Buondì.
It’s the last week of (astronomical) summer, which this year ends next Tuesday, September 22nd.
Though of course (meteorological) summer has been over for a couple of weeks, ormai, having ended along with August, the final ‘summer’ month in the northern hemisphere.
Confused?
There’s a surprisingly helpful explanation here.
But anyway, the last week of (astronomical) summer, is also the last week of our 30-part series of free articles with audio, ‘La storia di Roma‘.
Today is Episodio 28. I barbari e la caduta dell’Impero d’Occidente (476 d.C.).
Now there’s a handy date for you to impress your colleagues, neighbours or grandchildren with: four hundred and seventy-six Common Era, the end of the (Western) Roman Empire.
“Yes, I was just reading an article about it, in Italian of course. Difficult? Well, a little, but I read in Italian all the time, you see.”
They’ll be green with envy!
And don’t forget to mention that the (Eastern) Roman Empire (otherwise known as Byzantium) lasted nearly a thousand years longer, until the fall of the capital, Constantinople, (named after the Roman emperor, Constantine, remember?) to the Ottomans in fourteen fifty-three Common Era. Which is another year with a nice ring to it, and one that also saw the end of the Hundred Years’ War (the Brits got chucked out of France, except for a few Duty Free shops at Calais…)
The bit in between 476 and 1453 CE, by the way, is known as the Medieval Period, or Middle Ages, which not coincidentally is the topic for next summer’s free 30-part series of articles with audio. Bet you can’t wait for that to begin in mid-July 2021! I know I can’t, as it’s a period about which I know even less than I knew about the Roman Empire, back at the beginning of this summer.
And in the summer of 2022? Well, what comes after the Middle Ages? Bet you know that one, right? The Renaissance, first of all, then lots of interesting stuff, for approximately 500 years until we get up to the founding of modern Italy in the second half of the nineteenth century.
The exact end date for 2022’s free series of articles has yet to be decided, but the basic plan is that the summer of 2023 will cover the final hundred and fifty years needed to complete our journey through time from 753 BCE (Before Common Era), the mystical founding of Rome, to 2020 and goodness knows what history will be saying about us.
Così. Here are those links again:
‘La storia di Roma‘ | Episodio 28. I barbari e la caduta dell’Impero d’Occidente (476 d.C.)
And should you be asking yourself what I’m going to write about in autumn, winter and spring?
Well, we have various sales and promotions scheduled (the Autumn Sale is in October, the January Sale is in, um, January, and so on), a couple of Free Trial Lesson offers (November and February), and the publication of various ebook easy readers, which is always an event.
For instance, there’s a nice historical tale next week (not the Roman Empire, basta), assuming I manage to get it ready in time. And in December, we’ll be publishing a seasonal treat: a whodunit set in a snowed-in private school in the winter holidays.
To fill in the gaps between attempts to sell you stuff, I had thought of writing a series of articles on language-learning. But it’s such a vast topic, and one that I’ve been involved with in one way or another for most of my adult life, I’m not sure where I would begin. Suggestions are, as always, welcome.
Bene, gotta go, I have ebooks to proof-read. Intanto, for anyone not in the slightest bit interested in history, don’t forget that there’s masses of free material on the club website. Plus there’s Saturday’s bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news to read/listen to.
Also, for those with actual cash to spend on their language-learning, our online shop offers plenty of possibilities, including one-to-one lessons with a club teacher and nearly eighty original Italian easy reader ebooks of various types and levels (and counting!)
A mercoledì, allora.