Columns

Recently, as often happens among Roselandites from the Pullman/Kensington neighborhoods, the topic of Sherwin Williams came up. Everyone recognizes first that SW was a major employer of neighborhood residents and second that it had specific impact upon the community. One visual impact SW had was in the testing of exterior paints in the SW lot east of 115th and Cottage Grove. There were rows and rows of slanted metal sheets on stands, all facing southeast to catch the sun’s rays at their highest point. These exposed paint samples provided data for SW and helped them determine the right chemical composure …

Gianfranco Rosi’s acclaimed documentary “Sotto le nuvole” (Below the Clouds) is set to open at Film at Lincoln Center on March 6. The film, which won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and was featured in the New York Film Festival’s Main Slate, explores life in an area of Naples situated between Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields (Campe Flegree), an active volcanic caldera. Rosi, known for his immersive portraits of communities in crisis, turns his lens on archaeologists uncovering ancient artifacts and dealing with the aftermath of tomb raiders, emergency responders strained by constant threats, and …

In early July 1960, my parents, sister, great-uncle Ernie and I sailed from New York City on a ship of the Italian Line, the “Saturnia.” Its name evoked Italy as the land of Saturn, where the old god, father of Jupiter, ushered in the Golden Age with his reign. The hulk itself, however, built in 1927 and only five years from the scrapheap, didn’t quite do that for us, especially in tourist class. A little sink garishly illuminated by an overhead light was the focal point of our cabin, which was below deck, so forget about the portholes I’d been …

Italy’s special tax regime for new Italian tax residents — the one often compared to the UK “non-dom” concept — has long been one of the country’s most effective magnets for internationally mobile families, executives, investors and retirees. (For previous coverage, click here.) It sits in Article 24-bis of the Italian Income Tax Code (TUIR) and, in plain English, allows eligible individuals to pay a fixed annual substitute tax on most foreign-source income, instead of being taxed under Italy’s ordinary progressive rules. The regime survives intact in 2026. But the price of entry has jumped again. And this time, the …

It has been years since I had a daily newspaper delivered to my house. I stopped it because A) I would have a week’s worth of papers that hadn’t been read, which made the entire exercise futile; B) I don’t care what happens in the Chicago City Council, since I don’t live in Chicago; and C) I find out most news on social media as it happens, rather than wait until the next day. My dad thought he was scooping the news organizations and Facebook when he would call me to tell me about the latest event. I had a …

St. Anthony’s is still my parish, and on Sunday mornings, you’ll find me at the 9 o’clock mass, just like when I was a good St. Anthony’s School student. One major difference is that the disciplinary Sisters of St. Joseph aren’t there to make sure I followed their laws. For the boys, that meant no hands in pockets and taking your hats off. For the girls, it meant making sure you had a head covering scarf or hat. Those were the good old days when, if you broke their laws, you could get a surprising smack on the head to …

The Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) and Cinecittà marked the 100th anniversary of Carlo Rambaldi’s birth in December with a special retrospective celebrating his distinguished career. Rambaldi, an Italian special-effects artist who won three Oscars, is known for his work on “King Kong” (1976), “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977), “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” (1982), and “Dune” (1984) as well as many Italian films, including those he made with frequent collaborator Dario Argento. The event was part of a worldwide celebration supported by Italy’s Ministry of Culture. The retrospective showcased 15 films from Rambaldi’s career, including six …

My parents had several good reasons for the scrimping and saving they did in the late ’50s in the Bronx. I learned about one of them when, on a spring evening of 1960, my father came into my room with a question: “You want to go to Italy with us?” As cautious as Dad was, he had decided to take a summer-long unpaid leave from his construction job in the days when workers like him received no vacation time. My parents, my 5-year-old sister and my 9-year-old self would soon embark on a lengthy adventure. Mom and Dad hadn’t seen …

Italian inheritance law has long been known for its strong protection of close family members, the so-called forced heirs (legittimari): spouses, children and, in some cases, parents. These heirs are entitled by law to a reserved portion of the estate, regardless of the deceased’s wishes. For decades, this protection had an important side effect, particularly when assets were transferred during the donor’s lifetime. Real estate received as a gift often carried a hidden legal risk. Even many years later, a forced heir could challenge the donation and, in some circumstances, recover the property itself from a third-party buyer. As a …

With the month of February comes a renewed focus on the lasting love that leads to marriage.  And the happiness this love brings leads to a desire to share the story of one’s special relationship with family and friends.  Of course, every relationship has its ups and downs, and telling a real-life love story with a happy-ever-after ending makes for a truly special conversation. The Italian language uses reflexive verbs to express the intricacies of a romantic relationship.  This can be a bit difficult for English speakers, who usually express these ideas without reflexive verbs.  But if we remember that …