Columns

Known for her striking resemblance to Anna Magnani, Neapolitan actress Lucianna De Falco has ignited the imagination of modern Italian filmmakers who have played on the similarities, allowing her to interpret the style of a cinema icon. “The physical resemblance to Anna Magnani has been a constant, especially at the beginning of my career, and I was scared of it,” said De Falco in a 2019 interview with Fra Noi. “Then I started working, and about 10 years ago, I finally played her in a short film where Magnani and Bette Davis meet, titled “The Big Lie.” I won several …

The Irish Dominican nuns at St. Rita’s in the South Bronx were tough, even the pretty ones. After Sr. Catherine Michael would finish speaking with a parent at our first-grade classroom door, her broad lovely smile darkened into a scowl as she turned to face us. We had inevitably been chattering behind her back, and she immediately rearmed herself with the pointer or yardstick she had left on her desk. Richie, my first friend in school, had a markedly oblong head and would tremble with excitement in anticipation of fun, such as when we played Americans against Germans in the …

Italy recently passed the Salva Casa (Save the Home) decree, a legislative package with the potential to revitalize the country’s housing market. The decree tackles a surprising hurdle: A large portion of Italian homes (estimates suggest up to 80%) have minor irregularities or deviations from building codes. These often insignificant irregularities, like an unpermitted balcony enclosure or a slightly misplaced internal wall, can significantly complicate selling a home, obtaining financing or accessing government assistance. The decree seeks to streamline the process of rectifying these minor issues. This could involve a simplified amnesty program where homeowners pay a penalty based on …

The Italian government has issued the final piece of legislation necessary to implement the Digital Nomad Visa, a game-changing instrument for highly skilled workers from outside the European Union. With the Decree of the Ministry of the Interior dated Feb. 29, 2024, published in the Official Gazette on April 4, 2024, it is now possible for non-EU citizens to apply to work and live in Italy without falling under the complex maximum quota legislation. The visa is aimed at non-EU nationals who perform highly qualified work using technological tools that allow them to work remotely. They can either be self-employed …

In her own unobtrusive way, Mom had long been preparing me for school. In a letter my grandfather wrote her from Italy when I was four and a half, he was glad to hear I spent entire days “writing.” He was referring to my filling a sheet of paper with rows of little vertical lines in imitation of the lines my mother had made on the page. Now, a year and a half later, while she was reading her weekly letter from her father, I asked her whether it was hard to learn how to read. “No, it’s not hard, …

When the middle of summer arrived, there was little going on at St. Anthony’s. However, there were always the Friday night bingo games to look forward to. Of course, the most exciting part of Friday night bingo was “Bingo Pizza”! Since bingo was a fundraiser for the school, women of the parish would volunteer to make pizza for the Friday night sessions. I dubbed it “Bingo Pizza” in one of my previous columns and the name stuck. Bingo Pizza was different from the pizza sold at our local pizzerias, which all served the round, Neapolitan shape. Bingo Pizza was brought …

Say “Some” in Italian with the Partitive To speak fluently in another language, it is important to know how to describe a group of things in a general way. In some cases, the number of things in a group can be counted, but we may want to describe only a part of the entire group. In other cases, the number of things in a group cannot be counted — either due to difficulty in dividing the group into individual parts or due to a seemingly infinite number of things within the group. In short, all languages bypass the problem of …

Let’s pretend we’re at a trivia contest and the next question is, “What’s the word for someone who has an interest in cemeteries?” You could answer “cemetery enthusiast” or “grave hunter” but those would be wrong because the question asks for a single word. It turns out that the word is “taphophile” pronounced “TAF-oh-file.” The moniker has a Greek root, “taphos,” which is a catch-all word for anything to do with funerals, burials, etc. It can be part of the ritual of the death of a loved one to attend a wake, drive in procession to a church and then …

Film at Lincoln Center and Cinecittà presented an exceptional retrospective of Sophia Loren’s work in June. “Sophia Loren: La Signora di Napoli” showcased 13 films celebrating the extraordinary body of work of the legendary actress. “I am very happy to promote this retrospective journey to celebrate Sophia Loren at Film at Lincoln Center,” Cinecittà Chiara Sbarigia said. “As we review the long gallery of unforgettable characters that she has portrayed, we give back to the audience a universal talent admired by diverse generations worldwide. The retrospective featured new restorations of films rarely seen on the big screen in the United …

Recently, I was asked to do a presentation on Cook County Vital records. For anyone who has relatives in Chicago and the suburbs, this is an essential part of research. Vital Records are a specific subset of the many types of records available to genealogists. No matter what part of the country or the world you research, vital records are: Birth certificates Marriage Licenses Death certificates Because they form the backbone of our research, we need them the most. Before there were web sites, we used to have to order copies of these documents from the Cook County Clerk’s office. …