Columns

Do you ever wonder why, despite mastering Italian verb conjugation and the art of matching Italian noun/adjective endings, it is still difficult for you to understand Italian while traveling in Italy? Or why you can’t seem to comprehend certain phrases while streaming an Italian TV show or watching an Italian movie? It is not simply that Italians speak quickly, or even that accents vary from region to region. The reason is that all native speakers use idiomatic expressions! An idiomatic expression is one in which the entire phrase has a meaning separate from the individual words in that phrase. To …

  There are plenty of genealogy T-shirts, coffee mugs, etc. that read something like, “I am completely finished with my genealogy … said no one ever!” Most of us who take this seriously truly do not know when to quit. Any hobby can start small and get out of hand over time. There’s nothing wrong with determination to find something difficult and be diligent in having evidence to back up your findings. There are a lot of addictions worse than genealogy! That said, we should know when to quit, on a small scale. Our research can go in many directions …

With this September column we are entering the waning weeks of summer, which also marks the beginning of a personal celebration for me. But before we get to that, a quick look back. Pullman’s summer has been marked by several public events. July was the busy month, beginning with the Neighborhood Taste of Chicago and ending with Pullman Railroad Days. All of this while Pullman neighbors and benefactors talked about the upcoming $85 million investment in the Hotel Florence. The Redline Extension is becoming a hot topic of conversation, now that the elevated track support columns are being built along …

Jewels from the personal collection of legendary actress Claudia Cardinale were auctioned in June by Christie’s, drawing global interest from collectors and fans. The sale featured 24 pieces, including stunning creations by Cartier, Bulgari, and Van Cleef & Arpels — brands that epitomize elegance and glamour, much like Cardinale herself. The sale grossed €826,262, with the highest priced item going for €203,200. Known for her iconic roles and friendly public persona, Cardinale was also an ambassador for Italian fashion houses, particularly Bulgari. In an interview with Christies, Cardinale’s daughter, Claudia Squitieri, said, “Bulgari was one of my mother’s favorite brands. …

While we were in Italy, we spent alternating weeks at the nearby farms of my two sets of grandparents. At each place, I was able to spend a lot of time with my young cousins who lived locally or in Rome and came to stay with us with their mothers during the week. My Roman uncles came out when they could on the weekends, often decked out in short-sleeved white shirts and brown gabardine pants. Rome was only a 90-minute drive north, but one uncle, Mario the Evangelist minister, lived with my aunt and three kids in Taranto — 200 …

  Many Italian Americans spend years restoring a family home in Italy, purchasing an apartment for retirement or holding on to property inherited from parents or grandparents. Far fewer stop to consider what will happen to that property when it passes to the next generation. While considerable attention is usually devoted to purchasing or maintaining property in Italy, less thought is often given to what may happen to that property in the future. Depending on the circumstances, the absence of coordinated estate planning may create additional formalities, delays or uncertainty for heirs. A U.S. will is not necessarily ineffective in …

The verb fare, which means “to do” and “to make” is ubiquitous in conversational Italian, as it is found in innumerable special expressions. Fare is used to convey different types of shopping, as well as to express one’s occupation, talk about what you have (or don’t have) to do, how much an item costs, taking a photo or a trip. Learn how to use fare to sound like a native Italian in almost every situation! In the last blog in this series, “Facciamo Shopping!” or “Let’s go shopping!” we learned how to describe the act of shopping in Italian.  You may …

A new exhibition in Cold Spring, New York, is bringing the luminous legacy of Murano glassmaking into focus through the work of Japanese artist Yoichi Ohira. “Yoichi Ohira: Japan in Murano” is on view at Magazzino Italian Art until February 2027. The exhibit showcases the work of Ohira who became a leading figure in the design of Venetian glassworks on the island of Murano. The exhibition highlight the uniqueness of Ohira’s art across the decades of his career. Ohira’s earliest Murano works blend Venetian glass techniques with his own style. These pieces show balanced shapes, clear surfaces, and striking color …

On the late afternoon of our arrival in Italy in July 1960, my weary family and I found ourselves at the house of my maternal grandparents. It was time to settle down to a banquet that had doubtlessly taken my newly-met aunts and great-aunts a prodigious number of hours to prepare. In the company of a dozen adults and a gaggle of kids, I partook of prosciutto e melone, a savory soup with tiny meatballs, homemade manicotti, chickens that had been scavenging carefree in the yard that morning, roast rabbit with diced rosemary potatoes, and a “contorni” of assorted vegetables …

  This month’s column comes to you under the auspices of current events. As most of you know, I’ve written the book “Petals from Roseland: Fond memories of Chicago’s Roseland, Pullman and Kensington neighborhoods.” I’ve sold more than 1,000 copies of the book, and I still have copies available for purchase. Recently, one of my readers contacted me via email to tell me how much he enjoyed the book. He then asked me a question that led to this column: “Have you sent a copy of your book to the pope?” I hadn’t even thought of it, but it was …