Culture

The year was 1935. The depression was in full swing and jobs were scarce.  It was a time when Welfare went by another name: in 1935, it was called Home Relief.     We were embarrassed to let anyone know …

Tre Artisti Senza Pretese All three of these artists have in their work a deeply sensitive appreciation for Sicily and its rich souled people.  Their works express living impressions of the island and its inhabitants with an artistic honesty often …

The Celts, whom the Romans called Celti or Galli, were a tribal society that spoke the Celtic language and originally occupied most of today’s Ireland, Scotland and France. During the time of the rise of the Roman Empire the Celts …

The “Leopard”, one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century, was written by a Sicilian aristocrat who was extremely erudite, pensive, impulsive, and sensitive. One critic says that his words from his novel can be memorized as poetry.   …

Requiem for a Filmmaker: Sergio Leone, His Life, Work, and Legacy (Part One)    Among the many prolific producers and directors with which Italy is credited, Sergio Leone stands out for his unique and unusual genre in filmmaking.   Born …

Amedeo Modigliani was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. Born in Livorno (Leghorn), Italy, he was the fourth son of Eugenia Garsin and Flaminio Modigliani. Both the Garsins and the Modiglianis descended from the Sephardic Jews that …

Have you ever had a dream that you were flying? Most people will answer “yes” to this question. The incident, of which I am about to tell you, entered the world in just this way, through a dream.   Our …

There are political families that have had a profound history in American politics, just ask the Adams, Kennedys and Bushes.     Well, in New York City there is another family committed to political servitude, no, the surname is not …

Tuscany or Toscana is one of the largest regions of Italy. The Etruscans, people native of Asia Minor, after a mass migration settled in the northern part of Italy but circa the 6th century B.C. a Gallic invasion from north …

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Sal Giunta was attending classes at John F. Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. On that same morning, about a thousand miles away from Cedar Rapids, commercial airliners were being intentionally crashed …