La Bella Lingua

My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language

By: Dianne Hales

Narrated by: Suzanne Toren

Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

"Italians say that someone who acquires a new language 'possesses' it. In my case, Italian possesses me. With Italian racing like blood through my veins, I do indeed see with different eyes, hear with different ears, and drink in the world with all my senses...."

A celebration of the language and culture of Italy, La Bella Lingua is the story of how a language shaped a nation, told against the backdrop of one woman's personal quest to speak fluent Italian.

For anyone who has been to Italy, the fantasy of living the Italian life is powerfully seductive. But to truly become Italian, one must learn the language. This is how Dianne Hales began her journey. In La Bella Lingua, she brings the story of her decades-long experience with "the world's most loved and lovable language" together with explorations of Italy's history, literature, art, music, movies, lifestyle, and food in a true opera amorosa - a labor of her love of Italy.

Throughout her first excursion in Italy - with "non parlo Italiano" as her only Italian phrase - Dianne delighted in the beauty of what she saw but craved comprehension of what she heard. And so she chose to inhabit the language. Over more than 25 years she has studied Italian in every way possible: through Berlitz, books, CDs, podcasts, private tutorials and conversation groups, and, most importantly, large blocks of time in Italy. In the process she found that Italian became not just a passion and a pleasure but a passport into Italy's storia and its very soul.

She offers charming insights into what makes Italian the most emotionally expressive of languages, from how the "pronto" ("ready!") Italians say when they answer the telephone conveys a sense of something coming alive to how even ordinary things such as a towel (asciugamano) or handkerchief (fazzoletto) sound better in Italian. She invites readers to join her as she traces the evolution of Italian in the zesty graffiti on the walls of Pompeii, in Dante's incandescent cantos, and in Boccaccio's bawdy Decameron. She portrays how social graces remain woven into the fabric of Italian: Even the chipper "ciao", which does double duty as "hi" and "bye", reflects centuries of bella figura. And she exalts the glories of Italy's food and its rich and often uproarious gastronomic language: Italians deftly describe someone uptight as a baccala (dried cod), a busybody who noses into everything as a prezzemolo (parsley), a worthless or banal movie as a polpettone (large meatball).

Like Dianne, listeners of La Bella Lingua will find themselves innamorata, enchanted, by Italian, fascinated by its saga, tantalized by its adventures, addicted to its sound, and ever eager to spend more time in its company.

©2009 Dianne Hales (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Starts off interesting, tapers. Didn't finish.

I was hoping for more based on the book description and the 5 min audible sample. Midway through the book the author gets off task and dives into Italian history and literature instead of expounding more on her personal journey with Italian - as the book title promises.

Also - just a small note - i imagine the audience who is interested in reading this book already have backgrounds in Italian. At the beginning especially, the author mixes in a lot of Italian with her English sentences, which I loved. what i didn't love was the frequent pauses in trains of thought that the author took to gloss the Italian words. Unless the Italian word was slang or some type of saying, there was no need to define every single Italian word mentioned.

A gift to lovers of all things Italian.

I loved every minute of this fantastic book.
I only wish it wouldn’t end. Grateful.

Absolutely, totally...loved it!

I"ll soon commence a beginner's course in Italian and I can"t imagine a better introduction to the Italian language and culture than this book.

Diane Hales eloquent use of words to describe the subtle nuances of the Italian language, its customs, historical influences and impacts in literature, cinema and everyday human life is witty and entertaining.

It's one of the best audio books in my large Audible collection.

Suzanne Toren! What a beautiful voice she has. She gives life, character and flow in a way that marks her narration as distinctive.

I whole heartedly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the Italian language and the Italian approach to life.

Outstanding on all levels.

My new best friend

I ADORED every minute of this book! I feel like I have a new best friend - who is witty, well spoken and well travelled, likes the same things I do, holds secrets well, is polite but can tell a hilariously naughty story as needed. I learned about the origins of the language, some history, literary figures, things I slept through in school... this is a fun, informative, book about Italy, Italians, and ITALIAN. GET IT on Audible, and get to know your new best friend - you will love her!

Good material, pretentious reading

So sad that this book was not narrated by a truly bilingual English/Italian speaker. It is beyond annoying to listen to this overly dramatic and painstaking attempt at pronouncing Italian words by a non-Italian speaker. The content of the book is interesting, with engaging anecdotes about Italy's history and personalities, but it's difficult to get past the narrator's elevated tone, as if she were on the Shakespearean stage rather than reading little bits about Italy and its language.

I loved it!!

I enjoyed this books that I finished in less than 4 days. It is very informative and full of interesting and funny stories!!

Not only language

This book is full of history and culture as well as a complete investigation of the language in history, film and dialects.

Bella Italiano

This was a wonderful story and adventure into Italy ..Italians and the language.. so much history about the language and other tidbits very fun.. Dianne research and adventures very informative and entertaining ❣️🇮🇹

Great introduction to Italian language

And Italian history!
The narrator was superb! Great story and performance, will listen again soon!

Highly Recomended!!!

What did you love best about La Bella Lingua?

Fantastic way to learn a new language: listening to someone narrating her/his experience with the idiom while living in the country where it's spoken. Best of both worlds; learning the language while hearing witty observations on local customs and history.

What was one of the most memorable moments of La Bella Lingua?

Impossible to pick a memorable moment, since the author trully loves La Bella Lingua and the Italian people.

Have you listened to any of Suzanne Toren’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Suzanne Toren's narration adds a lot to the book, with her perfect Italian pronunciation.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

As we are commenting about the wonderful Italians, it's impossible not to have an emotional reaction to the engaging narration.