Here’s how to get a FREE CASTLE in Italy, your Majesty!
Want a free castle in Italy? Sure, take one, your highness. But, as with everything good, there’s a catch.
As part of an initiative called the Strategic Tourist Plan, Italy is givingaway 103 historic buildings — villas, inns, houses, towers, etc. to entrepreneurs willing to take them. (Yes, that means it could be you!)
All the recipient must do is pledge to renovate the buildings, which are mainly in more remote areas of the country, in a way that will diversify Italy’s tourism industry. This means transforming them into hotels, restaurants, visitor centers, spas, shops — anything that will attract tourist traffic.
This will ideally help ease crowding in popular Italian tourist hubs like Venice and Milan, instead drawing crowds to chill, lesser-known spots along cycling paths, hiking trails, or religious walking routes.
Does the work seem worth it? You’ll need to submit a proposal to the State Property Agency by June 26. So, if you’ve dreamed for years of turning a beautiful castle into a go-kart track, now’s your chance!
We always knew you were royalty. :’)
Above author, Chloe Bryan from mashable.com
Dream on and Dream BIG…WHY NOT?
This could be the view out your back door!
This could be your next door neighbor!!
As I said…dream on and dream big!
Writing up my proposal. I will have a new address soon for a lovely B&B, I’m sure. I will make the croissants and Marie will make the blood orange juice! I’ll be sure and look for a place big enough to fit ALL of the FLIGHT CREW in…and of course the guys when they are in town!
San Francisco’s Italian Consul General Looks Forward to the Year Ahead
In San Francisco fellow Italophiles, look forward to a year filled with the charm and culture that represents our native Italy. Photo by holbox
The year 2017 has begun con gusto and the San Francisco Bay Area’s Italian community, and fellow Italophiles, look forward to a year filled with the charm and culture that represents our native Italy.
On that note, Italian Consul General, Lorenzo Ortona is in his fifth month as Italy’s representative to the San Francisco Bay Area. In his statement of September 2016, Consul General Ortona expressed recognition of his important task and appreciation of the Bay Area Italian community by saying, “It has made a decisive contribution to the creation and growth of this marvelous city known and loved around the world.”
For the rest of the story ⇒ http://www.italoamericano.org/story/2017-2-14/san-francisco-italian-events2017
The art of making pizza to become part of the UNESCO Intangible Patrimony
Pizza finds a place on every country’s table and is topped with countless delicacies, each country creating its own – more or less – orthodox version of this quintessentially Italian food. Yet it remains Neapolitan in the minds of all of us and having a pizza in Naples is certainly on the bucket list of more than a foodie.
Neapolitan pizza, or “verace pizza Napoletana,” as it is known in Italy, has been a “specialità tradizionale garantita” (S.T.G., a guaranteed traditional specialty) since 2010: this means the European Union recognized that a true Neapolitan pizza can only be produced in a certain manner, in a certain area. Manner: with a dough as supple and simple as that of bread and only a handful of allowed toppings, like Sammarzano tomatoes, olive oil, basil and mozzarella (di bufala) or fiordilatte (cow mozzarella), to create the perfect Margherita. Sammarzanos, garlic, oregano and olive oil for the humble and flavorsome Marinara. Area: Naples.
The sweetest thing: cannolo siciliano and its amazing history
Cannoli siciliani have a huge identity-defining power: Italian bakeries all over the world make of their presence on the shelves a symbol of “italianità” and heritage associated with only a handful of other products. Photo by siculodoc
Cannolo siciliano: is there any other Italian dessert this popular in the world? Tiramisù may be one of its more glorious competitors, but cannolo making is an art that you can’t reproduced at home with the same simplicity. We can all make a good tiramisù in our own kitchen, but preparing cannoli right is far from an easy task.
Cannoli siciliani have also a huge identity-defining power: Italian bakeries all over the world make of their presence on the shelves a symbol of “italianità” and heritage associated with only a handful of other products.
Oscar nominee for “Best Documentary Feature” to Gianfranco Rosi’s Fire at sea and two Italian nominees for “Best Makeup and Hairstyling” to Alessandro Bertolazzi and Giorgio Gregorini. Design copyrights: L’Italo-Americano Newspaper
As usual, the 89th Academy Awards, aka “Oscars,” ceremony – annually presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) – took place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, February 26th.
