Languages and cultures of Italy

[Foxy]

Dialects and languages... Let's clarify what is the difference!

Dialect (or dialetto) is a loan from Greek, dialèktos, that means "speaking colloquial". A dialect is a regional or a territorial idiom that has not the status of official language, becouse a dialect is not considered "worthing it".

Not all the idioms spoken in Italy are considered dialects. Some are classified as official languages of a given territory. These languages are called minoritarian languages and are taught in schools. In front of the Italian Law dialects, instead, are considered only variations of Standard Italian, even if only Tuscan dialects are effectively variations of Italian.

Dialects are relegated at the status of informal/colloquial languages, many of them are at risk of estinction. In many areas of Italy to speak dialect is considered voulgar or a clear sign of rudeness.

Moribound languages

UNESCO published an Atlas of all the languages going to disappear in the world. In Italy it signaled 31 languages at risk of extinction. These languages are:

Alemannic - Southern variety of German, spoken mostly in Switzerland and Lichtenstein but also in various towns of Northern Italy, near the Swisse border. Vulnerable.
Algherese Catalan - Eastern variety of Catalan, spoken in Sardinian town of Alghero. Definitely endangered.
Alpine Provençal - variety of Provencal spoken in North-West Italy, mostly in the Alpin area.
Arbëresh - Or "Italian Albanese", variety of Albanese spoken by Albanian refugees arrived in Italy after the Ottoman Domination and after Skanderbeg's death.
Bavarian - variety of Southern German spoken in Sudtirol
Campidanese - variety of Sardinian spoken in central and southern Sardinia.
Cimbrian - variety of Southern German spoken in the Community of the Seven Cities (Veneto and Trentino). The community bore after migrations from Bavaria happened in Middle Age.
Corsican - romance languages spoken, in Italy, in the province of Sassari, Sardinia.
Emilian-Romagnol - dialect divided in 9 idioms or subdialects spoken in the region of Emilia Romagna belonging to the Gaulish-Italic family.
Faetar - Francoprovencal enclave sited in Apulia, south-east Italy, spoken in the villages Faeto and Celle di San Vito.
Francoprovençal
Friulian
Gallo-Sicilian
Gallurese
Gardiol - occitanian enclave sited in Calabria, South-West Italy.
Griko (Calabria) - creol language of Calabria - a mix of Greek and Italian - existing in Italy since the ancient Greek domination, reinforced by the immigrations from Greece of Middle Age.
Griko (Salento) - Griko spoken in Puglia.
Ladin
Ligurian
Logudorese
Lombard
Mòcheno - germanic language derived from medieval High German, arrived in Italy after migrations happened in Middle Age.
Molise Croatian - slavic language of Croatian origin spoken in three cities of Molise (Central-South Italy). The language contains no Turkism, it demonsters that the Croatian community arrived in Molise probably during the XVI century.
Piedmontese
Resian - slavic idiom of Slovenjan origin spoken in some areas of Friuli Venezia Giulia (North-East Italy). The community that gave birth to Resian were probably a Eastern Slavic tribe arrived from Poland or Slovakia, as it is demonstered by the affinities that Resian has with Russian.
Romani - indoarian language spoken by the gispies of Italy, mostly Romas and Sintis.
Sassarese
Sicilian

[Foxy]

TEXT IN MORIBOUND LANGUAGES:

Serenade in Griko:

ENGLISH VERSION:
I always think of you becouse I love you, my soul, and everywhere I'll go, in everything I'll be swept, everywhere I'll be, I'll bring you forever in my heart.

GRIKO VERSION:
Evò panta se sena pensèo,
jatì sena fsichì mu gapò,
ce pu pao, pu sirno, pu steo
stin kardìa mu panta sena vastò.

Paternoster in Molise Croatian:

Tata naš


Tata naš, ka jesi na nebu,
da bi bija sfe sfeti jima tvoj,
da bi doša tvoj kraljar,
da bi sa čila ono ka hoš ti,
na nebu a zgora sfita.
Daj nami naš kruh saki dan
a jam nami naše duge,
kaka mi hi jamivama drugimi.
A nomo nasa čit past na tendacijunu,
ma zdriš nasa do zlo.

Amen

PATERNOSTER IN CIMRBIC

Ugnar Bàatar, ba pist in hümmel, zai gahòlighet dar dain naamo, as khèmme dar dain Regno, zai gamàcht bia du bill, bia in hümmel, azò in d'èerda. Ghitzich hòite 'z ùgnar proat bon allen taaghen, borghit ozàndarn d'ügnarn zünte bia bràndare borghéban bèar hatzich offèndart, mach as bar net bàllan in tentziùum, ma liberàrzich bon allen bèetighen. Amen

COMMON WORDS IN MOCHENO

griasn greetings
guetmeurng good morning
i hon de gearn I love you

PATERNOSTER IN ALGHERESE CATALAN

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/it/f/f8/Alghero-Stemma.png

Pare nostre, que sés al cel,
sigui santificat lo tou nom.
Vengui a mosaltres lo tou regne.
Se faci la tua voluntat,
com al cel així en terra.
Dóna-mos avui
lo pa nostre de cada dia.
I perdona-mos los nostres pecats,
així com mosaltres
perdonem als nostres enemics.
No mos deixis caure en temptació,
i Ilibra-mos de cada mal.[1]

ANCIENT SONG IN RESIAN:

ENGLISH VERSION:
Mount Canin is very high
when we arrived on its pick
little birds were still dreaming
I had a look around
to see if there was something better
there are only stones and rocks
I looked in the back
to see if there was something better
there was only water and pebbly shore

RESIAN VERSION:
Da öra ta Ċanïnawa

Na jë pur pali visoka
Ko won na wor sowa došly
Šċalë utïċaci so snuwali
Ja si polednol ta nu së
Za vïdët ċi tu jë bujë
Jë mokoi skala ano rob
Ja si polednol nu tu-w-dnö
Za vïdët ċi tu jë bujë


Jë mokoj wöda ano prod

PHRASES IN ARBERESHE:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Arbereshflagg.png

Falem - Hello
Si je? - How ae you?
Flet Arberisht? - Do you speak Arbereshe?
Nge ndelgova - I did not understand
Ku ndodhe? - Where are you from?

[Foxy]

GERMANS:

Autonomous Province of Bozen

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Flag_of_South_Tyrol.svg/800px-Flag_of_South_Tyrol.svg.png

Flag of the Germanic Community of Walsers of Piemonte

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/it/7/72/Bandiera_dei_Walser_del_Piemonte.gif

Walsers of Valle D'Aosta
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/it/3/37/Bandiera_dei_Walser_della_Valle_d%27Aosta.gif

Walsers of Alagna Valsesia:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/it/e/e2/Bandiera_dei_Walser_di_Alagna_Valsesia.jpg

SLOVENJANS:

Slovenian Community

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/it/d/d0/Bandiera_della_Bene%C5%A1ka_Slovenija.jpg

FRENCH:

Francoprovencal Community

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/Flag_of_Arpitania.svg/499px-Flag_of_Arpitania.svg.png

FRIULANS/FURLANS

Community of Furlàns:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Bandiere_dal_Fri%C3%BBl.svg/800px-Bandiere_dal_Fri%C3%BBl.svg.png

LADINS

Ladin Community:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/62/Flag_of_Ladinia.svg/95px-Flag_of_Ladinia.svg.png

ALBANIANS

Flag of Italian-Arbereshe

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Flag_of_the_Italian_Arberesh.svg/780px-Flag_of_the_Italian_Arberesh.svg.png

Sicilian-Albaneses

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/Bandiera_dei_Siculo-Arb%C3%ABresh%C3%AB.jpg/800px-Bandiera_dei_Siculo-Arb%C3%ABresh%C3%AB.jpg

[Foxy]

CATALANS

Catalan Community of Alghero
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Si%C3%B1al_d%27Arag%C3%B3n.svg/750px-Si%C3%B1al_d%27Arag%C3%B3n.svg.png

OCCITANS

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Flag_of_Occitania_%28with_star%29.svg/798px-Flag_of_Occitania_%28with_star%29.svg.png

SARDINIANS

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Bandiera_ufficiale_RAS.jpg/800px-Bandiera_ufficiale_RAS.jpg

OTHER FLAGS NOT AVAILABLE YET

[Foxy]

Although the number of dialects is far higher, they can be grouped in macro-varieties according to phonetic characterists.

NORTHERN GROUP

This group is since the 20th century considered a Western Romance group.
It is divided in various sub-groups: Gaulish-Italic, Venetic and Istriotic.

TUSCAN GROUP

CENTRAL SOUTHERN GROUP
Conservative group, gemination of consonants <b> and <dz> between vowels.

SOUTHERN GROUP
Characterized by the weakening of atone vowels, especially of the finals often pronunced like a <schwa>, graphically written like a <e> with Umlaut.

SICILIAN GROUP
Comprising Sicilian, Calabrian and Salentine.
Characterists:
Latin finals e/i -> i
preromance final o -> u
Latin or other LL-> DD
Total absence of mute vowels and of schwa.
Sounds TR, STR and DD realized retroflexive.

SARDINIAN GROUP


MACROGROUPS DIFFUSION:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/Italy_-_Forms_of_Dialect.jpg/514px-Italy_-_Forms_of_Dialect.jpg

DIALECTS AND LANGUAGES:
http://msdfli.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/400px-languages_spoken_in_italy-svg.png

[Comte Arnau]

Links to a few online dictionaries/lexicons/glossaries:



Algherese Catalan - Standard Catalan - Standard Italian

http://algueres.net/

Friulian - Italian - Slovenian - German - English - Spanish - French

http://www.friul.net/multilingue/

Genoese - Italian

http://www.paroledigenova.net/

Standard Ladin - Ladin varieties - Italian - German

http://dls.ladintal.it/

Piedmontese - Italian

http://www.piemonteis.com/

Sardinian - Italian - French - English - German - Spanish

http://www.ditzionariu.org/home.asp

Sicilian - Italian

http://www.scicli.com/siciliano.php

Venet

http://www.dizsionario.org/dizsionario.php

General: Italian - Dialetti

http://www.dialettando.com/

[Ushtari]

Nice thread! its very interesting to see how the language of arbreshet have developed comparing to that in Balkan. One can see its heavily affected by Italian. A thing that i noticed also is the standard Albanian "GJ"(expressed like in english "jail"), while arbreshet pronounce it like g+j only, ie literally(at least they did on a youtube clip i saw about them).

[Comte Arnau]

CATALANS

Catalan Community of Alghero
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Si%C3%B1al_d%27Arag%C3%B3n.svg/750px-Si%C3%B1al_d%27Arag%C3%B3n.svg.png

OCCITANS

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Flag_of_Occitania_%28with_star%29.svg/798px-Flag_of_Occitania_%28with_star%29.svg.png



Just one remark. That flag is for all Catalans, not only Algherese. I think that, since L'Alguer is a town, they're represented by the coat of arms that you posted before in the Algherese Paternoster.

