Real Italian Culture & Life Style

Italian Mystery: You Say Pepperoni and Get a Salami!

7/31/2013

There are some mysterious transformations that happen when Italians expatriate.

Maybe some of you already got what I'm taking about, by looking at this picture, that is the most famous example.

It's a PEPPERONI PIZZA right? Yes.

NOOOOOO!!! It's my Italian blood screaming now. You can't imagine how much confusion this pizza creates in our poor brains. Why?

Because when an Italian reads on the menu Pepperoni Pizza he/she thinks "Ok, this is pizza, so, it's an Italian dish and the name sounds Italian. They meant PEPERONI and just wrote it wrong." So he will take a Pepperoni pizza thinking he will get a VEGETARIAN ONE.

And what happens? That he receives a pizza with SPICY SALAME (Yes it's SALAME)

WHY???

Because in Italian Peperoni are THESE!

2 Comments

Want to Eat Italian? Learn to read the Menu!

7/30/2013

6 Comments

Are you sure every time you go to an Italian restaurant you are gonna eating Italian? My last post should have demonstrate you it's not always so.
There are thousand of Italians who emigrated abroad in the last century and many of those who own a restaurant today are not 1° generation Italian. This doesn't mean you can't have a great meal but that probably what you will eat won't be 100% Italian.
No, you can't enter and ask, "Sorry where were you born? And your parents?"
But there is something you can do if you're looking for better chance to meet real Italian recipes.

READ THE MENU that's outside the restaurant.

6 Comments

Fettuccine Alfredo: An Italian Dish?

7/24/2013

8 Comments

Many times I tried to convince my American friends that here in Italy it's impossibile to eat the Fettuccine Alfredo. No way. Alfredo was so good in spreading his dish that now nothing can convince the Italian food lovers that here we don't have it.

But, cross on my heart, it's true. Unless you go to Alfredo's Restaurant. So, which is the truth?

8 Comments

La Bocca della Verità: Discover Rome

7/23/2013

1 Comment

This is one of the symbols of Rome that you can't miss when visiting.

La Bocca della Verità (the Mouth of Truth) is an image of stone, of a man-like face, located by the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome and it portrays one of several pagan gods, probably Oceanus.

What many probably don't know is that at the ancient roman time, it was a drain cover.

During the Middle Ages a new legend was created; Virgilio Grammatico, a wizard, would have build it to uncover husbands and wifes' adultery; once introducing an hand in the mouth, it would have been bitten off if the person was an adulterer.

1 Comment

ROME DOCET? Real Pasta Masterpieces Origin

7/20/2013

6 Comments

When you say Pasta, what's the first imagine that come to your mind?
Probably it's the PASTA ALLA CARBONARA! SPAGHETTI ALLA CARBONARA!
There are many theories about the origins of the "Pasta alla Carbonara" and Italians love to think it's a typical dish from the Lazio region, created by the "carbonari" ( workers preparing and selling the "carbone"-charcoal) who needed to eat something able to give them enough strengh to work.
But it's much more probably that Italians should thank the AMERICAN TROUPS occupying Naples in 1944 and who, trying to add something to the poor plate of pasta received, added the bacon, the egg powder and the Milk cream to the Spaghetti. Naples' people tasted it deciding it could have become a great dish and found the way to make it more tasty.
From the 1945 the Spaghetti alla Carbonara began to appear in some "Trattorie".
Spaghetti, a yolk, some Pecorino Romano cheese, bacon (better if smoked), garlic and pepper is all you need to prepare it!

SPAGHETTI ALL'AMATRICIANA

Another Masterpiece, now typical from Rome, but not of Roman's origin. This comes from Amatrice, a village in the province of Rieti and it was brought to Rome by the shepherds who were going there to sell sheeps (the original name of this dish was "Gricia"-see below))
Today we use to think the typical dish is the BUCATINI ALL'AMATRICIANA (OR MATRICIANA), that's a different kind of pasta, but truth is the original recipe was with the SPAGHETTI (without TOMATO).

6 Comments

Italian Love #2: Honey, Sweetheart & Co.

7/16/2013

0 Comments

After the post "How Italians say I love you" it came the time for you to discover how Italian lovers call each other. For real, Italian has a endless fantasy in finding new sweet nicknames for the loved one, but here are the most common and used (and funny)!
Enjoy!

AMORE/AMORE MIO/AMORINO: Love/my love/ little love
TESORO: Honey (literally treasure)
TATA/O: Literally nanny
PICCOLA/O: Little
STELLA/STELLINA: Literally Start/little star
CUCCIOLO/A: Literally puppy
PASSEROTTO: Literally Little Sparrow
MUSINA/O: Pretty little face
PULCE: flea
VITA/VITA MIA (typical from the south): Life/my life
PULCINO: chick
PATATA/PATATO: Literally potato
PACIUGO/PACIUGHINO: Messy Concoction

Yes, we are definitely romantic people!

Go back to the Home Page or to the Blog!

0 Comments

Black Cats, Mirrors & Ladders: How to Survive to the Italian Superstition

7/16/2013

12 Comments

Yes, Italians are superstitious. Forgive us. We know it could make no sense, we know it can seem silly, we know it's not rational. But, as we say, "Non è vero ma ci credo" (It's not true but I believe in it"), considering life is already complicated, why taking the risk of the bad luck when we can try to escape it?

Here you find our most famous superstitions and what to do - when possibile- to avoid the bad luck, that we call SFORTUNA, SFIGA, IELLA ( the famous MALOCCHIO is a totally different matter, but it could be the cause of our bad luck).

In general, the gestures that are always welcome against the back luck are the sign of the HORNS (saying TIE'), touching something made of IRON and men use to touch their TESTICLES.

12 Comments

Salento: The Heel of the Boot

7/12/2013

0 Comments

Salento is the south-eastern extremity of the Puglia region. Salento peninsula is a rock of limestone dividing the Adriatic Sea from the Ionian Sea.
Salento's coasts are varied, and can be sandy or rocky, but all boast pristine beaches and crystal-clear waters.

0 Comments

The Italian Good Luck

7/8/2013

8 Comments

To start this week in the best way here you'll find the most common ways to wish Good Luck in Italian! More slang for you!!!

Obviously the most common way is wishing BUONA FORTUNA (Good luck), but we also have other special ways, related to animals!

8 Comments

Italian Mystery: You Say Pepperoni and Get a Salami!

Want to Eat Italian? Learn to read the Menu!

Fettuccine Alfredo: An Italian Dish?

La Bocca della Verità: Discover Rome

ROME DOCET? Real Pasta Masterpieces Origin

Italian Love #2: Honey, Sweetheart & Co.

Black Cats, Mirrors & Ladders: How to Survive to the Italian Superstition

Salento: The Heel of the Boot

The Italian Good Luck

Archives

Categories