La vita italiana

Since my Italian-American Italy has long been renowned for its miracles in stone. From Roman amphitheaters and aqueducts to Michelangelo’s David, the people from this mountainous land have produced creations that made history.    The Latins converted the untamed into …

As if the reputation of Poveglia Island were not terrifying enough to satisfy anyone’s taste for the macabre, in 1922 government authorities had managed to add to the island’s ominous character and reputation by building an asylum for the mentally …

Italy, a country well-known for its beauty, hides undiscovered neighborhoods far from the typical touristic routes. In Emilia Romagna, the region surrounded by Lombardy, Veneto and Tuscany, there are places that are so surreal and beautiful that when you first …

Italy is a wounded country. Never, in recent years, the Bel Paese has endured so much tragedy in such a short amount of time. Black-clad still, mourning the almost 300 victims of last August’s quake, Italians woke up a week …

Now that Dan Brown’s Inferno has exploded onto the big screen, you may be wondering what you’re in for. Personally I enjoyed it, and for one reason in particular. The spell-binding presence of a true celebrity, the Palazzo Vecchio in …

Hidden away in a tiny little workshop at the bottom of a walled garden sits the last artisan battiloro in Europe. Beating out a rhythmic golden heartbeat, his hand-held hammer pummels a pack of gold nuggets into gossamer-thin gold leaf …

It is difficult to say exactly when vigilia d’Ognissanti or Halloween first took hold in Italy.  This spooky day seems to have floated into existence like a ghost, almost without notice.  Some sources say that it was around the 1990s …

Fifty years ago rain, mud and sorrow descended on two of Italy’s most loved historic cities, Florence and Venice. At the height of the floods waters rose to 6.7m in parts of Florence and inundated over 75% of Venice, leaving …

Of the many islands surrounding Venice, there is one located to the south, quite close to the shoreline of Lido. It is the island of Poveglia, referred to by some as “the island of terror.” Venetians prefer not to discuss …

To make a story good, you need to set its background straight.    So, think of Venice. Not that of today, of course, but rather that of the 18th century: then, la Serenissima had been enjoying her role of European …