As for the Occitan flag, I'd say that's the pro-independence one. :D (I say this just because of the star. The same happens in Iberia: when you see a star on the flag of Catalonia, Galicia, Asturias or Aragon, it represents secessionist aspiration.)

[Comte Arnau]

Three songs:


Sardinian: Terra mia (Land of mine)
_OrMsjgSrfk

Friulian: Il cil sore Udin (The sky upon Udine)
pG2ypErRzII

Algherese Catalan: Oh Alguer Alguer!
-- To an ear from Barcelona, it sounds heavily Italianized but cool. I even have trouble catching a few words. :D
cBeqhSfvUvc

[Foxy]

A VIKING TRIBE SURVIVES IN ITALY

The origin of the Cimbric community (from a TV news in Cimbric language, Italian subtitles).

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Translation in English:
Many people think they were similar to these warriors History says that Cimbri, called Kimbròi by Ancient Romans, came down from Himmerland, in the Jutland of modern Denmark, in the 2nd century b.C., fighting against the Legions of the Roman Republic of half Europe, and entering endly in Italy, where they were defeated near Vercelli.
The survivors, together with their families, took refuge on the mountains, where they lived for still a lot of time. Some say that it was these colonies to give birth to the modern Cimbric communities of Lessinia and of the 7 Cities, where there still is trace of the language of these warriors.

Alghero, Catalan fortress of Sardinia

Alghero, a little brand of grave on the Western side of Sardinia, guests a permanent Catalan delegation, rapresentative of the Catalan government. Catalans and Aragoneses have occupied for 4 centuries the area, transforming Alghero, city founded by Pisans, in a Catalan fortress. The purpose of the Catalan delegation is to help the conservation of the Catalan language and culture of Alghero. The delegation also tries to enforce the commercial relations between Alghero and Spain. Today Alghero is partner-city of : Balaguer, Tarragona - both in Catalogna -Palma de Mallorca and Encamp (Andorra).

Ey70KSKbKZQ

[Foxy]

-- To an ear from Barcelona, it sounds heavily Italianized but cool. I even have trouble catching a few words. :D
cBeqhSfvUvc
[/INDENT]

All the linguistic enclaves of Italy present phenomena of Italianization. They are crèol languages, it goes for Catalan, Arbereshe, Cimbric, etc.
:D

[Comte Arnau]

Ey70KSKbKZQ

Bello, questo video. Ci sono tanti catalani que visitano la Sardegna principalmente per questa ragione... :D

[Wyn]

A VIKING TRIBE SURVIVES IN ITALY

2nd century tribe from Jutland =/= Viking.

[Prengs]

"Moj e bukura More" (You beautiful Morea), one of best Arberesh song which made in the fifteenth century.

Singer is Italiano-albanian (not arberesh).
XQ4oBrs7HS0

"Morea" was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period.



1500 and after—From the "Morea"

The final migration of Arbëresh to Italy between about 1500 and 1534 was again mostly soldiers but, these were from the Southwest of Greece, and were those who had there served in the armies of various feudal lords for several centuries, until they became displaced by the Turkish invasions of the 1480s. Most fled to Venetian trading posts and fortresses on the coasts of Greece, such as Corone, Modone, and Napulia in the Peloponnese (known in Medieval times as the "Morea"). They were enlisted into the Stradiotti, the "colonial light cavalry" of Venice and were stationed on the land approaches to these forts to discourage Turkish raiding and attacks. In the late 15th and early 16th century Venice lost these mainland outposts in Greece and therefore moved her garrisons, including the Stradiotti, to new island posts in the Adriatic, Ionian and Aegean Seas.

The dawn of the Sixteenth Century brought a great new power to Europe, in the person of Emperor Charles V, to face off against the expanding Ottoman Empire. To counter a Turkish threat against central Europe Charles invaded the Greek Peloponese and recaptured the fortress of Corone as a diversion. He recruited large numbers of Albanian soldiers, including former Stradiotti because of their experience and success in fighting against the Turks. Charles ordered his Admiral, Andria Doria, to evacuate two hundred shiploads of these soldiers from the south of Greece, including those of the garrison of Corone, and resettled them in many of the existing Arbëresh settlements of Southern Italy. This action is thought to have been because of a concern that the Sultan might have been planning to invade there.

Along with the Albanian troopers, there came to Italy a small number of Greek officers of the Stradiotti. These were mostly exiled members of the Byzantine royal families of Lascaris and Palaeologus, who fled to the Peloponnese after the fall of Constantinople. Besides the soldiers, many Greek merchants took advantage of the chance to evacuate safely under protection of the fleet, rather than risk a sea crossing alone, against the threat of Turkish corsairs.

This last influx of immigrants brought a strong Byzantine Greek influence to many of the Arbëresh villages in which they settled. However, before many years, the more rural villages lost many of the Greeks who, preferring life in the larger cities, soon moved away. Most of the villages then reverted back to a predominantly Arbëresh cultural identity. Many residents of the Arbëresh villages, especially those around Calabria, continued their professions as soldiers as parts of the regiments of the Neapolitan army for several more centuries, especially during the Wars of Religion and, even into the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Venice also continued to employ Albanian cavalry units in her mainland Italian armies for many years after the fall of her overseas possessions.

[askra]

Algherese Catalan: Oh Alguer Alguer!
-- To an ear from Barcelona, it sounds heavily Italianized but cool. I even have trouble catching a few words. :D
cBeqhSfvUvc
[/INDENT]

there is also this other song in Alguerese Catalan, very ancient written in 18th century, listen:
KZibwjqcn3o
Ave Maria
Plena de gràcia
Nostro Senyor
És amb tu
I beneïda sés tu
Més de totes les dones
I beneït sigui
lo fill tou Jesús ...

the map of the most important languages and dialects spoken in Sardinia:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Sardinia_Language_Map.png

the Sardinian Logudorese, spoken in the north west of the island, the closest to the ancient Latin, as you can see reading the subtitles:
aVDa_1O9Ycw

the Limba Sarda Comuna , the standardized Sardinian, it's used only for official purposes, it's a fusion of Logudorese (spoken in the north) and the Campidanese (spoken in the south):
f8_SnQhItXc

the Nuorese, spoken in the central east regions:
h2wiW9KR4ME

the Gallurese Language, it's not part of Sardinian, but a variant of Corsican, spoken in the north east:
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the Sassarese Language, spoken in the north west top of the island, it was a language used by merchants, a mix of tuscan (pisan), genoese, sardinian logudorese, and a little spanish and catalan ad-stratum:
URWMhmv47mE

the Tabarchìn or Tabarchino. it's a northern italian language spoken by the descendants of ligurian immigrants settled in South West Sardinia in 18th century:
K9gf_cMzRSE

other northern italian languages spoken in Sardinia are the Friulan and the Venetian, from immigrants come in the first half of 20th century s and settled mainly in the towns of Fertilia, Arborea and Carbonia.

it's also spoken the Istriot by Istrians and Dalmatians escaped from italian territories lost in the Balkans, during the II world war.

[Foxy]

2nd century tribe from Jutland =/= Viking.

Although it is not correct to speak of Vikings, in Italy we use to call "Vikings" all the germanic tribes from Scandinavia to distinguish them from the germanic tribes from Germany. The title meant to say that their original land was not Germany but Scandinavia.
Anyway modern Cimbrics can be also descendents of Bavarians immigrated in Italy during Middle Age. The two ipothesis are still open becouse their name, Cimbri, reminds the name of the old tribe of Cimbri that together with Teutons invaded the territory of the Roman Republic during the II century b.C.

The beautiful thing is that despite the logs time passed, they have conserved their tradition very well.

Make a laugh, these are some distant Cimbric relatives of yours, a bit exaltated...

klP_cseV4rY

[Foxy]

Abruzzeses : inhabitans of modern Abruzzo, descendents of the ancient Italic tribes of Equi, Frentani, Marrucini, Marsi, Peligni, Petruzi, Samnites, Vestines and Sabines.

These peoples fought harshly against Rome to defend their freedom. Although they lost the III Samnitic War they obtained the Roman citizenship. They were the first to use the word "Italia" to identify their land. Famous ancient people born in Abruzzo were: Gaio Asinio Pollione, Gaio Sallustio, Publio Ovidio and Ponzio Pilato.

Modern famous Abruzzese are: Gabriele D'Annunzio, Ennio Flaiano, Ignazio Silone as writers; Benedetto Croce and Bertrando Spaventa as philosophers; Cascella family, Francesco Paolo Michetti and Francesco Paolo Tosti in Art.

THE REGION

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/Regione-Abruzzo-Stemma.svg/230px-Regione-Abruzzo-Stemma.svg.png

ZONE: Central Italy

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/Map_Region_of_Abruzzo.svg/480px-Map_Region_of_Abruzzo.svg.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Altimetria_Abruzzo.svg/600px-Altimetria_Abruzzo.svg.png


GEOGRAPHY:

The region presents the highest picks of the Appennine (Corno Grande, 2914 m, Mount Amaro, 2793 m).
The hilly brand stays between the appenninic mountains and the Adriatic Sea, it is characterized by vineyards and olive tree groves. Woods of oaks, poplars and maples are found in various areas.

Plain occupies in Abruzzo only 1% of the whole area and corresponds to the coast: it is sandy and large in the Northern part of the region, wild and rocky in the Southern part, with high and impervious cliffs sorrounded by the Mediterranean vegetation.

POPULATION:

The region is, compared to the national avarage, underpopulated although an increase of density has been registred in the last years, mostly due to immigration. The largest community is Albanese with 12.126 registred unities.
Most people live on the Coast, while the mountains are for large traits still very wild.

Emigration corcerns about 4,5% of Abruzzeses. Favourite destinations are the USA, Canada and Australia. In Italy it is Latium, the region that borders Abruzzo on the West, in particular Rome.

ECONOMY:

Abruzzo is the only region once belonging to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies that have experienced a large economic boom. Val Vibrata todays hosts an incredible number of little businesses, specialized in footwears and textures.
Val Di Sangro now guests filials of FIAT and the area around Pescara guests some filials of multinationals such as Miss Sixty, De Cecco and Procter and Gamble.
The region is developing in fields like farmaceutic, biomedic and nuclear.

Tourism is based mostly on winter, sea and naturalistic tourism. The province of L'Aquila is a famous ski resort, the provice of Teramo attract visitors for the beauty of its sandy beaches. Most tourists are from Italy, France and Germany. The national park also attracts visitors.

Favourite destination are:
for skiing: Scanno, Ovindoli, Pescasseroli, Roccaraso, Campo Imperatore, Campo Felice and Prati Di Tivo;
sea destinations: Alba Adriatica, Roseto, Pineto, Giulianova, Tortoreto, Vasto and Ortona.
The fast develop of tourism make think that in few years Abruzzo will be one of the most touristic areas of Italy.

