I was there as a member of a choir in '94. People really appreciate good
singing there. A tenor friend and I wandered about in our non-singing,
non-travelling hours and dared each other to try rudimentary Italian on the
locals etc. I put him up to singing in public (he has a beautiful voice)
including a hat shop where the young lady in charge of the store give him a
kiss on the cheek and a 30% discount; St. Mark's in Venezia where all of
the tourists became momentarily silent, doubtless thinking a rite was being
enacted.
On the other hand a soprano from here went on an odd programme with a
semi-retired famous singer who was very strange, autocratic, flaky and
unreliable. She got much more out of the trip when she went to live in
another town and just learned Italian. I've no idea how typical this might
be - but learning Italian would be the best thing - in which case Tuscany
(Florence etc.) would be the area to be in - the different regions of Italy
have strikingly different dialects which some authorities classify as
separate languages - most people understand the standard Italian, but a
much smaller group speak it, and most of those have accents and regional
peculiarities. I remember our Roman tour guide making fun of the way that
Florentines pronounced "Via Calzauoli" as "Via Calza-u-woli". So from my
limited experience, the preferred language region would be Rome and further
north, but *not* including Venice. Bologna, Siena and particularily
Florence are good. I have no idea about Milan, but that may be good too.
But come on, List, surely someone has gone on a more useful Italian
adventure? Surely we must have Listers/lurkers in hte peninsula itself? john
At 05:33 PM 9/26/00 -0700, you wrote:
...
>No suggestions? No one here has been to Italy??
>
>Isabelle B.
John Blyth
Baritono robusto e lirico
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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