Dozens of rowers dressed as Father Christmas raced down Venice's Grand Canal on Sunday, cheered on by crowds gathered to watch the annual fancy-dress regata. Organised by the University Ca' Foscari, the eighth edition of the race set off from Saint Mark's Square, with champions and amateurs competing in traditional "mascarete" boats -- once the dom...

It doesn't get more Italian-American than Pizza of the Seven Fishes. The dish is the pizza of the month at Slice, a Philadelphia-area restaurant which has been making it every December for the past four years. The pizza is a twist on the traditional Christmas Eve dinner for Italian-Americans, Feast of the Seven Fishes. "That is my family tradition,...

OK Google, which is the typical recipe for the Italian Christmas dinner? You may try asking this to Google or to your Italian friends, but you will be probably surprised to get dozens or even hundreds of different answers to this question. The right answer is that there is no particular Christmas dish in Italy that can be found on the table in ever...

Nativity scenes appear in homes, churches and public buildings across the country in December, each one a little different. But while they may be a staple of the Christmas season, there's nothing traditional about these quirky examples... 1. The world's largest: Let's start with the world's largest nativity, in Cinque Terre. Each year, the pictures...

The regular crowd of Sunday worshipers has long since scattered. The only people who walk up these steps and through the big doors of this little church are tourists and the occasional wedding party in warmer weather, and Fort historian Jimmy Johnston. Maybe it's that contemplative silence that often draws attention to the exposed beams that hold u...

“La mia mente, la mia anima venivano trasportate dalla sua bellezza, dalla sua musica, dal suo essere interiore, dimostrando che la sua voce angelica può toccare e ispirare chiunque la ascolti”. Fu Elizabeth Taylor a pronunciare queste parole su Andrea Bocelli, e nessuna definizione come questa sarebbe in grado di riassumere più efficacemente quell...

The Solidarity Crèche was a gift by the Naples, Italy Chamber of Commerce to the NYC Fire Dept. post the tragic 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. It was custom made to honor the victims and brave Firefighters, Police and EMS workers that lost their lives. It is on loan to Casa Belvedere, courtesy of the International Columbia Associa...

Forget mistletoe, Christmas is not Christmas in Italy without a slice of panettone -- and festivities kicked off in Milan on Sunday with free slices of the biggest Italian candied cake in the world. Weighing in at 140 kilogrammes (308 pounds), the two-metre (over six foot) high marvel was sliced up into 1,200 pieces for sweet-toothed tourists and l...

In addition to being the most important and representative Christmas tradition, the crib is also the oldest: the first nativity scene was made by St. Francis and his friars on the night of 24th and 25th December 1223 in the mountains of Greccio, near Rieti in the Lazio region. The first crib is actually a mass exceptionally celebrated in a cave rat...

Our Italian ancestors observed the Christmas season as early as December 13, the Feast Day of Saint Lucy. Santa Lucia brings gifts for the children, until the arrival of “La Befana,” on the eve of the Epiphany, January 6. Today, Italian-American families still hold to the Christmas traditions of their “Genitori e Nonni,” but when it comes to exchan...