Admiring Rome

The work of a translator

The work  of  translator is a very difficult one...you have to use your soul and your own passion together with a mastered technique and overall knowledges.......Interpreting is a stressful career area, which can be difficult to break into on a full-time basis. Employers include international organisations but, as with translators, many interpreters are freelance. Translators convert written material from one or more languages ('source languages') into the ‘target language’ (most commonly the translator’s mother tongue), ensuring that the translated version conveys the meaning of the original as clearly as possible.Translators usually need an excellent command of two or more languages. The languages most in demand are the official languages of the Europian Union  and the United Nations.(UN).
Most translators work freelance from home, working for translation agencies or directly for clients, but some organisations employ in-house translators. 
The translation process usually involves a combination of the following activities:reading through original material and rewriting it in the target language, ensuring that the meaning of the source text is retained; using specialist dictionaries, thesauruses and reference books to find the closest equivalents for terminology and words used; using appropriate software for presentation and delivery; researching legal, technical and scientific phraseology to find the correct translation; proofreading and editing final translated versions;  providing clients with a grammatically correct, well-expressed final version of the translated text, usually as a word-processed document;  using the internet and email as research tools throughout the translation process; prioritising work to meet deadlines;  providing quotations for translation services offered;  consulting with experts in specialist areas;  supplying subtitles for foreign films and television programmes;  retaining and developing specialist knowledge on specialist areas of translation;  networking and making contacts.

Carnevale Festivals in Italy

Carnival represents a sort of "time out of time" in which fortunes are reversed: the poor become rich, the powerless become powerful. Social customs are overturned; women aggressively pursue men, for example. During the time of Carnevale, it's important to remain anonymous, so when "real time" returns, it returns to exactly the same place.
Enjoy our pictures of the carnival masks of Venice. You'll see masks in production, masks for sale, and masks on display. Carnevale in Italy is a huge winter festival celebrated with parades, masquerade balls, entertainment, music, and parties. Children throw confetti at each other. Mischief and pranks are also common during Carnevale, hence the saying A Carnevale Ogni Scherzo Vale, anything goes at carnival. Carnevale has roots in pagan festivals and traditions and as is often the case with traditional festivals was adapted to fit into the Catholic rituals. Although carnival is actually one date, in Venice and some other places in Italy the carnival celebrations and parties may begin a couple weeks before.
Masks, maschere, are an important part of the carnevale festival and Venice is the best city for traditional carnival masks. Carnival masks are sold year round and can be found in many shops in Venice, ranging from cheap masks to elaborate and expensive masks. Walking through the streets of Venice, it's a pleasure to view the variety of masks on display in shop windows. People also wear elaborate costumes for the festival and there are costume or masquerade balls, both private and public.

Savouring Spaghetti alla Bolognese

Pasta and pizza are the iconic Italian foods. You all probably have heard of spaghetti alla Bolognese, the most know preparation of pasta in the world. That is just one of the endless possibilities you have to garnish your pasta.

Cooking Pasta

First point: “cooking pasta” means actually cooking the pasta and the sauce. While cooking the pasta itself is basically made by only one step “throw pasta in boiling water”, the sauce can be a more complicate affair. I will give you the recipes for two easy sauces, very popular in Italy. Since the basic steps are more or less the same, you can go on and create your own sauce from there.

Second point: each kind of pasta has a cooking time, usually indicated on the package. Cook pasta for less than the cooking time, and it will remain hard. Go over the cooking time and it will become softer and softer. Go well beyond the cooking time and congratulations! You have inedible glue!

We Italians like our pasta “al dente”, that means a little hard. You usually get it “al dente” by cooking it for exactly the indicated cooking time. But beware: since foreigners often prefer their pasta soft, you may find on the package a cooking time that reflects this and advises you to cook the pasta for much more time than an Italian would. Since pasta is cheap, you can throw away a little and experiment until you find your perfect cooking time.

Third point: Just do me a favor, no ketchup. No ketchup. Repeat with me: “No ketchup. Ever.”

Take a pot, fill it with water and put it on the stove, heat it untill it boils. Put a lid on, to make it boil faster.

When the water boils, add salt. We use “sale grosso”, my dictionary calls it “cooking salt”. It’s salt in big grains of irregular shapes. You can use the finer table salt, it won’t change the flavor, but you will need a lot more and in my opinion it’s harder to measure the right quantity – but remember: I’m doing this on almost daily basis, so I’m working out of habit here. You my find that for you it’s easier to get the right quantity of salt by using table salt. The “right quantity of salt” is a personal taste affair, experiment until you find yours. Why must you wait until the water boils to add salt? Because salted water takes longer to reach the boiling point. Adding salt right away won’t affect the final flavor, but it will lengthen the time to reach the boiling point.

