thanks for asking! :) [ask game]
2. do you prefer spending your holidays in your country or travel abroad? I’d say I usually spend 80% of my holidays in Italy and 20% abroad, on average - but when I travel someplace foreing it’s almost always big group vacations/pilgrimages with my church. To be honest, Italy is SO varied and there’s SO MUCH of it I’ve yet to see that I love to stay “inside” and hop on my car or a train and do some sightseeing with my friends when I have the time.
4. favourite dish specific for your country? This is a difficult one! If we’re talking Italy as a whole, I’d say parmigiana di melanzane or frico; if we’re talking strictly near home, then it’s risotto alla milanese (or “risotto giallo” because of saffron) or polenta e zola. Can’t go wrong with a bit of prosciutto crudo, either. Yum.
7. three words from your native language that you like the most?I love the word rancura a lot - it’s a rather ancient word and it’s not used anymore, and it’s a poetic way of saying anguish or some kind of vaguely angry emotional distress.Another word I like a lot is zuzzurellone, which is a fun and slightly judgy way of saying “a grown-up that still behaves like a carefree child” - I love how it rolls on the tongue!Lastly, I love the verb insegnare (to teach) because of its etymological roots, from latin in+signum meaning “to imprint a sign (in someone’s mind)” - I find it extremely fitting and poetically hopeful.
8. do you get confused with other nationalities? if so, which ones and by whom?Mmm,, I honestly can’t remember if I’ve ever been confused for someone from another country. I’d say we italians usually get mixed up with spaniards on account of the language, and generally by people used to speak a more “germanic” one like brits and germans. I think I recall being asked by someone in Prague if a group of friends and I were from Spain but I’m not sure at all.
11. favourite native writer/poet? Dante Alighieri is THE poet (literally though: if someone says “il poeta” it’s him they’re talking about) - it’s been 800 years and nobody has ever gone near his mastery of the italian language, which he practically shaped, or his poetic ingenuity. I love Il Paradiso so much, you guys.Another favourite is Giacomo Leopardi, a romantic poet who wrote some of the most famous and beloved works in our literary canon, who was young but unfortunately quite unlucky and sickly, and basically only had his poetry to rage against nature, spill out his love, marvel at the moon, and be an all around relatable person full of quiet passion. [ “Il giovane favoloso” is a biopic about him and it’s wonderful ]On a more contemporary note, I love the novels by Alessandro D’Avenia, who’s a sicilian high school teacher who lives and works in Milan, and most notably was a student of Bl. Padre Pino Puglisi back during the worst period of the mafia attacks in Palermo. All these things reflect in his writing (especially in “Ciò che inferno non è”).
24. what other nation is joked about most often in your country?Oof, absolutely France, by a mile. We have some kind of ancestral visceral hatred for our transalpine neighbours (and for somewhat good reasons, if I may). We joke about them eating slugs and whatnot, but it’s honestly more of a harsh rivalry that touches soccer and art the most, stemming from a) the enlightenment being super anti-religion and b) Napoleon being a bitch.
27. favourite national celebrity? Fiorello, without a doubt. He’s the most well-rounded italian artist, a showman who can do everything and is beloved by everyone. He can dance, act, host whatever show/programme you can think of, is mad fun and quite pleasing to the eyes - besides, he sings very well (jazzy vibes!) and also dubbed Dimitri in the 1997 animated version of Anastasia and is incredibly proud of that to this day (as we all are, to be honest) and loves to revisit it from time to time. Rosario Fiorello, a true national icon.
