La vita italiana

November is a month of wind and rain. Soaked in melancholy, Romans light candles on All Souls Day and sip vino novello on St. Martin’s Day. If I had hands, I would lift a glass and toast the memory of …

The underbelly of the National Football League (NFL) has been unveiled once again. This time it is not about post concussion syndrome or even an arrest of a player but an alleged bullying case that some speculate occurred in a …

As we exchange gifts and recover from the debt accrued on our credit cards resulting from our holiday shopping, the end of December also means, at least for me, a time to get ready for the numismatic convention in New …

A common complaint about old houses is the lack of closets.  The explanation is simple; before the Industrial Revolution the average person owned little more than the clothes he or she was wearing and a few tools and implements, all …

Calling someone a “Renaissance man” is quite a compliment, even if occasionally misused and misunderstood  in our times.  Fortunately, one of the world’s great autobiographies paints a clear picture of the expression by one who embodied it. Benvenuto Cellini was …

  On December 8, a snow-white papamobile leads a caravan of black limos from Vatican City to the Column of the Immaculate Conception in Piazza Mignanelli, the southwest extension of Rome’s Piazza di Spagna. Dedicated shortly after Pius IX declared …

On New Year’s Eve, Romans stagger into Piazza Pasquino and pelt me with dry lentils.  Resembling coins, they symbolize good luck and are consumed in January throughout Lazio. Gourmands in Viterbo feast on lentils and cotechino. Rangers in the Aurunci …

A fellow writer recently expounded on his lack of interest in the origins of his European ancestry.  He engagingly wrote ‘None of my ancestors ever looked back with anything like nostalgia. As far as they were concerned, it was “good …

Dear Readers:  Before I get into the ‘meat’ of genealogical investigations, I’d like to clear up any misconceptions or ill feelings caused by my use last month of the term ‘Italians and Sicilians’.  I meant no disrespect to either group, …

In our imagination, comets are fascinating prodigies of nature that cross the sky often invisible to the naked eye. Yet, this year we almost had the chance to see one of them shining above our heads just around Christmas. Sadly, …