Articles by: N.l.

  • Dining in & out: Articles & Reviews

    The Italian Table: So Many Easter Specialties

    After 40 days of food abstinence and sacrifice for Lent, Easter is not just a religious holiday that celebrates Christs' resurrection it is a day that marks the beginning of spring by delivering its freshest ingredient to the dining table. 
     

    In Italy, the Easter menu varies from region to region, each region has its own irresistible andflavorful dishes, but no matter where you are, there are three main ingredients that shine in every kitchen: eggs, lamb and Colomba cake. Their consumption is not just casual, it is has a deeper meaning as they have earned, through the ages, a Christian symbolic meaning. We can safely say that eggs represent birth and the never-ending renewal of life, lamb means sacrifice, having been a religious offering since the beginning of time. In Christianity it represents Jesus Christ, who is also called “the lamb of God.”
     

    Colomba cake, a sweet bread in the shape of a dove, represents peace. The reason for its use as a symbol of peace is the story of Noah and the release of the white dove to find land after the Great Flood. When the dove returned with an olive branch, which is another peace symbol, it was clear that the world was ready to welcome back man.

    Colomba's origins are legendary. Apparently, around the second half of the 6th century (it was the year 572), Alboino, the king of the Longobards, received, after besieging Pavia for three years, a gift from a local baker that was simply “curious.” It was a leavened bread, shaped like a dove that was given to him as a request of peace. Its ingredients were simple: eggs, flour and yeast. With the passing of time richer ingredients, such as butter, sugar and candied fruit, were added. This sweet bread is dotted with pearl sugar, almonds or chocolate. 
     

    More recently, in the early 1900s the Milanese company “Motta” decided to make a product similar to the panettone (a type of sweet bread loaf originally from Milan that is prepared and enjoyed for Christmas), but with an aspect decidedly connected to Easter. The Colomba was born a dessert cake with a similar composition to the panettone, but that is enriched with the flavor of amaretto. In 1930, the Motta Company requested an artist specialized in public adverts, and produced the slogan “The Easter Colomba by Motta, the dessert that knows of springtime.” Colomba is a delicate dessert cake, it must be soft, aromatic on the outside, and moist on the inside. It is eaten as is or warmed up with mascarpone cream on the side, melted chocolate and even ice-cream.
     

    The Easter table also features a wide variety of spring vegetables (such as artichokes and asparagus, chard, fava beans, young green beans, spinach and lettuce) and first fruits, religious offerings of the first agricultural produce of the harvest, symbols of earth's continuous rebirth. Vegetables are used as side dishes or as main ingredients in flavorful salads and quiches.

    Then there are chocolate eggs; the story behind them is traced back to the city of Torino in the 1800's. They were created to honor, with a touch of sweetness, the traditional exchange of chicken eggs, symbols of the end of Lenten fasting and spring's rebirth. The first chocolate eggs were solid soon followed by hollow eggs.
     

    The following are some traditional dishes that are always featured on the Italian Easter tables.

    Appetizers

    Torta pasqualina, a salty cake with puff pastry, veggies (like spinach or black cabbage) and cheese
    Frittelle di carciofi, artichoke fritters
    Carciofi con uova sode, artichokes with hard-boiled eggs
    Uova strapazzate al tartufo, scrambled eggs with black truffles

    First courses

    Ravioli di ricotta, ricotta filled ravioli
    Ravioli ai carciofi, artichoke filled ravioli
    Risotto al forno con carciofi, risotto with artichokes
    Risotto alla crema di asparagi, risotto with asparagus cream

    Second courses

    Agnello al forno con patate e pomodoro, oven-baked lamb with potatoes and tomatoes
    Abbacchio brodettato, lamb in lemon-egg sauce. This is a Roman dish; the egg-and-lemon combination in the sauce is quite similar to what one finds in Jewish Italian dishes.
    Costolette d’agnello fritte, fried lamb chops
    Agnello al verde con carciofi, lamb with artichokes
    Agnello di Pasqua alla moda pugliese, lamb Apulian-style, served with peas, onions, eggs and grated pecorino cheese
    Agnello in fricassea, stewed lamb with artichoke and egg
    Arrosto d’agnello con coratella, roasted lamb with coratella (the heart, lungs, and liver of a young lamb). This is typical of the cuisine of Lazio  

    Desserts

    Colomba mascarpone e cioccolato, colomba with mascarpone cream and chocolate
    Colomba di Pasqua farcita, cream-filled colomba
    Colomba pasquale al cioccolato, chocolate covered colomba
    Uova di cioccolato, chocolate eggs
    Pastiera napoletana, Neapolitan cake filled with ricotta cheese. “The modern pastiera was probably invented in a Neapolitan convent. An unknown nun wanted that cake, symbol of the Resurrectionperfume of the flowers of the orange trees which grew in the convent’s gardens. She mixed a handful of wheat to the white ricotta cheese, then she added some eggs, symbol of the new life, some water which had the fragrance of the flowers of the spring time, candied citron and aromatic Asian spices.
     

    Regional specialties:

    Abruzzo > Caciaovo, lamb stew served with eggs and cacio cheese

    Calabria > Sgute calabresi, sweet dough topped with hard-boiled eggs

    Campania > Pastiera napoletana

    Friuli Venezia Giulia > Pinza pasquale triestina, semi-sweet focaccia bread, that can be enjoyed with salty ingredients, such as cold cuts, or sweet ones, such as fruit jams and chocolate.

