The Calabrian Lira (lyre) is a bowed string instrument with three strings. Like most bowed lyres and psalterys, it is played upright, usually supported on the knee, held with the left hand touching the strings with the nails laterally while the right hand moves the bow. Traditional songs of the Lira include accompaniment songs (e.g. serenades and songs of anger) and songs suitable for dancing (tarantellas).

These songs and tunes are passed on from older players to the young. In recent years there has been a resurgence of Italian folk music from many regions of Italy, with newer musical traditional folkloric music groups and performers. There has also been more and more craftsmen in Calabria building these instruments.

The Calabrian Lira is closely related to the bowed Lira of the Byzantine Empire, first noted by a 9th century Persian geographer and spreading to eastern Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries.

Back in 1983, Toto Cutugno recorded what was to become an incredibly popular, realistic view of L'Italiano. This is a somber, raw pronouncement of what a "real" Italian is.

The song speaks of the vices, virtues and stereotypes of la Bel Paese, which, for example, is accused of excessive Americanism, a crisis of religion, a sexual casualness ( i.e., the line, "more and more women who are less nuns"), but still a country worthy of being proud of. The lyrics lace together religion, football, al dente pasta, espresso, socks, Italian artists, partisans as presidents and God.

It's worthy to be thought of as a National Anthem for modern Italians.

Click the video above to see an inspiring visual tour of what the Italian spirit is made of, or the Gypsy Queens video below for a very sexy rendition...

--Jerry Finzi

When I first learned how to drive a motorcycle in the Early seventies, one of the more difficult skills to master was not driving fast, but driving at what is typically called "parking lot" speed... s l o w l y... yet still being able to keep the bike upright and make turns without putting your feet down. I'm pretty good at it, even if I must say so myself. But just wait until you see this...

Here are a couple of videos from the 1950s showing an elite synchronized police motorcycle team, driving Motto Guzzi Polizia Stradale bikes. Some of their maneuvers are driving precisely and very slowly. Amazing stuff. Enjoy!  

--Jerry Finzi

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​Donald Duck is known as Paolino Paperino in Italy. He's extremely popular in not one, but two comic book series:  Topolino and the monthly Paperino. His character is a bit different than the Donald we know here in the U.S.... He's a bit more like Goofy--the average Joe. Paperino's angry outbursts have been watered down into a character who's always hoisted by his own petard.

Enjoy the video above of Donald, Daisy, Huey, Dewey, and Louie all dancing along to tarantella music... and then watch the second video below where Donald is trying to work in the cucina--dubbed in Italiano!

They are guaranteed to make you smile!

A famous scene from Roman holiday where Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck take lie detector tests by placing their hands in the mouth of la Bocca della Verita (the Mouth of Truth). At the time, they both had something to hide from each other.
(Read more about the Bocca HERE.)

A clip from the film Only You (Solo Tu), in which Robert Downey Jr. and Marisa Tomei recreate the scene from the film ‘Roman Holiday’ in 1953 starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, putting their hands inside the mouth of our beloved Bocca della Verita (the Mouth of Truth) in Rome. If you're a truthful person--nothing to fear. If your the lying type, the Bocca will bite your hand clear off. Read more about the Bocca HERE.