When the 8th edition of the popular annual festival rolls out in February it will, for the first time, have a theme. Festival 2015 will train the spotlight on creative talent of Italian heritage living and working right here in the Land of Enchantment.   IN FILMMAKING: Two award-winning Italian filmmakers, both Santa Fe residents, will be fe...

Paolo Rossi, founder of the Italian travel site, Dante in America, is arranging for some exciting late summer travels that may interest the Italian community in New Mexico.   "I take groups of people on a journey through the regions of the world I know best, the places where I spent considerable parts of my life, truly exploring all their un...

In New York City, one cannot throw a slice of pepperoni without thwacking an Italian joint of one kind or another; in Albuquerque, the situation is practically reversed. Jeff Spiegel and Katie Gardner moved from NYC back to Albuquerque a few years ago, finding the dearth of Italian restaurants as a call to action: M'Tucci's Kitchina threw open its...

When Ryan Mank moved to Albuquerque in 2012 he noticed that there was no resource for the martial art of classical fencing. There was a sport/modern fencing club. "But sport/modern is vastly different from traditional/classical," he says. "Nor is a club a school," he adds.   Ryan is an experienced, board certified instructor in the tradition...

Especially for first place winners, Nathaniel Pittman and teammate John Wright who walked away with $300 prize money. (Bravo, Ragazzi!) Fourteen teams took to the courts at Haynes Park in Rio Rancho on April 18 and 19 and gave each other a run for the money.   Some were new players who practiced hard for weeks before. Others were veterans of...

In Italia la sua vicenda è poco conosciuta. Ma nel Far West la sua storia ha il sapore del mito. E adesso l'arcidiocesi di Santa Fe, riferisce l'agenzia Ansa, vorrebbe che Blandina Segale, la «suora più veloce del West» che nell'Ottocento confrontava banditi come Billy The Kid e aprì nella nuova frontiera americana ospedali e scuole, salisse al più...

The NM Italian Film & Culture Festival: It's a slice of life in The Old Country today, as seen through the eyes of some of the best screenwriters and directors Italy has to offer. It's the annual flagship event of Italian Festivals of New Mexico, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to raise awareness of Italian culture and its leading rol...

By Davide Arminio   There's a game that's becoming increasingly popular in New Mexico, and it's not American. It's bocce (also called "boccie" or "bocci" in English) and it's one of the oldest games played by mankind. Invented probably in ancient Egypt some five thousand years ago, spread throughout the Roman Empire, then solidified in...

Coming off a record year in 2015 for both attendance and donation to the University of New Mexico Children's Hospital, Italian Festivals of New Mexico is poised to deliver another rousing edition of its annual flagship event. This year's program unfolds in Albuquerque and showcases 7 critically acclaimed contemporary films flanked by a kickoff rece...

by Michael Abatemarco  The realist paintings of Vincent Figliola, an award-winning former art director and creative advertising director, are tinged with a touch of the surreal. His Tchaikovsky's Sky, for instance, depicts a godlike conductor held aloft by clouds, and in one of his self-portraits, a ballerina in miniature dances gracefully on...