Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Italian Life + History”
This poem originally appeared in the February/March 2021 issue of Dream of Italy. Salvatore Quasimodo was a Sicilian civil engineer, born in Modica, who began writing poetry in his twenties. This poem was published in his first collection “Acque e Terre”, which translates to Waters and Lands, in 1930. Specchio Ed ecco sul tronco si rompono gemme: un verde più nuovo …
This article originally appeared in the August/September 2020 issue of Dream of Italy. Growing up in late 15th-century Florence, Leonardo da Vinci was surrounded by smart, beautiful women. While the young artist was learning from Andrea del Verrocchio, painters were busy depicting upstanding women in profile. In these portraits, the point was not to reveal anything about the woman’s personality, but rather …
This article originally appeared in the March 2020 issue of Dream of Italy. After a six-year-long restoriation, the Casa del Frutteto (House of the Orchard) in Pompeii has reopened, featuring vivid botanical frescoes, after a six-year-long restoration by a talented team comprising archaeologists, engineers, architects and anthropologists. The House of the Orchard is considered one of the most picturesque houses …
This article originally appeared in the October 2019 issue of Dream of Italy. Find the main article here. For most of Italy, late summer means Ferragosto vacations and lazy beach days. For L’Aquila, it’s more associated with forgiveness of sins: The Festa della Perdonanza Celestiniana, or Festival of Celestinian Forgiveness, has taken place every year on August 28 and 29 for 726 …
This article originally appeared in the October 2019 issue of Dream of Italy. Find the main article here. Sportsmanship traditions haven’t made much of a showing in Italy’s Intangible Cultural Heritage lists, but that may change if alpinism is accepted. As with the transhumance candidacy, alpinism’s UNESCO bid was not submitted by Italy alone; Switzerland and France joined in making the nomination. …
This article originally appeared in the October 2019 issue of Dream of Italy. Data on Italy’s concentration of UNESCO World Heritage Sites often gets tossed around in tourism boards’ marketing materials, and for good reason. The Bel Paese is tied with China — 32 times its surface area — for the highest number of entries on the list, at 55. From …
This article originally appeared in the October 2019 issue of Dream of Italy. Find the main article here. Italy, Austria and Greece submitted a joint petition to add transhumance — crossing the land — to UNESCO’s Representative List. Broadly speaking, transhumance (transumanza in Italian) refers to seasonal movements of shepherds or other herders and their grazing flocks, a global but dwindling practice. …
This article originally appeared in the May 2019 issue of Dream of Italy. Sarcophagus of the Spouses National Etruscan Museum, Villa Giulia, Rome This amazing sarcophagus, the so-called the “Sarcophagus of the Spouses” (sarcofago degli sposi) was discovered during the course of archaeological excavations in 1881 at the Banditaccia necropolis, outside of Cerveteri. The Etruscan Museum at the Villa Giulia in …
This article originally appeared in the May 2019 issue of Dream of Italy. On a recent visit to the National Etruscan Museum in Rome at the height of the tourist season, my kids and I arrived at opening time and had the entire museum to ourselves for nearly an hour. What a treat! Across central Italy lie hundreds of little-visited museums …
This article originally appeared in the May 2019 issue of Dream of Italy. By the 6th century BCE, some of the richest burials in the Mediterranean world were located in central Italy. Much of our knowledge of the Etruscans comes from the incredible troves of material goods yielded from this well-established funerary culture. It’s through tomb excavations that we have the …
