Heritage

This month one of Da Vinci’s celebrated works, The Adoration of the Magi is returning to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence after 6 years of restoration. It’s a big event in the art world, precisely because Leonardo was so much …

The first memories I have of Fabriano paper are of the A5 notebooks we used in elementary school: each page was heavier and thicker than average, making it perfect for the daily wear and tear imposed by the hands – …

For centuries they were the only way to travel, criss-crossing the shallow lagoon and navigating the city’s iconic canals. Today, whilst Venice’s gondolas still glide silently through the waterways few visitors know their history, happy to just enjoy the view …

Whatever I have learned about Italian American literature was on my own; no teacher suggested I read what I have read, and what I have learned has saved my life in many ways. In Mario Puzo’s novel, The Fortunate Pilgrim (1964), I …

Not many may think of it, but the 15th of March, the Ides of March, to say it with the Romans, marks the millenary anniversary of one of history’s most notorious murders, that  of Caius Julius Caesar. Legendary Roman leader …

“The moment of arrival was euphoric, and then silence fell upon them. They were afraid they wouldn’t be let in. The question on everyone’s mind was ‘Will we enter or not? Will they let us pass?’” This is the scene …

Arturo Toscanini’s boisterous humanity comes alive throughout a new biography by eminent music historian Harvey Sachs. To mark the 150th anniversary of the legendary conductor’s birth, “Toscanini – Musician of Conscience” will come out next spring from Liveright Publishing Corp., …

On February 26th 1917, clarinetist and bandleader Nick LaRocca (born in New Orleans, Louisiana, from Sicilian parents) passed into the annals of jazz history. In fact, that day in New York City, his Original Dixieland Jass (Jazz) Band – that …

Family: the essence of our being, the root of our ideals and the place we go back to when everything fails us. It does not really matter if it is  large or small, extended or nuclear, family is the first …

Why is it that Italian America is better known for its wise-guys then for its wise men and women?     In 1927, after the United States had severely restricted immigration from southern European countries, Antonio Gramsci published “The Southern …