Ranging from black to fringed tulips, from parrot to lily-flowered ones, you cannot miss this year's Messer Tulipano Festival at Pralormo castle, in the province of Turin.

The flowers are spread across the castle's nineteenth century gardens which are carefully designed by Xavier Kuerten, one of the most important garden landscapers of the time.

This year, as well as admiring the amazing colourful display there will also be culinary events, dances and photographic exhibitions. If you have children, the third floor of the castle has a fantastic collection of miniature trains, which is rich in detail and stretches over three halls. The trains cross landscapes painted on walls, go through galleries and passenger stations keeping the little ones entertained whilst you get a taste of the local products!

Literature in Italy is often associated with different colours depending on the genre. The most striking example is that of the "Libri Gialli" or "Yellow Books". When, in 1929, the publishing house Mondadori started turning out mystery stories, the books had a striking yellow cover. Thereon, the term "Giallo" or "Yellow" became widely used to describe detective novels and later expanded to also mean thrillers and suspense literature.
Then we have the "romanzi neri" or "noir novels" a subcategory of the above, which is a darker story, usually more violent and sometimes narrated from the point of view of the killer.
The colour pink was linked to romantic novels and white was connected to science fiction when in 1952 Mondadori published its first science fiction series, Urania. Then we often have Brown for historical novels, green for the adventure genre and blue for travel books.

Come to learn Italian in Stirling!

The spring is here, the holiday season is approaching, why not learn Italian?

It is such a beautiful language to learn whether or not you are planning on going to Italy in the near future.

Why oh why should we learn Italian?

1) Impress your local Italian waiter by ordering your food in Italian!

2) Get around on holiday more confidently!

3) Get a taste of one of the most beautiful cultures!

4) Increase your skills for work and pleasure, you have the opportunity!

5) Keep your brain fit! Did you know that learning a language slows the brain ageing process?

Contact me now!