Traditions

Every year hundreds of trees are cut down. They’re trimmed, sanded and hand-painted, then pile-driven into the dense mud of the Venetian lagoon. It’s a practice that has been going on for centuries for very good reasons, but few people …

Usually, in Italy, you’d sense electricity in the air before the soccer World Cup begins: the country’s passion for calcio is well known, and when it comes to the national team, you can bet even the least likely among us …

Even though present-day hospitals all around the world are basically centers providing medical assistance and rehabilitation of the sick, the forerunners to these institutions were originally conceived in a broader sense as “places of hospitality:” hence the similarity between the …

For a little town just off the A16 autostrada, east of Naples, Nola has some big claims to fame. Spartacus once conquered it, Hadrian tried and the first Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus died here. Nola also famously introduced bells to …

Chinotto is a citrus fruit originally from China, exclusively grown on the Ligurian coast, in the Savona area since the end of the 19th century. These small, uniquely fragrant fruits, used to be sold candied and preserved in maraschino, after …

For a new angle on Italy, ditch the car and try sailing off on the Ionian Sea along the coast off Rocca Imperiale, a bijou-size borgo that just joined the club of the most beautiful villages of Il Bel Paese. A sojourn …

We all know it: in Italy, we love bread! These very crunchy “bread sticks” were invented in Turin in 1679, by the Savoias’ personal baker, who created them appositely for king Vittorio Amedeo II, who couldn’t digest regular bread very …

Isn’t Summer the perfect season for trivia? I don’t know you, but when the heat hits I suddenly develop a thirst for curious facts and tasty tidbits about anything and everything: from history to literature, from food to gossip, anything …

The difference is tiny, yet it cannot be overlooked… “A sliced cookie, made with fine flour, sugar and egg whites:” this is the definition given by the Accademia della Crusca in 1691. Cantuccio, whose name comes from the word “canto,” …

There is a special sound that speaks of Italy, the same for thousands of years, a sound that becomes one with the country’s landscape, dotted with churches and belfries. Wherever you are, on the mountains or by the sea, the …