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Last week in our Sandwich of the Week column, we examined the rise of the super torta, which is like a regular torta blown up with a bicycle pump, containing not one but several main ingredients stacked high on a giant round bun. Often still less than $10, it has appeared in several places around town including Tortas Neva in Corona and Don Pepe in...

I’m not a great fan of the fantasy genre — exception made for a recently discovered love for the Harry Potter saga: yes, I know. I come about 20 years late — but who doesn’t know about J.R.R. Tolkien? Add to the mix I did dabble in the world of Old English while doing my Medieval Studies MA, and the presence of the popular linguist and author in my...

Our Women Who Jazz series continues with singer-pianist-songwriter Chiara Civello. Referred to as “the best jazz singer of her generation” by Tony Bennett, Chiara Civello will indulge DC music enthusiasts with her latest record, Eclipse.  A mix of elegant pop, Brazilian influences and contagious "sambalanço", a few surprising excerpts from Italian...

In 1905, Angelo Brocato Sr. opened a sweet shop in a section of the French Quarter known as Little Palermo. Brocato himself was a native of Palermo, where he first learned to make ice cream as a 12-year-old apprentice. His New Orleans shop, Angelo Brocato's, made lemon ice, gelato, torroncino and cannoli. Today, his family still runs Angelo Brocato...

A 10-year-old girl with a congenital heart condition and severe pulmonary malformation has been saved from certain death by a pulmonary self-transplant, the first time the operation has been performed on a paediatric patient, sources at a Genoa hospital said Wednesday. The operation was performed at the northwestern Italian city's Gaslini Hospital....

A Milwaukee father and son set out on a journey to learn as much as they can about their ancestors, with the help of NBC's " Today" show. Steve Balistreri's father and uncle started Sendik's. If you were part of the family, you likely paid your dues at at least one of those stores.  "All of us, all of my brothers and sisters, we all worked there, m...

A paradise for skiers, the Italian Alps of South Tyrol offer a more placid pastime that’s surging anew. A host of spas are sprouting up in isolated tracts among the highlands, and though there’s hiking, biking and access to some of the Alps’ easier ski slopes, sports are a mere afterthought here. The spas draw skiers and nonskiers alike to spend da...

Let’s begin with a little test: which of these authors are NOT Italian writers? Pay attention to appearances that could lead you to make a mistake. Barolini, Janeczek, De Lillo, Lahiri, Lakhous, Scego, Talese, Tusiani.  The answer can be found at the end of the article. So, what does it mean to be an “Italian writer”?   Someone who has Italian citi...

Charles Thee III got his first job at Auntie Pasto’s restaurant in Bellaire in 1997 after moving to Houston from Bermuda to study hotel and restaurant management at the University of Houston. Twenty-one years later, he opened an extension of the restaurant in Pearland where he lives with his wife, Kimberly, and his children. “It was a good fit for...

Tony Award winner John Lloyd Young originated the role of Frankie Valli in Broadway's Tony Award winning Best Musical and international hit, "Jersey Boys." As Valli, Young garnered unprecedented accolades from New York and national media, including one of the most exciting New York Times reviews ever written for an actor making a Broadway debut. Ce...

Plana’s Perpetual Calendar is discreetly hanging on the sacristy of the small Chapel of Merchants and Bankers in Turin, Italy. It operates by turning a wooden handle below the calendar’s adorned golden frame. Inside, vintage machinery cranks into motion: nine carefully inscribed cylinders begin to roll simultaneously via gears and toothed chains. T...

When you hear Lamborghini and the 1970s in the same sentence, you probably think about the origins of the iconic Countach luxury sports car. What you might not know is that, just three years after introducing the Countach, the Italian car maker went in a completely different direction, developing an off-road vehicle called the Cheetah that looks li...