    Lazio > Arrosto d’agnello con coratella

    Liguria > Torta pasqualina

    Molise > Insalata pasquale, mixed salad served with hard-boiled quail eggs

    Puglia > Scarcelle, shortbread covered in icing and chocolate eggs

    Sardegna > Pillus, puff pastry “lasagna” stuffed, in alternate layers, with meat, prosciutto and tomato sauce

    Umbria (and central Italy) > Pizza di Pasqua, a bread loaf that can be baked in a sweet or tasty fashion. The sweet version features candied fruit and sugar, while the tasty features sun-dried tomatoes and other vegetables.
     

    In Italy, the Monday immediately after Easter Sunday is also a national holiday, called Pasquetta (literally “Little Easter”) or Lunedì dell’Angelo (Angel’s Monday). The usual custom on Pasquetta is to go out—usually for a picnic, though many choose to eat out at a restaurant, or at a friend’s or relative’s instead.

  • Dining in & out: Articles & Reviews

    The Italian Table: A Trip of Easter Specialties

    After 40 days of food abstinence and sacrifice for Lent, Easter is not just a religious holiday that celebrates Christs' resurrection it is a day that marks the beginning of spring by delivering its freshest ingredient to the dining table. 
     

    In Italy, the Easter menu varies from region to region, each region has its own irresistible andflavorful dishes, but no matter where you are, there are three main ingredients that shine in every kitchen: eggs, lamb and Colomba cake. Their consumption is not just casual, it is has a deeper meaning as they have earned, through the ages, a Christian symbolic meaning. We can safely say that eggs represent birth and the never-ending renewal of life, lamb means sacrifice, having been a religious offering since the beginning of time. In Christianity it represents Jesus Christ, who is also called “the lamb of God.”
     

    Colomba cake, a sweet bread in the shape of a dove, represents peace. The reason for its use as a symbol of peace is the story of Noah and the release of the white dove to find land after the Great Flood. When the dove returned with an olive branch, which is another peace symbol, it was clear that the world was ready to welcome back man.

    Colomba's origins are legendary. Apparently, around the second half of the 6th century (it was the year 572), Alboino, the king of the Longobards, received, after besieging Pavia for three years, a gift from a local baker that was simply “curious.” It was a leavened bread, shaped like a dove that was given to him as a request of peace. Its ingredients were simple: eggs, flour and yeast. With the passing of time richer ingredients, such as butter, sugar and candied fruit, were added. This sweet bread is dotted with pearl sugar, almonds or chocolate. 
     

    More recently, in the early 1900s the Milanese company “Motta” decided to make a product similar to the panettone (a type of sweet bread loaf originally from Milan that is prepared and enjoyed for Christmas), but with an aspect decidedly connected to Easter. The Colomba was born a dessert cake with a similar composition to the panettone, but that is enriched with the flavor of amaretto. In 1930, the Motta Company requested an artist specialized in public adverts, and produced the slogan “The Easter Colomba by Motta, the dessert that knows of springtime.” Colomba is a delicate dessert cake, it must be soft, aromatic on the outside, and moist on the inside. It is eaten as is or warmed up with mascarpone cream on the side, melted chocolate and even ice-cream.
     

    The Easter table also features a wide variety of spring vegetables (such as artichokes and asparagus, chard, fava beans, young green beans, spinach and lettuce) and first fruits, religious offerings of the first agricultural produce of the harvest, symbols of earth's continuous rebirth. Vegetables are used as side dishes or as main ingredients in flavorful salads and quiches.

    Then there are chocolate eggs; the story behind them is traced back to the city of Torino in the 1800's. They were created to honor, with a touch of sweetness, the traditional exchange of chicken eggs, symbols of the end of Lenten fasting and spring's rebirth. The first chocolate eggs were solid soon followed by hollow eggs.
     

    The following are some traditional dishes that are always featured on the Italian Easter tables.

    Appetizers

    Torta pasqualina, a salty cake with puff pastry, veggies (like spinach or black cabbage) and cheese
    Frittelle di carciofi, artichoke fritters
    Carciofi con uova sode, artichokes with hard-boiled eggs
    Uova strapazzate al tartufo, scrambled eggs with black truffles

    First courses

    Ravioli di ricotta, ricotta filled ravioli
    Ravioli ai carciofi, artichoke filled ravioli
    Risotto al forno con carciofi, risotto with artichokes
    Risotto alla crema di asparagi, risotto with asparagus cream

    Second courses

    Agnello al forno con patate e pomodoro, oven-baked lamb with potatoes and tomatoes
    Abbacchio brodettato, lamb in lemon-egg sauce. This is a Roman dish; the egg-and-lemon combination in the sauce is quite similar to what one finds in Jewish Italian dishes.
    Costolette d’agnello fritte, fried lamb chops
    Agnello al verde con carciofi, lamb with artichokes
    Agnello di Pasqua alla moda pugliese, lamb Apulian-style, served with peas, onions, eggs and grated pecorino cheese
    Agnello in fricassea, stewed lamb with artichoke and egg
    Arrosto d’agnello con coratella, roasted lamb with coratella (the heart, lungs, and liver of a young lamb). This is typical of the cuisine of Lazio  