LANGUAGES:

At least three dialects are registred in Abruzzo.
Sabinic dialect in the province of L'Aquila;
Adriatic Abruzzese in the province of Teramo, Pescara and Chieti, but also in the Southern part of the region of Marche;
Western Abruzzese in the province of L'Aquila.

LANDSCAPES:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Monteferrante_chieti.JPG/800px-Monteferrante_chieti.JPG
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Monti_della_Laga1.jpg

http://img.fotocommunity.com/Paesaggi/Boschi-e-foreste/Parco-Nazionale-dAbruzzo-a18281406.jpg


http://www.naturaltravel.it/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Parco_Abruzzo_Autunno_Colori_Foliage-13-800x533.jpg


ENOGASTRONOMY, WHAT TO EAT:

The cuisine of Abruzzo varies very much and mostly descends from the culinarian tradition of sheephards and fishermen. Typical first dishes are: spaghetti alla chitarra (or Abruzzese spaghetti), Abruzzese maize meal and maccheroni alla mugnaia.
The most famous dish is "arrosticini", little skewers of sheep. Other dishes are: Adriatic fish soup, typical of the area around Vasto, roasted pig with pepper (porchetta abruzzese) and oven sheep with eggs (pecora alla callara).
79 products of Abruzzo have been listed by the Minister of Agricultural Politics as "traditional". Indeed Abruzzo attracts also a large enogastronomic tourist and the best way to explore its landscapes and cuisine is by staying in a farm.

Adriatic fish soup (brodetto di pesce)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uYIdmZdqMks/SVN7bXTB3gI/AAAAAAAABBQ/cH8_Ss1n1B8/s400/Zuppa+Vastese.jpg

Arrosticini
http://uploads.trovanome.it/ristoranteparadiso.info/images/ristoranteparadiso_info_bkumbria_1234280830.jpg

Porchetta
http://marcianodellachiana.blogolandia.it/files/2009/09/porchetta.jpg

WHAT TO DRINK:

Famous wines of Abruzzo are: Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, Trebbiano, Montonico and.
Typical liquors of the zone include: Ratafìa (obtain by red wine and red fruits),
Aurum (brandy and orange) and Centerba (distilled of 70° made of medical herbs).

CHEESES

Abruzzo also has a long list of typical cheeses:
Cacio di vacca bianca o caciotta di vacca
Caciocavallo abruzzese
Caciofiore aquilano
Caciotta vaccina frentana, o formaggio di vacca
Caprino abruzzese
Formaggi e ricotta di stazzo
Giuncata vaccina abruzzese, sprisciocca
Giuncatella abruzzese
Incanestrato di Castel del Monte
Pecorino d'Abruzzo
Pecorino di Atri
Pecorino di Farindola
Pecorino marcetto, cacio marcetto
Scamorza abruzzese

TRANSPORTS

Planning to visit Abruzzo spending few? Abruzzo has got low-costs transports that connect it to various places of Europe and not only, besides Pescara, main city of Abruzzo, is only 1 h 30 distant from Rome.

Harbors

-Pescara Harbors connects the region to Croatia: 3 times per week a ferry boast connects Pescara to Spalato/Split, Hvar, Dubrovnick and Durazzo (Albania).

-Ortona Harbor connects Ortona with other Italian citites: Rome, Pescara, Bari and Ancona.

Airports

The low-coast company Ryanair connects Pescara with Oslo (Torp - only on spring and summer); Eindhoven (The Netherlands); Frankfurt-Hahn (Germany) Stansted-London (England); Girona-Bacerlona (Spain), Milan, Cagliari, Charleroi-Bruxelles; Paris-Beauvais.

SCIENTIFICAL RESEARCH:

The region guests two very important centres of scientific research: The International Centre of Relativistic Astrophysics of Pescara and the National Laboratories of Gran Sasso, the biggest underground laboratory in the world, sited under the highest mount of the Appennine.

Laboratories have been indealized by the famous scientist Antonino Zichichi and their construction starten in 1982.
Inside the laboratories has been filmed the movie "L'Orizzonte Degli Eventi".

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--- VVV

[Foxy]

The second region of Italy is Basilicata, also called Lucania. The world is from Ancient Greek or Indo-European and means "Land of the Light". An other theory suggests that the name is from the Latin lucus and should mean "Land of the Forests".

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/Regione-Basilicata-Stemma.svg/200px-Regione-Basilicata-Stemma.svg.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Map_Region_of_Basilicata.svg/480px-Map_Region_of_Basilicata.svg.png

The People

The first settlers of the area were the Lucanii, an Italic tribe migrated here from Central Italy. But the region was subject to the Greek colonization, especially long the litoral. Greek colons were Acheos and build various poleis here, but very soon they started to fight each others, leading to a rapid weakening of the Greek society.
The first contact with Romans led to a temporary alliance between the peoples of Lucania and Romans against Samnites.
The Byzantines followed the Romans and it was from them that the region was named Basilicata, (from basilikos, "imperial").

In the following centuries the Normans and Swabians also invaded Basilicata. The subsequent 13th century Anjou domination led to the establishment of a feudal system which hampered any hopes of an economic recovery for the region, which remained in abject poverty.

Basilicata is still of the poorest regions of Southern Italy and emigration has been so high that population increased only of 12% during the XXth century.

Sites of interest

Metera is a very old -paleolithic- settlement. It is famous for its "rocks", houses excavated in the rock.

http://www.terrazzosulsinni.com/portal/images/stories/sassi_matera.jpg

Melfi is strongly connected with Normans, indeed Melfi was the last harbour that warriors and cruisaders saw before sailing to the Holy Land. With the time their interest in the control of the area increased until Rainulf Drengot, Norman mercenary, was invested Count of Anversa.
The city achieved its glory with Friedrick II, who proclaimed it Capital of its kingdom and here the first constitution of the Mediterranean was issued by the same Friedrick: the Constitution of Melfi.

Pisticci is an other very old settlement, ex Greek colony and beautiful bathing station. Around 1000 a.D. Normans established the Feud of Pisticci and Benedettin Monks founded the Monastery of Santa Maria del Casale.

Policoro stays near the ruins of the old Greek colony Heraclea, important Greek centre of Magna Graecia built during the VI century b.C.
Here in 280 b.C. Romans fought against Pirro, obtaining the famous victory. The town has rapidly expanded in the last 30 years and now it is one of the most important centres of Basilicata.

Tourism

Tourism interests three typologies:
-historical-cultural for what concernes Magna Graecia (Metaponto, Policoro and Nova Siri), Roman Age, Middle Age and "Rocks of Matera".
-sea tourism, thank to beautiful bathing stations like Maratea, Pisticci, Policoro and Nova Siri.
-excursionistic concerning the area of the National Park of Pollino.

Landscapes

http://www.vacanzeinagriturismo.it/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/foto-maratea2.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/Costamaratea.jpg/800px-Costamaratea.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Castello_di_melfi1.JPG/800px-Castello_di_melfi1.JPG
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Hero_Temple_at_Metaponto_%28Italy%29.JPG

The Land

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Altimetria_Basilicata.svg/600px-Altimetria_Basilicata.svg.png

Transports

The region is bad connected for what concernes transports. The best way to arrive is using the Motorway A3 Neaples-Reggio Calabria and then the Statal Streets, like S.S. Jonica for Policoro and S.S. Bradanica for Matera and Melfi.

By train you can use the Railway Battipaglia-Potenza-Metaponto that connects Campania to Basilicata.

[Foxy]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Coat_of_arms_of_Calabria.svg/385px-Coat_of_arms_of_Calabria.svg.png
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Map_Region_of_Calabria.svg/480px-Map_Region_of_Calabria.svg.png

The name "Calabria" seems to be from the Greek root calabra/galabra and should mean "Land of the Rocks".

The People

The legend says that after the Flood Aschenez, Noè's grandson, arrived to Calabria and founded Reggio. Centuries later, 800 years before the War of Troy, two Sirian explorers arrived to Calabria calling it "Ausonia", a fertile region os Syria.

What we know from archeology is that in the area lived two Italic peoples belong one to the Osco-falisc group, divided in three tribes (Italis, Ausonians and Enotres) and an osco-umbrian group, Lucanians (the same living also in Basilicata). The Italic settled the coastal areas. But the inland was inhabitated by a an other warlike Italic people and by other peoples arrived from the Iberian Peninsula.

In the Greek Age the Italic peoples of the Coast mixed intensely with Greek colons, giving birth to a "Mestizo people and culture" and again new Greeks arrived founding new colonies, the richest of the Greek world, enough to be called "Magale Hellas", the Great Greece. They founded Kroton, Sybaris, Kaulon, Medma, Terina and others. Still today "sybaritism" is synonim of "richness" and, my bad, "corruption".

The process of Romanization was made during the Roman Age, when Greek language was deleted by the new owners in favour of Latin.

Greek world touched again Calabria in Middle Age, when the region was devasted by the wars between Byzantines and Gothes. The region passed under Longobards, Gothes and Byzantines, devasted by plagues and attacks via sea made by pirates, and endly it bacame the border line between Byzantines in Calabria and Arabs in Sicily, who fought each others for long, leading the region to poverty.

A period of peace was assured by Normans. Altavilla Family conquered Southern Italy and put an end to the disputes between Greeks and Arabs.

Tourism

The region attracks tourist interested in sea and in cultural tourism. Gabriele D'Annunzio, famous Italian writer, defined Calabrian coast "the most beautiful chilometre of Italy". Some parts of the coast have been invested of the Blue Flag and some of these traits have been made famous also by licterature. How to forget Scilla and Cariddi of Odyssea? Actually only Scilla is in Calabria, being Cariddi in Sicily.
The region is also rich of monuments.

