On December 3 at 5 PM, Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, President of the Governorate of the Vatican City State, unveiled the 2022 Nativity Scene and presided over the lighting of the Christmas Tree in St. Peter’s Square. Due to torrential rain and thunderstorms the ceremony was held inside the Paul...

When and where was torrone first created? No one knows for certain.  Some connoisseurs say Persia; others Arabia; and still others China.  A clue lies in its list of ingredients, which is short and sweet: almonds, honey, sugar and egg white, although other nuts (pistachios, walnuts and hazelnuts), candied fruits...

In April and again early this month La Voce di New York published stories about Giovanni Ferrero’s immense wealth, but nothing about how he achieved such success. Ferrero’s story begins in 1942 when Pietro (1898-1949) Giovanni’s grandfather, opened a bakery in Alba.  He aimed to create a low-cost snack to replace...

In the 19th century Italy was no longer the world center of contemporary painting which thanks to Cezanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh and many others, had moved to France, especially to Paris and Provence, as well as to England with Turner’s and Sisley’s masterpieces. Italy’s lone Impressionist of...

Think cucina italiana and you’ll immediately come up with pizza, pasta, tomato sauce, pesto, and gelato. Few foreigners would ever dream that another multi-regional Italian dish is trippa or tripe, inexpensive, often stewed in tomato sauce and topped with grated pecorino (sheep) cheese. Except for in the United States and...

First mentioned in a 1570 cookbook from central Italy, the dish has been a mainstay on the tables of the country's 20 regions ever since

On July 22, Sergio Mattarella, the President of Italy, inaugurated the reopening, after a two-year restoration, of the magnificent Renaissance “Corsie Sistine” or, “Sistine Ward” at the oldest still-functioning hospital in Europe, the complex of Santo Spirito in Saxia.  The extensive work repaired the carved wooden ceiling, the masonry, the...

The International Slow Food Movement was founded in 1986 by Carlo Petrini, political activist, journalist, author and publisher, as a protest against the newly-opened McDonald’s near Rome’s elegant Piazza di Spagna, the first fast food restaurant in Italy. Today the International Slow Food Movement boasts millions of members from more...

Its inauguration postponed several times because of Covid, Garum: The Library and Museum of Cooking finally opened on May 26. The website www.atlasoscura.com lists 81 museums worldwide devoted to the history of food, but none includes a research library. Stove and Kitchenware Garum gets its name from a liquid sauce...