Cultura Italiana Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sardinia

Located west of the Italian peninsula, immediately south of Corsica and north of Tunisia, Sardinia ("Sardegna" in Italian) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea after Sicily, which is also one of Italy's twenty regions. Home to a wide variety of ecosystems, and not prone to earthquakes unlike Sicily and most of continental Italy, this rugged island is deservedly famous for its stunningly beautiful coastline, as exemplified by the photo. However, its interior is no less fascinating, boasting the vestiges of the enigmatic Nuragic civilization, as well as Phoenician and Roman remains, and medieval castles and churches. The island's indigenous language, Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of all Romance languages, and officially recognized as one of Italy's linguistic minorities.

Sardinia is one of five Italian regions that enjoy special administrative status. Its capital, Cagliari (called "Casteddu" in Sardinian), located in the southern part of the island, is one of the largest and busiest ports in the Mediterranean. Among other significant cities there are Sassari, Olbia and Alghero (all located in the northwest), Nuoro (the hometown of 1926 Nobel Prize in Literature winner Grazia Deledda), and Oristano.

Though geographically close to Italy, neither Corsica (a territorial collectivity of France) nor Malta (the largest island of the eponymous sovereign nation) are part of it. Mallorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are a province of Spain.

Answer: Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) was born in Nice from a Ligurian family. Widely considered one of the greatest generals of the modern era, he began his career as merchant navy captain; later he became involved in the struggle to liberate Italy from foreign (mainly Austrian) dominance, joining Giuseppe Mazzini's secret movement "Giovane Italia" (Young Italy). Sentenced to death after a failed insurrection in 1833, he fled to South America, where he spent 14 years: there he met his first wife, Anita, and learned the art of guerrilla warfare.

Upon his return to Italy in 1848, Garibaldi became an active participant in the military campaigns that eventually led to Italian unification - in particular, the famed Expedition of the Thousand ("I Mille", depicted by the painting in the photo), conducted in 1860, which brought about the end of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. After the successful conclusion of the expedition, Southern Italy, Marche and Umbria were annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia, and on 17 March 1861 the Kingdom of Italy was created. Garibaldi died about a month before his 75th birthday on the island of Caprera, off the coast of Sardinia, where he is buried.

Garibaldi's republican ideals and commitment to the cause of national independence have made him not only Italy's greatest national hero, but also a widely admired and inspirational figure at an international level. In the many monuments that have been erected to commemorate him in Italy and abroad, he is often depicted on horseback, while in photographs and portraits he is often shown wearing his trademark red shirt, or the poncho associated with his South American campaigns.

Francesco Petrarca was a 14th-century poet and scholar who is considered one of the forefathers of the Renaissance. 16th-century politician and writer Niccolò Machiavelli is known, among other things, as the author of the seminal treatise "The Prince" ("Il Principe"). Sandro Botticelli, one of the most famous artists associated with the Florentine Renaissance, was the creator of iconic paintings such as the "Primavera" and "The Birth of Venus".

Answer: methane

Though many will associate Italy mainly with art and music (as well as fashion and food), the country has been a hotbed of scientific research for many centuries, contributing to scientific progress throughout history. A number of distinguished Italian scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, Chemistry and Medicine: among them, Guglielmo Marconi (1909) and Enrico Fermi (1938).

One of the most iconic figures in the history of Italian science, Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), is globally known for his invention of the voltaic pile, the forerunner of the modern electrical battery.

Volta's pioneering work in the field of electricity was recognized in the late 19th century, when the name "volt" was coined and subsequently approved as the unit for electromotive force. However, in 1776 - over 20 years before his invention of the pile - Volta discovered methane in a marsh near Lake Maggiore. After bottling the gas rising from the bottom of the marsh, he realized it could be ignited either by a candle flame or an electric spark, and deducted the gas was the result of the decomposition of organic matter. By 1778, he had isolated the gas in its pure form: the name "methane", however, was coined much later (1866).

The photo shows the statue of Alessandro Volta erected in his hometown of Como (Lombardy). The scientist is shown wearing academic robes, and holding his invention, the pile. A museum, called Tempio Voltiano, dedicated to Volta's life and work, was inaugurated in 1928 on the shores of Lake Como to commemorate the first centenary of the scientist's death.

Answer: the Black Death

Written by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) in the mid-14th century - probably between 1349 and 1353 - "The Decameron" ("Ten-Day Event") is considered one of the founding works of Italian literature, and one of the earliest examples of European literary prose. Conceived as a frame story (a very ancient device of likely Egyptian origin), the book contains 100 tales told over a period of ten days by ten different narrators - seven young women and three young men - sheltering in a country villa while the Black Death was raging in Florence in 1348. For each of the ten days, one of the young people is appointed King or Queen of the company, and chooses the theme of the stories to be told that day.

