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In the apse of a midcentury chapel in Upper Manhattan, there is a sparkling mosaic mural that depicts the life of America’s first saint, Frances Xavier Cabrini. The mural was recently restored to its original luster using period tiles, or tesserae, made of various types of marble (Carrara, Botticino) as well as gilded Venetian glass tiles, made by fusing 22-karat gold leaf between layers of glass and crystal.
Carol Costello anchors the 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. ET edition of CNN's "Newsroom" each weekday. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
I am American. Italian-American. Or maybe I'm American-Italian or an American of Italian descent. Nah, I'm Italian-American. It's how I was raised to think of myself, even though I was born in the most American of cities, Canton, Ohio.
John Hooper says he is often a little puzzled by Italy.
“It’s a country that seems to be all on the surface, but actually a lot of things are hidden,” said Mr. Hooper, author of “The Italians,” a cultural study of the country that was published by Viking last month. “That can be at times sinister, but it can also be fascinating and rewarding, if you go off the beaten track.”
Say the word Italy, and we think of sun-kissed piazzas, stars over the Mediterranean, spellbinding museums, and mouth-watering food. But as veteran Guardian and Financial Times correspondent John Hooper explains in his new book, The Italians, it’s a complex, sometimes infuriating, country where the past is always present.
At least 29 migrants have died of hypothermia on board Italian coastguard vessels after being picked up from an inflatable boat adrift near Libya, the chief health official on the island of Lampedusa has said.
A huge angry stone face looks down on visitors through giant spires of cypress trees at Giusti Garden. The intimidating mascherone was originally designed to breathe fire, probably the only thing that could make it more foreboding. It was just one of the surprises I and 32 other gardeners found on a 10-day trip in September to visit gardens of Northern Italy.
The equity crowdfunding market has been slow to take off in Italy largely due to intrinsic limitations with the environment and regulations. But Italy is pivoting once again and adapting to the new world of capital formation.
The island of Giglio, its inhabitants, the Italian government and Costa Concordia cruise ship passengers are banding together to request hundreds of millions of euros in damages from Costa Cruises this week, as the trial of the 2012 cruise ship disaster nears its climax.
Bensonhurst will be getting two Italian dual language classrooms at a brand new school coming to 73rd Street and 15th Avenue this coming school year.
Nestled on a gentle Tuscan hill near this town just east of Florence, and caressed by the morning fog, sits a medieval castle that was once home to the few prominent noble families who plotted against the Medicis’ rule during the Renaissance, some of whom are believed to have taken refuge here.