ICA: When Applying for Italian Citizenship by Descent, Which Italian Ancestor Should You Use?
If you are pursuing Italian citizenship by descent, the first step is determining your eligibility. However, you may have multiple Italian-born ancestors and are unsure which is the best ancestor to apply through. Therefore, it’s crucial to begin with a preliminary step of piecing together the details in your family tree, including dates and places...
Italian flavors: Piave Cheese
Since ancient times, the mountains of Belluno have provided an ideal natural setting for breeding dairy cattle and for dairy production. The first cooperative dairy in the Kingdom of Italy was established in Canale d’Agordo in 1872. The idea of grouping small local farmers to process their milk in a single cheese dairy, thereby reducing production...
Italian art: Hidden treasures emerge: Giotto's masterpiece under restoration in Florence
In the heart of Florence, a remarkable restoration project is unveiling the secrets of one of art history's greatest masters. The Stories of Saint Francis, painted by Giotto in the Bardi Chapel of Santa Croce, are undergoing a meticulous restoration that won't be completed until summer 2025. However, the project is already yielding fascinating disc...
Italian gardens and parks: Colorno Royal palace, Parma
The Colorno Royal Palace was built by Duke Ranuccio II Farnese in 1660 as a tribute to his wife Violante Margherita of Savoy, a great lover of fox hunting, and was later completed by his son Ranuccio II, the Duke Francesco Farnese until 1719. The Honorable courtyard still has the characters given by the great designer Ferdinando Galli, called “Il B...
What's up with WTI: Editorial # 179
Dear friends, September is always a month full of events and activities, but never before has We the Italians been as busy as this year when returning from summer vacations, although as you know, we never stop. As you know, we are partners in a particularly important traveling event. It's called Salerno-Verona, History of the American Fifth Army in...
Italian culture and history: Aosta, the little Rome of the Alps
Aosta has earned the nickname “little Rome of the Alps” due to the extraordinary wealth of its archaeological sites from Roman times that can be visited like an open-air museum. Conquered by Rome in the days of Augustus, the city was renamed Augusta Praetoria and was enriched with important monuments due to its strategic position on the Roman Via d...
Italian art: Vasari's Masterpiece Reunited. A Renaissance Ceiling Shines Again in Venice
After nearly 500 years, Giorgio Vasari's magnificent ceiling from Palazzo Corner Spinelli in Venice has been fully restored and is once again on public display. This Renaissance jewel has been painstakingly reassembled after its panels were scattered among private collectors and museums at the end of the 18th century. For the past 40 years, the Ita...
Italian cuisine: Calabrian Chicken, Pepper, Tomato, and Potato Stew
September is National Chicken Month and National Potato Month, and I have the pleasure of spending it in my ancestral homeland of Calabria, Italy. Here potatoes, peppers, and tomatoes find their way into many traditional recipes even though they were originally New World ingredients. Last week my dear friend and culinary collaborator Giampiero Mont...
Italian healthcare: The making of Medical Tourism Italy
A small town of not more than 1500 people deep in the inland of Veneto, plunged in the hills, equally distant from Verona, at the west, Vicenza, at the East, and the Alps, at the north. This is a town of humble people, where everybody knows each other, with that working-class awareness that you must make it on your own. This is where Claudio Pacca...
Italian sport: Twenty years without Marco Pantani
On February 14, 2004, the lifeless body of Marco Pantani, widely considered the greatest cyclist of the late last century, was found in a room of a residence in Rimini, the famous tourist resort in Emilia Romagna. Around the end of the last millennium, Pantani was one of the most famous sportsmen in the world, not only in Italy and Europe, where cy...
Italian handcrafts: The Stonemasonry of Oratino
Stonecraft in Molise has ancient roots. It is thought that stone structures and objects were made initially to ensure people’s safety and survival. Entire districts built of stone can be found in some towns in the region, and beautiful examples of architectural and decorative features, such as capitals and statues, are not hard to find. At one time...
Italian little Italies: Buccheri, Wellness Oasis of the Iblei
On Colle Terreo the remains of the Norman castle can be visited, of which some important evidence remains today. Not far away, among the elements of religious architecture, is the S. Antonio Abate Church, which dominates the town from the top of a scenic flight of steps (built in 1911); inside the church interesting paintings by G. Borremans from 1...