Culinary cultural exchange sends two to Italy
By Alison Highberger Italophiles and foodies, prepare to be envious. A teacher and student from Central Oregon Community College's Cascade Culinary Institute will spend a month in Italy this winter, immersed in Italian culture and focused on the local food traditions. Chef instructor David Trask and culinary student Melissa Acord...
Italy’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Challenges and Opportunities
Italy, a country universally celebrated for its artistic and cultural riches, has more historic, archaeological, natural and artistic UNESCO world heritage sites than any other country. As pointed out by UNESCO liaison officer to the U.N. Ricardo De Guimarães de Pinto, a featured presenter in a program at Montclair State, Italy's 51 sites...
Martin Scorsese e l’Italia, una storia d’amore infinita
by Marzia Chiriatti Martin Scorsese e l'Italia è da sempre stato, nell'immaginario cinematografico internazionale, un legame fruttuoso ed eccezionale che, sulla scia di numerosissimi altri maestri italoamericani, ha contribuito a perpetuare la tendenza a rappresentare con inedito successo gli elementi culturali fondanti del Bel Paese nei c...
2016 Spring Bocce Registration
Jan 7, 2016 between 6:00 to 8:00PM is Bocce registration night for all teams and individuals interested in participating in the Spring campaign which starts week of January 10th. Registration night will include the collection of bocce, membership renewals and new memberships fees. All fees must be paid by the start of the season. &n...
Wine and Dine
By Bianca Sienra Simplicity has its charms, and sometimes the weary restaurant reviewer, having gorged for months on fine and fancy foods, wants nothing more than to succumb to simple pleasures. At such times, I crave a place where there are no wildly inventive dishes or highly touted exotica on the menu, no hipster digs lined wit...
How Franciscan monks saved Jews in Assisi
According to Italian Press Agency, ANSA, that recalled a statement by the Roman Catholic order disclosed Tuesday on the website sanfrancesco.org, Franciscan monks in Assisi saved more than forty Jews during the Second World War: they managed to hide them inside the belltower of St Francis' Basilica in the Umbrian hilltown. The fugitives we...
Obama says the U.S. and Italy are working together in Libya
President Obama and Italian President Sergio Mattarella met Monday to discuss efforts to fight the spread of the Islamic State in Libya, where the extremist group is capitalizing on political instability to increase its influence. Obama and Mattarella reviewed plans to support a Libyan unity government, Obama told reporters after the meeting i...
Italian Film Festival laughs it up at St. Anthony Main
by Colin Covert The annual Italian Film Festival returns for its eighth year this weekend, this time offering a largely comedic series that IFF executive director Peter Schilling promises "to help remedy the miserable winter ... they're all a lot of fun." That certainly describes "The Referee" (⋆⋆⋆, unrated, in subtitled Italian, French an...
At Vespa, Italian Authenticity With a Contemporary Vroom
Vespa in Italian means wasp or hornet, both of which suggest a "buzz." Certainly a buzz exists at the newish Vespa restaurant in Westport, with its stylish décor, farm-to-table cuisine and genial atmosphere. And, at least when I visited, there wasn't a single Vespa, an Italian motor scooter, parked outside. After my visits there, I asked B...
A Slice Of Parma, Italy Comes To Portland, ME This Month
Giovianni Bianchi, owner of the famed prosciutto producer Pio Tosini of Parma, Italy is coming to Portland and will be slicing and serving his Parma ham (Prosciutto di Parma) at three locations this week. Thursday, March 24 will find Giovanni at Middle Street Italian eatery Piccolo. Piccolo will be serving a five-course tasting menu with w...
Top 10 Italian expressions Italians love
Counting how many times a day Italians use some of the following expressions would be an interesting experiment! These Italian expressions are all very typical, and you hear them all the time in colloquial Italian. By using any of the following expressions you will sound very Italian. Che bello! Some of these expressions may stay with you...
John Ciardi: North End’s poet laureate
"I was born June 24, 1916, at 25 Sheave Street in Boston's North End, which was then as now, though more so then, Little Italy ... . My mother, in the custom of her tribe, bore me in the same bed in which she connived me ... . " So wrote John Ciardi, renowned poet, translator and teacher. I had long known of Ciardi's translation of Dante, and I kn...