Magna Calabria/Megale Kalabrìa

The richest period of Calabria was between VII and VIII centuries b.C.; i.e. during the Greek Age. The region experienced an incredible flowering of art, philosophy and licterature, foreshadowing very often the same Greece.
Greek colons living in Calabria became very proud of what they had built from nothing and in absolute indipendence from their Fatherland: economically and culturally they had overpassed Greece itself, therefore they started to call Calabria "the Great Greece", opposing it to the "Old Greece". The most famous colonies were Sybaris and Kroton, built by peoples of Achean stock. Later for reasons of overpopulation, the same colonies founded other sub-colonies.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Reggio_calabria_museo_nazionale_bronzi_di_riace.jp g

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Kouros_di_reggio_calabria.jpg

Landscapes

http://calabria-turismo.com/images/mare-calabria.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/it/thumb/8/8a/Timpone_Carcara_da_Macchia_Fraga._Sila_Grande.jpg/800px-Timpone_Carcara_da_Macchia_Fraga._Sila_Grande.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Reggio_calabria_panorama_fichidindia.jpg


Calabrian Cuisine

Calabrian cuisine has a long history and feels influxes of the ancient Greek and christian tradition and even some Arabic influxe. In particular every event has its own menu.
A particular innovation in the traditional cuisine happened with the arrival from America of the chilli pepper.
Typical dishes include:
-maccheroni, later diffused in the whole peninsula, are just from Calabria. They are dressed with tomato sauce and goat meat.
-Zuppa i cipudduzzi: a soup of onions and bread.
-Cosenza Lamb chops prepared with oil, green olives, tomato, sweet peppers and onion.
-Bucalaci: Italian version of the French escargot, snails.
-Stockfish, cooked in many ways, roasted or with mashrooms or with beans, or aubergines stuffed with stockfish.
-Swordfish, cooked also in many ways, including rolls filled with swordfish.
-Pipì chini: stuffed sweet peppers.
-Turtera di lici: anchovies pie.
-various kinds of sheep milk cheese.

Other dishes, including a long list of sweets, cold meats, cheeses, vegetables and breads.

Calabrian drinks
Some typical liquors of Calabria are: Limoncello (liquor of lemon), some bitters like Amaro dell'Abate and Amaro Silano, Liquore di Cedro (citron liquor), paesanella (a strong brandy), Liquirice (liquor of liquorice), etc.
iCalabria, once called also "Enotria" (land of the wines) has a big number of wines: Melissa, Cirò, Donnici, Greco di Bianco, Pollino, Arghillà, Lipuda, Esaro, Costa Viola, Scilla, Calabria, Val di Neto, etc.
Soft drinks: Brasilena (coffee tasted gassosa), Cedrata (drink made of citron).

Mafia

'Ndrangheta (or also Montalbano Family, Honoured Society and The Saint) is the name used to call the Calabria mafia.Today 'Ndrangheta is considered the most dangerous organized criminality of Italy, divided in 155 local clans (called 'ndrine), with branches abroad, especially in Canada, Australia and in the other European countries that received a strong Calabrian immigration.
The number of people working for 'Ndrangheta is estimated to be 6000, in many cases they are relatives. 'Ndrangheta handles about 4 billion euros.
The clans, differently from Cosa Nostra, are not organized in a piramidal way but every clan bases its relations on blood ties; marriages between more clans meant to reinforce the relation between them are not rare. Every family manage an own territory and all the businesses on it. The structure can be compared with a feudal system.
It is very difficult to find justice-collaborators among esponents of 'Ndrangheta, becouse if they leave it they must go against their relatives too.
'Ndrangheta today holds the monopoly of the traffic of cocaine in the continent.

The presence of 'Ndrangheta in the rest of Italy has influenced the built of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria motorway and its maintenance.
In Northern Italy 'Ndrangheta has got real branches, sited mostly in Turin and Lombardy.

Abroad the biggest branches of 'Ndrangheta are in Canada, Australia and Germany. In the last period it is expansing even in Western Africa.

In 2008 money handled by 'Ndrangheta, divided per activity, are:
-27, 240 billions euros in drug deal;
-5, 733 billions euro in public contacts;
-5,017 blls euros in usury;
-2, 938 blls euros in weapons deal;
-2,846 blls euros in prostitutution,

for a total of 43, 795 billions euros that make 'Ndrangheta one of the richest mafias of the world.

During its history, 'Ndrangheta generated some of the most violent blood feuds, some made in Calabria but some also in other parts of Italy and abroad.
A famous blood feud happened between 1985 and 1991 and was called "The Second War of 'Ndrangheta". It caused more than 500 deads (the first war caused 300 deads).

Transports

Airports: the main airport of Calabria is Lamezia Terme. The low cost company Ryanair connects Lamezia with: Bruxelles-Charleroi, Düsseldorf-Weeze [seasonal], Londra-Stansted, Pisa, Stoccolma-Skavsta.
The low-cost company Airberlin connects Lamezia Terme with Berlin-Tegel, Munich and Düsseldorf.

Harbors: the harbor of Reggio Calabria connects the region with Malta and other Italian cities and isles, like Taormina, Messina and the Eolie Isles (Sicily). It is the second biggest harbour in this sector of Italy with more than 10 millions passengers per year.

[Foxy]

My work about Italy goes on...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/Regione-Campania-Stemma.svg/230px-Regione-Campania-Stemma.svg.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Map_Region_of_Campania.svg/480px-Map_Region_of_Campania.svg.png

Campania is a Southern Italian region and it is the most populated region of Italy after Lombardy. Its capital city is Neaples. The name "Campania" is from "campus" (country) and in the past it was often called Campania Felix (the happy countryside).
Most of the land is hilly, besides the region has a lot of wonderful isles, like Nisida, Capri, Procida and Ischia.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/Capri_skaly_Faraglione.JPG/800px-Capri_skaly_Faraglione.JPG

The people

Like other Southern Italian regions, the people of Campania is the result of the passage of two peoples: some Italic tribes living there since II millennium b.C. and Greek colons that started to settle the region in VII century b.C.
Actually the first Greek colony in Italy was build just in Campania, near Ischia.
Endly some Etruscan settlements were built in the inner part of the region, while Greeks preferred to remain on the coast.
Among Greek cities we can name Neaples (The New City) and Cuma, while Acerra, Capua, Nuceria, Nola and Suessola were Etruscans.
Romans made only few cities in Campania, one of these was Puteoli, now called Pozzuoli.

In Middle Age Longobards founded a county in Campania, called County of Benevento. Later the region passed under the Spanish rule and the borbonic rule.

Today Campania guests 131.000 foreign citizens, most of them (30.100) are Ukrainians.

The Language

In the region are found 3 dialects:
-Neapolitan
[I]-Cilentan
-Irpinian.

Cilentan belongs to the Lucanian group, Irpinian is diffused in the subregion of Irpinia, the most diffuse dialect is Neapolitan that differs a bit city by city.

Economy

According to ISTAT, Campania is one of the poorest region of Western Europe and the wages are the lowest of Italy. Even if the past, until XX century, Campania was the most industrialized region of southern Italy, today this is not true anymore, as regions like Abruzzo and Puglia have largely expanded their economy. Paradoxally Campania experienced a strange process of de-industrialization.
Handcraft is still important, especially potteries and laces, while in the Southern part of Caserta there is one of the biggest centre of goldsmith's art of Italy.
Campania has many possibilities of development, but it is deeply slackened by the Organized Criminality.

Tourism

Tourism is important and diffuse becouse of the big number of natural and artistical beauties that the region offers.
Campania has many worldwide famous UNESCO sites:
-Palace and park of Caserta;
-Neapolitan downtown;
-Ercolano and Pompeii
-Salerno and the Amalphitan Coast;
-National Park of Cilento and Vallo di Diano;
-archeological area of Velia;
-archeological area of Oplonti;
-archeological area of Paestum;
-Padula-Certosa
-acqueduct of Vanvitelli.

Beyond this, the wonderful Tyrrenian isles also attrackts many tourists from all over the world.

LANDSCAPES

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/it/thumb/c/cc/Napoli6.png/800px-Napoli6.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Der_bourbonische_K%C3%B6nigspalast_in_Caserta.jpg/800px-Der_bourbonische_K%C3%B6nigspalast_in_Caserta.jpg

http://www.isoladischia.net/public/articoli/procida-corricella(1).jpg

http://www.italiasquisita.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/ischia.jpg

http://finanza25.blog.tiscali.it/files/2010/12/costa_cilento1.jpg

Typical cuisine

The Campanian cuisine is one of the most famous cuisines of Italy and perhaps of the world. It has strong Greek influxes, due to the connections of the regions with ancient Greece. Typical Campanian dishes are:

-pizza
-spaghetti (Neaples competes with China about who invented spaghetti for first);
-hoax mozzarella;
-Neapolitan pastiera, a sweet of pastafrolla filled with ricotta cheese;
-babà, a soft sweet flavoured with water, sugar and rhum;
-caprese salad (mozzarella and tomatoes cut in little cubes dressed with oilive oil and salt, ideal in hot days);
-spaghetti allo scoglio;
-marinade eel;
-zeppole, pastries filled of cream typical of Southern Italy;
-sfogliatella;
-parmigiana di melanzane, slices of fried aubergines seasoned with tomato sauce and grated Parmesan cheese baked in the oven;
-spaghetti alla puttanesca (spaghetti of the whore!);
-frittata di maccheroni, an omelette of maccheroni made with leftovers;
-spaghetti with calms and tomatoes;
-rice and seafood (octopus, calms, mussels, etc.);
-marinade anchovies;
-fried anchovies;
-courgettes of scapicio, invented by an old Roman, a certain Apicius: courgettes fried with oil and mint;
the list is still very long...

Drinks

Famous wines from Campania are:
-Greco di Tufo;
-Turasi;
-Fiano di Avellino (white).

Coffee is a ritual and is drunk very often. It is offered to people who come in visit but more often it is consumed in bars.

Famous liquors are Limoncello and Liquor of Four Fruits, now less famous, made with lemons, oranges, mandarines and lime.

[Foxy]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Map_Region_of_Emilia_Romagna.svg/480px-Map_Region_of_Emilia_Romagna.svg.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Regione-Emilia-Romagna-Stemma.svg/500px-Regione-Emilia-Romagna-Stemma.svg.png

Emilia-Romagna is a Northern Italian region, divided in two sub-regions, Emilia and Romagna.
It is mostly flat, becouse of the presence of the Padanian Plain and therefore the climate is sub-continental/continental, except on the litoral, where it is mediterranean.
During the history, the region was divided in many little States, like the Dukedom of Parma, the Dukedom of Ferrara, the Dukedom of Modena and Reggio, while Romagna has been for 12 centuries under the State of the Church, except for a short period that it stayed under the Republic of Venice.

The people
Emilia was an ancient settlement of Etruscans and Gauls (Boes, Semnones and Lingones). The area was later conquered by Romans. Romagna was instead settled by Umbrians and Etruscans and endly conquered and settled by the Celts. Later it was conquered by Romans, that called it "Romània". From it the name Romagna.
The two regions experienced also the germanic invasions. Visigothes devasted Romagna before moving Southward, and Ostrogothes defeated the last Emperor of Rome in Ravenna, that later became their capital city.

Economy and immigration

The region is considered one of the richest areas of Europe with a very high GDP. For this reason the region attracted and attracts many immigrants from other regions and countries. Today 10% of people are immigrants. The biggest community is Moroccan, with more than 62.000 unities. Follow a big Romanian community and a so much big Albanian community, both of more than 54.000 unities.

Cuisine

The two subregions vary in the cuisine. Emilian cuisine varies a lot from city to city, becouse of its history of political division.
Typical of Emilia are:
-tagliatelle (noodles);
-ragù (tomato sauce with minced meats and onion);
-lasagne;
-tortellini;
-cream of pumpkin with porcini mashrooms.