Though "The Decameron" is often synonymous with bawdy tales (as in the Italian adjective "boccaccesco", meaning "licentious"), the work offers a realistic depiction of human nature that includes sex, but also many other aspects of life; the background of the stories is the rapidly-changing society of the mid-14th century, characterized by the rise of the urban mercantile class. In particular, the vices and weaknesses of the clergy are sharply targeted in Boccaccio's tales, signaling the widespread dissatisfaction with the Catholic Church that followed the ravages of the Black Death. Though most of the tales in "The Decameron" are not original (many having Greek, Middle Eastern, or Indian roots), the author lends them his unique imprint, developing the characters through dialogue as well as action.

Boccaccio's impact on European culture cannot be overstated. As well as influencing Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" (written a few decades later), "The Decameron" provided inspiration for the likes of William Shakespeare, Molière and John Keats - as well as many visual artists, and - in more recent times - filmmakers. The photo shows a page from a 15th-century illuminated manuscript containing a French translation of Boccaccio's work.

Though all the disasters listed as wrong answers occurred (or began) in the 14th century, only the Great Famine of 1315-1317 affected Italy, albeit only its northern regions.

Answer: sienna

The pigment known as "sienna" (called "terra di Siena" in Italian) is named after the city of Siena, located about 60 km south of Florence (whose rival it was in the Middle Ages). The name stems from the yellowish-brown clay soil around the city, which is rich in limonite (hydrated iron oxide). The presence of a small quantity of manganese gives sienna a darker hue than yellow ochre; umber (named after the Italian region of Umbria) owes its darker brown colour to a larger proportion of manganese oxide. Originally mined near Arcidosso, on the slopes of Monte Amiata, south of Siena, sienna is one of the oldest pigments known to humankind, and widely used by artists such as Caravaggio and Rembrandt.

In the photo, natural sienna (on the right) is shown in contrast with burnt sienna, whose reddish-brown tint is due to iron oxide partially turning into hematite when heated (and thus dehydrated).

Magenta, which is also named after an Italian town (though in Lombardy rather than Tuscany), is a shade of pinkish-purple. Terracotta ("baked earth") is a dark pinkish-orange, like the clay-based pottery from which it takes its name. Sepia (from the Latin word for "cuttlefish", spelled "seppia" in Italian) is a dark reddish-brown pigment originally derived from the ink sac of cuttlefish.

Answer: rigatoni

As clearly illustrated by the photo, "rigatoni" means "big ridged ones". These tubular pasta shapes, somewhat wider than penne or ziti, and longer than mezze maniche ("half-sleeves"), are characterized by the ridges running down their length. Unlike penne, the ends of rigatoni are cut square to the tube walls; rigatoni may also have a very slight curve, as those in the photo. The ridges create an adhesive surface, making this pasta a very versatile choice for a wide range of sauces - especially chunky, meat-based ones, or cheesy, creamy ones (such as a properly made carbonara). Rigatoni are particularly popular in Central and Southern Italy; in Rome and Lazio, they are often referred to simply as "maccheroni".

Capellini ("little hairs") are very thin spaghetti, while linguine ("little tongues" - often spelled "linguini" in English-speaking countries) are similar to fettuccine, though narrower and elliptical in section rather than flat. Orecchiette ("little ears") are short, round, concave shapes with a rough surface. As illustrated by the possible answers to this question, many Italian names for pasta shapes are nouns in the diminutive form (which is also used as a term of endearment) or, on occasion, in the augmentative form - as in the case of rigatoni or cannelloni.

Answer: Veneto

One of the most influential architects in history, Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) was born in Padua, now in Veneto, but at the time part of the powerful Republic of Venice. All the buildings he designed - churches, palaces, and a large number of stunning country villas - are located in this region, mostly around the cities of Venice, Padua, Treviso, and Vicenza. Among his best-known works there are the Basilica Palladiana and the Teatro Olimpico (the first modern indoor theatre) in Vicenza, the churches of the Redentore and San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, and the Villa Capra "La Rotonda" (shown in the photo), located just outside Vicenza. The Palladian villas and the city of Vicenza were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.

Palladio (a pseudonym given to him by his patron, humanist scholar Pier Giorgio Trissino, alluding to Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom) became an architect when he was already in his early thirties. His style, extremely influential in the development of the Neoclassical architecture of the late 18th and early 19th century, was inspired by his detailed study of classical Roman monuments. His lavishly illustrated series of books "I quattro libri dell'architettura" ("The Four Books of Architecture"), published in 1570, was translated in various languages, and proved enormously influential for generations of architects in Europe and North America.

