History & culture
Celebrating All Saints' Day and Honoring the Saints
November 2017 | Danielle Selvaggio
All Saints’ Day (Tutti i Santi) is a public holiday observed in many countries globally, including Italy. Both eastern and western churches honor this holiday, although on different days. It is also sometimes referred to as All Hallows’ Day. It is...
Did You Know?
November 2017 | La Gazzetta Italiana
Nov. 26, 1789: President George Washington, in a response to Congress, declared this date a Day of Publick Thanksgivin [sic].
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving as the last Thursday in November. This was followed for the next...
The Masked Festivities of The Carnival of Venice
October 2017 | Danielle Selvaggio
Il Carnevale di Venezia, se non il più grandioso, è sicuramente il più conosciuto per il fascino che esercita ed il mistero che continua a possedere anche a 900 anni di distanza dal primo documento che fa riferimento a questa famosissima festa....
Portrait of a Youth as Saint Sebastian
October 2017 | Stephen N. Fliegel
A portrait is customarily defined as a representation of a specific individual, such as the artist might meet in life. A portrait does not merely record someone’s features but says something about who he or she is, offering a vivid sense of a real...
Celebrating the Arts: the Impact of the Italian Renaissance
September 2017 | Danielle Selvaggio
Con il termine di Rinascimento ci si riferisce a un importantissimo movimento storico, artistico e culturale, che va dalla seconda metà del ‘400 fino ai primi decenni del ‘500, e che coincide con la fine del Medioevo e l’avvento del mondo moderno....
A New Discovery in Pompeii: An Italy That Keeps Surprising
September 2017 | Rosa Di Grottole
A large gravestone in the popular and beautiful Pompeii archaeological area was recently discovered. In the San Paolino area, during the excavations in a building’s foundation, a monumental marble tomb which, most probably, belonged to an ancient...
A Reliquary Bust from Siena
September 2017 | Stephen N. Fliegel
Il possesso e la venerazione di antiche reliquie erano di fondamentale importanza al tempo del Medio Evo. Questi oggetti erano venerati come un legame tra il m ondo naturale e sovrannaturale. Alcune reliquie erano associate con il Cristo e la...
The Pieta: the Signed Work of Michelangelo
September 2017 | Danielle Selvaggio
The Pieta (“the pity”) is known by many as one of Michelangelo’s greatest works. Sculpted from marble in the years 1498-1499 before Michelangelo was even 30 years old, the Pieta depicts a common religious subject matter that many artists all over...
Why do you Study Italiano?
August 2017 | Elia Iafelice
For the past few years, I have had the pleasure to teach Italian to people from the Cleveland community at the Alta House in the heart of Little Italy. The diligent students attending the classes vary in age, gender and cultural background....