PANZANO IN CHIANTI, ITALY — Back when the young butcher still wished he were a veterinarian, his improbably vast hands trembled when he cut. But all these years later, standing before the pilgrims who have come to dine at the table of the famed butcher of Chianti, the hands are calm. Each holds, above his head, a grilled T-bone steak the size of a respectable puppy. His radio-announcer voice welcomes guests: “Ben-ven-u-to a tut-ti!” And then Dario Cecchini, shaking those T-bones, flaunting them, sings out — in his broken, operatic English — the overwhelming question of his life: “To beef, or not to beef?”

ROME – Actor, director, and producer Matthew Modine will head the jury that will select the Best Debut and Second Film Award at the upcoming International Rome Film Festival, organizers said Thursday.

When Jovanotti, a pioneering Italian rapper, was starting out in the 1980s, he and his producers tried to emulate the sound of the Beastie Boys and Run-DMC as produced by Rick Rubin. They had all the right equipment, like the Roland 808 drum machine, but no matter what they did, they could not get their tracks to sound as powerful.

Stronger than any coffee from a curbside vendor, a V-8-powered jolt was recently provided to commuters in Lower Manhattan by a freely revving Ferrari racecar.

LONDON — What would sport be without vision? On the Italian island of Sicily on Sunday, Fabrizio Miccoli scored a goal out of his imagination that had to be seen to be believed.

NEW YORK, NY, October 03, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Punzone, the first line of Italian ultra-premium imported organic vodka spirits in the U.S., was celebrated last night at the infamous Long Island City cocktail saloon, Dutch Kills, where owner and drink extraordinaire Richard Boccato showcased an exquisite arrangement of seasonal, Italian inspired vodka cocktails designed to highlight the smooth taste of Punzone Vodka. The event was timed to coincide with the start of Italian Heritage Month, which is nationally recognized in October.
 

VATICAN CITY — An Italian man who eluded Vatican security to scale the 130-meter (426-foot) high dome of St. Peter's Basilica spent a full day Wednesday protesting the economic reforms that Italy has passed to combat its debt crisis.
 

It's not every day you get authentic Tuscan food and wine from the region itself, but here's your chance: the 26th-generation, family-owned Tuscan winery Marchesi Antinori is coming to American soil with a pop-up dinner this week only in New York City. 
 

Who has heard of the Marche district in Italy before? (pronounced mark-ey)
On my second trip to Italy about three years ago, I decided to concentrate on the less well known places. I'd explore parts of Italy, seldom visited, such as Lake Maggiore instead of Lake Garda or Lake Como.