Pollara is one of the villages on Salina, one of the Aeolian Islands, and the only one to boast fresh water with the resulting vegetative mantle. In fact, its important crops include capers and grapes (in the form of Malvasia wine).

When we speak of an unspecified quantity of food items, objects, etc. we use the indefinite or partitive article, which changes according to the gender of the noun in question (singular: del, della, dello, and plural: dei, delle, degli). In the second part of the lesson, you'll notice that Italian uses the equivalent of "of" or "of it" where English doesn't. Feel free to absorb the first part of this lesson before tackling the second part.

Who doesn't love ice cream? Andromeda gives us her take on the history of gelato (ice cream), from Mount Etna in Sicily to Paris.

Into the fifties, many Italians would stop at trucker restaurants, knowing they'd eat huge portions for little money. With prosperity, Italians began to search for authentic and higher quality foods. One of Marchesi's signature dishes is the open tortello, a deconstructed filled pasta.

Marika and Anna present the verb avere (to have) in the subjunctive mood, which, in Italian, as you'll see, is used when the word che is used as a conjunction. This mood has practically disappeared from the English language.

Anna and Marika are having lunch in the Trastevere quarter of Rome. Join them as they order traditional Roman pasta dishes and talk about Italian eating habits.

Daniela started out dubbing films. Now she works as a voice-over artist, narrating documentaries. Marika and Daniela talk about common errors in pronunciation and how much of a difference they can make!

Daniela talks about the conjugation of the verb "to have," and gives us some important information about pronunciation.

What would you wear if you had to do sports, go to the beach, or if it were cold? Marika teaches you the names for items of clothing, as well as an Italian saying on the subject.

An animated video showing how the Juventus have won an amazing thirty-one championships.

Fellini discusses the reception of 8½ in Russia, and his hopes for the film at the 1964 Oscars.

Join Marika and Daniela in Rome. They're at the Forum talking of its fascinating history.

In this lesson, Daniela talks about the two most important verbs in Italian: essere (to be) and avere (to have).

Giuliano talks about why this year he chose to go to a lake for his vacation.

One thing that has made Gualtiero Marchesi become such a great in modern Italian cuisine has been his ability to create new dishes by rearranging, in an innovative way, traditional dishes of every region of Italy, each different in taste and quality.