La vita italiana

In the 7th century BC, the Sicilian city of Syracuse was one of the gems of Magna Graecia, the coastal area of Southern Italy that was colonized by the ancient Greeks and influenced by their rich and vibrant culture. Hellenic …

La Croisette, movie stars, photographers, premieres, parties and a portrait of Marcello Mastroianni from Fellini’s movie 8 ½ looking straight at you from his dark glasses slightly lowered on his nose: Cannes 2014. Looks like Italian cinema is living a …

For those unfamiliar with the design world, the name Massimo Vignelli doesn’t mean much. But if shown the logos of American Airlines or Ford, or a shopping bag from Bloomingdale’s, it becomes clear immediately how much Massimo Vignelli’s work is …

On December 26, 1900, Enrico Caruso celebrated the Christmas season with his debut at La Scala by performing the part of Rodolfo in Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème with Arturo Toscanini conducting. As his career advanced, he went on to please …

One of the largest amphibious invasions ever to take place in world history began on June 6th, 1944. Against all odds American, Canadian and English troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, France and were confronted by a barrage of German …

Wedged between the Regola and Parione districts, Campo de’ Fiori features Rome’s most spectacular flower market. Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian painter whose name adorns an apartment house on nearby Via di San Salvatore, called it “a symphony of color.” Each …

There is an obscure story linking the name Antonio Salieri with La Scala opera house in Milan, Italy.  As the story goes, in 1776, when the old opera house had burned to the ground, a new one had to be …

The World Cup is like a woman. Valentina Losa, the head of the company that manufactures the World Cup trophy itself, explains in a Vanity Fair interview, “It’s loved, desired, and it travels. Every four years, it travels many kilometers …

Count Alessandro di Cagliostro, or perhaps Giuseppe Balsamo, man of mystery, magician, physician, alchemist, philanthropist or con artist?  Whatever it may be, there is no doubt he was one of the world’s most colorful, and still controversial, characters.     …

So far, I have spent much time describing what I have called the first ‘key’ in finding our immigrant ancestry: how to determine an ancestor’s name as it may have been given in a variety of records.  Having identified the …