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Want something fabulous to play during Christmas dinner? Here’s a wonderful “Yule Log” video from Tony Bennett featuring many amazing holiday classics accompanied by delightful animation. Bennett’s original artwork is the imagery for the yule log animation from a painting titled,“Home Is Where The Heart Is,” which he initially created for the Ameri...

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f you’ve never had torrone before, the holiday season is a good time to try it. Mostly because it’s everywhere. The egg white-based nougat holiday candy with roots in Italy and the Arabic world is popping up, freshly made, in a variety of styles from some of my favorite spots in the city. You may have seen it in huge blocks at Claudio’s or Di Bruno...

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Circa quattro mesi di lavoro e l’impegno di tutta Gubbio con i suoi Alberaioli. Nasce così l’albero di Natale più grande del mondo. Per il 39esimo anno, sul monte Igino si è accesa l’indistinguibile sagoma formata da centinaia di lampadine: per l’esattezza 950. Sono 1350 invece le prese e le spine utilizzate per le connessioni di cavi e punti luce...

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I grew up in North Beach from 1946 through the late ’50s. I was the oldest of three sons born to an immigrant family from Sicily, a few years before Carol Doda’s breasts became institutionalized at the Condor Club, titillating tourists with silicone implants and watered-down drinks, catty-corner from City Lights Booksellers & Publishers, still gene...

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Each year as the days grow shorter in England, where I have now made my home, I cannot help but miss the winters of my childhood, appallingly more than a half a century ago, in upper Westchester New York. Our home on a cul-de-sac at the top of a hill was surrounded by trees, which by early December were almost always laden with snow. The ponds and...

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On the night before Christmas, an array of seafood begins appearing on some dinner tables as a symbolic way to ring in the sacred holiday. The tradition of abstaining from meat and eating fish before a holiday began centuries ago as a Roman Catholic practice in many parts of Italy, where the type and number of fish and the preparation vary by regio...

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Italy does Christmas very well, but there are a few traditions which may seem confusing or downright bizarre to the uninitiated. Here are six of the key ingredients for a truly Italian festive season, explained. 1. A month of festivities We've all got that one friend who wants to put on the Christmas music and dig out their reindeer jumper in Septe...

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No Christmas would be complete without some good fireside stories! And Italy is full of interesting tales. So from good Christmas witches to dynamic processions of fire, here are some of the most interesting Christmas legends & festivals to come out of Italy! La Befana La Befana is hands down Italy’s most interesting Christmas character. Known as t...

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The very roots of our modern Christmas belong in Italy. Christmas, the Feast of the Nativity, was decreed by Emperor Aurelian in A.D. 274 to take place on December 25th of each year. Although many biblical historians believe the actual birth of Jesus took place some time in the Spring, early Roman Christians felt it was important to create a feast...

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La Sacra Famiglia, il bue, l'asinello, i pastori e tanta tanta acqua. È il "Presepe galleggiante" di Formia, la città costiera in provincia di Latina, unico del suo genere in Italia. Una realizzazione strettamente legata alla tradizione marinara del centro del sud laziale. Le 23 grandi forme sono state, infatti, costruite in legno da barca, e poste...

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