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Continue reading →: Gimme Culture!There’s something afoot, and it may very well be revolutionary. People are lining up for culture. And this is not Disneyland: This is the magnificent Renaissance monument, Palazzo Farnese, last weekend, open to the public; and what a public, clamoring to get in! It’s true, it’s tricky to…
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Continue reading →: Roma, Caput (and not Kaputt!) MundiBack in the Città Eterna, or Caput Mundi – the capital of the world, people! The Romans got it right! And not Kaputt Mundi, like some have recently tried to portray it. From the minute I hit the ground in Termini, I am off and running: ruins, fountains, monumental…
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Continue reading →: The Way We WereMemories, like the corners of my mind… On a recent trip to Sicily, I was reminded that, once upon a time, we used to eat a different way too. Maybe it was that starlit night in the piazza with the great Baroque basilica front-lit against the black sky… It just…
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Continue reading →: The Sacred and the ProfaneAugust is a special month in Italy: the entire country closes down for about 2 weeks and it all looks like a Hollywood set — where did all the people go? To the beach, to the mountains, but no one stays in town! It is also the start of the…
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Continue reading →: Swept Away…Everyone should take a sailboat trip around Italian islands at some point in their life. Now when Domenico Modugno sang ‘Nel blu dipinto di blu‘ this is what he was talking about! A recent cruise around the Egadi Islands off of Sicily’s western coast (departures from Marsala or…
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Continue reading →: Italy, Land of Chocolate!It is too hot to talk about wine. So let’s turn our thoughts to something cool… Gelato! When I am in Milan’s Central train station, I often stop to have a Venchi gelato. Venchi is better known for its chocolates; take a look! Delectable, no? Chocolate is one of those…
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Continue reading →: Che mondo sarebbe senza Nutella? or A world without Italy?When we were children, there was an ad: Che mondo sarebbe senza Nutella? Would it be a world worth living in? I guess the question I want to ask, along with the fabulous planners of the Italian Pavilion at Expo, is: Is that even conceivable? A visit to the Milan…
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Continue reading →: Writing About Wine… Since 1300!!!Sunday was the big Cantine Aperte event: throughout Italy, vineyards opened their doors to the curious and the thirsty, and explained their production to the masses. For those of us who were urban-bound, events like the presentation of a reprint of Arnaldo da Villanova’s Trattato sui vini: Liber de vinis…
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Continue reading →: A University with TasteI finally made it to Pollenzo the other day,to the famous Università degli Studi di Scienze Gastronomiche, a.k.a. l’Università del Gusto (Taste University)! What better pilgrimage to prepare for today, May 1st and the opening of the Expo in Milan dedicated to the theme of Feeding the Planet (more about that in…
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Continue reading →: Would I Lie to You, Honey?You know I tell the truth here on Italian Grapevine. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth … on matters of Italian food, wine, culture and dolce vita living. I am la bocca della verità. Back in the Eternal City… What is the magic of this place?…
Suzanne Branciforte
has one foot firmly planted on either continent
is New York born and Harvard educated
is Italian and American and Italian-American
has resided on the Italian Riviera for the past 15 years
has a Masters degree and a Ph.D. from UCLA
is a writer, translator and interpreter
interpreted for the President of the Bundesbank and Nobel Prize winning economists and authors
is the author of the international best-selling textbook Parliamo italiano!
has lived extensively in California, France and Italy
knows that good wine doesn’t grow in ugly places
is convinced that living is your greatest work of art
Suzanne Branciforte's Italian Grapevine 