Destination: Italy
Stop the Presses: Tunisian-Born Chef Makes Rome’s Best Carbonara
by Joanna Kakissis | 04.09.08 | 1:50 PM ET
Nabil Hadj Hassen, who arrived in Italy at 17 and went on to train with some of the country’s top chefs, won the heart of highly regarded reviewer Gambero Rosso with his dish of pasta, eggs, pecorino cheese and guanciale (cured pig cheek) at the restaurant Antico Forno Roscioli. But The New York Times recently explored how his triumphant carbonara also flagged a question looming over Italy’s revered cuisine: Is the food still Italian if the chef is not?
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Yahoo! BuzzHemingway’s Favorite Venice Bar Offering Discounts to Americans
by Jim Benning | 04.08.08 | 10:40 AM ET
Yes, this is what the weak dollar and subprime loan disaster have come to: discounts at Harry’s Bar. Can you imagine the final line of A Moveable Feast were it written today? “But this is how Venice was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy and many fine American homes were in foreclosure and we were enjoying 20 percent off at Harry’s Bar.”
Americans Gone Wild in Italy—Again
by Joanna Kakissis | 03.27.08 | 10:43 AM ET
Didn’t we hear this story last year? Does it get juicier if the drunks involved are well-heeled American women spending their college study abroad programs “vomiting off the sides of the cobblestone streets,” as a city councilman in Florence told National Public Radio? About 80 percent of the 7,000 American study-abroad students are women, and hundreds of them are partying like they’re on a long, wild spring break.
Inside the Gridlock Capital of the World
by Michael Yessis | 03.21.08 | 9:33 AM ET
It’s Bangkok, according to Time. The story seems to offer support for both sides in a brewing debate in our comments section about whether it’s more difficult to cross the street in Rome or some cities in Southeast Asia. The chaos of Bangkok sounds crazier than Rome, but so does the gridlock. And if cars in Bangkok are perpetually stopped, isn’t that an argument that it should be easier to cross there than in Rome?
Related on World Hum:
* How to Cross the Street in Rome
New Palermo Shop Goes Mafia Free
by Michael Yessis | 03.12.08 | 3:49 PM ET
Punto Pizzofree, which opened last weekend, promises that “all products and staff are 100 per cent guaranteed Mafia-free, supplied only by shops and producers which have stood up to Sicily’s Cosa Nostra and refused to pay protection money,” according to the Guardian.
How to Cross the Street in Rome
by David Farley | 03.06.08 | 12:57 PM ET
Walking across a busy street in Italy's capital is no easy feat. It's an art, and as David Farley explains, you need some serious sprezzatura.
Pizza and Intrigue in Naples: A Graphic Travel Story
by Eva Holland | 02.27.08 | 10:16 AM ET
Tom Downey, whose first ‘graphic travel story’ we blogged about awhile back, has put out another in this month’s Conde Nast Traveler. As in the first story, Naples: The Case of the Stolen Starter was created with artist Neil Gower and fuses techniques from graphic novels and detective fiction to create a unique piece of travel writing. From the piazza to the mercato to the trattoria, Downey encounters all kinds of compelling details of Neopolitan life while his illustrated hero attempts to save a pizzeria whose dough has been stolen.
One Man’s Odyssey into ‘Eat, Pray, Love’
by Rolf Potts | 02.11.08 | 1:33 PM ET
Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling trans-global travel book is a fun read -- but don't expect Rolf Potts to embrace the fantasy
Day Trippers Not Wanted on Venice’s New Vaporetto Line
by Michael Yessis | 01.23.08 | 10:07 AM ET
Venice residents complained that tourists had made getting around the city a nightmare, so officials planned Line 3, a just-opened water bus route from Venice’s Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco. Only riders holding a Carta Venezia pass can get on board, which effectively excludes outsiders.
Italian Officials Consider Moving Michelangelo’s David
by Michael Yessis | 01.18.08 | 9:09 AM ET
It’s because of the tourists. The gobs and gobs of tourists. Tuscany’s cultural official Paolo Cocchi says Florence’s city center, particularly the Galleria dell’Accademia where David has resided for the past 135 years, has become overwhelmed by travelers wishing to see Michelangelo’s masterpiece. He has proposed moving what the Independent calls the “world’s most famous image of manhood” to a not-yet-built cultural center at the edge of Florence. That may relieve some congestion in the city center, but it’s not sitting well with Florence’s “art elite,” according to the Independent.
Italian Politician on Naples: ‘It’s Worse Than Kabul’
by Eva Holland | 01.10.08 | 9:23 AM ET
Six months after the U.S. Embassy in Italy issued a travel advisory over mounting garbage in Naples, the Italian city is taking decisive action. Or at least, it’s taking action. According to Reuters, a new “trash tsar” has been appointed to clean up the streets—literally. But considering that the latest appointment is one in a series of tsar-ships that began in 1994, when Naples first declared a state of emergency that has never been lifted, you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t hold my breath.
David Farley on Calcata, Italy and the Search for the Holy Foreskin
by Jim Benning | 12.17.07 | 11:10 AM ET
World Hum contributor David Farley—travel writer turned foreskin detective—tells the Toronto Star all about his unlikely book project, and why he gets responses from church officials like this: “What? The Holy Foreskin? You want me to hook you up with someone at the Vatican to talk about the Holy Foreskin? No way! That’s ridiculous.”
Related on World Hum:
* Where in the World Are You, David Farley?
Photo: What You Don’t Want to See at a Border Crossing
by Jim Benning | 12.13.07 | 11:55 AM ET
At least not if you’re trying to cross said border. This shot was taken this week at the Italy-France border at Ventimiglia. Thousands of striking Italian truck drivers have been blocking major ports, border-crossings and motorways for days around Italy, causing a good bit of chaos, including fuel and food shortages. The good news: They’ve agreed to end the blockade, at least for now.
Photo: AP.
‘Junior Fear Abroad’ in Italy: The Reaction
by Michael Yessis | 12.11.07 | 11:12 AM ET
The story of American exchange student Sophie Egan’s experience in Italy in the wake of a murder—Julia wrote about it yesterday—has stimulated some heated reaction in letters to the New York Times.
Junior Year in Italy: ‘Not At All What I Expected’
by Julia Ross | 12.10.07 | 9:41 AM ET
Stanford student Sophie Egan’s year abroad in Bologna, Italy, has taken an unexpected turn. Because one of the suspects in a grisly murder case in another Italian city, Perugia, happens to be an American woman Egan’s age and from the same hometown—Seattle—Egan finds herself fending off wary inquiries. Despite the unfortunate similarities, Egan hasn’t given up on her quest for cultural immersion. “Sure, answering the question ‘Where are you from?’ is a bit more awkward,” she writes in a New York Times op-ed, “but it certainly gets the conversations going.”