Amalfi

Palma del Rio

Spain and Italy have always been very similar. After the experience of the Comenius conference in October 2004 this has become even plainer. Visiting Palma del Rio we had the impression of walking in a town of the Amalfi coast.

The attitude of people reminded us home. Spanish people are friendly and kind and they welcomed us. We both are Mediterranean people and besides our history and our language is full of Spanish influence.

Bourbon in Naples

Bourbon in Spain

Naples and the south of Italy have been dominated by the Spanish for centuries and our royal dynasty, the Bourbon, is Spanish in the origin. Indeed the dialect spoken here is full of words of Spanish origin.

Spanish Neapolitan Italian English

Sparadrapo Sparadrappo Cerotto Patch

Camisa Cammisa Camicia Shirt

Paloma Palomma colomba Dove

Arruinar Arruinare rovinare To ruin

Ayer Aier ieri yesterday

Then the food! It’s delicious and you can find plenty of cheap restaurants where you can enjoy delicious food. The main similarity between Spain and Italy

as regard to food are the “tortillas”, kind of omelettes with potatoes, which is very similar to the Italian “frittata di patate”. Anyway also tapas are fantastic

and, again, Mediterranean in the taste.Moreover we noticed a great similarity in the use of oranges and lemons,

either as a peculiarity of agricultural production in south Spain and south Italy, or the use of these fruits as decorations.

Architecture is also to be pointed out. Churches are baroque in the atmosphere and in the

decorations.

Besides the fusion between architecture and ceramics and decorations is astonishingly similar! In Naples there is the famous St. Clare’s cloister which is a plain evidence of this fusion. Mostly is the use of ceramics decorated with lemons and oranges which again strikes our imagination and let us “smell” home!

But religion in general is a strong feeling in these two countries. Indeed we both share the tradition of Christmas crib, strongly felt in both areas.

Finally there is the tradition of lottery, “loterias”, people love gambling with numbers! The lottery is probably the most popular form

of gambling in both countries!!We could go on looking for similarities between Spain and Italy in example with the language;

our dialect is full of Spanish words and especially Maddaloni which has been a feud of

the Carafa, a powerful family during the Spanish viceroy in the sixteenth century.