William Giovinazzo

Contributing writer

Dante, Canto 1: Lost in the Dark Wood

March 2024
“In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to myself in a dark wood where the straight way was lost.” So begins Dante’s journey through the afterlife.  As we see from the above quote, Dante begins by waking. Midway through his life, he...


A Book Review: “Christ Stopped at Eboli”

March 2024
When I was a boy, movies and television shows depicted Italy as a lush land with happy, though somewhat simple, peasants. Their homes were quaint, kitchens festooned with braids of garlic and SUBSCRIBE NOW! online + newspaper This section of...


“The Divine Comedy”: The Inferno

February 2024
Hell. A place without hope. A place of justice. A place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. It is this place, this place of utter despair, through which Dante voluntarily travels to be reunited with the great love of his life, Beatrice. Dante...


Great Italians: Cato, The Stoic Italian

January 2024
L'articolo tratta della vita di Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis, uno dei senatori romani nel 95 d.C. È ancora noto come storico della famiglia degli imperatori. Uno stoico romano è qualcuno che fu nobile ed ebbe molte ricchezze ma visse una vita...


A Book Review: “The Fortunate Pilgrim”

January 2024
The movie “The Godfather” was released when I was 16-years-old. At the time, I didn’t care much about it. But my mother! Although you would not describe her as a moviegoer, she insisted we see it when she heard they sang “Che La Luna” during the...


“The Divine Comedy”

January 2024
Imagine for a moment being lost, not just I-took-the-wrong-exit-off-the-freeway-in-the-middle-of-the-day lost, but good and lost. Imagine it is the middle of the night. And you are in a dark forest, a really, really dark forest. You have no cell...


A Book Review: “A Bell for Adano”

December 2023
L'articolo descrive il libro A Bell for Adano di John Hersey. Il libro descrive la vita di Victor Joppolo, un italo-americano nell'esercito americano. Joppolo deve governare e controllare il paese di Adano durante la guerra. Anche se la storia è...


A Book Review: “Raphael, Painter in Rome”

November 2023
Why does Michelangelo always get to be the hero? That is the opening line to “Raphael, Painter in Rome” by Stephanie Storey. Ironically, Michelangelo is the hero of her previously published work, “Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and...


Marcus Aurelius, Philosopher King?

November 2023
Have you ever seen the movie “Gladiator”? It begins with an exciting battle between the Romans and Germanic tribes. There are massive dart launchers and catapults that throw balls of flame that explode when they hit the trees under which the...


A Book Review: The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa

October 2023
For each culture, certain books are required reading. For Italians and Italian Americans, in addition to Dante’s "La Divina Comedia", there is Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s work, "The Leopard". Through their telling of history, they provide unique...


Page 1 of 5