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“Idda means ‘her’ in Sicilian dialect,” says artist and designer Gabriella Picone.  It’s a word she heard often growing up between New York City and Lipari, the Aeolian island off the coast of Sicily. Now it’s the name of her new studio, which she launched last year while hunkering down in another seaside locale, the North Fork of Long Island. What...

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“Never has a theater audience had such a show before them.” Thus wrote Goethe of the Greek Theater of Taormina in his famous ‘Italian Journey’ travelogue.   The Ancient Theater of Taormina is the second largest of its kind in Sicily, after the Greek Theater of Syracuse. Built in the 3rd century BC, carved out of the hard rock of Monte Tauro, it cou...

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The list of Italians who hold here in Italy institutional positions of collaboration with the United States is not very long. We have interviewed almost all of them over the years, and today we host one of them, who is also a close personal friend of mine. Andrea Gumina is the President of Amerigo - Intercultural Exchange Program Alumni Association...

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When it’s summertime in Sicily, it’s time to head to the local market or down to the docks to look over the day’s catch, pick out the night’s dinner, select herbs from the garden and fire up the grill. It’s a pescatarian bonanza – swordfish, tuna, branzino, octopus, squid, sardines, mullet, cuttlefish – so fresh it may still be flopping around on i...

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The dinner was preceded by a video sent to all the members of the Accademia Italiana della Cucina and guests, from a restaurateur/friend of Philip Guardione, Giovanni Ardizzone, owner of  “Da Nino,”  in the town of Letojanni, located next to Taormina. Ardizzone shared some typical Sicilian dishes and showed admiration for his friend who has brought...

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Terra cotta, earthenware, majolica, porcelain—Italian ceramics come in many forms. And while everyone knows that ‘Made in Italy’ denotes quality, you might not realize how many traditions there are when it comes to the creation of tabletop and other design items. That’s because Italian ceramic traditions have historically been—and still are—regiona...

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The association Demoskopika paints a pretty and successful picture for tourism in Italy during this summer. In fact, it estimates that at least 39 million Italians will travel through their country, which is a 12% increase compared to 2020. Meanwhile, the estimates for foreign visitors suggest an increase of 16,2%, or 166 million travelers. Accordi...

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Just off the west coast of Sicily, the glossy Italian fantasy runs out of breath amid spawning bluefins and African winds. Instead, the Egadi islands are feral in-between lands of phantasmagoric rock and chameleonic waters, set in Europe’s largest marine reserve. Beneath the surface, Neptune grass writhes like cilia, sweeping forth shipwrecked reli...

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This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. For an explanation of our Advertising Policy, visit this page. The largest island in the Mediterranean and one of Italy‘s most beloved vacation desti...

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In one of his masterpieces, Oceano Mare  (Ocean Sea), Italian novelist Alessandro Baricco describes an artist who painted the sea with sea water. I remember thinking, after reading the book for the first time, that there couldn’t be anything more poetic. Little did I know that, by looking into my own country’s long-lasting traditions, I was to enco...

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