La vita italiana

Every Italian region has its harvest rituals that make quick and tasty use of the foods of the season. Umbria, lush land of endless vineyards and porky delights, makes salsicce all’uva, pan-roasted sausages and grapes, a dish that joins two …

2015 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Giovanni Meli, Sicily’s most celebrated poet, who died of pneumonia on December 20, 1815. Prof. Giovanni Ruffino, director of the Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani, in collaboration with Sicily’s …

On November 2, 1975, the Italian intellectual, poet, novelist, filmmaker – in a word: Artist in capital letter – Pier Paolo Pasolini, was brutally murdered in Ostia, coastal area near Rome. Forty years later, the Italian Cultural Institute in L.A., …

California olive oil producers are hard at work these days, with the olive harvest season currently under way. An unprecedented production of 4 million gallons of extra virgin olive oil is estimated for this year’s harvest, almost double what was …

The Institute of International Education has released a report stating that more than 30,000 US students studied abroad in Italian territory for academic credit in the 2013/14 school year. That’s up 4.4% from the same period the year before and …

If you ever looked for some information about La Barbera wine on the internet, the first association you may have found regards the Piedmont region and the Monferrato hills. Indeed, the story behind La Barbera goes back to the thirteenth …

There is no better time than fall for visiting Italy. The weather is mild. It’s low season, and autumn foliage brings some additional charm to the already captivating Italian countryside. Also, many of the food products that have made Italy …

Milan authorities announced a programme of over 50 events across the city to coincide with the annual Prima della Scala, or official opening of the 2015-2016 season at the historic opera house, which traditionally falls on December 7.   ‘La …

Mauro Borrelli, in more than two decades of activity, has been perfecting his visual craft, alongside undisputed cinematic masters, the likes of Francis Ford Coppola and Tim Burton. In 2013, Borrelli realized the short film, White Shoe, a whimsical story …

For outsiders, the Palio may just be an ancient horse race, but, to the Sienese, it is much more than that: the Palio is life, they say. Hopes, dreams, passions, fears, battles, scheming and community: just as these elements are …