I don't know if anyone got a chance to read my article on Italian and Italian-American Superstitions, but here is a news article from ANZA that shows these beliefs never truly die:

http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/news...sp?newsid=6451

This is the kind of stuff I remember hearing about from my grandparents and even more so from my great-grandparents. The Evil Eye and witchcraft, curses, the "Mau Maus" as my grandfather says, they are not usually taken...

This weekend is my hometown of Gloucester MA's Schooner festival - where the last of the wooden fishing schooners return to this once famous port for a sailing race. For us residents, it reminds us of our town's former glory as the world largest fishing port. But for me it also recalls the reason why my family ended up settling here: For the fishing and a chance at a better life.

However even before the waves of Italian immigrants arrived in Gloucester to start their own fishing...

Well the eggplants in my family's gardens are getting ready to be picked. Of course they can be found all the time in the supermarket but there is something about the ones from the garden that take me back to the great meals I've had in Italy.

I usually make a pasta sauce out of the egglplants, similar to a dish I loved in Palermo with a thick tomato and eggplant sauce over penne. There is a local restaurant here in Gloucester that makes it, calling it "pasta siciliana"...

I've been writing online for about five years but I am pretty new to blogging.
It seems like this is the way to go if you plan on being a writer today and it is sort of fun posting short blurbs instead of all the research I have to do to write an article.

A blog for Life in Italy is a natural progression from the great discussions everyone has been having on the forum. We now have a growing community of talented individuals, all of us passionate about Italian life and culture...