100 years of Marcello Mastroianni, the star who never wanted to be a heartthrob
The iconic Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni (1924-1996) recalled that, when he was offered the chance to star in La Dolce Vita (1960), he asked the director — Federico Fellini — to see the script. What he got was a folder containing a pornographic drawing. Any heartthrob worthy of the label would have reacted with a complicit gesture, or perhaps...
History center, partners awarded Italian American research grant
The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded a $50,000 grant to the Senator John Heinz History Center and its partners at the University of Pittsburgh and West Virginia University to support and grow the Italian Diaspora Archive Resource Map project, which catalogs archival materials that document the Italian American experience in Western...
Republic Day in Italy: what it is and how it is celebrated
The Italian calendar includes 12 national holidays, plus a whole series of other "lesser" holidays that are celebrated only in some cities, such as those dedicated to patron saints. Among these special days, the Republic Day, in italian Festa della Repubblica, is one of the most heartfelt by the population, despite the fact that, for historical rea...
IAP 323: better in Basilicata? Rediscovering roots & revitalizing villages: your future home in Latronico
In recent years, the phenomenon of “One Euro Homes” has spread across Italy, as rural villages across “il Bel Paese” struggle to curb the steady population decline that is endemic in a country with constant urban flight and one of the world’s lowest birth rates. But as these cheap property schemes have become a dime-a-dozen, there is one town in...
Chico Forti returns to Italy after 24 years in US jail
Enrico 'Chico' Forti, an Italian entrepreneur who has spent the last 24 years in a US jail after being convicted of killing an Australian businessman in 1998, returned to Italy on Saturday morning. Forti, 65, landed at Pratica di Mare air base south-west of Rome on an Italian military plane, where he was met by Italian premier Giorgia Meloni. Forti...
What's up with WTI: Editorial # 175
Dear friends, Next June 4 will be a very important date. Exactly 80 years earlier, on June 4, 1944, troops of the American Fifth Army entered Rome, liberating it from Nazi oppression and war. The people of Rome took to the streets, finally free and happy, to celebrate, hug and thank the American soldiers. These are scenes of happiness that all us R...
Italian culture and history: The Rhaetian Railway
The Rhaetian Railway is a mountain railroad network whose lines connect Italy to Switzerland, via a long labyrinth of wide valleys and mountain passes. Added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2008, the part of the Rhaetian Railway running through Albula and Bernina is not like any other: its tracks, completed at the beginning of the 1900s, had a...
Italian sport: The best youth of the old continent
Athletics is the noblest and purest expression of sport, and its performers, namely the athletes, are as beautiful as can be admired during competitions. Running, jumping and throwing, every competition conveys strong emotions. Then there is also the fascination of a stadium where at the same time there are athletes who pole vault over 6 meters, wh...
Italian cuisine: Strawberry Almond Panna Cotta
One of the interesting things that you notice while working in both the United States and Italy is that the availability of certain seasonal fruits and vegetables is much more limited (especially on the East Coast and in the Midwest) than it is in Italy. Living in the Washington, DC area, I don’t always have the same fresh fruits in season as my It...
Italian handcrafts: Umbrian Ceramics
From the most distant past, the portion of Umbria between the upper and middle valley of the Tiber River and its tributaries, the Chiascio and Paglia, was settled by communities whose earthenware objects, moulded with sedimentary clay from the local soil, provide important evidence and documents of the development of civilisation. The Umbrians and...
Italian books: I'm not scared
I’m not scared (Io non ho paura) is a book first published in 2001 and written by Italian author Niccolò Ammaniti. He was born in Rome in 1966. The first books he wrote were characterized as pulp genre and I’m not scared is the one that put him in the spotlight. The same author will turn the book into a movie directed by Gabriele Salvatores in 2003...
Italian design: Angela Caputi, Design Between Art and Fashion
Angela Caputi represents a case of particular interest in the Italian Design scene, placing herself in an ideal terrain between Fashion and Art. The Florentine designer and entrepreneur in 1975 left teaching and devoted herself full-time to the creation of highly innovative craftsmanship, characterized by strong originality and extreme quality. Her...