Wine and Dine
By Bianca Sienra Simplicity has its charms, and sometimes the weary restaurant reviewer, having gorged for months on fine and fancy foods, wants nothing more than to succumb to simple pleasures. At such times, I crave a place where there are no wildly inventive dishes or highly touted exotica on the menu, no hipster digs lined wit...
How Franciscan monks saved Jews in Assisi
According to Italian Press Agency, ANSA, that recalled a statement by the Roman Catholic order disclosed Tuesday on the website sanfrancesco.org, Franciscan monks in Assisi saved more than forty Jews during the Second World War: they managed to hide them inside the belltower of St Francis' Basilica in the Umbrian hilltown. The fugitives we...
Obama says the U.S. and Italy are working together in Libya
President Obama and Italian President Sergio Mattarella met Monday to discuss efforts to fight the spread of the Islamic State in Libya, where the extremist group is capitalizing on political instability to increase its influence. Obama and Mattarella reviewed plans to support a Libyan unity government, Obama told reporters after the meeting i...
Italian Film Festival laughs it up at St. Anthony Main
by Colin Covert The annual Italian Film Festival returns for its eighth year this weekend, this time offering a largely comedic series that IFF executive director Peter Schilling promises "to help remedy the miserable winter ... they're all a lot of fun." That certainly describes "The Referee" (⋆⋆⋆, unrated, in subtitled Italian, French an...
At Vespa, Italian Authenticity With a Contemporary Vroom
Vespa in Italian means wasp or hornet, both of which suggest a "buzz." Certainly a buzz exists at the newish Vespa restaurant in Westport, with its stylish décor, farm-to-table cuisine and genial atmosphere. And, at least when I visited, there wasn't a single Vespa, an Italian motor scooter, parked outside. After my visits there, I asked B...
A Slice Of Parma, Italy Comes To Portland, ME This Month
Giovianni Bianchi, owner of the famed prosciutto producer Pio Tosini of Parma, Italy is coming to Portland and will be slicing and serving his Parma ham (Prosciutto di Parma) at three locations this week. Thursday, March 24 will find Giovanni at Middle Street Italian eatery Piccolo. Piccolo will be serving a five-course tasting menu with w...
Top 10 Italian expressions Italians love
Counting how many times a day Italians use some of the following expressions would be an interesting experiment! These Italian expressions are all very typical, and you hear them all the time in colloquial Italian. By using any of the following expressions you will sound very Italian. Che bello! Some of these expressions may stay with you...
John Ciardi: North End’s poet laureate
"I was born June 24, 1916, at 25 Sheave Street in Boston's North End, which was then as now, though more so then, Little Italy ... . My mother, in the custom of her tribe, bore me in the same bed in which she connived me ... . " So wrote John Ciardi, renowned poet, translator and teacher. I had long known of Ciardi's translation of Dante, and I kn...
New Made LA event brings Moschino and more to local runways this June
Organizers of a long-running slate of New York Fashion Week shows have announced plans to stage a two-day showcase of music, art and fashion in Los Angeles this summer, with a preliminary line-up that includes a runway show by Italian luxury brand Moschino and a clothing line from rapper Tyler the Creator. The event, dubbed Made LA, is bei...
Italia-USA: Gentiloni risponde a Nissoli/ Ok revisione dell'Accordo di sicurezza sociale Italia-Usa
di Fucsia Nissoli "Un segnale positivo per le nostre Comunità e soprattutto il messaggio che lavorando in squadra attraverso il dialogo e senza muri, i risultati si concretizzano!" E' questo il primo pensiero che ho avuto alla risposta ricevuta dal Ministro Gentiloni sul rinnovo della Convenzione di sicurezza socia...
An Interview with Gioia Timpanelli
by Lisa Grove Gioia Timpanelli is one of the world's foremost storytellers. Timpanelli doesn't give readings; rather, she performs her work, quickly and deftly weaving between personal anecdotes and folktales from a variety of cultures and traditions, including her family's own Sicilian tradition. Timpanelli moves about a room as she perfo...
Puccini: The Man and His Music, Including Suor Angelica
June 16 and 17 7:30 pm. Puccini: The Man and His Music, Including Suor Angelica. Chelsea Opera concludes its 12th season with an evening of Puccini's chamber music and a fully-staged presentation of his most beloved one-act opera, Suor Angelica. The evening begins with two Puccini string quartets. Also on the program is the beautiful Salv...