This week: Canto III of Dante's Divine Comedy!

This week: Canto III of Dante's Divine Comedy!

Ep. 49: Abandon all hope, ye who listen to this podcast

This week we talk about A House in Sicily, a 1999 memoir by Daphne Phelps. Phelps was the owner of Casa Cuseni, a hotel for artists and writers that opened in 1947. It takes guests to this day while also serving as a museum in Taormina.

This week we talk about A House in Sicily, a 1999 memoir by Daphne Phelps. Phelps was the owner of <a href="https://www.casacuseni.it/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Casa Cuseni</a>, a hotel for artists and writers that opened in 1947. It takes guests to this day while also serving as a museum in Taormina.

Ep. 48: Daphne Phelps' "A House In Sicily"

We all know Michelangelo as a giant of sculpture and painting, but, a true "Renaissance Man," he also wrote hundreds of poems. Anne and Jim dip into the life of this fascinating figure.Canadian Broadcasting Corporation show on Michelangelo's poetry

We all know Michelangelo as a giant of sculpture and painting, but, a true "Renaissance Man," he also wrote hundreds of poems. Anne and Jim dip into the life of this fascinating figure. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/michelangelo-s-poetry-reveals-his-divided-soul-1.6051938" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Canadian Broadcasting Corporation show on Michelangelo's poetry</a>

Ep. 47: Michelangelo

Wendy Holloway

Our guest this week is Wendy Holloway, host of  Flavor of Italy, a weekly podcast focused  Italian food, culture, and travel. Wendy shares with us springtime foods and traditions of Rome and beyond. What could be better than a picnic of fava beans and pecorino cheese? Be sure to check out Wendy's website for stories, travel tips, and some pretty amazing recipes!

Our guest this week is Wendy Holloway, host of  <a href="https://flavorofitaly.com/flavor-of-italy-podcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Flavor of Italy</a>, a weekly podcast focused  Italian food, culture, and travel. Wendy shares with us springtime foods and traditions of Rome and beyond. What could be better than a picnic of fava beans and pecorino cheese? Be sure to check out Wendy's <a href="https://flavorofitaly.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">website</a> for stories, travel tips, and some pretty amazing recipes!

Ep. 46: Interview with Wendy Holloway of Flavor of Italy

E. M. Forster

Anne and Jim are back in Tuscany for E. M. Forster's A Room with a View, which helped them love Italy and Florence before they had ever set eyes on it.

Anne and Jim are back in Tuscany for E. M. Forster's A Room with a View, which helped them love Italy and Florence before they had ever set eyes on it.

Ep. 45: E. M. Forster's A Room with a View

Our guest today is Jay Malarcher. Jay is Associate Professor and Program Director of Theater History and Criticism at West Virginia University. Also, he first introduced Anne and me to each other, many years ago at St. John’s College. He’s a dramaturge, director, actor, and a great friend of the show. Anne and I reflected on a performance we saw a few years ago of Carlo Goldini’s Servant of Two Masters, and we knew Jay would be the perfect person to talk about this play, as well as commedia dell’arte more broadly. He’s graciously agreed to an interview. Hope you enjoy it!

Our guest today is Jay Malarcher. Jay is <a href="https://theatre.wvu.edu/faculty-staff/jay-malarcher" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Associate Professor and Program Director of Theater History and Criticism at West Virginia University</a>. Also, he first introduced Anne and me to each other, many years ago at <a href="https://www.sjc.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">St. John’s College</a>. He’s a dramaturge, director, actor, and a great friend of the show. Anne and I reflected on a performance we saw a few years ago of Carlo Goldini’s Servant of Two Masters, and we knew Jay would be the perfect person to talk about this play, as well as commedia dell’arte more broadly. He’s graciously agreed to an interview. Hope you enjoy it!

Ep.44: Goldoni's Servant of Two Masters

We're back with an episode on Dacia Maraini, one of the most fascinating and prolific Italian writers today. We talk about her memoir, Bagheria, named for the town of the same name just outside Palermo on the northern coast of Sicily.

We're back with an episode on Dacia Maraini, one of the most fascinating and prolific Italian writers today. We talk about her memoir, Bagheria, named for the town of the same name just outside Palermo on the northern coast of Sicily.

