Good Vibes From Italy and Beyond

Fra Noi May 13, 2020 Columns Leave a comment 1,023 Views

Our Good Vibes feature spotlights websites, blogs, videos and podcast from around the world that celebrate Italy’s inimitable spirit. If you have a favorite online offering you’d like to share, send it to info@franoi.com. For more, follow us on Facebook.

Underground sensation Corsi’s career takes flight

For many years, Lucio Corsi was one of the most talked-about names in Italy’s underground music scene. But the 28-year-old Milanese singer-songwriter is now navigating the waves of fame with his third album, “Cosa faremo da grandi?” (What will we do when we’re grown up?). Originally from Grosseto, Corsi has had the audacity to mix genres and styles that range from David Bowie to Francesco De Gregori, all infused with the most classic of melodic vocals “all’italiana”. Throw in Pasoliniesque music videos in which Corsi shows off a quirky and audacious acting talent, and the keys to success and fame are in his hands!
— Nicola Orichuia

For the official video, click here.

Early Ramazzotti hit celebrates power of love

Eros Ramazzotti, one of the greatest Italian singers and songwriters of modern times, connected with people because he was an unpretentious guy with a unique, powerful voice and enormous musical talent. He grew up with modest means in the outskirts of Rome, the setting of his hit song “Adesso Tu” that won the 1986 Festival di Sanremo when he was just 22 years old. The song is about love as a powerful force that propels you to tackle life’s obstacles. More importantly, it’s a stark social commentary of life in a tough neighborhood and the acknowledgment that you can never, and should never, forget where you come from.
— Elena Ferrarin

For the official video, click here.

For footage from a 1986 concert, click here.

“La Strada” theme song captures heroine’s essence

I don’t think that a movie theme song captures the spirit of a character as precisely as does Nino Rota’s theme from Federico Fellini’s 1954 “La Strada.” Sold by her mother to a traveling magician, Gelsomina, portrayed by Giulietta Masina, is a complex, troubled soul who just wants to be loved. Fellini drew inspiration from Masina, explaining, “I utilized the real Giulietta, but as I saw her. I was influenced by her childhood photographs, so elements of Gelsomina reflect a 10-year-old Giulietta.” The film won the first Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Celebrate Masina’s centennial by listening to this enchanting soundtrack. To listen to the theme song, click here.

— Jeannine Guilyard

Culinary therapy

Manuela Anelli Mazzocco, author of “The Complete Italian Cookbook: Essential Regional Cooking of Italy,” calls her time in the kitchen creative and relaxing. Her blog, “Cooking with Manuela,” is aimed at convincing readers that “with not much time, some love and a good appetite, you too can prepare amazing dishes.” Born in Venice and now residing in California, Manuela shares traditional dishes such as beef involtini and baked eggs in tomato sauce, but is open to any simple recipe that gets dinner on the table for her active family. An amateur photographer, she provides bright, tempting photos as well as links to her video recipes. You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest. For more, click here.

— Dolores Sennebogen

Afterlife walking tour

Florence’s Uffizi Galleries are marking the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death with “To rebehold the stars,” a virtual tour of 88 illustrations depicting the master poet’s “Divine Comedy.” Created by 16th-century painter Federico Zuccari, the stunning, detailed depictions were completed between 1586 and 1588. The images follow Dante, with guides at his side, as he traverses the afterlife from Hell (Inferno) through Purgatory (Purgatorio) and finally into Heaven (Paradiso). A fourth tour explores other Dantean works at the Uffizi. To start your tour, click here.

— Jeannine Guilyard

Roaming the Eternal City

Romeing is both a monthly print publication distributed in the Eternal City and a spectacular website. Whether you’re an expat, avid traveler, Rome buff or just someone looking for virtual tours from the comfort of your couch, Romeing has you covered. The online version features delightfully illustrated, in-depth articles about art, culture and key spots like Rome’s largest park, Villa Doria Pamphilj. For us cinephiles, there’s a section devoted to filmmaking that includes a wonderful article revealing the exact locations where iconic movies — such as Roberto Rossellini’s “Rome Open City,” Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” and Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Great Beauty,” to name a few — were shot. For more, click here.

— Jeannine Guilyard

La professoressa della tavola

Roz Corieri combined her master’s degree in education with a lifetime love of cooking, photography, and gardening to create a food and lifestyle blog called La Bella Vita Cucina. Since 2009, she has been teaching us lessons learned in her kitchen and her family’s restaurants as well as through her wide travels. In addition to recipes searchable by course and ingredient, her blog provides handsome photos, attractive tablescapes and useful gardening tips. Readers can also search by holiday or check her “how to” section for advice such as how to scale a fish. Roz usually posts several times a week and also includes a link to her favorite imported foods and kitchen products. For more, click here.

— Dolores Sennebogen

Face time with the famous

The Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America launched Season 3 of their OSDIA Live Interview Series on Jan. 27. Each season features 12 half-hour episodes. Interviews are conducted by OSDIA officers, committee members and staffers, and spotlight luminaries from across the professional spectrum. Previous seasons have featured guests like author Adriana Trigiani, chef Lidia Bastianich and NASA astronaut Mike Massimino. Upcoming guests include actor Joe Piscopo and automaker Tonino Lamborghini. TO view episodes, click here.

— Miles Ryan Fisher

Europe for foodies

If you’re dreaming of your next trip to Italy, get a taste of what’s in store at EatingEurope.com. The website’s mission is to give travelers “an unparalleled, non-touristy, food-related experience” of major European cities. There are links to popular Italian destinations such as Rome, Florence and Naples, as well as articles like “The 15 Best Places to Visit in Italy.” You can find guides to the best food markets in Firenze and the top must-try eats in Napoli. There are also simple recipes to dishes such as chocolate gelato, cacio e pepe and handmade gnocchi. The website connects you to tours of authentic food shops and eateries and introduces you to “the people behind the food.” For more, click here.

