The Culinary Center in New York City is hosting a series of six Italian cooking and language classes for kids, organized by The Italian American Committee on Education (IACE) and sponsored by the Italian food company Barilla.
 

Altro che algebra e letteratura. Questa mattina alcuni fortunati studenti americani sono andati a lezione di cucina italiana. All’International Culinary Center di New York circa settanta ragazzi tra i 10 e i 15 anni hanno imparato a preparare spaghetti alle verdure, gnocchi al pesto e ravioli al pomodoro sotto la guida dello chef Cesare Casella e di un’insegnante di italiano che, scandendo le parole “al dente”, “salata”, “insipida”, “scotta”, insegnava ai bambini come valutare e commentare un piatto di pasta.

The most obvious observation one can make, while visiting New York, is that not much, if anything at all, is named after the famed Amerigo Vespucci, other than America itself. No statues of him adorn the parks or the vast avenues; no bridges or main thoroughfares carry his name.

Larry Hinnes' quest to find the green olives he enjoyed at a restaurant years ago recently led him to Mt. Carmel Gourmet Food, a shop in the Arthur Avenue Retail Market. The paralegal from Pelham Bay Park told the man behind the counter, Micheal Navarra, that the olives he wanted were from Italy. "They're all from Italy," Navarra said.

 

Assunta Linza, a bright-eyed 33-year-old with a college degree in psychology, has been unemployed since June, after losing a temporary job as a call-center operator. Her father, who is 60 and has a fifth-grade education, took early retirement with full benefits at age 42 from a job as a workman at the Italian state railway company.

MTV says it's bringing "Jersey Shore" back for a sixth season, with expectant mom Snooki as part of the action.MTV said Monday that production will begin this summer in Seaside Heights, N.J., and all of "America's favorite housemates" will return.

Residents of the Southern Brooklyn neighborhood say it's not the rowdy stomping ground for young Italian Americans portrayed in the upcoming Oxygen Network reality show "Brooklyn 11223."  

Thanks to two Marios, Italy's image as the fun-loving land of the bunga bunga party but unreliable partner in Europe is under reconstruction -- sparking cultural shifts at home.

Parents in Bologna, Italy have withdrawn their children from the Castello di Serravalle nursery school after learning that the school's teacher, Michela Roth, posed in minimal attire for, among other things, a Harley Davidson calendar. I say "parents," by which I mean mothers, since I doubt there were many Italian fathers itching to yank their kids out of school over a silly little thing like what Ms. Roth does in her spare time.

At the end of March, Amanda Knox's parents will go on trial in Italy. Yes, you are reading that correctly - her parents.