Buondì. With today’s episode in our FREE series on the Medieval period in the Italian peninsula, we’re halfway! And while it’s a long one, it’s very interesting, and as a fine example of historical ‘karma‘ as you might find! E poi, reading and listening practice is always useful, I say. Talking of listening, Edwin wrote […]
The beginning of the end of a monopoly
Buondì. Arguably, one of the most important reasons for the Catholic church’s wealth and power (reference the period from the end of the Roman Empire in 476 to circa 1100-1200 CE, so 600-700 years of largely undisputed dominance) was not that they controlled access to the afterlife, but that they were the only source of […]
Lots of good stuff in today’s FREE episode!
Buondì. There’s lots of good stuff in today’s FREE episode! I won’t tell you exactly what it’s about, but if you’re interested in the origins of certain ‘Italian’ words, or like to know why typical ‘Italian’ crops are cultivated in particular areas, then you should definitely take a look. We’re in the eighth and ninth […]
How to deal with uncooperative family members
Buondì. I’m writing this yesterday, so to speak, as this morning I have business in town, after which we’re off to the coast for a weekend of sun, sea, and hopefully relaxation! August is pretty dead in Italy, the only dependable thing being the bumper-to-bumper traffic on the ‘autostrade’ (= ‘car roads’, so ‘interstates’ for […]
Irritatingly inexact
Buondì. It’s a common assumption amongst inexperienced language learners that a word that exists in their native tongue will have an equivalent in the language they are learning, so facilitating direct translation from one to another. Alas, that’s not always so. For instance, in today’s new episode of our FREE 30-part series on the Middle […]
Ever fancied being pope?
Buondì. The tenth episode in our free Summer Series (of thirty in total) is now ready for you to read and listen to. And if you’ve ever fancied being pope (‘papa’ in Italian), you should definitely take a look before emailing off your application form – today’s episode touches on some of the challenges of […]
How to find the conversation, if there is one
Buondì. Another short one today, in fact, just long enough to link to Episodio 09, Carlo Magno e i Franchi in Italia (VIII secolo) and to remind you that previous episodes in our FREE 30-part Summer Series of articles with audio are available on the History page over at the club website. My thanks, by […]
Catholic barbarians!
Buondì. A year or so, nearing the end of our free 30-part summer series on The Romans, so it would have been September 2020 probably, a Turkish club member who I’d got quite friendly with via email, became upset and flounced off, swearing never to darken our door again. My offence was that one of […]
Romans, Byzantines, Franks, Lombards? Che confusione!
Buondì. Episode 7 of our ‘Medievo’ series is ready for you to read/listen to: Il Medioevo, Episodio 07, Etnie, costumi e religioni. Gli abitanti della penisola nei secoli V, VI e VII It’s quite an interesting one, touching on how the invading tribes (Longobardi & Franchi) differed from each other, and from the existing Roman/Byzantine […]
Oops! Just skipped twelve Lombard kings!
Buondì. History is long, and potentially very confusing! Which is one of the reasons, perhaps the chief one, that I made every effort to avoid the Middle Ages while ‘reading’ the subject at a British university, thirty-five years back. While the themes of history – the conquest of power, the movement of peoples, developments in […]