A little Italian project

For class I had to go to una bottega artigiana, which is store where they made the products they sell, and interview them. In Italian. 

So my partner and I wrote out some questions, google-translated them, and we were ready to go.

Alberto Cozzi

The lady who worked at this shop, Alberto Cozzi, agreed to interview with us. So far so good. So my partner read off the first question: "How do you make marbleized paper?"

Inside of the store

The lady began explaining the whole process. She was very nice and went into detail. Meanwhile, my partner and I struggled to write down as many of the Italian words as we could. We looked at each other's papers to see if the other person was getting anything. My partner saw that I was getting down the words more quickly and with more accuracy. She then gave up writing and said she would just ask the questions. 

Notebooks and picture frames

Suddenly, the room felt very hot. I started sweating. This was way more Italian than I knew. I had to ask the lady to repeat every sentence three times. She did so, and we got through the interview successfully. Later, when I wrote up what I'd recorded I was pleased to find that I had written it down with pretty good accuracy. I'd actually understood pretty well. From barely knowing "Dov'è..." when I got here, I've come a long way! Of course I still am far from fluent, but little by little I am making progress.

Marbleized and leather-bound journals

One thing that I love about Italy is how there are little stores that make their own special products. Alberto Cozzi makes lovely notebooks and pens with marbeized paper. No two designs are exactly the same. They even make the paper that goes into the notebooks. They also make leather-bound notebooks. I wanted one of those but they cost a small fortune (like forty-something euros). Marbleized paper is something that is special to Firenze. (Like how Murano glass is special to the Venetian island of Murano.)

I'm presuming that this is one of the Cozzi men

The store has been in the Cozzi family for four generations. I'm assuming that this guy is a Cozzi, as he makes the marbleized papers. Here he is posing where he makes them. On Saturdays (from 1-3pm), they have demonstrations where they show how they make the paper.

My marbleized journal

On Monday, I went back and I got myself this journal. It has the peacock feather design, which is one of the more popular designs. The lady remembered me and threw in a free postcard.

"Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." ~ Mark Twain