Ciao Italia! (part 1)

8th June 2022

Hiiiii I know it's been a long time since this blog got updated... my school work just got hectic and it's the school holidays finally...

Today I wanna share a Lil about our International Understanding Day. The theme for this year 2022 is......... *drumroll please* Ciao Italia!

As I am in charge of preparing the information about Italy, I'm going to give you a sneak peek at the subtopics that we will talk about. This blog is also suitable for people who want to make a simple presentation on Italy or learn more about Italian culture. DISCLAIMER: The pictures are not owned by me, I got them from the Internet so... credits to the owners. Pls, forgive me if I have left out anything or made mistakes.

Let's start off with the geographical aspect of Italy. 

Italy is a Mediterranean country located in southern Europe. It is bordered by the Adriatic Sea on the east coast, the Tyrrhenian Sea on the west or Mediterranean coast, and the Ionian Sea to the south. In the north, Italy is bordered by the countries of France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia.

This is what Italy looks like on a map:

Famous cities in Italy

Venice

Featured snippet from the web

Venice is a city that oozes love and charm and is often considered the most romantic city in Europe

Venice cityscape with Rialto bridge in the background.

City world-famous for its canals, its bridges and for its palaces built on water. The Serenissima offers a multitude of different impressions: with its busy canals, labyrinthine back streets and some off-the-beaten-track areas, such as its authentic gondola workshops still in activity.

 

Venice, Grand Canal

Venice is the Capital of the Veneto region, with a population of over 260,000.

 Florence

Florence, view from the Galleria degli Uffizi. 

Capital city of the Tuscany region. From 1865 to 1870 the city was also the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. Today’s Italian is based on the Tuscan language of Florence of the 14th century.

Florence skyline at night

Milan

Milan, Piazza del Duomo

Famous worldwide as one of the capitals of fashion and design, Milan is also home to a cathedral of an unrivaled beauty, the second largest catholic cathedral in the world and the fourth largest one in the world. – 

Arco della Pace, Milan

Italy has a long history from the Empire of Rome till today. Thus, there is a lot of mind-blowing from the past. 

Colosseum

• Built between 72 A.D and 80 A.D under Emperor Vespasian
• Built-in the heart of Ancient Rome. 
• Made from stone and concrete
• Built with the manpower of tens of thousands of slaves
• Largest amphitheater in the world! 
• Oval in shape, it measures 189m long, 156m wide, and 50m high. 
• Has 80 entrances and could seat approximately 50,000 spectators. 
• Events included gladiatorial combats, wild animal hunts, and ship naval battles! 
• The event was seriously brutal, though - around 10,000 animals were killed in a single day

Pantheon

•  a temple dedicated to all Roman gods.
•  built by Emperor Hadrian
• The inscription at the entrance of the Pantheon reads, in Latin: “M.AGRIPPA.L.F.COS.TERTIUM.FECIT”.
• translates roughly as “Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, having been consul three times, making it
• the height from the floor to the oculus and the diameter of the dome is the same: 43.2 m

 Leaning Tower of Pisa

• a medieval architecture, in Romanesque style 
• began in 1173 and was completed in the 14th century, in 1399      
• architects and engineers: Bonanno Pisano, Gherardo di Gherardo, Giovanni Pisano, Giovanni di Simone
• Pisa got its name in 600 BC from a Greek word meaning “marshy land.”
• several other towers in Pisa that also lean: the bell tower at the church of St. Michele dei Scalzi, and the bell tower at the church of St. Nicola.
• The original completed height of the Tower of Pisa is 60 meters.
• The weight is approximately 14,500 tonnes
• There are 251 steps from the bottom to the top of the Pisa tower.

How Italy got its beautiful name

"Italia" surely evolves from Oscan word Víteliú (spoken by the Samnites), meaning "land of young cattle".

Learn with me~ the most beautiful language and the language of love~ Italian

Ciao~ Hello/goodbye

Grazie~ Thank you

Mi scusi~ excuse me

Per favore~ Please

Ti amo~ I love you

Italian traditional clothing

• The women wear colorful embroidered skirts and bodices over light-weight chemises or blouses, with elaborate hats decorated with flowers or fruit. 
  
• Men's traditional clothing tends to be simpler but doesn't lack attention to detail, with embroidery and metal buttons and pins.

Italian traditional dance

Ballet

• Ballet originated in Italy in the 15th Century but women were not allowed to dance in public until 1681, so couldn’t join the Ballet.
• Male dancers are incredibly strong and can lift over one to one and a half tonnes’ worth of ballerinas during a single performance. 
• Ballet dancers use enormous amounts of energy during a full performance. If fact, they use the same amount of energy that it would take to run 18 miles or play two full football matches
•  a tutu takes up to 90 hours to create – that’s almost 4 days.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV1qLYukTH8

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Tarantella

•  Couple folk dance of Italy is characterized by light, quick steps, and teasing, flirtatious behavior between partners; women dancers frequently carry tambourines.
•  The music is in lively 6/8 times. 
•  The tarantella’s origin is connected with tarantism, a disease that appeared in Italy in the 15th to the 17th century and that was associated with the bite of the tarantula spider; victims seemingly were cured by frenzied dancing.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuer7Si9b94
  
  

Pizzica

• Pizzica is a popular Italian folk dance, originally from the Salento peninsula in Apulia 
•  later spreading throughout the rest of Apulia and the regions of Calabria and eastern Basilicata. 
• part of the larger family of tarantella
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Vl2HOzd3A
  
  

Italian instruments

Opera-Born in Italy more than 400 years ago during the Renaissance, opera—a combination of vocal and orchestral music, drama, visual arts, and dance—has been inspiring people for ages

Piano 

  

•  was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731) of Italy.
• Cristofori was unsatisfied by the lack of control that musicians had over the volume level of the harpsichord. 
• He is credited for switching out the plucking mechanism with a hammer to create the modern piano in around the year 1700

 

Italian festivals

https://traveltriangle.com/blog/italian-festivals/

Carnevale

Image Source

• decorated with the great extravagance and splendor to commemorate the beginning of Lent (a period in which Christians don’t indulge in revelry and also don’t consume meat) and Easter during the Carnevale. 
• has its roots from the 12th century and Pagan Festival. 
• parties, parades and masquerade balls are organized.

When: February/March
Where: Venice, Viareggio, Ivrea, and Cento

Palio di Siena

Image Source

• compete against each other in the horse riding game.
•  The winning champion rider is awarded a Palio. A special mass, blessings from the horses and grand procession starts of the main race-day of this festival. 
• When: July/August

Where: Piazza del Campo, Sienna

 Battle Of Oranges

Image Source

•  the largest food fight in Europe  
•  represents the uprisings that took place in Italy against the cruel ruler Ranieri di Bankrate. 
• All participants are divided into nine teams and they hurl oranges at each other either by running around on the streets or from the battle buses.

When: February
Where: Ivrea

Italian food
 

Pizza

 pizza making is a form of art. ultra-crisp stone-baked dough, tomatoes bursting with the countryside from which they were grown, creamy mozzarella and simple toppings scattered with fresh basil leaves. 

Pasta

Macaroni

Lasagna

Spaghetti

Risotto