WTI Magazine #67    2015 September, 4Author : Elda Buonanno Foley      Translation by:   When talking about music and the melodious sound of the Italian language, we cannot but remind ourselves that Italy needs to be associated to "melodrama" and specifically, to the melodrama featured in Operas. Thus, here I am to address the stereotype of wh...

  WTI Magazine #78    2016 April 15Author : Elda Buonanno Foley      Translation by:   Being a college professor in the USA frequently exposes me to the same questions posed by my students as to the amount of study that an average Italian student needs to put in to complete his/her journey in academia. In order to provide a complete and fair ans...

  WTI Magazine #73    2015 November 27Author : Elda Buonanno Foley      Translation by:   In continuing my conversation on the famous line with which the Italians are popular, ("A people made of artists, poets, saints, philosophers, scientists and sailors) the description of "artists" seems to ignite a wider and more in depth conversation on "wh...

  WTI Magazine #63    2015 June, 27Author : Elda Buonanno Foley      Translation by:   In a recent video presented at the economy forum in Davos (Switzerland), the Italian government has successfully attempted, in handful of seconds, to address the most popular Italian stereotypes. In the video, the popular and common "types" are indeed revealed...

  WTI Magazine #80    2016 June 17Author : Elda Buonanno Foley      Translation by:   In one of my last lessons of the school year, I encountered a very interesting dilemma: is "Pasta Asciutta" better than "Risotto"? While discussing with my students the qualities of one dish compared to the other, I realized that there were a lot of misundersta...

  WTI Magazine #76    2016 February 15Author : Elda Buonanno Foley      Translation by:   The readers will forgive me if I slightly diverge from the typical Italian exploration of stereotypes to offer a new perspective. This is a sort of open letter to all those learners who have recently approached me and asked why they should continue to study...

  WTI Magazine #64    2015 July, 10Author : Elda Buonanno Foley      Translation by:   The Italians are "football maniacs". There is only one sport in Italy and it is "calcio". These are only some of the most popular statements when talking with strangers about sports in Italy. There is no doubt that football (we call it "calcio" and in USA it i...

  WTI Magazine #60    2015 May, 15Author : Elda Buonanno Foley      Translation by:   A recent spot by McDonald's on the Happy Meal broadcast in Italy has caused outrage all over the huge community of pizza makers and pizza lovers. In the spot, a young child prefers a happy meal while at the pizzeria with his parents and, as we always do, they a...

  WTI Magazine #71    2015 October, 30Author : Elda Buonanno Foley      Translation by:   In a recent conference at the prestigious George Washington University, I was approached by a colleague of mine who teaches Italian language and culture in another college in USA and I was asked, how do I answer questions by the students that relate to the...

WTI Magazine #58    2015 April, 17Author : Elda Buonanno Foley      Translation by:   While talking about style, everybody makes an easy assumption: Italian brands, big fashion logos, fancy clothes and so forth. Actually, style is more than wearing a Prada bag or a DG pair of glasses, not to mention the stiletto-high heels by Gucci.