La vita italiana

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 …

Vampires existed in folklore for centuries, gruesome, repulsive, rotting horrors that mindlessly preyed on the blood of the living.  The modern version is quite different; while still requiring liquid refreshment, they appear as eerily attractive, suave, psychologically complex, traveling in …

October in Rome is its own season. During this fleeting Indian summer, morning mist begins to rise from the Tiber, moss traces veins in ancient marble, and the pines on the Janiculum become more fragrant. But the most miraculous thing …

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 …

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 …

New York. Columbus Day weekend.  Saturday, October 12, the day America was discovered. The sun is shining; the wind is blowing. The leaves on the trees are painted in iridescent fall colors, and Central Park is reminiscent of an Impressionist …

When my husband and I make pasta sauce, we prefer to use the canned San Marzano tomatoes imported from his homeland, those that you can now find in many American supermarkets. Olive oil, garlic, and hot peppers; ground pork and …

What was Guido Barilla, the Chairman of Pasta Barilla thinking when he said, he would prefer to use the image of a “traditional family” rather than use a gay family to advertise his products?  Was his distasteful declaration a result …

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 …

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, …