Postcards from Italy | Learn Italian | Beginner and Intermediate

In the last episode of Season 1, Julie and Dani leave Rome on a train bound for new adventures in Orvieto. Small talk – and a little argument – with fellow passengers adds more local Italian flair to their Italian journey.In our roundtable, Elisa shares a pair of idioms, including the Italian equivalent of Julie’s favorite – “When in Rome…” – and another about the Mona Lisa. In our premium version, we get a stack of useful phrases for train travel in Italy.But there’s more to Postcards from Italy! To get the most out of Season 1, subscribe to our premium online course for full episodes, transcripts, roundtable notes and Italian-only audio to test your listening and comprehension skills.www.PostcardsFromItalyPodcast.com

After visiting the Colosseum, Julie and Dani go shopping at an outdoor market in Rome, then shop for shoes at a boutique. They also have a bit of fun chatting with “ragazzi” dressed as gladiators.In our roundtable, Elisa shares an idiom that tries to explain how your mustache can make you feel superior. In our premium version, we also learn all about shopping in Italy, from do’s and don’t’s to how and when to bargain for deals. As usual, the free version of this episode only scratches the surface! To get the most out of Postcards from Italy, subscribe to our premium online course for full episodes, transcripts, roundtable notes and Italian-only audio to test your listening and comprehension skills.www.PostcardsFromItalyPodcast.com

Julie and Dani go to a pharmacy and learn about all natural Italian cosmetics to help soothe skin, repel mosquitos and much more. Later on, Elisa teaches us everything we need to know about disgusting things… namely, the word for “disgusting” in Italian: “schifo”! As usual, the free version of this episode only scratches the surface! To get the most out of Postcards from Italy, subscribe to our premium online course for full episodes, transcripts, roundtable notes and Italian-only audio to test your listening and comprehension skills.www.PostcardsFromItalyPodcast.com

The Do’s and Don’t’s of eating in Italy! In this very special episode of Postcards from Italy, Julie and Dani enjoy a lively dinner discussion with their new friends that includes a hilarious idiom about why old chickens are preferable to young chicks and a strong warning about drinking cappuccini after breakfast.But things really heat up in our roundtable, where Elisa shares her insider knowledge as a born-and-raised Italian to tell us the top 37 food rules to obey while traveling in Italy. The free version of this episode only scratches the surface! To get the most out of Postcards from Italy, subscribe to our premium online course for full episodes, transcripts, roundtable notes and Italian-only audio to test your listening and comprehension skills.www.PostcardsFromItalyPodcast.com

Cuciniamo! Let’s cook! Julie and Dani join a cooking class in Rome and prepare classic Roman recipes that illustrate the Italian expression “avere l’acquolina in bocca,” to have water in one’s mouth.In our roundtable, Elisa gives us a long list of Italian verbs to use in the kitchen. We also learn that drinking like a sponge is not considered a positive thing in Italy, so drink responsibly!To get the most out of Postcards from Italy, subscribe to our premium online course for full episodes, transcripts, roundtable notes and Italian-only audio to test your listening and comprehension skills.www.PostcardsFromItalyPodcast.com

Julie and Dani shop for recipe ingredients with a local chef in Campo de’Fiori, where they learn that you must never touch another man’s fruit and that good wine makes good blood.Later, Elisa tells us about the more sinister history of the famous Roman food market piazza Campo de’Fiori, and we learn a fun (and often-used) way to contract the phrase “va bene.”To get the most out of Postcards from Italy, subscribe to our premium online course for full episodes, transcripts, roundtable notes and Italian-only audio to test your listening and comprehension skills.www.PostcardsFromItalyPodcast.com

Julie and Dani eat dinner in a charming restaurant across the Tiber River in Trastevere, where they use a few colorful Italian idioms and are first “hungry as a wolf” and then “full as an egg.” Dani learns about some more (weird) food rules in Italy!In the roundtable, Elisa and Erin savor three classic Roman recipes and Elisa takes us step-by-step through the grammatical structure of the deceivingly simple-sounding word “farcela.”To get the most out of Postcards from Italy, subscribe to our premium online course for full episodes, transcripts, roundtable notes and Italian-only audio to test your listening and comprehension skills.www.PostcardsFromItalyPodcast.com

Dani and Luca go to a popular Roman summer festival along the Tiber River, where their date is interrupted, first by friends and then by a slap! In our roundtable, we learn about “the misery of the pork” and how it’s used by Italians to express surprise or frustration, or both! Elisa also demystifies “proprio,” which is a veritable Swiss army knife of Italian words. [In fact, in our subscriber bonus notes, we offer 15 examples of how to use it!]To get the most out of Postcards from Italy, subscribe to our premium online course for full episodes, transcripts, roundtable notes and Italian-only audio to test your listening and comprehension skills.www.PostcardsFromItalyPodcast.com

The date with Luca continues in the Borghese Gardens of Rome, where Dani meets two of Luca’s friends at a scenic spot. Elisa shares an idiom that says, if you can’t hear very well, you can probably blame it on deli meat. We also daydream about the quintessential Italian tradition of la passeggiata.To get the most out of Postcards from Italy, subscribe to our premium online course for full episodes, transcripts, roundtable notes and Italian-only audio to test your listening and comprehension skills.www.PostcardsFromItalyPodcast.com

Ro-ma... Ro-ma-mah! Roman romance is in the air as Dani goes out for an afternoon with Luca. He charms her with his romantic words and the most delicious gelato in Rome. Elisa and Erin enter the arena for the Battle of Gelato versus Ice Cream. We also learn why gelato is so good, you might need to lick your mustache!To get the most out of Postcards from Italy, subscribe to our premium online course for full episodes, transcripts, roundtable notes and Italian-only audio to test your listening and comprehension skills.www.PostcardsFromItalyPodcast.com