Italian Christmas Traditions: What you need to know
by Alessia Gargiulo Christmas is an international holiday, celebrated by Christians in its more spiritual incarnation, and by people all over the world who share the more humanist joys of the holiday, like spending time with the family, thinking of the less fortunate and celebrating the passing of another year. With its multi cult...
The ‘Ndocciata in Agnone - A Christmas bonfire
On December 24th this year, in keeping with a beautiful Christmas tradition, the 'Ndocciata will light up the streets of Agnone, a beautiful town in the province of Isernia, Molise. As Turin-born writer Alfredo Cattabiani (1937-2003) wrote, "The 'Ndocciata in Agnone became famous on December 8th, 1996, when it was performed in Piazza San Pietr...
‘In Other Words’ review: Jhumpa Lahiri’s love letter to Italian
By Howard Norman Jhumpa Lahiri lived with her family in Rome in 2012. Though she had studied Italian for 20 years, as part of her "full immersion" into the Italian language, she now kept a kind of philological notebook, full of vocabulary, phrases, rules of grammar. Initially, some of this was shaped into an essay in the magazine Internazi...
Una voce per l'eta!
By Niccolò Graffio A frequent criticism of mine in previous articles I have written for this blog is the number of our people (and they are legion) who have made their mark on history but who nevertheless are virtual unknowns in the collective minds of the American public. This is due for a number of reasons including American att...
Naples raises its voice to defend its rights over San Gennaro
A threat has been made to the heart of an old city, to a unique relationship between the people and their saint. The partnership has lasted through centuries of invasion, violence, disease and volcanic turbulence ... but now bureaucracy wants its say. The challenge is to the arrangements in place for the care of the patron saint of Naples...
Italy recovers 7 bodies, saves 500 after migrant ship flips
A large ship overturned Wednesday off Libya's coast with more than 500 migrants aboard, right as the Italian navy was approaching for rescue. Crews recovered seven bodies but saved more than 500 people who were thrown into the sea. The Italian navy said its Bettica patrol ship was responding to a migrant ship in distress when it flipped. A...
The Best Places to Go in Italy, According to Travel Bloggers
Introduce the topic of "Italy" to a group of seasoned travelers and you're almost guaranteed a room full of far-off, dreamy stares as people begin to fondly recall trips through The Boot. Ask a bunch of travel bloggers – via email, no less – about their Italy trips and what places they consider the best places in Italy and you can practically hear...
Italian Holiday
by David Sweet As an Italian travels by motorboat from Venice to Murano, where glass has been created with modest tools and radiant fire for centuries, he offers an unsolicited observation on history that he shares with American travelers. "When we live in a couple-hundred-year-old house, we live in a new house," he says. "Italians know t...
Together we will rebuild the Benedictine monastery, Brunello Cucinelli vows
by Mariano Maugeri Cassian Folsom, the American prior of the Monastery of St. Benedict who in 2000 reached Norcia with the idea of rebuilding the monastery attached to the church that collapsed in the earthquake last October 30, is the "spiritual father" of Brunello Cucinelli, the Perugia iconic fashion entrepreneur who in 2012 listed his...
Gli Stati Uniti visti dall’Italia. Gli studi americanistici dal 2010 a giugno 2012
Con questa rassegna periodica siamo ormai arrivati a coprire un quarto di secolo (1987-2012) 1. In questi 5 lustri è divenuto evidente come vi siano tendenze costanti della produzione americanistica: dalla sempre più massiccia presenza dei giornalisti all'attenzione per le elezioni e i presidenti, per le relazioni tra Stati Uniti ed Europa e tra St...
'Italy is more than mafia, pasta and mamma'
In a bid to challenge Italian stereotypes, two young Italians set up a dedicated Twitter account, which is run each week by a different person. The Local spoke to the founders of 'I am Italy' to find out how they are revamping Italy's image. "We're evolving from the 'mafia, spaghetti, mamma' image of the average Italian, to a country that is becom...
Dal sud del mondo. la lingua, la cultura e l'economia italiane. La Sardegna come ponte sul Mediterraneo
Il Mediterraneo spazio di dialogo tra culture e la Sardegna come ponte sul Mediterraneo. È in questo scenario che la Società Dante Alighieri, istituzione impegnata da 120 anni per la diffusione della lingua e della cultura italiana nel mondo, ha deciso di portare nel capoluogo sardo l'81° Congresso Internazionale, l'appuntamento a cadenza biennale...