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From The New York Times.  Italian wineries want to protect their newly popular product’s name, as well as expand sales.

"The Italian winemakers worry that upstarts will weaken prosecco’s image just as it is taking off. (...) In recent weeks, the winemakers have been scrambling to nail down a final proposal to the Italian government before a year-end deadline. The producers hope to be eligible for a streamlined European Union system that goes into effect in August. If all goes well, the new prosecco protections will be in place for the 2009 harvest." (Read the article by Amy Cortese)

From the New York Times. "The story of La Befana has been told in Italy since around the time Leonardo da Vinci painted the “Mona Lisa.” Origins of the legend, some say, are far older and rooted in a pagan goddess. (...) La Befana is a character in Italian folklore, sometimes referred to as the Italian Christmas witch. A soot-covered old woman, she is said to fly on a broom to the homes of sleeping children, entering through the chimney and bearing gifts." (Read the article by James Angelos)

Related articles from i-Italy:

'La Befana' Arrives on Her Broomstick
Thousands of Italian children hunted out stockings on Saturday ahead of Epiphany celebrations that half of Italians still see as an important part of their heritage

Watch Out: the Befana is Coming to Town!
More than 2000 years ago the Three Wise Men visited Jesus after his birth and gave him three symbolic gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. From that time on, the Befana comes every year, on January 6, to fill Italian kids’ stockings with all sorts of goodies!

From IFC.com.  "One of the most prominent Italian-American actors working today, Palminteri currently stars as the titular Vegas shark in 'Yonkers Joe,' an entertaining drama about a con man whose seedy world of palming dice, cheating casinos, and conning any poor sucker is uprooted when he's forced to look after his adult son with Down's syndrome." In this interview to the Independent Film Channel, Palminteri talks about his last movie, his father, and his Italian-American heritage.

 An excerpt from the interview:

You've taken a lot of roles that reflect your Italian-American background. Are you offered a ton of projects that play into cultural stereotypes, like gangster movies?

Yeah, and I usually don't do them. [laughs] That's why I do movies like "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints," "Yonkers Joe," or "Once More with Feeling," that I have at Sundance. I don't want to play a goombah character if he's just one note. I'm very proud of being Italian-American, but people don't realize that the mafia is just this aberration. The real community is built on the working man, the guy who's the cop, the fireman, the truck driver, the bus driver. This is my father. These mafia guys get all the press because they're fun to write about, they're fun to watch. That's why I wrote "A Bronx Tale." The working guy's the tough guy: "It doesn't take much strength to pull the trigger, son." He says that in the movie, that's why it was important for me.

 (Read the interview by Aaron Hillis)