The Italian Radio Hour

This week on The Italian Radio Hour: SAGRE D'ITALIA - Travel into popular traditions with Donatella Alquati and Giorgio Mininno (Slowbook) Planning your next trip to Italy? Want to discover treasures "off the beaten path"? Then, you cannot miss our conversation with Donatella and Giorgio, authors of the latest and only guide to all the Sagre d'Italia. What is a sagra The sagra is...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - The Making of La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi. At the eve of opening night of La Traviata at the Pittsburgh Opera, I was able to catch up with Stage Director Kristine McIntyre for an insightful conversation of what all goes into the staging of an opera. her vision for this production and the true story of the character that inspired not only Giuseppe Verdi, but...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - Being the 6th generation of Buitoni, Viola grew up in a food loving family who believed that growing your own food was a better way of eating. She was weaned on extra virgin olive oil and parmigiano. She first spooned ricotta in her mouth straight out of the warm whey in which the local shepherd had just cooked it. She played hide-and-seek in the room where pa...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - The Many Miracles of Household Saints with Martina Savoca Guay. 1993 - Household Saints by Nancy Savoca comes out. But there is one person, who has been on the set the entire time who will never get to see the movie until much later in her life because of a series of events, including all the good elements of the movie been destroyed: Martina Savoca Guay, Nanc...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour: "Crossings": Autobiographical Writing for people of Italian origin with Prof. Rita Cavigioli. Are you an American with Italian origins who has spent significant time in Italy, not only for tourism, but might have family, friends in Italy or have worked or studied in Italy? Have you always wanted to capture in writing your life, their lives, the what i...

Today, on The Italian Radio Hour: Discovering Contemporary Theater by Italians of African Descent. Link to video interview: https://youtu.be/3uQXbbp7RSc An interesting conversation with Mauritian playwright Nalini Vidoolah Mootoosamy, Margherita Laera (translator & Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre, University of Kent, Cantenbury), and Laura Caparrotti, Founder of Kairos Italy Theater to di...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - "Denominazione di Origine Inventata" with Prof. Alberto Grandi. The title of the book "Denomination of Invented Origin" is in net contrast with one of Italy's most recognizable food & wine classification of food or wines (DOP - Denominazione di Origine Protetta (literally “Protected Designation of Origin). Prof. Grandi debunks the m...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - In conversation with young Italian author from Abruzzo Domenico Cornacchia, Frank Di Piero (from Keeping it Real with Frankie D), and Emily Cipriani Marchetti on a topic that means so much to all of us, "roots" who is also the English title of Domenico's book (in Italian: RESTO QUI). Roots by Domenico Cornacchia aims to preserve a culture that ha...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - The Delmonico Way; Sublime Entertaining & Legendary Recipes from the Restaurant that Made New York! Bring glamour and style into your home, featuring stories, ideas for entertaining, and seventy-five recipes from the Tuccis, the family that ran Delmonico’s in its golden era. Located in the heart of Wall Street, Delmonico’s from 1827 to today continues to s...

In conversation with Luciano Lamonarca, Italian tenor residing in New York, and Founder of the Saint Pio foundation in NY. As one who has received what is considered a miracle: the birth of their son Sebastian, Luciano has invested all his energies in laying the groundwork to ensure that the foundation could grow and receive the needed support to become established. Padre Pio was born on May 25, 1...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - In Search of Abundance with Luisa Del Giudice. Luisa Del Giudice, Ph. D. was born in Terracina (Latina), emigrated to Toronto in 1956, and has lived in Los Angeles since 1981. She is internationally known for her work on Italian and Italian diaspora ethnology, folklore, and oral history. In 2008, she was named an honorary Fellow of the American Folklore Societ...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - Welcome to 2024! Wishing you a year full of abundance and prosperity. Some of you might have eaten lots of lentils for good fortune on New year's day but would you be curious to learn what goes into the process of making money? Today, another fascinating conversation with Egle Tringali and Valentina Bonaccorsi, curators of the MINT Museum of Rome who told...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - No holiday season is complete without talking about traditions, memories and Christmas music. In this week episode, we welcome back Sicilian American folk artist Michela Musolino as we travel thru time and her latest CD, La Notti Triunfanti, Folk-A-Billy Christmas: Christmas traditions from Sicily & Southern Italy mingle with musical traditions from USA......