Romagna was historically poorer and also the cuisine witnesses this. Typical of Romagna are, instead:
-piadina romagnola
http://www.odealvino.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/piadina-romagnola.jpg
-roasted chicen;
-a large number of cold cuts;
-ravioli with sheep milk cheese and spinach
http://www.saporiincucina.jollysoftfree.com/fp-content/images/ravioli.jpg
-fish soups;
-potato dumplings.

The language

Emilian-Romagnol dialect belongs to the Gaulish-Italian group spoken in Italy together with Ligurian, Lombardian and Piemontese.
Therefore they belong to the Western Romance languages according to the distinction made by Von Wartburg between Eastern and Western Romance languages.
Western Romance languages have traits similar to the French, Catalan and Occitan, while standard Italian belongs to the Eastern Romance group. What distinguishes this group is that they present innovative phonetic phenomena.
The Emilian dialect is divided in 8 sub-dialects, others extend the number to 10 while some linguistics reduce the number to 5.
Some peculiar traits of Emilian are:
-alveolar nasal sounds;
-formation of the plural by vocali alternance;
-presence of a positive conjugation in oppisition to an interrogative conugation (san, I am, vs saggna? am I?).
- fall of the final sounds of Italian (alber instead of albero). Same happens in the Southern group that replace the final sound with a schwa sound.

ITALIAN VS BOLOGNESE VS ARGENTAN

Italiano
Il corvo aveva rubato da una finestra un pezzo di formaggio; appollaiato sulla cima di un albero, era pronto a mangiarselo, quando la volpe lo vide; era davvero affamata. (Fedro)

[modifica] Bolognese
Al côrv l'avêva rubè da una fnèstra un pzulén ed furmâi; apugè in vàtta a un âlber, l'êra drî par magnèrel, quand la våulp al le vésst; l'avêva pròpi una gran sghéssa.

[modifica] Argentano
Al corv l'eva ciavè da 'na fnèstra un còn ad furmai; pugè in vètta a 'n èrbul, l'ira dria a magneral, quènd la volp al vedd; l'ira purassè afameda.

LANDSCAPES

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Appennino_forlivese.JPG/800px-Appennino_forlivese.JPG

http://www.sder.it/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/bologna_panorama.jpg

http://www.nerverland.com/wp-content/uploads/Viaggio-a-Bologna-Luoghi-da-Visitare.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/it/thumb/e/ed/Comacchio05.jpg/800px-Comacchio05.jpg

MUSIC

The region is the area of Italy where have born many rock and pop Italian bands and singers, like Laura Pausini, Cesare Cremonini, Vasco Rossi, etc.

STORICAL ARCHITECTURE

Being Mussolini from Romagna, he built many architectonic buildings in the region, such as the thermal station of Castrocaro Terma and Piazza Forlì. But the region is also rich of Roman and paleocristian buildings. In Middle Age Romagna was studded with strangholds, fortresses and cities.

TRANSPORT

The region guests one of the most important airports of Italy, Bologna-Panigale. It connects the region with:
Dublin (Ireland), Casablanca (Morocco), Paris (France), Malta, Tirana (Albania), Wien (Austria), Bucarest (Romania), Mykonos and Santorini (Greece), L'Avana, Mombasa, Sharm-El-Sheik, London (England), Bruxelles, Prague, Bratislava, Reykjavik, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Colonia, Munich (Germany), Girona, Krakow, Copenaghen, Lisbona, Cagliari, Istambul, Seviglia, Saragozza, Valencia, Trapani, Ibiza, Moskow, Capo Verde, Tenerife, Palermo, Birmingham, Edimburgh, Bonn, Dusseldorf, Granada, Madrid, Malaga, Porto, Brindisi, etc.

[Foxy]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/it/0/05/Friuli-Venezia_Giulia-Stemma.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Map_Region_of_Friuli_Venezia_Giulia.svg/480px-Map_Region_of_Friuli_Venezia_Giulia.svg.png

Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Friûl-Vignesie Julie in Furlan, Furlanija-Julijska krajina in Slovenjan, Friaul-Julisch Venetien in German) is a North-Eastern Italian region enjoying a special status like other 4 regions.

The region is equally divided in a mountanious part and in a flat part (the southern, close to the coast). In the centre there is a 20% of hilly territory.

THE PEOPLE

The region is a transit-region that connects Italy to central Europe and to the Balkans, therefore also the population is not omogenious. In Friuli are spoken various languages, but almost everybody speaks Italian.
Other languages spoken in the region are Friulan (or Furlàn), Slovenjan and German.
Usually Slovenjans and Germans are bilingual.

The distribution of the mothertongues are so divided:

ITALIAN 53,5%
FRIULAN 43%
SLOVENJAN 4,7%
GERMAN 0,4%

The region has a pretty strong slavic influx, due to the position of the region but also to its history: in Middle Age colons from Slovenja were sent to Friuli to repopulate it after the devastation made by hordes from Hungary, more recently Dalmatia and other parts of Croatia were annexed to Friuli-Venezia-Giulia and, after the shift of these territories to Croatia, many Italians of Dalmatia have come back to Italy, escaping the communist persecutions.

FRIULIAN LANGUAGE

Friulan is a Western rethoromance (or Ladin) language. Differently from the other Ladin languages, Friulan has been highly influenced by the speech of Veneto, German and Slovenjan.

Friulan is divided in 4 sub-groups:
-Central Friulan: characterized by the end -e for the feminine words. It is spoken mostly in the province of Udine and for literarian and cultural reasons it is considered a sort of koinè of the Friulan languages.
-Western Friulan;
-Eastern Friulan;
-Carnic Friulan: the feminine end of the words is in -o, differently from the Central group in -e and from the Western and Eastern varieties in -a.

The language is spoken in the provinces of Gorizia , Pordenone, Udine, Venice that lies in the region of Veneto.

PHRASES: ITALIAN VS FRIULAN VS ENGLISH

Ciao, come stai?

Mandi, cemût stâtu?

Hello, how are you?

Io sono Giacomo.

Jo o soi Jacum.

I am Giacomo.

Sono friulano, vengo da Udine

O soi furlan, o ven di Udin.

I am Friulan, I come from Udine.

Oggi fa proprio caldo!

Vuê al è propit cjalt!

Today it is really hot!

Credevi che Giovanni fosse uscito?

Crodevistu che Zuan al fos lât fûr?

Did you think that John had gone out?

Devo proprio andare adesso, ci vediamo.

O scugni propit lâ cumò, si viodîn.

I do must go now, see you.


Landscapes

http://itinerari.mondodelgusto.it/var/plain_site/storage/images/3/territori/territori/friuli_venezia_giulia/3749-1-ita-IT/friuli_venezia_giulia.jpg

http://www.clickz.it/user_images/1168527.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a0/Barbana.jpg/800px-Barbana.jpg

The CUISINE

Friuli-Venezia-Giulia was settled by different peoples: romance, germanic and slavic, therefore also the cuisine is influenced by the different culinarian traditions of these peoples.

Typical dishes are:

-Blecs
-Cavucìn: soup of pumpkin
-bread dumplings
-pumpkin dumplings
-Frico

http://www.lucatrevisan.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/frico-459x345.jpg

-maize meal
-salami and onion
-pork chops and cabbage
-Gubana

http://www.lacasadellacasa.it/lacasadellacasa-docs/contenuti/comune/Ristorazione/LaDiScagnet/Piatti%20pronti/Gubana.jpg

-Strudel

An other speech should be done about the cuisine of the Slavia Friulana subregion. Here typical dishes are:

-štakanje (purè of potetos, turnips and lard)
-bizna (a sort of broath with potetos and beans)
-tocio
-gulasch
-gubana
-šnite
-deer or boar and maize meal

NATIONAL PARKS AND PROTECTED AREAS

The region guests various park and protected areas. The most famous are: the National Park of the Friulian Dolomites and the National Park of the Prealpi Giulie. The sea park of Miramare is also very famous.

http://www.parks.it/riserva.marina.miramare/index.php

TRANSPORTS

The airport of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia connects the capital city of Friuli, Trieste, with other national and international destinations like: Belgrade, Tirana, Bruxelles, Catania, Cagliari, Milan, London, Dusseldorf, Genoa, Rome, Neaples, Munich, Trapani, Valencia.

The railway system of Friuli is efficent and the region is crossed by two of the most important international ways: the Adriatic route (direction Austria-Friuli) and the East-West route (Barcelon-Padanian Plain-Trieste-Ljubliana-Kiev).

[Osweo]

Mandi, cemût stâtu?
Jo o soi Jacum.
O soi furlan, o ven di Udin.
Vuê al è propit cjalt!
Crodevistu che Zuan al fos lât fûr?
O scugni propit lâ cumò, si viodîn.

Fascinating... Have you heard it in real life? It looks a little easier to my Hispanicised eyes than Standard Italian. 'Yo soy...' :p How do they pronounce the Z in Zuan?

[Comte Arnau]

Papers by Hull and Meneghin which regard all the Romance languages in north Italy and the Alps (Ligurian, Piedmontese, Lombard, Emilian, Venetian, Istriot, Romansh, Ladin, Friulian) as one single language (called Padanese or Rhaeto-Cisalpine) and present a standard writing for it:

English version of G. Hull's work about the Padanian language. (In English)

La lingua padanese (http://www.squidoo.com/hullpdn)

By C. Meneghin. Rebuilding the Rhaeto-Cisalpine written language. (In English)

Part I: Orthography. (http://www.romaniaminor.net/ianua/Ianua07/03.pdf)
Part II, Morphology I: noun, article, personal pronouns. (http://www.romaniaminor.net/ianua/Ianua08/07.pdf)
Part III, Morphology II: adjectives, pronouns, invariables. (http://www.romaniaminor.net/ianua/Ianua09/03.pdf)


Another article from the same Ianua magazine, on the evolution of Bolognese.

By D. Vitali. A diachronical study of Bolognese, a dialect of Emilian. (In Italian)


http://www.romaniaminor.net/ianua/Ianua08/02.pdf

[Peyrol]

Dialects and languages... Let's clarify what is the difference!

Dialect (or dialetto) is a loan from Greek, dialèktos, that means "speaking colloquial". A dialect is a regional or a territorial idiom that has not the status of official language, becouse a dialect is not considered "worthing it".

Not all the idioms spoken in Italy are considered dialects. Some are classified as official languages of a given territory. These languages are called minoritarian languages and are taught in schools. In front of the Italian Law dialects, instead, are considered only variations of Standard Italian, even if only Tuscan dialects are effectively variations of Italian.

Dialects are relegated at the status of informal/colloquial languages, many of them are at risk of estinction. In many areas of Italy to speak dialect is considered voulgar or a clear sign of rudeness.

