Traditions

My relationship with Piedmontese, the dialect of my region, has always been ambivalent. Growing up in a small rural community, I learned it without even noticing, because everyone around me would speak it. Even my parents, who would always speak in Italian to me, often switched to Piedmontese …

Art has a thousand shapes, a thousand colors, a thousand scents. There is no work of art that doesn’t run through more than one of our senses, creating a direct path to the soul. The colors of a painting all …

Baked anelletti pasta is a recipe traditional to Palermo, but it is a dish that holds a special place in the hearts of almost all Sicilians.  If you visit Palermo and you hear someone say “timballo,” then rest assured: they …

Brimming with cultural vigor, strength and resilience, Caltagirone is the heart of the authentic, wild southeastern Sicily. The scenic town is a small slice of heaven just 40 miles from Catania that proudly acknowledges its multi-layered past. It remains a …

Back in the day, one of our favorite places for a nice affordable meal close by our apartment in central Rome was Taverna Parione. Located on a small side street off tourist-mobbed piazza Navona, despite its location it was the …

Before pasta, there was Lady Salad. Today we can taste all kinds of spectacular insalatone or large salads, yet the first to prepare raw leafy vegetables drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and cumin were the Ancient Romans. The root …

Vedi Napoli e poi mori, once you’ve seen Naples, you are free to die. It may sound unsettling at first, but whoever visited the city can testify it is so special, so unique and so precious it could well represent …

While they may not be as trendy as their broody, ultra-dark mates, the vampires, werewolves have been certainly enjoying a bout of popularity in recent years, courtesy of a popular series of trashy, young adult novels — and subsequent movie …

What comes to your mind when you think of Sardinia? Azure sea, sandy beaches, VIP resorts. If you are a bit more knowledgeable, your thoughts may also go to the island’s beautifully wild inland, or to the interesting features of …

A debate on whether a man in a suit generates appeal might last a minute or two. The same debate on a man in an Italian suit would be over before I finished typing this sentence. Given the fact that …