francesca bezzone

Yes, indeed. Italian cities in the world. But not the way you think. The next paragraphs are not dedicated to the many cities around the globe with large Italian communities, but rather to those founded by Italians outside of Italy’s …

Not many may know it, but musicians of Italian descent left an indelible mark in the history of Jazz. Jazz, the rebellious lovechild of ragtime and blues, of spirituals and traditional American ballads, has also Italian blood running in its …

Eating genuine, authentic Italian food can be a struggle when you are not in Italy. Italian cuisine is one of the most popular cuisines in the world, but also, alas, one of the most imitated. Mind, the quality of food …

Thinking of Italian explorers means thinking chiefly of three names: Cristoforo Colombo, Marco Polo and Amerigo Vespucci. Of course, there are many other famous men of adventures hailing from the Bel Paese, like Antonio Pigafetta, who travelled with Magellan to …

When visiting Rome, I like staying close to the Vatican: there’s something magic in seeing “il cupolone” first thing in the morning that I wouldn’t change for anything. There’s something else I regularly do when there, I always cross the …

I’m a creature of the dark. No, nothing vampiresque or witchy in my statement, I just, quite simply, am naturally attracted to all that’s mysterious and saturnine. A victorian soul, if you will, charmed by the history of the unexplainable …

Most of you probably know him better as “Chef Boyardee,” the name and face behind a popular brand of Italian style canned foods.  Established in 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio, by brothers Ettore, Mario and Paul, “Chef Boyardee” (spelled phonetically to …

To make a story good, you need to set its background straight.    So, think of Venice. Not that of today, of course, but rather that of the 18th century: then, la Serenissima had been enjoying her role of European …

We all love – or should love – books. They keep the essence of culture and help passing it on to the next generations. They tell stories: invented, when they’re novels, of how events took place and why, when about …

The drive in, a milkshake, James Dean wearing his jeans: is there anything more quintessentially “americana” than this? As pleasant as it may be, we don’t need to take a trip down memory lane to realize how intertwined with American …