Join Me in Supporting the Italian Cultural Institute!
by Mauro Battocchi For many years the Italian Cultural Institute (IIC) has been the gateway for Italian culture to San Francisco and the Bay Area. It is the a great meeting place for intellectuals and artists, for professionals working with cultural organizations and events, and for members of the public interested in culture. Pro...
Canessa Gallery Is A North Beach Vessel Of Art And History
by Geri Koeppel Canessa Gallery, located at 708 Montgomery St. in Jackson Square, isn't only a place to admire art: it's arguably a work of art in and of itself. Though it's a stop on the North Beach First Fridays art walk and well-known to the Telegraph Hill Dwellers, which hosts art and cultural events in the space, the gallery...
Book Riders: Literary Tours based on Classes taught by Marta Ciccolari Micaldi
by Nancy Casas Marta Ciccolari Micaldi has been teaching American Literature classes in Turin, Italy for some time now. Along with Claudio Morrano and Federico Giacomelli, Marta has been able to take her classes on literary tours to the United States called Book Riders. Claudio and Federico are the founders of the tour operator XPLOR...
A Meeting in Los Angeles to Talk About the Future of Columbus Day
The Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission would like to extend an invitation to join us for a special conversation/dialogue with members of the Los Angeles Indigenous Community and Italian American Community to discuss the Motion introduced by Council Member Mitch O'Farrell that proposes to establish an Indigenous People's Day Celebration. &...
Lido Cantarutti, Founding Director of the Italian Film Festival
By Roberto Natalini The proud son of Italian immigrants from the Friuli region, Lido Cantarutti was born in Santa Cruz, California, where he and his brother grew up helping their father harvest Brussels sprouts along the central coast of California. Lido relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area and eventually attended the University of California a...
Movie 'n' Food: Sapore di Cinema
Two events to celebrate the role of food in Italian cinema Movie 'n' Food: Sapore di CinemaDinner: 29 April, 7 PM, Ristobar, 2300 Chestnut Street, SF. Costume, book & photo show: 30 April, 6:30 PM, IIC. The dinner on the 29th of April, with menus by renowned chefs Viola Buitoni and Michele Belotti, will serve food which appears in Italian fi...
61st Annual North Beach Festival in San Francisco
June 13, 2015, Saturday 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM (daily for 2 times)Washington Square Park - 600 Columbus Avenue - San Francisco, California 94133. San Francisco's oldest street fair, the 61st Annual North Beach Festival, will return to the City's own "Little Italy" on Saturday, June 13 and Sunday, June 14 from 10am to 6pm. The histo...
Support Comites campaign for 2016 Italy earthquake
On August 24, 2016, central Italy was shaken by a terrible earthquake which has caused the death of 292 people. Many of them were children caught at home in the middle of the night. It has afflicted the most vulnerable regions in the Appennini mountains, small towns with buildings dated over 500 years. This is the Italy that we all lo...
Monterey's Italian Heritage
Monterey, California was once home to the Rumsen Ohlone tribe, which survived by hunting and by catching fish from the rich Pacific waters off the coast of this seaport. Later, in the late 1700's, Spanish settlers arrived. They were led by Junipero Serra, a Franciscan with much missionary zeal. Father Serra is now credited with converting...
Big blaze at Holy Cross Church destroys a beloved structure in San Jose
by Joe Rodriguez Holy Cross Catholic Church, a century-old center of a beloved parish, where Mass was still recited in Italian, burned down Sunday afternoon in a four-alarm fire. "This was home, and now it's gone," said Catherine Ventimiglia, who attended the Italian Mass that ended minutes before the fire broke out around 2 p.m. "We...
Respected former federal appeals judge with Carnegie roots dies
By Brian Bowling Found squatting in the rarely used chambers of a tax judge while waiting for his own chambers, newly appointed federal appeals Judge Ruggero Aldisert called upon his Marine skills when the angry tax judge showed up and became abusive toward Aldisert's secretary. "The next thing I knew, the judge came striding out of his c...
Michael Benzaia lives the LA dream as X-ray tech and actor
If you had a normal first conversation with Michael Benzaia, he would tell you that he is just a regular Italian-American guy from New York. However, as someone who is both an actor/television personality and a CT/XR Technologist at Resolution Imaging in Santa Monica, he is living the LA life in a most unique way. "I might be the only CT/X...