Culture

Dear Readers, January jottings from my “A” file with an Italian connection:   Avanti Awards, the Dinner and Artist Showcase and yearly fundraising event of the Joseph and Frances Brucia Foundation will take place on January 24, 2014, at 5:30pm …

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 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 …

Dear Readers, January, the month of Fresh Starts and Resolutions, even if just symbolic, are a useful way to put momentum behind good intentions. Resolutions can also draw you to to brighter place because they are inherently optimistic. If one …

According to the British newspaper The Times, the National Automobile Museum of Turin is among the 50 best museums in the world. It competes with the British Museum and the Smithsonian‘s in Washington and is at the 35th place in the classification. It has recently …

Zucchero “Sugar” Fornaciari, the Grammy-nominated Italian blues-rock singer, and one of Europe’s best-selling artists, will release his latest album, La Sesión Cubana, on February 18th via Manhattan Records. Known as a musical wanderer, Zucchero achieves a long-held dream of recording in Cuba with …

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, …

Sul finire degli anni ’40 un virtuoso musicista, cantante e attore italo-americano noto anche come “il Valentino della fisarmonica”, conobbe in poco tempo un fulminante succcesso ed un altrettanto rapido e triste declino.    Dick Contino, sebbene sia stato dimenticato …

Quello di Mario Soldati, scrittore torinese scomparso nel 1999, è uno dei diari di viaggio più affascinanti e sinceri del Novecento italiano.    Affascinante, perché vi si descrive, proprio attraverso i vispi occhi di un giovane migrante, quell’America che negli …

With amazing tech breakthroughs and thousands of new product introductions, innovation blossomed as new technologies came to life, redefining the future at International CES 2014.    In Las Vegas brands, markets and economies converge in what is far more than …