LIFE & PEOPLE

You’re taking a leisurely stroll in the city center of Milan, Italy’s capital of elegance and fashion, when you notice people spinning on a mosaic: what on earth is going on, you wonder.  The answer is simple: you’re seeing people …

I recently read an article by Georgia Konidari on the blog World Wide Schooling about the biggest culture shocks Americans face in Europe, and it got me thinking about how these cultural differences play out in Italy. Needless to say, …

In recent years, overtourism has become a significant concern for many iconic locations worldwide, with several Italian cities at the forefront of this challenge. Picturesque landscapes and rich cultural heritage draw millions to our shores each year, but the surge …

As soon as you set foot in an Italian trattoria, there’s a good chance your gaze will lock with a showy, colorful, eye-catching rooster…just the way any rooster worth its salt would want. But this fellow is not looking for …

When you contemplate a fly on the wall, I doubt that you ever imagine that fly reporting back what it has seen and heard. You know, chin-wagging about the goings-on of a body politic, dishing on gossip, scandalmongering. I doubt, …

Nobel Laureate in Physics and father of long-distance radio transmission  Guglielmo Marconi, was born on April 25, 1874, in Bologna. Italy began celebrating his 150th birthday last week. There is no need to explain why Marconi is important for the …

Green, yellow, brown—these colors embrace you as you stroll through the countryside of Puglia. The eye is drawn to vivid hues under a brilliant sun: if you look closely, you can see the furrowed brows of those kissed by hard …

Leonardo da Vinci’s map of Imola is a remarkable historical artifact as well as a symbol of the innovative developments in cartography during the Renaissance. Created for Cesare Borgia, this map represents a pivotal moment in the evolution of mapping …

John Steinbeck once observed, “People do not take journeys; it’s the journeys that take people.”  Marco Polo embodies “The Journey”—a life-altering path with an unknown destination, personifying initiative, courage, and encounter. In the year 1271, a young Marco Polo embarked on what …

Numerous pages have been written about the migrations of Sicilians to other countries in search of a better future, among which we remember Heart in the Abyss (published by Gastaldi in 1949) by Nino Di Maria, a native of Sommatino …