final italian test

focus on the question of Italian identity

1. Rome: one capital city?

Italy doesn’t have one capital city. 

• Rome is the capital but “only” for the seat of government and the Vatican

• Milan is the financial and commercial capital

• Florence is the “mother” of Italy’s language and high culture…

the main causes of the disunity of Italy

• North: Independent kingdoms, republics and city-states

• South: Under foreign power (Islamic Emirate and House of Aragon)

• Parma, Modena and Tuscany were ruled by the Habsburgs

• Lombardy and Venetia were ruled by Austria

• Piedmont-Sardinia-Genoa and the Papal States were independent

• Naples and Sicily were ruled by France. 

• Victor Emmanuel II was the “King” of Italy

   This abysmal condition was the impetus behind the Italian unification movement.

focus on the importance of Dante Alighieri for Italian language

• The Florence of Dante Alighieri. Italians refer to Dante Alighieri as the "father" of the Italian language

•  La Divina Commedia is the greatest medieval poem written in vernacular language, the common tongue of a people.  

• Dante’s use of his native Tuscan dialect helped to unify the Italian language 

• literary works were almost always written in Latin, the language of the Roman Empire and the Catholic Church; no one had considered the vernacular capable of poetic expression!

focus on the influence of the religion on Italian lifestyle and society

• Assumption that is normal to be Catholic (be baptized and married in Church) as a precondition for a moral life

• It legitimates the patriarchal construction of male identity. Male should exert a “natural” authority over the family. 

• For women the Church structured a complex of beliefs around virginity and motherhood, ideals of love and devotion. 

• Created by God, with the Holy family as a model, the family is a true society with its rights and patterns of authority.

remember the structure and the main features of the Mediterranean diet

Distinguishing Features

• Olive oil is the primary source of fat

• Fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables are the centerpiece of every meal

• Bread and pasta are served without apology

• Meat takes a backseat—it's eaten less frequently and in small portions

• Dinner usually includes a glass of red wine

• Flagship flavors: basil, oregano, rosemary, lemon, garlic, and mint

choose one of the 3 organized crimes to describe in all of its features (business, organization, famous mobsters and victims...)

The Calabrian Mafia: La ‘Ndrangheta

• based in the region of Calabria in the toe of Italy. Membership is concentrated in poor towns and villages (San Luca is the ‘Ndrangheta equivalent of Corleone).

• Fraud

• Kidnapping

• Extortion racket 

• Most of all, Drug trafficking (it now imports 80% of Europe’s cocaine from Mexico and Colombia).

• Lea Garofalo- The former wife of a member of the 'Ndrangheta who became a police informant, she was killed in 2009.

• Judge Antonino Scopelliti- Murdered in 1991 by the 'Ndrangheta on behalf of the Sicilian Mafia while reviewing the final sentence of the Maxi Trial against Cosa Nostra for the Supreme Court.

focus on the main characteristics of Opera and on a folk dance of your choice.

• The intellectuals, poets, and musicians of the Camerata decided to help link thought with emotion.

• The text must be understood; the musical accompaniment must be very simple and should not distract from the words.

• The words must be sung naturally as if they were spoken.

• The music must express the feeling of the text.

Folk dance:

• tarantella groups together a number of different folk dances characterized by a fast upbeat tempo, accompanied by tambourines.

• performed to cure the bite of the spider Lycosa tarentula.

• dance lasted hours and was quasi-religious in nature.

choose a "chapter" of the history of Italian Cinema

Silent Cinema

• First movie shown in public: La presa di Roma (“The taking of Rome”) produced in 1905.

• 1906: Foundation of the major production company CINES (in Rome).

• Cabiria is the first full-length movie in Italy.

• it gave cultural dignity

• it was spectacular 

• it reinforced nationalist notions of Italy’s great past

• Italy is one of the world’s major exporters of films. 

• Italy is considered as a producer of spectacular films on historical themes of exotic charm.

• 1918-1930: foreign competition threatens Italian film industry, which reaches its low point. Italian cinema imports movies from abroad