La vita italiana

Living on an island presents a number of challenges. The first priorities are food, shelter and a reliable source of drinking water. The earliest settlers of the Venetian saltwater lagoon, however,  only had two out of three as freshwater was …

Crossroads and street corners have long been the haunt of peddlers, pickpockets and prostitutes. And as far back as ancient Roman times images of deities have been hung there to protect passers by from evil. Today over 500 statues and …

The Catholic Church has a lengthy tradition of collecting relics from saints and clerics dating back almost to its beginnings. Bones, clothes or artifacts from the person were carefully preserved in caskets, lockets and glass urns to commemorate and venerate …

Nevermind how long you have lived in Rome, you’ll always find something new to discover, or so do its lucky residents say. Of course, Rome is art, history and good food. It’s tradition and the very heart of Italian identity. …

Many tourists rush through Italy, ticking off cities on an imaginary bucket list, zipping through museums and taking holiday snaps in front of iconic attractions. This is fine if you are happy to simply cross things off a checklist. But …

Easter is a very important moment for the people of Italy: for those still actively practicing, it is a time of meditation and prayer, steeped in profound spiritual meaning; for everybody else, it remains deeply tied to memories of traditions, …

Italian celebrations for International Women’s Day are, usually, rather cliché: journalists and TV hosts become experts of women history and sociology, bringing out their customary speeches for the occasion, only to forget it all the following day, when they focus …

Just like the rest of the world, Italy has been following the POTUS’ work, both at home and on the international arena, with interest.. Curiosity turned into fully fledged concern in the last couple of weeks, after hearing of the …

Naming a child is usually one of two things: a matter of trends or a matter of tradition. Every year, parents all over the world let celebrities and VIPs inspire their choices, just as it happened in 2017, when “Rumi”  …

A recent survey carried out by Best Countries and Published by US News ranked the world’s countries from best to worst. Finding places like Switzerland, Canada and Germany among the highest ranking is not surprising just as, all in all, …