    Desserts

    Colomba mascarpone e cioccolato, colomba with mascarpone cream and chocolate
    Colomba di Pasqua farcita, cream-filled colomba
    Colomba pasquale al cioccolato, chocolate covered colomba
    Uova di cioccolato, chocolate eggs
    Marzapane, fruit
    Pastiera napoletana, Neapolitan cake filled with ricotta cheese. “The modern pastiera was probably invented in a Neapolitan convent. An unknown nun wanted that cake, symbol of the Resurrectionperfume of the flowers of the orange trees which grew in the convent’s gardens. She mixed a handful of wheat to the white ricotta cheese, then she added some eggs, symbol of the new life, some water which had the fragrance of the flowers of the spring time, candied citron and aromatic Asian spices.
     

    Regional specialties:

    Abruzzo > Caciaovo, lamb stew served with eggs and cacio cheese

    Calabria > Sgute calabresi, sweet dough topped with hard-boiled eggs

    Campania > Pastiera napoletana

    Friuli Venezia Giulia > Pinza pasquale triestina, semi-sweet focaccia bread, that can be enjoyed with salty ingredients, such as cold cuts, or sweet ones, such as fruit jams and chocolate.

    Lazio > Arrosto d’agnello con coratella

    Liguria > Torta pasqualina

    Molise > Insalata pasquale, mixed salad served with hard-boiled quail eggs

    Puglia > Scarcelle, shortbread covered in icing and chocolate eggs

    Sardegna > Pillus, puff pastry “lasagna” stuffed, in alternate layers, with meat, prosciutto and tomato sauce

    Umbria (and central Italy) > Pizza di Pasqua, a bread loaf that can be baked in a sweet or tasty fashion. The sweet version features candied fruit and sugar, while the tasty features sun-dried tomatoes and other vegetables.
    Sicily >  Marzapane fruits made with ground almonds and sugar, covered with icing and painted like the Martorana fruit with almonds. "Agnus Dei" with sugar and clove paste
     

    In Italy, the Monday immediately after Easter Sunday is also a national holiday, called Pasquetta (literally “Little Easter”) or Lunedì dell’Angelo (Angel’s Monday). The usual custom on Pasquetta is to go out—usually for a picnic, though many choose to eat out at a restaurant, or at a friend’s or relative’s instead.

  • Life & People

    Christmas in Italy: Religious & Pagan

    The tradition of putting together a crèche started in the 17th and 18th centuries in several Italian cities, but theNeapolitan presepe is perhaps the most famous all over the world. San Gregorio Armeno street, in the heart of Naples' old town, is filled with tiny artisan workshops making nativity scenes and "terra cotta" figurines. These include Jesus, Madonna, and the shepherds, but also caricatured politicians and entertainment stars. Berlusconi, Obama, and Lady Gaga figured prominently in the past years, Matteo Renzi (the Prime Minister of Italy) this year. The reason is that originally the artisans used the presepe to offer a popular chronicle (and often a critique) of public life in Naples, summarizing major events and exposing its protagonists.

    Rome is instead home to another tradition, that of zampognari (pipers), folk musicians who get their name from the instrument they play (zampogne, or bagpipes). They come down from the mountains around the city, wearing traditional costumes, and perform Christmas songs in the streets. Historically the zampognari were poor peasants and shepherds who toured the cities during the holidays asking for food and money.

    Tombola is the forebear of the American Bingo—but in Italy (especially in the South) it is a traditional Christmas family game played usually around the dinner table. As each number is called out of a rotating drum or a box, they are typically announced by a little rhyme, the most famous of which are in Neapolitan dialect.

    These rhymes may refer to religious themes (for instance, #33 will be "The Years of Christ,") but many have a lay origin and even a clear teasing-meaning, which make everybody laugh in a rather politically incorrect manner. These include, among others: #21 'A femmena annura (The naked woman); #28 'E zizze (Women's breasts); #23 'O scemo (The idiot); and #48 - 'O muorto che pparla (Dead Man Talking).

    On market stalls all over the country, kids also find stockings, of all shapes and sizes, with the image, or figure of an old, ugly lady. This lady is called Befana. She is not a witch, even though she flies on a broom, and, on the night of January 5th and the early hours of January 6th, brings to all good kids a stocking filled with candy and small toys, while those who did not behave, get a stocking filled with black coal.

    The origins of Befana are rooted in the ancient magical traditions of Italy's popular culture, but with the passing of time she came to combine both folkloric and religious mythologies, so that Befana’s treats parallel the Magi’s gifts brought to baby Jesus.

    The day of Befana also marks the end of the holiday season. This is when all Christmas Trees are taken down and the last day of vacation for kids who, sadly, get ready to go back to school.

  • Dining in & out: Articles & Reviews

    The Italian Table: So Many Easter Specialties

    After 40 days of food abstinence and sacrifice for Lent, Easter is not just a religious holiday that celebrates Christs' resurrection it is a day that marks the beginning of spring by delivering its freshest ingredient to the dining table. 
     

