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on Jun 17, 13 •
in All You Can Italy, Festivals & Events •
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Wine and music come together this summer for Tuscany's 2nd edition of Melodia del Vino
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on Apr 26, 13 •
in Art & Museums, Festivals & Events •
with 1 Comment
In celebration of spring and their heritage, Florence is hosting two special days during which their museums will have extended hours and free admission. If you're going to be in Florence on April 30 or May 18 (or know someone how is), you won't want to miss this!
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on Apr 3, 13 •
in Festivals & Events •
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The setting is serene, a cliff-side town set in Italy's alluring Cinque Terre coastline: where a lonely young man and his widowed mother go about their isolated lives, barely hearing from or being heard by anyone. Until one day, a mysterious boat bearing a beautiful American actress arrives at the dock, seeking lodging for the young woman at the family's small hotel...and a mystery wrapped in decades that spans continents unfolds in Jess Walter's captivating novel, Beautiful Ruins
This story's appeal captured the attention of the Wilmette Public Library's One Book program, a multi-month initiative including exclusive programs on the Cinque Terre presented by Select Italy. Before this program, however, we wanted to dig to the heart of the matter, to understand the man who wrote the saga that portrays the Italian culture so poignantly, seducing the reader to fall in love with the imperfect beauty of the Italian land, the people, and their culture. We asked Jess Walter a few questions regarding his experience and interest in Italy, and his insights not only enrich the understanding of the man behind the book, but the story inside, as well
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on Apr 1, 13 •
in Festivals & Events •
with 2 Comments
Every year as the chocolate bunnies and pastel colored eggs start to appear, I think back to my years in Florence and the several Easters I celebrated there. This year marks the 20th anniversary of my first Pasqua and so thoughts turn to how the day was spent that year and subsequent years abroad
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on Mar 29, 13 •
in Festivals & Events •
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Easter or Pasqua is the second most important Italian holiday after Christmas. This holiday covers a long weekend in Italy, with the additional Italian observance of Pasquetta (little Easter, also called Easter Monday) which according to tradition, you are free to celebrate as you wish. In fact, young people during this holiday tend to stay at a friend's country home or spend a long weekend in another city with no parents at all. A famous Italian saying for this time of year is:"Natale con i tuoi, a Pasqua con chi vuoi." (At Christmas with your parents, at Easter with whomever you want.) Visitors to Italy who are not spending time with friends may be interested to find that every city has their own traditions of note, and while you may not have friends and family to celebrate with, there are several ways to enjoy an uniquely Italian Easter
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on Mar 27, 13 •
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It is that time, when the moon is as round as a wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano after the first northern equinox, the time for the 14th Nisan, first night of Passover.
The Pesach, Passover, is the Jewish celebration of the Exodus, the Jews’ liberation from Egyptian slavery, that followed the Ten Plagues
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on Mar 20, 13 •
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If you are travelling to Pisa at the end of March make sure to change your calendars’ year date, because in the Leaning Tower city is already 2014!
Do you want to know why?
Have a look at the next lines and your curiosity will be satisfied
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on Mar 8, 13 •
in Festivals & Events •
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International Women's Day is a time to remember and celebrate the social and political achievement made during the years for this gendr, as well as bring awareness of violence against women and discrimination, which unfortunately is still happening around the world. The day is celebrated on March 8th in and around Italy, where they present different initiatives dedicated to women
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on Mar 6, 13 •
in Festivals & Events •
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It is no surprise that the word conclave comes from the Latin cum clavis, meaning “place closed by key.” For one, this event which takes place every time a new pope is to be elected, involves the cardinals of the Catholic Church held under lock and key in the Sistine Chapel until they decide on a new leader. Secondly, Roman travelers venturing to see Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgment” might be surprised to find that it is also “closed by key,” having been closed to the general public from March 5 at 1pm until further notice
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on Feb 27, 13 •
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"It can be said that Italian was one of the first western languages to claim a literary tradition,” Director of the Italian Culture Institute of Chicago, Dr. Silvio Marchetti, declares as we discuss Dante. This is in reference to an event celebrating the Year of Italian Culture, an occasion for which Dante’s natural allegories of woven through The Divine Comedy will light up Chicago’s Field Museum. I think about this for a minute and my mind’s eye travels to high school English Literature and the obligatory memorization of the sounds Chaucer’s Purple Passage (I use “sounds” and not “words,” since the prose is less than intelligible for today’s standard English speakers) and I have to give Italian a nod. Chaucer’s English, written after Dante’s lifetime, has changed in such a way that it is basically another language. However, my knowledge of present-day Italian allows me to open the Divine Comedy and read, “Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita…,” with no problem at all
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