Heritage

Every time the month of October rolls around, many people think about the change of the seasons, from summer to now true fall. The holidays are just ahead, and so we all gear up to see how and where and …

Nestled on a little island, off the southeastern tip of Sicily stands a gleaming white cathedral. As the hot Mediterranean sun hits its towering Corinthian columns and saintly statues, the Baroque façade lights up. It’s an architectural gem and beautiful …

Today, I feel like to write about Rome and Italian heritage, but for once – our regular readers may be aware of my penchant for classical history – I won’t delve into the depths and beauties of the Empire, but …

Isn’t Summer the perfect season for trivia? I don’t know you, but when the heat hits I suddenly develop a thirst for curious facts and tasty tidbits about anything and everything: from history to literature, from food to gossip, anything …

One of the great things about modern libraries that is sometimes taken for granted is the access to books of many cultures and ages they make available.  Such was not always the case. With the fall of the Roman Empire in …

Water: the locus where the world of the seen and the unseen meet, the origin of life, the strongest of protection against enemies, the most melodious of voices for lovers and poets. In Rome, water means Tiber and just there, …

Born Joanne Stefani Germanotta, Lady Gaga was raised in Manhattan, but her melodramatic excess and sense of the theatrical baroque might spring from her Sicilian cultural matrix. Her grandfather came from Naso, a small, isolated, aristocratic town with 4,000 residents …

Since the beginning of time, light has been a recurrent symbol in Christianity and, from a liturgical point of view, it refers directly to God. Light was considered a weapon against the treachery of darkness and remains still today ancestrally …

Identity is a serious matter, but not too much.  Let’s explain it better.  It’s something important for the consequences and the effects it may have and, for this reason, it must be taken into right consideration. But it cannot be …

Last month Venice suffered the fourth highest floods in its history. Water seeped up through the drains, over the canal sides and into the houses, businesses and hotels of the city. And few were spared, with around 75% of streets …