    In Italy, the Easter menu varies from region to region, each region has its own irresistible andflavorful dishes, but no matter where you are, there are three main ingredients that shine in every kitchen: eggs, lamb and Colomba cake. Their consumption is not just casual, it is has a deeper meaning as they have earned, through the ages, a Christian symbolic meaning. We can safely say that eggs represent birth and the never-ending renewal of life, lamb means sacrifice, having been a religious offering since the beginning of time. In Christianity it represents Jesus Christ, who is also called “the lamb of God.”
     

    Colomba cake, a sweet bread in the shape of a dove, represents peace. The reason for its use as a symbol of peace is the story of Noah and the release of the white dove to find land after the Great Flood. When the dove returned with an olive branch, which is another peace symbol, it was clear that the world was ready to welcome back man.

    Colomba's origins are legendary. Apparently, around the second half of the 6th century (it was the year 572), Alboino, the king of the Longobards, received, after besieging Pavia for three years, a gift from a local baker that was simply “curious.” It was a leavened bread, shaped like a dove that was given to him as a request of peace. Its ingredients were simple: eggs, flour and yeast. With the passing of time richer ingredients, such as butter, sugar and candied fruit, were added. This sweet bread is dotted with pearl sugar, almonds or chocolate. 
     

    More recently, in the early 1900s the Milanese company “Motta” decided to make a product similar to the panettone (a type of sweet bread loaf originally from Milan that is prepared and enjoyed for Christmas), but with an aspect decidedly connected to Easter. The Colomba was born a dessert cake with a similar composition to the panettone, but that is enriched with the flavor of amaretto. In 1930, the Motta Company requested an artist specialized in public adverts, and produced the slogan “The Easter Colomba by Motta, the dessert that knows of springtime.” Colomba is a delicate dessert cake, it must be soft, aromatic on the outside, and moist on the inside. It is eaten as is or warmed up with mascarpone cream on the side, melted chocolate and even ice-cream.
     

    The Easter table also features a wide variety of spring vegetables (such as artichokes and asparagus, chard, fava beans, young green beans, spinach and lettuce) and first fruits, religious offerings of the first agricultural produce of the harvest, symbols of earth's continuous rebirth. Vegetables are used as side dishes or as main ingredients in flavorful salads and quiches.

    Then there are chocolate eggs; the story behind them is traced back to the city of Torino in the 1800's. They were created to honor, with a touch of sweetness, the traditional exchange of chicken eggs, symbols of the end of Lenten fasting and spring's rebirth. The first chocolate eggs were solid soon followed by hollow eggs.
     

    The following are some traditional dishes that are always featured on the Italian Easter tables.

    Appetizers

    Torta pasqualina, a salty cake with puff pastry, veggies (like spinach or black cabbage) and cheese
    Frittelle di carciofi, artichoke fritters
    Carciofi con uova sode, artichokes with hard-boiled eggs
    Uova strapazzate al tartufo, scrambled eggs with black truffles

    First courses

    Ravioli di ricotta, ricotta filled ravioli
    Ravioli ai carciofi, artichoke filled ravioli
    Risotto al forno con carciofi, risotto with artichokes
    Risotto alla crema di asparagi, risotto with asparagus cream

    Second courses

    Agnello al forno con patate e pomodoro, oven-baked lamb with potatoes and tomatoes
    Abbacchio brodettato, lamb in lemon-egg sauce. This is a Roman dish; the egg-and-lemon combination in the sauce is quite similar to what one finds in Jewish Italian dishes.
    Costolette d’agnello fritte, fried lamb chops
    Agnello al verde con carciofi, lamb with artichokes
    Agnello di Pasqua alla moda pugliese, lamb Apulian-style, served with peas, onions, eggs and grated pecorino cheese
    Agnello in fricassea, stewed lamb with artichoke and egg
    Arrosto d’agnello con coratella, roasted lamb with coratella (the heart, lungs, and liver of a young lamb). This is typical of the cuisine of Lazio  

    Desserts

    Colomba mascarpone e cioccolato, colomba with mascarpone cream and chocolate
    Colomba di Pasqua farcita, cream-filled colomba
    Colomba pasquale al cioccolato, chocolate covered colomba
    Uova di cioccolato, chocolate eggs
    Pastiera napoletana, Neapolitan cake filled with ricotta cheese. “The modern pastiera was probably invented in a Neapolitan convent. An unknown nun wanted that cake, symbol of the Resurrectionperfume of the flowers of the orange trees which grew in the convent’s gardens. She mixed a handful of wheat to the white ricotta cheese, then she added some eggs, symbol of the new life, some water which had the fragrance of the flowers of the spring time, candied citron and aromatic Asian spices.
     

    Regional specialties:

    Abruzzo > Caciaovo, lamb stew served with eggs and cacio cheese

    Calabria > Sgute calabresi, sweet dough topped with hard-boiled eggs

    Campania > Pastiera napoletana

    Friuli Venezia Giulia > Pinza pasquale triestina, semi-sweet focaccia bread, that can be enjoyed with salty ingredients, such as cold cuts, or sweet ones, such as fruit jams and chocolate.

