You can read about Ricotta Forte and 30 other Italian cheeses in my post "31 Italian Cheeses: Goat, Cow, Buffalo and Sheep, Oh My!"

--Jerry Finzi

If you know of other cheese lovers, post a link to this page where they can see it... grazie!

First things first... what do you call people engaged in amore? A boyfriend is a Fidanzato. The girlfriend is a Fidanzata. When both get engaged they are Fidanzarsi. Two lovers together are called La coppia--the couple.  The lovers are called gli amante (the lovers) or simply amante.

Ok, so you meet someone interesting and want to go on a date... You might say "Ti va di uscire qualche volta?" (Do you want to go out sometime?) The date itself is called un appuntamento. When things start to go more romantic, you go on un appuntamento romantico. If someone stands you up for your appuntamento, they call it dare buca--giving one the hole or leaving someone in a hole.


Here are some other phrases to learn in the event that you are looking for Love--or if Love finds you--in Bella Italia...

1. Ho una cotta per te. – I have a crush on you.
2. Inammorarsi – to fall in love (mi sono innomorata di te)
3. Sono innamorata di te. – I am in love with you.
4. Sei l’uomo più bello che abbia mai visto./Sei la donna più bella che abbia mai vista. –You are the most handsome guy/beautiful woman that I have ever seen.
5. Sei la mia anima gemella. – You are my soulmate.
6. Colpo di fulmine – love at first sight
7. il romanticismo – romantic
8. Una a lume di candela – a candle light dinner
9. il cuore – the heart
10. il mio cuore batte più velocemente. – my heart beats faster
11. Non posso vivere senza di te! – I can’t live without you
12. Un mazzo di rose – a bouquet of roses
13. Sei stato/a un bellissimo spreco di tempo. – You were a beautiful waste of time.
14. Lui – “Complimenti alla tua mamma” – Compliments to your mother.
15. Lui – “Ho perso il mio numero di telefono, potrebbe prestarmi il suo? – I lost my telephone number, could I borrow yours?
16. Lui – “Ci vieni spesso qui?” – Do you come here often?
17. Lui – “Nel cielo manca un angelo?” – Is heaven missing an angel?
18. Lui – (con le mani sulle scapole di una ragazza) “Oh, ma queste sono scapole, pensavo che fossero delle ali!” – Oh, but these are shoulders. I thought they were wings!
19. Lui  – “Aspetti qualcuno?” – Are you expecting someone?
20. Lui  -“Andiamo da te o da me?” – Your place or mine?
21. Lui  -“Scusami, mi ero perso nei tuoi occhi.” – Pardon me, I was lost in your eyes.

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The most fascinating thing about Italy is its age and history. Sometimes you come up with ancient stories that boggle the mind... here's one:

The so-called Lovers of Valdaro, also dubbed as the "Valdaro Lovers," are a pair of human skeletons dating back 6,000 years discovered by archaeologists at a Neolithic tomb in S.Giorgio near Mantova, Italy, in 2007. (My post about Mantova here). The two skeletons appear to have died or were interred facing each other with arms around each other, thus reminiscent of a "lovers' embrace". Although it is not the only Neolithic burial to contain more than one person, double burials are rare, and the pose and the positioning of this couple are unique.  Scientists believe that the pair is a man and woman no older than 20 years old and approximately 5'2" in height.

After the story made the news with a myriad Stone Age Romeo and Juliet headlines, the site had to be guarded night and day to protect it from the carelessly curious and would-be looters. After all, Mantua (also called Mantova)  is the city where Shakespeare's Romeo was exiled and was told that his Juliet was dead. The composer Giuseppe Verdi chose it as the location for his opera Rigoletto, another story of star-crossed love and death.

The landowner discovered the couple while excavating to build a warehouse, which he still needed to do, so archaeologists decided to remove the entire grave. To keep the couple in their entwined position, archaeologists cut away and lifted the entire section of earth in which they were entombed. The whole burial, all six and half feet cubed of it, was then taken intact in a box to a Musei Civici in Como for further analysis.

The male skeleton (on the left side of the embrace) was found with a flint arrowhead near his neck. His lady friend had a long flint blade along her thigh, plus two flint knives under her pelvis. There was initial speculation that the weapons might have been the cause of death. Osteological examination however found no evidence of violent death, no fractures, and no trauma, so the most likely explanation is the flint tools were buried along with the people as grave goods. Scientists say that given their discovery in a necropolis, it’s unlikely that they died by accident while hugging, to keep warm during a freezing night, for instance. They speculate that they were positioned that way after death.

I think the story could be more like Romeo and Juliet that the scientists are likely to admit. One could imagine angry parents forcing them into a grave and making them take each other's lives using the flint blades. Perhaps they used poison--difficult to find traces of after 6000 years--just like Juliet. Perhaps they were the prince and princess of a long forgotten tribe that died while together out in the cold and their people buried them in the positions of lovers. This is really a story to ponder...

The skeletons were displayed briefly in public for the first time in September 2011 at the entrance of Mantua's Archaeological Museum, thanks to the effort of the association "Lovers in Mantua" which is seeking a permanent home for the ancient couple.


--Jerry Finzi


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"It doesn't matter what percent of blood runs in your veins... 1/4, 1/2 or even with both parents being of Italian decent. Can you speak Italian? Have you lived in Italy at all? Have you at least a basic knowledge of our culture, the history, the reality of contemporary Italy ? If you don't, you are not considered Italian here. You are just an American who think it's cool to claim to be Italian but who doesn't have any real connection or ties with Italy. This is why we think it is strange for a so-called 'Italian-American' to come to Italy and expect distant relations to host them for dinner or become their friends at all."

Found in the Cappella Sansevero in Naples, this wonderful sculpture's most magnificent feature is the fish net... yes, carved by a Master's hand in marble. Amazing.

"Unlike Americans, we Italians do not believe in lines. The unspoken rule is whoever is the most clever or most aggressive and gets to the front first, wins. What really matters is who gets there first, so you will find that Nonne, ladies, mothers with children, even children by themselves or priests will cut you without a thought. We do not see this as cutting. We just were smarter than the next person and got there first. Most Americans have very loud mouths but in the case of waiting on lines are really shy and timid. No wonder why your country keeps falling behind..."