Maria Lisella

he was the character created as a coffee ambassador in 1959 to promote a massive marketing campaign to promote Colombian coffee as a single-origin product.
You don’t have to be a coffee lover to add Colombia to your “bucket lists” as almost five million travelers did last year and the year before for unprecedented growth in the past two years.
During the first half of 2024, the country’s tourism revenue reached $4.77 billion, for a 15.3% growth compared to the same period in 2023; and when co...

February 19, 2025
By Maria Lisella
My first trip to Sicily wasn’t to Agrigento but was a quick ferry ride from San Giovanni terminal in Reggio Calabria to Taormina. I was with a Mussolini-loving cousin who insisted we take the next ferry back so we wouldn’t miss pranzo (lunch) – the Calabrese have their priorities!
I’ve taken many trips to Sicily since, but none have mimicked that one. And to be truthful, I’ve lost count since quite possibly Sicily is my favorite region in Ita...

If you believe there are still hidden gems in the heart of frenetic, super-sexy New York City, then add one more stop to your Murray Hill jaunt to Scandinavia House (SH) on Park Avenue and 38th Street.
Created by the American Scandinavian Foundation (ASF), to promote the artistic and intellectual influence of the Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, the sleek and riveting SH mirrors the multi-faceted Scandinavian soul in a holistic space.
Also called the Nordic Cent...

Sleeping in Rome can be a problem but most travelers to the Eternal City
don’t care about the cars, the dust, the bicycles, but even they need some downtime. Remind clients to pace themselves and to slip into something more comfortable: the sweetest neighborhoods around Rome after heavy-touring days in town.
What constitutes a heavy-touring day? Just the heart and hub of Rome. Navigating cobble-stoned streets and climbing the 243 steps of the elegant staircases to the over-arching elegant and...

by Maria Lisella
Can two centuries of Italian diaspora across the globe — besides the U.S. (18-20 million), Italians settled in Brazil (32 million) and Argentina (22 million) – fit into a 30-second sound bite?
“No, no, and no again,” say the faculty of the 8th edition of the Italian Diaspora Studies Summer Seminar (IDSSS) now taking place in Ostiense, a southern quarter of Rome, Italy sponsored by the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute (Queens College, CUNY) and Roma Tre University.
...

Recently, I was invited to a private lunch where the first guest was a Las Vegas act and the next was a speaker – the Brooklyn-born Connie DeNave.
I had never heard of her, but learned that Connie DeNave was there to promote her memoir, The Image Maker: Shattering Rock and Roll’s Glass Ceiling. After listening to her I understood why The Dutch Treat Club had called her presentation, “How I Became a W...

Event Description:
Walt Whitman Birthplace Association (WWBA) presents Walking With Whitman: Poetry in Performance, hosted by Writer-in-Residence George Wallace. The signature series, now in its 14th season, continues to bring the most intriguing figures in contemporary literature on the national scene paired with local poets on the Walt Whitman Stage.
Friday, May 3rd, Walking With Whitman will feature poet Lucilla Trapazzo, accompanied by sound artist Alessandro Olla, and poet Maria Lisella....

for much of the year, summer marks the moment to get back on the road. Festivals – local and international — can transport visitors to out-of-the-way places as well as glamorous cities: to listen to jazz and philharmonic orchestras under starry skies, stroll farmers’ markets alongside locals, settle into film screenings, match-making markets, beer pairings, tasting farm-fresh delights, and becoming familiar with traditions. After the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago, the geo-political reg...

Queens residents – co-founder/Artistic Director Donald Preston Cato and Executive Director Katha Cato — have done it again: brought the world of independent films from 19 countries in 152 films to celebrate the 13th edition of the Queens World Film Festival (QWFF) with screenings taking place in the heart of Queens’ film lovers’ central: The Museum of the Moving Image and Kaufman Astoria Studios.
Last night’s opening night kicked off with six films that refuse to back down: The Unthinkable Co...

by Maria Lisella
Buon giorno, buen dia Maria
Full of grace and wisdom and power
The Lord may be with thee, and you
May be Blessed among women but
What about the children? Not the one
In the womb that has been consecrated
As the son of God, but God, your god,
My god has many sons, daughters all
Around the world. They are not all blessed
Some are cursed and lost and under a pile
Of rubble in Ukraine, Yemen, Israel, Palestine, Gaza;
Others live in the darkness of the blind, are
Plagued by halluc...

The Frick Collection, in its temporary home on the corner of 75th Street and Madison Ave., formerly the Whitney, and Metropolitan Museum’s Breuer annex at different times, has reunited two Renaissance masterpieces after a 400-year separation since the 16th century for an unprecedented and final exhibit before The Frick returns to its Fifth Avenue home in Fall, 2024.
The paintings—known as The Three Philosophers by Giorgione and St. Francis in the Desert, by Bellini, resided at Taddeo Contarin...

Katonah Village Library is delighted to host an afternoon of great poetry, presented by Voices of Poetry, on Saturday, November 11, 2023 at 3 pm. This event will feature a quartet of acclaimed poets: Arden Levine, Maria Lisella, Dennis Nurske and Sean Singer; hosted by Neil Silberblatt poetry activist and founder of Voices of Poetry.

The Jewish Museum’s latest installation, Mood of the Moment: Gaby Aghion and the House of Chloé , is the first museum exhibition honoring the visionary Jewish entrepreneur Gaby Aghion (1921-2014) and her legacy as the founder of the French fashion house Chloé. It will remain on view through February 18, 2024.
Casting a new light on the label’s 70-year history with nearly 150 garments as well as never-before-exhibited sketches and documents from the Chloé Archive, this exhibition highlights Ag...

The question is not if one should visit Prague, but rather when. This Central European city has re-invented itself more than once. In its present state, it brims with energy. It is often dubbed as “The golden city of one hundred spires,” the most notable of which are the twin steeples of the Church of Our Lady. Known as a medieval city, it is circled by neighborhoods, each with its own character. Easy public transportation glides visitors ...