La vita italiana

The Roman empire  began with a tale of love—or, more accurately, lust—almost three millennia ago. The libidinous god Mars, smitten by the beauty of a Vestal Virgin, snuck into her temple in the town of Alba Longa to sleep with …

Pizza finds a place on every country’s table and is topped with countless delicacies, each country creating its own – more or less – orthodox version of this quintessentially Italian food. Yet it remains Neapolitan in the  minds of all of …

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 …

Masked balls. Fried sweets. Colorful costumes. In the weeks before Fat Tuesday (martedì grasso), Venice revels in Carnevale. Dating back to the 1200s, Carnival marks the start of the period of Lent – or, the 40 days that lead up …

What comes to mind when you think of Sicily? Breathtaking Mediterranean beaches? The movie The Godfather, perhaps? If it’s not the overabundance of food found in the streets, you need to think again. The open-air street markets of Palermo, Sicily …

Parma and its Province are the homeland of the excellence of some of the Italian culinary cornerstones. Places that are rich in history and their fairy-tale landscapes remind us why Italy is also known as “Il Bel Paese”. We would …

As a community, Italian Americans are just beginning to understand the value of the written word.  For years publishers have been saying that the Italian American is not the target audience for most books–they don’t buy books because they don’t …

After completing our annual month of Italian language study in Rome, my wife Carole and I headed south for yet another tour of Southern Italy’s many cities, towns, and villages.  We had traveled to the South on at least three …

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 …

Let’s start with a definition of “industrial design,” by Argentinian-born, Milan-based, painter, designer and philosopher, Tomás Maldonado: “Industrial design is a creative activity whose aim is to determine the formal qualities of objects produced by industry. These formal qualities are …