Heritage

Traditionally, Italy has never really celebrated Halloween, a feast we imported in the past 20 years from the Anglo-American world and that became particularly popular among children — hello “trick or treating!”— and the younger generations — hello, spooky parties! …

This past 4th of July, the US Embassy in Rome celebrated the 244th Independence Day anniversary unusually. It didn’t only move all celebrations online — because of the pandemic and the consequent ban on gatherings — but it also decided …

Let’s start with a concept that is not as obvious as it seems: identity is something to be invented. Each of us is the declension, the free and very personal interpretation of a culture, a language, a territory, a piece …

Dear Readers, October, the month your “Italian Connection” usually devotes to Christopher Columbus. Discovery Celebration related matters are being downsized a bit this year, therefore, I thought I would share some other October dates of general interest in addition to our longtime October honoree …

At the foot of Rome’s Capitoline Hill, by the staircase leading to the Piazza del Campidoglio, seat of the city government since the Middle Ages, a statue of a hooded man waving a sword commemorates a crime. On this spot …

In a small corner of Lunigiana, in the extreme north-western tip of Tuscany, lies a remarkable story bound up with the founding of a Wild West town in America. An area of outstanding natural beauty bordering the Apennines on the …

You are certainly familiar with it, the curnicello, or cornetto, that red chili pepper Neapolitans use to attract good luck and be protected by evil forces, or malocchio, as they call it. Found often on market stalls,  it has become …

What does being — or better, feeling — and identifying as Italians mean,  when living outside of Italy? What is Italy, for all those born from migrant parents, people who left il Belpaese and crossed the ocean to find a …

It is true, “Mothers know best.” Christopher was born 1451 and his mother, Susanna, named him Christopher, meaning Christ -Bearer, Dove. Christopher was raised as a committed Catholic, observing fasts, confessions and communions. He learned his native tongue, Genoese, as …

October, the month dedicated to Italian Heritage, is about to end. It’s been an eventful four weeks for the world and for the US, a month encased in a year, 2020, which has brought to all of us pain, worry, …