I cannot say that the news of Luciano Pavarotti's death was surprising. I have been following the story ever since I began sorting the ANZA News for Life in Italy. However once the near daily updates on his health slowed down I thought he may be out of danger - but cancer is an equal-opportunity killer - it does not care if you are rich or poor, famous or unknown:

http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/news...sp?newsid=6512

As with most Americans, I don't know the...

Before going ‘home’ for the holidays in Norway, the Viking and I spent over a month in a picturesque Italian town nestled at the foot of the alps. Population: 750. Language: Venetian Dialect. Streets: only one street rich in history and tradition.

I arrived in Italy a week before he did and boy was I in for a surprise! In that little town I learned the meaning of "friendship, family, fresh food, and...

The dollar has fallen, and medicine cannot help him!

I look back with nostalgia to the days when the dollar equaled 1.35 euros, and now I have to settle for 0.74! Economists expect it to tumble 20% more!

5 years ago, a 700 euro bedroom in downtown Rome meant I paid 518 dollars.

Now that very same 700 euro bedroom means I have to fork out 946 dollars!

That means...

Raw Milk


Many Italians own goats and sheep, they milk them and drink it; unpasterized, unhomogenized, untainted. You may say UGH! It's dangerous, like I used to say, but in reality it's not; though we are conditioned to think that it is. What if we all knew that we could drink raw milk from healthy cows, then wouldnt we?
The milkman used to pass by everyday and leave that fresh glass bottle of milk, why? Because milk only lasted a day or two, then...

The latest saintly relic to be debunked by science is a tunic in Florence thought to belong to Saint Francis of Assisi:

http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/news...sp?newsid=6495

There are plenty of other relics belonging to this beloved saint that are genuine, such as his tunic in Assisi. But there was a time when every church vied for the pilgrim's attention by housing as many "relics" as possible. It has been said in the past that if all the pieces of...