Last summer, we visited a tiny island, just off the Southwest coast of Italy.
It was stunning – four square miles of turquoise sea views, maritime pines and little lemon sorbet stalls on every corner.
There was just one problem.
That island was Capri and 14 thousand tourists had the same idea. We spent the day weaving through streams of people in 36°C (97°F) heat and saw two faint. Not fun.
If you prefer Italy away from the crowds, this lesson is for you!
We asked a few of our Italian teachers to share their favourite hidden gems – we’re talking laid-back piazzas, local specialties and hearing Italian all around you.
You’ll learn where the locals go, why they like it and what you can do there. So you can explore like a local next time you’re in Italy!
Hidden Gem #1: Caorle, Venice
This lovely beach hamlet is sometimes called “little Venice”. While the main town of Venice fills up with day-trippers piling off cruise ships, try heading north to Caorle. Here, you’ll find locals and visitors in the know taking things easy.
There’s a pretty historical centre, large beaches and a lively fish market selling clams, octopus, queen scallops and other locally-sourced specialities. For a little help, here’s how to buy things at the market in Italian.
And don’t miss the fish festival in September, where you’ll find food and wine stalls set up on the beach, with locals and visitors enjoying the fresh catches side by side.
Hidden Gem #2: Favignana, Sicily
Roughly 4 miles off the west coast of Sicily, this lovely little island is a 30 minute ferry ride from Marsala or Trapani. Here, you can wander around quaint mediterranean side streets, take hikes in nature and swim in a very, very blue sea. To ensure your journey there and back goes smoothly, here’s how to buy your tickets in Italian.
While Favignana can get very busy in the peak summer months, you’ll mostly be surrounded by Italians enjoying their time off.
Hidden Gem #3: Pienza, Tuscany
This UNESCO world heritage site is nestled on a hilltop in the Tuscan countryside, 35 miles southeast of Siena. Here, you’ll get a gorgeous view over the rolling green fields, cypresses and vineyards of the Val d'Orcia region.
Once you’ve finished exploring the lovely town centre, you can learn about renaissance history, go on nature trails and taste local cheeses and wines. You’ll be surrounded by vineyards, so you might want to brush up your Italian for ordering wine before you go!
See You at Our Travel Festival?
If you like the sound of off-the-beaten path adventures in Italy, you might really enjoy our Italian travel festival on Jan 12-13 2024! It’s available to all members of our Online Italian School, with workshops where you can discover things like:
- Umbria, the green heart of Italy
- Parma, the food capital
- Mediaeval towns and villages
- How to make torta caprese, a brownie-style cake from Capri (we’ll enjoy the cake without the crowds 😊)
And of course, you’ll learn lots of Italian for your trips! From useful words and phrases for beginners to workshops entirely in Italian for higher levels.
Doors are opening very soon, click here to find out more about our Online Italian School.
Insider Travel Tips: Quiz and Vocabulary Cards
Time to check your understanding and remember everything you just learned! Below you’ll find a mini-quiz and some vocabulary cards to help it all go in.
Quiz
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Insider Travel Tips
Vocabulary
Il mio posto preferito è… = My favourite place is…
Un’isola = An island
Il mare è stupendo = The sea is stupendous
Il paese è molto vivace = The town is very lively
Al tramonto = At sunset
È una città piccola e tranquilla = It’s a small and tranquil city
Una vista stupenda = A stupendous view
Il cibo è buonissimo! = The food is really delicious!
Una spiaggia molto grande = A very big beach
Flashcards: Insider Travel Tips
Remember the vocabulary from this lesson by downloading the digital flashcards
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
Transcript: Insider Travel Tips: Hidden Gems in Italy Shared by Our Italian Teachers
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: Hold on, now we all want to know, what was the problem?
K: That tiny island we were on was Capri and 14 thousand tourists had the same idea, so we spent the day weaving through streams of people in 36°C heat (that’s 97°F). AND we saw two people faint. Not fun.
M: Yes, and I wasn’t there interestingly!
K: Strange.
M: Yes, how strange haha! We Italians are quite skilled at avoiding these kinds of situations.
K: And that’s what this episode is all about. We asked a few of our Italian teachers to share their favourite places – think little laid-back piazzas, local specialties and hearing people speak Italian all around you. So that next time you’re in Italy, you can get away from the critical mass of tourists and explore alongside the locals.
