What's up with WTI: Editorial # 158
Dear friends, another year ends and looking back we realize how many things we have done (many), how many things we would have liked to do (too many) and how many things we are planning for the future (so many!) A few days ago, on behalf of all of us at We the Italians, I had the honor of receiving at the American Consulate in Florence the presti...
Italian land and nature: The Susa Valley and Its Villages
Val di Susa, a valley so beautiful it leaves one agape, alternates in a pattern of intensely-verdant fields and skyscraping, yet gently-rolling peaks. It is nature withdrawn, but not so remote as to be inaccessible: a swift, modern highway traverses it, connecting the Valley to both Turin and France, each less than one hour away. (The two countries...
Italian cuisine: Baking Spirits Bright
Did you know that many of our modern holiday traditions have ancient Roman roots? The month of December, itself, is named after the 10th month of the Roman calendar, Decem. Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival in honor of the god Saturn held on December 17 of the Justinian calendar and later expanded with festivities through December 23. The...
Italian sport: The winning Italy. A year of sports success
More and more, it is sports that have Italy being talked about around the world as a winning nation. If 2021 was the magic year ever, with Italian athletes winning in every sports competition in which they participated, 2022 closes with just as many successes in dozens of international events. The first victories in chronological order came earlier...
Italian books: Interview with History
"I can't rule out that our existence is decided by a few, by the beautiful dreams or whims of a few, by the initiative or the will of a few... Of course, it's an atrocious hypothesis. Even more disconsolate, you wonder how those few: smarter than us, stronger than us, more enlightened than us, more enterprising than us? Or individuals like us, neit...
Italian little Italies: Presicce, the triumph of Baroque
You can start your visit of the historical center from via Roma, where the municipal offices are housed in the convent of the Carmelite Fathers, finished in 1590. In the adjacent church of Madonna del Carmine (second half of the XVI century) the main altar carved in local leccese stone has columns, tunnels and basreliefs in late Baroque style and t...
Italian culture and history: Matera, the Sassi and Rupestrian Churches
Ancient habitations dug into the tuff rock of a chalky plateau open up around a hollow, the Gravina di Matera, traversed by a torrent that flows in this spectacular and unique city in the Region of Basilicata. Roofs by turns become the foundations for new habitations on the levels overhead. A dense lattice of narrow streets and alleyways fill up wi...
Italian flavors: Tuscany Prosciutto
The art of preserving pork was firmly established in the Tuscany region by the Middle Ages. This can be seen from the number of laws governing the slaughter of pigs and the preservation of pork already in place at the time of Charlemagne. Prosciutto Toscano comes from an old tradition of Tuscan farmers, who would slaughter a pig fattened for a year...
Italian report: 56th Annual CENSIS Report
Censis (Centro Studi Investimenti Sociali) has been producing for fiftysix years a constant and articulated research, advice and technical assistance in the socio-economic development.This business has developed over the years through the implementation of studies on the social, economic and territorial development, intervention programs and cultur...
Italian handcrafts: Nativity Scene Craft
Naples has always been a place of strong contrasts, so it is only natural that nativity scenes, the extraordinary “product” of the local artisan production, would become embroiled in this and become the basis on which all these contradictions miraculously converge and are formed. The Neapolitan tradition of nativity scenes can be traced back to the...
Italian language: Un bianco Natale, a white Christmas
Since the holidays are approaching, and winter along with them, I thought it would be a good idea to discuss the color white. Since we are all always hoping for a white Christmas, snow-covered beautiful landscapes, let’s talk about Italian expressions with the color “white.” When talking about white and snow, most Italian cannot help but think abo...
IT and US: Tony Gaudio, the first Italian Oscar
There are stories that are lost in time. Sometimes, these forgotten stories are those of women and men who, in their lives, left a profound mark on the progress of society and, despite this, due to the passage of years are no longer adequately known. In such cases, it is a duty to ensure that these stories are rediscovered by the general public. On...