Italian food

Italian Food and UNESCO

Who doesn’t love Italian food? We savor both the wonderful flavors and the healthy-choice benefits of the Mediterranean diet. For many, it’s associated with memories of good times and the savoring of dishes in a convivial atmosphere amongst family and friends. It’s a win-win. Recently, UNESCO honored the cuisine by recognizing its importance for the world’s cultural heritage. While Italian food is a broad category, the acknowledgement focuses on the local level, a general principal that plays out from the smallest of villages to regions and the nation. Read More

Gianni Versace exhibition

Gianni Versace, Fashion Designer from Reggio Calabria

Bold colors and patterns, opulent fabrics, elegant craftsmanship, glamor and gold, Versace is iconic, a distinctly Italian luxury brand. Creator Gianni Versace chose the head of Medusa as his emblem, hearkening back to antiquity and his roots in Reggio Calabria, a city steeped in legend and history, one of the first Greek colonies of Southern Italy. Read More

finding inspiration

Finding Inspiration for the Holidays

Christmas is that magical time of year when happiness twinkles all around us. Pretty decorations, special foods, gifts, gatherings with family and friends, we pull out all the stops to awaken that joy of the holidays. The general jubilation can also have the opposite effect on those not in step with the season, because as I realized early on, you must find your own inspiration in life. Merriment doesn’t come from the outside. Read More

artisanal gelato

Scirubetta Festival: Gelato, Sorbetto and So Much More!

Gelato, sorbetto, ice cream, sherbet… what’s in a name? Who hasn’t enjoyed all of the above at one time or another? Reggio Calabria has a frozen-dessert event with an interesting name – the Scirubetta Festival. The multi-day indulgence is dedicated to gelato artigianale and takes place along the city’s beautiful seafront. This past September, I happened upon the event and had the opportunity to sample a few scoops of the festival’s delicious artisanal gelato with a view of the Strait of Messina. Read More

Sibari Archeological Park in Calabria

Sybaris, The Lost City of Luxury

Nothing grabs attention like a good mystery. A person disappears and we can’t imagine where he or she may have gone, but a whole city? What happened to Sybaris? Where did the pinnacle of ancient Greek civilization go? The accounts of its grandeur have undoubtedly heightened curiosity over the millennia. Modern technology has, in part, helped locate the lost city, and today, we can even visit Sibari Archeological Park in northeastern Calabria. Read More

Italy, A Geographical Expression? And Calabria?

“Italy is only a geographical expression” has been bandied about for almost two centuries. The phrase has that smack of the in-the-know Italophile with an intellectual bent. One day, as I was looking for a park bench on a sunny afternoon in Crotone, Calabria, I was confronted with a Calabrian take on the idea, that of Leonida Rèpaci. His thoughts were painted on a bench in the shape of a book and related to his own piece of the boot, in the geographical “toe” of the expression… Read More