Italy Day Experience / Italian Lesson in Italy
  • BookClub
    • About BookClub
    • Commissario Ricciardi: Il posto di ognuno
    • Commissario Ricciardi: Condanna del sangue
    • Commissario Ricciardi:Il senso del dolore
    • Il Treno dei Bambini
    • La Libreria dei Gatti Neri
    • Brodetto galeotto
    • Io non ho paura
    • Quattro metà
    • Prima regola non innamorarsi
    • Il risveglio di Isabella
    • Guida astrologica per cuori infranti
    • Book Club Resource Hub
  • Novels
    • Melissa Muldoon Author Website
    • Amazon Author Page
      • Buy Dreaming Sophia
      • Buy Waking Isabella
      • Buy Il Risveglio di Isabella
      • Buy Eternally Artemisia
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