Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro”
Dipartimento di Ricerca e Innovazione Umanistica
Corso di Laurea in Lingue, Culture e Letterature Moderne (L11)
Esame scritto di Lingua e Traduzione – Lingua Inglese II
(Commissione: A. Monaco – P. Carroll – M. Gatto – A. Bianco)
A.A. 2024/2025 – 19th January 2026
Cognome _________________________ Nome_________________________ Matr.__________
This exam paper contains four tasks:
A. Reading comprehension and summary writing
B. Reformulation exercise (four sentences to reformulate)
C. Translation from English to Italian
D. Translation from Italian to English
Time allowed: 4 hours. You can use both English and Italian monolingual dictionaries. Please write in
pen, not pencil.
***
A. READ THE ARTICLE BELOW AND WRITE A SUMMARY IN YOUR OWN WORDS:
Under the Italian Sun, a Debate Rages Over the Cost of a Beach Day
Every year in Italy, during the sultry weeks straddling Ferragosto — the sacrosanct mid-August
national holiday — cities empty as Italians head en masse to beaches and mountain resorts. But this
summer, the usual idyll was sullied in the minds of many Italians shocked by how expensive a day at
the beach has become.
“I don’t understand why I have to pay 50 euros a day” for a beach umbrella and two lounge chairs,
said Michelle Guerra, who was instead sitting on a towel at one of the few free beaches in Santa
Marinella, a seaside resort town some 40 miles north of Rome. “Salaries have been frozen for years,
but everything has become so much more expensive.”
Stagnant wages have long been a problem in Italy. Most times people grumble and move on, but
every so often, the issue sparks a flare of national indignation. This summer, that anger has centered on
the cost of an umbrella and two lounge chairs at Italian beach clubs, sapping some of the fun out of the
August beach getaways that many Italians consider something of a birthright.
“Beach umbrellas cost their weight in gold and the beaches are emptying,” read one front-page
headline in the Turin daily La Stampa. Another headline, in the daily newspaper Libero, blared, “The
expensive holidays that ruin Italians’ dreams.”
The coastline in Italy is owned by the state, and public access to beaches is guaranteed. But the
state leases portions of the coastline to more than7,000 mostly family-run beachfront clubs. The clubs
charge for use of their facilities, which can include not only chairs and umbrellas, but also showers,
changing rooms and parking — and even pools in pricier establishments. Once the summer hits, rows
of matching umbrellas dot the beaches, with their colours and patterns changing at irregular intervals
to delineate individual beach clubs.
For a family, securing a spot on the beach can quickly add up. On the low end,in Riminion the
Adriatic Riviera, a week at a beach club for a family of four can run to around 332 euros for seats on the
rows closest to the water, but that does not factor in other vacation costs. A similar setup at a club in
Forte dei Marmi, an upscale Tuscan town, can cost at least three times as much. There are countless
variations from beach to beach, depending on the club and its amenities.
Associations representing beach clubs say it is unfair to blame them for rising prices. They, too,
face increasing costs. They note that beach clubs provide more than umbrellas and chairs, including
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