NEWS FROM : ITALY  

It took composer Dan Romer a while to find the right Italian touch for the music of “Luca,” Disney-Pixar’s animated fantasy (opening June 18) about young sea monsters masquerading as humans on the Italian Riviera. “Not quite Italian enough” was director Enrico Casarosa’s response to his first try. “Too Italian!” was the response to his second. Even...

"What blessed mornings I spent at the Colosseum, lost in some corner of those immense ruins!" This is how the French writer Stendhal recounted his experience as a visitor to the most famous Italian monuments in his book ‘Walks in Rome’, published in 1829. It's an experience that visitors can now relive, with Italian museums reopening at the end of...

Earlier this month Italy marked the 40th anniversary of the death of Alfredino Rampi, the little boy who died more than 60 hours after falling down an artesian well in the Roman countryside. Despite the passing of four decades, the story still brings a shudder to Italians old enough to remember the tragedy in Vermicino. In June 1981 the nation was...

Although countless people around the world can trace their Italian ancestry to Calabria, Calabrian cuisine tends to remain under the radar. It's a shame because the wild, unspoiled southern Italian region teems with delights. Here's a look at six fundamentals of Calabrian cuisine that are also widely beloved around the peninsula.  1.  LicoriceCulti...

Rome celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Italian painter and Futurist master Giacomo Balla by opening his former home to the public for the first time. Casa Balla, the painter's kaleidoscopic vision of art and colour on Via Oslavia, finally comes to light after being closed for 30 years. Its opening is thanks to a collaboration bet...

It was the year 1318: after a tumultuous escape from his native city; and various stays in different places on the peninsula, due to the exile imposed by Cante Gabrielli, the new Podestà of Florence, Dante Alighieri arrived in the city of Ravenna, at the court of Guido Novello da Polenta. In this chief-town of Romagna, the poet was able to work as...

As the cheeky saying goes, a well-tailored suit is to women what lingerie is to men. For one emerging Italian men’s retailer, distinguishing classic styles with an emphasis on quality and material, Edoardo Borrelli made a name for himself by way of his immaculately designed tailored suits for men. And while his suits are still well-regarded, the It...

As Italy gets reacquainted with tourism after the pandemic, the country's biggest destinations have had a chance to rethink the way things are done. American writer Mark Hinshaw in Italy's Marche region looks at how the industry could become more responsible and sustainable, and at what's already changing. Yesterday we ate in a nice restaurant. Eig...

When a group U.S. Army firefighters from Camp Darby walked into Pisa hospital, the eyes on a young man named Federico began to sparkle. Others, Anna, Simone, Lorenzo – all children cared for at the hospital’s pediatric oncohematology and pediatric departments, were filled with amazement as the delegation arrived Monday, to offer a “friendly firefig...

Of course gelato is Italian, but one of its most popular varieties, the ice cream cone – or cono gelato – is the brainchild of an Italian, too,  and that the US had part in its creation.There is very little out there that speaks of summer as much as an ice cream cone, especially in Italy, but have you ever wondered where the ubiquitous wafer comes...

Italy head coach Roberto Mancini was delighted his side maintained a high level of performance, despite making eight changes to the starting XI in the 1-0 win over Wales at Euro 2020. The Azzurri qualified for the last 16 with a perfect record of three wins from three matches in Group A, scoring seven goals without conceding against Turkey, Switzer...

LODOVICO ALESSANDRI REMEMBERS THE FIRST time he saw the town of Aliano, in 1994. He was “nauseated,” he says, by what seemed to him “a completely broken country,” a decaying hilltop town in a rural area in the instep of Italy’s boot. Fifty-nine years before, the Piedmontese intellectual and artist Carlo Levi had had a similar reaction: “Everything...