Bella Figura, The Tradition of Living Beautifully

John Viola is host of The Italian American Podcast and previously served as President and Chief Operating Officer of the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF), where he served with incomparable energy and passion from 2012-2018 as the youngest president in NIAF’s history.

John serves as co-vice president for New York City of the Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA) and on the Boards of Directors of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago, as well as other Italian cultural boards. He was fundamental in the creation of Pope John Paul II Family Academy in Brooklyn, N.Y., serving as the Academy’s General Director, and the Director of the Madonna della Neve Foundation for many years.

He is a Knight of Merit with Star of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, one of the oldest Orders of knighthood in the world, and serves as the United States Delegate for the Constantinian Order and the other Chivalric Orders of the Royal House of Borbone of the Two Sicilies. He is also a Knight of the Order of Merit of Savoy, the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. He also serves as president of the Florida Panthers Foundation.

A native of Brooklyn, John traces his ancestry to the Vallo di Diano in the province of Salerno, Puglia, Basilicata, and his beloved Sicily.

John Viola is host of The Italian American Podcast and previously served as President and Chief Operating Officer of the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF), where he served with incomparable energy and passion from 2012-2018 as the youngest president in NIAF’s history.

John serves as co-vice president for New York City of the Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA) and on the Boards of Directors of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago, as well as other Italian cultural boards. He was fundamental in the creation of Pope John Paul II Family Academy in Brooklyn, N.Y., serving as the Academy’s General Director, and the Director of the Madonna della Neve Foundation for many years.

He is a Knight of Merit with Star of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, one of the oldest Orders of knighthood in the world, and serves as the United States Delegate for the Constantinian Order and the other Chivalric Orders of the Royal House of Borbone of the Two Sicilies. He is also a Knight of the Order of Merit of Savoy, the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. He also serves as president of the Florida Panthers Foundation.

A native of Brooklyn, John traces his ancestry to the Vallo di Diano in the province of Salerno, Puglia, Basilicata, and his beloved Sicily.

MaryBeth Bonfiglio’s dynamic and varied work is not simple to summarize. She is a writer, writing instructor and guide, an intuitive, a midwife, and a folk/root worker dedicated to exploring the ancient wisdom of her Sicilian heritage. Her Radici Siciliane gatherings, which attendees have described as “not a vacation, [but] a pilgrimage and a rite of passage and a week-long ritual,” take people to remote and traditional areas of Sicily to explore ancient folkway practices—such as tarot cards, ancient recipes, traditional dance and storytelling, cheesemaking, basket-weaving as well as creating a space for attendees to explore their own ancestral healing.  

She lives in Upstate NY, with her three daughters and longtime husband.

Jennifer L. Scott is the New York Times bestselling author of Lessons from Madame Chic, At Home with Madame Chic and Polish Your Poise with Madame Chic (Simon & Schuster), Mademoiselle Chic (Daiwa Shobo), and Connoisseur Kids (Chronicle Books). She is also the creator of The Daily Connoisseur blog and YouTube channel.

Mallorie Vaudoise is a New York City-based spiritualist of Italian descent. She is the author of Honoring Your Ancestors: A Guide to Ancestral Veneration and “Italian Folk Magic,” a blog about devotional practices from Southern Italy and Sicily. She was co-host of “Good Bones,” a podcast about living and dying well.

Drawn to folk magic from a young age, her path has required both careful study and wild abandon. Her writing is an act of devotion, an offering to the spiritual ecosystem in which she finds herself. She believes that music, food, wine, and kissing are vital tools of spiritual evolution.

Thomas Lynch is the author of five collections of poems and four books of essays, as well as a bo ok of stories, Apparition & Late Fictions.

His work has been the subject of two film documentaries—PBS Frontline's The Undertaking, which won the 2008 Emmy Award for Arts and Culture Documentary, and Learning Gravity, produced for the BBC, featured at the 2008 Telluride Film Festival and awarded the Michigan Prize. He has taught with the Department of Mortuary Science at Wayne State University in Detroit, with the graduate program in writing at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and with the Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA. 

His essays, poems and stories have appeared in The Atlantic and Granta, The New York Times and Times of London, The New Yorker, Poetry and The Paris Review and elsewhere. He lives in Milford, Michigan where he has been the funeral director since 1974, and in Moveen, Co. Clare, Ireland where he keeps an ancestral cottage.

From a young age, Melissa Muller spent her summers in the Sicilian village of Sant’Anna, where her grandmother was born. She received a master’s in journalism from Columbia University and a diploma from the International Culinary Center. Muller has helmed three acclaimed Sicilian restaurants in New York and has been featured in The New York Times, Saveur, and La Repubblica, as well as on The Food Network, Martha Stewart Radio, and Mike Colameco’s Real Food. She is the author of Sicily: The Cookbook: Recipes Rooted in Traditions, and she lives on a farm with organic gardens and orchards in the remote countryside in the heart of Sicily.

Shawn Lang is a designer and one half of The Farmhouse Project. Along with his partner, Kris Prepelica, Shawn left the big city and decided to slow down and simplify by moving into a historic farmhouse in upstate New York. From there, their online brand, shop, design inspiration, and restoration of their 1800 farmhouse began. The describe themselves as “modern-day gents living the old-world way.”

Today, their lives are filled with the things that bring joy: entertaining, cooking, gardening, and learning to live off the land. They also started a line of home goods, all unique and sustainably made. On any given day, you can find them working on a project in their onsite studio, putting the final touches on a room, gardening, feeding chickens, or dreaming up a new cocktail recipe.

Shele Jessee grew up in rural Northern California and currently makes her home on the beautiful Central Coast. She makes her living as an independent designer, artisan hide tanner, and rancher. Her brand, Hollow Bone, is dedicated to helping others live the ranch life, and to creating well-made timeless pieces, made by artisans out of natural materials, which are salvaged from their respective industries.

Hollow Bone is more than a brand. It is a dedication to the future and the health of our culture. It is a love story about raw materials, a handmade life, and a love of land.

Annabell Alsup is owner and founder of House of Tocumen, a vintage rug company that sources authentic, weaved rugs from artisans around the world. Annabell is not only a vendor, but through her vibrant Instagram page, also educates people on how to find and buy authentic vintage rugs and home decor.

Part of an active duty military family, she lives with her husband and four sons, with a fifth on the way on a homestead in South Carolina, where they care for four goats, one baby doll sheep, 32 chickens and four mini donkeys.

Dry Farm Wines: Use link dryfarmwines.com/bellafigura to receive a bottle for just a penny in your first order!

Shop: Bella Figura Shoppe

Resources:

House of Tocumen website

House of Tocumen Instagram

Dolores:

Dry Farm Wines: Use link dryfarmwines.com/bellafigura to receive a bottle for just a penny in your first order!

Shop: Bella Figura Shoppe

Bella Figura Shoppe on Etsy

Bella Figura website

Dolores on Instagram

Bella Figura YouTube

Bella Figura Pinterest