    Lazio > Arrosto d’agnello con coratella

    Liguria > Torta pasqualina

    Molise > Insalata pasquale, mixed salad served with hard-boiled quail eggs

    Puglia > Scarcelle, shortbread covered in icing and chocolate eggs

    Sardegna > Pillus, puff pastry “lasagna” stuffed, in alternate layers, with meat, prosciutto and tomato sauce

    Umbria (and central Italy) > Pizza di Pasqua, a bread loaf that can be baked in a sweet or tasty fashion. The sweet version features candied fruit and sugar, while the tasty features sun-dried tomatoes and other vegetables.
     

    In Italy, the Monday immediately after Easter Sunday is also a national holiday, called Pasquetta (literally “Little Easter”) or Lunedì dell’Angelo (Angel’s Monday). The usual custom on Pasquetta is to go out—usually for a picnic, though many choose to eat out at a restaurant, or at a friend’s or relative’s instead.

  • Events: Reports

    Ennio Morricone’s USA Tour 2014: The Films, the Music, the Legend




    A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Battle of Algiers, Sacco and Vanzetti, Cinema Paradiso, Malena, The Untouchables, The Mission, Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...
    besides having been directed by masters of international cinema and having won several prestigious awards, these films have one major thing in common: the music of maestro Ennio Morricone. Celebrating his 85th birthday, Morricone has composed a staggering body of music, including scores for more than 450 films and over 100 pieces of concert music and has to his credit 27 Gold and 6 Platinum records.


    Born in Rome on November 10, 1928, Ennio Morricone started his film-composing career in 1961 with Il Federale, directed by Luciano Salce, but his scores for Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns are what launched him to worldwide fame.


    A list of the directors he has worked with includes Pier Paolo Pasolini, Oliver Stone, Pedro Almodovar, Bernardo Bertolucci, Brian De Palma, Roman Polanski, Quentin Tarantino and Giuseppe Tornatore. In 2007, Morricone received the honorary award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for his “magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music.” Through the years he has been nominated for five Academy Awards, inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for the soundtrack to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and won Grammy Awards for the soundtracks to Once Upon a Time in the West and The Untouchables. He also won Golden Globe awards for his scores for The Mission and 1900, the ASCAP Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award and the Career Achievement Award from the Film Music Society.


    In January 2014 he received The Recording Academy’s Trustees Award in recognition of his notable contributions to recordings outside of performance. The beginning of 2014 has much more in store for the maestro. He will participate in rare performances in Los Angeles (March 20) and New York (March 23). Since 2001, Morricone has engaged in intense concert activity, and has conducted more than 100 concerts in Europe, Asia, the United States, and in Central and South America of his film music and concert works. Morricone will conduct an ensemble of 200 musicians and singers performing some of his landmark film music.


    The Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra was founded in 1993 in collaboration with the University Tor Vergata of Rome. For more than a decade under Morricone’s direction, the ensemble has performed in some of the most important theaters of the world. This is his first time back in NYC since 2007 when he held concerts at Radio City Music Hall and at the UN.


    On March 23, the concert will be held at the Barclays Center Cushman & Wakefield Theater in Brooklyn. Morricone will perform his first-ever Los Angeles concert on March 20th at the Nokia Theatre. The concerts are presented by Massimo Gallotta Productions, and the Los Angeles concert is co-presented by AEG.


    For  more information >>>

  • Events: Reports

    Do We Know Who Killed JFK? The Mafia Role Reconsidered

     Sicilian born journalist Stefano Vaccara explores a story that has been hushed for decades: the story of the man behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

    Hailing from the home of Italy’s Mafia, Vaccara has taken a personal interest in its history and evolution in the United States. Since 2009, he has taught classes on the History of the Mafia at Herbert Lehman College, CUNY. “Mine is not a scoop,” Vaccara says about the book, “but just the confirmation of a suspicion I’ve always had and the result of simple research.”

    Every semester Vaccara assigns an investigative paper on the JFK assassination, and 90% of the time his students come to the same conclusion: the real culprit was mafia boss Carlos Marcello.

    New Orleans is said to be the real birthplace of the Sicilian-American Mafia. During the ’50s and ’60s Carlos Marcello, born Calogero Minacori, was the major figure of organized crime in Louisiana and across the Southeast. He was beyond reach until he crossed paths with the Kennedy brothers. In 1950, the U.S. Senate established an investigation into the illegal activities of the Mafia and other crime organizations throughout the country, but Marcello refused to answer the questions of the Senate Committee.

    When John F. Kennedy became President in 1961, Robert Kennedy was nominated Attorney General, and Marcello was deported to Guatemala, where he planned his revenge. His search for a fall guy led him to Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine who had defected to the Soviet Union.
     

    “They say the truth hurts, and in this case the truth has always been out there, but for some reason it has been kept dormant,” says Vaccara. “It was reawakened after Ted Kennedy’s death, and I’ve just stirred things up a bit further.”

