By guest author Claudia of La Casa Nella Prateria
"As the cradle of
the Roman Empire, Italy still has a lot of
ancient architectural and artistic
treasures, like the well
known Colosseum, one of the
symbols of Italy
and ancient Rome.
Italy has
a rich Catholic culture and hosts the
Vatican City, a small (about 800
inhabitants)
ecclesiastical state ruled by the Pope.
Italy has
a rich history and culture, and is the native
country of great artists like Leonardo da Vinci
and Michelangelo.
The population
is about 60 million and there are
at least as many Italians around the world.
Pizza is Italians’
favorite dish, it is considered a complete
meal and is traditionally home-made. But as
modern life
is very busy, people often have pizza at the restaurant.
I’m not
sure this is the average but we eat
pizza once a week.
How To Make Italian Pizza!
Ingredients:
500 g flour
300 ml warm water
1 table spoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 block of fresh yeast
tomato sauce
salt
mozzarella
In a small bowl, mix the yeast with
a glass of warm water.
Place a mound of flour on your table (or in a large bowl)
and make a hole in the middle.
Pour the yeast water in the hole, add salt and olive oil
and start working. Take little amounts of flour at a time.
Add water and continue kneading and folding with the
heel of your hand until you have a firm and soft dough.
Shape the dough into a ball, cover with a towel and
let it rise in a warm place for one hour.
Make 4 little balls and leave them for a few minutes.
Dust the table and the balls with flour to avoid
sticking, and flatten the balls with a rolling
pin and/or with your hands.
If you want to look like a real Italian pizzaioli,
you can throw it in the air. Kids will love that,
but you'll have to catch it!
Place your pizza base on a parchment paper sheet,
spread tomato sauce (just tomato, salt, and olive oil) on
top and add mozzarella. Add your favorite toppings.
Finish with a leaf of basil in the middle, put it into your
180°C oven and bake until it's golden (about 10 minutes).
Finish with a leaf of basil in the middle, put it into your
oven and bake until it's golden (about 10 minutes).
Enjoy your homemade pizza!"
Bruno Munari's Alphabet Book
"Bruno Munari (1907-1998) was an Italian artist, a
designer, an author, an illustrator and much more. He
wrote hundreds of kids books and organized creative
workshops all over the world.
Today we would like to introduce Bruno Munari's
Alphabet Book. In this book, the letters are not in the
classical order but they are organized from the easiest (i)
to the hardest (G) to write. Each letter is made by a
collage of press-cuttings. Each one represents the letter
and they are all put together so that they
form the same letter again.
There are verses, rhymes and nonsense for each
letter, and a large blank space for the kids to play with.
The author invites his young reader to write, cut and
paste, to be creative and finish his work.
To make your own alphabet book, choose one letter
at a time and ask your kids to find it in magazines,
newspapers and catalogs. Let them cut the letters out
and paste them on a blank book.
You can have fun writing odd, crazy rhymes and
write them near each letter, or drawing real or fancy
creatures that look or sound like the letter you are
working on. This is a fun way to learn the alphabet,
and to recycle that huge amount of catalog
we get each week in the mail!
Some of Bruno Munari's books are available in English."
Learn Some Italian Words
"The Italian language
derives directly from Latin and
is the closest language to Latin in terms of
vocabulary.
Italy also has numerous dialects, spoken
all over the country.
Does anyone want to learn a few Italian words?
Ciao is a magical word. You can use it as hello, goodbye, or any other kind of salutation.
Come ti chiami? – What’s your name?
Mi chiamo… – My name is …
Come stai? – How are you?
Piacere di conoscerti – Nice to meet you
Per favore – Please
Grazie – Thank you
Prego - You’re welcome
Ti voglio bene – I love you (as a friend or a family member)
Ti amo – I love you (as a couple)"
Italy is brought to you by guest blogger, Claudia of
La Casa Nella Prateria.
Claudia is a native of Italy and
currently lives in France with her three children
and
husband. Claudia blogs about raising her young
children in the countryside, attachment parenting,
homeschooling, Waldorf, and Montessori. Her stories,
combined with her lovely photography, make a
very enjoyable and inspirational read!
please leave them in the comments in the
next few days and Claudia will answer them!
