"You don't need to get a hotel room. You can sleep at Father Agostino's church in Pisa," said Gianna, Sam's eldest sister, during our last dinner at her house in Florence. Hmm, what? Church? Seriously? My automatic response to Gianna was that sleeping in a church was bizarre, if not absurd. But by now, I knew better than to question Sam's Italian family. How does that saying go? "when in Rome do as the Romans do?" The church accommodation could have been an exciting experienc

Most species of penguins are monogamous. They will mate with the same penguin, season after season. It is a beautiful, loving relationship, one that I have the fortune to see embodied in my family. My parents have been married for over half a century. Of course, I don’t want to compare my parents to penguins, but sometimes in my family, we laugh about it. My father would instead wish to resemble the dynamic of two sparrows, chirping at each other and rubbing their beaks. He d

During the Paleozoic Era lived two cavemen brothers named Mario and Luigi. Every year they would go on a special hunt along with four of their cousins, two uncles, and fourteen nephews. They sought an animal that was the most dangerous of the time and yet the most delicious. They hunted a dinosaur called Sausage-osaurus. Upon their successful return, the cavemen’s grandma used her secret recipe to prepare everyone’s favorite “homemade” dish of grilled Sausage-osaurus, paired

I will never forget the guy I met years ago, who was sure that pizza had been invented here, in the heart of America, by Chuck E. Cheese. No joke. Obviously, he has not heard of my homeland country, Italy, the cradle of pizza. As you know, pizza is a simple dish originating from Naples back in 1889. Maybe the U.S. feels a sense of ownership due to their very creative toppings that have definitely deviated from the classics. How could they think of adding BBQ chicken or pineap

I think we can all agree that not all bread (and pastries) are created equal. You know that feeling, as soon as you take a bite of freshly-made, warm, crispy, and delicious bread. It is a rush of pleasure flowing through your body, and your taste buds start cha-cha dancing in your mouth. It is incredibly satisfying for us humans to eat good bread. There have been a few countries dominating the bread-making art, and Italy is certainly on top. Especially the Italian bakers in F

You don’t need a time machine to immerse yourself in the simple, genuine and flavorful foods from centuries past. When we visited the historic Falorni butcher shop (Antica Macelleria Falorni) founded in 1806 in Greve in Chianti, Tuscany, we found ourselves back in time. When someone says Chianti region, all you can think about is wine, although there is so much more to this famous province. Falorni is a traditional establishment that still stands, following nine generations.