La vita italiana

“More than 5,000 people currently in the U.S. are of San Fratello origin,” says Professor Salvatore Mangione, historian and former mayor of San Fratello, a village in the province of Messina, Sicily. “In the old times, immigrant villagers from San …

California may have a lock on the production of almonds—the state produces more than 80 percent of the world’s supply—but if you have never tasted an almond grown in Sicily, you have never truly tasted an almond. Sicily combines the …

What really is remarkable about the upcoming exhibition, The Sicilian Cart: History in Movement, hosted at the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles (IAMLA) from June 30th to January 7th, is that its Executive Director, Marianna Gatto, since she was …

2018 will be a special year for Italy. 2018 will be the year of Italian food, as announced by Dario Franceschini, minister of Culture and Tourism, and Maurizio Martina, minister of Agriculture. The initiative has been received positively worldwide, with …

Author’s note: This is the first installment of a serialized story that recounts my return to Italy and my grandfather’s journey to the U.S.    My grandparents poured into me all the Italy they couldn’t fit into their children.  To …

Maremma, southern Tuscany, is a timeless region with ancient roots. People have thrived here for centuries. From the Etruscans to the Medicis to today’s modern Tuscans all have left their mark. And its here, amongst the green hills, flat marshes …

“There has to be irony, both in design and in the objects. I see around me a professional disease of taking everything too seriously.  One of my secrets is to joke all the time.” Achille Castiglioni This year’s Design Week, …

In the heart of Sicily, there was once a town called Corleone, the birthplace of a mafia boss of the likes of Bernardo Provenzano; his bloody history, in reality and on screen, has transformed this place into a stereotype of …

True confession: up until about 6 years ago I gleefully lived my life believing a truffle was a delectable orb of chocolaty goodness surrounding a mystery filling of something gooey and delicious. This type of truffle does exist, but to …

Perhaps because Pasquale Verdicchio can boast a grayish beard worthy of a Greek philosopher – the likes of Plato or Aristotle – or maybe thanks to years and years of teaching in Southern California, or even – if we yield …