Italian Video Podcast - Learn with Yabl‪a‬ Yabla Languages

Here we go with the actual preparation of this very simple, but very delicious dish. Tomatoes, olive oil, and bread are rarely missing from a Tuscan household and pappa al pomodoro is just one way these ingredients go together. Anna gives us some interesting nutritional information about tomatoes and there's also a little musical performance by our chefs. Message from Marika: If you use a bouillon cube in the recipe, watch the salt!

With the relative superlative, we compare one element with an entire group, as for example, "She is the most beautiful of all." In English we distinguish between "more" and "most," but in Italian, the presence of the article before the noun or before the comparative word is what makes the difference.

Tuscans love their bread — crusty and thick, and totally unsalted. It goes well with salty cheese, and salt-cured meats. When it gets stale, it doesn't get wasted; it gets used in cooking. Tuscans also love tomatoes, so this dish is quite the Tuscan comfort food, suitable for all age groups, and very cheap to make.

Daniela discusses how journalists and the mass media often tack on -issimo to nouns and adverbial expressions, something which is not strictly correct but is prevalent nonetheless.

Anna knows all about Tuscany, one of her favorite regions. Tuscany was very important for the evolution of the Italian language, and is one of the areas of Italy most frequented by tourists.

Daniela illustrates other ways of forming the absolute superlative for adjectives in Italian. These include repeating an adjective twice, the placement of a prefix before an adjective, and a list of words, such as "exceedingly," used in conjunction with an adjective.