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For the 73rd time in their history, Italy and Italians celebrated the Festa della Repubblica, with events across the globe aiming to underline the relevance of what happened in the country in 1946. June 2nd became a public holiday only in 2000 though, when Italian President of the Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, decided to make a National Day of ce...

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Viggianello is a Borgo with a strong Byzantine and Norman influence. The monks who created the laure were Byzantines (groups of monastic cells with a church in common), still visible in the historic center. The Borgo incorporates the ancient Arab residential area that corresponds to the Ravita district (IX century). After the Saracen domination, th...

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Nel pomeriggio del 4 giugno all’Ames Research Center della Nasa di Mountain View in California si è tenuto un convegno volto a rafforzare la cooperazione nel settore dello spazio tra Italia e Stati Uniti e a celebrare nell’occasione il ruolo di Matera, sia come Capitale Europea della Cultura sia quale città strategica delle tecnologie spaziali ital...

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Shot in Matera. A Film Retrospective Celebrating Matera. 2019 European Capital of Culture. Free Admission | RSVP Required. IIC SF: 601 Van Ness Ave, Suite F (Opera Plaza), San Francisco (CA); BAMPFA, 2155 Center Street, Berkeley (CA) Jun 23, Jul 5, Aug 8 | IIC SF - CHRIST STOPPED AT EBOLI - Dir. Francesco Rosi - Bay Area Premiere Full-Length Digita...

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Join us for the Opening Reception of the photo exhibit Probable Landscapes (Paesaggi Probabili), by Nico Colucci. For the occasion, harpist Giuliana De Donno and composer and cellist Vito Paternosterwill join us in celebrating Matera, European Capital of Culture 2019. Part of the celebration is the film retrospective Shot in Matera (details will be...

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For as long as I’ve known my friend Val, she has never had any trouble shopping … until she joined me on a trip to Italy. A new designer wardrobe would have been as simple as a credit card transaction in Milan. In Sicily, you might need to slip a few extra euros under the table to get a perfectly tailored suit. But I’ve dragged Val on a road trip a...

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"I came to America because I heard the streets were paved with gold. When I got here, I found out three things: first, the streets weren't paved with gold; second, they weren't paved at all; and third, I was expected to pave them. This well-known quote, said by an Italian immigrant to America, reminds us that life in the new world wasn't easy for o...

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The choice of Matera as 2019’s European City of Culture will have astonished Italians of a certain age, although not those who have ever visited it. Fifty years ago, the city was designated the ‘national shame’ of Italy, embodying everything that was wrong with the impoverished south. But it was not true then and is little more than a hazy memory t...

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A very interesting exhibition is being held in Matera, shedding a completely original light on the Renaissance and offering a new interpretation of one of the most important periods in the Western world’s art and culture, by focusing on Mediterranean routes, with the exchanges and relationships between cultures they brought, and artists’ journeys a...

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Bread stamps are a symbol of the pastoral art of Murgia Materana. Until the 1950s, housewives used to knead bread at home and deliver it to the boys who worked at the ovens located in the city’s old districts and who oversaw the baking.  Since the ovens were mainly public or belonged to wealthy families, it became necessary to distinguish the loave...

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