Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Annalena continues talking with Paolo Giordano, who talks about how places such as Afghanistan and Apulia have influenced his writing.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Melania Gaia Mazzucco talks about one of her novels set in seventeenth-century Trastevere, quite a different place than what we see today. Although she has traveled the world, Mazzucco comes from generations of romani di Roma (Romans from Rome).
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Melania talks about her relationship with her father when he was still alive. He didn't say much, but unbeknownst to her, tried to get a story of hers published. She talks about one her favorite parts of Rome: Isola Tiberina (Tiber Island), the only river island in the part of the Tiber that runs through Rome.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Melania Mazzucco grew up in a part of Rome on the outskirts, not the part people usually associate with the beautiful city. The white Fiat 500 her father bought for the family became an important part of her life.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Leaving the outskirts of Rome, Annalena goes to a middle-class neighborhood where she meets professor and writer, Alessandro Piperno. He talks about what it was like growing up there and about his identity as a writer.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Alessandro explains some things about the characters in his books and tells a story about when he won the Strega award. The Strega Award is the most important Italian literary award. It gets its name from one of its creators, the owner of the company producing Strega, a brand of an amaro (after-dinner, digestive bitters).
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Annalena continues her conversation with Piperno in his favorite restaurant. They look at some photos from his past while they wait for their meal to be served.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Alessandro Piperno comes from a mixed Jewish family and recounts how he learned, at an early age, to cherish the relationship between Jerusalem and Rome, where Christianity and Judaism blend. Thus we come to the end of this episode about the region of Lazio.
Difficulty: Intermediate
North Italy
Rosalba lives in Pontedera and shows us her favorite park. There is a sculpture there that reminds her of a woman-cat.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy Lombardy
Rosalba was a French teacher who has been retired for about a a year. She now spends her days writing stories and cultivating her passion for photography.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
We're on the fast track of the fashion world between Milan and Paris and it's hard to keep up. On a different track, there are some questionable plans for a "miracle" in the Bahamas.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
Guia and Marco get together for lunch and they talk about Nardò. Then Guia goes to Paris for what turns out to be an important meeting.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
After a less than satisfying phone call with Marco, Guia goes to Nardò. She has to choose between two different bars for some refreshment.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
Guia makes it to the old farmstead. She thinks the place is empty, but... She also has a meeting with the notaio (akin to an attorney) about the will, but there are a few surprises.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
Guia is able to figure out why her cousin is not the right person to deal with her grandmother's will. She has two more bizarre encounters in town.
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