La vita italiana

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 …

Each year I dread September 20. On this day in 1870 Piedmontese artillery blasted a hole in Porta Pia, the fortified gate on the northeastern side of the Aurelian Wall. Black-plumed Bersaglieri routed pantalooned Papal Zouaves, ending a thousand years …

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 …

There was something about Yogi Berra that simply did not attract attention.  Even his military buddies doubted his ability to play baseball, a judgment which was based solely on his appearance.  Not long after being discharged from the military, Yogi …

All great cultures and civilization have one essential thing in common. They all have great road networks. Roads, like rivers, are the viable arteries of life forces that transmit the elements of civilization. Roads carry travelers, armies, wanderers, and true …

Political correctness aside, Christopher Columbus is arguably the greatest and most important explorer of all times, changing the world and the very course of history.  Vespucci, Verrazano, and the Cabots are just some of the other Italians who lead the …

My husband, a first-generation Italian, is fiercely passionate about the culinary traditions of his homeland. I often get to reap the benefits…and endure the castigations about what is truly Italian, and what is not. The other night, for instance, I …

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 …

The recent debate in New York City regarding stop-and-frisk has once again put the spotlight back on the city’s Police Department.  The controversial policy endorsed and supported by the lame duck Mayor Michael Bloomberg is being used as a campaign …

It was a Tuesday, June 6, 1944 when thousands of Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, France. Among the many young men who fought bravely was a nineteen-year-old kid named Lawrence Peter Berra from Saint Louis, Missouri. He was …