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HAPPENINGS
Throughout the year, we celebrate the culture and cuisine of Abruzzo and Southern Italy, as well as the Providers and local farms who make what we do possible. Special dinners, wine tastings, cookouts, musical events, etc. Keep track of them here...

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Action News: The Fifth Rider
I found the song discordant, incongruous with everything that preceded it. The outro to Action News, not the familiar “...

Le Virtu Philadelphia
Oct 22, 20246 min read
369 views
4 comments


I Am Not A Fish (meditations on the Italian language)
Penne: Porta San Francesco (on the far right, you can just make out the entrance to the hardware store) Wait. Crap. What’s the Italian...

Le Virtu Philadelphia
Dec 8, 20239 min read
813 views
2 comments


Our Imperfectly Perfect Corner of America
Bomb-Bomb Italian Restaurant, 1026 Wolf Street (photo from vrconsierge.com) Our restaurant’s on East Passyunk Avenue, the old business...

Le Virtu Philadelphia
Jun 19, 20229 min read
1,938 views
6 comments


The House in Penne, Abruzzo: Completing the Circle
Via del Genio, centro storico, Penne We’re buying a house in Abruzzo. No great surprise to anyone who knows us or who, in the last...

Le Virtu Philadelphia
Jan 3, 202214 min read
2,136 views
17 comments


In Praise of the Local, Hospitality's Unsung Hero
I was sitting at our bar, just weeks before the first COVID shutdown, eavesdropping while regulars got into it: issues of the day,...

Le Virtu Philadelphia
Dec 15, 202113 min read
477 views
1 comment


My Mom, 4 Scousers, South Philly: Why The Restaurant Sounds The Way It Does
(My mom, Joyce, with cig, and my sister Suzie) Sometime in October, while I meandered unawares in the hills around Penne, Abruzzo with...

Le Virtu Philadelphia
Nov 16, 20217 min read
927 views
3 comments


The Elephant in the Kitchen
Pass at LV; photo by Kateri Likoudis Connolly (This was written in 2018 as a part of a larger work). There’s a moment during a Mexican...

Le Virtu Philadelphia
Oct 1, 202114 min read
389 views
1 comment


In Bocca al Lupo: In A Roman Hospital
(The following events happened in 1999 and early 2000. They're recounted to the best of my ability. The hospital San Giacomo in Augusta...

Le Virtu Philadelphia
Sep 15, 202115 min read
277 views
0 comments


Back to the Source, VI: Reentry, Family
(Castiglione Messer Raimondo, Teramo Province, Abruzzo, my grandfather's birthplace) We’re back from Abruzzo. It was a 28-hour journey...

Le Virtu Philadelphia
Sep 7, 20218 min read
406 views
4 comments


Back to the Source, Part V: Mea Culpa
(Barisano section of the Sassi) Mea culpa. I’ve sins to expiate. The trip has been a good one and it’s been a pleasure to share places we...

Le Virtu Philadelphia
Aug 27, 20219 min read
304 views
4 comments


Back to the Source, Part IV: What the Hell is Wrong with Us?
Brief observations from Abruzzo… One of our first nights, sitting in the main piazza of Lanciano, a small but vibrant city in Abruzzo’s...

Le Virtu Philadelphia
Aug 16, 20216 min read
342 views
39 comments


Back to the Source, Part III: Better in Abruzzo
A better version of me emerges in Abruzzo. That’s setting a low bar, but it’s true. He’s a kinder, more peaceful person, less absorbed by...

Le Virtu Philadelphia
Jul 20, 20215 min read
234 views
3 comments


Back to the Source, Part II: This Is My Job!
(Santo Stefano di Sessanio) One of the questions I’m most often asked about Le Virtú is what (“the hell” is often inserted here) I...

Le Virtu Philadelphia
Jul 2, 20215 min read
350 views
0 comments


Back to the Source: Taking Chef Poli to Abruzzo
Apolinar “Poli” Tlapaya Sanchez, for eleven years our co-worker and Le Virtú’s current Executive Chef, crossed a desert to get to the US....

Le Virtu Philadelphia
Jun 20, 20214 min read
407 views
3 comments


Restaurants: Canaries in America's Coal Mine
To own an independent restaurant in the Mid-Atlantic during a global pandemic, in winter’s grip, and not reside in a state of panic...

Le Virtu Philadelphia
Mar 23, 202120 min read
327 views
1 comment


Martin Luther King Jr. Day
We're hopeful on this Martin Luther King Jr. day. It might seem bleak these days, but change is now possible. If we put our shoulders to...

Le Virtu Philadelphia
Jan 26, 20211 min read
105 views
1 comment
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