Richard Niello Sr., patriarch of Sacramento-area car dealer family, dies at 99
If you’ve bought a car in Sacramento in the past half-century or so, there’s a decent chance you shopped at a dealership owned by the Niello family. Now the patriarch of the Niello automobile family has died. Richard Niello Sr., who brought the company to Sacramento after its founding in San Francisco, died at home Saturday. He was 10 days shy of h...
La Scuola d'Italia, NYC visits San Diego's Little Italy
Convivio Society and its San Diego Italian Heritage Commission were proud to host thirty-eight students and five chaperones from La Scuola d’Italia Guglielmo Marconi (La Scuola), a bilingual Italian school based in New York City. La Scuola D'Italia is one of only two schools in the United States that provides K-12 bilingual education firmly rooted...
I Madonnari Festival Drew Huge Crowds
A beautiful Memorial Day weekend brought larger crowds than ever to the I Madonnari chalk-painting festival held in front of Old Mission Santa Barbara. “Everyone was really happy to be back out together in person. It was packed,” said Kai Tepper with a note of awe in her voice, as she sat on the Mission lawn on Tuesday, watching a continuing stream...
IAF Queen Contest – June 2022
The Italian American Federation of the East Bay is currently accepting applications for our Queen contest for 2022 / 2023. Any interested young lady can receive an application from Ron Blair of the Italian American Federation by calling 925 819-2945, or contact his email at ronblair1@comcast.net. We are currently scheduled to have our Queen contest...
Special meeting held for future of controversial Columbus statue
The Christopher Columbus and Discovery Park Task Force is putting out a “request for interest” from any groups in the community that want to acquire the controversial Chula Vista statue. “Any entity, organization, even an educational organization to be able to share potentially their interests for the statue,” explained Ricardo Medina, chair of the...
How the Beltramo and Gemello family connected over wine and family
Longtime residents may remember the Gemello Winery on El Camino near Rengstorff in Mountain View. Kevin Ferguson’s grandfather, Mario Gemello, retired in 1982, but his cousins the Obesters maintained it for another 10 years. Mario passed away in 2005, but Grandma Kay celebrated her 100th birthday last June. Kevin is taking that outline of his famil...
I Madonnari Comes Back to Move Forward
When the annual I Madonnari street-painting festival returns to the Old Mission this weekend after two years of operating online, participants and attendees will celebrate more than just la dolce vita, Santa Barbara–style. From its beginning, this iconic expression of collective effervescence has had its roots in the year-round activities of the Ch...
The Village - Life In New Haven's Little Italy
ITALIAN-AMERICAN EXPERIENCE FILM: THE VILLAGE – Life In New Haven's Little Italy. Sunday, June 5 @ 2:00 pm / Doors open at 1:30 at the Italian Center, Carmichael (6821 Fair Oaks Blvd, 95608 CA) Admission $10. Around 5 million Italians arrived in the United States during the “Great Migration” in the years between 1880 and 1930. They were preceded by...
San Diego Italian Film Festival pays tribute to its late founder
In March, the San Diego Italian Film Festival lost its founder Victor Laruccia to an aggressive form of stomach cancer. He was 80 years old. The festival will celebrate his life with a screening of the Italian film "Mine vaganti/Loose Cannons" at the Museum of Photographic Arts. Victor Laruccia was a big teddy bear of a man, and like a teddy bear h...
The evolution of the new Italian emigration in Los Angeles
Los Angeles has always been the favorite destination of people coming from all over the world seeking to become successful show business figures. As we know, this sector includes a myriad of specializations : it’s enough to read the long list of names contained in the closing credits of musical or cinematic productions. Among the many ethnic groups...
COM.IT.ES San Francisco kicks off its programs on International Workers’ Day at the Museo Italo Americano
The new COM.IT.ES, the groups representing Italian expats all over the world, officially formed a few months ago, opening a new chapter for many cities and areas in the world that will last five years. As their main task, the COM.IT.ES work on identifying social, cultural, and overall needs of the Italian community and bring requests in front of lo...
Councilman Buscaino gives final State of the District speech at San Pedro waterfront
Standing on San Pedro’s new waterfront promenade, before a crowd of about 300 on Friday, May 6, Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino recalled that it was this development that motivated him to run to represent the 15th District a decade ago. While it’s not finished just yet, Buscaino’s 10-year run as the area’s councilman is now just months awa...