LIFE & PEOPLE

“The body tells a story/mostly about loss.” So runs a line from the poem, “Rotator Cuff Vortex” by American poet Lucia Perillo, who died October 16 at her home in Olympia, Wash., at the age of 58. Diagnosed with multiple …

Pompeo Luigi Coppini. The name itself conjures up images of greatness, eminence, and well, someone who must be pretty important, yes? Fortunate enough for the bearer, his was an illustrious life, this Lombard-turned-Texan sculptor. But like those flitting grains of …

The second landmark in our tour of the “houses of the House of Medici” in Florence is the one and only Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace). Built around the year 1300 as Palazzo dei Priori (Priors’ Palace), the worldwide-known building overlooking …

“Io voglio imparare l’Italiano perché…” “I want to learn Italian because…” – Opening of a letter from a student at Burbank, 10 years old. Every student has their own reason for learning Italian in the vibrant west coast community of …

The third and last official residence of the Medici in Florence is the grandiose Palazzo Pitti. Located at the foot of the Boboli hill in the Oltrarno quarter, just past the Ponte Vecchio, the palace now hosts the city’s largest …

His story was so incredible that even his wife didn’t believe it. And if it hadn’t been for a group of Hungarian women, no-one would ever have known. But the truth is that Giorgio Perlasca from Como in northern Italy, …

A highlight of travel to Italy in the first quarter of the year is Carnival Season or as they say Carnevale. Celebrations are held roughly 40 days before Easter which falls on March 31st this year. The biggest, most elaborate …

Portland has no shortage of good international restaurants – whatever you are hungry for you will likely find it somewhere. Northeast Alberta Street has one of the densest collections of international cuisines anywhere in the city. Traveling west on Alberta …

On August 24, 2016, a devastating 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck central Italy. Hundreds of lives were lost, historic Apennine mountain villages are now in ruins, and crumbled infrastructure has left the town of Amatrice devastated. Since then, the San Francisco Bay …

For centuries the pre-Lent festivities of carnevale sumptuously celebrated  carne, a word that translates as both “meat’ and “flesh,” in every sense. However, the name comes specifically from the Latin for meat (carnem) and “take away or remove” (levare). A church decree dating back …