Before we get into it, we wanted to let you know that we are holding an off-the-beaten path travel festival this January, on the 12th and 13th.
M: It’s for members of our Online Italian School, and we’ll be opening the doors in a few days. If you think you might like to join us, click the link in the description.
K: And before we hear from our teachers, we wanted to let you know our hidden gem, because it’s related to Capri. We love Capri by the way, it’s absolutely stunning.
M: But it’s much better off season. And there is another really nice island close to Capri, called Procida.
K: Everyone goes to Capri because it’s the famous one, but Procida is really lovely. There are beaches, colourful houses, fish restaurants where you can eat the fresh catches overlooking the beach… So we prefer to go there because it’s a bit less touristy and a LOT less expensive.
M: But shhhh, don’t tell everyone! Now let’s hear our teacher’s favourites too, please remember to keep them to yourself :)
K: We’ll hear everything in Italian, then break it down line by line. We won’t go into quite as much detail as usual, because often with listening the most important thing is to focus on the gist so that you can get the main message. Let’s start with Irene, who’s from Sicily. Try to focus on the keywords as she speaks.
Ciao, sono Irene. Il mio posto preferito è Favignana, un'isola vicino alla mia città Marsala, in Sicilia. Il mare è stupendo, il paese è molto vivace e ci sono ristoranti buonissimi. Se vai a Favignana devi assolutamente fare l'aperitivo al tramonto con vista mare e devi mangiare le panelle, delle frittelle di farina di ceci.
K: So Irene said:
M: Ciao, sono Irene – Hi, I’m Irene. (You can think of this name as the Italian “Irene” if that helps! Irene)
M:
Il mio posto preferito è Favignana – my favourite place is Favignana
Un’isola – An Island
Vicino alla mia città – Close to my city
Marsala, in Sicilia – Marsala in Sicily
M:
Il mare è stupendo – The sea is stupendous. We use this word a lot more in Italian compared to in English. Stupendo.
M:
Il paese – the town, interestingly, this is the same word as “country”. We can nearly always tell the difference from the context of the conversation. Here, il paese means the town.
è molto vivace – is very lively
M:
e ci sono ristoranti buonissimi – and there are great restaurants
M:
Se vai a Favignana – If you go to Favignana
devi assolutamente – you absolutely have to
M:
Fare l'aperitivo – Have an aperitivo, literally “do” the aperitivo. This is a lovely relaxing drink before dinner.
Al tramonto – At sunset
con vista mare – with sea views
M:
e devi mangiare le panelle – and you have to eat “the panelle”
delle frittelle di farina di ceci – fritters made from chickpea flour
K: We’ve spoken about these before on this podcast! Le panelle, chickpea fritters. I talk about them so much that when my friend got married in Sicily he added them to the buffet just for me.
M: When we think of you, we always think of food 😜
K: Grazie. Let’s hear Irene one more time:
Ciao, sono Irene. Il mio posto preferito è Favignana, un'isola vicino alla mia città Marsala, in Sicilia. Il mare è stupendo, il paese è molto vivace e ci sono ristoranti buonissimi. Se vai a Favignana devi assolutamente fare l'aperitivo al tramonto con vista mare e devi mangiare le panelle, delle frittelle di farina di ceci.
K: So now we all want to go to Favignana. But we have two more places! Let’s hear from our teacher Stefano, who’s from Milan, but loves to visit Tuscany.
Ciao, sono Stefano. Il mio posto preferito è Pienza, in Toscana. Mi piace perché è una città piccola e tranquilla, su una collina. C'è un centro storico bellissimo e una vista stupenda sul paesaggio tutto intorno, tipicamente toscano. In più, il cibo è buonissimo! Se vai a Pienza ti consiglio il formaggio pecorino e i pici, un tipo di pasta lunga, fatta a mano.
K: Stefano said:
M: Ciao, sono Stefano – Hi, I’m Stefano.
M:
Il mio posto preferito è Pienza – My favourite place is “Pienza”
In Toscana – In Tuscany
M:
Mi piace perché – I like it because
È una città piccola e tranquilla – It’s a small and tranquil city
Su una collina – on a hill.
