Cartolina - April

2 & 7 April : Abruzzi. Gail Hopkins talks about how she visited and fell in love with the Abruzzi, an Italian region full of great secrets. From her first trip there, she went on to connecting with “il Trovacasa”, and then establishing “the Housefinder”, to help people find and buy a house in Abruzzi, and specifically in the Val Peligna area.

16 & 21 April: Coro della Portella. Wilma Laryn takes you for a musical journey in the Abruzzi region, through the songs of Il coro della Portella, an all-male Alpini choir that was formed in 1982 near l’Aquila, and that specializes in researching and promoting the regional repertoire. All the songs are in Abruzzese dialect, (translation provided beforehand). Many of them are adaptations of ancient, even medieval tunes, while others are the typical mountain songs. We talk also about Abruzzi-filmed Spaghetti Western and explain how to make spaghetti alla chitarra. We give a traditional recipe: Agnello brodettato Abruzzi style, that is lamb with a lemon and egg sauce.

30 April & 5 May: Tramping. Francesco and Cam Greco from Pisa, and Noeline Keeling from Christchurch talk about mountains in both Countries, and food & friendship, as the two tramping groups they belong to exchange visits. Francesco has also opened a sub-section of the Pisa C.A.I. in Seattle, so look out if the Tower there starts leaning…(Click "Read more" to read more!)

Cartolina is the program of Italian culture and life for those who remember Italy and those who dream of it….
It airs on PLAINS FM 96.9 every second Wednesday at 7.30pm and repeats on the following Monday at 10.30am.
It’s also radio on demand: you can now play complete programs on your computer; visit www.plainsfm.org.nz and click on “pod cast" to see the list of Cartolina programs that you can listen to. The recipes from the radio programs are also available on the Christchurch Dante website.
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