Ed., March 21, 2023: We're re-sharing this article as it was originally published in 2020, since Gennaro Sangiuliano and Asta Vrečko, culture ministers of Italy and Slovenia, respectively, convened on Monday to discuss forthcoming projects for the European Capital of Culture 2025. Gorizia and Nova Gorica will share the title.
MISSION
Offering an authoritative, authentic take on Italian culture and lifestyle for international audiences, Italy Magazine and our team of local experts have been celebrating the best of the Bel Paese for more than 20 years. From language to food to culture to fashion, Italy Magazine, just like Italy itself, has something to offer everyone. Whether you’re planning a trip or staying connected to Italy from home, Italy Magazine is here to help you go beyond the surface and incorporate Italy into your everyday life.
Travel & Living
Opened in 1864, the Ferrovia Porrettana was the first transapennine railway line in Italy, connecting Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany by train for the first time. Its construction was presaged by decades of debate about whether such a line was even feasible.
Food & Drink
The ancient trees of the Piana degli Ulivi Monumentali line a flat stretch of land along the Adriatic sea between Ostuni and Monopoli, in Puglia. They’re monumental in size and age, some estimated to be even 1,000 years old. And they are under threat.
Art & Culture
Late last month, the office of Giorgia Meloni, the new President of the Council of Ministers of Italy, issued a circular stating that she should be addressed as Il signor Presidente (“Mr. President”).
Art & Culture
In early 2020, much of the world’s attention was focused on the northern Italian city of Bergamo as it became one of the first places outside China to experience a serious outbreak of Covid-19.
Art & Culture
The Arab alimentari El Zayat in Rome’s Marconi neighborhood has the familiar din of a minimarket in Cairo. Twinkling lights curtain the facade and a plastic battery-powered sign blinks “Ramadan Kareem.” Customers and staff banter in Arabic, with a few sprinklings of Italian here and there.
Art & Culture
Art historian, Yale-educated scholar and bestselling author Laura Morelli has said she avoids controversy like the plague. But when Tallahassee, Florida’s “David debacle” made headlines last week, she had to wade into the fire.
Food & Drink
April 21 is the annual celebration of the founding of Rome. Given she’s got an impressive 2,776 candles on her cake this year, you might be forgiven for mistakenly assuming that the Eternal City is stuck in the past.
Art & Culture
In 2007, the Paris-based journalist Dana Thomas published a dense little book, Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster, which quickly became a fixture on the syllabi of entry-level fashion school courses. Outwardly, it was a reportage on the bland massification of couture houses, a kind of elegant-elitist call to arms for righteous defenders of “integrity” in “aspirational” products.
Art & Culture
Piazzale Loreto in the north of Milan is an eyesore of the excessive cementificazione of Italian cityscapes. An intersection of seven major thoroughfares, it is a no-man’s land of bad air and bad memories, a blemish on the landscape of the city, a non-place.
Art & Culture
Born to Roman parents in 1953, Nanni Moretti is one of the few Italian directors after Federico Fellini whose name has risen to adjectival status.
Travel & Living
Legend has it that Romans have been vacationing in Ponza since earlier than 300 BCE. They saw it as a secluded place to exile people they didn’t want around the empire — and also exile themselves when they needed a break from imperial life.
Travel & Living
The summer crowds in the streets of Italy’s main hotspots can’t tell you everything about the current state of travel. Despite the high rates of “revenge tourism” Italy is seeing post-pandemic, slower forms of travel are trending, too.
Travel & Living
One of the enduring cinematic classics set in the Eternal City, Roman Holiday is a romantic comedy starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. Hepburn plays Princess Ann, who’s in Rome on an official state visit from an unnamed European country. Restless and bored by her institutional duties, she escapes from the embassy and decides to explore the city incognito.
Art & Culture
As the Writers Guild of America (WGA) approaches its fifth month on strike, with the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) right behind it, few moments have been so significant in the history of American film and television.
Style & Design
Like all the villages surrounding Sicily’s Mount Etna, which have been built using the plentiful supply of volcanic stone, Linguaglossa has a smoky look to it.
Piatto Unico
Recipe excerpted from Cooking alla Giudia by Benedetta Jasmine Guetta (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2022. Photograph by Ray Kachatorian (Dayenu is at bottom left).
