Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Francesca is in Rome and she looking for a way of getting to the Janiculum. She asks a guy, who gives her directions and tells her of some ways she could get there. At the end, they decide to get a coffee together.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Francesca and her new friend are now in the bar. Let's go and see what's on the menu!
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
This segment takes place in Pigneto, a Rome neighborhood, which hosts a "Mercatino del Pigneto," or flea market, where used items, collectibles, and crafts are sold. Here you'll find everything and at reasonable prices.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Approximately seventy percent of the Earth's surface is covered by water. Nonetheless, water is a precious asset and shouldn't be wasted uselessly. Here are some tricks to save water at home.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Little tricks that can help save water in day to day life. They can make a huge difference to avoid wasting this precious resource.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
Nicola, a policeman, provides an overview of the Italian armed forces. He also explains the differences between the Carabinieri and the State Police, and details other enforcement agencies active in Italy.
Difficulty: Advanced
Italy Neapolitan
Pupia tv presents the “Lanificio25”, a multipurpose space in Naples devoted to the arts and performing arts. There you will find all kinds of music, theater, dance, exhibitions, and workshops.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
What is chromotherapy? Marino, who is a chromotherapist, explains this fascinating branch of alternative medicine.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Me Ne Frego [I don't give a damn], was one of the mottoes of Fascism, coming originally from the writings of Gabriele d'Annunzio and employed by storm troops during World War One as a war cry for courage and daring, with the meaning, "I don't mind dying for freedom." The motto gives the title to this documentary about the influences of Italian Fascism on the Italian language. It was produced by the Istituto Luce Cinecittà, with materials from the historical Luce archives, and narrates the obscure attempt by the Fascist regime to create a new and unique language, a new “Italian” that fit the dogma of the dictatorship.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
In World War I, Italians who up until then had spoken their regional dialects, found themselves fighting side by side against a common enemy. But Mussolini was interested in fighting the internal enemy.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
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).
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