Florence is a magical city. Upon receiving my college degree, I was fortunate to have won a generous scholarship from the Patrons of Italian Culture in Los Angeles and studied in Florence for a summer program. It was there I learned to speak the language of my ancestors and fully embraced the beautiful Italian culture. For anyone who loves Florence, Mona Lisa, a Life Discovered is the book for you. Continue reading

If you are learning Italian, you have probably studied the names of Italian animals, but you might not know that many animals (molti animali) are associated with a specific trait (un tratto distintivo) in the Italian language. For this reason, it is important, not only to know these words, but also the different situations in which they can be used. Continue reading

La passione italiana dates back to a time before time when a geologic frenzy carved a boot in the middle of the Mediterranean. Convulsing and colliding, tectonic plates thrust an ancient seabed so high that tiny crustaceans were trapped and fossilized in the Italian Alps. Lava seething within the earth boiled and bubbled to form a chain of volcanic cones stretching from central Italy to what would become the island of Sicily.Even today the Italian earth trembles. The Apennines, running like a spine through the peninsula, still undulate, sometimes with devastating consequences. Europe’s only active volcanoes—Vesuvius, Stromboli, and Etna—rumble and spew. Continue reading

“Strano e difficile a crederci, ma è proprio così! “ Strange and hard to believe, but that's right! This is how Italian journalist and blogger Veronica Triolo begins her post on an American writer who “con sorriso, grinta ed entusiasmo, si è appassionata al nostro paese” (with a smile, determination and enthusiasm, became passionate about our country). This passion, she notes,“non è superficiale e non è basata sui soliti banali stereotipi” (isn’t superficial nor based on the usual banal stereotypes) but reflects years of study and research on every aspect of Italian culture: from history to art, music, fashion, cinema, food, wine and lifestyle. Continue reading

My husband and I own a vine in Umbria. Not a vineyard, but a single vine (row 11, number 18), in Vigna Lorenzo at Monte Vibiano Vecchio. Continue reading

Two years ago I’d never even heard of Castiglion Fiorentino, a postcard-pretty town near Cortona, but when I arrived for my first visit, everyone seemed to know my name. Posters featuring the cover ofLA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World dotted the streets. Continue reading

In Italy La Festa del Papa falls on March 19, the feast of San Giuseppe (St. Joseph), the husband of Mary and earthly father of Jesus. In the United States we celebrate fathers on the third Sunday of June. I welcome any chance to honor the men we love so much--whatever the date and whatever we call them. Continue reading

Imagine a world without Italy: Painting without Leonardo. Sculpture without Michelangelo. Literature without Dante. No Verdi choruses or Puccini arias. No Fellini films or Ferrari roar. Heavens uncharted, vines unplanted, tables bereft of pasta, pizza, and a Sicilian cake so divine that its bakers swore it could make the dead breathe again.Western civilization would surely have sprouted elsewhere, but the planet would have been a paler place, a rainbow stripped of its most vibrant hues: Raphael’s luminous blue, Valentino’s luscious red, espresso’s inky black. More than a country, Italy embodies a culture that has transformed art and architecture, language and music, food and fashion. Continue reading

L’Italo-Americano had the opportunity to speak with Dianne Hales about her book and her “Italian-ness” at the presentation of LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World at the Italian Cultural Institutein San Francisco. (These articles originally appeared in L’Italo-Americano; the following is an excerpt.) Continue reading

In a culinary academy in Florence, I asked an architect-turned-chef-turned-restaurateur about the passions that had changed her life: How did she know that she was choosing the right one?“Ah, signora,” she replied. “We do not choose our passion. Passion chooses us.”I understood. Italy chose me. Continue reading

My little book on the Italian language had taken a beating.The couple who brought the tattered, battered copy of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language to the Italian Cultural and Community Center in Houstonexplained what had happened: They had trekked with it to every city, site, church, museum and restaurant mentioned in the book. They are planning to do the same with my new book, LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World—but that’s not all. They are moving to Italy next year. “Your books changed our lives,” they told me. Continue reading

Italy has been celebrating mothers for more than 2000 years.As the dark, cold winter gave way to the bright rebirth of Spring, the ancient Romans paid tribute to their gods of fertility. One holiday, Matronalia, was dedicated to Juno, the queen of the gods, and children gave gifts to their mothers on this day. Continue reading

