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MUST-GO: Play Bocce
August 2019 | La Gazzetta Italiana
Il gioco delle bocce - sport o passatempo che lo si voglia considerare - ha radici antichissime: in Turchia sono state ritrovate alcune sfere in pietra antenate delle attuali bocce, datate attorno al 7000 a.C. La diffusione del gioco moderno...
August Birthdays
August 2019 | La Gazzetta Italiana
As summer’s end approaches, some of our favorite Italians are celebrating birthdays. Giada De Laurentiis, an Italian American chef, writer, TV personality, and host of her own Food Network program (“Giada at Home”), was born on Aug. 22. On...
St. Francis of Assisi: The First Known Writer in Italian
July 2019 | Ben Lariccia
Il 4 ottobre ricorre la memoria di San Francesco d’Assisi, nato nel 1182 e fondatore dell’Ordine francescano. La sua opera, il Cantico delle Creature, noto anche come Cantico di Frate Sole e composto nel 1226 circa, costituisce il testo poetico più...
About the Author: Mario Puzo
July 2019 | William Giovinazzo
One of the many benefits of traveling to Italy, especially to Italian Americans, is that you experience firsthand the differences between Italian and Italian American culture. For me, some of these differences were quite surprising. One of the most...
Meet the Author: Simona Lo Iacono
July 2019 | Francesca Mignosa
Contributing writer Francesca V. Mignosa met with Italian best-selling author Simona Lo Iacono. In Francesca’s hometown of Augusta, Sicily, she and Simona chatted about "The Streghe of Lenzavacche," Simona’s best-selling novel, and her life as an...
July Birthdays
July 2019 | Super User
Many of our favorite Italians were born in the summer month of July. Gina Lollobrigida, one of the most popular European actresses and an iconic sex symbol of the 1950s, was born on July 4 in Subiaco, Lazio, Italy. She celebrates her 92nd birthday...
Meet the Author: Janice Therese Mancuso
June 2019 | Francesca Mignosa
Francesca Mignosa (FM): Your last name, Mancuso, is traditionally a Sicilian last name. Your father was originally from Trapani in Sicily and your maternal grandfather from the Napoli area. How did your Southern Italian origins influence your...
About the Author: Elena Ferrante
June 2019 | William Giovinazzo
I would like to begin with a confession. Last November, when I started watching the HBO series, “My Brilliant Friend,” I knew nothing about Elena Ferrante. The series seemed nothing more than a story of two girls growing up in Napoli. Then I...
From Sauce Man to Ambassador (…ok, I’m still the Sauce Man!)
June 2019 | Michael DeMassimo
As I reminisce over the recent past, I never would have thought the relationships with our family in Italy would had ever been created, let alone be this strong. To discover where my grandmother was born and raised and where my great-grandparents...