    Carlos Marcello:

    The Man Behind the JFK Assassination

    Stefano Vaccara
    (English edition: Enigma Books, 2013)
    (Italian edition: Editori Riuniti, 2013)
     

  • Art & Culture

    Fantasies on Verdi's Operas at Carnegie Hall




    On October 10th, all across America there have been 36 concerts honoring the bicentennial of Giuseppe Verdi's birth. The grandest was at Carnegie Hall where the Cameristi della Scala, the Chamber Orchestra that was started in 1982 and is formed by musicians from the Orchestra of La Scala and the La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra, performed  Fantasies on Verdi's Operas, “Fantasie” composed in the 19th century by Italian important composers, some of which were Verdi’s friends and coworkers. These “Fantasie” from Verdi’s operas, represented a very important way to spread Verdi’s music, in a time where there was no possibility of reproducing music except in a live concert. These  re-elaborated versions, that we could easily call covers, are versions of Verdi’s most famous melodies and a sign of how incredibly popular the original themes they are inspired from were.  


    Oftentimes, the authors of these transcriptions, fantasies or paraphrases, were well-known virtuosos, who were using famous opera themes to show their talent as composers and players. These pieces, gifts and celebrations to the greatness of the composer from Busseto, were left to oblivion scattered around in different world libraries. The Cameristi della Scala found them, transcribed and revisited them, and now they play them for the first time in our modern times.


    The program featured Giovanni Avolio's Falstaff, for violin, cello and orchestra; Luigi Mancinelli's

    Don Carlo, for cello and orchestra and Aida, for cello and orchestra; Camillo Sivori's Il Trovatore, for violin and orchestra and Antonio Bazzini's La Traviata, for violin and orchestra. Giovanni Avolio is today a forgotten artist although he wrote many fantasies for operas and violin and cello. Luigi Mancinelli became a well known director  and he traveled extensively in Europe and America where he was known for his talent in performing German music. Camillo Sivori, the only student who Paganini considered as his own, was one of the best violinists of his time and held concerts in Europe and America. Antonio Bazzini, an international musician, was an admired violinist and composer snce his youth.


    "I did a lot of research,” Gianluca Scandola, violin player and president of the cameristi, said, “I found about 50 unknown pieces and after a long process of transcription and revision we ended up with the pieces we have performed during our debut at Carnegie Hall.” All of the players, 12 total, were really familiar with Verdi's work but mostly with his most renown operas. Through the years thay have worked with conductors whose work is focused on Verdi and his repertoire. “They can play Verdi with extreme ease and great rigor, thus embracing the virtuosity and the lyricism of these fantasies,” Scandola added.


    The audience was so taken by the music that could not have enough and asked for an encore after the other. The players seemed to be taken by the same enthusiasm. The whole performance was a long embrace, an embrace that is so good that you can't let go of. “We were all incredibly touched to find out that we would play Verdi's music on his birthday at Carnegie Hall, a real temple for us musicians,” Scandola continued, “It was our first time and it couldn't have been better.”


    The event is sponsored by ENI in its quality as Corporate Ambassador of Year of Italian Culture in the US.



    Before the beginning of the concert, the audience wished the composer from Busseto a Happy Birthday with the helps of Consul General Natalia Quintavalle, Steven Acunto, president of the  Italian Academy Foundation and Francesco Fadda of Vento & Associati, a strategic and corporate communications company.






  • Art & Culture

    Da Vinci’s Codex on the Flight of Birds Flies to The Smithsonian’s

    One of Italy’s greatest treasures, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Codex on the Flight of Birds,” is now exhibited at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., for 40 days this fall (from Sept. 13 until Oct. 22).

    The extraordinary document, created ca. 1505, shows da Vinci’s interest in human flight by exploring bird flight and behavior. It includes sketches and descriptions of devices and aerodynamic principles related to mechanical flight that predate the invention of the airplane by 400 years.

    The Codex, an early form of a personal notebook, is on view in a specially designed and secured case located in “The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age,” an exhibition whose centerpiece is Orville and Wilbur Wright’s 1903 Flyer, the world’s first successful powered aircraft. Nearby interactive stations will allow visitors to virtually leaf through the 18 folios (two-sided pages) of the Codex. The document will be loaned to the museum by the Biblioteca Reale in Turin, Italy, which owns a number of works by da Vinci. The 16th-century genius is known primarily as an artist and sculptor, but he is also renowned for his skills in architecture, music, mathematics, poetry, engineering, anatomy and botany.

    “Most people have never seen an original work by Leonardo da Vinci, because so few are on display,” said Gen. J.R. “Jack” Dailey, director of the museum. “Because the Codex has travelled to the United States only once before, and rarely left Italy, we feel especially fortunate to be able to share it with museum visitors.” 
     

    “Bringing Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex to Washington in 2013, as we celebrate the Year of Italian Culture and 50 years of collaboration in space between Italy and America, means hosting a dialogue between the Renaissance and modernity, tradition and innovation,” said Claudio Bisogniero, the Italian Ambassador to the United States. “There is no better place than the National Air and Space Museum to house this incomparable work dedicated to flight and to appreciate Leonardo’s scientific genius.”
     

    A model of an ornithopter, an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings, will be on view at the entrance of the exhibition. The work is based on a drawing by da Vinci in his Manuscript B, folio 74, owned by the Institut de France in Paris. The model was donated to the National Air and Space Museum by Finmeccanica.
     

    “For Leonardo, art was the foundation of engineering, and engineering was an expression of art,” said Peter Jakab, chief curator of the museum. “The artist who painted the ‘Mona Lisa’ and ‘The Last Supper’ was a Renaissance visionary who saw the modern world before it was realized.” Jakab, an expert in early flight, is also serving as the curator of the special exhibition.
     