— Dolores Sennebogen

Deep cultural dive

Treccani.it offers a veritable feast of news, views and culture, all from a very Italian point of view. The entire website is written in Italian, with no English translation available. Click on “Magazine” at the top of the homepage, and choose from countless news articles and opinion pieces about Italy and the rest of the world. The same drop-down menu serves up current Italian music, presented by season or style, under the heading “Le Parole Valgono.” And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The website grew out of the fabled “Enciclopedia italiana di dcienze, lettere ed arti” that was launched in 1925 by Giovanni Treccani. for more, click here.

— Kathryn Occhipinti

Classics + commentary

The Criterion Channel is both a treasure trove of classic films and a wellspring of in-depth commentaries by cinema scholars. The essays offer thought-provoking analyses that explore political and social themes. They also delve into the relationships between iconic directors and the actors who played their protagonists. Criterion recently released a restored version of Francesco Rosi’s 1979 film “Christ Stopped at Eboli,” marking the occasion with a compelling examination of the Carlo Levi book upon which the movie was based as well as the political and social issues the author was grappling with. Other interesting essays include “Fellini Satyricon: Not Just Friends,” “L’eclisse: Antonioni and Vitti” and “Seeing Clearly Through Tears: On the Smart Sentiment of Umberto D.,” to name a few. For more, click here.

— Jeannine Guilyard

Change of heart

As a teenager and former picky eater, Paola Maggiulli was a reluctant helper at her dad’s West London Italian deli. By her 20s, she had learned to appreciate the charms of Italian charcuterie, briny olives and imported cheeses, and “slowly started to understand how important food was to my family.” She eventually dove into her food heritage, visiting relatives in Puglia and taking professional food and wine courses. It all led to a career as a food consultant, chef and food blogger at thetinyitalian.com. Still based in London, Paola continues to enjoy traveling throughout Italy to explore the intricacies of regional cuisine. Her website offers searchable recipes, including vegetarian and vegan options; product reviews; travel information; and cookbook suggestions. You can also follow Paola on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. For more, click here.

— Dolorese Sennebogen

Free and easy

Onlineitalianclub.com has, by its own account, “masses of free materials” for students of Italian. Run by the British company Imaprareonline Ltd., the website makes “everything accessible to all, member or not.” Start by taking a free test to determine your proficiency in Italian, then dive into grammar and verb exercises created specifically for your level. Or listen to one of the many topic-oriented short stories or dialogues. Also operated by the same company, easyitaliannews.com and dontspeakitalian.com serve up short vignettes on current topics for beginning Italian students. Italian movie buffs can listen to and then read Italian language summaries of classic Italian movies. Love Italian history? Check out new postings each week on the history of Rome. The main sources of income for the site are the Easy Reader and Parallel Text E-books and Italian lessons from native speakers that are available for purchase. For more, click here.

— Kathryn Occhipinti

Channeling nonna

Cara Cipolla Kretz considers herself a recovering corporate workaholic. She left that behind to invest her enthusiasm in her food blog, Homemade Italian Cooking. Cipolla Kretz grew up in a large Catholic Italian family in the suburbs of Chicago with both of her grandmas nearby. From an early age, she and her sisters participated in meal preparation with their elders. “We were three generations of women from two Italian families converging in the kitchen. It was bliss.” Her blog posts include tips, secrets and shortcuts to help the modern cook achieve traditional results. For those who learn by watching, short videos are included for some recipes. The health-conscious should check out Kretz’s cookbook “Delicious Detox and Powerfoods.” You can follow Cara on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. For more, click here.

— Dolores Sennebogen

Spotlight on Sardinia

A unique collection of videos about Sardinian heritage are available on Vimeo through the Ethnographic Institute of Sardinia’s on-demand platform. More than 50 photo essays, documentaries, short films and animated films are currently online, with more on the way. All works were shot on the island of Sardinia. Some have enjoyed considerable success, including Paolo Zucca’s “L’Arbitro” (The Referee), which earned him a David di Donatello for Best Short Film. “La cena delle anime” (Supper for Dead Souls) by Ignazio Figus is particularly compelling. It made its North American premiere in New York last year at the Margaret Mead Film Festival. Works with English subtitles are labeled accordingly. For more, click here.

— Jeannine Guilyard

Italiano con linguine

If you love pasta and la nostra lingua, you can satisfy both cravings via “Speak Italian with Your Mouth Full,” a series of 13 recordings from an MIT seminar by Dr. Paola Rebusco. Watch Lesson 1 to learn the basics of Italian pronunciation, then join Dr. Rebusco and her students in the kitchen to fix two classic pasta dishes: Pasta all’Amatriciana and Pasta con i Broccoli. While in the kitchen, Dr. Rebusco focuses on the pronunciation of basic Italian food vocabulary while teaching authentic methods of cooking pasta. The complete recipes are listed in the information section below each video. By the time you’re done with the final episode, you’ll be preparing pasta fresca for your friends while describing what you’re making in Italian with ease. For more, click here.

— Kathryn Occhipinti

Prisencolinensinainciu-what?

Pop singer Adriano Celentano released a song in the 1970s with nonsense lyrics meant to sound like English. He did it to prove that Italians would embrace anything American. He was right. Prisencolinensinainciusol became a hit with ripple effects all the way through to today. We found several clips, all with a different twist. The best is this one, which can only be viewed on Facebook. (Don’t forget to turn the sound on.)

If you don’t have Facebook, you’ll have to suffer through this bedazzled version with shoddy audio-visual synching.

Even with a much clearer audio on the studio version (no video here), you STILL can’t understand a word Celentano is saying.

Here he is on whatever the Italian version was of American Bandstand. One of the comments below the video is illuminating: “This is legitimately what English sounded like before I learned how to speak it. It’s a really fascinating thing since my brain processes this as being ‘English’ without it really being English.”