More unusual is the presence of Italian roots both in one of the event’s producers, Michael De Luca, and in the host of the evening, comedian Jimmy Kimmel.
For the rest of the story ⇒ http://www.italoamericano.org/story/2017-2-23/italy-oscars-winners
Ann (anncruise) received this article from a friend who got it from Lets-Travel-More.com. Since I can’t go there to see the Boys this article seems appropriate. So, if any of you believe this and decide not to go to such a horrible place AND you just happen to have tickets to a concert..say…in Verona. Ann and I will take them off your hands.
There are many many reasons why you should never visit Italy. Here are the top 10. If you have already visited Italy please do not do it again.
LETS-TRAVEL-MORE.COM
10Rome
Why would someone visit Rome? Because of its history and countless monuments and statues? Art, beautiful alleys, nice people, the famous Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum, the Vatican city and hundreds museums are a few of the reasons why you should never visit Rome.
9Florence
Never ever visit Florence. Too much romance, history and beauty. The city is not big or small. It has the perfect size and is considered one of the most walk-able cities in the world. Who wants to walk? Plus, why would someone want to visit Duomo, the magnificent Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore?
8Gelato
Gelato means ice cream. Italy is famous for having the best ice cream in the world. Who cares, who likes ice cream. Just have a look at the photo. Would anyone want to taste this gelato?
7Shopping
Another reason why you should never visit Italy and especially Milan is shopping. You will find the most famous and most expensive brands in Milan like Versacce, Gucci etc. Italians are well known for their finesse and style. I am sure you hate going shopping as well.
6Italian Red Wine
Nobody loves wine. Even if it is the best red wine in the world. Yes, Italy is known for producing the best red wine. Like we care. We drink no wine, right?
5Sicily
Another famous region in Italy to be avoided is Sicily. Actually Sicily is the biggest island in the Mediterranean sea. It is famous for its history, its turquoise beaches, its seaside cities like Taormina and the Etna volcano you can see in the photo.
4Italian Food
I almost forget about Italian food. Don’t let the photo trick you. It is much more delicious than it looks like. Pizzas are even more delicious. Many worldwide famous chefs are Italian. Do not try Italian food, please!
3Beaches
Numerous beaches, white sand, turquoise crystal clear water and every beach is unique. Italy’s Mediterranean climate make the beaches ideal for swimming. Stay away!!!
2Venice
I am sure you have heard of Venice before as I am sure you already know why you should never visit this city. First reason is romance. Having a tour with a gondola during sunset with your partner is something very common in Venice. Plus the city is unique. There is no other city like this one. A floating city that instead of roads has canals and instead of cars has small boats called gondola. How can someone live without air pollution?
1Cinque Terre
Finally the number 1 reason you should never visit Italy is Cinque Terre. Just have a look at the photo and you will understand. Amazing beaches with turquoise water, colorful seaside villages, the best Italian food and good people are only a few of the reasons to avoid this region and Italy in general.
‘Amore’: Italian-American Singers In The 20th Century
American singer and actor Frank Sinatra sits at the piano. Getty Images
Apparently, Dean Martin didn’t much like the song “That’s Amore,” but in 1953 it became one of his biggest hits. It’s a song that seems to capture a moment in pop history when nearly every hit was performed by an Italian-American singer. The story of “That’s Amore” and the songs made famous by Frank Sinatra, Perry Como and others is told in a new book called Amore. Weekend All Things Considered host Guy Raz recently spoke with the author, Mark Rotella, about Italian singers in 20th-century America.
“That’s Amore” came from a movie called The Caddy, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis; it’s about an Italian man who plays a golf pro and is followed by a faithful caddy. In the movie, when the two return to Italy and are greeted by their Italian family, they break into this song. When we hear it today, it sounds like a caricature of Italian culture. But, Rotella says, it served as an introduction to Italian culture for many Americans.
“It was one of the more obvious ones,” he says. “There were Italian singers before, but this led to other kitschy songs, like Rosemary Clooney’s ‘Mambo Italiano,’ and so many other songs that came after that were kind of kitschy but were also really pop and kind of fun.”
