March 25th is dedicated to Dante Alighieri, perhaps the most famous Italian writer who lived from 1265-1321. In a post about the day that I read in Italy Magazine it stated that, “Dante symbolizes many things that hold us together: he is the unity of the country, he is the Italian language, he is the very idea of Italy.”

My son takes Italian and his teacher is telling her class of six-year-olds about Dante. This is the phrase for his age group that they remark upon:

‘Tre cose ci sono rimaste del Paradiso, Le Stelle, I Fiori e i Bambini” which means we are left with three things from Paradise, the stars, the flowers and the children. I couldn’t agree more. Although this is a wine blog, it started because of my love for Italy – from their poets to art to science and cities, food, design and wine, language and literature. All of it, truly remains in my heart.