Then there’s this highly polished modern adaptation. (Keep your eyes peeled for a cameo appearance by Celentano later in the video.)

To learn more about the song and its creator, click here.

An operatic farewell to the pandemic

Tenor Daniel Emmet looks forward to a world without the coronavirus in this exceedingly clever and ultimately quite stirring adaption of Puccini’s “Nessun dorma.”

Cinematic feast

Readers of Fra Noi know Jeannine Guilyard from her monthly film profiles, but she has so much more to offer on the cinematic front. A seasoned journalist in all media, she shares insights and updates at italiancinematoday.com. Her mission is to celebrate more than a century of great Italian moviemaking. Recent posts include a review of the 1914 silent film “Cabiria,” a report on recent Netflix projects featuring contemporary Italians, and a preview of Martin Scorsese’s recent collaboration with Alice Rohrwacher. You can follow her on Twitter (@ItaloCinema2day), Instagram (italiancinematoday) and Facebook (italiancinematoday). Can’t get enough of Italian cinema? Jeannine feeds the need. For more, click here.

— Paul Basile

Linguistic travel companion

Wherever you are on the long road to Italian literacy, you won’t find a better travel companion than Kathryn Occhipinti. Her learntravelitalian.com is a compendium of lessons and notes that let you immerse yourself in the language and culture of il bel paese. The homepage offers easy access to the interactive audio adventures of Caterina, an Italian-American girl who travels to Italy. You’ll also find beginning and advanced lessons, as well as blogs featuring authentic Italian recipes and Cultural Notes for Travelers. Kathryn’s book series, “Conversational Italian for Travelers,” is available for purchase on the website and you can follow her on Facebook (conversationalitalian), Twitter (@travelitian1) and Pinterest (stellalucenteItalian). For more, click here.

— Paul Basile

Evviva la musica!

Italian Sinfonia was a two-hour Italian language music and cultural radio program carried by Fordham University’s public radio station for 20 years until being cancelled by the station in December 1996. The spirit of that program lives on in a website by the same name. Infrequently updated with more than its share of broken links, italiansinfonia.com is nevertheless rich in archival material. Your best bets are the sections dedicated to Italian radio and video stations, and video playlists covering every decade from the 1960s to the present. You haven’t truly lived until you’ve reveled in the campy charm of Little Tony’s 1969 classic, “Cuore matto.” For more, click here.

— Paul Basile

Deep dive

How much do you love all things Italian? Enough to launch a whole website without thought of reward? That’s exactly what Candida Martinelli did with italophiles.com. “This is a hobby-site,” she writes. “Any money made from links and ads provides funds to cover my computer, Internet and website hosting and domain name costs. Anything left over, I spend on pasta!” And oh, what a site it is! Vast, inclusive and idiosyncratic, it covers cuisine, cinema, theater, music, books, travel, history, home and garden, holidays and fun, and Italian culture for children. Dazzling in its depth, diversity and quirkiness, it’s a virtual House on the Rock for Italian lovers. For more, click here.

— Paul Basile

Picture perfect

“The Eternal City is filled with some of the most extraordinary works of ancient art; one the most beautiful is surprisingly one of the least visited. It’s the summer dining room from the Villa of Livia, who was the wife of Emperor Augustus. Life-size frescoes of trees, flowers, fruit and birds decorate four walls to create a continuous 360° view.” So begins the latest photoblog on Postcards from Boot. Written and curated by Carla Gambescia, author of “La Dolce Vita University,” the website features elegantly written deep dives into fascinating niches of Italian culture, enhanced by slideshows of stunning photos and graphics. Other postcards bear tempting titles like “Swept Away in Sardinia,” “Scenes from a Sicilian Summer,” “Fish Market Magic” and Love, Lust and Lavazza.” For more, click here.

— Paul Basile

Embracing Sicily

Interested in reading about daily life in Italy in Italian? In her blog “Sicily Inside and Out,” Australian expat Rochelle Del Borrello describes her 16-year experience living in a small town in Sicily. “A few years ago, I began writing about the difficulties of being an accidental or ‘unwilling expat’ in Sicily, but now my life is about accepting and embracing life in Italy,” she writes. Always telling it like it is, Rochelle’s vignettes have a unique perspective and subtle humor. Check out the “in italiano” tab for Italian-only blogs. For more, click here.

— Kathryn Occhipinti

Reimagining Campari

We all know Campari for its iconic Italian apéritifs. Recently, the brand teamed up with Rome’s Cinecittà Studios to create enchanting short films to promote its cocktails. The series, “Red Diaries,” consists of works by contemporary Italian directors Matteo Garrone (“Gomorrah”), Stefano Sollima (“Suburra”) and Academy Award winner Paolo Sorrentino (“The Great Beauty”). Each inspired by a specific Campari cocktail, the films are psychological thrillers that contain a strong element of mystery. The website also features recipes for its cocktails, including the legendary Negroni and Americana as well as the Campari story with past art and film campaigns. For more, click here.

— Jeannine Guilyard

Remembering nonna

Frank Fariello began his food blog in 2009 “to recapture something.” What he has recaptured is revealed in the blog’s name, Memorie di Angelina. It began as a tribute to the home cooking of this grandmother Angelina. “I learned the importance of good food at those leisurely Sunday dinners, the kind that … last well into the evening.” After 10 years he has published more than 500 recipes and maintained his loyalty to authentic Italian and Italian-American home cooking. Beyond recipes, Frank tells food stories with a focus on the experience of cooking. Because he still practices law full time, he doesn’t post as frequently as full-time bloggers, but he honors his readers by not monetizing the site in any way. He accepts no ads or sponsored reviews. There is so much more to learn about Frank and Angelina on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. For more, click here.

