EARLIER this year, when asked what Italian cuisine he’d like to see better represented in New York, Mario Batali said, without hesitation, “the food of Apulia.”

LIKE Italian food, Italian red wine has an innate, almost elemental appeal. Regardless of where in Italy it comes from, good Italian red wine speaks directly to the soul, and the gut, of place and people and food and love. And that’s just the beginning; great wines embrace the head as well.

In many ways Siena hasn’t changed much in 800 years. And that’s a good thing. The town’s gorgeous 13th-century main square, the Piazza del Campo, is still the city’s symbolic and physical heart. The twice-a-summer bareback horse race, Il Palio, is still the most anticipated event, and the contrade, or neighborhood associations, still inspire a loyalty as deep as they did in medieval times. At the same time the ancient university here continues to deliver important research while imbuing the town with a youthful spirit. Florence, Siena’s biggest rival to the north, may have won the battle in terms of historical significance and blockbuster art over the centuries, but Siena is decidedly less touristy and more livable. In the past few years, new boutiques and wine bars (not to mention updated restaurants) have been sprinkled in among some newly restored treasures.

ROME – Officials on Wednesday announced plans for the long overdue restoration of the Carracci Gallery in the Palazzo Farnese. With the bidding process for restorers now open, work on the Baroque masterpiece, which dates to the beginning of the 17th century, is scheduled to start in January and take a year to complete.

SOHO — Local Italian-American groups are crying foul over a replica of a Rikers Island jail cell set to arrive in Petrosino Square — blasting the installation as a disgrace to the park's namesake and New York's Italian history.
 

  For Staten Island children and their families, the annual Columbus Day Parade was a great destination. Kids were home from school, and could get into the spirit of Italy and Columbus donning the colors of the Italian flag, while sampling some Italian delicacies along the parade route.

A 6.1 magnitude earthquake and series of aftershocks rattled Emilia Romagna on May 20, 2012, killing 29 and leaving almost 15,000 people homeless. The quake damaged churches and historic buildings, affected farms and factories at the heart of Italy's food production supply, and took a devastating emotional toll on those living in and around the quake area.

LONDON -- Oscar winning director and screenwriter Bernardo Bertolucci will serve as its guest artistic director at AFI Fest 2012, the American Film Institute said.

MANHATTAN — Flatiron food mecca Eataly is uniting chefs from Italy and the Big Apple for the third annual IDENTITA' New York, an event celebrating top-notch Italian food and wine.