How many times have you looked at Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper? It’s one of the most studied and admired works of art in history. But there’s a detail that most people miss. Right at the center of the table, beneath the hands of Christ and his disciples, lies a white tablecloth adorned with delicate geometric patterns. While it might seem like a...

After learning her family’s Italian culture from her immigrant grandparents, Susan Guerra is experiencing a new part of life by living and leading walking food tours in Italy.  Growing up in Glen Ridge, Guerra was familiar with New Jersey Italian traditions, but it wasn’t until years later that she would move to Italy and truly learn the extent of...

Nestled in the heart of Italy, Perugia is the gem of Umbria—a region known as the “green heart” of the country. While it lacks a coastline, this historic city more than makes up for it with its charm and strategic location. With approximately 160,000 residents, Perugia ranks as Italy’s 30th most populated city. Though it cannot compete in size with...

The meeting point is in Perugia’s historic centre, at the corner of Via dei Cartolari and Via Alessi, in front of the elegant Palazzo Ansidei di Catrano. One’s imagination immediately drifts to the luxurious life of Luisa Spagnoli, a pioneering entrepreneur in the food and fashion sectors. She became wealthy, but she started in the basement of that...

The Italian release of James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” is prompting local media to claim that, unlike in the movie, Dylan traveled to Italy in 1962 in pursuit of Suze Rotolo — named Sylvie Russo in the film and played by Elle Fanning — who had left New York to study abroad. In 1962, Rotolo left the Greenwich Village apartment...

Perugia, the capital of Umbria, is a medieval gem of a hill town. Known for its excellent universities, rich architectural history and Umbria Jazz, one of the great music festivals of Europe, it’s also nurtured a vibrant sister-city relationship with Seattle for more than three decades. There’s another area where Perugia shines: as a center of fash...

A complex investigation and seizure activity carried out by the Carabinieri of the Nucleo Tutela Patrimonio Culturale, coordinated by the Perugia Public Prosecutor’s Office, unearthed numerous Etruscan artifacts found from clandestine excavations and deemed to be of “exceptional historical and artistic value.” In economic terms, the entire “treasur...

The capital of Umbria — the central Italian region known as Italy’s “green heart” — Perugia is one of the country’s best preserved medieval cities. Established by the Etruscans (a pre-Roman civilization), Perugia became one of Europe’s most important centers for textile production during the Middle Ages, exporting their embroidered textiles to the...

When Isabella Dalla Ragione assesses a Renaissance painting, she doesn’t immediately notice the brushstrokes or the magnificence of the imagery. The first thing she notices is the fruit. On a spring day earlier this year, I stride with Dalla Ragione into the National Gallery of Umbria, in a 14th-century stone castle built atop the hillside city of...

When visiting Italy, you might expect romance, history, art, and food, and a tour through this beautiful country serves up many exciting feelings that tourists crave, from wine lovers visiting Tuscany to fashion enthusiasts exploring Milan. Chocolate fanatics and art admirers may want to make a stop in the beautiful city of Perugia, home to stunnin...