Moribound languages

UNESCO published an Atlas of all the languages going to disappear in the world. In Italy it signaled 31 languages at risk of extinction. These languages are:

Alemannic - Southern variety of German, spoken mostly in Switzerland and Lichtenstein but also in various towns of Northern Italy, near the Swisse border. Vulnerable.
Algherese Catalan - Eastern variety of Catalan, spoken in Sardinian town of Alghero. Definitely endangered.
Alpine Provençal - variety of Provencal spoken in North-West Italy, mostly in the Alpin area.
Arbëresh - Or "Italian Albanese", variety of Albanese spoken by Albanian refugees arrived in Italy after the Ottoman Domination and after Skanderbeg's death.
Bavarian - variety of Southern German spoken in Sudtirol
Campidanese - variety of Sardinian spoken in central and southern Sardinia.
Cimbrian - variety of Southern German spoken in the Community of the Seven Cities (Veneto and Trentino). The community bore after migrations from Bavaria happened in Middle Age.
Corsican - romance languages spoken, in Italy, in the province of Sassari, Sardinia.
Emilian-Romagnol - dialect divided in 9 idioms or subdialects spoken in the region of Emilia Romagna belonging to the Gaulish-Italic family.
Faetar - Francoprovencal enclave sited in Apulia, south-east Italy, spoken in the villages Faeto and Celle di San Vito.
Francoprovençal
Friulian
Gallo-Sicilian
Gallurese
Gardiol - occitanian enclave sited in Calabria, South-West Italy.
Griko (Calabria) - creol language of Calabria - a mix of Greek and Italian - existing in Italy since the ancient Greek domination, reinforced by the immigrations from Greece of Middle Age.
Griko (Salento) - Griko spoken in Puglia.
Ladin
Ligurian
Logudorese
Lombard
Mòcheno - germanic language derived from medieval High German, arrived in Italy after migrations happened in Middle Age.
Molise Croatian - slavic language of Croatian origin spoken in three cities of Molise (Central-South Italy). The language contains no Turkism, it demonsters that the Croatian community arrived in Molise probably during the XVI century.
Piedmontese
Resian - slavic idiom of Slovenjan origin spoken in some areas of Friuli Venezia Giulia (North-East Italy). The community that gave birth to Resian were probably a Eastern Slavic tribe arrived from Poland or Slovakia, as it is demonstered by the affinities that Resian has with Russian.
Romani - indoarian language spoken by the gispies of Italy, mostly Romas and Sintis.
Sassarese
Sicilian



The dialect is certainly important, but let's not forget that centuries before becoming the national language, Italian courtly was the language of science and culture ... the first example of protoitalian is without doubt "the riddle of Verona" (800 A.D.), that says:

"Se pareva boves, alba pratalia arava, albo versorio teneba, negro seme seminaba"

[curiousman]

Fascinating... Have you heard it in real life? It looks a little easier to my Hispanicised eyes than Standard Italian. 'Yo soy...' :p How do they pronounce the Z in Zuan?

As a voiced sound, something like "dz" or "ds".

[Foxy]

ETIMOLOGY AND CLIMATE

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Flag_of_Lazio.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/Map_Region_of_Lazio.svg/480px-Map_Region_of_Lazio.svg.png

First thing that comes in mind when you think of Lazio is of course Rome, today capital of Lazio and of Italy.
Its etimology means "Land of the Latins", an Italic people that settled the region already before the Roman conquest.
Its territory is not omogenious at all: half of it is covered by hills, an other fourth is covered by mountains and the remain is flat.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Altimetria_Lazio.svg/600px-Altimetria_Lazio.svg.png

The region presents two climates: mediterranean on the coast, continental in the inner part.

The mountains that divided Lazio from Abruzzo on the Tyrrenic side are more exposed to the Atlantic disturbances, therefore this side is more rainy than the Abruzzese side but less snowy.

HISTORY

The history of Lazio is strongly connected to the history of Rome, which has been the capital of the Western Roman Empire, of christianity, of Fascism and, today, of the Republic of Italy.

We know that already in the II millennium before Christ, Lazio was inhabited by Indo-European peoples such as Latins, Sabins, Equos, Ernices, Aurunces and Ernices, although in the Northernmost part an other people established: the Etruscans, whose presence became influent at least until the V century b.C.
Since the V century, indeed, Lazio starts to be indentified always more with Rome.

During the Emperial Age, Lazio lived a long period of peace and prosperity, interrupted only by sporading succession wars. However with the time its role inside the Empire was cut down, in favour of cities of the Eastern Empire such as Costantinople and Athens, and, when Odoacre came to Italy, the Western Empire formally ended.

The egress of Rome and of the Western Empire from the political landscape of Europe left a void in the political and cultural life. This void was occupied by the Catholic Church, that led Rome until the XIX century.

ECONOMY

In 2005 Lazio has been recorded as the 2nd region of Italy for GDP after Lombardy, while, considering the GDP pro person Lazio is in 4th position.
However there is a disparity among the various provinces, being Rome richer than the others.

Agriculture was the main resource of the region in the past, but today other sectors have increased their weight on the economy of the region. Cultivation of olives for oil, grape vines, kiwis, chestnut trees and cereals remain important.

Industry in Lazio has never achieved a leader role nor a preminent position comparing Lazio with the more indutrialized regions of Italy. The financing for Southern Italy have helped the indutrialization of some areas of Lazio; just in these areas, indeed, are found also firms of big dimensions; for the rest small and little firms constitute the indutrial heart of the region.

Services are, on the contrary, very influent: 3/4 of the GDP of Lazio are based on services. The main fields are: real estate, transports, financial services, tourism and hotels, commerce.

CULTURE

Only Rome guests 16% of all the artistic-cultural goods of the world, and Lazio is one of the most important places in Europe and in the world for its archeological, artistic, storic, religious and cultural goods.

Among the UNESCO sites the region guests: the territories of the Holy Seat, Basil of Saint Paolo, Villa Adriana and Villa D'Este in Tivoli, the Etruscan necropolis of Cerveteri and Tarquinia.

In Rome we find the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, Saint Peter, and a huge number of squares, fountains, obelisks, bridges, archs, doors and walls.

Besides there are many archeological areas also outside Rome, like ancient Ostia, the Temple of Hercules in Cori, the Temple of Juppiter Anxur in Terracina, Forum Appii near Sezze. A list of preroman walled towns well conserved includes: Atina, Arpino, the acropolis of Alatri, the acropolis of Ferentino. Worldwide famous are also some ancient abbeys like Montecassino, Fossanova, Subiaco, Casamari and Trisulti.

And what about the thermal stations? Some of them are largely famous: Fiuggi and Viterbo.

Very interesting are also some Papal palaces, like the Palace of Pope Bonifacio VIII, Anagni, the village where many Popes bore, Casa Banrekow in which it seems that Dante was guested.

To conclude, the region has also some very beautiful and well known sea localities like Gaeta, Sperlonga, Terracina, Sabaudia, San Felice del Circeo, Ponza.

Littoral of Gaeta

http://www.laziosud.net/litorale/gaeta.jpg

Sperlonga

http://www.occhioche.it/news/sperlonga-panorama.jpg

Anagni

http://www.santuariodivinoamore.it/img/anagni.jpg

Saint Peter and Castel Sant'Angelo

http://www.miaroma.it/UTILIINDEX/STORIA/San_Pietro_e_Ponte_SAngelo_(notte).jpg

[Foxy]

Fascinating... Have you heard it in real life? It looks a little easier to my Hispanicised eyes than Standard Italian. 'Yo soy...' :p How do they pronounce the Z in Zuan?

I think Furlan sounds this way (it is a TV news in Furlàn), but a Friulan could answer better.

ibKqx2ODidU

I understand what he is saying becouse the base is Italian, but I go mostly by intuition. I don't understand every word but, let's say, 3/4 of them are understandable, even becouse also in my region we don't pronunce the final vowels. ;)

What surprised me is that people in the video have a slavic vibe in the look or does it seem only to me?

[Foxy]

DIALECTS

In Lazio are found three linguistic groups: median, southern-median and venetic.
The median group belongs to the languages/dialects of central Italy and can be also called "Central Italian". They are found in Tuscany, Lazio, Marche, Umbria and in a small part of Abruzzo (Sabinia).
In the case of Lazio, the median dialects are spoken in all the Northern part of the region and around Rome, where we find the typical speech called "Romanesco". Romanesco is the Italian dialect that differs the least from standard Italian.

Phonetics of the median group

To discriminate the median group we find two progressive assimilations that seems to have been imported in Rome from the speeches of Umbrians and Samnites (assimilation of ND>nn, MD>MM) and LD>LL, NG>GN, found also among southern dialects.

Southern-median group

The second group concerns those dialect that result to have a southern base.
These dialects are found in the Southern part of Lazio that in the past belonged to the Kingdom of Neaples. It is spoken in the area of Gaeta, Sperlonga, Formia, in the province of Latina and in Ciociaria. These dialects have a final vocalism similar to Neapolitan, but the middle vowels are articulated in a way that sounds closer to Molisan and Apulian rather than to a true Neapolitan.

(Linguistic border median-southern median in Lazio and Western Abruzzo)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Lazio_meridionale_dialetti.jpg

Venetic group

This third group is not native of Lazio but has been brought in the region by the colons from Veneto that, during the Fascist Twenty Years, were moved to Lazio after the drainage of Agro-Pontino.
Their language has been called "Venetopontino" and, although during the first generation the phonetic has remained basically the same of the other Venetic language, today their descendents speak in a form very mixed with Romanesco.

VENETIC COMMUNITY IN LAZIO

The colons that, during the Fascist Twenty Years, were moved to Lazio were not all from Veneto, some of them were actually neither Italian!
The main provenience of these colons was Veneto, but other arried from Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, Emilia and the area around Ferrara and these were moved in the Agro Pontino, while the Roman countryside received colons from Bosnia and Romania.
The latters were ex Italian emigrants who had been returned to Italy by the Fascist Regime. These ex emigrants were mostly native of Trentino.

The Agro-Pontino received also colons from other parts of Italy, mostly from Marche and Abruzzo. Anyway these latter colons from Central Italy, minor in number, were not able to affirm their languages and with the time they adopted the speech of the other colons from North-East Italy and were assimilated in the Venetic community. Especially in traditions and folklors, the community is close to the native believes/traditions of Friuli and Veneto.

THE CUISINE

The traditional cuisine of Rome is poor, frugal and with an high rate of cholesterol. Dishes are usually easy to prepare and are very tasty.
Among the traditional dishes of Rome we find:
-pasta alla carbonara, with eggs, sheep cheese and bacon. It history reminds the second World War, when the Allies (Anglo-Americans) arrived in Rome and brought bacon. Romans invented this dish to eat bacon with pasta and we all thank them for the invention. :D

http://www.giallozafferano.it/images/ricette/spaghetti_carbonara380m.jpg

- Coratella is also an other typical dish of Lazio: little cubes of heart, guts and liver of limbs and other little animals, plus onions.

