italy Archives

This is Silvio. I met him in Sovana walking down the street with zucchini flowers he had just picked from his garden.

Whether you have a trip to Italy coming up and want to learn a few things to say, or whether you are moving there for work and need to dial up your Italian skills, or maybe you just want to learn the language for fun, today I want to tell you about some of the ways I learn and improve my language skills, and also the online course I use to learn and practice Italian at home.

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Why Learn Italian?

I have a slightly different approach to most people. I’m not trying to be perfect at the language, and don’t stop to think how to conjugate a particular verb, or what is the grammatically correct way to say something. Although I have been learning both along the way, and definitely am 1000x better than I was before. My entire goal with learning Italian is to be able to participate.

I want to be able to join the conversation, chat back and forth with anyone and everyone, and understand what’s going on. This to me is where the fun lies in a new language and in traveling to a country that uses that language. And I have to say, I have no end of fun practicing my language skills on anyone who will let me!

Italians are really fun loving, gregarious people, so when they see you making an effort they are more than happy to help you out.

In the picture above I was talking to a lovely gentleman, Silvio. He talked to me about his zucchini flowers, his garden at the end of the street, and then over coffee he told me all about growing up in this little town in the Maremma (southern Tuscany). He told me about his brother walking home from the war after being a prisoner in Russia, arriving home barefoot and just skin and bone. And he told me about his wife who died 32 years ago.

Part of the reason I could talk to him about so many diverse subjects was the online course I use to learn Italian. It’s called Italian With Davide.

Speaking The Language Adds To The Fun

In another little town nearby, the lady in the cheese shop was great fun and loved that I was at least trying to speak in Italian. She taught me a bunch of cheese related words, then put me behind the counter to prank some of the locals. (My friend Anna video’d it)

My 3 minute job in the cheese shop!

Anyone who speaks Italian will pick up on the mistakes I made, but it’s a great example of the fun you can have even just speaking a small amount. In this case all the other shop owners along the street could hear us all shrieking and laughing and came in to join the fun. I ended up making loads of friends, which was handy because I was staying there on my own for several days.

You may not want to be pretending to be working in a cheese shop, but you can see how using the language adds to the experience!

What Else Do I Do?

Taking a course isn’t the only thing I do to learn Italian. I watch Italian movies and TV shows with subtitles on (Prime, Netflix, You Tube). I also do Italian Reader books like this one and this one and this one. (I have them on Kindle/the Kindle App, so can read a little bit or do some comprehension questions while out and about/on a lunch break/while I’m getting an oil change etc.)

But those things only work if you have something more structured going on as well, which is why Italian With Davide course work so well for me.

The Courses

Italian With Davide has three courses based on your level and ability. The courses are Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.

Each course is broken up into lots of small modules. You do them at your own pace, and you can reach out for help when/if needed. There are even chat rooms where you can practice with other learners around the world who are doing the same course as you!

I normally only have time to do a couple of modules at a time, but I do them most days. When I get to the end of a course I often start back over, and keep repeating modules. For me and for the way I learn, this is super helpful. Once you’ve bought a course, you own it and can do it as many times as you want.

Lots of course members do it on their phone while they commute to work. I prefer to do the course at home, but you have all kinds of options.

Some of What You Learn

What I have found super helpful is that you learn real world things that you can actually apply to real life when you’re there.

One example for me was on a boat excursion in Abruzzo this past summer. (If you belong to my newsletter you will already know this story)

On the boat in the Tremiti Islands, the bridal part behind me. It was a super fun day!

I was the only English speaker on the boat. Apart from the captain and the first mate there was a group of 4 women about my age, and then another group of girls doing a bachelorette party day. In one of Davide’s modules you learn about weddings, and the vocabulary of weddings. I had never thought I would actually use those words, but then here I was, on a boat with a bridal party, able to participate in a conversation about the dress, the bridesmaid, the ring, the flowers, the cake – you get it.

What’s In The Courses

You learn all kinds of things that you actually use in real life, and each lesson is broken down so that you learn to pronounce things properly, learn the vocabulary, grammar and expressions. It’s wonderful!

How To Get The Course

Italian With Davide opens for registration several times each year, for about 5 days at a time. If you are reading this before Black Friday 2022, there is a HUGE sale coming up. The biggest discount Davide has ever given. (I, of course, bought all of mine full price a couple of years ago.)

Because the registration is only open for 5 days normally and 3 days over Black Friday 2022, if you are interested or want more information, you should get on Davide’s email list, so that you get notified. For most of the year I don’t pay attention to when the course opens – I already have mine. So being on his email list is the best way to stay informed.

