Thank you, Caesar

Well, I'm back for a very short post.
I've been very busy recently with practicas and trabajos and most interestingly with my trip to Asturias (much more on that later) but I've noticed something that deserves a post. It's been a little bit than a month here and my Spanish has incredibly improved even though I never spoke it and never learned it, so you gotta do what you gotta do, that is, in my case, to thank Caesar as it all depends on him. By that, I mean, of course, Spanish comes from Latin same as Italian. However, it doesn't stop at this. Thanks to Ancient Rome heritage, I can understand some French, Portuguese and Romanian, too. Also, it is very interesting to note that about 40% of English lexicon comes from Latin, too, that means I can very easily improve my English knowledge.

As a bonus, even though they're not related to Spain, here they are a couple of fun facts to show the reach of Roman Empire and thus paying the right tribute to Caesar.

• They've been finding lots of Roman stuff even in Armenia
• I've noticed that almost every European country shares the Italian saying "tutte le strade portano a Roma", (all roads lead to Rome)
• some historians like to provoke and they say that Roman Empire actually ended only in 1991 when USSR dissolved. In 476 AD, Western Roman Empire finally collapsed and its heritage was gathered by Eastern Roman Empire and its capital Constantinople became the second Rome. In 1453, the Ottomans conquered the city and even that empire disappeared. However, in turn, its heritage was gathered by Moscow which became the third Rome. In 1917 Russian Revolution overthrew the Tsar and established the Soviet Union (which, even though some Commies wouldn't admit it, was a just continuation of the same imperialism). Then, there was Solidarność, the fall of the Berlin wall and even USSR disappeared, thus finally ending the Roman Empire. That's obviously a provocation and there was big shift to east from Rome to Moscow, but I think it's interesting.
• Finally, Kaiser come from Caesar and surprisingly even among the titles of Ottoman sultan there was qaysar-ı Rum.

PS Since I want to see Spain but I can't see it all because of money and time, the whole Roman Empire thing also will help me to decide what not to visit; that is cities pretty much known for Roman Empire stuff, as Merida, are already off the list, since I'm plenty of that back home.

Pertini is (also) a cocktail

Today, I'd like to talk about something I found out recently and I think it's the right moment, too as next Thursday there will be Italy vs Spain, a match valid for the 2018 Fifa World Cup Qualification.

It was 11th July 1982, a summer night in Madrid, when Italy won its 3rd FIFA World Cup against FRG (West Germany) by 3 to 1 and Pertini was carved into my mind forever. However, let's rewind the tape to some days before. At the time, the Republic President of Italy was a genuine man, Sandro Pertini, antifascist and former partigian, (a reference to all of you who like Italian music, when Toto Cotugno in the most famous L'italiano sings "Buongiorno Italia, gli spaghetti al dente, un partigiano come presidente" is referring to him). The World Cup hadn't started well for the Italian team, which had struggled a lot to pass to next turn. Things got even worse, since the opponents where Argentina and Brasil. Against all odds Italy won both matches and achieved the semi-final. Here, 2 to 0 against Poland and a pass to the final against West Germany. Pertini, as a good Italian, had followed all matches on the TV, even putting off institutional meetings and when Italy was in the final didn't hesitate to go assist to the match. There he made the history more than the footballers. He sat next to Juan Carlos, king of Spain, and among the others around, the queen of Spain, the Chancellor Schimdt. At the end of the first half the score was 0:0. Nothing special happing on the bleachers either. However, the best has yet to come during the second half. First Paolo Pablito Rossi and 1:0, no reaction from Pertini. Then, Marco Tardelli and 2:0, Pertini forgets the protocol and rejoices as the genuine man he was as you can see in the below picture.

Then, after a couple of minutes it's Altobelli's turn and it's 3:0, now Pertini simply is not a President anymore and turns around to say "Non ci prendono più" (Now, they won't catch us anymore). The final score is 3:1, Germany had managed to score a goal. The referee raises the ball to the sky and Nando Martellini pronounces "Campioni del mondo, campioni del mondo, campioni del mondo!", three times as it was our third World Cup. I wasn't born at the time but I have both sentences imprinted in my mind as if I watched the match. I knew them since I was a child because of my parents telling me about this and now, everyday I saw videos on youtube, it's always the same emotion.

Obviously, you may be thinking what has to do with a cocktail. The point is that Pertini's exultation left such a mark not only on his peers but also on my generation, both in Italy and in Spain, understandably not in Germany, that a new cocktail was born and called indeed Pertini, o Non ci prendono più. I still haven't tried and there aren't many account on the internet. However, it has a very ritual procedure, called banderillas, and should go more or less like this: first the mielero, fill the matado's mouth with honey, then the botellador pours vodka in the matado's mouth and finally the banderillero puts two straws in the matado's mouth, with a clear reference to the corrida. To be honest, this cocktail doesn't seem anything special to me but it was the right pretext to write couple of words about Pertini.

PS After the match, the national team returned home on the presidential DC-9, there a quirky but romantic event happened. Pertini and Dino Zoff, the captain, challenged Bearzot, the coach, and Causio, another player in a scopone scientifico game with the World Cup in the foreground: a very iconic picture.

PPS An account of the match