Peril at the Pellicano Hotel
Page 24
MARESCIALLO: this rank is similar to detective inspector. A maresciallo is superior to a brigadiere, carabiniere semplice and appuntato.
MOUILLETTE: see ‘TOUCHE’ below.
ORECCHIETTE – literally, this means ‘small ears’. This pasta is skilfully shaped with a knife, then on the tip of your thumb to look like a small ear. If you want to have fun, google ‘fare le orecchiette Pugliesi’ and enjoy the videos showing how skilful and fast the real pasta makers can be.
SALUTE! – or CIN CIN (pronounced chin chin)! This is the equivalent of “Cheers!” When celebrating an event with a glass of wine or prosecco, we love to accompany the word by clinking our glasses together.
TOUCHE: this is a French word that refers to paper strips onto which you can spray perfumes for people to smell. They’re also called mouillette, again a French word.
VONGOLA – plural vongole: means clam(s), so spaghetti alle vongole means spaghetti with clams. In a real restaurant in Southern Italy, you will always find spaghetti alle vongole on the menu, but (TIP!) if it offers spaghetti Bolognese, then the place is only run for the sake of tourists. Italians do not eat spaghetti with their Bolognese sauce, which is not a common sauce in the southern part of the country anyway.
If you have found other Italian words in the story and would like to know what they mean, please let me know.
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Twitter: @adrianalici
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About the Author
Adriana Licio lives in the Apennine Mountains in southern Italy, not far from Maratea, the seaside setting for her first cosy series, An Italian Village Mystery.
She loves loads of things: travelling, reading, walking, good food, small villages, and home swapping. A long time ago, she spent six years falling in love with Scotland, and she has never recovered. She now runs her family perfumery, and between a dark patchouli and a musky rose, she devours cosy mysteries.
She resisted writing as long as she could, fearing she might get carried away by her fertile imagination. But one day, she found an alluring blank page and the words flowed in the weird English she’d learned in Glasgow.
Adriana finds peace for her restless, enthusiastic soul by walking in nature with her adventurous golden retriever Frodo and her hubby Giovanni.
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