Written by Margo Sorenson, author of over thirty traditionally-published books for young readers. Margo Sorenson spent the first seven years of her life in Spain and Italy, devouring books and Italian food and still speaks (or tries!) her childhood languages. Her most recent Adult/Young Adult novel, SECRETS IN TRANSLATION (Fitzroy Books, October 2018), takes place in Positano, filled with vignettes of daily Italian life. www.margosorenson.com

Ah, the lilting, vibrant sounds of spoken Italian! After my U.S. Diplomatic Corps family moved from Napoli to Bari, when I was four, I was often awakened in the mornings by hearing the vendor ringing his bell outside in the street, chanting, “Pane, burro, e cioccolato!” I was so enchanted by the melodic cadence that I took to riding my two-wheeled bike, ringing its bell, and chanting the same refrain, over and over. Luckily, our neighbors never complained!

Our house was on the outskirts of Bari, sharing a driveway with two other families. We had a number of olive trees in the yard, and my Midwestern mother decided that she would learn to cure olives. She consulted with our neighbors and went at it, even burying the jars in our yard. The problem was—she couldn’t remember where she buried them!

At the time, there was no dairy in Bari, so getting fresh pasteurized milk was a problem. My parents adapted quickly, and we arranged with a neighbor’s cousin to have a liter of his cow’s milk (of course, first, my mother had us meet the cow “in person,”) delivered to us each morning, which my mother promptly boiled, in lieu of pasteurization. It was “rent-a-cow,” for sure.

In the winter, the coal chute into the basement clattered, and in the summer, the mosquitos buzzed. We slept under mosquito netting to save us, because there was no air conditioning, and we had to leave the windows open. The apricot-like fragrance of oleanders drifted in (I was horrified to learn the horse next door died from eating them!), as well as the pungent scent of our geraniums; we have geraniums on our present balcony as a remembrance.

My friends were Angelo, Aldo, Franco, Marisa, Carlo, and Enzo. We played kick-the-can (probably a San Marzano tomato can) down our long driveway. One day, I tried to talk Angelo into playing cowboys and Indians—I had just seen a Roy Rogers movie at the consulate. He wasn’t buying it! Aldo, the oldest at age ten, would sometimes lead us on bike rides down the main road almost to the Italian army barracks.

Our dog, Duke, became enamored with the Italian army men down the road, and he would frequently escape to play basketball with them. Because his collar read “American Consulate,” some of the soldiers would always bring him back, smiling, with profuse Italian apologies. Of course, they grinned when I answered them back in Italian.

When I’m lucky enough to hear spoken Italian, these are some of the precious childhood memories that come flooding back, and the refrain still plays in my mind: “Pane, burro, e cioccolato….”

Written by: Francesca Montillo, owner of Lazy Italian Culinary Adventures, cookbook author and native Italian, in her kitchen for Italian cooking and baking classes hosted via Zoom! Join from the comforts of your home, and learn to prepare delicious dishes from her native land. Although cooking along is encouraged, the participation level is up to you, you can simply watch and learn, ask questions, while taking notes along the way, or you can cook and bake along during the class. Recipes will be straightforward so you can easily replicate the dishes in the future.

In 2015, a few years away from my 40 th birthday, I made a big life decision: to finally start my own business. The prospect of turning 40 is really what did it for me. I no longer wanted to live a life of “should I” and wanted to just do it. I had been dreaming of opening a food and travel business for a long time, and gave it a lot of thought as to what I wanted to include and what I wanted to offer my clients, and that’s how Lazy Italian Culinary Adventures was born.

I grew up in Italy and my fondest memories are around the kitchen with my mom. I didn’t know it as the time, but during those days is when my love for cooking began. I knew my tours would be food-based, because I wholeheartedly believe food is what we all have in common and what ties us all together. Sure, we all have preferences in what we eat, but we all must eat, no getting around it. And with that in mind, my business was born.

My business has grown and evolved since its inception back in 2015. The food and wine tours have been my favorite aspect of what I do. Bringing people to my native land is like entertaining people in my own home. I love treating my clients like family, showing off the best Italy has to offer. Like an eager child showing off its most prized toy, I show off our Italy, with pride, care and satisfaction. It never gets old, and even with my many returned trips, I always learn something new myself, discover a new spot, or try a new food.

My business, like so many others, was hit hard due to Covid. My 2020 + 2021 tours have been postponed to 2022, when we know with more certainty that travel will resume, and we will be able to better enjoy Italy. As such, my business has evolved to now include Zoom cooking classes.

As cookbook author, having published 2 cookbooks with Rockridge Press, and a third book on the way, offering Zoom classes wasn’t much of a leap. During a period where many folks are limiting many social gatherings, meeting over Zoom to cook some delicious Italian food has been the perfect way to bring a bit of Italy close to people, all from the comforts and safety of their own home. I’m most excited about my upcoming Mothers Day Cooking Class. Since my mom was such a culinary inspiration to me growing up, I’m looking forward to offering this class to mothers and daughters this year.

