‘Treasure Trove’ From Italy’s ‘Most Underrated Museum’ Travels to The United States for the First Time
It is with great pleasure that the American Friends of Capodimonte (AFC) announce the first U.S. traveling exhibition of 40 Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces, most of which have never been viewed by an American audience, from the Capodimonte Museum in Naples, Italy; the royal palace built in 1738 by Charles of Bourbon, King of Naples and Sicily...
Gianfranco Gorgoni, photographer of Land Art and the New York avant-garde, has died, aged 77
The Italian photographer Gianfranco Gorgoni has died, aged 77. The photographer, born in Rome in 1941, is best known for having captured some of the most ubiquitous images of Land Art from the 1970s onward, including remarkable aerial views of Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (1970) in Utah that he shot from a helicopter. Gorgoni came to the US in 19...
Fazoli’s Celebrates Excellence During National Brand Conference
Fazoli’s – the brand known for serving up premium Italian recipes at a great value – recently held their 2019 National Brand Conference in Marco Island, Florida where they awarded their brand trailblazers for driving success. “Our National Brand Conference really ignites excitement around our newest brand strategies while celebrating the big wins o...
Catholic Celebrity Chef Lidia Bastianich
Renowned celebrity chef Lidia Bastianich runs a culinary empire—she owns 11 Italian American restaurants in the United States. She has her own television series, Lidia’s Kitchen. She has written 16 Italian cookbooks, and created a line of Italian pastas and sauces. She is a member of the international woman’s culinary group, Les Dames d’Escoffier,...
How a Dying Man Wrote a Timeless Novel
“If we want everything to remain as it is, everything must change.” With these words, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s “The Leopard” announced a paradox of modern Italian history, as elites frenetically cut deals to protect their privileged status on the eve of national unification in 1861. In “Lampedusa,” Steven Price’s fictional account of how the...
The reason Lorraine Bracco refused to play another Mafia role after Goodfellas
Lorraine Bracco was so amazing in Goodfellas (1990) that she stole every scene was in with her portrayal of Karen Friedman Hill, the unsuspecting Jewish girl who married into the Mob via Henry Hill. The actress was so good, in fact, that she refused to every play any other mobster-type role ever again for fear of not being able to live up to the hi...
Hall of Famer Mike Piazza on fatherhood, baseball and the secret to happiness
Mike Piazza lives by one rule as a parent: You don’t have to like me, but you do have to respect me. Actually, that's a pretty good rule for life, says the baseball Hall of Famer. "The first rule — to try to be happy — is to not care what people think," Piazza told TODAY Parents. Retired from the game in 2008, now living in Italy with his wife and...
A battle of wills
My uncle Joe Sacchetti and his wife, my Aunt Pauline, struggled like most families back in the 50’s in an effort to raise their two sons, Chris and Joe Jr. Uncle Joe was a hardworking man who held many jobs and always found a way to make a dollar to support his family. He was the third eldest of his siblings, born in 1919. He lived to age of 80...
Hey, NEA! No way!
At its 2019 National Convention, the National Education Association (NEA) passed a resolution to have Columbus Day renamed Indigenous Peoples Day, stating, “As an education association, recognizing, observing, and celebrating factual history is important to maintaining our academic integrity.” Really? Come on! How hypocritical. The current onslaugh...
Remembering Marina Schiano: Model, Muse, and Magnate
Marina Schiano, the fiery model, photographer, muse, and jewelry designer, has died. She was 71. Schiano was one of those rangy, long-haired beauties who traipsed through the pages of Vogue in its jet-setting Diana Vreeland days. In 1968 she appeared in an extravagant 28-page feature photographed in Mexico by Henry Clarke. In a blog entry, lensman...
Barletta to lead coalition to protect Italian-made goods from tariffs
Lou Barletta said Tuesday that he will lead a coalition of companies to ensure Italian food products are not unfairly impacted by tariffs in a trade dispute involving European aviation manufacturer Airbus. The coalition of leading Italian food companies, manufacturers and trade associations announced Tuesday the creation of the American Italian Foo...
Video contest “Why is Leonardo a genius?”
On the occasion of the “19th Week of the Italian Language in the World,” the Embassy of Italy is pleased to announce a Video Contest for Italian language students in the United States. Each year, Italian Language Week has a different underlying theme and a vast cultural program to advance the promotion of our Italian language. This year, the theme...