La vita italiana

Lentils and pork sausages, the first to represent coins, the second for abundance, served up together, has long been considered an auspicious dish with which to usher in the New Year in some parts of Italy. Take Modena’s lenticchie di …

Walk through Trastevere or along the Tiber River in Rome, explore the labyrinthine Cannaregio district of Venice or stroll down Viale Montegrappa in Reggio Emilia and you’ll spot something they all have in common; little brass cobblestones set into the …

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 …

Writing in English is my job, so it goes without saying I love this language. I like the way it alliterates easily and its pragmatic nature, which is so different from the Baroque concatenation of subordinates that usually makes up …

Shakespeare’s famous “Fair Verona” may have been the ideal setting for his story about the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, but modern Verona has become a city with a wonderful mixture of those historic elements and contemporary Italian culture. It …

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 …

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 …

Italy is the land of love, a romantic destination par excellence. So with Valentines Day fast approaching, it’s time to explore some of the peninsula’s most idyllic spots. Heavenly places where romance is never in short supply. We start with …

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 …