And until we can travel to Italy again, I look forward to serving my clients via Zoom! https://www.thelazyitalian.com/virtual-cooking-classes.html

Written by Margo Sorenson, an ILF Contributory Writer. Author of over thirty traditionally-published books for young readers. Margo Sorenson spent the first seven years of her life in Spain and Italy, devouring books, Italian food and still speaks (or tries!) her childhood languages. Her most recent Adult novel, SECRETS IN TRANSLATION (Fitzroy Books, October 2018), takes place in Positano, with plenty of Italian historical sidelights. www.margosorenson.com

All I have to do is hear a few spoken words of Italian, and I smile. The melodic, warm sounds take me back to my childhood in Napoli and Bari the wonderful experiences I had growing up there for four years.

One of my first memories is of the stunning view of the Bay of Napoli from our family’s apartment in Posillipo, Vesuvius looming in the background. Because we were U.S. Diplomatic Corps (that’s why I’m so polite), we had many U.S. visitors to the consulate for business. While my father dealt with them, my mother escorted their families to Pompeii and Vesuvius. I was drafted to come along, because my parents knew we were living in a unique place and wanted me to remember as much as I could. Besides, the Americans got a kick out of a little four-year-old American girl who spoke Italian, and, looking back, I’m sure my parents wanted to show the Americans that an important way to respect another culture was to speak the language.

We would climb Vesuvius a short way up, and I vividly remember when a guide asked me to put my little hand into a “warm pocket,” where I could feel the heat of the volcano. He promised I wouldn’t burn my hand; he was right. Of course, he first spoke to me in English, (I must have looked American, right?), but when I answered in Italian, his smile broadened. The smiles were always there when we spoke Italian. A tour I dreaded was Solfatara, outside Puozzoli, a shallow crater whose fumes smelled exactly like rotten eggs. I would beg my mother to be allowed to stay home, but the answer was always “No”! Visits to Pompeii were many, and I was equally horrified and fascinated by the plaster casts of the dead in the museum, especially that of the dog with the loaf of raisin bread between his jaws. I could imagine the rivers of molten lava coursing down the ancient streets we walked, and those images affected me so powerfully that my childhood nightmare was of running through the streets of Pompeii, my precious dollhouse (from Sears, Roebuck catalog) in my arms, trying to outrun the lava that was hotly pursuing me! Fortunately, I outgrew that.

As an adult, returning to Pompeii and Vesuvius (not Solfatara) was amazing. Yes, Pompeii’s streets seemed strangely narrower! To this day, hearing spoken Italian links me to my treasured childhood in Italy, bringing a smile.

The Italian Language Foundation is pleased to offer this AP Italian Exam Preparatory webinar for you, our Student Members.

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO MS. CRISTINA MODICA, an ILF Teacher Member, for her dedication in creating this special webinar exclusively for ILF Student members.

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Written by: Colin Grant, a team member of The Italian Language Foundation, earned a Bachelor of Arts & Science from Indiana University.  He majored in Media Advertising with a Minor in Italian.  Colin utilizes his creative skills in media, advertising and Italian to support ILF’s social media and website content.

In the summer of 2019, I had the pleasure of being able to study abroad in Florence, Italy.  After moving into my new home for the summer, I discovered that I was staying in a part of the city that I would describe as “touristy.”  Walking around the crowds in the Piazza Del Duomo you hear countless different languages spoken as people come from all over the world to see Florence’s beauty.  A goal of mine was to see as much of Florence as possible, so after classes would end, I began taking a few classmates with me to explore parts of the city that we didn’t know.  It was in these quieter areas with fewer tourists that I was able to meet and talk with more people, usually in the piazzas.  This not only helped me improve my Italian language skills but also allowed me to connect with people and see Florence as more than just a beautiful city.

One person I talked with commented that outside of the busy city center, the gelato shops are both better and less expensive.  This gave a few of my classmates and me the idea to try and find the best gelato shop in Florence as we continued to learn our way around.  Luckily gelato shops were a common sighting, and it was never too difficult to find a new one as we walked through the narrow cobblestone streets that often seemed to wind and curve.  After several weeks of exploring new parts of the city and new gelato shops, I began to feel like I knew my way around town.

On my last night in Florence, I went for one last walk and ended up at my favorite gelato shop along the Arno River.  It’s a small shop with only enough room for the counter, which had around twenty flavors of gelato on it.  There was gelato in every color and flavor from traditional gelato such as stracciatella to less traditional flavors like Oreo and mint chocolate chip.  Walking home with a cone in my hand, I couldn’t help but stare at the beautiful Renaissance architecture.  I passed by the Uffizi Gallery, several churches, and buildings that I couldn’t identify.  While taking my phone out to take a picture, I heard a voice behind me “scusi scusi.”  I turned around to see an older man holding out a map, “sai dov’è la stazione di Santa Maria Novella?”  He asked for directions to the train station and luckily we were not far away.  We talked briefly and I pointed out on his map the upcoming intersections that he needed to turn at.  I realized this was the first time I had given anyone directions while in Italy, and Florence felt like much more of a home than a foreign city.