Published on Sunday, September 8, 2013 by Kathy McCabe The Academia Barilla in Parma is the first international center dedicated to the development and promotion of Italian gastronomic culture. So the folks there know a thing or two about Italian food and how it should be prepared and eaten. The center recently published  10 Italian cooking commandments according to Academia Barilla. Here they are: 1. You shall not s...

Published on Thursday, September 5, 2013 by Kathy McCabe When we think about buying and eating fruit in Italy, we think of fresh, delicious produce. But do Italian melons need more help in selling to the public? Are Italians that into the Smurfs? That's what we wondered when we read this piece in Licensing Magazine about Smurfs being used to help move melons. Random....

Published on Tuesday, September 3, 2013 by Kathy McCabe Remember when you were a kid and you could go home for lunch if you brought a note for your teacher? In the U.S., I think that possibility ended in the 1980s and surely few American kids and adults have the luxury of going to their house for lunch. But in Italy, a staggering 75% of workers still go home for lunch, despite the country's dire economic situation, reports...

Published on Wednesday, August 21, 2013 by Kathy McCabe The newly elected mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino wants to close down the Via dei Fori Imperiali which runs next to the Colosseum  in a bid to make ancient Rome more pedestrian friendly, hoping to double the current number of visitors to the ancient sites to 20 million.  On August 3rd, Marino began barring private cars from the southern end of the road and tas...

Published on Sunday, August 18, 2013 by Kathy McCabe As the grape harvest begins  in southern Italy, the Association of Italian Enologists predicts that 2013 may well be an excellent year for the production of both red and white local wines if the current climatic conditions continue. ""It's going well, this climatic situation cannot but be favorable. We need to use a conditional tense, obviously, but if it carries on ...

Published on Monday, July 8, 2013 by Steve I think the video below just might make your day. Imagine what happens when an Italian opera flash mob hits a supermarket. Enjoy!     ...

Published on Sunday, July 7, 2013 by Kathy McCabe Italians love the beach and will set up shop wherever there is sand and water! This shot is taking in Castiglioncello on the coast of Tuscany. Photo by antmoose, flickr.com...

Published on Monday, December 10, 2012 by Steve Christmas – it’s the  most magical time of year – and is  even more magical when you spend it in Italy. Christmas – or natale in Italian – still retains a very traditional feel in Italy. It hasn’t been tainted by too much commercialism. Christmas markets spring up in piazzas. The holiday market in Rome’s Piazza Navona is one of the most noteworthy...

Published on Thursday, November 8, 2012 by Kathy McCabe Breakfast (colazione) for the typical Italian is not a big meal. The traditional breakfast usually consists of cappuccino and a pastry (a cornetto or brioche) which may be eaten at home or just as likely, at the local bar or cafe.  Fortunately for travelers, nearly every hotel in Italy includes breakfast in its nightly room rate and you can expect a self-service ...

Published on Tuesday, September 4, 2012 by Kathy McCabe So you're planning an Italian cruise, how cool would it be to be joined by the controversial but always entertaining Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister of Italy? Guests on the MSC Divina, cruising from Venice along the Adriatic, will have the unique chance to meet Berlusconi, a former cruise line crooner himself! The 75-year-old billionaire is the specia...