Giants in my garden

Now I'm going to speak about one of our typical
fruits...

Amalfi is renowned for its outstanding lemon variety called Stufato, but there also grows another kind of lemon which isn't as famous as Stufato.
These lemons, whose name is unknown to me even after loads of researches on the web, have an odd feature which makes them really different from the Stufato, indeed their size is very large as you can understand by looking at their pictures.
One of these lemons can reach the extraordinary weight of 1.5 kg, I'm not teasing you ! trust me.
For example the one in the pictures weights about 1.1kg.
Besides their size, other characteristics are: a strong bitter taste and a very rough skin.

Unlike Stufato, you can't use this type of lemons for the flavored Limoncello and to tell the truth I don't know any recipe for using them, some say that you can serve them seasoned with oil and oregano like a "lemon salad" or you can dust some sugar over the cloves.
Where did I take those pictures? try to guess....
I took them in my garden though I don't live in Amalfi but in Naples !
My grandfather planted them many years ago, hopefully to yield another kind of lemon sometimes the destiny of the plants, like the people's, is unpredictable :)

Thanks to Zsofia for correcting me

Discover Naples with Tom & Jerry

With this blog I've always wanted to make you discover my city: Naples.
Sometimes, I write some short topics but this time I don't want to bore you with my words and I'll let Tom and Jerry take you for a brief trip in my city.
Enjoy movie

Thanks to my "Swedish" friend Nunzio for this link

Italian Ping Pong

In these recent years, to be more precise since 1994, we have been seeing a continuous alternation between governments headed by right and left parties.
In 1994 Berlusconi (leader of center- right coalition) was the prime minister who barely won power for about 8 months, next followed a government made up of "experts" with Dini as premier.
From 1994 to 2000 was the turn of the left coalition which was, at the beginning, led by Romano Prodi, then followed by D'Alema (twice) and Amato.
Then we arrived at the XIV legislation (June 2001), Berlusconi, again, who was able to govern for the entire legislation.
In 2006 we were called for the elections and you can try to guess which party won, it was left coalition whose leader was... Romano Prodi !
I hope to have made you understand why I entitled this post "Italian ping pong" because it is really what happens here: left, right, left, right and so on like a ping pong ball which bounces from one side to another.
We will go to vote next April and if the game keeps alive it will be Berslusconi's turn.
What do I want to say?
Simply, our country needs a steady and stable government because it'll take a long time to improve Italy and the Italian conditions.
Be careful, I'm not saying that a legislation, which takes 5 years according to our constitution, is too short, but we need an able government that gets the country out of the current demeaning situation in which Italy still lives.
In the best case, in five years, it is quite impossible for our slowest government to give the necessary reforms that Italy needs now more than ever, Italy has bottomed out and something must be changed.
At the next election, Berlusconi is likely to win because the people, reasonably, will no longer trust the left party.
What will it happen if Berlusconi wins the election once again ?
Like in the past, at the beginning he will change and tear down the things done by the former government and then he'll start with his own electoral program.

The consequences of this ping pong are a waste of money and time, and a country which is still stuck in the same frustrating situation.
it 's like to play ping pong having a mirror as opponent... you will see only and always the same image.

Thanks to Nadia for her corrections

Datum point lacking

I follow many blogs and most of them are written by people who live abroad, for example some in Dublin others in Sweden.
By reading them I learn their life story as immigrants, there is something that hurts them, they are lacking a steady friendship and in a few months they pass from one friend to another without making a long and stable friendship grow.
Probably it is due to the fact that they have lots of friends who are immigrants just like them and sooner or later they go back to their native country.
I think it's truly tough (and demeaning) to live this way. it seems like living without a datum point, without a friend with whom you hope to spend a big slice of your life along.
To integrate ourselves into another society which may be rather different from ours, isn't an easy task at all.

Sometimes you have to struggle to make people appreciate your origins, and you can live for a long time with the reasonable uncertainty of not being a part of them and maybe after a very long time you will be able to say I have a trusted friend; you're close to them.
There is a fact that surprise me, I heard someone say when you're in the United Kingdom it's quite simple to get in touch with the British for a night in front of a sparkling pint.
It takes just the night but the day after, the same people with whom you had sung and sat shoulder to shoulder, don't recognize you or say hello to you... it's unbearable !

Thanks to Zsofia and Nadia for correcting me

What do you know about Italy and Italians?

I' m wondering for what reasons or things, we are known in the world.
I have tried to find some answers to this question and most of them are platitudes like:

• the good food and wine. Italian cuisine is really healthy and with a large variety of tastes. Recent studies have stated that the Italian cuisine is a cooking model to copy.
  
• Countryside and seaside (most foreigners seem to know only Tuscany, Sicily and Amalfi),
  
• Art History (Florence, Rome, Venice, ...)
• Berlusconi who is the richest man in Italy and at the same time he has been our prime minister.
  
• Most of us are not good at speaking in English at all (included me).
• Fashion
  

Now I'm curious, do you identify the Italians with other symbols ?