Culture

Si riparte, off we go. Off we go, back to work, to the gym, to grab a coffee with friends, but with our smiles covered with these ubiquitous little rectangles of blue or white material, so important to ensure our safety …

The world has been fighting the same enemy. Reality is, there is not such a thing as escaping the virus,  but in Italy we’ve finally reached a moment when it’s important to start looking forward and try  to reach some …

Before midnight, the tide turned. Jubilation spread from the Baths of Caracalla to the Quirinal. Romans in nightshirts and slippers poured into the streets, braying whatever English they knew. “Weekend!” one old man repeatedly shouted. “Weekend!” The Stars and Stripes …

During those first, dramatic days of lockdown balconies became, for a large number of Italians, the sole place to experience human contact. Stepping outside on that small, reassuring outdoor corner of our home was the closest thing  to our former …

Thanks to months of rigorous lockdown, continuous monitoring and strict regulations, Italy is finally able to return to some sort of normality after Covid-19 hit its shores last February. This is truly great news for all Italians, who are able  …

In Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, Vladimir, one of the two main characters in the existential play, suggests that the voice of the dead makes a noise like wings, like sand, like feathers, like ashes. But each time Estragon, …

Traveling for real may be  difficult right now, but nothing says we can’t travel with our minds or  preparing for our next trip somehow. To do both at once, I thought it may be nice to take an ideal taxi …

“Via Montenapoleone, il salotto di  Milano, ritrovo delle signore dell’élite della città.” It was 1954 when Dutch born singer Peter Van Wood sang his ode to the beating heart of Milan, the  spine of what was already the centre of …

Between 1960 and 1968 RAI aired Non è Mai Troppo Tardi (It is Never too Late), a show aimed at fighting illiteracy, as more than 10%  of the Italian  Population was still, at the beginning of the 1960s, unable to …

Whenever my secretary Antonio pesters me for another collection of satires, I reply: “Beware, my son. Of the making of books there is no end.” If this seems jaded, it is only because I have witnessed so much ballyhoo and …