francesca bezzone

To be truthful, artichokes are almost a mystery outside of the Mediterranean: yes, we find jars of them on the shelves of our local grocery stores, but the fresh variety remains a bit of a rarity. Mind, carciofi are a …

Let’s face it, February is the strangest month: it’s in full winter, but people feel like it’s spring already; it’s the shortest of months, and the only one with 28 days. If that wasn’t enough, it’s got an extra day …

Baccalà and stoccafisso: who hasn’t had them at least once in their lifetime? Maybe, if you come from a pretty traditional Italian family, you may have had them not so long ago, on Christmas Eve, as part of the traditional …

Medicine in Rome was at once incredibly different and incredibly close to what it is today. Different, of course, because of what 2,000 years of discoveries and research gave us; but similar, because some of our ancestors’ intuitions – which …

This is the time of the year when we tend to make a balance of our life and of the experiences we’ve enjoyed – or not – in the twelve months about to end. The Fondazione Migrantes, a pastoral organization …

Mount Etna is one of the symbols of Sicily and of the Mediterranean. Since the beginning of time, it kept watch on its lands and its sea, witnessing and keeping track of history. Silent, protective, and peaceful, but also roaring …

Back in the late ‘80s, when I was still in elementary school, we used to study every region of Italy. Each week, we’d prepare a ricerca, a two- or three-page essay with photos and drawings, about the region we focused …

If you think about it, Verona, one of our most beautiful cities, has been made world-famous by a Briton. And certainly not a random one: William Shakespeare. The Bard – this is what the residents of the land of Albion …

The Reggia di Caserta is one of Italy’s many marvels and it has been part of UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1997. Designed in the 18th century by Neapolitan architect Luigi Vanvitelli, it is by many considered the most splendid …

If you think of the cities of Tuscany, Livorno may not immediately spring to mind. With “rivals” like Florence, Siena and Pisa, it couldn’t be more difficult to stand out! Yet, the quaint port city that the great Amedeo Modigliani …