francesca bezzone

My neighbor is from Naples. We bonded over our personal obsession on a Spanish novela and our love for coffee: we’d invite each other for one several times a day. She has one of those fancy coffee machines with dozens …

Italy is becoming a country of old men and women. Or is it? True, Il Bel Paese does have the lowest natality rates of the continent, with only 7.8 children born every 1000 people, half of the rates in Ireland, …

My memories of the Fall are so stereotipically Italian they could go on a postcard. Those I cherish the most, of course, come from my childhood and are all about white truffles, wild mushrooms and vendemmia. Memories of handmade tajarin …

Tourism is one of the main motors of Italian economy, but something has been going awry in the past few years. Senseless mass tourism hasn’t really done all that good to Italy’s small economy: our “botteghe” and small restaurants have …

I was having dinner a couple of weeks ago,  when my attention was caught by the news blabbing on tv: The Sun, one of Britain best-selling tabloids, had compiled a list of the world’s most dangerous cities and, lo and …

One of the cons about traveling to Italy is the country has so many touristic hot spots it’s almost impossible to enjoy some quiet. One of the pros of traveling to Italy is that for each of those hot spots …

Many readers may have been already to the cinema to watch one of the most anticipated movies of this Summer, the modern take on classic comic and 1970s’ tv series Wonder Woman. Those a bit more familiar with the lands …

Scientific innovation or inventions may not be the first thing coming to mind in relation to the Bel Paese. No offense to the many Italian scientists, from Trotula to Galileo, all the way to Rita Levi Montalcini, Margherita Hack, and …

Islands: is there anything concocting more perfectly together thoughts of wilderness, mystery and beauty? An island is a world apart, secluded from the rest of humanity by an endless sky-like expanse of water. Land surrounded by water than looks like …

Truly poetic and delicately beautiful: this could be Spettacolo in a nutshell. But I wouldn’t pay it justice, because there’s so much more to it than that. Chris Shellen and Jeff Malmberg, the minds and eyes behind the production, didn’t …