    “The exhibition of Leonardo’s Codex at the Smithsonian, including in an electronically readable and scrollable format, is truly a unique event,” said the director of the Biblioteca Reale, Giovanni Saccani. “In fact, the Codex has rarely been exhibited outside the library, although in 2012, a reproduction of the document together with Leonardo’s self-portrait were fastened on a microchip and carried to Mars aboard NASA’s Curiosity rover—leading Leonardo’s genius on a mission to conquer space.”
     

    This exhibit is organized by the museum and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Italian Cultural Heritage and Activities, the Embassy of Italy in Washington, D.C., the Biblioteca Reale in Turin, and thanks to the support of the Bracco Foundation and corporations Finmeccanica and Tenaris. It is part of “2013—Year of Italian Culture in the U.S.,” an initiative held under the auspices of the President of the Italian Republic, organized by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Italy in Washington, D.C., with the support of Corporate Ambassadors, Eni and Intesa Sanpaolo.
     

    Admission to the exhibition is free and viewing is on a first-come, first-served basis.
    Information on the exhibition and related activities will be on the museum’s website: airandspace.si.edu.
     

    The National Air and Space Museum building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is located at Sixth Street and Independence Avenue S.W. The museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is located in Chantilly, Va., near Washington Dulles International Airport. Attendance at both buildings combined was 8 million in 2012, making it the most visited museum in America. The museum’s research, collections, exhibitions and programs focus on aeronautical history, space history and planetary studies. Both buildings are open from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. every day (closed Dec. 25).

  • Events: Reports

    In Scena! Italian Theater Festival in NYC

    Kairos Italy Theater (KIT), the preeminent Italian theater company in New York City led by artistic director Laura Caparrotti, is launching the first edition of In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NYC, to take place annually in all five boroughs.

    In Scena!, Italian for “on stage!,” aims to create an annual celebration of Italian theater, both“Made in Italy” and “Made in the U.S.” The program includes different genres of theater that have been presented in Italy plus productions by Italian theater companies based in the United States that base their work in Italian culture. The festival combines Italian theater companies performing shows that have been successful in Italy, staged readings of Italian plays translated into English, and shows produced by Italian artists residing in the New York area. This year’s theme is the bridge between Italy and New York.

    This festival is part of “Year of Italian Culture” in the U.S., presented under the auspices of the President of the Italian Republic with patronage from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Italy in Washington, D.C.

    In Scena!'s official dates are June 10–20, but the program features pre-festival performances on June 8 and 9 featuring Voices in the Desert. Based on an idea by Italian author Marco Melloni, Voices seeks to collect fragments of thoughts from the past in order to recycle memory. It incorporates fragments from literature, theater, and public speeches by important international figures and are performed as a “concert of voices.” The performance is multi-lingual.

    Opening night is on the June 11 with A Night Celebrating Italian Theater. The program includes live performances, readings, and an homage to Italian playwrights through the ages.

    Headlining the festival is the New York debut of Solo Anna, a tour de force performed by Lidia Vitale, written by Franco D'Alessandro, in which Anna Magnani, the great Italian film star and the first non-American to ever win an Academy Award for Best Actress, explores dramatic, entertaining, and touching aspects of her illustrious career and fascinating life. The piece is presented on the 40th anniversary of the great actress’s death.

    The festival includes the U.S. premiere of two full theater productions.

    The first is Niuiórc Niuiórc (Journey across the Big Apple) is written, directed, and performed by Francesco Foti. This is based on a true travel diary in which a 40-year-old finds himself disoriented in the big city and meets a diverse array of unique characters. Performed in English and Italian.

    The second is Jennu Brigannu (Once Upon a Time there were Brigands) by Vincenza Costantino, artistic collaboration with Nino Racco, and directed by Ernesto Orrico. The play enacts the stories of brigands during the unification of Italy as told by three actors on a stage set only with three chairs. It’s an impressive adventure in storytelling by the Teatro della Ginestra theater company, which since 1995 has sought to explore new forms communication through theater. The group focuses on the use of the Calabrian dialect as a language for a new form of theater, linked to the past yet experimenting with the future. Performed in Calabrian with supertitles.

    There are also four staged readings:

    Dealers of Souls by Alberto Bassetti where two men negotiate the sale of an old theater. Performed in English.

    The Fridge by Tommaso Avati, a symbolic story of “what used to be and is not anymore.” Performed in English.

    Marathon by Edoardo Erba, adapted by Israel Horovitz, directed by Laura Caparrotti, with Vincent Piazza and Ted Lewis. Two friends are training for the New York Marathon, but it is a strange night.... Performed in English.

    Mornings at Ten To Four by Luca De Bei, translated by Carlotta Brentan, directed by Laura Caparrotti, with Drew Bruck, Carlotta Brentan, and Yosef Podolsky. Every morning, at ten to four, three youths – a construction worker, a Romanian immigrant, and a girl – meet at the same bus stop in the suburbs of Rome. Performed in English.

    The festival ends with A Tribute to Mario Fratti, three one-acts by the renowned Italian author of Nine. Actors, Dina and Alba, and Missionaries are directed by Kevin Albert and performed in English.

