Things I love about Italy

The Firm

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

So, we weren’t a very good fit for the whole Corporate America thing. I guess maybe we should have tried somewhere less brutal than Southern California. We just weren’t into the hour commute (both ways!), the fierce competition with colleagues, and the boss who told Tony, “I know you’re into your family. I want someone who’s into his job” (translation: you need to take your work home every evening and weekend if you value your job).


Fast forward to this summer, when we were in Ireland, doing contract work. Out of the blue, the fantastic Italian mayor who granted Tony Italian citizenship (yes, that’s included in the job description of a mayor in Italy) contacted us and said he wanted to fly Tony to Italy to interview for a job in his company.… Read more

The Chestnut Festival

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

We’ve been unconsciously looking forward to this for a long time, I think. Almost exactly two years ago we were getting ready to go to the Chestnut Festival in Cuneo. We were also getting ready for what was supposed to be a three-month trip to the United States. We had several reasons for making that trip. Our U.S.-based business needed some serious attention. I had two brothers getting married and a sister going on a mission. And I was having some visa difficulties that could most easily be resolved by a lengthy absence from Italy.


But there were reasons not to make the trip too.
… Read more

Impressions of Turin 2

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Yes, we spent Saturday in Turin again. We parked directly underneath the Piazza Vittorio Veneto. The piazza is one of the most beautiful Italian inventions. The closest English equivalent would be a town square or marketplace, which would indeed be a fair description of a piazza in a little Italian village like the one where we live (although in Southern California they would use the Spanish word plaza, or even actually the Italian piazza, but what they would mean is a glorified strip mall). A piazza in a large Italian city is a glorious open area in the heart of the city.… Read more

a tratti più romantico

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Well, I knew this was going to come out eventually, but I’ve held off revealing it as long as I could. I wouldn’t want you to think I’ve ever been accused of being a romantic. I mean, if I weren’t the very soul of practicality I would never subtitle my blog “in search of a dream to call home,” would I? No.


It’s all Tony’s fault, actually. A couple of weeks ago he sent me a Youtube video of a certain Italian singer. And since then I have listened to that certain Italian singer for at least seven straight hours every day (not counting all the hours at night when his songs are still playing in my head).
… Read more

Are You an Expat or an Immigrant?

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

What is the difference anyway? Expats and immigrants are both people who’ve left their own country to live in another. The words are synonyms of a sort. Only I suspect that if you conducted a poll of everyone you know from a different country, most would be able to easily self-identify as one or the other. In fact, you could probably tell without even asking.


The differences seem to lie mostly in the motivation for leaving your country to move to another. Immigrants usually move for economic reasons. Work is scarce in their native land, and they move to somewhere they see as a land of opportunity.
… Read more

Impressions of Turin

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

My city mouse beat my country mouse into submission yesterday and we spent the day in Turin. Actually, we went ostensibly to see General Conference, which in Italy begins at six at night. But we drove up several hours early. We happened to park around the corner from the Mole Antonelliana. Supposedly, it is the center of the occult and paranormal in Turin, and like the Withywindle Valley, “the center from which all the queerness comes, as it were.” (Using the word in Tolkien’s original sense, of course, no offense to those who have appropriated it otherwise. We’re talking Turin here, not London.)… Read more

Fragole, Ciliege e Miele

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Have I told you that Italian is the most beautiful language in the world?


Really, I don’t know how I ever lived without it. The sound of it is intoxicating, like feeling smooth, dark chocolate melting slowly on your tongue. I’ve experienced this before. Something about the sound of what in Arabic they call the “dark consonants” makes little pleasurable shivers run up and down my spine. Especially that deep breathy “H” that comes from way down your throat, as if the very soul were speaking. All the sounds that are most difficult for me to pronounce, of course, are the ones that enchant me most.… Read more

Pasta Confessions

Pasta Confessions

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

We have a branch potluck tonight at Church. I’m making pizza. I don’t normally make pizza for Italians, but less than half the branch is actually Italian, so I’ve convinced myself I can get away with it just this once. But I never make pasta for Italians. Never. I made this resolution years ago, and it was strengthened the other day when Tony came home from work. He had been discussing food with a coworker (yes, this is one of the most common topics of conversation in Italy), and mentioned that he ate pasta for lunch every day. His coworker asked who made the pasta, and upon being told it was I, asked if I made good pasta.… Read more

How do YOU say you?

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

For me, one of the most fascinating things about language consists in the different variations in grammatical “person” that different cultures find necessary. For example, in Tagalog, there are two different ways to say “we.” One of them includes the person spoken to, and the other excludes him. I still haven’t nailed down what exactly is the reason they need this distinction beyond the ability for subtle social snubs, but it’s obviously important to them. Arabic doesn’t include that funny “we,” but it has a plethora of what (to me) seem unnecessary persons. For example, between singular and plural there is a special verbal form called the dual, which is used to talk about two people.… Read more

These are Silver and Those are Gold

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Tony came home with another new phone today. New to him, at least. His job here includes a cell phone. I’ve never heard of a job in the United States where the company phone wasn’t this year’s model. I mean, there you get a phone for free whenever you switch cell phone companies. You have to really try to keep the same phone for more than two years. And there’s always a chance to “recycle” your old phone in a bin at the grocery store. I don’t know what they do with those recycled phones. Grind them up to make new phones, like old aluminum cans?… Read more