— Dolores Sennebogen

In Hadrian’s footsteps

Carole, who is French and lives in Frankfurt, Germany, has two great passions in life — travel and the Roman Emperor Hadrian. In her words, she “usually (doesn’t) do things by halves,” so she’s combined these two fascinations into a blog/photography project showcased at followinghadrian.com. Carole takes inspiration for her peregrinations from the journeys of Hadrian, himself an inveterate traveler. Nearly 2,000 years after his reign, she follows in his footsteps, documenting her voyages with photos. It’s fascinating to see what those historic sites look like today, paired with descriptions of the events that happened during Hadrian’s time. For more, click here.

— James Scalzitti

Boccaccio reimagined

Boccaccio’s 14th-century masterpiece “The Decameron” follows a group of Italians who are leaving the city for the countryside to escape the plague and decide to tell stories to pass the time. Feeling isolated during the pandemic, longtime collaborators Erri De Luca and Paola Porrini Bisson took a page from Boccacio’s book and invited an international group of authors, journalists, poets and playwrights to write stories that would then be interpreted by actors from around the world. Each tale is accompanied by a bold, impressionistic backdrop created by LA artist Richard Petit. The resulting project, “The Decameron 2020,” included six stories ranging in length from 2-1/2 to 7 minutes at press time, with more to come. Most are performed in English or with English subtitles. For more, click here.

— Paul Basile

Virtual ticket to Italy

If you love Italy, the Italian language, or Italians in general, The Local Italy (thelocal.it) is your ticket to keeping up with them. The site offers news and features about the latest Italian trends, why Italy needs to repair more bridges before they fail, what the pope is up to, drool-worthy Italian travel pics and the occasional explainer about Italian politics (as if they can be explained). One classic Local Italy article teased, “People No Longer Laugh When You Order Penne.” In Italian, double consonants like the “nn” in penne are pronounced more strongly than single consonants. It’s important to speak it carefully, the article suggested, so the waiter understands you’re ordering pasta and not a part of the male anatomy that is impolite to speak of in finer restaurants. For more, click here.

— Pam DeFiglio

Oh, so THAT’S how Italian babies learn to talk with their hands!

Parallel universe

A visit to italyheritage.com will prove entertaining and rewarding for beginning and advanced students of Italian alike. The website contains an extensive collection of authentic videos from Italy on a diverse number of topics, including clips of Italian movie scenes, songs, cooking instructions and excerpts of documentaries about Italians who have made important contributions throughout the world. What makes these videos so easy to learn from is the parallel script provided for each — in Italian on the left and English on the right! The site allows you to keep in touch with your Italian roots while learning the language of your ancestors.

— Kathryn Occhipinti

These little piggies …

Remember those cartoons you loved as a child? You may be surprised to learn that in Italy, children and adults alike love cartoons of all types. Comic strips are found in newspapers (vignette) and comic books (fumetti), and animated cartoons are played on TV (cartoni animati). So why not include i cartoni as an entertaining way to improve your Italian listening skills? The YouTube channel Peppa Pig Italiano has 283 colorful videos, each under an hour, that follow a popular family of pigs as they face life’s daily challenges in a lighthearted way. And the Italian is slow and simple, making them easy for children and adults alike to understand!

— Kathryn Occhipinti

Armchair Italian

Would you like to learn Italian with a couple of Italian friends? Then pull up a chair and listen along as Jane and Massimo of LearnItalianpod.com bring you up to speed. Both are native Italians who speak clearly and slowly enough for beginning Italian students to follow. Their engaging, friendly manner and choice of real-life situations make it easy to embrace the language. Each line of their short, topical dialogues is repeated with the English translation and then again in Italian with time for the listener to speak. Just click on the green “Lessons” tab on the homepage of their website and get started today!

— Kathryn Occhipinti

Crazy for Italian

Is your quest to learn Italian driving you a bit crazy? Check out the website studentessamatta.com by Melissa Muldoon. Melissa has taken on the persona of “la studentessa matta,” or “the crazy student,” to signify that “anything and everything is possible if you go a little crazy” when learning Italian. Melissa is an art historian, author of three novels set in Italy, and a blogger about Italian language and culture. Her blogs are written in intermediate Italian, followed by the English translation, and describe “all things Italian”—from Italian hand gestures to a famous Botticelli painting. You can listen to Melissa’s Italian/English vlogs on her You Tube channel “Italian with Melissa” as well.

— Kathryn Occhipinti

More than just a podcast

Do you need to improve your Italian listening and comprehension skills? Then podcastitaliano.com may be just what you’re looking for. Podcast Italiano was founded by Davide Gemello from Turin in 2017. A large variety of material about Italian life and current events is easily accessible from the website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or the YouTube Channel. All blogs have a link to the audio and include written transcripts, with both Italian and English for beginners. Check out the YouTube video “How to use Podcast Italiano Effectively” and start listening and learning Italian today!

— Kathryn Occhipinti

Vero italiano

While visiting Italy, have you found that the Italian spoken there is often completely different from the textbook version? Then try listening to the “Con Parole Nostre” podcast before your next trip! “Con Parole Nostre” means “In Our Own Words,” and provides a unique opportunity to listen in to three real-life Italian friends (Barbara, Elfin and Silvia) as they have an informal chat. A topic like “What will you do for New Year’s?” is chosen and the three friends record their spontaneous conversation for the podcast. “The language we use is real cutting edge, not simplified for students.” The ladies speak at a regular conversational pace (quickly), but transcripts are available for download so you won’t miss a word!

— Kathryn Occhipinti

Straight to video

If you enjoy a spoonful of culture with each Italian lessons, check out the new YouTube channel from the native Italian teacher/translator team Anna and Diana. Dubbed “My Italian Circle,” the channel debuted in November 2019 and features colorful vignettes on Italian art, music, history and traditions. The “Learn Italian with the News” series uses current events to teach common phrases. For the series, Anna appears as a TV anchor with news clips playing in the background while she speaks in clear, conversation-speed Italian about recent happenings in Italy. Italian subtitles appear during the segments and there’s a quiz afterward. The channel also posts traditional teaching videos in which Anna discusses Italian grammar points geared toward beginning students.