If you want more information about travel in Italy, places the tourists don’t know about, what to eat in Italy, and endless Italy travel tips, join the thousands of people worldwide who get my monthly newsletter. It’s free and it’s really cool! Get the newsletter here.

One of my favorite museums in all of Florence is the National Museum of the Bargello. Where the Uffizi is the mecca of Renaissance painting in Florence the Bargello is the home to sculpture. It is nowhere near as big, crowded or overwhelming as the Uffizi, and at least when I have been there, it doesn’t seem to get the legions of people checking another item off the bucket list. It gets fewer people and they seem to have a germane interest in the art inside.

Which makes it right up my alley!

Located between the Duomo and the Palazzo Vecchio, the Bargello is right in the middle of where you will be anyway, and really should be on your list of things to see and do in Florence.

Before we get into the art inside I want to draw your attention to the building itself, because frankly it is fantastic.

The Palazzo Bargello

The fortress-like Palazzo Bargello was built in 1255 to house the first Capitano del Popolo (Captain of the people), then in 1261 the Podesta, who was the highest magistrate in the Florentine city council. The palazzo was originally called the Palazzo del Podesta and is the oldest public building in Florence. When you look at its crenellations you can see a resemblance to the Palazzo Vecchio down the street, the design of which was modeled on the Bargello.

In 1574 the Medici eliminated the job of the Podesta and installed the police chief or bargello in the palazzo instead. The building became a prison and for 240 years (give or take) executions took place in the palazzo’s courtyard. It remained a prison until 1859 when it became a museum.

The building itself is magnificent and takes on new meaning when you consider it was a prison for 300 years!

It is designed around an open courtyard with a central well and an external staircase taking you up to the second floor. It is quite beautiful, with a loggia and porticos and the coats of arms of the various Podesta and judges covering the walls. If you look under the porticos you can see the insignia of the quarters/neighborhoods of the city. In the loggia you can see Giambologna’s bronze birds from the Medici Villa at Castello.

16^th century statues by Giambologna, Danti, Bandinelli and Ammannati are against the wall. The courtyard takes my breath away every time I walk inside.

The well in the courtyard of the Bargello

The museum has the largest Italian collection of Gothic and Renaissance sculpture. There is of course lots to see here and I recommend having a good look around, but I want to direct your attention to these 5 things:

Donatello’s Bronze David

I would come all the way to Florence just to look at this one piece, and it is my favorite here in the Bargello.

There are 2 David’s by Donatello in this room and one by Verrochio,but the one I want to draw your attention to is the bronze David. Unlike Michelangelo’s big brawny David (created around 60 years later) this one is quite effeminate and somewhat incongruous in the role. He is naked except for a hat and boots. Or you could look at it from the perspective that for some reason this naked guy is wearing a hat and boots. During restoration it was discovered that the hair, hat and boots were originally gilded, so they would have sparkled in the light.

At times this piece was incredibly controversial. Sculpted for Cosimo de’ Medici David was originally placed in the courtyard of the Medici palace. This was the first free standing bronze statue of the Renaissance. Look closely and you will see a laurel on his hat, symbolism of victory Donatello borrowed from ancient Roman culture.

The wing from the giant’s helmet lies against naked David’s inner thigh, which was thought to be quite sexual at the time. It’s also probably considered quite a sexual overture now.

There is some thought that Cosimo and Donatello may have been lovers, which adds an entirely different dimension to this statue. Whether true or not they were definitely close. Cosimo gave him multiple commissions and Donatello is buried mere feet away from Cosimo.

Donatello’s St George

Against the back wall of the Donatello room you will see a vertical marble niche holding a sculpture. This is the original niche and sculpture commissioned by the armory gild for the exterior of Orsanmichele. We see a youthful, somewhat lanky St George, holding his shield, ready to battle the dragon.

Donatello’s St George was youthful and handsome

If you’re not familiar with the story of Orsanmichele, it was a granary in the middle of the historic center of Florence that after a miracle or two became a church. The exterior of the church is wrapped in niches like this one, each with its own statue, one for each of the major gilds of Florence. These were some of the first sculptures of the Renaissance. You can see pictures and read about it here.

While here look to the relief panel below the statue of St George. This may be the first example of a technique Donatello invented called rilievo schiacchiato, or flat relief. It tells the full story of St George, the perspective drawn out in just ½ a centimeter. It’s very cool and one of those details you can easily miss if not pointed out to you. (Which is how I learned about it.)

Michelangelo’s Bacchus

In 1496-97 the 21 year old Michelangelo created this piece, one of only two surviving sculptures from his first time in Rome. The following year in 1498 he created the magnificent Pieta in St Peters.

