How Mortadella Became An Italian Cultural Phenomenon
It is easy to mistake mortadella for bologna, though you wouldn't want to in Italy. It is said that some Italian mortadella makers view American bologna "the way French champagne producers view Ripple — with disgusted pity," per the Tenement Museum. Despite sharing its name with the famous Italian city, the bologna we're all familiar with is a far...
Courmayeur Is Northern Italy’s BestKept Secret
Courmayeur is a place for adventure seekers. Set in the heart of the Mont Blanc massif, one of Europe’s largest mountain ranges, it is picturesque all year round. Looking into town or out onto the troughs and peaks of this alpine region, there are simply no bad views in this northern Italian resort town. The town is filled with narrow cobbled lanes...
Miller Theatre Presents A Composer Portrait Of Italy's LUCA FRANCESCONI, November 3
Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts continues its 2022-23 Composer Portraits series with Luca Francesconi. Ensemble Signal performs two large-scale works by the Italian composer in a concert rescheduled from last season. The program also features an onstage discussion with Luca Francesconi and Melissa Smey, Thursday, November 3...
The Baroque Beauty of Southern Italy
A trip to Italy wouldn’t be complete without at least a glance around you at the architecture. Look closely (or perhaps not even that closely) and you’ll find an incredibly varied range of architectural styles. In Venice, there’s the byzantine Basilica of Saint Mark with its intricately decorated golden facade. Travel slightly further south to Emi...
Magnolia's, Michael's Little Italy Combine Forces for New Restaurant
Two shuttered restaurants have merged to offer a new twist on Italian-American cuisine. Magnolia's (formerly Magnolia's on King) has joined forces with Michael's Little Italy and is now operating as Michael's on King at 703 King St. Dinner service starts at 5 p.m. nightly, and brunch is offered Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Res...
A two-year escape to Italy, in pages painted from real life
Rosemary Connelly and her late husband Bob had been kicking around the idea of an extended escape to Italy for quite some time. A series of unexpected deaths in their friends and family added fresh urgency to the dream, and one spring day they began plotting their Italian odyssey. Together they hatched a freewheeling plan: Two years in il bel paese...
Restaurant Review: A Sprawling Italian-ish Menu at Faccia Brutta
At Boston, we do stars, but in my dream job, we’d size up restaurants using only Randy Jackson–isms, which I’ve admired since American Idol’s heyday for their sneaky precision and sweep. Bistro with shaky recipes? “A little pitchy for me, dawg.” Half-baked Scampo rip-off? “If you sing Lydia, you gotta bring Lydia.” Meanwhile, you’d keep a hedgy “Yo...
The Best Old School Italian Restaurants in Baltimore’s Little Italy
Baltimore’s Little Italy is a hexagon-shaped Italian-American enclave east of Inner Harbor. It is the southernmost Little Italy in the eastern United States, and comparable to both Boston and New York City’s Little Italy in terms of culture and restaurants. The streets are lined with a mix of old-school Italian restaurants, which easily stand out a...
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia finalist in the USA in the “Ana Avatar X-Prize” robotic avatar competition
The iCub robot advanced teleoperation system enabled humans to visit remotely Venice staying 300 kilometers away; Alter Ego robot met and shook hands with TV stars, journalists and several people thanks to the operator that controlled it at distance. The two robots, the two research teams at IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italian Institute of...
This Italian city has been voted food capital of the world
When you think of the world’s food capitals, the usual suspects from to mind. Paris and its intimate bistros. The overwhelming variety of Hong Kong’s street food. New York, with its multicultural blaze of everything and anything. According to the readers of Condé Nast Traveller, however, the best city for food right now is none of those places. A C...
When in Pittsburgh, eat like the Italians do
Food evokes memories, and sparks culinary pleasures to varying degrees for all of us. Some people go the extra mile to link their food to their roots. In his memoir Taste: My Life Through Food, released late last year, actor Stanley Tucci (The Devil Wears Prada, Margin Call, Captain America: The First Avenger...) wrote: “I mean, if you can’t eat an...
Bocce Ball: The world's oldest game is still a winner
All it takes is nine balls, a flat surface, and two or more people to play. It’s second only to soccer in popularity in Italy…and around the world. Anyone of any age can play it. We’re talking about bocce, that lawn bowling game that’s as Italian as pasta and tomato sauce, a seemingly simple game played in every small village, medium-sized town, a...