Articles by Pat Eggleton

Following the success of the iBreviary, an iPhone application containing the book of daily prayers used by Roman Catholic priests, the Rev Paolo Padri…
An 87-year-old woman from Massarosa [Lucca, Tuscany] has been prevented from marrying her 49-year-old fiancé today by the Public Prosecutor of Lucca.…
Photo by ReutersOnce again, there is only one topic of conversation here in Italy and the word you will hear most often today is “vergogna” [“shame”]…
Words by Pat EggletonToday I want to share with you some of my favourite reading about Sicily. These are not travel guides but well-written, informat…
Words by Pat Eggleton//If you’ve been following our language lessons and tips for the past few weeks, you are ready to complete this conversation in I…
In our series about romantic films set in Italy, we’d like to remind you of a “golden oldie” today. This is the film in which Katherine Hepburn really…
As you can imagine, there is only one topic of conversation all over Italy today: Italy’s “win or go home” World Cup match against Slovakia this afte…
On June 30th the European Court of Human Rights will hear, in open session, Italy’s appeal to have the Court’s ruling on crucifixes in classrooms over…
Words by Pat EggletonMeet Chelsea Christensen, an American girl who moved to Italy for love. She blogs from Turin about the ups and downs of living in…
24th June sees the birthday of Alfa Romeo, makers of the car that symbolised Italian luxury throughout the 1960s, and big celebrations are planned in…
Archaeologists working on a Vatican funded restoration project in the Santa Tecla Catacomb in Rome have discovered the world’s oldest images of the Ap…
George Clooney and other members of the cast and crew of “The American” were back in the town of Sulmona in L’Aquila Province [Abruzzo] last week to r…
Words by Pat EggletonNervoso doesn’t mean “nervous”. It means “irritable”. If you want to say you are nervous, you should say, Sono ansioso / a. Un…
Words by Pat EggletonThis week we are taking you on a food shopping tour to some of Italy’s less visited locations. Again, we are concentrating on spe…
Words by Pat EggletonMeet Sue Phillips, who moved to Pescia [Tuscany] with her husband and young family nearly a year ago. This is her story. Sue, ca…
Cardinal Crescenzo Sepe, Archbishop of Naples, is to be investigated over his alleged part in a corrupt property deal. The Cardinal was, until 2006, h…
Picture by AnsaA housewife in Turin noticed something strange when she opened a packet of mozzarella – so strange, in fact, that she thought she would…
Words by Pat EggletonNelson is the kind of English hero whose exploits used to fill schoolbooks and “Boys’ Own” annuals and, although many British peo…
It’s a self-assembly wooden box measuring 35 by 60 centimetres and the Italian chain Coop sold 12,000 of them, at 27 euros each, during April and May.…
If you were a celebrity in Italy and wanted to dine out incognito, last Monday evening would have been a good time to do it. According to a gossip col…