Sex-obsessed Knox prosecutor Giuliano Mignini has backed away from his signature theory... and right into an even stranger one, as his case against the American student and her boyfriend gets weaker by the day more ›

Seattleite Amanda Knox was back in court Tuesday, this time for slander. Knox has been the subject of years of salacious tabloid journalism labeling her as a cold-blooded killer, but she's the one being held to account for her statements, not the media or the prosecution. more ›

Gelato, the elegant Italian version of ice cream, originated in Sicily, where fruit ripens perfectly in the hot Mediterranean climate and ice from snow-capped Etna is readily available year-round. (There's no ice in the actual gelato, however; that would be a granita or a sorbet.) A Sicilian fisherman named Procopio invented a mechanical device in the 16th century to purée and freeze a mixture of fruit, milk and sugar; the machine was brought to France--along with other Italian foods and culinary practices--by Catherine de Medici. more ›

Today Seattle's Amanda Knox--on trial for the murder of her British roommate--had to once again celebrate a birthday, this time her 22nd, in an Italian jail cell. As her trial continues in Italian courts, she had once hoped she wouldn't be spending another birthday in jail. more ›

Over 50 Seattle restaurants, including almost every Italian joint in town, will donate a substantial portion of their proceeds Wednesday ("Big Night for Abruzzo") to a rebuilding effort in the region of central Italy devastated by a major earthquake in April. Some 300 people died, over 60,000 were left homeless; countless medieval buildings were destroyed or severely damaged. more ›

Amanda Knox testified (in fluent Italian!) that she's innocent and, perhaps even less convincingly, that the pink rabbit-shaped vibrator was a joke. On the PG-13 side of the news, the envelope goes to the West Seattle blog for revealing that recent Mateo Messina, who won a Grammy for the Juno soundtrack, turns out to be a native son. Native sons and daughters of Ballard residents may be torn asunder, if Seattle school boundary changes take effect, according to MyBallard. more ›

Seattlest has been in Palermo for the past week, hanging out in the ancient markets of Vucciria, Ballaro, and Capo that snake through narrow medieval streets and church-fronted piazzas. The Mediterranean island of Sicily (Palermo being its capital) has been invaded over the centuries by just about everybody: Phoenicians, Greeks, Arabs, Normans, the French (Angevines and Bourbons), the Austrians, even the Piedmontese, whom we think of today as being fellow Italians but back then were symbols of alien occupation. It wasn't until the middle of the 19th century that Sicily became part of modern Italy, and to this day the Sicilians speak their own language and maintain a unique set of culinary traditions. Where else but Palermo would you find market vendors serving up rolls filled with calf spleen, lung, and trachea? And we're here to tell you, it tastes tons better than stadium hot dogs. (You surely don't want to know what goes into those.) more ›

No one's immune, except perhaps the Sephora cosmetics store. Sale posters in the windows of every designer, from Armani to Zara. Most are holding the line at 40 or 50 percent, but Benetton's out there with 70 percent discounts. Fashion-conscious Italians, and that's virtually the entire population, spend heavily on designer clothing, but the weather's been icky the past month and the shoppers aren't buying. Restaurants and smaller shopkeepers haven't followed suit; they don't have the sophisticated systems to predict how bad that sinking feeling's going to get. La maledizzione! more ›

Davvero, it's true: English is still the language of international commerce, and nothing, not even the collapse of the financial system, stands in the way of ambition. The largest of the language schools, the Wall Street Institutes franchise, boasts over two million graduates. It operates 400 centers in 28 countries (91 here in Italy alone, where the whole thing started 36 years ago). Obama's salary caps be damned, there's a long line of takers. Every day, tens of thousands of would-be executives are drilled in "Wall Street English." Can you say Prada? Gucci? more ›

Donte is taking advantage of cheap post-holiday travel by heading down to SFist territory to see Lindstrom's only west coast date on this mini-tour, since Where You Go I Go Too was one of last year's best releases. more ›

According to the electronic edition of the we get in our inboxes each morning, Seattle's most famous exchange student has finally gotten to trial in Perugia, Italy. Amanda Knox, the UW student accused of taking part in the sado-sexual murder of her British roommate Meredith Kercher in 2007, has been an obsession of the British and Italian (and Seattle, to a lesser degree) media, as the article attests to: more ›

