Italy

Language commentator recalls how he learned Italian by watching dubbed American movies while studying abroad, and considers why Italian filmgoers prefer dubbing over subtitles.

Book critic John Leonard reviews the new detective novel Ratking, by Michael Dibdin. Leonard says the narrative, set in Italy, keeps the mystery genre alive by confronting bourgeois life and corrupt politics.

Book critic John Leonard says that Warner's third novel is her best. The book, about a family coping with the loss of its patriarch, succeeds because it questions ideas as much as it advances them.

Novelist, essayist, and reporter Barbara Grizutti Harrison. Her new book is called "Italian Days." It's a chronicle of her travels through Italy, but it's also more introspective, influenced by her parents Italian heritage and her conversion to Catholicism after a childhood spent in the Jehovah's Witnesses.

World music critic Milo Miles checks out the pop music of Italy. Artists include: Lucio Dalla, Mango, and Angelo Branduari.

Film critic John Powers reviews the new film "The English Patient," adapted from the acclaimed Michael Ondaatje novel.

Critic Milo Miles reviews a new CD by Paolo Conte, an Italian piano player and singer, "The Best of Paolo Conte" (Nonesuch)

He won an Academy Award for his performance as John Laroche in the film Adaptation. His latest project is the HBO film My House in Umbria, starring Maggie Smith, which debuts May 25, 2003. Cooper is also in the soon-to-be-released Seabiscuit, and he had roles in American Beauty, The Bourne Identity, and The Horse Whisperer.

Miracle At St. Anna, based on James McBride's novel, follows four soldiers of the all-black 92nd Infantry Division after they're cut off by Axis forces in the Tuscan countryside during World War II.

Matteo Garrone's epic film Gomorrah takes us into the world of the Camorra, an organized crime syndicate based in and around Naples. John Powers has a review.

Jess Walter's latest novel spans decades and traverses the Atlantic to create a kaleidoscopic collection of "beautiful ruins." Characters include a hotelier, a young script reader and real-life movie star Richard Burton. NPR's Maureen Corrigan says the book is a "literary miracle."

It's commonly thought that the Catholic Church fought heroically against the fascists in Italy. But in The Pope and Mussolini, historian David Kertzer says the church actually lent organizational strength and moral legitimacy to Mussolini's regime.

critic at large John Powers reviews A Bigger Splash, a "gripping slow-burn" film by the same Italian director behind the romantic hit I Am Love.

Pius IX became head of the Catholic church in 1846 and instituted the doctrine of Papal infallibility. Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Kertzer says his exile led to the emergence of modern Italy.

In her new memoir chef Lidia Bastianich recalls growing up on a family farm, escaping the communists, becoming a refugee and immigrating to the U.S., starting her own restaurant in Queens, and getting her own cooking show.

Fresh Air marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Puzo's novel by listening back to our '96 interview with Puzo, and our '16 interview with Coppola, who adapted the novel into the film.

Maureen Corrigan reviews an offbeat little novel called Nives by Italian writer Sacha Naspini.

Season two of Mike White's Emmy Award Winning HBO series 'The White Lotus' is about wealthy Americans vacationing in a luxurious hotel in Sicily and how they manage to mess up their lives