Weekly Dose of Italian Culture #2
Welcome to the second edition of Weekly Dose of Italian Culture. This edition will examine a famous Italian movie, song, personality, and some fun facts about geography, history, and Italian customs.
Italian Movie of the Week
Ever wondered what happens when a housewife decides to chase adventure instead of her family? This week’s Italian movie is Pane e Tulipani (Bread and Tulips) a romantic comedy directed by Silvio Soldini.
Released in 2000, the story centers on Rosalba, a disillusioned housewife who, while on a family vacation, gets accidentally left behind at a highway rest stop.
Instead of trying to reunite with her neglectful family right away, she decides to take a spontaneous detour and head to Venice. There she meets Fernando, a melancholic but charismatic restaurateur from Iceland.
Pane e Tulipani is a charming story about self-discovery, freedom, and the beauty of life's unexpected turns, combining humor and warmth with an uplifting message about following one's heart.
Italian Song of the Week
This week's song challenges social norms with a powerful story. I’m talking about Bocca di Rosa (Rose Mouth) by singer-songwriter Fabrizio De André.
Released in 1967 it remains well known to this day. It tells the story of a woman nicknamed Bocca di Rosa, who moves into a small, conservative town and quickly becomes the center of attention because of her beauty and openness to love everyone (including married men.)
As Bocca di Rosa becomes very popular among the men of the village, the local women become jealous and outraged, perceiving her as a threat to their marriages and societal order. They pressure the authorities to escort her out of town. Amusingly, when Bocca di Rosa arrives in another town, she is welcomed warmly by all the local men (as her reputation preceded her.)
The song criticizes the moral hypocrisy of small-town society, highlighting themes of love, judgment, and the clash between individual desire and societal norms. It is famous for its poetic lyrics and De André's skillful storytelling, which mix satire and tenderness.
Famous Italian of the Week
Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), often simply known as Dante, was an Italian poet, writer, and philosopher, best known for his epic poem The Divine Comedy, which is considered one of the greatest works of literature worldwide.
Dante's work had a profound impact on the development of the Italian language and literature, and he is often rightfully called il padre della lingua italiana (the Father of the Italian language.)
Geography Fact of the Week
The longest river in Italy is the Po.
Stretching about 652 kilometers (405 miles), it slices the north of Italy horizontally crossing the Piemonte, Lombardia, Emilia-Romagna, and Veneto regions.
The Po Valley, or Pianura Padana, is a major agricultural and industrial region, known for its rich soil, producing important crops. However, the Po River is also prone to flooding, which has historically posed challenges to the communities along its banks.
History Fact of the Week
Torino (Turin) was the first capital of a unified Italy from 1861 to 1865. A fun fact about this is that Turin became the capital largely because of its role in the unification movement, led by the Kingdom of Sardinia and its Prime Minister, Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour.
The city was at the heart of the Risorgimento, the movement that unified Italy. However, the capital was later moved to Florence and eventually to Rome in 1871, partly to help promote national unity by choosing a more central location.
Turin's brief role as the capital left it with grand architecture and wide boulevards, contributing to its reputation as one of Italy's most elegant cities.
Italian Custom of the Week
In Italy, the number 13 is often considered lucky, contrary to many other cultures where it’s seen as unlucky. This belief stems partly from Italian tradition, where the number 13 is associated with la schedina del Totocalcio which is a betting card in which people have to guess the outcome of 13 Italian soccer games with lavish prizes for those who correctly identify all 13.
The average payout for a 13 could range from several tens of thousands to even hundreds of thousands of euros, depending on the jackpot size and the number of winners.
Ha fatto 13 (he/she scored 13) was even idiomatically used to say that someone really lucked out, though this is somewhat in disuse today.
The number 13 is also linked to the Great Goddess in ancient Italian paganism, representing fertility and life. It’s worth noting that 13 people sitting at a table is still considered inauspicious in Italy due to its reference to the Last Supper.
Interestingly, in Italy, the number 17 is commonly viewed as unlucky, as its Roman numeral, XVII, can be rearranged to form the word VIXI, which in Latin means "I have lived", therefore implying death.
I hope you enjoyed this edition of Weekly Dose of Italian Culture. Alla prossima (Until next time)!