Foodie Empire: Eat and learn Italian at Piad'Amore
by Laurie Lucas It's not enough to merely eat authentic Italian flatbread sandwiches in Riverside. The owner of Piad'Amore restaurant wants a dual-immersion experience for customers into his homeland's favorite street food and his native tongue. Every Thursday from 6-7:30 p.m., owner Antonio Pagano hosts Italian lessons at his 2-month-old...
Special Invitation to Join the Annual Italian Heritage Parade this October
by Mauro Battocchi San Francisco's Annual Italian Heritage Parade will hit the streets on Sunday, October 11, 2015 in North Beach, the historic Italian district of San Francisco. Last year, on October 12, almost 90 floats took part in one the largest Italian Heritage parades ever recorded. This year we would like to see the greatest partic...
First Ever Silicon Valley Italian Festival Springs into Life
On Sunday January 31, 2016 at the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto (3921 Fabian Way), a new flower in the current "Italian Spring" in San Francisco will blossom: the first ever Silicon Valley Italian Festival is on the way. Sponsored by all stripes of the Italian community, from the Italian Consulate General in San Francisco to Cl...
The 50th anniversary of the Asian Art Museum gets an Italian touch with Matteo Ricci’s exhibition
The celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco got an Italian touch: while the museum's current home was designed by architect Gae Aulenti, the museum is hosting an exhibition regarding the Italian Jesuit Missionary Matteo Ricci, curated - among others - by Italian exhibition designer Marco Centin. The co...
Giovanni ‘Gianni’ Giotta, Caffe Trieste founder, dies at 96
Giovanni "Gianni" Giotta, founder of Caffe Trieste and one of North Beach's great personalities, died Saturday at 96. He was born in 1920 in Rovigno on the Istrian peninsula, a town that now belongs to Croatia. He came from a fishing family and began accompanying his father on the boats when he was just 6, graduating to merchant marine ships b...
Learn About the 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go
Author and Italy expert Susan Van Allen will be presenting a lecture on the third edition of her book, "100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go," on Monday, December 5, where she will also offer tips on making your Italian dream vacation come true, with an entertaining presentation on Bel Paese. Her lecture will be at Distant Lands Travel Bookst...
Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero to visit California in April
Ambassador of Italy to the United Stated Claudio Bisogniero will be visiting Southern California in April, for his second official mission since last Fall. His presence here will honor the success received by the many initiatives for the 2013 – Year of the Italian Culture in the U.S. Ambassador Bisogniero will be present at the opening of Sicily:...
The Conversation: Francesco Vezzoli, artist
by Liam O'Brien You're putting on a trio of exhibitions at Rome's Maxxi museum, New York's MoMA and the MOCA in Los Angeles this year – that sounds like a lot of work. It is. Especially because it's not the same show. I kind of grew tired of the whole scheme of art exhibitions – they start in one place and then go to another place...
Unescoitalia: Italy’s World Heritage Sites December 6, 2013 – January 24, 2014
The travelling exhibit, "unescoitalia" – created by Italy's Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities in association with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – is a collection of photos of Italy's UNESCO World Heritage sites, as seen through the lenses of 14 prominent and contemporary Italian photographers: Olivo Barbieri, Gabriele Basilico, Gianni...
Of Bronz and Fire: The Art of Casting – Tuscan Craftsmanship
The exhibition presents bronze copies of famous works of art by artists such as Michelangelo, Donatello, Giambologna, and Etruscan masters, realized by the renowned Ferdinando Marinelli Foundry in Florence. The shows highlights the peculiar casting techniques employed in Tuscany and the role that the art of bronze casting plays in the conservation...
Maria Montessori’s pioneering educational method that shaped successful American businesses
Last week, Google celebrated its 16th anniversary. Behind the creation of the web giant, as well as of others the likes of Amazon and Wikipedia, there is a generation of brilliant Montessori-educated founders. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Jeff Bezos, and Jimmy Wales all attended Montessori schools in the U.S., inspired by the innovative educational...
Dangerous Perfection: Funerary Vases from Southern Italy
Thirteen elaborately decorated Apulian vases provide a rich opportunity to examine the funerary customs of peoples native to southern Italy and the ways they used Greek myth to comprehend death and the afterlife. Displayed following a six-year conservation project at the Antikensammlung Berlin and the Getty Villa, these monumental vessels...