A box of Carnaroli rice in the kitchen cupboard, a pot of meat broth on our stove, a hefty chunk of orange winter squash on the table and snow flurries and biting…
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Years ago, when Pino and I worked the land here in the hills outside Assisi, our rural neighbors taught us how to prune our vineyard, harvest our olives, scythe field greens for…
Prosciutto, pancetta, salami, salsicce, coppa, barbozza. The names unite in an enticing rhythm, so appealing to your ear. Even if you’re a vegetarian. When I dropped in recently at the house of…
Steps away from Naples’ Gothic Church of Santa Chiara…..….. ……the Baroque Gesu’ Nuovo church sits in solemn splendor on the Piazza Gesu’ Nuovo. The “New Jesus” church (the name deliberately distinguishes it…
In the difficult years following World War II, in the working class district of Naples, i quartieri spagnoli (“the Spanish quarter”)…………many a creative napoletano became adept at the art of arrangiarsi (literally, “to arrange…
The Basilica di Santa Chiara in Naples is a regal church…..– and not only for its elegance but for the purpose of its construction: to house the bodies of the royal descendants…
Crowded and colorful, bustling, energetic, and animated, gritty and crumbling – no panoply of words can ever describe Naples’ Quartieri Spagnoli. The street network of the “Spanish district” was set out in the 17th-century…
Queen Sancha of Majorca has certainly left her mark on Naples: among other structures, she mandated the building of the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata and also the double-monastic complex of the Basilica…
When recently in Naples, our napoletani friends, Roberta and Adriano, knew I was eager to see more of the “undiscovered Naples.” Roberta decided where our explorations should start: at the Basilica della…
A stroll amidst the botteghe of the presepari (creche-scene artists) in Via San Gregorio Armeno in Naples is quite simply an immersion into a showroom of superb Italian craftsmanship. In the splendid presepi napoletani (Neapolitan creche…