The Lion of Zoppas
On the morning of September 2, 1965, four young Italian cyclists lined up in Lasarte, a small town near San Sebastian in the Basque Country of northern Spain. They were there for the UCI Amateur Road World Championship in the 100-kilometre team time trial – a discipline that no longer exists, in which four riders had to cover the distance together, their time taken on the third man across the line. One of those four was my father, Giuseppe Soldi, the son of a miller from the Po Valley flatlands of Lombardy. He was twenty-four years old, born in the…
Is the Liver a Company? (An Architect’s Perspective)
We all, depending on our belief system, ask ourselves the fundamental questions about our existence:…
I Was a Teenage Fashion Designer
My maternal grandmother, Nonna Nancy, was an Italian immigrant and an intuitive, incredible cook. But…
In June 1940, at the outbreak of World…
The first time I visited Rome, I was…
Guy Rex Rodgers is the…
On the night of April…
Two Days with a Pig
I was not hog-wild on the idea. So before heading off on our trip to…
Guy Rodgers’ New Book Chooses Not to Forget
What We Choose to Forget (2026) documents the third leg of a personal journey of…
Guy Rodgers’ New Book Chooses Not to Forget
What We Choose to Forget (2026) documents the third leg of a personal journey of discovery by Guy Rodgers, a…
Reflections on Dying Times by Darlene Madott
Dying Times (Exile Editions, 2021) and its recent Italian language iteration, Il carosello della morte (Les Flâneurs Edizioni, 2025, as…
Echoes of the Troubadour: A Review of In a Cage of Sunlight: The Works of Joseph Maviglia, Selected and New
Joseph Maviglia’s debut verse collection, Movietown, appeared in 1989, 36 years ago. That was only the start of a rhapsodic…
Love All People: In Conversation with Frank Cardinal Leo, Archbishop of Toronto
Frank Cardinal Leo was ordained as a priest in 1996. He was consecrated as Auxiliary Bishop of Montreal, the city…
Creating a Future: Artist Mauro Balletti Reflects on Five Decades with Pop Icon Mina
In a rare and intimate interview with Elio Iannacci, visual artist Mauro Balletti reflects on his five-decade-plus collaboration with Mina—the…
Mickey & Joe: Good. Bad. Ugly. Dirty: In Conversation with Michaela Di Cesare
Mickey & Joe: Good. Bad. Ugly. Dirty is having its world premiere in Montreal from May 17 to 25, 2025.…
The Lion of Zoppas
On the morning of September 2, 1965, four young Italian cyclists lined up in Lasarte, a small town near San…
The Disappearance and Presence of Federico Caffè: Two Mysteries and… a Silver Coffee Bean
On the night of April 14-15, 1987, Federico Caffè left his flat in the Monte Mario hill of Rome. On…
Gino Quilico, the Man and the Artist
In her new book, An Opera in Three Acts Starring Gino Quilico (LLP, 2022), Connie Guzzo McParland chronicles the lives…
Rome Beckons Me Back
The first time I visited Rome, I was nine years old. Throughout the year, my mother would save enough money…
What Italy Meant to Them: English Grand Tour Travelers and Charles Dickens
Upper-class Europeans and North Americans have always ranked Italy at the top of their cultural register. Believing that Italy was…
To Market, To Market – the Mercato Experience in Italy
The Mercato is an Italian tradition that goes back centuries. Once a week, travelling vendors come to town, set up…
Where Italy’s Most Famous Are Buried
Every year millions of tourists visit the city of Florence and flock to the Uffizi Gallery for its extraordinary collection…
Remembering the Italian-Canadian Women of the Internment
In June 1940, at the outbreak of World War II, Italy declared war on Great Britain. At the time, Canada…
A Century of Women’s Leadership in Montreal’s Italian Community
Montreal has long served as a hub for Italian immigration to Canada, fostering a diverse and resilient community shaped by…
Giving Ethnocultural Studies a Digital Future
The historiography of Canada’s ethnocultural communities has developed largely over the past 60 years and individual community histories continue to…
The Roncarelli Case: Defiance in the Pursuit of Justice
In 1946, Montreal restaurateur Frank Roncarelli, an Italian immigrant from Bologna, did the unimaginable – he sued the most powerful…
About Immigrants and Education in Quebec: Another Conversation with Guy Rex Rodgers
Guy Rex Rodgers is the writer and director of a series of documentary films that explore the impact of non-Francophone…
Tribute to an Italian Soldier, 1942
During World War II, many Italian soldiers captured by the British in North Africa were sent to different countries in…
Busting a Myth About Immigrants and Education in Quebec: In Conversation with Guy Rex Rodgers
Guy Rex Rodgers is the producer, writer, director and narrator of a series of documentary films that explores the impact…
The Growing Movement to Save the Sicilian Language
Something big is unfolding in Sicily, and no, it’s not a new season of White Lotus. There is a saying…
My Mother’s Terracotta Vase: from Calabria to London via Rome
The three of them looked sad and forlorn hiding behind the washing machine in her kitchen terrace. But even in…
Calabrese Nacatole: Byzantine Delights for the Holiday Season
As the festive season approaches, I think of my mom and her enigmatic smile, and how she diligently and lovingly…
Holiday Memories
Our holiday celebrations always began with Italian Christmas Eve fare: fish and seafood, and our regional specialty of polenta e baccalà. Around…
Mushrooms Like Paper-Thin Memories
Evenings on Prince Edward Island already smell like autumn. On the boardwalk at the end of each day the air…
A Celebration of Creativity at AccentiFest 2025
From June 26 to 28, 2025, the city of Charlottetown played host to the Accenti Magazine International Festival of the…
A Celebration of Italian-Canadian Voices
More than sixty writers of Italian heritage presented their work at the 19th Biennial Conference of the Association of Italian-Canadian…
Fallen Workers: How the Italian Community Found Its Voice Through Tragedy
International Day of Mourning takes place on April 28th to remember workers killed or injured in the workplace. At Toronto's…
Italian-Canadian Writers Gather in Torino for Biennial Conference
The Association of Italian-Canadian Writers (AICW) held its biennial conference at the University of Torino, in Torino, Italy, from September…