I love that rather than the big strong bodies we associate with Michelangelo’s sculptures Bacchus is fleshy, almost womanly, and is drunk. Bacchus, the god of wine, is propped up by a satyr while leaning against a tree. He looks about to trip and fall, a trick Michelangelo created by giving him a high center of gravity.

Ivy was sacred to Bacchus, so he wears an ivy wreath instead of the vines we associate with wine. Instead of looking God-like Michelangelo has made this Bacchus look like a vapid drunk human. It’s brilliant.

Michelangelo’s Pitti Tondo

This is another of my favorite Michelangelo works in Florence.

Tondos were typically made for private homes and were considered a more domestic type of art. This is one of two tondos that he made for families in Florence around 1503-05. It features the Madonna and Child.

Take note of how exquisitely beautiful Mary’s face is. I love the way her head comes out of the frame, and the intimacy between her and little Jesus is just palpable. It feels like we are getting a glimpse into a real and very relatable moment in their day. It’s just gorgeous.

The Bronze Door Panels

The bronze doors of the Baptistery San Giovanni in front of the Duomo are famous and fabulous, and like everything in Florence have incredible stories behind them. The most celebrated are Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise, which were the third and final set of doors. This story is about the second set of doors commissioned for the Baptistery.

In 1401 a competition was held to find the artist to create the second set of bronze doors for the Baptistery. Competitors had to make a bronze quatrefoil panel telling the story of the Sacrifice of Isaac. The panels were small and had to include the father and son, an altar, a donkey, 2 servants, a tree and a hill. This was an enormous amount of detail to fit into a small square, and required phenomenal skill.

Once the winner was announced all the panels were melted down and reused except for that of the winner and the runner up. The competition was so close and the work of the runner up was so spectacular. Some say the runner up only lost because hi panel used a heavier bronze, so his doors would cost more to make. We will never know for sure.

The consequences of this competition changes the face of Florence forever. The winner, Lorenzo Ghiberti not only created these doors but also the Gates of Paradise doors. The runner up, Filippo Brunelleschi was so incensed at losing, he turned his back on the craft forever and focused instead on architecture. He designed the dome of the Duomo, many of the most beautiful chapels in Florence, and much of the architecture we still love today!

The Bronze Door Panels
image via ellejaeitalia

The two panels are here at the Bargello, side by side. They need to be on your must see list. Without looking at the signs see if you can figure out which was the winning panel!

Again, there is so much to see at the Bargello and these are just 5 of my favorite pieces. I always find art museums, palaces and churches are much more manageable when I have a handful of specific things to look for. Whenever possible I recommend doing google searches before visiting a museum and finding 5 or 10 pieces to look for. You can also search for a favorite artist’s work such as Michelanglo at the Bargello and get a list of items that you can read up on and then seek out while there. It’s awful when you get home and discover that a Caravaggio or a Donatello that you would have loved to have seen was there and you didn’t know to look for it.

I have always found that the docents working at the museums, palaces etc are more than happy to direct me to a given work, and sometimes will walk there with me. This is a fabulous bonus because they always know interesting facts that I haven’t read about, and love telling the stories behind the various pieces.

Are you planning a trip to Florence? Get my free Secret Florence pdf to learn about my favorite restaurants, bars and shops in the Renaissance city. Click HERE

We don’t yet know for sure when we will be able to travel to Italy again, hopefully it will be later this summer. Regardless of when we can go, whether it will be your first time or a return trip, the following 10 things are really important to keep in mind. In fact you can file them under things you wish you knew before you went to Italy!

10 Things You’ll Wish You Knew Before You Traveled To Italy

Pack Light

It took me a while to get on board with this but you really do need to pack light. I advise my travelers to pack half of what they think they need.

Most travelers will have to get their suitcases on and off trains, lift them onto train or ferry luggage racks, carry them across cobblestoned streets (notorious for breaking suitcase wheels) and sometimes up multiple flights of stairs. Your hotel or accommodation may have an elevator, but that doesn’t mean it will be working. Many train stations don’t have escalators or elevators so you can find yourself carrying heavy suitcases down one flight of stairs and up another if you are changing trains. Trust me, it’s a nightmare.

Cars are smaller over there so taxis and rental cars may not fit excess or large luggage.

Also shopping in Italy is fantastic. You will want space in your suitcase to bring things home. (Checking a second suitcase should you need to buy one while there will cost you an additional 100 euros)

Plan Your Outfits

Don’t pack any just-in-case items. Plan your outfits ahead of time. Separates give you the most options, with the ideal 4 tops for one skirt or pair of pants. Pack easy to wear, easily packable items. Sundresses and travel dresses are ideal, with a light jacket or sweater in case it gets cold.

