All Around Italy

It is the oldest cinema event in the world after the Oscars. Its 76 editions do not only show the  way contemporary visual arts evolved, but also how men and women of all cultures and nationalities described their vision of …

Though ancient, the aerie of Ferrazzano has survived unspoiled into the 21st century. The medieval village of Samnite origin also gave birth to actor Robert De Niro’s great grandparents, Giovanni Di Niro and Angelina Mercurio, who left in search of their US …

“Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you,” Simon and Garfunkel sang in their 1960s song Mrs. Robinson.  Baseball legend Joe DiMaggio was a cultural icon in the ’50s and ’60s, a time when …

Puglia needs no special introduction. Its sea, the baroque grandeur of Lecce, its olive oil and fresh cheeses: all in the region of Italy’s “heel” calls for attention. Aficionados of the Middle Ages and mystery can explore Castel del Monte, …

The Adriatic coast of Italy is one with many secrets, among which two sites that have been visited by angels of all stripes: some of them have hovered over the land for centuries.  Perhaps today they have finally vacated the …

How many of you are familiar with Molise? Probably not many, to be honest. And it’s a real pity, because this tiny region at the heart of the Bel Paese has so much beauty to offer and it is, in …

The Etruscans are one of the most fascinating pre-Roman civilizations but, puzzlingly, also one of those we know the least about: the real Etruscan mystery is that of their origin and of their language,  both  of which remain largely unknown, …

I met Andrea Camilleri twice in Milan at the Hotel Manin in the late ’90s. The Sicilian literary phenomenon was not a kid at the time. He was already in his seventies when he created Inspector Salvo Montalbano, the main …

It was the eve of a fervent celebration planned for the Feast Day of Saint Joseph in 1906 when an earthquake struck the island of Ustica some 72 kilometers north of Palermo, Sicily, in the Tyrrhenian Sea.  On that unsettling …

There seems to be a shared fascination with lighthouses the world over. These austere pillars of hope and guidance, most often planted on precarious ground, seem to speak to our need to be watched over, protected, guided through life’s storms. …