Culture

Dear Readers, As the July 4th celebrations begin, let me refresh your memory and mine on the Declaration of Independence which began “When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands …

On July 13th, 1814 the Carabinieri, Italy’s national military police, was created in Turin by King Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia (Victor Emmanuel I of Savoy) with the aim of providing the Kingdom of Sardinia with a police corps. When the …

L’esodo istriano, conosciuto anche come esodo giuliano-dalmata, è un evento storico consistito nella diaspora forzata della maggioranza dei cittadini di etnia e di lingua italiana, che si verificò a partire dalla Seconda Guerra Mondiale e negli anni successivi dai territori …

Con questa narrazione ho voluto ripercorrere la storia della mia famiglia per portare un esempio di come potrebbe essere la vita di una seconda e di una terza generazione di immigrati, di profughi, di stranieri che hanno scelto per un …

Located on the west bank of the Tiber, south of Vatican City, Trastevere is a world apart. For centuries, this district was disconnected from central Rome, geographically and administratively. Low taxes and light regulation attracted Italians from farflung regions. Most …

Unfortunately on June 24th Italy lost 1-0 to Uruguay in their Group D World Cup match. The defeat meant that Italy was eliminated from the 2014 World Cup tournament. Yet, besides the disappointment of the many Italians who were following …

In addition to sporting Crocs, baseball caps, fanny packs, and oversized water jugs, American tourists are notorious in Italy for neglecting to learn the beautiful language. Oftentimes, you’ll hear an American naïvely request tap water or order a cappuccino after …

In 1924 the L.U.C.E. Institute (Educational and Cinemato-graphic Union) was founded to narrate Italian history through images, stories and movies. One year later, the name was changed to Luce National Institute (Istituto Nazionale Luce) and taken over by Benito Mussolini, …

When we think of jazz music, we usually think of New Orleans or, more generally, of the southern United States where it originated in the late 19th and early 20th century. When we think of jazz in Italy, we also …

By some accounts, to say that Salieri and Mozart were professional rivals, is putting it mildly.  A rivalry between Mozart and Salieri was well known and is believed to have originated when Mozart applied to be the voice teacher of …