Mussolini forbade the use of dialects and the minority languages that were spoken in the regions bordering the countries to the north in favor of one language for all. Italians were bombarded by fascist propaganda and Mussolini's very frequent speeches.

The segment looks at how Mussolini patterned his fiercely nationalist rhetoric after poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, while harkening back to the glory of Imperial Rome. The song in the segment refers to Balilla, an 18th century Genoese boy. In 1746, Balilla threw a stone at an Austrian official of the occupying Hapsburg Empire, which led to the War of the Austrian Succession.

A great deal of effort went into purging foreign words from the Italian language under the fascist regime. Newspapers, magazines, and book publishers were at the forefront of the effort and were tasked with finding Italian replacements for foreign words and expressions. Many fascist-era terms have fallen by the wayside, but some succeeded and are still in use today. As an example, the word manifesto [poster] was successfully introduced to replace the French term affiche.

Mussolini continues to get rid of any traces of foreign words, and even mounts an exhibit against the use of the common formal second person singular address "Lei" (you) in favor of "Voi." See this lesson about "Voi" to get some background.

We can see that the battle against using "Lei," the common, formal, second-person form of address, was taken very seriously by the fascists. In fact they went too far when it came to a popular women's magazine called "Lei" (she, her).

As you can see from the video, Max Gazzè seems to be singing to a mannequin. The song is from the album Maximilian, and was published in 2016.

Maurizio is a young student from the province of Pescara, going to school (university) in Rome. He tells us a little bit about himself, and his life in Rome. This is an excellent opportunity to compare how Italian treats tenses with respect to English, especially the English present perfect, and present continuous.

Marino shows us how to make "maccaronara" or "spaghetti alla chitarra" (guitar spaghetti), from scratch. This special kind of pasta is from Avellino, near Naples.

Marika teaches us some other Italian sayings, regarding time; working on one's own, instead of being assisted; and even about people who drink too much, who might let down their guard, saying things they wouldn't say while sober.

Marika takes a small poll of Italians to find out how they spend Christmas Eve, what they eat, and, above all, whether or not they follow particular traditions.

Are you curious to hear about Carnival celebrations in Italy? Marika describes for us some of the traditions and curiosities.

Are you familiar with any of the famous characters from the Commedia dell'Arte? And, what about "chats" that are a fantastic taste treat. Marika will tell you all about them.

Office gossip, the Italian way. Marika and Anna dish about the boss, the boss's nephew, the boss's nephew with the wife of the old boss, a temp--all while pretending to work.

2015 is an exciting year for Italy, because this year's Expo is in Milan. Marika was lucky enough to go, and she's eager to share her experience with you. But first she gives you a little background on how the Expo got started as a phenomenon.

Marika shares her impressions and her bubbling enthusiasm for the Expo 2015 held in Milan until the October thirty-first of this year. We hope you get the chance to go!