After adding salt, wait half a minute, then put the pasta in. Put the pasta in the water when it returns to a boil, not before, or you will ruin it!

Cook the pasta as indicated on the package, stirring the pasta often to avoid it sticking. Now, cooking pasta is simple and there are no secrets in it. But there is one trick. Pasta is like a sponge: it  absorbs the fluid in which it’s immersed. Cooking it immersed in water is ok, but cooking it immersed in the sauce is better! It will be flavoured by the sauce from the inside.

So here’s the trick: one minute before the cooking time is over pour one or two table spoons of cooking water from the pot in the pan where you are heating the sauce, then strain the pasta out of the water and pour it in the pan, mixing it with the sauce and ending the cooking time in there. Let it heat for a minute to a minute and a half, then take the pan from heat and serve your pasta.

Best Italian Brands of Coffee

Steps to brewing great coffee

1. Use good quality coffee, freshly roasted and freshly ground
2. Use fresh, clean, cold water. Filtered or bottled water works well, but avoid distilled or softened water.
3. The grind chosen must be of the correct fineness for the chosen brewing method.
4. The pot must be cleaned and warm.
5. Make only enough coffee for your immediate needs. The coffee will deteriorate if you keep it too long. Avoid reheating coffee, it just doesn't taste the same.
6. Avoid boiling brewed coffee - it is a sure way to spoil the coffee.
7. Use approximately 70 grams of coffee per litre of water.

Regarding Water

 

When you make coffee, you should only use water that tastes good when you drink it straight up. If the water doesn't taste good to drink, don't even attempt to make coffee with it. Remember, the best cups of coffee are made with quality water - either filtered tap water or bottled water. 

Best Italian Brands of Coffee

Lavazza
Segafredo
Illy
Vergnano
Kimbo
Moak
Mauro
Ionia
Miscela d'Oro
Borbone
Hausbrandt

Italian recipe for Chicken Cacciatore (Pollo alla Cacciatora)

This is a classic amongst Italian recipes: Pollo alla Cacciatora, or Chicken Cacciatore.

Prepare a mix of chopped onion, celery, carrot and garlic. Over medium fire, sauté the mix in a medium large pot with some olive oil until slightly brown.

Skin the chicken pieces for a healthier result, add it to the mix, season with salt and pepper and, if you like, some chopped herbs, like rosemary, sage or thyme, or even a combination of them. Get the chicken to brown on all the sides.

Add the white wine at this point, about half cup, and let sizzle for a couple of minutes so the alcohol can evaporate. This makes the wine completely "flat" and even kids can have this dish. Make sure the chicken pieces are "rolled" into the wine during the process, so they get nice and flavory. Add the vegetable or chicken stock (if you want, you may use just water, and make sure you correct as needed with salt and pepper at the end)cover the pot and let cook, lowering the flame, for about 15-20 minutes, or until the liquid is reduced. Taste and correct as needed with salt and pepper. Serve warm, with a side of pan-roasted potatoes with herbs, steamed spinach and carrots. You can use the same wine you cook with to accompany your meal, but make sure it's chilled.

Cacciatore means "Hunter". This is a rustic and tasty, but also healthy way to cook chicken the same way hunter would cook their game, so the more herbs and nice flavors you add the better. I have seen adding sliced mushroom, peas and even a few cherry tomatoes in it, always with a great result. Be creative!

The Real Italian Recipe to Cook Lasagne

 

Lasagne is a tasty and filling meal which is as suited to the main course of a dinner party, as it is for a quick and delicious family meal.

Step 1: You will need
200 g pre-cooked lasagne sheets; 70 g grated parmesan; 1 recipe for Bolognese sauce; 380 ml milk; 45 g butter; 3 tbsp flour; 1 pinch nutmeg salt and pepper; 1 baking dish; 2 saucepans; 2 spoons; 1 wooden spoon; 1 whisk; 1 tea towel; 1 tray; 1 bowl.

Step 2: Prepare the lasagne

Preheat the oven to 200ºC, that's 400ºF or gas mark 6. Put the sheets of pasta into a large bowl and cover them with warm water. Make sure they're all submerged. Leave them to soak for 5 to 10 minutes.

Step 3: Warm the milk

To begin making the béchamel sauce, pour the milk into a small saucepan and let it heat until warm, not boiling.

