From Foreign Language to Lingua Franca: Italian Immersion Programs in Italy
Take your Italian language skills to a new level with an Italian immersion course in Italy.
Culture & Living
Posts about culture in Italy. Festivals, religion, etiquette, language, and more.
![Paris Through the Eyes of a Roman [Video]](https://www.italofile.com/wp-content/uploads/paris-through-the-eyes-of-a-roma.jpg)
Paris Through the Eyes of a Roman [Video]
The video from Ritals does a humorous job of explaining what makes Rome great even in the face of Paris’s beauty and comparative orderliness.
Five Favorite Flavors From Ferrara and Modena
To ring in the New Year, my family and I rented a farmhouse for a few days on the outskirts of Ferrara. Thinking back to the trip, the timing wasn’t ideal. Ferrara was freezing and on New Year’s Eve, the fog was so thick on our drive into town to watch the fireworks over Castello…
Who Was Saint Valentine?
Saint Valentine, a Christian bishop from Umbria, was martyred in Rome in the 3rd century AD. Learn more about his life, death, and legend.
More Than A Mocha: Turin’s Sweet, Rich Bicerin
The bicerin is an important part of the coffee culture in Torino (Turin). Learn more about the bicerin.
Italy’s Alpini Corps: The Traditions Beyond the Feathered Cap
The grey felt cap adorned with a black raven feather worn by old northern Italian men and some modern-day camouflaged troops is known as the Cappello Alpino. This recognizable cap signifies that the wearer is or was a member of the Alpini, an elite corps of the Italian army that is most closely associated with…
The Atlas of Ancient Rome: Your New Favorite Coffee Table Book
The Atlas of Ancient Rome, a gorgeous, new two-volume set edited by Andrea Carandini, promises to be an “authoritative archeological survey of Rome from prehistory to the early medieval period.” The slip-cased set is available now.
How Dario Fo Learned That He Won the Nobel Prize
The 1997 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature passed away on October 13, 2016.
Italy’s First Wine Fountain Opens in Abruzzo — and the Wine is Free
Wine lovers have a fun new reason to make a trip to Abruzzo.
Ancient Greek Temples and Mozzarella di Bufala in Paestum
If you tell a Roman that you are going Paestum for the weekend, invariably he or she will tell you: “Make sure you pick up some mozzarella di bufala.” Paestum and Its Greek Roots and Ruins Paestum is a sight to see without the culinary pit stop. A city known as “Poseidonia” when it was part…
How to Spend One Year in Italy
How do you spend one year in Italy? Here’s a month-by-month, personal account of my first year living and traveling in Italy.
On This Day: ‘La Dolce Vita’ Wins the Cannes Film Festival
On May 20, 1960, Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Watch “Three Reasons” why this film remains a classic. For more details on where “La Dolce Vita” was filmed, explore this list of Fellini’s film locations from Rome and Rimini.
Natale di Roma: Rome Celebrates Its Birthday
The city of Rome was born on April 21, 753 BC. In Italian, it is known as the Natale di Roma—the birthday of Rome.
The Monumental Trees of Italy
Have you seen this book? Many years ago, I found this book while browsing the clearance stacks at a used bookstore in Washington, DC. Published in 1990, Gli Alberi Monumentali d’Italia is a beautiful coffee table book full of color photos of legendary trees from Italy’s islands and central/southern regions. Roman pines, Holm oaks, olive,…
Smoking in Italy
What you need to know about smoking in Italy, from laws to etiquette.
Exploring the Ghetto: A Tour of Rome’s Jewish Quarter [Review]
Learn more about the ancient and contemporary history of the Jewish people in Rome with a tour through the ex-Ghetto.
Lovely Time Lapse Video of Rome
I always love a good time-lapse video, and especially if it features Rome! Here’s a very recent one that shows Rome in her late summer splendor. It was shot by Josh of jandrewfilmandphotography.com, who used 7,000 images to create this 2-minute, 37-second clip. Hyperlapse has a long way to go to get results like these.
Veneto Spa Hotel Has the World’s Deepest Thermal Pool
About half an hour by train from Venice and even closer to Padua is Hotel Millepini Terme, a spa hotel that has the Guinness World Record for the world’s deepest thermal pool. The Y-40 The Deep Joy is 137-feet deep (40 meters) at its deepest, with four underwater grottos along the way. There’s a viewing tunnel at…