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - If you grew up in Italy, you might be familiar with the tag line: "Cosa vuoi di piu' dalla vita? Un amaro Lucano! A conversation with Francesco Vena as we introduces us to the history of the most well-known liquor from Lucania (aka Basilicata), founded in 1894 by Pasquale Vena, a pastry chef who blended more than 30 herbs. The secret recipe has been p...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - One of the interesting and ancient traditions that the Abruzzo region boasts is certainly the art of goldsmithing. This week we caught up with Filippo di Rienzo, 7th generation of goldsmiths in the town of Scanno, by the beautiful lake of Scanno. Thru Filippo, we discussed the use of jewelry also for popular and good luck traditions. The Abruzzo goldsmith trad...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - Have you ever wondered what a rice sommelier does? Could you exactly tell how many different types of rice are out there and what they are used for? Last but not least, what is the name of a very famous rice variety that was born by breeding a Californian rice variety and an Italian one? (Thank you America! ) Listen to our episode to become a rice expert too a...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - Both food and fashion are central to our daily lives. They speak to people’s most basic needs while also expressing our individual and cultural identities. The exhibition Food & Fashion at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York explores how food themes and motifs are used to comment on critical topics from luxury, gender, and consumerism to sustai...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour: What do Hollywood, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Bank of America have in common? Join me in conversation with the Directors of the new documentary "AP Giannini - Bank to the Future" Valentina Signorelli and Cecilia Zoppelletto as we explore the incredible true story of Amedeo Peter Giannini, the son of Italian immigrants in San Francisco who not only re...

The fall of 2023 marked Italy’s debut on the world stage of golf as it hosts the 44th Ryder Cup Matches, played between 12-man teams from the United States and Europe.  This year’s Ryder Cup was contested from September 29 to October 1 over the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club located in Guidonia Montecelio, ten miles outside Rome.  It marked the first time that Italy as the hosted country of th...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - we welcome back food historian, one of America's foremost experts on Italian cuisine, Francine Segan to indulge in a conversation about CHOCOLATE. Francine brings a wealth of knowledge about food traditions in Italy that one hour together is never enough. She has also graciously shared the recipe of TORTA TENERINA (see below), and a "Friends and Famil...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - Do you remember the Italian sabbatical campaign launched by Air B&B to spend three months in Grottole (Basilicata)? Well, 290,000 later, we caught up with one of the Co-Founders of Wonder Grottole Andrea Paoletti, and Dan Kidson who traded his frenetic life in San Francisco to fullfil his "Italian Dream" in Grottole. Wonder Grottole: A project th...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour: The Barber of Seville explained! In conversation with Samuele Bozzolla as we bring to you most famous areas and anecdotes of this opera buffa by Rossini.- Did you know that The Barber of Seville was a huge fiasco when it made its debut?- Did you know that Rossini completed two operas every year for 19 consecutive years?- Did you know that when the tenor, Manuel...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour we caught up with Marianna Gatto, Founder and Executive Director of the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles. IAMLA has just presented the twelfth annual Taste of Italy, an upscale food and wine festival that has drawn crowds from all over the United States, and Italy. As IAMLA is getting ready to present their new exhibition, “Louis Prima: Rediscovering a Mus...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - 'Italy is Out" is the fruit of the collaboration between Mario Badagliacca, established documentary photographer, and Derek Duncan, Professor of Italian at the University of St. Andrews and whose objective was to explore the implications Italian migration in a global perspective tracing cultural transformations across borders, generations, and languag...

This week on The Italian Radio Hour we caught up with Lorenzo Lisi, to talk about NEXXT Expo, the biggest Expo of Made in Italy that take place Oct. 19-22 at CRAFTED at the Port of Los Angeles,. Nexxt Expo will feature over 120 vendors, meticulously curated to offer an authentic and immersive Italian experience. Also, this expo serves as an opportunity not only to showcase the best of Made in Ital...