The Palladian style was enthusiastically embraced in England by the likes of Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren. Villa La Rotonda was the inspiration (among others) for Chiswick House in London and Thomas Jefferson's residence of Monticello in Charlottesville (Virginia). The design of the White House in Washington, DC, by Irish-born architect James Hoban, is also an example of North American Palladianism.

Answer: Luchino Visconti

Released in 1963, "The Leopard" ("Il Gattopardo") was based on the historical novel of the same title by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1958), who - like the novel's protagonist, Fabrizio Salina - was a Sicilian prince. Luchino Visconti, one of Italy's most celebrated directors, directed an international cast led by Burt Lancaster as Fabrizio Salina, including young rising stars Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon, plus a slew of distinguished Italian actors such as Paolo Stoppa, Rina Morelli, and Romolo Valli. The film's producers suggested several high-profile Hollywood actors (such as Spencer Tracy and Gregory Peck) for the role of Fabrizio before finally settling on Lancaster, who was a fan of the novel, and became close friends with Visconti. Like the novel, the film is set during the struggle for Italian unification in the mid-19th century; famous for its lengthy ball scene, it was mostly shot on location in Palermo.

"The Leopard" won the Palme d'Or at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival, but was shunned by the Academy Awards (only one nomination for Best Costume Design) - in keeping with the film's poor reception in the US (partly due to the release of a truncated, English-dubbed version rather than the original 195-minute cut). Now, almost six decades later, "The Leopard" is widely considered a masterpiece, and has been listed by director Martin Scorsese as one of his all-time favourite movies.

Born in Milan in 1906, Luchino Visconti came from a branch of the Visconti family that ruled Milan from 1277 to 1447. Federico Fellini was born in Rimini (Emilia-Romagna) in 1920. Tornatore and Benigni, both Academy Award winners, were born in the 1950s.

Answer: Tosca

"Tosca" was based on a play by French dramatist Victorien Sardou, titled "La Tosca" (1887), which Giacomo Puccini saw in 1889. After acquiring the rights to the play, it took him years to turn it into an opera, whose libretto was written by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. "Tosca" premiered on 14 January 1900 at Rome's Teatro Costanzi (now Teatro dell'Opera). The premiere at Milan's famed Teatro La Scala, about two months later, was directed by Arturo Toscanini. In spite of a not always positive critical reception, "Tosca" was enormously successful with the public, and its popularity endures to this day.

The very embodiment of the term "melodrama", "Tosca" is a rather lurid (though engrossing) tale of passion, jealousy, betrayal, and violence, whose action unfolds in Rome over the space of a few hours in June 1800, a few days after the battle of Marengo. The titular character, Floria Tosca, is a celebrated singer, and the lover of painter Mario Cavaradossi. She is also an object of lust for Baron Scarpia, the sinister chief of police. This love triangle ends with the violent death of all three characters.

Each of the opera's three acts takes place in a different location and a different time of the day: the first (afternoon) inside the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle; the second (evening) in Scarpia's apartment at Palazzo Farnese (now the Embassy of France); the third (early morning of the following day) at Castel Sant'Angelo (shown in the photo). Influenced by Wagner in the use of leitmotifs to introduce characters or objects, "Tosca" features famous arias such as "Vissi d'arte" (sung by Tosca at the end of Act 2) and "E lucevan le stelle" (sung by Cavaradossi in Act 3).

None of the three operas listed as wrong answers - all composed by Puccini - are set in Italy: "Turandot" is set in China, "Madama Butterfly" in Japan, and "La bohème" in Paris.

Answer: Milan

With a maximum seating capacity of 80,018, Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Milan is one of Europe's ten largest soccer stadiums, and the home of two of the continent's most prestigious teams - A.C. Milan and F.C. Internazionale Milano (commonly known as Inter Milan). Though in 1980 it was named Giuseppe Meazza after the Inter Milan forward who led the Italian national team to two consecutive World Cup wins (1934 and 1934), the stadium is usually referred to by its original name of San Siro, the Milan district where it was built in 1926.

Renovated several times throughout the years, San Siro was brought to its current capacity for the FIFA World Cup hosted by Italy in 1990; on that occasion, it was given its new red roof supported by four corner towers. It is classified by UEFA as a category four stadium, meaning it can host matches at the highest level of European competitions. San Siro has also hosted a number of major concerts by such high-profile international artists as Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, U2, Madonna, and Beyoncé.

Rome's Stadio Olimpico is Italy's second-largest stadium. Naples's stadium, formerly known as San Paolo, was renamed Stadio Diego Armando Maradona at the end of 2020, a few days after the death of the iconic Argentine player (who played for A.C. Napoli in 1984-1991). Genoa's stadium, Stadio Luigi Ferraris (also known as Marassi), is considerably smaller than the other three.