Culture

 From Bologna came the news of Claudio Abbado’s death, at 80, following a long illness. He had suffered health problems for many years, resigning from the Vienna Opera for health reasons in 1991 and later undergoing surgery for stomach cancer. …

No amount of foreign tourism seems to affect Rome’s classical and vital atmosphere and culture. While millions of international visitors flock to Rome each year, the Eternal City marches to its own drum.    The Colosseum, the largest and most …

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, 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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

During one of my visits to Sicily, as I sat across the dinner table from my host Francesco, his wife Pina dished out mounds of spaghetti.  She seemed determined to fill her husband’s plate to capacity, but before she could …

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 …

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 …