La vita italiana

My relationship with Piedmontese, the dialect of my region, has always been ambivalent. Growing up in a small rural community, I learned it without even noticing, because everyone around me would speak it. Even my parents, who would always speak in Italian to me, often switched to Piedmontese …

Ferrara, loderò le  tue vie piane/grandi come fiumane,/che conducono all’infinito chi va solo col suo pensiero ardente: I shall praise your flat streets/as large as rivers/that lead to infinity those walking alone with their fiery thoughts. That’s how our Gabriele …

How many of you are familiar with Molise? Probably not many, to be honest. And it’s a real pity, because this tiny region at the heart of the Bel Paese has so much beauty to offer and it is, in …

Vedi Napoli e poi mori, once you’ve seen Naples, you are free to die. It may sound unsettling at first, but whoever visited the city can testify it is so special, so unique and so precious it could well represent …

It is the oldest cinema event in the world after the Oscars. Its 76 editions do not only show the  way contemporary visual arts evolved, but also how men and women of all cultures and nationalities described their vision of …

We all know when and how the American continent was discovered — let us not delve into the unnerving diatribe about “discovering” vs “conquering” here: there’ll be a lot of that around Columbus Day, in October. It was the Fall …

There are great love affairs that permeate the ages: Anthony and Cleopatra, Rhett and Scarlet, Samson and Delilah…Everyone and Pasta.  There’s something almost magical about digging into a heaping plate of piping hot noodles slathered in tangy red sauce…or pudgy …

Ah! The Mediterranean diet!  UNESCO Intangible Heritage, the way of life all the world envies to the countries of the Mare Nostrum. We Italians based almost our entire cuisine on it: plenty of vegetables, good starches, fish, extra virgin olive …

The very fact you’re reading this article right now means you are or feel connected in some way to Italy and that you, very likely, love this amazing country. Sure, it’s far from being  perfect, but what place really is?  …

Florence’s streets are filled with secrets and curiosities: some of them are known to those into history and local legends, others are so obscure only locals can tell you about them. This is not so unusual, when you think of it, all old cities …