Italian Culture

Tomie DePaola’s Big Book of Favorite Legends by Tomie DePaola

By: Jaime Eversole and Katie Mattie

Culture Selection• Tomie DePaola’s Big Book of Favorite Legends• Story: Tony’s Bread An Old Tale of Italy• DePaola, T. (2007). Tomie DePaola's Big Book of Favorite

Legends. New York, NY: Penguin Group (USA).• Tony’s Bread is a wonderful story of how one baker made a

famous bread. This story depicts certain aspects of Italy very well, such as, the city of Milano. The author incorporates Italian language into the story as well. This author is one of our favorites and we wanted to look more into the Italian culture because of his life and his book.

Overview of Our Project• While researching the Italian culture, we came up with many

questions. Narrowing it down was difficult, but we came up with some great topics to research. We came up with six topics: Famous landmarks, famous Italians, special holidays, their attire and fashion, their food culture, and traditions and lifestyles.

Why Italians?• We chose to research the Italian culture when we were

coming up with our book. Katie wanted to do the Italian culture and we both love Tomie DePaola’s stories. We knew he was Italian, and we knew he would have at least one book on his culture. After looking through the book store, we decided on the book about his favorite legends, which includes the story Tony’s Bread. This story is an old folktale of Italy.

Questions We Had

Was they behind the creation of the pizza?

What are their

traditions, customs, and

lifestyles?

What holidays do they celebrate?

What is their choice of clothing?

Who are some known famous Italians?

Why are their known for their

cuisine?

What are their

landmarks?

How Can We find out about Italians?

• Websites• Articles• Books• Postings• Pictures

I can research Italians by…

• Books:– Italy for the Gourmet Traveler by Fred Plotkin.– The Italians by Luigi Barzini.

http://www.understandingitaly.com/

http://www.italiamia.com/

Customs, Traditions, and Lifestyles

• Their customs, traditions, and lifestyles in Italy are based on pride, image, food, resilience, and humor.

• Italians are proud of who they are, their possessions,and boast about everything, but not in a negative way.

• In Italy, you dress to be seen and image is everything.

• Food is the center of their customs, traditions, and lifestyles.

Customs, Traditions, and Lifestyles

• When it comes to food in Italy, you do not make an appointment around the time of a meal.

• They are a population that depends on theirself without any outside help of any kind.

• Humor is the last trait of an Italian. • Italians look at life positively and use humor to

alleviate problems.

Customs, Traditions, and Lifestyle Photo

Special Holiday Photos

Special Holidays

Style of Clothing Photos

Style of Clothing Photos

Style of Clothing

• Elegance is in the Italian blood.• Italians cherish their outward appearances.• They expect to have well-groomed hair,

impeccable sense of dressing, and a neat pair of shoes.

• Italy’s fashion is all about the attitude.• The objective of Italian dressing is not to blend

in.

Style of Clothing

• A recipe for Italian dressing includes: pointed toes and high heels about four-inch high; denim jeans that has more years built into them than you; denim jeans where the leg starts out a bit wide ad taper near the calf and fit the rest of your body on up from there; “crystal noses”; avoiding routines; no fingernail polish; no sun hats or baseball caps; and cover your flaws and flaunt your assests.

Famous Italian Photos

Famous Italians

Cuisine Photos

Cuisine Photos

Cuisines

• Italians are known for their pizza, pasta, and tomato sauce.

• They use different types of cooking fat: butter in the north; pork fat in the center; and olive oil in the south.

• In the north, rice and polenta are popular, while in the south past ranks high.

• In the 20th century, pasta and pizza became popular in the north.

Cuisine

• In the north, you serve a white cheese sauce with pasta, while in the south, you serve pasta with a tomato-based sauce.

• Italians are known for their herbs such as: oregano, basil, thyme, parlsey, rosemary, and sage.

• There are 400 types of cheese in Italy such as: Parmesan, mozzarella, and asiago.

• Cheese is an important factor in Italian cuisine.• Prosciutto is the most popular ingredient in antipasto

(first course).

Landmark Photos

Landmarks

The Italian Pizza

Mystery behind the pizza

• Pizza is an Italian food.• It comes from the word “pie” and is derived from the

Roman term “picea.”• Italians were the first to use tomatoes in their pizzas.• By the late 18th century, Italians found pizzas with

tomatoes on street corners in Naples, Italy.• The invention of pizza came from the “Italians from

Naples.”

Vocabulary

• English:

Vocabolario

• Italian:

This is what I still want to know about Italy…

Who was the first Italian?

In what part of Italy did they first

originate?

What is their population

size?

How does their

education system differ

from the U.S.?

Picture Citations• biblestudy.org• openlibrary.org• rlnaquin.com• scrapbooking.about.com• wheatfreegourmet.com• http://www.italian-recepies.com/• yourguidetoitaly.com• http://fastfoodss.com/italian-foods/• osservatoriopalermo.org• tiptoptens.com

Citations

• Lucia. (2008, November 24). Italy Customs, Traditions, Lifestyle. http://living-italy.blogspot.com/2008/11/italy-customs-traditions-lifestyle.html

• Damyanti Ghosh. Italian Fashion and Beauty-Latest Trends. http://www.lifeinitaly.com/fashion.

• Martha Miller (2008, November). How to Dress Italian Style. http://www.lifeinitaly.com/fashion/dress-as-an-italian.asp

Citatioins

• Damyanti Ghosh. (2010, September 26). The Legacy of Italian Style and Design in the Fashion World. http://www.lifeinitaly.com/fashion/italian-style.

• Cory Langley. Italy. http://www.foodbycountry.com/Germany-to-Japan/Italy.html

Citations

• Who Invented Pizza? http://www.homemade-pizza-made-easy.com/who-invented-pizza.html