When one thinks of Italy, the initial mental images typically include pizza, pasta, a rich tapestry of art and culture, and, of course, the expressive manner in which Italians communicate. It's impossible to discuss the Italian language without acknowledging the intertwined culture of hand gestures that accompanies it.
Italian is a Romance language based on the fourteenth-century idiom used in the city of Florence. The official language spoken today in the Italian Republic and in the Canton of Ticino in Switzerland is based on the Florentine literary used by the great writers Dante, Petrarca and Boccaccio.
Let's set the record straight from the beginning: the invention of pasta cannot be credited to the Chinese, and it did not find its way to Italians through Marco Polo. Instead, its origins can be traced back to Arab Sicily, from where it gradually spread throughout Italy, making notable stops in Naples and Genoa. This is the intriguing tale behind the dish that symbolizes Italian cuisine.