Rotella’s book isn’t just about Italian-American singers. It’s also about a turning point in 20th-century America when Italian entertainers started to be seen as American entertainers. Rotella says that there was a Golden Age of entertainment that started around 1947.
“This is when second- and third-generation Americans of Italian decent were coming of age,” he says. “This is post-war; it was a time of optimism. This era was basically the end of the big band and the beginning of the solo voice, and this lasted through the ’50s, up until I’d say 1964, with The Beatles.”
This was happening during a period when there was a great deal of discrimination against Italians in America. For example, this excerpt was taken from a profile on Joe DiMaggio from Life Magazine in 1939.
“Although he learned Italian first, Joe now speaks English without an accent. … Instead of olive oil or smelly bear grease, he keeps his hair slicked with water. He never reeks of garlic and prefers chicken chow mein to spaghetti.”
These kinds of comments were acceptable in mainstream dialogue, and yet a few years later, Italian singers would dominate the pop charts.
“This is the time when so many singers were now seen on TV,” Rotella says. “They were good-looking. They had a certain sensibility, a certain attitude that was open and charming.”
Rotella says that nearly every singer he interviewed named Enrico Caruso as an influence. Caruso was the first pop artist to sell a million copies of his music, offering his recordings on flat discs for the RCA Victor Vitrolas of the time. Rotella says that this shaped the way music was sold for years to come.
“They sold so much, this really defined how music was recorded and on what medium,” Rotella says. “It was going to be Victor on the flat plastic records.”
One of the singers Rotella includes in his book is none other than the king of the golden age of Italian-American music, Frank Sinatra. Rotella calls Sinatra’s song “Fly Me to the Moon” a metaphor for all of the breakthroughs that Italian singers achieved.
“When you hear the song, it’s optimistic,” he says. “It’s kind of dreamy, forward-thinking, but it’s tough. He says, ‘fly me to the moon,’ but it’s almost as if he’s there already. This is coming at a time when music was going to change. It’s the tail-end of the success of the Rat Pack. It was at this time that almost total assimilation of Italians had happened. In ways, I feel like after this [song], there were so many Italians that followed him. Not necessarily performing Italian music; we wouldn’t necessarily know them as Italians today. This song of reaching the moon seemed to me to be every immigrant’s dream of assimilating.
(Note: videos were added to this article ~Marie)
Descendants from Sicilian village keep their heritage alive in America
People from Sciacca, Agrigento congregating outside the local church before leaving for America.
Between 1880 and 1920 over four million Italians were recorded as entering the United States. About three-fourths of these immigrants went through the Ellis Island immigration station with the majority being males between the ages of 24 and 45.
The island of Sicily and the region around Naples, both in the south, accounted for over half the Italians who moved to the U.S. looking for a better life.
According to manifest documents from the ships, so many Sicilians reported ‘Sciacca in Agrigento’ as their home village that immigration inspectors used “ditto” marks to record this information.
Many of these Italians settled in Little Italy neighborhoods all over the country, the most famous being in New York.
Discrimination between Italians in Little Italy was rampant.
Being fiercely provincial and proud of their own regions, the Italians from Naples, Calabria and Bari looked down on Sicilians, particularly those from Sciacca.
Given their humble beginnings, their descendants were taught to be proud of their Sicilian heritage.
Baseball legend Mike Piazza’s father’s family comes from Sciacca, and though he doesn’t speak Italian, the former Mets catcher is fiercely proud of his roots.
“I feel a strong tie to Sicily, since my heritage is there. My grandfather Rosario came from Sciacca, to the United States and my father grew me up following the Italian tradition. I think it’s in our DNA to strive to work hard and persevere,” Piazza said.
“One thing that was present in me was my father’s distinct love of his Italian heritage and Sicilian ancestry.
I can’t tell you how many times my father would say “Amuni a monjare, beddu”, and “mezza mortu”.
He would also take a strong stand against negative Italian American stereotypes saying that they “don’t represent the real Italians”.
Piazza also said he travels to Sciacca regularly. “It’s something I have great pride in knowing how proud my father and grandfather would be if they could see me here.”