Two years ago a woman I didn’t know contacted me about an abandoned chapel dedicated to a saint I had never heard of in a Tuscan town I had never visited. Now her story is in LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World, and she and I are going on a “Passion for Joy” book tour. Continue reading

Whether you're a parent or an author, your first born always remains close to your heart.This month marks a landmark birthday for my first book on Italy and its culture: LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language. My publisher is celebrating with a not-to-be-missed offer: a digital copy for just $1.99 — less than the price of, well, almost everything —downloadable here or at other online book retailers until May 5 Continue reading

Most travelers who visit Italy return changed in some way, either subtly embracing one or more aspects of Italian culture (perhaps, food or style) or more fundamentally, by re-thinking their approach to life. Dianne Hales’ just-released book, La Passione: How Italy Seduced the World (Crown Archetype, 2019), masterfully examines the multitude of reasons why so many people fall in love with Italy and the Italian lifestyle. Continue reading

I am thrilled to announce the birth of a book: LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World.Like any author, I’m eager for people to read my book. But with more than 8 million titles on Amazon alone, why choose mine? Let me offer seven reasons, based on my discoveries as I traveled through Italy in search of la passione italiana. Continue reading

Passion can bloom anywhere. Think of France, with its culinary cathedrals; Spain, with its torrid bullfights; Argentina, with its sultry tango. How is la passione italiana different? Continue reading

Italy has been seducing foreigners since its history began. Century after century, in peace and war, over perilous passes, stormy seas, and rutted roads, they have come—explorers, adventurers, traders, sailors, soldiers, writers, musicians, poets, painters, sculptors, penitents, pilgrims of every sort—to the promised land of their imagination. Continue reading

Passion Sunday, the fifth Sunday of Lent, marks the beginning of a two-week period sometimes called Passiontide. The early Christians fashioned the word passio from passus, the past participle of the Latin for "suffer." I never fully comprehended this meaning until I went to Sicily for Holy Week. Continue reading

I didn’t have a clue.I had never set up a website, written a blog, created a Facebook group, or composed a single tweet. All that changed ten years ago when I prepared to launch my first Italy-themed book. La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language attracted readers around the world, earned for me the great honor of being knighted by the President of Italy, and garnered a spot on the New York Times best-seller list and as the subject of a Times acrostic. Continue reading

“Of course, you are Italian,” a Roman friend insisted years ago, “You have something more important than blood: la passione.” I accepted the compliment without fully comprehending its significance. Passion, I assumed, can bloom anywhere. Think of France, with its culinary cathedrals; Spain, with its bullfights; Argentina, with its tango—not to mention the millions of soulmate seekers pursuing passion online. Yet these pursuits now strike me as mere imitations. How could it be otherwise? The original, including the word itself, was made in Italy.In the first century AD, newly minted Christians, constructing a vocabulary for their fledgling religion, chose the term passio for the agony that Jesus endured to redeem a world of sinners. Etymologists trace its roots to the Latin passus, past participle of pati (to suffer), inspired by the “sacrificio di Cristo e a quells dei prima martiri” (the sacrifice of Christ and that of the first martyrs). Continue reading

In the gleaming kitchen of her culinary academy in Florence, I once asked an architect-turned-chef-turned-restaurateur about the passions that had changed her life: How did she know that she was choosing the right one to follow? “Ah, signora, we do not choose our passion,” she said. “Passion chooses us.” I understood. Italy chose me. Continue reading

"In bocca al lupo:(in the wolf’s mouth) is a typical way that Italians wish someone "Good luck!" How should you respond to this augurio? Some say you should reply “Crepi!” (He can die!). Others suggest “Grazie!” Both are correct, but there are, in fact, two different interpretations. Continue reading

“Imagine a world without Italy: Painting without Leonardo. Sculpture without Michelangelo. Literature without Dante. No Verdi choruses or Puccini arias. No Fellini films or Ferrari roar. Heavens uncharted, vines unplanted, tables bereft of pasta, pizza, and a Sicilian cake so divine that its bakers swore it could make the dead breathe again.”This is how LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World begins. Continue reading

Italy’s dazzling pantheon of artistic geniuses seems a man’s world. Yet as I discovered in researching my upcoming book, a few women with singular passion defied all obstacles and created important works of art. As a way of celebrating International Women’s Day, here are four whose stories I recount in LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World Continue reading