Tour of Italy 4 Trivia Quiz

Answer: St. Francis of Assisi

A patron saint is the heavenly champion of a country, activity, or person. Many times patron saints take care of the area in which they were born or did their good works. In some cases, a city took on a particular patron because it possessed the patron's relics.

St. Francis, who was canonized in 1228, was born in Assisi in Umbria, Italy. The son of a wealthy merchant, he lived a life of luxury and privilege before devoting himself entirely to God. He gave up earthly possessions, and was instrumental in the founding of three religious orders - the Order of Friars Minor, the Order of St. Clare, and the Third Order of St. Francis. Seen in the picture preaching to the birds, St. Francis is the patron of animals, ecology, and a number of other activities.

St. Catherine was born in Siena in Tuscany, Italy, and is the patron of journalists, media, and nursing. Both St. Francis and St. Catherine were chosen to be the patron saints of Italy by Pope Pius XII in 1939.

Answer: The Adventures of Pinocchio

"The Adventures of Pinocchio" was first published in an Italian children's magazine in 1881 by Carlo Collodi, an author from Florence, Italy; in 1883 it was published as a book, which contained the picture that is displayed. Pinocchio is well known today - probably due to Disney's adaptation of the story in 1940 - as the wooden puppet made by Geppetto who wishes to be a "real boy". In the original story, the gullible Pinocchio has a number of experiences, mostly harmful to him in some way, before he is transformed.

Collodi wrote the story at a rather stormy time in Italy's history. The country was undergoing political unification, and, in addition, the Industrial Revolution was being experienced there for the first time. Peasants were finding themselves in unfamiliar situations for which they were totally unprepared. As it became necessary for them to move from rural areas to meet the demand for laborers in the cities, they would often be in outrageous situations that they didn't really understand - just like Pinocchio.

Answer: Ferragosto

The celebration of the harvest in Italy is a very ancient tradition that goes back even before the time of Caesar Augustus. He introduced the "Feriae Augusti" in 18 AD, which provided a longer time off for the workers. Held on August 1, the celebration also provided them with more income, as their master was expected to give them a tip if they spoke to him during the festival. Horse races were enjoyed, and work animals, such as donkeys and oxen, were pampered and allowed to rest.

In the 6th century AD, the Western Church adopted the observance of the Assumption of Mary, which was celebrated on August 15, as a Holy Day of Obligation. At that time the Ferragosto was moved to the same date, and the two have been observed together since.

During the regime of Mussolini in Italy, the Ferragosto became a time for people to take trips, as working people could purchase transportation on August 13-15 at a reduced rate. Today people still may celebrate the public holiday as a long weekend, a time to go to the beach or hang out with friends and family.

Answer: Christopher Columbus

Christoffa Corombo (his 16th century Genoese name) was born in the Republic of Genoa in 1451. According to his writings, he spent most of his life at sea and became an experienced sailor. He came up with a theory that he could reach the east by sailing west. In his quest to find a sea route to Asia, he eventually undertook four voyages sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Ferdinand II and Isabella I, and claimed the land he found in their names. During the first voyage he landed on San Salvador, an island that is part of the Bahamas today, and approximately 381 miles from Miami, Florida.

Because he failed to reach his intended destination on each voyage, it took a while before people appreciated his discovery of what they eventually learned was a new land. Although he did not begin the Age of Exploration, his voyages spurred it on; the Columbian exchange between the Old and New Worlds has had an everlasting impact on the history of the world.

Answer: Rome

In the 8th century BC, Greeks began to expand their influence to nearby Italy in search of resources and living space for their growing population. Each city that was part of the large area called Magna Graecia, or Great Greece, was not considered to be a colony, but was an independent polis in its own right.

In 327 BC Neapolis (Naples) became part of the Roman Republic. During the Samnite Wars it had been taken by the Samnites, and was subsequently conquered by the army of the Roman Republic. The people there were allowed to continue their Greek customs, but also blended in with the Romans.

Shortly after that, as the Roman influence spread further south, many of the other cities founded by Greek colonists made some sort of alliance, trade or otherwise, with the Romans. By the end of the Second Punic War (218-201 BC), many of the other city-states lost their independence as the result of having sided with Carthage during the war.

The legend of Remus and Romulus indicates that Rome was founded sometime round 753 BC. Historical evidence, however, points to the founding of the city by the ancient Etruscans as early as the 7th century BC.

