Sistories Ep. 4: Let’s Go To Italy!

Sistories is a podcast about travel hosted by two sisters–Maryam and Nour!

NOUR and MARYAM: Hi, everyone!! Welcome to our podcast Sistories! 

MARYAM: Hi! I’m Maryam, the Magnificent, and it’s incredible but this is our FOURTH podcast of Sistories!

My sister and I LOVE to travel, and we want to inspire YOU to travel, too! So, get ready for a COOL trip to  ITALY! Amore Mia!

NOUR: Last month’s episode was about COOL PLACES to VISIT. We talked about GRENADA. 

Today, we are going to tell you all about Italy. I’ll start with some fun facts:

1. The official name of Italy is the Italian Republic. That sounds a little formal, so I’m not surprised they just call it Italy.
2. The name Italy comes from a GREEK word “Italos,” which is the name of a legendary king. There are a lot of Greek words used in Italy.
3. The capital of Italy is Rome, which is also the biggest city in Italy and where my dad found his favorite gelato flavor, which is rice gelato (be sure to add cinnamon!!)
4. Rome is nicknamed “the eternal city” and has many historic landmarks like the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. It was so crowded at the Spanish Steps. Everywhere you looked there was a mob of people coming towards you!
5. Italy has a population of a little over 59 million people. It is about the same area as New Mexico!
6. Italy’s official language is Italian. I learned a bunch of phrases in Italian like grazie and buongiorno.
7. The money they use there is called Euros. It is very colorful.
8. Italy’s major mountain ranges are the Alps and Apennines. Someday maybe I will get to ski on them!

One of my favorite places I visited in Italy was the Colosseum. It is the world’s largest amphitheater. It is 157 feet tall and over 600 feet by 500 feet. It was built on an artificial lake and was destroyed by natural disasters. It is a symbol of Christianity. The Colosseum has 80 entrances and is in pretty good shape for its age. It is over 2,000 years old. It can hold up to 80,000 people. 

Maryam: Hi, everyone it’s Maryam the Magnificent. My sister told you some facts about Italy, and I want to tell you some other facts and STORIES!

First, do you know that Italy was established in 1861? That’s a long time ago. Another very important fact is that Italy invented PIZZA! I ordered that almost every single time I went to a restaurant! 

Sadly, I had to try out some other foods like pasta and seafood and other fancy dishes.  

Another interesting fact is that Italians invented glasses! If the Italians hadn’t invented them, we would all be walking around with blurry eyes!

Another super super cool fact is that there are still active volcanoes in Italy. I didn’t know that when I was there but now I do.

The first time I went to Italy I remember it was for a wedding. I was little. We visited many cities like Florence and Venice. We got to ride on little boats in Venice because the city is in between lots of rivers and water!

The second time I went to Italy we went with another family. We rented a house in Florence. That’s the time that we lost our bags, and we had to buy lots of clothes from there. I still have Italian clothes in my drawers! The last few days, we finally got our luggage back, but it was no  use!

Both times I went to Italy I ate lots and lots and LOTS of gelato. My dad likes rice gelato, and I like mango.  

You know how my sister was talking about the Colosseum? I am going to be talking about the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Now, the leaning tower of Pisa is obviously leaning, but the surprise is how is it still standing? No one knows exactly. You can take lots of cool pictures there. Do you know that the Leaning Tower of Pisa is over 800 years old?! A pretty cool fact is that Pisa survived four earthquakes! Like isn’t that crazy?!

NOUR and MARYAM: Thank you for listening to our podcast Sistories today! 

MARYAM: Next time we are going to talk about another cool place to visit: Mexico!

NOUR and MARYAM: Have a great trip! Ciao!