In today’s podcast I will be talking about La Fortezza delle Verrucole - a castle that was built in the middle ages, in the high Garfagnana Valley, near to Lucca in Tuscany. This territory was divided and contested by two feudal lordships, the counts of Bacciano and the more powerful Gherardinghi who owned il castello delle Verrucole. The castle is currently being rennovated by a group of dedicated historians. I will talk about our visit and give you a little background about the fortress. Later in the podcast you will get the chance to listen to a short recording I made of native Italian speaker, Giulia Paltrinieri, a docent at the castel, who explains in more detail medieval customs and aspects of the castle and some of the attributes its medieval artifacts. She speaks both in Italian and provides an English translation of what she says. Buon Ascolto! 

Ciao a tutti gli ascoltatori! Now that I have ventured into the realm of podcasting, I had this really cool idea: Wouldn’t it be great to have my own “Matta” theme song or "una colonna sonora" for the “Tutti Matti per l’Italiano” podcast! In this podcast I speak in Italian and describe the process of how I found a musician and created a song that would musically refect the objectives and the upbeat nature of the Studentessa Matta blog. I aslo premier my new theme song "Vivi, Sorridi, Divertiti!"