Checking if the sky is falling in Taponecco, Italy.
Hi, I'm John Last.
I'm a Canadian writer, reporter, and producer based in the north of Italy with a omnivorous attitude to my job. I write longform essays, produce radio documentaries, and report in-depth features from the ground. Parlo anche italiano.
I regularly work as a freelance Europe correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Before this gig, I covered Indigenous and Arctic issues in northern Canada with CBC.
In my work, I try to explore things like politics, culture, food, and identity through a historical lens. Check out a few of the links below and you'll see what I mean.
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News!
My essay, "There's No Such Thing As Italian Food," has been selected for Best American Food Writing 2023. The book is out now — order it here.
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Recent Work:
The tiny Italian town that drinks like Ancient Rome and Greece (BBC Travel)
The 19th-Century Novel That Inspired a Communist Utopia on the American Frontier (Smithsonian Magazine)
PODCAST: The World's First Italian Coffee Bean (Proof from America's Test Kitchen)
Every Year, Rabbis Search Calabria for the Perfect Etrog (Atlas Obscura)
White House Floats the Idea of Blocking Out the Sun (The New Republic)
Why gay couples using surrogacy are the latest target for Europe's far right (CBC News)
‘Nature is being destroyed’: Russia’s arms buildup in Barents Sea creating toxic legacy (The Guardian)
Norway truth commission details country's dark history of assimilation (CBC News)
A King for the People? (Noema Magazine)
Finland’s debate over Indigenous identity and rights turns ugly (Mongabay Magazine)
INTERVIEW: The Lord of the Rings and its far right fans (for CBC Tapestry)
Tracing the Spiritual Tradition of Italy's New Far Right (Revealer Magazine)
Could Amsterdam's days as a cannabis capital be numbered? (CBC News)
The Veterinary Magic of the Middle Ages (Smithsonian Magazine)
The Delicate Work still undone in the Church of Sweden's Reconciliation Process (The Arctic Institute)
How an aging fleet of Canadairs are keeping Europe's fires at bay (CBC News)
The Centuries-long Quest for the Smell of God (Noema Magazine)
The Ukraine War is dividing Europe's Arctic Indigenous people (Foreign Policy)
Canonization of new saints on the rise in Rome (PRX's The World)
With Fur Out of Fashion, Indigenous Trappers are Endangered (National Geographic)
What Happened to Europe's Public Bunkers? (Foreign Policy)