Activity Book for Italy

Please print this out and then work in your book. The answers are below.






If you've been wondering where Italy is, it is not close to America. Venice is almost at the top of Italy, which looks like a boot. And Grado is right above Venice. And Rome is not that close to those two. You can drive over to the starting of the heel, but if you drive all the way to the end of the heel, it is hard to get there.And to get to the toe of the boot, it is very hard. To get to the starting of the toe of the boot is very easy. If you are in Grado it will take a long time to get to Roma. If you are in Venice, it will take a little less time to get to Roma.

And if you were wondering what "love" was in Italian, it is "amore" and if you were wondering, wondering, wondering what was the symbol of Venice, it is easy: "winged lion." It is so easy to draw one because you can draw the ear in the hump closest to the eye and next to the ear is a wing. And you can draw little humps on that part, so it looks more like a wing. Down below, there is the tail, and next to the tail is the paws.

And were you wondering which English colors and Italian colors match? Red matches with "rosso", orange matches with "arancione," black matches with "nero," white matches with "bianco," blue matches with "blu."

Ciao from Danielle.

A good day in Rome

Today was really fun because for lunch we had chocolate butterfly pasta, but it didn't taste like chocolate.

[Above: Danielle and the cacao butterfly pasta, normally served with a generous knob of butter, cream, ricotta cheese and minced walnuts. Our landlord left us the pasta, and since most stores nearby are closed for the August vacation period, we ended up making an impromptu version of this for lunch, substituting peanuts for walnuts. -K]

At night we went to Castel Sant Angelo. It was fun. We saw a magician there.

[Above: View from Castel St. Angelo at dusk]

A Saturday at Villa Borghese (Rome's large park)

Today we met Rachel and her family at the park for a picnic playdate. We had fun. I loved the park.

Roman Activities

[As observed by Danielle]

1. Soccer. I had a soccer team at home in the USA. Our team had orange and black striped soccer shirts. Our team was "The Mighty Tigers."

2. Smoking. Smoking is bad for you. Don't do it. If you do it when you are young you will look like you are young for the rest of your life because it stops your growth. You will die quick if you do it, like my mom's dad did.

3. Go to restaurants.

4. Falling down. People fall down because there are cobblestones on the sidewalks and roads.

5. Go to stores.

6. Buy hats. I got a hat today at a flea market [Rome's famed Porta Portese Sunday flea market -K]. It has six horses on it, two stitched in blue and two regular on the front and two other regular horses on the back.

[Danielle in her new flea market hat, shoes & belt]

7. Saying "ciao." Everyone in Italy says "ciao" every day.

8. Drinking water from Roman water fountains. [Danielle asked me to add this one for her. One of her favorite things to do is taste the water from the different public water fountains of Rome. Rome has an ancient fountain system which is still used by Romans today and yields wonderful cold, delicious water. One such fountain is right in front of our apartment. The design of the fountains themselves are brilliant--all you have to do is plug up the bottom of the sprout with your thumb to transform the flow of water into a drinking fountain. Here are several shots of Danielle sampling water from various fountains in Trastevere and elsewhere in Rome. -K]

To the Dolomites: I Caught a Grasshopper!

When we went into the Dolomites we saw a dairy farm with no animals and I caught a grasshopper. This is a picture of the grasshopper.



[This was on a trip to Cortina and Lake Misurina in the Italian Dolomites at the end of July]

To Grado, Italy: Trains are boring

Trains are even more boring in Grado because it takes a long time to get there. If your parents say "its going to take a short time," it is going to take a LONG, LONG, LONG, LONG time. But once you get to Grado, you'll be happy that you are there. There are lots of gelato stores, about three at each corner. If you are going to pee wee golf in Grado, you TOTALLY don't want to go at nighttime or the mosquitoes will bite you because Grado is an island AND there are a lot of ponds at Pee Wee golf. Here is a picture of me and Dad doing pee wee golf.


Grado is REALLY fun. All you have to do is when you get there you have to run straight to a hotel that you think is best. And THEN go get GELATO.

[Note: Grado is a medieval Italian town on an Adriatic island between Trieste and Venice. We went there to do two weeks of intensive language study at Scoula Insieme. Grado evolved into a resort and spa town in the late 1800s and has miles of beaches, a medieval core with plenty of outdoor cafes, a seaside esplanade and, as Danielle notes, lots of gelato stores. -K]


[Above: Danielle and her dad on the Grado beach, first evening]


[Above: Danielle and her mom in the medieval part of Grado].


[Above: Danielle and her dad in the old quarter of Grado]

[Above: A view of the Grado beach]

[Above: Danielle and her language school friends at the Grado beach]

Italy is fun!

Pizza is yummy! Italy is hot! You don't want to go there when it is hot outside!

Gondola rides are fun! The real gondolas are VERY fancy. You don't want to go on the regular gondolas. Look for a fancy one. Check out my video of our gondola ride in Venice.



If you are in Venice, watch out--if you are right next to a canal you might fall in.

You should go to Italy when it is summertime. That is when better things happen and when more gelato is around. If you go on a train some trains go underground. Is that cool? I don't mean "cool" like cold-cool, I mean cool like fun.

In Rome, if you buy a fan watch out because the fan back could fall off, or the front could fall off.

Facts about Rome

Some facts about Rome (observed by Danielle):

1) Rome is weird because there is not very many things like birds or pigeons around. The pigeons are scardy cats.

2) There is a LOT of gelato in Rome.

3) There are a little bit of stray cats in Rome.

4) Gelato is the best thing in Rome!

5) You should go to a pizza store and buy some pizza in Rome.

6) I had French fry pizza!

dads ice cream adventure

Dad was sick so we had to get him some ice cream from the ice cream store.

who i am

my name is dani. i am 6 years old.
i live in the u.s.a.and i love scool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

TIa Lourdes' Visiting

Tia Lourdes came over one day. I was excited to see her. One day we got to go by doggy beach (in Evanston). This is a picture of us on the dock. Well only Daddy, Tia Lourdes and me.

Grand-ma Denise's visit

Grand-ma Denise came and visited this weekend. She is very nice. We went to the Field Museum and we saw a unicorn and it was a beautiful one. I liked the kraken because it was an underwater animal. This is a picture of me, mommy and Grand-ma Denise.