Ep. 43: Dacia Maraini / Bagheria, Sicily

Our guest today, Mike Aquilina, has been a friend of ours for years. A prolific writer and authority on Patristics (the writings of the Church Fathers). He’s also a lyricist with rock and roll icon Dion. Mike is the host of the Way of the Fathers podcast, and when we heard his episode on Marcus Minucius Felix and his dialogue Octavius, set in Ostia Antica just outside Rome, we thought, that ought to be an episode of Literary Italy. And now it is.

Our guest today, Mike Aquilina, has been a friend of ours for years. A prolific writer and authority on Patristics (the writings of the Church Fathers). He’s also a lyricist with rock and roll icon Dion. Mike is the host of the <a href="https://wayofthefathers.libsyn.com/rss" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Way of the Fathers podcast</a>, and when we heard <a href="https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-11-minucius-felix-and-great-novel-antiquity/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">his episode on Marcus Minucius Felix and his dialogue Octavius</a>, set in Ostia Antica just outside Rome, we thought, that ought to be an episode of Literary Italy. And now it is.

Ep. 42: Minucius Felix / Ostia Antica

The short story "Cavalleria Rusticana" (translation online). Later, a tour of Catania, Giovanni Verga's birthplace.

The short story "Cavalleria Rusticana" (<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37979/37979-h/37979-h.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">translation online</a>). Later, a tour of Catania, Giovanni Verga's birthplace.

Ep. 41: Verga / Catania

Frederick II

In this episode, we talk about the importance of the Sicilian School, and read from the sonnets of Giacomo (Jacopo) da Lentini (alas, only in Tuscan and English -- the original Sicilian is lost to us). We also touch on the life of Frederick II of Sicily. Enjoy! 

In this episode, we talk about the importance of the Sicilian School, and read from the sonnets of Giacomo (Jacopo) da Lentini (alas, only in Tuscan and English -- the original Sicilian is lost to us). We also touch on the life of Frederick II of Sicily. Enjoy!

Ep. 40: The Sicilian School, Frederick II of Sicily, and Giacomo da Lentini

Anne and Jim welcome you to Literary Italy, a joyous romp through the books and the landscape of the bel paese. Join us as we share our love of the literature, the people, the land, and the experience that is Italy.

We get META all over the place. Luigi Pirandello's play Six Characters in Search of an Author is one of the most famous and most influential dramatic works of the 20th century. We talk about Pirandello, his hometown of Agrigento in Sicily, and, of course, those Six Characters...

We get META all over the place. Luigi Pirandello's play Six Characters in Search of an Author is one of the most famous and most influential dramatic works of the 20th century. We talk about Pirandello, his hometown of Agrigento in Sicily, and, of course, those Six Characters...

Ep. 39: Pirandello / Agrigento

In this episode we discuss poet Giuseppe Ungaretti's early collection, Allegria, recently translated into English by Geoffrey Brock. A poet of few words, but so much feeling. We also talk about Lucca in Tuscany, where Ungaretti's family was from, and Sagrado in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, in northeast Italy, where Ungaretti fought in World War I, and wrote many of these amazing poems.

In this episode we discuss poet Giuseppe Ungaretti's early collection, Allegria, recently translated into English by Geoffrey Brock. A poet of few words, but so much feeling. We also talk about Lucca in Tuscany, where Ungaretti's family was from, and Sagrado in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, in northeast Italy, where Ungaretti fought in World War I, and wrote many of these amazing poems.

Ep. 38: Ungaretti / Lucca, Tuscany and Sagrado, Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Ep. 37: I Promessi Sposi / Lake Como

Buona Befana! We celebrate New Year's and Epiphany with the a poem by Giovanni Pascoli.

Buona Befana! We celebrate New Year's and Epiphany with the a poem by Giovanni Pascoli.

Ep. 36: La Befana - Pascoli

Christmas markets in Italy! We talk about the Piazza Navona market in Rome, and the poet Giuseppe Gioacchino ("GG" to his friends) Belli, author of over 2,000 sonnets about priests, prostitutes, paupers, princes...and Piazza Navona!

Christmas markets in Italy! We talk about the Piazza Navona market in Rome, and the poet Giuseppe Gioacchino ("GG" to his friends) Belli, author of over 2,000 sonnets about priests, prostitutes, paupers, princes...and Piazza Navona!

Ep. 35: Piazza Navona at Christmas - Belli

This week we interview Elizabeth Namack and discuss her unique approach to Italian travel planning. Liz shares her perspective on trends in Italian travel as she tells the story of her personal journal from the United States to her life in Florence.  Visit My Italian Treasures to learn more about her services and her attitudes toward travel!

