A mother is always the beginning. She is how things begin.” —Unknown The famous Renaissance artist Botticelli was born in Florence when his mother was 40 years old. He was nicknamed Botticelli “little barrels” by his family. A special fondness for his mother must have inspired him to create many of the paintings of women and mothers for which he is well known. In Botticelli’s eyes, women are filled with grace, beauty and strength. Commentaries on his work note that there is a warmth and tenderness between mother and child that is distinctive of Botticelli.  Madonna wit ..read more

Picnic in the Veneto circa 1919-1920 Some of you ask why I write about Italy. There are many reasons but it all begins with a family picture. This is a picture of our Italian family with their friends taken circa 1919-1920 in the countryside near Vicenza. Someone drew arrows on the picture to our relatives including Gino, the one with the big hair. The arrows and comments have faded but I can image the pleasure our family found in the day. To me it represents the idyllic Italian lifestyle and the pleasures of villegiatura, leaving the life of the city for a villa in the countryside. Even thou ..read more

One side of our Italian family lives in Milan so every time we visit our cousins I window shop Via Monte Napoleone ,stroll through Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and power shop la Rinascente, Corso Genova and Milan’s outlet malls. But although Milan is Italy’s (and the world’s) fashion capital, Rome was the birthplace of  Italian fashion. Future Italian designers like Armani, Dolce and Gabbana, Prada, Missoni, Versace, Valentino, Benetton, Diesel and Gucci were all influenced by a trio of sisters who came to Rome with a sense of style that would change the fashion wor ..read more

I remember the first time I saw the chapel, from a distance in the middle of no where, on a road trip through Tuscany on my way to Pienza. I thought I had seen a mirage. I had to blink twice and rub my eyes. The view I saw had been photographed thousands of times yet it seemed like it could not possibly exist. An iconic picture found in almost every calendar or note card set about Italy that leaves you thinking there can be no place on earth that beautiful and yet here I was looking at it in real-time, in the flesh. The Chapel of the Madonna di Vitaleta in Italy’s stunning Val d’ Orcia is one ..read more

Today is April Fool’s Day. In Italy it is called pesce d’aprile. Yes, pesce as in fish. Seems it has something to do with the zodiac, the changing of the seasons and the constellation Pisces. In past times Genoans were known to throw fish. Today in Italy pranksters tag your back with paper cutouts of a pesciolino (small fish) shouting  L’hai  visto?—Chi?—Il pesce d’Aprile! Have you seen it? Who? The April Fish! Go fish and celebrate the fun and foolishness of an Italian April Fool’s Day ..read more

This is an easy kid-friendly kitchen activity, a lesson in botany and a great way to add a touch of whimsy to your springtime menu. It’s difficult to call a plant with such a whimsical shape serious eats but fiddlehead ferns or fiddlehead greens have antioxidant properties that rival the nutritional benefits of spinach and blueberries. High in iron, fiber, potassium, phosphorous and magnesium, fiddleheads have been part of traditional diets in much of Northern France since the beginning of the middle ages, as well as among Native Americans for centuries. Locally harvested in Canada and N ..read more

Italy’s Pane di Pasqua, Italian Easter Breads,  are tangible representations of the meaningful ties to the origins of Easter Sunday, the symbolism of seasonal celebrations and the culinary and cultural traditions of regional Italian food. Here are a selection of Easter Breads from the classic Colomba di Pasqua to a bread from Sardinia an island known for its bakers and a variety of breads made especially for Easter.   Colomba di Pasqua Filled with raisins and candied orange peel, the classic Colomba di Pasqua is the most familiar of the traditional Italian Easter breads. Shaped like ..read more

The Top 5 Reasons (Excuses) I Don’t Study My Italian Like I Should or Dante Lead Me from the Inferno of the Conjugated Verb to the Paradiso of a Native Speaker The Seven Sacraments. Rogier van der Weyden. 1445-50 As confession is good for the soul, I confess I don’t spend as much time as I should studying my Italian and these are My Top 5 Excuses. 5. I Have Too Many Italian Language Books After years of study I have collected a library of Italian language books. With so many I have a hard time deciding which one to focus on. 4. I Want to Know the Reason for the Rules There’s really no reason w ..read more

One of the most important fresco cycles in Italy is by the Italian Renaissance master Giotto located in a chapel on the estate grounds of a money lenders son who in atonement for his father’s sins sought redemption through art. Reginaldo Scrovegni was a wealthy moneylender from the city of Padua. His reputation was such that he was portrayed in the Seventh Circle of Hell in Dante’s Divine Comedy. It’s no wonder that Enrico Scrovegni, Reginaldo’s son, felt compelled to build a private chapel next to the family palazzo in penitence for his father’s sins. He must have been frightened out of his m ..read more

No suitor comes in my house unless he has promised to me himself and has it also inserted into the marriage contract that I shall be permitted to brew coffee whenever I want. — Johann Sebastian Bach, Coffee Cantata Coffee is a non-negotiable part of my day. Either as a cup to start my morning, a cappuccino before noon, a mid-day break or after-dinner expresso. Science and health experts including the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine seem to agree that the popularity of coffee is as strong as ever and as universal. Study after study indicates coffee contains antioxidants and other ac ..read more