-Saltimbocca alla Romana are rolls of meat, raw ham and sage, cooked in butter and white wine.

-Roman tripe, cooked with mint and a lot of Roman sheep cheese.

- Coda alla Vaccinara is a modern Roman stew made of "oxtail" (in fact, usually veal tail) and various vegetables.

-Supplì is also a typical Roman dish and its curious name derives from the French "surprise". It consists of a ball of rice with or without (Suppli' in bianco) tomato sauce and egg around a piece of mozzarella and ham; the whole morsel is soaked in egg and coated with breadcrumbs and then fried (usually deep-fried).

http://www.dissapore.com/wp-content/uploads/2967051518_cce089ca62.jpg

- Abbacchio is a dish of limb (called in dialect "Abbacchio"). It is browned with oil and pieces of ham.

-Pidgeon. Yes, Roman eat also pidgeons.

There are also a lot of other dishes in Rome and around.

MUSEUMS

As Lazio has so much museums and historical goods, here a list of the main museums.

-Archeological museum of Frosinone, guesting a collection of Paleolithic, Etruscan and Roman age;
-Galleria Borghese, sited in Villa Borghese (Rome), guesting a wonderful collection of works of Michelangelo, Canova, Bernini, Rubens, Tiziano, Bronzino and Caravaggio;
-The Vatican Museums - prize, 15 euros - (Rome, Vatican City), includes the treasures of Vatican, the Sistin Chapel, the Pinacoteca Art Gallery, the Collection of Modern Religious Art, Sculpture Museums, the Etruscan Museums, the Egyptian Museum, Museum Chiaromonti.
-The Napoleonic Museum (Rome) with its heirlooms of the Napoleonic Age, mostly from Giuseppe Primoli's priavate collection.
-Museum Hendrik Andersen is the house of the great American-Norwegian sculptor that spent most of his life in Italy, Rome, where he bought Villa Helène. The museum guest architectural plans and sculptures of the artist.
-Goethe's House. The great German writer had a passion for Italy, where he lived for a long period, spending 2 years in Rome. In this house he wrote "Travel in Italy" and "The Roman Carnival".
-Museum De Chirico.
-Museum of the Roman Ships in Fiumicino.
-Civic Archeological Museum Lavinium in Pomezia, sited in the medieval town of Pomezia, guests the relics of the ancient city of Pomezia that, according to the legend, was founded by Aenea.

[Foxy]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Coat_of_arms_of_Liguria.svg/250px-Coat_of_arms_of_Liguria.svg.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/Map_Region_of_Liguria.svg/480px-Map_Region_of_Liguria.svg.png

Ligury is a North-Western Italian region with capital Genoa. It is usually divided in two subregions: the Western Riviera and the Eastern Riviera. The region is also touched by both the Italian mountain chains: the Alps and the Appennines.

THE PEOPLE

Ligury (or Liguaria in Italian) means "the Land of Ligures". Ligures settled Liguria and a portion of South-Eastern France. A theory suggests that before the arrival of the Italics, this people settled not only modern Liguria but also the modern Northern Italy, Northern Tuscany and southern France.
They were later pushed back, towards the Appennine, from the arrival of the Celts and of the Italics.
According to the traditional view Ligures were a pre-Indoeuropean people of the same stock of Iberos, but more recent theories suggest, instead, that Ligures were the northernmost branch of an Indo-European people that settled the whole Tyrrenian area, from Sicily to Liguria.
New archeological relics have shown that Ligures had affinities with the Italics and even more with the Celts, so today it is supposed that Ligures were a Celtic people.
The Roman historician Strabone says that Ligures were one of the most ancient people of Western Europe, while Dionigi of Alicarnasso says that Ligures settled many areas of Italy and part of Gallia, that they were somehow related to Umbrians, but that none knows where they were from.
Filisto from Syracuse says that Sicules were originally Ligures, expelled from Ligury to Sicily by Umbrians and other Pelasgian peoples (peoples of the sea).
Xavierre Delamarre purposed that the ancient Ligurian language was a Celtic language similar to Gaulish, influenced by the Latin speeches of the peninsula.

We know of their religion that they were animist and were led by shamans. They adored a god called "Belaru" (God of the Light) and used to practice sacrifices during the solstices. Woods and nature were holy places and therefore respected.Rites were so celebrated in woods using also particular menhirs with human heads. We know that Ligures considered the head to be the centre of the feelings, of the senses and of the emotions.

Ligury received also Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Celts, that occupied empty areas of the region since IV century b.C.

THE SEA REPUBLIC OF GENOA

During Middle Age Genoa experienced a huge expansionism and became the major sea republic of Italy with Venice. It has commercial yards and ports from Gibraltar until the Black Sea. To cite just the most important:

- Southampton
- the harbours of the Flanders
- Gibraltar, Cadige and the area around Sevilla
- Provence
- Corse as dominion of Genoa for 3 centuries and Sardinia
- the North African coast, including Damietta and Alessandria in Egypt, Bona and Tabarca, Bugia and Biserta
- Famagosta harbour (Cyprus) and Malta
- the borough of Pera (Costantinople, Turkey); Cesarea, Beirut, Tiro, Sivas, Alessandretta, Giaffa, Sinope, etc.
-the mouths of Don river;
- the Asiatic crossroads with Astrakhan, Sarai, Samacarda, controlling the traffics until Southern China and Taiwan;
- Mesopotamia, by merchans and naval constructors in Baghdad;

Main routes of the Sea Republic of Genoa

http://cursichella.eu/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/file_espansione_di_genova1.png

DARK VIOLET= occupied territories
VIOLET = temporary conquests
LIGHT PINK = territories with a strong economical penetration
PINK = strong bancarian penetration
VIOLET DOTS = main empories and commercial colonies

PROTECTED SEA AREAS

The region has got a wonderful sea, protected by the Natural Area of Cinque Terre, where are found corals, Neptune Grass and anemones and by the Reserve of Portofino, full of red corals, Neptune Grass and sponges.

LANDSCAPES

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Bordighera-panorama.jpg/800px-Bordighera-panorama.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Alta_via.jpg

IMMIGRATION

On 31st December 2009, according to ISTAT, the foreign citizens in Ligury were mostly Southern Americans and were so divided:

Ecuador 20.453 (1,27% of Ligurian people)
Albanians 19.529 (1,21%)
Romanians 13.207 (0,82%)
Moroccans 11.925 (0,74%)
Peruvians 4.024 (0,25%)

TOURISM

Tourism is one of the most important economical sectors for Ligury, that among its attractions numbers very famous and prestigious localities such as Portofino, Porto Venere and the Cinque Terre.

Portofino

http://www.tigullioshopping.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/portofino_night.jpg

Mass tourism is responsible for many ambiental damages, as it is concentrated mostly in the summer months and on the coasts. However in Ligury is also possible to practise fish-tourism and farm holidays. Besides the region not only has a great sea but guests often festivals, exhibitions and celebrations.

DIALECTS AND LANGUAGES

The dialects spoken in Ligury belong to the Gaulish-Italic stock, together with Piemontese, Lombardian, Emilian and Venetic. Ligurian and Venetic are the most characteristic and diverse languages inside the Northern dialects group.

Ligurian is spoken in Ligury, France, Monaco, Bonifacio (Corsice), part of Sardinia, part of Lombardy, Provence-Cote Azure, part of Piedmont.

In Monaco Ligurian is spoken as second language and taught in schools, but in its variant, called "Monegasco". In France Ligurian in spoken in Val Roia (Briga, Tenda, Saorge, Breil-Sur-Roya). Words of Ligurian origin are spread in almost every placed touched in the past by the Genoese routs, including Greece (Chios), La Maddalena and even in Buenos Aires.

The Ligurian dialects are disappearing and following in disuse, especially in the urban areas. Only 8,3 % of Ligurians speak Ligurian in family. This destiny is common to many dialects of Italy, from the North to the South. 70% of Ligurians speak only Italian, while 17% use both the linguistic codes. 6% use only the dialect. These data clearly show that the use and in some cases the knowledge of the dialect is still active only among people born before the economic boom (among those born between '50', '60', '70) and it is more diffuse in rural areas. Among young people the knowledge of the dialect decreases until even 0% in some cases.

[Foxy]

Lombardy is a North-Western Italian region and it has the highest number of inhabitants resident in 12 provinces.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Map_Region_of_Lombardia.svg/480px-Map_Region_of_Lombardia.svg.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Flag_of_Lombardy.svg/800px-Flag_of_Lombardy.svg.png

Lombardy means "the Land of the Longobards" and it acquired its name during Middle Age when Pavia became the capital city of the Longobard Kingdom. At that time Longobardia, or the territory controlled by Longobards, was far larger than modern Lombardy.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Altimetria_Lombadia.svg/600px-Altimetria_Lombadia.svg.png

Its territory can be divided in two sections: a mountanious one and a flat one, occupied by the Padanian Plain. Between these two zones there is an hilly strip.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/LagoComoMemorial.jpg/1200px-LagoComoMemorial.jpg

Lombardy is famous also for its alpine lakes like Como Lake, Garda Lake (the biggest of Italy), Lago Maggiore, Lago D'Iseo and Lago di Lugano, that achieves for a small portion also Lombardy.

The region presents three climates: alpine and snowy in the Northern part, continental in the rest of the region with a climate of mediterranean type around the lakes.

THE LOMBARDS

Lombardy is a region that has always been settled by many peoples. Not only the Celts and the Romans, but also the Etruscans and the Longobards.
In recent times it was invaded by French, Spanish and Austrian troops. Together with Veneto, Lombardy became with the Restauration a part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, but the region continued to fight for its indipendence together with other Italian regions. Lombardy was very important during the Risorgiment, like the Five Days of Milan demonstered.

At the moment the foreign citizens living in Lombardy consitute the 10% of the whole population according to ISTAT data. They are mostly from Romania, Morocco, Albania, Egypt and Philippines.

ECONOMY

Lombardy is considered, in Italy and abroad, an highly industrialized region. It is the most important Italian region for the economy, contributing to its economy for a 24%.
It is also one of the most productive areas of Europe together with Baden-Württemberg, Rhodes-Alpes and Catalunya. Together these regions consitute the economic driving force of the European Union.

In 10 years also the female leadership has almost doubled, passing from 12% 0f 1992 to 20,8% in 2005.

THE LANGUAGE

The Lombardian variety is divided in two sub-groups: Western Lombardian and Eastern Lombardian. An other sub-group is constituted by the Southern Lombardian that is connected to the Emilian linguistic group.

