rita cipalla

Does your next dinner party require a Pecorino Romano or a Moliterno al Tartufo? Maybe you’re low on charcuterie, perhaps salami or prosciutto? How about a full-bodied Barolo, Barbaresco or Brunello to accompany your homemade pasta? Any of these items, …

One of America’s most beloved authors on the pleasures of food, wine, and community is Angelo Pellegrini, an Italian immigrant whose wisdom and impact as a cook, gardener, author, winemaker, and mentor are legendary.  Born into a humble sharecropper’s family in …

Fun yet functional, stylish yet sexy. You can’t get much more Italian than a Vespa.  Now scooter lovers in Western Washington have the inside track when it comes to buying the latest Vespa models, thanks to South Sound Scooters in Tacoma – the state’s only …

Known as the godmother of Italian cooking, Marcella Hazan is revered in the cooking community. With six cookbooks and years of teaching cooking classes, she distilled the very essence of Italian cooking, making it available and accessible to the average …

Creating a life straddling two nations is not an easy task. Yet Elisabetta Valentini, honorary consul of Italy in Seattle, carries it off seamlessly. Born in Perugia, Valentini moved to the US with her family in 1998, settling in Los …

Vito’s, a treasured Seattle landmark on First Hill, has seen a lot of ups and downs during the past seven decades. Opened in 1953 by brothers Vito and Jimmy Santoro, the restaurant drew its clientele from many walks of life …

More than two years in the making, the Migration Project, on display in Perugia, Italy, from Sept. 3- Oct. 9, 2022, welcomed 10 artists from two countries. The show brought together a mix of exceptional talent and artistic vision and …

Mention you’re going to Puglia and chances are people will ask about Bari or Lecce, maybe the Gargano Peninsula or the trulli of Alberobello. But it’s unlikely that anyone will ask you about Barletta. Yet a day trip to this …

Italo Scanga was a multi-talented artist best known for his sculptural assemblages that included found or everyday objects – seashells, branches, glass bottles, or cast-off musical instruments. Besides sculpture, he also worked in printmaking, ceramics and glass, and taught at …

This fall, the 107-year-old Our Lady of Mount Virgin Catholic Church will not be open for Mass or baptisms, weddings or confessions. In a two-page statement from the Seattle Archdiocese issued in July, parishioners learned that their pleas and protests …