Heritage

The ancient Romans are important for Italy: they are part of its history and heritage, a symbol of unity, and a constant presence in the collective imagination of the country. We like to read about them, discover what they used to do …

Italy is a country where beauty is common. In the landscape, in art and, of course, in its language. Italian isn’t known as la bella lingua, the beautiful language, for no reason. However, Italian has been going through some difficult …

In Christianity, Lent is the period of forty days that anticipates Easter and corresponds to the forty days spent by Jesus fasting and praying in the desert of Judea, as told by the Gospels. For Catholics, this is traditionally a period of …

Happiness, triumphs, and pain are always green, white, and red in Italy, just like the colors of the flag. Our beloved Tricolore that, for 225 years, has been flying in every village and city in the country, on every public building from …

Is there anything more quintessentially Venetian than a gondola? Well yes, perhaps: a gondoliere, or gondolier, to say it in English. We all know these colorful figures, so familiar to all those who visited La Serenissima at least once in …

We were sitting in Adele Negro’s kitchen in Albany, CA in 1993.  There were four of us, contemplating the exhibit we were about to construct—on the WWII story“When Italian Americans Were ‘Enemy Aliens,’” and what we could formally name it. …

Capodanno is, on the Italian calendar, the second most important holiday in the season,  just after Christmas and just before Epifania. From a religious point of view, of course, the day of the Befana is more important – and not …

While I am uploading this article on our website, we’ve just re-elected our beloved Sergio Mattarella to the Presidency of the Republic for a second time. It seems the right moment, so, to delve into the history of power and …

Not many know that, since 1946, Rome celebrates the new year in an unusual way: a dive from Ponte Cavour at midday, just when the cannons from the Gianicolo ring the hour. The first to celebrate the new year in …

Have ever heard about the Passetto di Borgo or, to say it in Romanesco, er Coridore de Borgo? This historical landmark is a bit of a 007-esque fixture in the middle of the baroque beauty of the area around the Vatican. The elevated and …