Lombardian belong to the Gaulish-Italic family. It is spoken also in Ticino and Grigioni (two Cantons of Switzerland), in a part of Piedmont, in a part of Trentino and in a Sicilian enclave.

TOURISM

Lombardy is 4th in the list of the most visited Italian regions (the others are Veneto, Tuscany and Lazio), thanks to its natural beauties like the lakes, the parks and the Alps, to the historical cities and to the commercial and cultural events, some of the famous around all the world, like the famous "Milan Fashion Week".
The region is also important for people interested in the Renaissance. Finally Lombardy is also active in sport, guesting various important teams (speaking only about football, the region has both Inter and Milan).

[Sicilianu101]

Sicilian:
(In the 1st video, the 1st poetry recitation is in Sicilian, the 2nd in Italian)
VYQv1YYwKb8
PA6f3lj0NO0
AfQURzflK7o

Neapolitan:
wex0cGZoT5Y
vwxn_ZnUqbU

Milanese:
IzkqTtAduOA
khgAU2rrmBE

Veneto:
M9Kjhlq83ag
9DONuUuYiFM

Piemontese:
D2NJSPn4lYQ

[Tanais]

THE LOMBARDS
Lombards, proud Germanic since Attila's times. :)
http://www.portalestoria.net/IMAGES%20125/Flag_of_Lombardy.svg[1].png

[alfieb]

Arbëresh
Gallo-Sicilian
Sicilian

I've spent some time in Piana dei Albanesi and Piazza Armerina and encountered those minority languages. They sound much, much different from Sicilian, and it is quite enjoyable. Regrettably, I have not yet attended a church service held in either Arbereshe or Lummardi (Gallo-Sicilian).

[Ira di Dio]

Le comiche...

Ecco cosa fanno i valdostani invece di baciarsi i gomiti per essere dei "privilegiati", a differenza di noi comuni mortali abitanti delle regioni a statuto ordinario :rolleyes:


Enrico Martinet per "la Stampa"

L'intento nobile di mettere ordine nella toponomastica della Valle d'Aosta si arena in una «normalizzazione» francofona. Ciò che nel corso degli anni aveva subito variazioni più o meno fantasiose per i nomi di villaggi o località scivola in normativa precisa della Regione autonoma e bilingue (l'italiano e il francese sono parificate) che offre ai Comuni il frutto di uno studio di esperti. Il risultato per il capoluogo Aosta e le sue frazioni collinari sprofonda nel ridicolo: i nomi italiani dei quartieri vengono tradotti in francese, con tanto di trattini tra le varie parole come vuole la grammatica della lingua di Voltaire.

Scelte per lo meno discutibili e che non sempre seguono la più volte citate esigenza storica. Il Consiglio comunale di Aosta il 22 gennaio ha deliberato le nuove denominazioni annullando quanto deciso in precedenza e su piccata sollecitazione della Regione. Così il quartiere Dora, non distante dal fiume diventa «Quartier-DeLa-Doire», quello Cogne, nome derivato dall'omonima acciaieria e costruito per operai e dirigenti, sarà «Le Quartier-Cogne».

Non c'è alcun riferimento storico plausibile. Il provvedimento mortifica anche le denominazioni popolari e queste sì, storiche, in «patois», dialetto francoprovenzale parlato dalla maggioranza dei valdostani, mentre l'uso del francese non supera lo 0,1 % della popolazione. Tutti lo sanno, perché obbligatorio in ogni ordine di scuola, ma pochissimi lo usano. La riforma della toponomastica varia, per esempio, la località Tsambarlet, zona di attività produttive e commerciali, in Chambarlet, più francofono.

Altre zone cittadine sono ribattezzate, secondo gli esperti e la maggioranza dei consiglieri comunali, in modo che siano ripristinati i loro nomi originali. Così la Bioula diventa «La Bioulaz» e l'Arionda, «La Riondaz». L'uso della «z» finale è controverso che sia legato al «patois», lingua non scritta. La pronuncia evita quelle finali quindi non se ne comprende la ragione se non di renderle simili a parole francesi.

La lingua d'Oltralpe è stata l'unica ufficiale in Valle d'Aosta per sette secoli, ma il «patois» ha resistito anche ai Savoia. Il particolarismo valdostano si fonda anche sul francese che da sempre è considerato la base dell'autonomia speciale. Di qui la sua parità nei confronti dell'italiano. Il suo uso ufficiale e culturale (come nelle scuole) così come l'italiano fa dell'intera regione una minoranza linguistica. Non così nel Trentino Alto Adige dove il bilinguismo distingue la comunità italiofona da quella germanofona.

La volontà della Regione di sottolineare l'importanza della francofonia ha avuto momenti che hanno rasentato l'assurdità quando nei comunicati ufficiali venivano tradotte in francese perfino le città italiane. E c'è ancora ad Aosta una delle vie principali intitolata a «Antoine Gramsci» (ora diventa Antonio).

La nuova toponomastica comporterà il cambio di migliaia di documenti per i cittadini, ma ci penserà il Comune di Aosta. E c'è anche un'altra difficoltà, legata ai computer della macchina burocratica. Nonostante il bilinguismo non hanno la tastiera francese. Si legge nella delibera comunale: «Per ragioni di grafica informatica si provvederà a scrivere nel viario le denominazioni delle vie in stampatello maiuscolo non potendo utilizzare le interpunzioni accentate». Il sindaco, Bruno Giordano, non da molto iscritto all'Union valdôtaine, movimento che fa del francese una bandiera politica, si è risentito delle polemiche sulle variazioni toponomastiche e con un «cinguettio» su Twitter scrive: «Chissà quando gli eruditi della penna "de nos atres" (patois, ndr) comprenderanno che i Comuni le leggi le applicano e non le scrivono».

[Peyrol]

Ma che cazzata...tra l'altro il ''francese'' non c'entra assolutamente nulla con la Valle nè l'ha mai centrato, visto che al massimo si parla/parlava arpitano e non francese d'oil classico.

[Ira di Dio]

Ma che cazzata...tra l'altro il ''francese'' non c'entra assolutamente nulla con la Valle nè l'ha mai centrato, visto che al massimo si parla/parlava arpitano e non francese d'oil classico.
Infatti, nell'articolo si dice che il provvedimento mortifica il patois locale.

[Peyrol]

Infatti, nell'articolo si dice che il provvedimento mortifica il patois locale.

Già è una lingua supermorente visto che 3/4 dei valligiani sono calabrolucani, se poi prendono anche provvedimenti mongoloidi del genere...precisamente il valdostano è un dialetto del cosidetto ''Arpitano''.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/FRP-Map4.png

[CVCV]

Si parla ancora il Piemontese nella vita quotidiana? Si insegna nelle scuole piemontesi?

[Peyrol]

Si parla ancora il Piemontese nella vita quotidiana? Si insegna nelle scuole piemontesi?

Nella vita quotidiana si, ma non a Torino città (dove i piemontesi veri saran si e no il 13-15% della popolazione)...i giovani in provincia lo usano discretamente ancora...e purtroppo no, non è insegnato nelle scuole sebbene vi sia un Accademia che lo regola come lingua.

[Ouistreham]

Già è una lingua supermorente visto che 3/4 dei valligiani sono calabrolucani, se poi prendono anche provvedimenti mongoloidi del genere...precisamente il valdostano è un dialetto del cosidetto ''Arpitano''.


Il cosidetto "arpitano" (che nome ridicolo) non esiste. È solo una parte del continuo dialettale francese, puramente francese "oïl", la cui espressione scritta e letteraria è sempre stata il francese standard. Vi incluso in Val d'Aoste, finché verso gli anni 1870/90 venne introdotta la lingua italiana, che era totalmente straniera alla gente locale (ma oggi, per il poco che ne rimane...). :(

[Sine Labe]

Thank you, i enjoyed reading these. Do you have one for the Veneto?

[MM81]

Si parla ancora il Piemontese nella vita quotidiana? Si insegna nelle scuole piemontesi?
Il dialetto è ancora molto vivo soltanto al Sud e nel Lazio. Nelle altre regioni non lo usa quasi nessuno, perlomeno non in forma "pura", al limite si parla un italiano "imbastardito" qua e là da forme dialettali (ad esempio a Genova usiamo delle parole caratteristiche del nostro dialetto, come "rumenta" per "spazzatura", e quasi ignoriamo l'equivalente italiano). Al Sud l'uso del dialetto come "prima lingua" è ancora molto diffuso. Ieri ho visto un servizio del telegiornale su un delitto accaduto a Napoli, il giornalista intervistava in italiano la madre della vittima che rispondeva in napoletano, poi il giornalista traduceva per il pubblico...

[Prince Carlo]

La signora napoletana intervistata viene da una zona "malfamata" e non rientra minimamente nella media. Per quanto riguarda il dialetto, conosco molti Veneti che lo parlano quotidianamente.

[MM81]

Sì anche il Veneto è una zona molto "dialettofila". Non intendevo dire che "tutti" i napoletani parlano il dialetto come unica lingua, ben inteso. Sicuramente però l'uso corrente del napoletano a Napoli è maggiore di, che so, il milanese a Milano o il genovese a Genova.

[Prince Carlo]

Su questo non ci piove. La scarsa scolarizzazione, sopratutto nelle zone malfamate, crea questo e altro. Tra l'altro il napoletano è usato anche da gente di un certo spessore culturale per comunicare con gente comune.

[Peyrol]

Il dialetto è ancora molto vivo soltanto al Sud e nel Lazio. Nelle altre regioni non lo usa quasi nessuno, perlomeno non in forma "pura", al limite si parla un italiano "imbastardito" qua e là da forme dialettali (ad esempio a Genova usiamo delle parole caratteristiche del nostro dialetto, come "rumenta" per "spazzatura", e quasi ignoriamo l'equivalente italiano). Al Sud l'uso del dialetto come "prima lingua" è ancora molto diffuso. Ieri ho visto un servizio del telegiornale su un delitto accaduto a Napoli, il giornalista intervistava in italiano la madre della vittima che rispondeva in napoletano, poi il giornalista traduceva per il pubblico...

Penso che i madrelingua nei ''dialetti'', sardi e alcuni siculi e alcuni friulani a parte, abbiano minimo una settantina d'anni (per esempio mia nonna è madrelingua bergamasca...fino a quando non ha raggiunto mio nonno a Torino nel '55 non ha pressochè mai usato l'italiano standard, tranne ovviamente che a scuola...mentre sua figlia, mia madre, è madrelingua italiana).

Comunque io ho una mia personale teoria al riguardo...così come il latino sostituì le lingue pre-romane per secoli, le quali tuttavia affiorarono dopo la caduta dell'impero e, mischiate col latino, formarono i cosidetti ''dialetti'' moderni, la stessa cosa potrebbe accadere con l'italiano standard ed i ''dialetti'' fra qualche secolo, chissà :D