LIFE & PEOPLE

Writing in English is my job, so it goes without saying I love this language. I like the way it alliterates easily and its pragmatic nature, which is so different from the Baroque concatenation of subordinates that usually makes up …

Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, the renowned chef, restaurateur, author, television personality and pioneer who introduced and educated Americans to authentic Italian regional cuisine, met me at her Upper East Side restaurant Felidia on 58th Street for an afternoon chat about her …

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 …

The wine journey is often filled with things unexpected. Learning that at least some portion of Malvasia Nera in Tuscany is likely the popular Spanish variety known as Tempranillo issued me a measure of unexpected surprise. Indeed, a molecular study …

Listening to Elisabetta Ciardullo’s first experience in the US, I couldn’t help thinking about the fictional nanny Mary Poppins. Just as the British babysitter, to solve the situation, pulls magical gadgets from her purse, the Italian event planner and personal …

Alexia Melocchi, native of Milan, Italy, spent her teenage years in Los Angeles and, at a very young age, crossed the gateway to Hollywood.   Since around the year 2000, she has been holding the doors to the US market …

Technology represents today a powerful tool for challenging the political nature of the chronicles of the past, the one we learn as truth at school. The history of “old Europe” is something that it is usually taken for granted. Unless …

From scarlet undies to pig’s trotters, fireworks to fearless bridge divers or tombola to fat ox parades, Italians love to celebrate the New Year with some wonderful traditions. It’s all to help usher in good luck and a good year. …

“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 …

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 …