Marisa Laurito, the Artistic Director of the new Teatro Trianon Viviani since 2020, exclaims, “It was outrageous that until now Naples didn’t have a theater dedicated to performing its rich popular musical tradition. In Portugal there’s the fado; in Vienna the waltz; in Spain the flamenco; in New York Broadway’s...

Disney distorted the personality of the central character, replaced the message at the heart of the fable, and changed the setting…but Pinocchio is a story with many, many, levels of cultural, social, political, culinary and religious (particularly the “prodigal son” and resurrection) significance. It’s a text far more complex than...

Last week in the article, "Celebrating Christmas in August in Minori, a Gem of a Town on the Amalfi Coast," I talked about the Gusta Minori festival, a cultural and oeno-gastronomical festival held annually for the past 25 years during the second half of August. As part of my visit,...

“I came for a unique Minori tradition: to celebrate Christmas in August … On the 24th “Panettone Night,” 34 chefs from Italy’s 20 regions, all members of the Accademia del lievito madre founded by Minori’s most famous citizen, pastry chef “Sal” De Riso, passed out free panettone samples to all...

To celebrate Piranesi's 300th birthday in 2020, the Foreign Press were invited to visit the most special site on the the Aventine hill, the Knights of Malta’s Grand Priory, where the great architect, archeologist and engraver began by designing a picturesque square, decorating it with alternating obelisks and stelae. Canceled...

Already in 1809 Napoleon’s Roman administration had immediately selected the Quirinal Palace, at the time the popes’ summer residence, as Napoleon’s dwelling. If Napoleon concentrated on imitating ancient Rome and its emperors, his relationship with religion and the Holy See was complex, often hostile, and at best shaky, as is...

Sadly, Covid-19 is still blocking travel for pleasure from the United States to Italy (down 90% in 2020), but I can recommend three new books in English about Italian cuisine to whet your appetite and help you plan your next trip.  In the meantime, you can comfort yourself by enjoying...

The aim of the exhibition, made clear in an entryway introductory section, “The Audience’s Expectation”, is for the visitor to participate in the painting; metaphorically-speaking to enter its canvas, to be part of the action, not just an observer. This point is made clear immediately by two antique mirrors at...

The Uffizi’s celebration started on January 29, when the Museums posted “The Doni Spouses,” narrated by the retired head art historian at the Uffizi, Marzia Faietti, on Facebook. As for Massari’s three-part sweet, “crema di bianca mangiare”, it’s a work of art in itself. Only an expert pastry chef like...