Step 4: Make the béchamel sauce

Place the other saucepan over a medium heat and add the butter. When it has melted, add the flour and mix well until smooth. Just before it starts to turn brown, slowly add the milk. Using the whisk, stir continuously until the sauce begins to thicken. When thick, season with salt and pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. Then give it one further whisk and remove from the heat.

Step 5: Dry the lasagne

Remove the lasagne sheets one by one from the water and place them onto a tea towel. Then turn them over to pat them dry on both sides. You may need to do this in batches to finish drying all of the lasagne.

Step 6: Make the lasagne

Start by layering lasagne sheets on the bottom of the baking dish. Next, cover with half of the Bolognese. Then spoon over some béchamel sauce, and finally, sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Now repeat the process: the lasagne, followed by the rest of the Bolognese, then the béchamel sauce and finally the parmesan cheese giving it a generous topping.

Step 7: Cook the lasagne

Place the baking dish in the centre of the oven. Cook for about 20 minutes.

Step 8: Serve

When the parmesan has turned golden brown, remove the lasagne from the oven and allow it to sit for at least 15 minutes before serving. Lasagne is delicious served alone or it can be accompanied by a freshly made green salad.

How to Make Pasta alla Carbonara

A wonderful Italian recipe from Rome, Pasta alla Carbonara takes its name from the old days of the coal miners (carbone=coal), but it was actually created only around the mid 20th century. It's a rich type of comfort food, made with eggs, guanciale (the meat from the cheek of the pork, cured like pancetta), Pecorino Romano cheese and black pepper. Many variations can be found around Italy, like in the North, where heavy cream is added to the sauce and Parmigiano substitutes the Romano. However, here is my own recipe, the way we make it in Rome.

Bring to the boil the water for the pasta (penne, spaghetti or fettuccine), add some salt, then the pasta and let this cook according to the instructions on the package.

Meanwhile, beat the eggs and mix with the grated cheese, a pinch of salt and a generous amount of cracked black pepper.Cut the guanciale or pancetta in small pieces and fry it in a pan with the oil until golden.

Drain the pasta and transfer it into a large serving bowl. Pour the egg mix over right away, and toss to combine it with the pasta. The heat will cook the egg. Add the guanciale and toss again. Serve immediately.

A Folkloristic Exhibition just outside Rome

In June, a great folkloristic and religious exhibition, the "Infiorata". A whole street (Via Italo Belardi) is covered with allegorical carpets of flowers and a masked parade walk on these, with medieval and traditional clothes realized by town's women. For more than 2 centuries  on Sunday and Monday following Corpus Christus feast the Infiorata a most suggestive manifestation of art, pride of the artists of Genzano has taken place . Each year the artists suggestions must conform to a previously agreed upon theme, such as The Colours of Michelangelo, or The Designs of Bernini. In the spring it has recently become tradition to have a "mini Infiorata" made by the children from the local schools.

Poets and writers wrote about the Infiorata:

• Massimo d'Azeglio "...you see the fair, the people, the truly rare beauty of the town crowds of Roman, holiday makers from the nearby Castles....everything lively; and seen from the foot of the ascent it seems to be a magnificent carpet, that you regret to see spoilt by the feet of the procession".

• Richard Voss "One of the most beautiful Italian fairs is held in Genzano, the fair of flowers; the whole city seems to be a gigantic flower bed. A marvellous spectacle".

• Hans Christian Andersen "The whole street is a carpet of flowers.... Not even a breathe of air moves and the flowers lie on the ground as if they were heavy precious stones...".

Unforgettable Garden of Oranges in Rome

The Savello park, also known as the Garden of Oranges (Giardino degli Aranci), is located on the Aventine Hill and faces onto the Tiber River, affording a breathtaking view over the city of Rome as well as the Pincio and the Janiculum hill. This gorgeous park is often choosen to take pictures after having celebrated the wedding ceremony at the Basilica of Santa SABINA.

The park, a hanging garden with a surface of about 8000 sqm which can be seen from the Piazza di Monte Savello, is famous for its many bitter orange trees. The tranquil Garden of Oranges  affords fantastic views of the many monuments, roof tops and domes of Rome, encapsulating flavors of the modern and medieval on its shady walkways. The park itself fits neatly behind the ancient Basilica of Santa Sabina. Though they produce bitter fruit, they give a pleasant shady air to the garden, affording a lovely retreat from the bustle and noise of urban life. During the summer it is no surprise that the garden is the choice setting for theatrical productions, a favorite resting spot for visitors touring Rome and the haunt of lovers. Perhaps the inspiring view and romantic ambience offers the ideal prompt for falling at the feet of one's beloved!

