Category: Southern Italy

  • Dreaming of Basilicata

    Bad experiences can happen in Italy. You may lose your wallet, have to deal with a brusque waiter, or turn your ankle while walking on a cobbled path. Despite unfortunate circumstances, it seems like everyone I have ever talked to who has visited Italy thinks of it the way that Matthew Brown does: Italy as…

  • Ancient Aphrodite Sculpture Back in Sicily

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    On Tuesday, the Museo Archeologico di Morgantina, a small archeological museum in Aidone (Enna), Sicily, held an inauguration for the repatriation of an ancient sculpture of Aphrodite.

  • A Bribe-Free Holiday in Sicily

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    The brave work of the anti-mafia organization AddioPizzo.org was recently brought to my attention. “Addio Pizzo” means “Goodbye, Pizzo,” the latter word meaning the protection money that hundreds of businesses throughout Sicily have had to pay to the powerful, omnipresent mafia. AddioPizzo was formed in 2004 after a group of young Sicilian entrepreneurs, afraid that…

  • Murals of Orgosolo, Sardinia

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    In the heart of Sardinia lies the village of Orgosolo, a sort of Sardinian “Wild West” known for years for its bandits, who would conduct brazen kidnappings and murders. During the first half of the 20th century, Orgosolo’s notorious reputation grew to such a point that it inspired the film Bandits of Orgosolo (1961). While…