M:
C’è un centro storico bellissimo – there’s a beautiful historic centre
M:
E una vista stupenda – And a stupendous view. Here’s that word stupenda again. This time ending in –A because we’re talking about la vista, the view.
Sul paesaggio – on the scenery
Tutto intorno – all around
Tipicamente toscano – typically toscano, which means “from Tuscany”
M:
In più il cibo è buonissimo! – What’s more, the food is delicious!
M:
Se vai a Pienza – If you go to Pienza
Ti consiglio il formaggio pecorino – I recommend the pecorino cheese
e i pici – and “pici”
un tipo di pasta lunga – a type of long pasta
fatta a mano – made by hand
M: Mmmm! Let’s hear that again.
Ciao, sono Stefano. Il mio posto preferito è Pienza, in Toscana. Mi piace perché è una città piccola e tranquilla, su una collina. C'è un centro storico bellissimo e una vista stupenda sul paesaggio tutto intorno, tipicamente toscano. In più, il cibo è buonissimo! Se vai a Pienza ti consiglio il formaggio pecorino e i pici, un tipo di pasta lunga, fatta a mano.
K: And our teacher Annaluna has a place to share too! She’s from the Veneto region and has a lovely insider tip for somewhere to visit near Venice.
Ciao, sono Annaluna. Il mio posto preferito è Caorle perché c'è il mare e una spiaggia molto grande. C'è anche un paesino con tante case colorate e tanti ristoranti dove puoi mangiare ottimi piatti di pesce. Se vai a Caorle devi assolutamente provare i calamari fritti: puoi mangiarli mentre fai una passeggiata
M: Ciao, Sono Annaluna – Hi, I’m Annaluna
Il mio posto preferito – My favourite place
È Caorle – Is Caorle (that’s tricky to pronounce!)
Caorle – C-A-O-R-L-E
M: Caorle
M:
Perché c’è il mare – because there is the sea
E una spiaggia molto grande – and a very big beach
M:
C’è anche – There is also
Un paesino – A village, or little town (notice that it’s like paese, “town” from before, but with –ino at the end, which makes it “little” Paesino).
Con tante case colorate – with lots of colourful houses
E tanti ristoranti – And lots of restaurants
Dove puoi mangiare – Where you can eat
Ottimi piatti di pesce – great fish dishes
M:
Se vai a Caorle – If you go to Caorle
Devi assolutamente – You absolutely have to
Provare i calamari fritti – Try the fried calamari
Puoi mangiarli – You can eat them
Mentre fai una passeggiata – While you go for a walk
K: Let’s listen to Annaluna again:
Ciao, sono Annaluna. Il mio posto preferito è Caorle perché c'è il mare e una spiaggia molto grande. C'è anche un paesino con tante case colorate e tanti ristoranti dove puoi mangiare ottimi piatti di pesce. Se vai a Caorle devi assolutamente provare i calamari fritti: puoi mangiarli mentre fai una passeggiata
M: So we had Favignana, an island just off the West Coast of Sicily. Pienza, on top of a hill in Tuscany. And Caorle, a coastal town in Venice. Which would you choose?
K: I don’t know, all I know now is that I want to go to all the places and eat all the things! We’d like to say a big thank you to Irene, Stefano and Annaluna for sharing their favourite places with us.
And that brings me to our Italian travel festival in January on the 12th and 13th. Our teachers will share lots more insider tips like these, with a focus on learning the Italian you’ll need to enjoy your trip to the fullest. Beginners can learn useful words and phrases while higher levels can attend workshops completely in Italian.
M: And I will be doing a live cooking class, where I will show everyone how to make torta alla caprese = caprese cake. Caprese is a cake that’s very popular in my region, Napoli, Naples, and the surrounding areas.
K: It’s called caprese because it’s from that island just off Naples, Capri.
M: Yes, I’ll show you how to make it from home so you can enjoy the cake without the crowds! It’s always really good fun to get together and cook together.
K: As we mentioned at the beginning, this event is a bonus for members of our Online Italian School, so if you think you might like to join us, click the link in the description to find out more. And whether you decide to join us or not, we hope this episode has given you plenty of ideas so you can go exploring next time you’re in Italy.
M - See you soon, or as we say in Italian, a presto!
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