Buondì. Have another Roman emperor, in fact, have four! Today we have some memorable characters: there’s the emperor who liked to dress up as a god (and wore women’s sandals, apparently), the loving son who was convinced by his scheming wife to murder his own mom, the rather Trumpian leader who, to show his disdain […]

Buondì. Today’s episode from our free series of articles with audio, ‘La storia di Roma‘, is about the Romans’ impressive works of architecture and engineering: roads and amphitheatres, obviously, but also triumphal archs, thermal spas, and erm… drains. Drains were important to carry away the waste from the ‘public baths’, which aren’t what you’re thinking. […]

Buondì. I don’t have a mass of time, as I have a French lesson starting in 90 minutes, and I currently don’t speak a word of the language. I understand it fairly well, as I studied it at school and listen to the radio in French, but I can’t actually say anything. More about that […]

Buondì. Hope you had a pleasant weekend, wherever you happen to find yourself. In all likelihood that’s not in Italy, as most of our members herald from the English-speaking countries strung out around the globe (for the obvious reason that the website is in English, I suppose.) Going west from Italy, we have plenty of […]

Buondì. One of the reasons I wasted several years studying history at university, instead of something useful like languages, or business, or basically anything else, was a childhood fascination with all things military: guns, of course, but also equipment, the organisation and deployment of troops, tactics and strategy, and so on. It’s a boy thing, […]

Buondì. Episode 11 (out of 30) of our free series of articles with audio ‘La storia di Roma’ is ready. Finally the part that everyone knows! The one with Caesar crossing the Rubicorn, “the dice is cast!”, becoming ‘imperator’, his holiday romance with Cleo, and gory end: “Tu quoque, Brute, fili mi!” (“Anche tu, o […]

Buondì. Stupid people. One purpose of these emailed articles is to suggest HOW to learn, and to recommend including activities like reading and listening in your study program, which people tend not to, unless nagged. And that is best done in English, trust me. Yet I regularly get emails like this: With regret I am […]

Buondì. iPhones are the bane of my life. No offence is intended – two of my children own those infernal (and expensive) gadgets. But when it comes to customer service issues, there’s often an iPhone involved. For example, someone wants to subscribe to EasyItalianNews.com. You enter your email (let’s say it’s a Gmail but you […]

Buondì. I learnt a new word this morning, while proof-reading and listening to the latest installment in our free, thirty-part series of articles with audio, ‘La storia di Roma.’ Sincretismo. If you’re unfamiliar with it, there’s an explanation at the start of Episodio 8. Il sincretismo culturale tra Grecia e Roma. Though you can probably […]

Buondì. I’ve just been listening to/reading Episode 7 in our free, thirty-part series of articles ‘La storia di Roma‘. So far we’ve covered about five hundred years from the mythical beginnings of Rome, and there’s still a long way to go. The Romans have gone from zeroes to heroes and are now busy wiping out […]