Italians' Gift for Organizing

by Domenic Cusmano

Italians, it seems, have a special talent for evolving simple concepts into complex and efficient creations. Throughout the centuries, in countless fields of endeavour, Italians have taken raw elements or the germ of someone else's idea and developed them into something functional and beautiful from which many others could benefit.

In myriad commercial brands – from high fashion to interior design, from foodstuff to footwear – Italians are unequalled in their ability to re-manufacture and export the appearance of excellence. Little compares with the worth of the "Made in Italy" phrase. If you don't believe it, replace the last word in the phrase above with "China," "Japan" or even "USA." More...

What's in an Italian Name?
History, Heritage and Humour – Sometimes!

by Terri Favro

My mother never forgave her first Canadian schoolteacher for changing her name. She was five at the time; the memory still rankles at ninety. As one of only a few kids in her neighbourhood to finish high school, she's proud of the framed diploma on her wall. But recently, she told me that she wanted me to contact St. Catharines Collegiate and demand that they issue a new one bearing her correct Italian name.

I sighed. "You graduated over sixty years ago, Mom. Couldn't you just let it go?"

"Beh," responded my mother, adding, "I don't know why Nonna Rosa let that testadura of a teacher get away with calling me that awful name." More...

Being a Two in a Game of Briscola

by Mark Bednarczyk

When one thinks of Italian culture and its influences upon civilization, what usually comes to mind are the names of masters like da Vinci, Michelangelo, Bernini, Giotto, Dante, Verdi and the like. For some students at Loyola High School in Montreal, even those who have been to Italy with their families or as part of an organized school trip, Italian culture is sometimes measured by one's ability to gobble up enormous quantities of panini or tasty "sangwiches," or by one's passion for playing briscola. While the consumption of delicious Italian comestibles is not considered a yardstick by which one measures one's immersion in Italian culture, knowing how to play briscola, for many Loyola students, seems to be just that. After all, it has been said that it is impossible to find an Italian male who does not know how to play the game. More...

A Table for Two in Sicily

by John Estano deRoche & Constance Pennacchio deRoche

Life beneath the sea is complex and diverse. What luck for Mediterranean islanders! Over centuries, Sicilians have crafted their richly imaginative cuisines around these gifts. And what luck for John, who craves seafood; not so much for Connie, who doesn't. Fortunately for her, the glorious, rolling Sicilian landscape is equally rich. Its lavish produce and a long growing season yield superb complements and delectable alternatives to the frutti di mare.

The daily rhythm of food in Sicily stereotypically begins on a gentle upbeat with la colazione, the continental breakfast: sweetened bread or pastry, fruit, maybe uno yogurt, and absolutely un espresso, caffè americano, caffè latte, or cappuccino. More...

Lost Innocence, Tragic Obsessions: Three Contemporary Italian Films at TIFF 2012

by Terri Favro

An intimate, haunting character study; a scathing satire of celebrity culture; an epic love story set against the horrors of a genocidal war. Although different from one another in scope and style, the three Italian contemporary films I saw at this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) shared similar themes of tragedy and loss – loss of innocence, of love and of life – to destructive forces beyond the characters' control.

In The Interval (L'Intervallo), the first feature film by documentary filmmaker Leonardo di Costanzo, power belongs to the Camorra, a force that remains almost invisible until the final scenes. More...