History & culture

Support NIAF's Venice Relief Fund Today

January 2020 |
From November 12-17, Venice experienced the second worst flood in its recorded history. More than 85 percent of the city flooded causing immense damage to its cultural and historical heritage and to its homes and businesses. We in the Italian...

The Night of La Befana

December 2019 |
In Italian folklore, La Befana is an old woman who delivers small gifts and treats to children throughout Italy on Epiphany Eve (the night of January 5th). Italian children leave a snack for her and hang their stocking before going to bed, hoping...

To Catch a Thief

December 2019 |
Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa,” also known as La Gioconda, has more than just her smile and eyes shrouded in mystery and conspiracy theories. Most notable is the world-famous theft from the Louvre in 1911 and vandalisms in the 1950’s. The Mona...

Mannerist Painting Now Signature Work in Cleveland Museum of Art's Collection

November 2019 |
The Cleveland Museum of Art announced recent acquisitions including a 16th-century Mannerist painting by Maso da San Friano, an Italian painter whose real name was Tomaso D’Antonio Manzuoli. Florentine artist Maso da San Friano (1531–1571) worked...

The Italian Language: The Dearest One to Me

November 2019 |
There are three different languages within me: Italian, English and Spanish. Each of them is like a unique person I met during different stages of my life. The first in my childhood. The second in my adolescence and the third in adulthood. They all...

Connecting Continents or Destroying Populations?

November 2019 |
Before news of Christopher Columbus’ western voyage with his discovery of a new land was distributed throughout Europe, others had made the trip. Most well-known is Leif Erickson, who landed somewhere on the north coast of America around 1000 AD....

Celebrate Italian American Heritage Month with Thirty-One Days of Italians

October 2019 |
Celebrating Italian Heritage By Acknowledging the Accomplishments of Italians and Italian Americans Who are the champions of our Italian American culture? What can we do to help preserve our Italian heritage? In 2006, a record of Italians and...

From the Italian American Press: “The Ghosts of the Garfagnana: Seven Strange Stories from Haunted Tuscany”

October 2019 |
The northwestern tip of Tuscany stretches into the Apuan Alps, a mountain range of steep jagged peaks and hazy valleys woven with underground tunnels and caves. Within these mountains, the Garfagnana is known as a region shrouded with mysterious...

Michelangelo: Mind of the Master

October 2019 |
The Cleveland Museum of Art presents Michelangelo: Mind of the Master, featuring more than 50 drawings by Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti. The exhibition includes masterpieces formerly in the collection of Queen Christina of...
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