I’m Learning Italian – Grazie, Francesca Pratellesi!

Surprise … while we’re almost in the middle of our virtual tour of Ireland I’m going to take us on a little side trip to Tuscany to tell you about my new Italian language instructor and friend, Francesca Pratellesi who just happens to also be a very talented and well known painter of Tuscan landscapes.  And yes, I do promise to continue our virtual tour of Ireland.

I’m feeling a bit frustrated now as I would like to plan our next trip to Italy but since U.S. citizens are not permitted to enter Italy at present, I don’t know when we’ll be able to return.  As frustrating as that might be, it does give me some extra time to improve my Italian language skills making my next visit even that more enjoyable, no doubt.

Francesca and I met in Italy earlier this year at Rosaria’s “Tuscany Gourmet Experience” cooking class (see the March 7, 2020 blog post “Travel Really Is All About the People You Meet – Part 2”).  Francesca, who is fluent in English, assisted Rosaria’s son, Corrado in translating Rosaria’s instructions for us during our cooking class.

Francesca has spoken English and Spanish since childhood and recently decided to offer online Italian lessons. I am currently taking Francesca’s Italian lessons and it’s been fun, challenging and very educational.  We meet online every Tuesday morning for a lesson.  Before our lessons Francesca emails me a translation exercise for us to work on and the exercise is usually a dialogue about calling a restaurant for a reservation, ordering in a restaurant, etc.  In addition, she often suggests a song in Italian and provides me with a link to a music video of the song. 

One of her suggestions to help attune my ear to the beautiful Italian language is to watch Italian movies and TV shows which I’ve been able to do on Netflix.  Francesca is a wonderful instructor and she makes learning a most enjoyable endeavor.  She tailors her lessons to the needs of her students and provides practical information about travel in Italy such as cappuccino is not served after noon and you’ll be hard pressed to find pepperoni pizza in Italy as that is more of an American style of pizza.  And, don’t even think about asking for pineapple on your pizza!  If you’re interested in learning Italian, I highly recommend contacting Francesca through her Facebook page to become one of her language students.

A bit more about Francesca … she has always lived in Tuscany and was born in beautiful Siena.  She started oil painting about 15 years ago continuing her love of drawing that developed in early childhood.  For the last 4 or so years Francesca has made painting her main occupation.  She is inspired mostly by nature and her favorite medium is oil paints.  Her smaller paintings are plein air and her larger ones are created in her studio. Her beautiful oil paintings have been exhibited in various cities in Italy, London and in the USA in Chicago and Naples, Florida. 

The Covid-19 Pandemic has interrupted her business but in spite of the pandemic, Francesca’s new gallery in Montalcino will open soon and she has forged ahead with offering the online Italian language lessons that I am presently taking.  Once things open up again for tourists, she will return to offering painting classes and wine tastings.  Her painting class students work on canvases of approximately 8” by 10” which are small enough to fit in a suitcase so that you can bring your painting home which makes for a terrific Italian souvenir.   As Montalcino is home to the marvelous Brunello di Montalcino wine a perfect accompaniment to one of her painting classes would be a wine tasting with Francesca.

While waiting for Italy to open up to tourists, especially American tourists, I suggest contacting Francesca to make arrangements to take her online language classes, schedule one of her painting classes for when you do travel to Italy and/or perhaps purchase one of her beautiful paintings.  After all, if you can’t get to Tuscany now perhaps she can help bring Tuscany to you! 

John and I are hoping that we can return to Tuscany for Christmas and the New Year.   Whenever we do return to Italy we’ll meet up with Francesca, visit her new gallery and of course, take a painting class all the while speaking Italian thanks to Francesca!

 Next stop … working our way to Connemara, Ireland!

NOTE – If you like what you’ve read of our travels so far and would like to plan a similar trip for yourselves please contact me on our website’s “Let’s Connect” page or at jttripsnpics@gmail.com. I offer travel consultations through Trips & Pics, LLC and would be happy to assist you in planning the trip of your dreams!