MASTHEAD
Publisher: Mike Fuller
As publisher of Italy Magazine, Mike Fuller is revisiting his roots from 25 years ago. Mike was the publisher of Student Travels Magazine between 1995-1999 and during that same period developed a number of custom publishing projects for the British Tourist Authority, including Britain on a Budget as well as special supplements aimed at the 50+, LGTBQ and honeymoon markets. A native of Montreal, Mike currently resides near Boston but travels extensively to Italy where he spends most of his time in his favorite city — Rome.
Editor-in-Chief: Mary Gray
Mary Gray oversees all editorial operations for Italy Magazine. Born in Mississippi and based in Florence, she is an accredited journalist with the Italian Foreign Press Association who draws from a decade of on-the-ground adventures and an academic background in Italian Studies in her work. Mary has written for the Washington Post, Italian national newspaper la Repubblica and Forbes Travel Guide; co-authored guidebooks for Time Out, DK Eyewitness and Lonely Planet; and taught travel writing at the university level. Shabby trattoria tables and markets hawking nonna hand-me-downs are her happy places.
EDITORIAL & CREATIVE
Social Media & Visual Editor: Gabriela R. Proietti
Gabriela R. Proietti is Italy Magazine’s visual creator and voice across social media. An Italian-American born and raised in Philadelphia, Gabriela decided to jump ship from her career in corporate fashion, following the “Italy pull” to Rome in 2019, where she lives today. Gabriela is a writer, journalist, social media strategist and digital creator whose work has been featured in Italy Segreta, Elle and The Italy Edit. She has a passion for all things Naples and Made in Italy.
Senior Staff Writer: Toni DeBella
Toni DeBella is Italy Magazine’s staff writer, the pen behind many of the magazine’s “Italy in Brief” reports. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, the northern California native moved to Italy in 2012 and never looked back. Now a travel and lifestyle writer based in the Umbrian hill town of Orvieto, Toni has written for The Telegraph, Fodor’s, Culture Trip, Walks of Italy and Women & Home, and was also a major contributor to DK Eyewitness Sicily. When she’s not documenting her journeys around Italy and Europe, Toni covers the DIY beat for The Family Handyman Magazine, Bird & Bloom and Hunker.
ADVERTISING, SALES & CUSTOMER CARE
Partner Content Editor: Phoebe Hunt
Phoebe Hunt coordinates branded and sponsored content for Italy Magazine clients. (Separate from her Partner Content Editor role, Phoebe also occasionally contributes editorial features to the magazine.) Born in London, Phoebe studied Sanskrit and Hindi at Oxford, where she kick-started her career with a cocktail column for the student paper. Later, she moved to Florence for a summer and never left. Since then, Phoebe has written for a number of international magazines, including GQ, Conde Nast Traveller, National Geographic and SUITCASE, and co-authored guidebooks for DK Eyewitness and Lonely Planet.
Accountant: Laura Bonato
Laura Bonato runs Italy Magazine’s finance department. She hails from Sicily, the Mediterranean island she left to move to Boston in 2000, to embrace a new life and working adventure. In Italy, she built her career working in accounting for private companies and spent 10 years in the finance department of the University of Catania. She brings to Italy Magazine her 30-plus years’ experience and hard-working attitude that allow her to tackle the daily challenges of keeping the books.
Senior Sales Consultant: Alessandra Biro
Alessandra Biro is responsible for driving Italy Magazine ad sales, continually identifying new opportunities and maintaining existing customer relationships. She was born in Milan, moved to the UK in 1996, and draws upon 20 years of experience as a Senior Sales Consultant. A strong believer in the power of positive thinking in the workplace, Alessandra is inspired daily by her family. When she isn’t working, Alessandra can usually be found enjoying a good Netflix binge or a long walk on hilly country roads.
Customer Care & Sales Associate: Enzo Romeo
Enzo Romeo coordinates numerous administrative processes for Italy Magazine and manages many of the company's advertising accounts. Hailing from Catania, on the slopes of Mount Etna, Enzo studied and worked in computer programming before moving to the car rental sector, working in leading companies in the industry for more than 20 years. When off-duty, Enzo enjoys spending time with his family, reading books, drawing and painting, true to his personal motto: “Time is the most important thing we have. Let’s use it well.”
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