Mike Piazza: A proud descendent of Sciacca.
Musician Jon Bon Jovi is another who is descended from emigrants from Siacca. In 2013, Bongiovi Sr. gladly shared his family’s pasta sauces – the recipes for which originated in Sciacca and were passed down through three generations.
Cartoon artist, director and producer Joseph Barbera, who formed Hanna-Barbera with William Hanna, is another who is descended from emigrants from Sciacca. Both his parents were born in Sciacca and he grew up speaking Italian.
Alicia Keys is another who has found out about her large extended Italian family. Her great-grandfather Michiele was from Sciacca.
Mike Marino, most famous for his hilarious segment about an Italian president from New Jersey, is another who is descended from emigrants from Sciacca.
As his grandfather once said: “YOU MAY LEAVE SICILY – BUT SICILY NEVER LEAVES YOU.”
How Sciacca looks today
Four Presidents, a Mountain and an Italian Chief Carver: the Long Forgotten History of Luigi del Bianco
Everyone knows Mount Rushmore, with its iconic representations of four of the most important presidents of US history: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, F.D. Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. As a child, I remember being fascinated by their stoney, gigantic faces and I often wondered how someone could have made them look so perfect and lifelike; as you would expect from a 5 year old, I thought a single sculptor spent his entire life carving the mountain on his own, with his scalpel in one hand and a hammer in the other, failing to understand that a project of such a magnitude had very likely involved hundreds of people through a number of years.
Even if I had known that then, I certainly would not have been aware of the essential role of Italy in the creation of the Mount Rushmore Memorial, because its recognition came only in very recent times, when a previously unknown Friuli Venezia-Giulia migrant, Luigi del Bianco, was recognised as chief carver of the monument.
Bringing justice to Luigi
History tells us that, between the 4th of October 1927 and the 31st of October 1941, 400 people worked on the sculpting and carving of Mount Rushmore. They were led by Gutzon Borglum and his son, sculptors and artists of Danish descent.
Among those 400 workers, in 1935 made his appearance Luigi del Bianco, from Meduno, in the north eastern region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, who had studied carving in Venice and Vienna before trying his luck on the other side of the ocean and emigrating to the United States. Del Bianco’s name became known among historians and specialists of Mount Rushmore when his own grandson, Lou del Bianco, and his late uncle Caesar, began a strenuous campaign to have the role of their own ancestor in the making of the Mount Rushmore Memorial recognised.
It was the Italian Luigi del Bianco the artist who gave to America’s timeless stone presidents their life-like features and immortal gaze.
Because Caesar and Lou both believed Luigi had been more than a simple worker at the site, they set on a quest: demonstrating it to the world. It was Caesar, son of Luigi, who started the amazing adventure in the late 1980s, when Rex Allen Smith published “The Carving of Mount Rushmore:” here, the name of his father never appeared. Caesar was gutted.
More than 20 years later D.J. Gladstone, the author of the ultimate work on del Bianco, “Carving a Niche for Himself” (2014), would say that talking about Mount Rushmore without mentioning Luigi del Bianco was the equivalent of talking about the Yankees without mentioning Joe DiMaggio: but how much research, work and perseverance was behind such a statement. The research, work and perseverance of Caesar and his nephew Lou, who explored libraries, unearthed documents and campaigned for recognition, refusing to let their relative fall into oblivion.
After Caesar’s death in 2009, Lou took up his mission in full and it’s also thanks to his relentless efforts that Cameron Sholly, current director of the Midwest region for the National Park Services, accepted to reassess Luigi del Bianco’s role in the inception and creation of Mount Rushmore. Shelley came to the conclusion that del Bianco’s grandson was right: Luigi had been, indeed, the main carver at the site, the artist who gave to America’s timeless stone presidents their life-like features and immortal gaze.
Who was Luigi del Bianco?
Chief carver at Mount Rushmore, of course, but his life held much more than that. He was born in 1892 aboard a ship near Le Havre, in France, while his parents had been returning to Italy from the United States. The family, as said, settled in the North East of Italy and it’s there that 11 year old Luigi started studying carving and understood how talented he was. Still an adolescent, he had travelled to the US for the first time and settled with relatives in Vermont: there, he became known as a skilful carver. After returning to Italy to serve his country during the First World War, he was in Vermont once more and then settled in Port Chester, where his family still resides today.