After waiting a year, hometown girl Amanda Knox and her defense team got bad news today. Judge Paolo Micheli indicted Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito in the murder of Meredith Kercher, and the trial will start December 4. Further, the Seattle Times tells us, "A third suspect, Rudy Hermann Guede of Ivory Coast, was sentenced to 30 years in jail after his defense requested a fast-track trial, said the lawyer for the victim's family Francesco Maresca." That would seem to a) indicate the judge found the prosecution's story compelling, and b) provide compelling reason why you should never, never ask to have your trial fast-tracked. more ›

Tera will be catching the Saturday evening premiere of Spring Awakening at the Paramount. Saturday evening will be followed with a leisurely plane ride to Orlando where she’ll be trying out for the Mickey Mouse Club, or riding rollercoasters--however you want to look at it. more ›

John's band, in light of America's financial misfortunes, will be returning to the home-made recording studio to use our economic meltdown as inspiration for new songwriting material.
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Seattlest’s Olympic correspondent Mark Siano has been hard at work in Beijing getting the stories that you won’t hear about anywhere else. more ›

Perugia's lead prosecutor in the case against Amanda Knox, Raffaele Sollecito says the three suspects will shortly be charged in Meredith Kercher's death. All three stand to be indicted not only with participating in the crime, but also its cover-up. If convicted, Knox and company could be spending upwards of 20 years in an Italian jail cell. more ›

The Euro Cup starts this weekend-- it's just like the World Cup except there is more overt racism, and the fans have free health care. more ›

Everybody's got a stereotype, and Italians are no different: wildly passionate one moment, indifferent the next. Political corruption? Cynical indifference. Matters of the heart? Passionate but fickle. Matters of the table? Ah, passionate to the core. more ›

Last night the Northwest Film Forum had a line out the door with moviegoers eager for some classic European cinema. As previously mentioned, the Italian sex comedy Divorce--Italian Style (and its follow-up, Seduced and Abandoned) are showing in the small theater through tomorrow, leaving the big one to hold the main event, the NWFF's latest film series, Duel of the Cool. more ›

Amanda Knox, the 20-year-old University of Washington student at the center of an Italian murder investigation, has been ordered to remain in jail. Knox, along with her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and Rudy Hermann Guede, are the top suspects in the death of Meredith Kercher. more ›

We spend a lot of time at the Seattlest newsroom talking about the problems bicycle riders in this city have and how the city should make it easier for us since we reduce congestion and emissions at the same time. Now we realize we’ve been ignoring the good our our two-wheeled motorized brethren (and sistern) on scooters. more ›

None of this stuff about "timeless" settings for Tosca: the story takes place in Rome over a specific, eventful weekend in June, 1800, as Napoleon's troops are invading Piedmont on Italy's northern border. more ›

This, honest to God, is what we would do if we won the lottery: We would purchase a Portuguese League basketball team and stock it with former Washington Huskies. more ›

We're not sure exactly what this is...seems like it's some voice software reproducing some of the comments Amanda Knox has made in relation to the slaying of her roommate in Italy. In Italian. With English subtitles. And music. And slides. more ›

Franklin vs. Garfield is one of the Seattle sports events that you just shouldn't miss. Here's what we wrote about it for The Stranger in September:

True local hoops fans don't miss this game between two perennial inner-city basketball powerhouses, even at the cost of connubial tranquility. The 2005 game at Garfield fell on Valentine's Day, but happily married Husky basketball coach Lorenzo Romar was there anyway. A win in this game means neighborhood bragging rights for the rest of your life.

From the papers in Europe, and particularly in England, you'd think that UW student Amanda Knox had already been tried and convicted of sexually assaulting and killing her roommate Meredith Kercher in Perguia, Italy. more ›

(This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs.) more ›

Rick Steves. The man lives in a pleasant world. The voice, the haircut, the folksy European dinners with friends one after another after the other. Just once we want to flip to PBS in time to see Steves in Friedrichstraße going berserk on a ticketing agent, but it won't happen because the world is his oyster. A friend of Seattlest's is currently on a 5-week Rick Steves tour of Europe, which we love telling people because it invariably inspires good feelings. Really, any situation can be dealt with by referencing Rick Steves. "Hey, get your arm out of my car, gringo!" "My friend is in Italy right now with Rick Steves!" We all want to live like Rick. In fact we've paid him a ton of money to teach us how to live like him. Furthermore, he's a good ambassador. He's not loud, rude or otherwise obnoxious. He's not going to go berserk in a train station or turn up on the news in relation to some bizarre hooker-stabbing incident. Further-furthermore, he just seems like a genuinely good guy. The man lives in a pleasant world, and wouldn't it be nice to inhabit it for a while? more ›

Just when you think you've made up your mind about a place, about Tavolata specifically, along comes a dish of gnocchi akin to a religious experience. more ›