This week we interview Elizabeth Namack and discuss her unique approach to Italian travel planning. Liz shares her perspective on trends in Italian travel as she tells the story of her personal journal from the United States to her life in Florence.  Visit <a href="https://www.myitaliantreasures.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">My Italian Treasures</a> to learn more about her services and her attitudes toward travel!

Ep.34: Interview with Elizabeth Namack of My Italian Treasures

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, and we are getting dizzy from the evocation of the street scenes of Naples, with butcher shops dangling carcasses, the perfumed scents of flowers, herbs, vegetables, cod and eels! We read Mathilde Serao's "To the Tenth Muse." And Jim has a vivid hallucination of a mechanical monkey banging a cymbal. Please get us some help.

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, and we are getting dizzy from the evocation of the street scenes of Naples, with butcher shops dangling carcasses, the perfumed scents of flowers, herbs, vegetables, cod and eels! We read Mathilde Serao's <a href="https://escholarship.org/content/qt7492w5hs/qt7492w5hs.pdf#page=14" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"To the Tenth Muse."</a> And Jim has a vivid hallucination of a mechanical monkey banging a cymbal. Please get us some help.

Ep.33: Mathilde Serao's "To the Tenth Muse" / Neapolitan Christmas

Anne and Jim travel south geographically and backwards in time to the eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, witnessed by Pliny the Younger.Cynthia Damon's translation of Pliny's letters on PompeiiMap of Vesuvius, Misenum, Herculaneum, and PompeiiPliny's letters from Volcanoes of Europe by Scarth and Tanguy

Anne and Jim travel south geographically and backwards in time to the eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, witnessed by Pliny the Younger. <a href="http://pompeii.virginia.edu/pliny.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cynthia Damon's translation of Pliny's letters on Pompeii</a> <a href="https://igppweb.ucsd.edu/~gabi/sio15/lectures/volcanoes/vesuvius-map2.jpeg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Map of Vesuvius, Misenum, Herculaneum, and Pompeii</a> <a href="https://igppweb.ucsd.edu/~gabi/sio15/lectures/volcanoes/pliny.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Pliny's letters from Volcanoes of Europe</a> by Scarth and Tanguy

Ep. 32: Pliny the Younger - Pompeii

In this episode we return to Dante and to Florence with Canto 2 of the Inferno! Dante is sort of like the middle of the Bingo card of Italian literature--plus this year marks the 700th anniversary of his death (Jim asks Anne during the podcast what the precise date is, and she fluffs and fumbles, but the answer is September 1321). In addition, we talk about some of our favorite slightly-off-the-beaten-path places to visit in Florence. Enjoy!

In this episode we return to Dante and to Florence with Canto 2 of the Inferno! Dante is sort of like the middle of the Bingo card of Italian literature--plus this year marks the 700th anniversary of his death (Jim asks Anne during the podcast what the precise date is, and she fluffs and fumbles, but the answer is September 1321). In addition, we talk about some of our favorite slightly-off-the-beaten-path places to visit in Florence. Enjoy!

Ep. 31: Dante, Inferno Canto 2, and Florence

Join us for Anna Maria Ortese's "A Pair of Eyeglasses" in Neapolitan Chronicles (Italian: Il mare non bagna Napoli ). Published in English for the first time in decades in 2018, Ortese gives us a gritty glimpse of postwar Naples in a slice-of-life tale about . . . optometry. Ortese retired to Rapallo in Liguria and died there in 1998.Un paio di occhiali  short film adaptation on YouTube.Neapolitan Chronicles on Amazon.com

Join us for Anna Maria Ortese's "A Pair of Eyeglasses" in Neapolitan Chronicles (Italian: Il mare non bagna Napoli ). Published in English for the first time in decades in 2018, Ortese gives us a gritty glimpse of postwar Naples in a slice-of-life tale about . . . optometry. Ortese retired to Rapallo in Liguria and died there in 1998.<ul><li><a href="https://youtu.be/ipRvli1d5uU" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Un paio di occhiali</a>  short film adaptation on YouTube.</li><li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Neapolitan-Chronicles-Anna-Maria-Ortese/dp/1939931517" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Neapolitan Chronicles</a> on <a href="http://Amazon.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a></li></ul>

Ep. 30: Ortese / Naples, Rapallo

Literary Italy

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