While in Port Chester, del Bianco met Borglum, with whom he began to work: it was the beginning of the collaboration who was to bring him to South Dakota and to Mount Rushmore where, as chief carver, he became responsible of refining the presidents’ facial expressions. According to The Times, he spent a particularly long time sculpting Lincoln’s face and his eyes, whose pupils were made more vibrant by inserting wedges of granite in them. He worked at Mount Rushmore from 1935 to 1941, when he returned to Port Chester. Here he died in 1969, at the age of 78, because of silicosis, a disease caused, tragically, by the same thing that gave him so much joy in life: stone.
Having lived in the UK and the US for several years, I learned to consider breakfast, la colazione, from a different point of view. If you are planning a trip to Italy, it will be very hard to find a restaurant that serves breakfast. Forget about eggs, bacon, and all that comes with them. If you are staying in a Hotel, you can consider yourself lucky because you will find the so called “colazione continentale,” continental breakfast.
In many countries, breakfast is like a normal meal, of course, with its specific kinds of breakfast food, but at the end….it’s not that different from a regular meal. Instead, the typical Italian breakfast, colazione, is exclusively sweet food, we don’t like to eat anything salty. Our breakfast is like a treat time that doesn’t make you feel guilty. We eat cereals, cookies, simple cakes, muffins, pastries, fresh fruit, yogurt, bread or fette biscottate (a cookie-like rusk hard bread) with marmelade or nutella. One of my favorites when I was a kid was bread with butter and sugar😱 (and I still love it 😋).
On the drinks side, it isn’t that different than what you are used to. We usually have cappuccino, latte e caffè, tea, caffè espresso or a succo di frutta (fruit juice). So, be ready, if you are renting a house and you what to buy some groceries, forget about the breakfast sausages and things like that. Of course you will find eggs but probably you will have to switch from bacon to prosciutto, unless you feel adventurous and get that sugar brust to start the day!! Honestly…. it isn’t that bad as you might think😉
The first masks were very grotesque. They had these noses that had a phallic symbolism
18th Century, Venice. Circling about the snaky, torch-lit alleyways of the ancient city are swarms of masked men and women. Before leaving the house, members of all social ranks change their names, leaving their titles and inhibitions at the door. Men dress as women, women as men, priests pursue prostitutes, married men and women meet with lovers in unlit street corners, nobles and foreigners illicitly gamble the night away in smoky dens, covertly hidden behind barbershop entrances. Another disguise. The mask allowed people from all social classes and walks of life to take on an anonymous persona. Historians define it as a period of debauchery, hedonism, revelry, violence, scandal, and deceit. Moral codes were overturned by a population fixated on giving in to their forbidden desires and achieving ultimate pleasure. What sounds like a scene from a storybook, was real life. This was the Venetian Carnevale of the 18th century.
In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII declared Carnevale a Christian holiday, but with the appearance of the mask, Venetian celebrations of the 18th century became known for being anything but pious. Photo by doryx
In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII declared Carnevale a Christian holiday by placing it on the Gregorian calendar, but with the appearance of the mask, Venetian celebrations of the 18th century became known for being anything but pious. So how and when did the tradition of mask wearing begin? If only ancient city walls could talk. To uncover the answer, I went straight to the experts: the mask-makers of Venice.
It wasn’t until recently, in 1979, that Carnevale returned to Venice in a brilliant revival of Venetian history and culture. Artisans across Venice, like Davide Belloni, owner of Ca’ Macana (his shop pictured above), began to study the ancient Venetian technique of mask-making and opened workshops throughout the historic city
Sergio Boldrin, along with his brother Massimo Boldrin, is founder and owner of La Bottega dei Mascareri, located at the foot of the historic Rialto bridge since 1984. For Boldrin, who has thirty-six years of experience in the business, the masks are not merely a costume accessory, but rich works of art carefully crafted using a centuries-old technique that transport the wearer to the strange and magical world that was 18th century Venice.
