THE NEW YORK TIMES. For more than a century and a half, The New York Times has been recording the pleasures and prejudices of the American palate. “The Way We Ate” is a weekly tasting menu of vintage food writing from The Times’s archives. (Read the article)

THE NEWYORK TIMES. With the opening on Dec. 30 of Torrisi Italian Specialties in that fading neighborhood, Richard Torrisi (at left in photo) and Mario Carbone (at right) are updating the meaning of Italian-American: all the “Italian” food they sell in their tiled, brick-walled shop and cafe has been made in the United States, with an emphasis on high quality. “This could not have been done as well 15 years ago,” Mr. Torrisi said. (Read the article)

BOSTON GLOBE. For a couple of years, three Italian-American sons of Boston jointly held the brass ring of political power. The overlap between Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Senate President Robert E. Travaglini, and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi represented a brief but heady moment of consolidated triumph for Boston’s Italian-Americans. (Read the article by Johan Vennochi)

AFP. A small wooden guitar painted by Pablo Picasso for his daughter Paloma has been found in a shoe box in the apartment of an Italian businessman in Pomezia, near Rome, Italian media reported Tuesday. (Read the article)

REUTERS. Actor Dustin Hoffman has generated rave reviews for decades but is now drawing boos for his stumbling Italian in a filmed tourism spot for the country's Marche region. (Read the article)

Foreignpolicy. This year, Berlusconi gave journalists plenty to work with, from his bickering with his wife to his bickering with the courts. But is he muffling Italian journalism at the same time? (Read the article by Annie Lowrey)

NYT. The Borough of Seaside Heights, N.J., issued a statement saying that although it gave filming permits to the production company that filmed “Jersey Shore,” it “does not condone any discriminatory remarks against Italian-Americans, domestic violence or the promiscuous and otherwise bad behavior portrayed on the show.” The statement continued: “The people on the show are certainly not indicative of the majority of those who visit, and enjoy the Jersey Shore and Seaside Heights every summer.” (Read the full news)

THE NEW YORK TIMES. Through Jan. 17, CaixaForum Madrid (Paseo del Prado 36; 34-91-33-07300; www.lacaixa.es/obrasocial; free admission) is showing “Palladio, the Architect (1508-1580),” an exhibition conceived to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the architect’s birth.  (Read the article by Andrew Ferren)

THE NEW YORK TIMES. After an earthquake in April killed hundreds and left tens of thousands homeless in and around this medieval and Baroque city some 70 miles northeast of Rome, the emergency relief efforts were extraordinary. Volunteers from all over Italy rushed to help. (Read the article by Michael Kimmelman)