— Kathryn Occhipinti

Everyday Italian

If you’re studying Italian and are bored with memorizing lists of vocabulary words you’ll probably never use, try learning the language using videos taken from everyday life. The Edilingua YouTube channel features vignettes that are organized by topics such as shopping, ordering at a restaurant or starting a new job. Their “Arrivderci!” series features vignettes from the lives of a fashionable 20-something Italian couple in 2015. With a videocam following unobtrusively, they carry on casual conversations as they stroll along the streets of their city. Their dialogue is peppered with modern expressions that are easily committed to memory. Watch with Italian captions to catch every word.

— Kathryn Occhipinti

Rinse and repeat

Most Americans who want to learn Italian begin with a specific goal in mind — for example, to contact family in Italy, take a dream vacation, or even relocate permanently for work or retirement. Whatever your reason for embracing Italian as a second language, the best way to do it is by learning basic Italian phrases in a gradual, understandable and interesting way. Learntravelitalian.com provides a series of 18 dialogues that tell the story of Caterina, an Italian-American woman who travels to Italy to meet her Italian family. Beginner dialogues progress to intermediate as the story continues. Listen to Caterina’s encounters with native Italian speakers on your computer or phone, then repeat each phrase out loud to drive the lesson home.

— Kathryn Occhipinti

Light-hearted lessons

Inject a little humor into your Italian lessons with “Marco in a Box.” The YouTube channel has more than 100,000 subscribers who enjoy the lively banter between Italian-speaking Marco and his American friend Alex as they tackle such knotty issues as “Italian words you’ve been getting wrong” and “How to talk with your hands.” Presented in a lighthearted and positive manner, the series delves into the many difficulties that American students encounter with the Italian language. Each video starts with Marco introducing a challenging word or phrase. Alex then re-creates how a typical English-speaking student would say it, after which Marco sets Alex straight. Marco speaks in clearly enunciated Italian, and there is just enough repetition in these humorous back-and-forth dialogues to drive the lessons home.

— Kathryn Occhipinti

Language break

Did you know that simply listening to and repeating Italian words for 20 minutes a day can help you speak Italian more fluently? The “Coffee Break Italian” podcasts provided by Radio Lingua are based on that concept. Their 20-minute installments have been available for free without subscribing to their site since 2015, and now they’re also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify. Each podcast is led by bilingual language teacher Mark and native Italian speaker Francesca. Together they provide on-air instruction to Katie, a native English speaker who has just started to learn Italian. You can begin with basic Italian in Season 1 or skip to the new intermediate level introduced in May. (radiolingua.com/coffeebreakitalian)

— Kathryn Occhipinti

Italiano con linguine

— Kathryn Occhipinti

Marvelous Matera

If you’re planning on visiting Italy this year, I suggest heading south to Basilicata and visiting the sassi of Matera. The town’s ancient stone structures were at one time deserted due to profound poverty and disease. In recent decades, investors rehabilitated those structures, turning them into luxury hotels and B&Bs. Locals started moving back, and tourists caught on. The once poverty-stricken, desolate city is now the 2019 European Capital of Culture. Visit materaevents.it for a calendar of cinema, art and cultural events. You can check out international design workshops and find out how you can get involved and join the celebrations.

— Jeannine Guilyard

Sicilian immersion

Take a cinematic trip to the countryside of Sicily in Giuseppe Tornatore’s 2009 autobiographical epic, “Baarìa.” The film recounts three generations in the Sicilian village where he was born. Enrico Lo Verso takes on the role of Minicu, a character tracked across half a century span. In a recent interview, Lo Verso told us that Minicu has been one of the most coveted roles of his career. To prepare for this part, he lived alone in a hut in the mountains of Sicily. It was an opportunity for Lo Verso to connect with the land of his origins, immerse himself in the sounds of nature and to contemplate his upcoming part in the film. Those connections helped him fully invest in the role and grow tremendously as an actor. Stream it on Amazon Prime, YouTube and iTunes.

— Jeannine Guilyard

Living la vita Italiana

From North to South and coast to coast, giadzy.com lets you access everything Italian from the comfort of your own home. Created by celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis, giadzy.com is a lifestyle website for the passionate Italophile. Born in Rome with origins near Naples, she reconnects with her ancestral roots often, sharing her favorite places and tips with her readers. Whether you’re searching for an authentic Italian recipe or an intimate restaurant on the island of Capri, De Laurentiis has you covered. She also recommends translation apps to save you stress when traveling through Italy. Giadzy is also on Twitter (@giadzy), Facebook (@theGiadzy) and Instagram (@thegiadzy).

— Jeannine Guilyard

Our story, our way

“I recently launched The National Organization of Italian Americans in Film & TV with the goal of helping Italian Americans break into the entertainment industry and promoting stories about the Italian-American experience,” explains NYU Film School graduate Taylor Taglianetti. Inspired by the support she received from Italian-American organizations like the National Italian American Foundation and Columbus Citizens Foundation, she decided to start her own organization to pay it forward. “Membership with NOIAFT is free as long as you pledge to help another Italian American in the group. It can be as simple as giving another person advice.” (www.noiaft.org)

— Jeannine Guilyard

All things Vatican

From daily news to feature stories and in-depth profiles, Rome Reports is an invaluable resource for everything about the Vatican. With offices located on Via della Conciliazione, the street leading directly to Vatican City, the international news agency provides correspondents for television stations and subscribers around the globe. The English-language website is brimming with interesting stories and broadcasts a half-hour weekly news program. The “Other Topics” tab contains stories on arts, culture, technology and places of interest when visiting the Eternal City. The agency also has a documentary division and offers its productions to stream via an online store. (romereports.com)

— Jeannine Guilyard

The best of Basilicata

Specializing in genealogy research and heritage immersion in Italy’s southern regions of Basilicata, Campania and Puglia, My Bella Basilicata was created by husband and wife team Valerie and Bryan, who relocated to Valerie’s ancestral town 15 years ago. The couple was featured on an episode of HGTV’s House Hunters International in 2012 and their agency has become a go-to for Italian Americans wanting to know about the land their ancestors left behind. The website includes information on the process of genealogy research in the South of Italy and what you will need to get started. Visit www.mybellabasilicata.com.

