Italy

In the years that Kristen has been dating Michele (pronounced roughly me-KAY-lay), we have not seen her on Thanksgiving. Why would she join us for our traditional Thanksgiving dinner when she can have everything we have, plus unique, amazing Italian appetizers and desserts all day long with Michele’s extended family and friends?

There is so much to experience from Italy as we travel the world while staying at home: food, music, art, film, literature, and history. Let’s start with that amazing Italian food: When Allan and I were dating, Alfredo's in San Bernardino was our favorite restaurant. When I was working in Loma Linda, Angelo’s was the best lunch place. I’m not the only person to stop by Frugatti’s in Bakersfield when I’m driving through. Sylvia and Joilo also recommend it. I’ve eaten fantastic food in the Little Italy neighborhood of San Diego with Barb, and I’ve marveled at the variety of Italian products at Eataly in Los Angeles with Gladys. If you are looking for the best Italian food in California, Kristen and Michele recommend Donato Enoteca in Redwood City and Terún in Palo Alto.

If you want to cook your own Italian food, here are some easy authentic recipes from La Cucina Italiana, which is based in Milan with an American version of their webpage: https://www.lacucinaitaliana.com/recipes

Even more than the food, which was delicious, and the gelato, which was incredible, my best memory of my college trip to Italy is of singing in a cave in the Italian Alps. We were there to learn about the Waldensians who hid from persecution for their faith. The hymns we sang echoed through the chambers with acoustics I had never heard before.

Cathedrals are built to simulate those reverberations found in caves. I watched Andrea Bocceli’s concert from the cathedral in Milan on Easter last year while we were sheltering at home. I found it meaningful then and even today, while I am rewatching it, I am brought to tears by the music, the images of the empty cities of the world, and the memory of what Italy has gone through in the last year and a half, and what many people around the world are still going through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huTUOek4LgU

While we are talking about music, here are some of my favorites of the great Italian composers. I wish I could include them all!

· Vivaldi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRxofEmo3HA

· Verdi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg-An7TQBbI

· Puccini: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5lYyMNxR4Q&t=3712s

· Rossini: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU_U1NH5QBs

Moving from music to art, my friend John recommends The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone, a biographical novel on Michelangelo. Even if you don’t read this 776 page book, it is worth taking this virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel where you can click around and zoom in and out to see each of the individual works and the chapel as a whole: http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/cappella-sistina/tour-virtuale.html

More Italian art is found in:

· The online tour provided by the Uffizi Gallery of Florence: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/uffizi-gallery?hl=en

· The Italian renaissance module by the Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/early-renaissance1/beginners-renaissance-florence/v/recognize-renaissance-art

· The series on Leonardo da Vinci by the Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/high-ren-florence-rome/leonardo-da-vinci/a/about-leonardo

· Baroque art in Italy lessons by the Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/baroque-art1/baroque-italy/e/baroque-art-in-italy

Here in southern California, we are fortunate to have The Getty for European art and the Getty Villa for Roman antiquities. Highlights on Italian art from the Getty can be found here: http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/tags/italian-art/

Besides paintings and sculptures, Italy is also known for blown glass. Kaitlin brought back glass from Murano as gifts. Sylvia brought back small pieces of art glass and I spent a lovely afternoon with her putting together mosaics. Of the many glass blowing videos from Murano, I chose this one, even if it is older, because of the focus on the artists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNu8qoTREFk

After all this music and art, I want to sit down and relax with an Italian movie or series:

· Sofia Loren returns to the screen this year at age 86 in The Life Ahead about a nontraditional family. I watched it on Netflix. You can also see Sofia Loren interviewed about the role at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BogIUakQOl4

· If you want to catch an earlier movie with Sofia Loren, Marriage Italian Style is here: https://tubitv.com/movies/294106/marriage-italian-style

· You can watch the Italian superhero movie They Call Me Jeeg here (click on the CC button for subtitles): https://tubitv.com/movies/458202/they-call-me-jeeg

· Netflix has quite a bit, including a series based in Italian history called Medici: The Magnificent, a breakthrough series from Italian television called Zero based on second generation black Italians, and a period drama called Happy as Lazzaro.

· The Trip to Italy on Hulu takes us on a trip through the Italian countryside with two British comedians.

· Giada in Italy is a series of short cooking lessons on Hulu from a kitchen overlooking Florence.

· Amazon Prime has Roman Holiday.

· And I can’t leave out my children’s favorite for many years, The Lizzie McGuire Movie found on DisneyPlus.

Great Italian classic literature can be found on Project Gutenberg and more contemporary work on Words Without Borders:

· The Aeneid by Virgil: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/228

· The Divine Comedy by Dante: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8799

· Sonnets by Petrarch: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50307

· Recent works translated from Italian: https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/find/languages/italian

For great reviews of Italian history, check Kanopy, especially The Great Courses. There are so many! For less academically stringent sets of lessons on Italy, the Khan Academy has the rise of Rome, the Roman Empire and the fall, all starting here: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/ancient-medieval/roman-empire/v/overview-of-the-roman-empire

The Italian American Museum of Los Angeles just reopened this week, so I haven’t made it yet. I’ll also be looking out for some great Italian events as California reopens including the Italian Family Festa in San Jose in August, the Italia Fisherman’s Festival in Monterrey in September, and the Taste of Italy in Los Angeles in October.

So much to enjoy in Italy and so little time! The Crazy Tourist has more than a hundred galleries on Italy. Here is the main gallery: https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-italy/. My next Italy trip is on that list – Sicily! I’ve been planning to visit Barb there for awhile, but my plans were put aside for awhile. Hopefully soon! By the way, please check out the video of Mount Etna that Barb sent me! This is from just last night and this is what she has been seeing for months! https://www.lasiciliaweb.it/2021/06/21/etna-che-fuochi/

When I plan my trip to Italy, I will use my local travel advisor. Shout out to my favorite travel advisor, Kaitlin Darnell at Laura's Travel in Redlands. May the travel industry survive and thrive - may we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Italy and throughout the world.

Photo Credit: Rebe Adelaida https://unsplash.com/photos/zunQwMy5B6M