The exact date of when masks began to be worn in Venice has been highly contested by scholars, and we may never know exactly when the tradition originated. According to Boldrin, “It began around the year 1260, from a guild of painters and artists who started creating masks for political purposes. The first masks were very grotesque. They had these noses that had a phallic symbolism. The poor would go to [piazza] San Marco to protest and they would dress up in a very poor fashion, wearing these masks made of papier-mache. They did it to scare, and to contrast the lavish costumes of the bourgeois class of that period.”
What started out as a game in the 13th century, evolved in the 17th and 18th centuries, when the act of mask wearing took on a new meaning and role within Venetian society
Boldrin’s theory that masks began to be worn in the 13th century is supported by the fact that historians have discovered the oldest document pertaining to the use of masks in Venice. In 1268, this official record, issued by the Great Council, forbade masqueraders from playing the game of “eggs.” It’s a game associated with one mask that was particularly popular in Venice: Il Mattacino. During early mornings or, “mattinate,” of the spring and summer seasons, mischievous young men would dress as clowns. Wearing a short, all white or multicolored garb, and donning a feathered hat, these masked figures were famous for taunting city dwellers by launching perfumed eggs at balconies, groups of people, and lovers canoodling in the streets.
What started out as a game in the 13th century, evolved in the 17th and 18th centuries, when the act of mask wearing took on a new meaning and role within Venetian society. In the 16th century, writers in Italy created La Commedia dell’Arte, “giving more dignity to those initial masks,” says Boldrin. Masks such as Arlecchino, Pantalone, Pulcinella, Colombina, and Brighella became famous symbols of Carnevale.
Davide Belloni, owner of Ca’ Macana, also one of the oldest mask making workshops in Venice that preserves the ancient craft, explains, “The disguise takes away the responsibility of one’s behavior. It always has this double meaning, to interpret a character, or figure which one isn’t. So, the poor man becomes rich, the rich man becomes poor, the noble man becomes a member of the popular class, the sinner becomes the Cardinal. At the same time, it eliminates one’s responsibility to follow rules.”
Typically, Carnevale began on December 26th and lasted until Fat Tuesday, but in the late 17th century it was extended. “[Carnevale] was a way for the bourgeois to keep the people always a bit merry, not thinking about the problems of life, especially in the decadent period of the Republic of Venice. To keep the people happy, [the bourgeois] purposefully organized a Carnevale that lasted from October to Fat Tuesday, so five or six months,” says Boldrin.
Somewhat ingeniously, the bourgeois managed to maintain a hierarchy of social power by reversing the hierarchy, so that it seemed non-existent for six months out of the year. It was the mask that made that possible.
It is important to note that there were masks that were worn even for occasions that were not particularly associated with the festivities of Carnevale. Diplomats and foreign princes attended state ceremonies and courtly receptions, watched the opera and congregated in cafes while wearing masks. For example, the Bauta was worn all year long. It covered all of a person’s features while still making it possible for the wearer to eat and drink. The mask consisted not only of a disguise that covered the face, but also a piece of woven lace that hung from it, and a black hat with three tips.
The period of the Republic of Venice in which the wealthy lived their most lavish lives was, ironically, the same period in which the Republic was beginning to lose power. Could it have been the mentality of a population fixed on unhindered pleasure, and the corruption and chaos that come with exaggerated indulgences, that caused the Republic’s eventual collapse?
Regardless, with Napoleon’s defeat of Venice in 1797, the Republic fell, and with it disappeared the festivities of Carnevale. It wasn’t until recently, in 1979, that Carnevale returned to Venice in a brilliant revival of Venetian history and culture. Artisans across Venice, like Boldrin and Belloni, began to study the ancient Venetian technique of mask-making and opened workshops throughout the historic city.
Walk into the shop of a mask-maker today, and all eyes are on you. You’ll find yourself surrounded by artistically fashioned masks of all shapes, sizes, and colors, waiting for a face to give them life. It’s undeniably eerie, but there is an irrefutable beauty and indescribable temptation hidden in the mystery of those black eyes leering at you from across the room, beckoning you to have a taste of what it would be like to be someone else. Do you dare?
