Reviews
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Ferrara
Italian, Food and Drink
When I visited this Little Italy café back in 2009, I had the most heavenly latte I can remember having in my entire life. It was also at that time the most costly latte of my life. As I drank it,…
SparkNotes Italian Vocabulary Study Cards
Italian, Flashcards, Vocabulary
I love flashcards, and I love the design of these. For $9.95 you used to be able to get a thousand of these cards with Italian on one side and English on the other. And a cute box to house them,…
Rizzoli Bookstore
English, French, General, Italian, Spanish, Bookstores/Libraries, Kids
This is a truly gorgeous bookstore with a wonderful selection of books—in English, Italian, Spanish, and French. There are not many stores in New York with a meaningful supply of foreign-language books. This is one, and it seems to…
Italian Cultural Institute in New York
Italian, Museums/Cultural, Classes/Conversation
Visit the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di New York for a wide range of events: film screenings, musical performances, lectures, etc. There is also a library, which as of this writing was under inventory and not available to…
Feast of San Gennaro
Italian, Fairs/Festivals/Parades
This annual 11-day event, held in September and centered on Mulberry Street, draws monster crowds to Little Italy. According to the event website, it is “New York City’s biggest, most famous and longest running religious festival.” When…
Practice Makes Perfect: Italian Vocabulary
Italian, Books, Vocabulary
McGraw-Hill offers Practice Makes Perfect vocabulary books for multiple languages. I have found them odd in ways, with silly sentences providing awkward transitions between groups of thematically linked words. But I like them nonetheless, and I…
Foreign Service Institute Language Courses
Arabic, Dutch, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Audio Lessons, Websites
These Foreign Service Institute language courses were recommended by a reader. I haven’t tried them, but the holdings are extensive and consist of older courses that are now in the public domain. They are also free, so the main…