Word: italianisms
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...French films have a flair for love, the Italian cinema has a zest for decadence. Most major Italian directors have their own highly personal vision of spiritual and psychological deterioration, whether it be as flamboyant as Fellini's, as operatic as Visconti's or as brooding as Antonioni's. Now Salvatore Samperi, 25, continues the tradition with Grazie Zia, a bit of caustic surrealism that dazzles with the energy of youth while it is disappointing with excesses of inexperience...
...Osservatore's editorial staffers are Italian and, except for the priests, are considered career journalists. They are chosen mainly through personal contacts with the Vatican. L'Osservatore practices little beat reporting as such. If the occasion arises, such as a special papal appearance, a staffer may be sent to cover it. But generally L'Osservatore's commentaries are put together without benefit of firsthand reporting...
Sapone's skillful needle has earned him paintings by Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Massimo Campigli, Alberto Magnelli and Hans Hartung, as well as sculptures by Diego Giacometti and a collage by Clave. The exchange began by accident 14 years ago, soon after the mustachioed little tailor, an expatriate Italian from the mountain village of Bellona near Naples, and his wife Slava opened shop on the Riviera. One day the Florentine ceramist and painter Manfredo Borsi ordered a suit. "If you prefer," Borsi imperiously suggested, "I will pay you with one of my paintings." Sapone did not really prefer...
Subjects and Predicates. Over the course of 13 months, Valachi outlined his life and crimes in 300,000 words. The Justice Department gave Maas permission to edit the Valachi papers, then reneged, the author claims, under pressure from Italian-American groups that were anxious to avoid perpetuating the ethnic stereotype of the Italian hood. As an alternative, Maas smoothed down Valachi's story into a somewhat conventional piece of journalism...
...career coincides with the rise of the Cosa Nostra itself and reads like a kind of how-to-succeed manual for middle-echelon mobsters. At 18, Valachi was already a veteran "wheelman" (getaway driver), but he made the mistake of joining an "Irish gang." That move so displeased the Italian underworld that while Valachi was serving time for theft, he received as chastisement a knife wound that ran under his heart and around to his back, requiring 38 stitches...