Close

A proposal to insert a statue of the first woman in the world to earn a PhD among the 78 dedicated to notable male figures on a prominent square in northern Italy has stirred controversy. Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia received her doctorate degree in philosophy from the University of Padua in 1678. But she was not included when Padua officials de...

612

Back in 2008, the multi-million dollar Ponte della Costituzione footbridge opened after several delays and cost overruns, and things quickly took a literal nosedive from there. Designed by renowned architect Santiago Calatrava and built over the Grand Canal near Venice’s train station, the structure was intended to symbolize Venice’s modernity, but...

599

What happened in Murano, stayed in Murano. So was the rigidly guarded way of life on the tiny island in the Venetian Lagoon, about a mile north of Venice, where, in the late 1200s, the Venetian government mandated that the furnaces used by local glassmakers, and the glassmakers themselves, be relocated from the city center. Intended as a measure to...

885

My earliest memories of Italy are of Venice. In such a strange and magical world, I felt like Alice in Wonderland; as a child, I chased pigeons around St. Mark’s Square, while my father painted watercolors of the scene. Later, as part of my art history studies, I traveled frequently from Salzburg, where I studied, to Umbria and Tuscany, learning ab...

620

This is the motto of the Ohio Regional Music Arts Cultural Outreach (ORMACO), a nonprofit whose mission is to bring the arts to rural, marginalized, or disadvantaged communities lacking in cultural opportunities. Through grants, donations and underwriting from area businesses and individuals, they have been offering educational outreach programs, w...

592

The Navigli are a true symbol of Milan, as well as being one of the most fascinating attractions of the Lombard capital, which boasts among other things a tradition of “city of water”, and a pole of historical and cultural attraction, but also tourist and popular, nightlife included. Between the Darsena and the nearby streets, then, there are also...

628

At the cafe that doubles-up as a newsagent in Galliano di Mugello, a medieval hamlet in Tuscany, there are no pings from mobile phones, people aimlessly browsing the internet or uploading pictures of their cappuccino to Instagram. Instead, customers read the newspaper – their main source of information on the outside world – or talk to each other....

578

We begin the eleventh year of We the Italians interviews with a true excellence in the divulgation of Italian culture in the United States. Carla Gambescia's name is known to many Americans who have the good fortune to have Italian origins and others who do not, and it is synonymous with Dolce Vita: it is precisely to Dolce Vita that Carla turns wh...

3606

Ferruccio Lamborghini was born on April 28, 1916, and developed a reputation for mechanical ingenuity when he was stationed as a vehicle maintenance supervisor for the Italian Royal Air Force. Stuck on an island in the middle of World War II meant the supply chain for parts wasn't reliable, so he had to get creative to keep things running. When he...

796

When temperatures drop low, what’s better than a steaming hot drink to warm the body and spirit?! Here are nine drinks to enjoy in Italy in winter.  Bombardino The name alone is enough to bring on some cheer. Bombardino (meaning ‘little bomb’) may very well be the favorite hot drink of skiers as you will see many of them gulp one down at Italy’s ri...

817