I normally get my travelers to plan an outfit for each day. This makes the process so much easier and really helps to condense your packing.

At the moment post-pandemic there is talk of the airlines not supplying blankets and pillows inflight. I always travel with a large pashmina/shawl that can double up as a blanket. My best travel tip for flying is to wear a long sleeve merino base layer. See here and here and here This lightweight fabric is super warm but regulates temperature to keep you comfortable from sub-zero temperatures to around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. It also wicks away moisture, so you won’t get sweaty or smelly.

Bring Good Walking Shoes

Italy is all walking, much of it up and down hills, most of it on uneven or cobbled streets. My average day in Italy involves walking between 8 and 10 miles, and I’ve had plenty of days when we’ve walked double that.

Really good, supportive walking shoes are essential.

Bring Currency

Any time you are traveling to a country with a different currency you should bring some of that currency with you. Airports normally have ATM machines but they may be out of cash and definitely will have the worst exchange rate.

Order a small amount of foreign currency from your bank prior to leaving for Italy. I recommend bringing 100 euros cash, in small denominations. Many vendors will not have change for a larger bill and may not want to risk accepting a counterfeit bill. Your best bet is to bring an assortment of cash in 20 euro notes and smaller.

Use The Trains

The train system in Italy is fantastic. It is really efficient and very affordable. I advise taking the train across country rather than flying. On the rare occasions that I fly internally there are invariably flight delays and it would have taken just as long by train!

Plan Your Airport Transfers

Plan your transport from the airport ahead of time. Especially if this is your first trip to Italy you can be exhausted after the long flight and find the arrival overwhelming.

If flying into Venice you will need to pre-book passage from the airport to the city on the Alilaguna boat see here. If flying into any other major city either plan for a private driver transfer (recommended) or a taxi. Your accommodation will be able to advise you on car companies and taxi fares.

If flying into Florence or Pisa see this post, if flying into Rome see this post.

Never accept a ride from a driver soliciting business inside the airport. Taxis are required to come through the taxi stand outside the arrivals terminal. They all have the correct insignia for that particular city and will have fares posted. There is always a set fare from the airport into the city.

Eat Regionally

In Italy food is regional. Each region has its own specialties, and other than at tourist restaurants you won’t find American Italian items on the menu. Rather than trying to order pizza and lasagna everywhere you go, order the food from that area. My best seller Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy breaks down what foods to order in each region as well as which wines to order by region.

It also gives you expert advice on how to choose a restaurant, how to order coffee, what to do if you get sick, how to get your sales tax back – loads of essential information for travelers. It is available worldwide on Amazon.com

Learn A Little Italian

Over the years Aldo and his wife Lidia have become dear friends of mine.
Capri 2019

Before you travel learn some basic things to say in Italian. Things like hello and goodbye, please and thank you, and a few other easy bits and pieces. Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy also has a section on basic phrases and how to say them.

Slow Down!

Don’t pack your itinerary with too many things. Plan to see fewer things in fewer cities. Don’t waste time standing in line for hours to see the major attractions. Pick one or two per city and then spend the rest of your time seeing the places the tour buses don’t go.

Long lunches with a view.
Montalcino, Tuscany

St Peter’s in Rome is great, but there are no end of other churches just as fantastic with no line to get inside. The Duomo is Florence is ok inside but there are so many staggeringly fantastic churches in the historic center of town that you can walk right into. St Mark’s Basilica in Venice is incredible and is worth waiting in line for.

Every city in Italy has vastly more to offer than just the main attractions. Spend your time wandering and exploring these lesser known sites, stop for a coffee or a gelato, enjoy a long lunch somewhere with a lovely view.

Even in the busiest cities you can find places to chill out and just wander.
Rome 2019

My second book, Glam Italia! 101 Fabulous Things To Do In Rome is also an international best seller. It gives you more than 101 incredible things to see and do in Rome, all within walking distance of the big attractions, and most with very few tourists. I have a new book coming out soon with 101 Fabulous Things To Do in another famous Italian city. To get a heads up on it and when it’s coming out join my Private Member Newsletter here. You can unsubscribe at any time.

10. Buy Artisanal

Whether you are buying a gelato or whether you are buying souvenirs, or anything (and everything) in between, don’t buy from the high street shops, buy from the artisans. This post explains why you must only ever buy artisan gelato. Don’t worry, there are artisan shops everywhere and they cost the same.

Italy Travel Tip: How To Learn To Speak Italian Confidently