    The program includes a special panel discuss ion and performance at the Calandra Institute. Traveling Theater focuses on the use of language in theater with performances by Teatro della Ginestra and Francesco Foti.  Moderated by Lucia Grillo.

    All events are free. For dates and locations, visit the festival’s website at www.inscenany.com.

  • Facts & Stories

    Find the Fake: the Italian trade Commission and UNAPROL Against Imitations

    The Italian Trade Commission of New York and UNAPROL, a consortium of olive growers established in 1966, have enlisted the American public to Find the Fake. The investigation was conducted on June 2nd at the offices of the Italian Trade Commission as part of the celebrations of Italy's Festa della Repubblica. There was a preview for journalists back in April at the offices of the Specialty Food Association in New York.

    Unfortunately, Andrea Camilleri’s Inspector Salvo Montalbano and Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti were too busy with other assignments in Venice and Sicily. That means solving this case was up to the general public. Four olive oils were presented to the guests’ discerning noses and palates. One of them was a fake, and their task was to identify it. Fortunately, they were not alone.
     
    All jokes aside, this lighthearted presentation had a serious aim, which was to demonstrate that sensitive noses and experienced taste buds can be trained to distinguish between genuine Italian extra virgin olive oil and something that is rather less exalted.
     
    Olive oil basics were introduced by real experts: Michele Bungaro, the president and spokesman for UNAPROL, Fulvio Genovese, a UNAPROL special agent and Fred Plotkin, the award winning expert and lecturer on all things Italian.
     
    “Believe it or not, some manufacturers intentionally mislead consumers into believing that the oil within the bottle is 100% Italian when it actually contains a blend of olives from different countries. Blended oils are perfectly good (most of the time) but not if they are being misrepresented as 100% Italian. Many countries, including the USA, produce excellent olive oil, but many consumers veer towards Italian olive oil because it has a world-wide reputation for excellence.” (www.blackdresstraveler.com)
     
    This reputation is often undermined by all the fakes out there are plenty of olive oils for sale at ridiculously low prices. They have an Italian sounding name but more often than not, the oil is a blend that doesn't even have a single drop of juice from an Italian olive!
     
    Both the Italian Trade Commission and UNAPROL are very active in fighting this phenomenon.
     
    What makes Italian extra virgin olive oil a worldwide success? There are three main reasons: care, quality and variety. From each country, a different oil, because the olive responds to terroir just as the grape does. The very shape of the Italian boot, a peninsula stretching from the Alps to the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, provides a vast variety of terroirs. Then there are cultivars or varieties of olive: more than 350 of them, each with its own qualities.
     
    To speak of just a few, there are taggiasca and lavagnina in Liguria, frantoio in Tuscany, casalivA of Lake Garda, moraiolo in Umbria, carboncella around the Sabina Hills near Rome, gentile in the Abruzzi, rotondella in Campania, ogliarola, coratina, cina and cellina in Apulia, carolea in Calabria, nocellara del belice and bosana in Sicily and in Sardinia, respectively.
     
    From north to south, Italy's terroirs and varieties produce a dazzling range of organoleptic or sensory properties. The color may be golden yellow, intensely shaded, veiled or with green and orange high lights. All these sunny colors hold the thousand flavors and fragrances of 100% made in Italy extra virgin olive oils. Even locally, within a given region, blended oils – those made from more than one variety of olive – have their own distinctive scents, bouquets and flavors. The growers, many of whom have olive trees that are decades and even hundreds years old, take extraordinary care of them, their fruit and the oil they press to create 100% made in Italy product.
     
    “There is not one oil that is better than the other,” Bungaro explained, “there is one for every taste, the difference is in the palate and a person's personal preferences. Yet there is competition against high quality.”
     
    In order to guarantee high quality, UNAPROL has introduced 100% Qualità Italiana, a new grade of extra virgin olive oil.
     
    Produced in Italy from Italian olives and subject to UNAPROL's traceability system, which allows for analysis of every step of the production process, 100% Qualità Italiana is a level of extra virgin olive oil that goes above and beyond the already strict standards required by law. Extra virgin olive oil holding this certification is produced with the utmost respect for the environment and according to procedures of production, transformation and conservation as described and in compliance with
    I.O.O.% regulations. The traceability of the production process is an instrument which safeguards the quality of food products, as it allows us to race the movement of the product throughout the production process. “Alta Qualità” extra virgin olive oil can be traced according to the voluntary ISO 22005:08 normative and is controlled by a certifying body.
     
    New regulations requiring the designation of origin of the product to be shown on the label allow consumers to easily recognize Made in Italy extra virgin olive oil. The “Alta Qualità” consortium includes growers, producer cooperatives and associations, oil mills and packing companies. It was founded in order to: promote and add value to high quality extra virgin olive oil in Italy and also abroad; grant the I.O.O.% certificate to the various participants in a production process based on production regulations and testing; carry out educational campaigns in behalf of “Alta Qualità” extra virgin olive oil.
     
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    UNAPROL, the National Union of Olive Producers, is an organization that brings several millennia of Italian olive culture, some 550,000 olive groves and more than 300 individual olive cultivars under the shelter of a single umbrella organization whose aim is to protect the quality and authenticity of Italian Olive Oil, and the livelihoods of its producers.

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