— Jeannine Guilyard

To bee or not to bee

Alice Rohrwacher’s “Le meraviglie” (The Wonders) centers on a family of beekeepers living in stark isolation in the Tuscan countryside. The dynamic of their overcrowded household is disrupted by a troubled teenage boy who is taken in as a farmhand while a reality TV show is intent on profiling the family. Both events impact the eldest daughter, Gelsomina, who is struggling to find her purpose in the world. Rohrwacher gracefully conveys her adolescent sense of curiosity and confusion. The film, which features Rohrwacher sister Alba, won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered. Available on Vudu, YouTube, iTunes and Google Play.

— Jeannine Guilyard

In Pasolini’s footsteps

“Pasolini Roma” provides a virtual tour of sites relevant to Pier Paolo Pasolini’s filmmaking and writing. You’ll visit 50 addresses and dates accompanied by a map and photos of Pasolini’s life in Rome. The tour spans 25 years, from his first day in Rome in 1950 to the day of his funeral in 1975. In between, you’ll visit his workplaces, homes and film locations. Among the website’s many treasures are black-and-white photos taken during the filming of “Accatone” in Rome’s Pigneto neighborhood, with a young Bernardo Bertolucci as his assistant, along with the story of how a famous scene from Roberto Rossellini’s “Rome Open City” influenced him to shoot in that neighborhood. Also included are candid shots of Pasolini directing Anna Magnani in “Mamma Roma” and of him spending an evening at Piazza del Popolo’s legendary Canova Café with Federico Fellini, who hired him as a scriptwriter for “Nights of Cabiria.” Learn more at www.pasoliniroma.com.

— Jeannine Guilyard

Edu-taining app

Referred to as “Museum Edutainment,” Bardeum is a new interactive app that’s like having your own private tour guide at some of the most iconic sites in the world. A work in progress, the app currently covers Florence, Pompeii and Rome in Italy. Venice is slated for a 2021 release. Clicking on “Rome” will take you to a page titled “Rome Experiences.” There, you’ll see sections on the Forum, Colosseum, Palantine Hill and Circus Maximus. Each section covers a variety of topics. Under “Roman Colosseum,” you can click on “Spartacus” and learn about the legendary slave-turned-gladiator who led an uprising that gave Julius Caesar a run for his money. The app is available free of charge through the Apple store and Google Play. (www.museumedutainment.com)

— Jeannine Guilyard

Culinary trove

Born and raised in Chicago, Jordan Frosolone has become one of New York’s most sought-after chefs. His range of culinary talents is limitless. He can satisfy the most carnivorous of palates and then turn around and make a mind-blowing vegan truffle risotto. You’ll find a host of culinary treasures on his website, including photographs of antique pasta-making instruments and celebrations of his adventures through Italy. There is also a section featuring detailed gourmet recipes. If you’re in New York, you can experience his creations firsthand at The Leopard, located in the Upper West Side’s legendary Hotel des Artistes. Or you can explore his talents online at www.jordanfrosolone.com.

— Jeannine Guilyard

Cinematic goldmine

Istituto Luce Cinecittà’s online archives offer a treasure trove of more than 70,000 films dating back to the early 20th century, plus more than 430,000 photographs. The institute provides free access to its vast digital records, which contain thousands of hours of footage. Three hundred silent films originally released between 1927 and 1932 have just been added along with a section dedicated to world travel, titled Cinemobile. Select “English” in the upper left of the home page, click on Historical Archive, choose from Film or Photographic, and explore. (cinecitta.com)

— Jeannine Guilyard

Thoroughly modern cinema

You can access contemporary Italian films for free and in abundance at postmodernissimo.com, a website dedicated to quality cinema, entertainment and visual arts. The portal was created to revive Modernissimo cinema d’essai, Perugia’s oldest movie house. The cinematic institution was shuttered in 1978 but reopened in 2014, thanks in no small part to the attention and support garnered by the website. After that goal was achieved, organizers broadened the movie house’s international reach by making a rotating selection of films available online. With Italy’s nationwide quarantine, the list of films was recently expanded.

— Jeannine Guilyard

Deep historical well

The Audiovisual Archive Foundation of the Workers’ and Democratic Movement was established in the late 1970s to research, collect and store decades of AV treasures such as films, newsreels and multimedia works. Overseen for its first 20 years by filmmaker Cesare Zavattini, the archive quickly grew into a vast reservoir of “considerable historical interest,” according to the superintendent of the region of Lazio. In recent years, much of its content has been uploaded to YouTube. The majority is in Italian, but there are many clips accompanied by only music or natural sound. The archive offers countless rare glimpses into life in Italy over the last century. To dive in, click here.

— Jeannine Guilyard

Virtual Vatican

You can explore the Vatican Museums from every angle without leaving the comfort of your own home, thanks to a new feature on the museums’ website. A few clicks of the mouse will provide you with a 360-degree view of 13 of the 56 rooms that comprise one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world. To stand on the threshold of the virtual museum, click here. Once you “enter” a room, you can click on arrows that take you up, down and all the way around the space. You can even zoom in for a better view. Clicking on the room’s name directly above the tour takes you to a wealth of information about the space.