There is no mistaking the importance of the Greek settlements that were made in Italy. The Romans adopted much of their culture from the Greeks, including art, architecture, religion, and philosophy.

Answer: Farfalle

The name of the pasta is derived from the Italian word "farfalle", which means butterfly. It is believed to have first been used in the 1500s in northern Italy, where it is called "strichetti"; it was invented by wives who wanted to avoid wasting little squares left over from making other types of pasta. All they had to do was give the square a little pinch in the middle!

Because the little "wings" on the pasta are great at catching sauce and other ingredients, farfalle is commonly used with all sorts of dishes. It is typically found in either plain or whole wheat varieties and even comes in different colors.

Answer: Sergio Leone

Productions about the American West had been produced in Europe by Europeans since the early 1900s; Sergio's father, Vincenzo, and mother, Bice, had been involved in some of the early productions. Although there is no clear cut agreement about when the term Spaghetti Western was first applied, there is no doubt that the success of Leone's "Fistful of Dollars" (1964) brought the genre to the forefront of movie making in Italy.

About twenty movies of the genre were made that year by companies that were owned or co-owned by Italians, and a few more were made by Spanish companies. Their films were typically low budget, filmed at locations in Spain or Italy that resembled western parts of the United States, and featured more violence than what had usually been shown. Characters were not the good guys in white hats, but morally questionable individuals. The term was mildly derogatory, because what did European directors known about the Old West Era in American history?

Leone went on to make quite a name for himself in the genre, working with American actor Clint Eastwood to create what is known as the "Dollars trilogy" - "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964), "For a Few Dollars More" (1965), and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (1966). Each of the "Dollars" movies was more successful than its predecessor, and in 1967 Leone was invited to the United States to direct the movie, "Once Upon a Time in the West". It was made in Spain, which was the site for the movie set in the picture, and Italy.

Answer: Turin

The first FIAT factory was established in Lingotto, a district of Turin, Italy, in 1899. In fact, the name FIAT stands for "Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino", which means Italian Automobiles Factory Turin. This is where the company's first car, the Fiat 4 HP, was manufactured. By 1910 FIAT was the largest Italian car company.

One of FIAT's founding members, Giovanni Agnelli, ran the company from its inception and throughout WWI and WWII, when military items were manufactured. His family has continued own some shares of the company. Over time there have been different incarnations of the company; in 2014 it merged to form Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and in 2021 it became part of Stellantis N.V.

The building in the picture housed the FIAT car factory. It had a test track on the roof!

Answer: True

Although there are several volcanic islands that are considered to be part of Europe, Mt. Vesuvius, near Naples, Italy, is the only one on the continent. While it last erupted in 1944, as seen in the picture, Vesuvius is probably best known for its eruption in 79 AD, which came as a great surprise to the people who had settled on the nearby fertile soil. It had previously been dormant for 1800 years!

Today Mt. Vesuvius continues to be a threat to the area, and is constantly monitored with the hopes of being able to give advance warning should another eruption occur. Opinions vary among scientists as to when the next eruption might occur, but they estimate that approximately 700,000 people currently live in the area which is called the red zone. It is an area with about a nine mile (twelve kilometer) radius that they believe will suffer the most destruction at the time of the next eruption.

Answer: Composite and Tuscan

As the Roman poet Horace once said, "Graecia capta ferum victorem capit". This means "Captive Greece captured her rude conqueror", and is true in many respects. One of the most noticeable when touring Italy is the similarity between Greek and Roman architecture. The Romans definitely took what they liked from the Greeks and made it their own.

The classical Greek orders of columns - the Doric, as seen in the Parthenon of Athens, the Ionic, as seen on the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, and the Corinthian, as seen on the Temple of Apollo at Bassae - were used by the ancient Romans, but they added two more - the Tuscan and the Composite.

Like the Doric columns, Tuscan columns are characterized by a lack of decoration, but are more slender. Unlike some Doric columns, they do not have flutes or grooves decorating the shaft. The columns that form the colonnade at St. Peter's Square are a good example of Tuscan columns.

Composite columns in ancient Rome typically combined the Corinthian and Ionic Greek styles. It is common to see that both the acanthus leaf from Corinthian columns and the scroll design of the Iconic columns are used to create a highly decorative piece. Composite order columns can be seen within the interior of the Santa Costanza Church and Mausoleum in Rome.