Pandemic could see Italy's abandoned villages repopulated
Italians could be encouraged to leave cities and move to abandoned villages to lessen the risk of future pandemics. Some of the country’s best-known architects are among those urging policymakers to incentivise an exodus to the nation’s numerous ghost towns, according to AFP. Italy, which as of May 7 had the second highest Covid-19 death rate in Eu...
Bada Bing! David Chase wrote a new coronavirus-themed scene for ‘The Sopranos’
“The Sopranos” have gotten rebooted — sort of — for the pandemic. Creator David Chase dusted off his keyboard to write lines envisioning how the Italian mobsters — and the people who love them — will deal with the coronavirus crisis. Original cast members Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa unveiled the scene on their recently launched “Talking S...
Women demand voice in Italy virus response dominated by men
Every evening when health experts updated anxious Italians in televised briefings about their nation’s devastating coronavirus outbreak, the lineup of authoritative figures included only one woman: the sign-language interpreter. And not a single woman was among the 20-member commission appointed to advise the government on how and when Italy could...
Table For None: Tom Colicchio Explains What Restaurants Need To Survive
Chef Tom Colicchio is one of the many restaurateurs wondering what will be left of the industry after the COVID-19 pandemic has run its course. Colicchio, who serves as head judge on the Bravo series Top Chef, laid off more than 400 staff members in the past few months. His five restaurants in New York and Los Angeles have been shuttered since Marc...
What Traveling in Italy Will Look Like for the Next Few Months
Airlines in Italy have not stopped operations since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the number of flights has dropped by around 90%, with many airports closing down. Airlines have continued to operate mostly the business routes, bringing those who had to travel for work to Europe’s main destinations, transporting medical material and br...
Joseph Guagenti, decorated vet, 94
Joseph Guagenti, a longtime Howard Beach resident and decorated World War II veteran, was laid to rest last Friday. He was 94 and suffered briefly from what his family believes was the COVID-19 virus before passing away at his home on April 26. “He was funny, caring, kind, giving and a second dad to his three granddaughters. Our true hero,” his gra...
Public Masses in Italy to Resume May 18, Ending Bitter Church-State Rift
Italy's government and Roman Catholic bishops signed an agreement on Thursday to allow the faithful to attend Masses again from later this month, ending a standoff between the Church and state over the coronavirus lockdown. The government banned attendance at Masses in early March, part of its prohibition on gatherings as it sought to prevent the s...
“Fondata sul lavoro”: cosa succede alla New York degli italiani durante la pandemia?
Quando giovedì 30 aprile Giovanni ha ricevuto comunicazione del licenziamento, era trascorso appena un mese e mezzo dall’ordine esecutivo che ha messo “in pausa” lo stato di New York e imposto la chiusura delle attività non essenziali. “Ero preparato alla notizia”, mi racconta, nonostante dall’entrata in vigore delle restrizioni lo scorso 22 marzo,...
L’Italia Chiamò: uniforms and white coats in our war against an invisible enemy
Everything started with the Aeronautica Militare’s first flights to bring back home all the Italians living in China. They lived, worked, studied in Wuhan, in that far away, incredibly modern province where a virus we believed distant had begun killing. But closing our airports was not to be enough to protect our country. We couldn’t even imagine w...
Grit and red wine: Tony Vaccaro, famous war photographer beats coronavirus at 97
Tony Vaccaro’s mother died in childbirth, and at a tender age he also lost his father to tuberculosis. By age 5, he was an orphan in Italy, enduring beatings from an uncle. As an American GI during World War II, he survived the Battle of Normandy. Now, a celebrated wartime and celebrity photographer at age 97, he is getting over a bout with COVID-1...
Melanie Resto (Superintendent of Sicily-Rome American Cemetery)
Every year, either on April 25 or Memorial Day, We the Italians visit Nettuno's Sicily-Rome American Cemetery to celebrate and pay respect to the American soldiers who helped liberate Italy. Last June 4, We the Italians laid a wreath at the cemetery on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Rome. It is a sacred place of peace and...
Italian Television in the 1950s
The 1950s marks the first decade that television was available in Italian homes and this chapter of the country’s TV history is really the story of its public channel, RAI: truly, speaking of Italian television in the 1950s means speaking of RAI. Until the 1970s when private channels began appearing, Radio Audizioni Italiane (RAI), which is now kn...