— Jeannine Guilyard

Culinary pride

For Italian food lovers, one the internet’s great gifts is the explosion of food bloggers that honor our heritage. The beloved ones invite us into their kitchens to pull up a chair and reminisce about the way that Nonna cooked. Prouditaliancook.com often takes it one step further by looking for ways to tweak recipes if there’s a better way. Since 2007, Marie Renallo has cooked, photographed and written all of the blog’s content in her suburban Chicago kitchen and has garnered recognition both locally and nationally. She has catalogued hundreds of recipes that are indexed by category and sometimes include a short video presentation. You can also follow Marie on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.

— Dolores Sennebogen

Divine inspiration

Whether you’re planning an Italian dinner or an Italian vacation, look to guidance from Judy Witts Francini. Once a pastry chef in San Francisco, she has lived in Tuscany for more than 30 years, exploring all of her passions: food, wine, art, teaching and travel. She shares them on her award-winning blog, Divina Cucina. In addition to providing access to her catalog of recipes, Judy offers one-day or full-week programs that explore “culture through cooking,” both in Florence and in Sicily. Participants visit local markets and have opportunities to cook with chefs in town and on farms. You can also look for her cooking classes on Youtube or download her “Taste Chianti” app. Get started at divinacucina.com.

— Dolores Sennebogen

Mangia bene!

More than 45 years ago, Deborah Mele married into an Italian family and became “Italian by heart.” When she and her husband moved to Milan for eight years, she spent hours browsing the markets and learning to cook using only the ingredients that were fresh that day. Her popular food blog, Italian Food Forever, honors that freshness and simplicity and encourages the joy of savoring leisurely meals. She recently listed her readers’ favorite recipes from 2018, and they are as diverse as vegetarian meatballs, pasta with peas and pancetta, and black olive and sun-dried tomato focaccia. More than sixteen years of recipes are tagged by ingredients and indexed for easy access. Also check out Deborah’s cookbook reviews, kitchen tips and links to Italian products. (italianfoodforever.com)

— Dolores Sennebogen

Infinite pasta-bilities

Jacqui Dibono invites you to join her on an online journey that began when she decided to hone her pasta cooking skills. “The Pasta Project,” she writes, “is a personal undertaking to try every single type of pasta available the length and breadth of Italy; be it by cooking it myself, getting my husband or friends to cook it, or eating in a restaurant here in the Veneto region where we live or during our travels around Italy.” It has been estimated there are 360 to 400 shapes and sizes of pasta. If you also calculate the combinations of pasta shapes and unique sauces employed from region to region, you’ll see that Dibono’s endeavor, begun in 2016, is in its infancy. Her blog indexes all of her recipes by type of pasta and by region, as well as taking you on tours of some of the restaurants and pasta companies she has visited. (the-pasta-project.com)

— Dolores Sennebogen

Multimedia menu

Silvia Colloca is an Italian-born actress and opera singer who moved to Australia eight years ago to pursue her many creative passions. One of them is writing about and preparing food the way she learned beside her mother and grandmother. Her cookbook, “Silvia’s Cucina,” and her food blog of the same name have been recognized here and in Australia as authentic guides to fresh, healthy ways to partake of a diet that many describe as rich. Colloca conveys to her readers that this is a misapprehension and also wants them to know that not every plate is redolent of garlic or buried under a mountain of cheese. Her handsome blog links to present and past entries, each accompanied by an inviting photo. She has also created a YouTube channel with professionally shot video recipes. She invites you to join her at silviascucina.net.

— Dolores Sennebogen

Grandma’s hands

Vicky Bennison searches the length of Italy for grandmothers who still make pasta by hand, and she films them in their own kitchens. You can meet them on Vicky’s YouTube channel, “Pasta Grannies.” They come from every region, and each reveals her own secrets, but most start with not much more than flour and water, which they work before your eyes until it becomes springy and velvety. In Trapani, Sicily, Angela prepares busiate served with a local pesto that includes tomatoes. The flour is made from durum wheat from their family farm. Last spring, viewers met 100-year-old Letizia, the oldest nonna yet, preparing taglierini with a puree of fava beans and wild fennel. Find more enchanting nonne on YouTube, or look for Bennison’s just-released companion cookbook, “Pasta Grannies: The Secrets of Italy’s Best Home Cooks.”

— Dolores Sennebogen

Seeking pizza perfection

Author, educator and all-around baking guru Peter Reinhart has written a half dozen acclaimed books about the art of baking bread. Several have won the James Beard Foundation Award and other honors. Reinhart has also gone on a years-long quest to make the perfect pizza, and to teach us how as well. Since 2010, he has hosted a website called Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart, “a journey of self-discovery through pizza.” While his name is at the top, he advises us that there is “a whole team of serious pizza freaks involved in this website.” It features videos, blog entries, webinars, recipes, guest columnists and links to “Sites We Like.” Reinhart’s most recent pizza cookbook is “Perfect Pan Pizza: Square Pies to Make at Home.” Look for Reinhart on YouTube or join the pizza quest at fornobravo.com/pizzaquest.

— Dolores Sennebogen

Beyond biscotti

One might think that a food blog called “She Loves Biscotti” would be dedicated primarily to baking, but Maria Vannelli offers readers “simple and tasty family recipes with an Italian twist.” Her dishes include traditional Italian staples from her mother’s table, but she also incorporates information on balance and nutrition she has learned as a professional dietician. In addition to searching her past recipes by keyword or ingredient, visitors to her blog can click on “how to” for tutorials such as blanching almonds or making homemade ricotta. She confesses that, like many of us, “when I’m not talking about food, I’m either making it, eating it, sharing it or thinking about it.” And while she loves to look back at favorite recipes she is always innovating, including a recent blog post about air-fryer Italian cookies. Learn more at shelovesbiscotti.com.