Don't Miss this Cultural Centre

The Palazzo delle Esposizioni is a neoclassical exhibition hall, cultural centre and museum on Via Nazionale.

It has housed several exhibitions (e.g. Mostra della Rivoluzione Fascista, Mostra Augustea della Romanità, Gli acquerelli di Marc Chagall), and was temporarily modified during the fascist era due to its style being thought to be out of step with the times.

It has a 139 seat cinema, a 90-seat auditorium, a cafe, a 240-person restaurant, a library and a multi-functional room known as the Forum.

It's an amazing, outstanding PALAZZO right in the centre of rome: the most important and innovative exhibitions are held here.

http://english.palazzoesposizioni.it/mediacenter/FE/home.aspx

 

Remembering a Great English Poet !

The Keats-Shelley Memorial House in Rome is a museum commemorating the lives and works of the Romantic poets John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley. The museum houses one of the world's most extensive collections of memorabilia, letters, manuscripts, and paintings relating to Keats and Shelley, as well as Byron, Wordsworth, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Oscar Wilde, and others. It is located on the second floor of the building situated just to the south of the base of the Spanish Steps and east of the Piazza di Spagna. Keats Shelley Museum (Piazza di Spagna 26; www.keats-shelley-house.org) is an homage to the two Romantic poets, who spent their final years in Italy. In fact, the museum is housed in the building in which John Keats died in 1821.

The English poet John Keats, who was dying of tuberculosis, came to Rome at the urging of friends and doctors who hoped that the warmer climate might improve his health. The building at Piazza di Spagna 26 was remodelled as part of the project to build the Spanish Steps in 1724-25. The project was designed by Francesco de Sanctis, who wanted to frame the steps with an identical building on either side.

This is the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association: for further information visit the website

http://www.keats-shelley.co.uk/index.html

Visiting Villa Medici

The Villa Medici is an architectural complex centred on the villa whose gardens are contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and now property of the French State, has housed the French Academy in Rome since 1803. A musical evocation of its garden fountains features in Ottorino Respighi's Fontane di Roma.

In 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte moved the French Academy in Rome to the Villa Medici with the intention of preserving an institution once threatened by the French Revolution. 

From that time on, the boarders no longer belonged solely to the traditional disciplines (painting, sculpture, architecture, metal-engraving, precious-stone engraving, musical composition, etc.) but also to new or previously-neglected artistic fields (art history, archaeology, literature, stagecraft, photography, movies, video, art restoration, writing and even cookery.) Artists are no longer recruited by a competition but by application, and their stays generally vary from six to eighteen months.

Where to stay in Rome - Part II

B & B in Rome - Aurelio District - 

Here you have another list of comfortable B&B in the Aurelio District, which is just 15 minutes from the Vatican City and is  well connected to the centre of  Rome via bus or underground: stop at  CORNELIA or VALLE AURELIA. Enjoy your stay in Rome !

ROMA, AURELIO 2
AURELIO_MONTI AURELIO_GREGORIO VII   AURELIA_A    AURELIO_    CORNELIA, SANTA BERNADETTE AURELIO_BRAVETTA  OMA, AURELIO B

Where to stay in Rome

Bed & Breakfast in Rome - Prati District

The central area of Rome is not huge, and a fit person can travel between the town's tourist attractions on foot. However, it can be very tiring trekking around the streets and too much reliance on public transport might fray your temper. So it's worth taking some time to consider what would be the best area for you to stay in. Do you want to be near transport for day trips outside the city? Or do you want to wander back to your palazzo along tiny medieval streets? You'll undoubtedly have a great stay, wherever your accommodation, but hotel location is bound to make a difference to your Rome experience.Here you have a list of B&B situated in the Prati District, an elegant zone of Rome just around the Vatican City.

Bed & Breakfast
VATICANO, MONTE SANTO
Bed & Breakfast MUSEI VATICANI1   Bed & Breakfast COSTABELLA   Bed & Breakfast CASTEL SANT'ANGELO   Bed & Breakfast RUGGERO FIORE Bed & Breakfast GRACCHI Appartamento ROMA_PRATI_A   Appartamento DELLE VITTORIE, MONTE PERTICA B   Bed & Breakfast PRATI_BUCCARI   Bed & Breakfast PRATI_TEULADA