The Strange but True Story Behind Valentine’s Day
While this is not your conventional story about Valentine’s Day that’s filled with romance, it’s a fascinating take on a tradition that is widely celebrated on February 14 in many …
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The Feast of Seven Fishes: From La Vigilia to Italian-American Tradition
The Feast of the Seven Fishes (AKA La Vigilia) is an Italian-American tradition in which families and friends gather on Christmas Eve to enjoy seven varied dishes of fish and …
Eat like a Roman: Christmas and Winter food traditions in Rome
During the second half of November, Rome changes its skin. The sycamores growing on either side of the Tiber River lose all their leaves, the number of rainy and windy …
St. Peter’s Basilica
All the superlatives still don’t quite do justice to the vastness and grandeur of St. Peter’s Basilica. The most important, and arguably most magnificent church in Catholic Christendom took 120 …
Raphael’s Rooms in the Vatican Museums
In 1508 Pope Julius II summoned to Rome a prodigious, but untested young artist from the town of Urbino to fresco the inside of what was intended to be his …
Michelangelo’s David in the Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence
If you only see one statue on your trip to Italy, Michelangelo’s David is the one to see. Hailed as an instant classic from the day it was unveiled in …
The Bridge of Sighs in Venice
The Bridge of Sighs is a very pleasant solution to a very grim problem. In 1600 Venice’s prisons for common criminals were being moved from the ground floor of the …
The Roman Pantheon
The Roman Pantheon is, without a shadow of a doubt, the greatest surviving structure from the ancient Roman Empire. And not only does it survive, it radiates a vision and …
The Trevi Fountain in Rome
The story of the Trevi Fountain, one of Rome’s most famous fountains, starts with a young girl. According to legend, the source of Acqua Vergina aqueduct, which feeds the Trevi, …