— Dolores Sennebogen

Lidia’s online world

Social media jargon often refers to “food influencers,” individuals who can steer culinary tastes and trends. When it comes to Italian food, one of the nation’s powerhouse influencers is certainly Lidia Bastianich, thriving restaurateur, prolific cookbook author, and a PBS staple. More than just a beloved celebrity chef, Bastianich has created a flourishing food and entertainment business that exemplifies the immigrant dream. You can follow all things Lidia by visiting lidiasitaly.com to link to Lidia’s Blog, Lidia’s YouTube channel and Lidia’s Journal. You will find a modest archive of recipes indexed by course as well as tips of the day. Visitors can read about her restaurants throughout the country, and her partnership in the Eataly marketplace empire, with U.S. locations in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston and Las Vegas.

— Dolores Sennebogen

Deeply in love

Although millions of people enthusiastically proclaim their love for Italian food, few are likely aware of lloveitalianfood.it. I Love Italian Food is a nonprofit cultural association that promotes products made in Italy and works to protect the country’s agri-food industry. Although it’s an association of professionals, their digital platform provides everyday content for all Italian food lovers. If you follow them on Instagram or Facebook, they will feed you links to authentic recipes, often with the backstory on the dish. Their website, which can be read in Italian or English, also serves up interviews with chefs, information about Italian food products and news stories of interest. You can catch them on YouTube or peruse their recipe archive at iloveitalianfood.it/en/c/recipes/.

— Dolores Sennebogen

From the UK to you

The team behind a UK website called Great British Chefs has launched a sister site dubbed Great Italian Chefs. Their goal is to “bring you unparalleled access to some of the greatest chefs in the world as well as the latest food stories and trends.” In addition to profiling professionals who work in some of Italy’s finest restaurants, the website shares recipes that challenge home cooks to attain greater heights. Visitors are invited to comment on recipes or sign up for an electronic newsletter. You can also create an online recipe binder to organize and store your favorite dishes. Other features include well-photographed commentaries on each region of Italy and a browser that lets you search by recipe, ingredient, course or special diet. (greatitalianchefs.com)

— Dolores Sennebogen

Foodie down under

Actor and comic Vincenzo Prosperi lives in Australia but entertains food lovers around the world with his YouTube channel, “Vincenzo’s Plate.” A natural cook, Prosperi has a backstory in common with many Italian epicures: He learned his skills in his nonna’s kitchen. Repeatedly pestered by friends for recipes, he met the demand by launching a blog, a website, and, most recently, his YouTube channel. In addition to basic Italian cooking techniques, Prosperi teaches us to share food and laughter with those around us. His congenial parents and grandmother often join him in preparing dishes, adding a few twists to the recipes. Prosperi has used multiple media platforms to build a community of foodies that has made him “the happiest person is the world.” Visit youtube.com and search for Vincenzo’s Plate.

— Dolores Sennebogen

Nonna rules!

The website “Cooking with Nonna” was launched in 2009 in a Brooklyn basement kitchen, with Rossella Rago and her Nonna Romana creating traditional dishes from Romana’s native Puglia. The Washington Post described it as “a sweet Old World-paced online series dedicated to homestyle Italian cooking.” The website garnered national attention in 2010 when Rossella; her mother, Angela; and Nonna Romana notched a victory in the premier season of the Food Network’s “24-Hour Restaurant Battle.” In time, Rosella began inviting nonne from other Italian regions to showcase typical foods from their own kitchens. The award-winning series has led to two cookbooks that celebrate food, family and traditional holiday specialties. You can partake on YouTube, Instagram and Twitter, and at cookingwithnonna.com.

— Dolores Sennebogen

Getting it right

When Rosemary Molloy clicked on a website promising authentic Italian recipes, she said to herself, “No, that’s not right.” That moment back in 2013 inspired her to create her own site, “An Italian in My Kitchen.” Her first teacher was her Italian mother in Toronto. When Molloy moved to Italy in 1989, her education continued. “My mother-in-law and sister-in-law sure know how to cook,” she said. “I learned so much and tasted some of the best food I ever had in my life.” She took baking classes along the way to expand her expertise. Her blog is geared toward cooks of all skill levels, and her website is easy to navigate in search of cooking tips or appealing classic recipes. Molloy is also the author of a cookbook, “Authentic Italian Desserts,” plus an e-book, “It’s All About Pasta.” (anitalianinmykitchen.com)

— Dolores Sennebogen

Who needs words when you have Italy’s vast language of expressive hand gestures? Just ask these Italian toddlers.

Even when Italian kids learn to “use their words,” their bodies are a big part of the conversation.

You’d think that ALL Italian adults would hate ALL American junk food. Some of their reactions may surprise you.

And now, for a kid’s perspective.

ARRANGIARSI — What would you do if you were under quarantine in Sicily and you and your twin brother both played the violin?

VA PENSIERO — Italy’s legendary Frecce Tricolori send spirits soaring during a stirring aerial display.

LUNGA DISTANZA — Talk about social distancing! A pair of Italian tennis players rewrite the rules of engagement.

CENT’ANNI! — Nothing can keep Italians from their wine or their toasts.

VISTA CELESTE — Longing for a glimpse of Italy? You can still gaze down from above thanks to these breathtaking videos taken via drone by Parker and Clayton Calvert.

ALL’INTERNO DI POMPEII — While you’re traveling Italy via computer, take this captivating tour of Pompeii, courtesy of Corriere della Sera. To view, click here.

MANGIA BENE! — Michelin-star chef Massimo Bottura prepares gourmet meals with whatever’s in the fridge while sheltering at home.

BELLI RICORDI — Photographer Steve McCurry helps us remember Italy before the crisis.

BUONA PASQUA, PRIMA PARTE — Andrea Bocelli’s live-stream Easter concert was a global blockbuster.

BUONA PASQUA, SECONDA PARTE — Cancelled for the first time in hundreds of years, Florence’s spectacular Easter festivities lives on thanks to filmmaker David Battistella.

VIVA LA MUSICA! — Hats off to Italymagazine.com for compiling a list of online concerts posted by opera houses across Italy. Click here for their article.