Italian cuisine: White Kidney Beans Tuscan Style
Tuscany is a land of poets, artists and scientists, but also of excellent wine and ancient flavors that we can find in poor dishes such as pappa al pomodoro, ribollita or these white beans called all'uccelletto (small bird). According to Pellegrino Artusi, the name derives from the aromas (in particular sage) that are used to flavor the little bird...
Italian language: Don’t despair, you already know Italian…almost
Today I am going to cheat a little bit. I am not in fact going to talk about Italian words specifically, but about Italian words that became completely part of the English vocabulary. Let’s begin by saying that as all loanwords, they are not fully used properly, as the Italian grammar and meaning would require, but hey, that’s just the way it is. S...
Great Italians of the Past: Oriana Fallaci, the truth-hunter
“There are moments in life when keeping silent becomes a fault, and speaking an obligation. A civic duty, a moral challenge, a categorical imperative from which we cannot escape”. This was (or let me say, this is) Oriana Fallaci. Yes, because Oriana is like an eternal human being. Not just a journalist, Oriana was also an author and a worldwide fam...
Italian gardens: The Park of Donnafugata Castle
The Donnafugata Castle, almost 10 miles from Ragusa, is a sumptuous noble residence of the late '800, of 1,5 square miles, with a facade in neo-Gothic style accompanied by two side towers. The first construction of the castle dates back to 1300, but there are no certain dates. Later, it was purchased in 1648 by Vincenzo Arezzo-La Rocca, former baro...
Italian wine: Native grapes of Liguria
Liguria is one of the wine regions I don’t write about too often on here just due to the opportunity of not trying wines from there too often. Earlier this summer I attended some tastings and tried a variety of unique grapes from Liguria. The grapes included pollera nera, cruvin, rossese di dolceacqua and good old vermentino and sangiovese. Let’s d...
Italian lifestyle and fashion: Inside the world of Stefano Ricci, the fine art of dressing the uber-rich male
The man who buys a $25,000 handmade Stefano Ricci suit doesn’t really need a suit. He doesn’t need a $26,000 crocodile leather briefcase or $1,000 custom-tailored silk shirt. He can do with one less $500 tie. He already has everything he needs and can satisfy his sartorial cravings anywhere he chooses. Except that he actually buys these luxuries at...
What's up with WTI: Editorial # 118
Ciao from Rome to all the friends of We the Italians! In August almost everything stops in Italy: but not We the Italians! Every day there are new news on our website and on our Facebook page, new photos on our Instagram profile, and also this month there are two new interviews and our magazine. We NEVER stop! There are some news that we want to re...
Italian culture and history: Nuoro
The Province of Nuoro is situated in east-central Sardinia. Overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea on its east, it is bordered by the Provinces of Sassari and Olbia-Tempio on its north, by the Province of Oristano in the west, and the Provinces of Cagliari and Ogliastra to its south. It spreads out for 1,519 square miles (16.3% of Sardinian territory) and...
Italian handcrafts: The Art of Goldsmithery in Crotone
The tradition of the art of goldsmithery in Crotone is certainly not as ancient as the city, which was founded by Greek settlers in 710 B.C., but it can still boast of roots that extend far back into history. It also draws its inspiration from Magna Graecia, as demonstrated by the typical filigree and gold work that still bears traces of the style...
Italian little Italies: Castiglione del Lago, A rock on a silver veil
“I write to you from an enchanting place. Our house is in front of the Trasimeno Lake, all surrounded by thick hills and on the lake three green little dream islands, lying down abandoned as in a state of ectasy”. These are the words written by a poetess of the early twentieth century, Vittoria Aganoor, who describes to a friend a landscape of ench...
Italian flavors: Piacenza Salami
In Europe, the tradition of eating pork meat stretches far back into antiquity, as pigs were an animal that was easy to rear in a domestic environment, they were rich in fat and delicious meats and reproduced quickly. In the second half of the nineteenth century, some pig bones excavated from archaeological sites in the Po Valley corroborated the h...
Italian traditions: Ferragosto in Italy
They were originally called feriae Augusti, or "the rest of Augustus" (as the Roman emperor), and are a millenary history custom. They were to indicate those holidays established in the year 8 BC by the first Roman emperor in history to celebrate the end of the main works of the agricultural season and thus constitute a period of rest able to resto...