GTL Thursday: Tanti Auguri a te!

I know its Saint Patrick's Day...but its also GTL Thursday which is, in and of itself, wicked Italian.

I totally plan to drink green beer and high five my Irish friends and I'm wearing green and I'm really jazzed about it.

But...I would be remiss if I didn't point out that it is also Italy's birthday...150 years ago today Italy unified as a country...thanks largely in part to Giuseppe Garibaldi's efforts. March 17, 1861 is known as the Risorgimento. Read more here and then here.

It is fascinating to think about the European Boot 151 years ago and how it wasn't Italy yet...just a messy amalgamation of states all speaking a different language or dialect. I remember a professor told me once that while the Risorgimento was the official birth of Italy, the feeling of unification didn't actually set in until the introduction of a TV in Italian households. It was then, and only then, that the common language...Dante's version of Italian in fact...was forced upon all 20 blossoming regions.

So cheers to you Mr. Saint Patrick!

And Tanti Auguri a te, Signore Garibaldi!

Bacio bacio!

Daniela