Contemplating the Crèche: Knights of Columbus Center Celebrates 800th Anniversary of St. Francis’ Creation in Annual Exhibit
In 1223, St. Francis of Assisi decided to celebrate the birth of Jesus in a new way by recreating the Nativity in the Italian town of Greccio. According to his biographer, Thomas de Celano, Francis assembled what is considered the first crèche, saying, “Out of Greccio is made a new Bethlehem.” To mark this major octocentennial anniversary, the Knig...
Paul Salerni takes a final bow after 45 years of music
There are conductors who compose and composers who conduct. Music professor Paul Salerni claims to be the latter. But with his 45 years at Lehigh coming to a close, he looks back having done much more than just compose or conduct music. Though he will be retiring at the end of this year, Salerni, who has composed and conducted music and been a prom...
Ralph Fasanella painted the power of the union
Portland author Anne Broyles last month published a new picture book to introduce children to the labor movement. “I’m Gonna Paint” tells the story of Italian American painter Ralph Fasanella, who painted large, mural-like images depicting working class people and social movements of the early 1900s. One of Fasanella’s best known pieces is a 45-by-...
A “Thank You” To My Italian Grandparents
For all of my life, I’ve been told I was Italian. Sicilian and Calabrese if you really want to know. I have a large and very loud Italian family. For most of my childhood, I remember spending lots of my time in either my house or one of my aunt’s houses, with everyone gathered around the table. With my Papa at the head of the table, he would grab m...
Italian culture and creativity in the Boston mission of the Ambassador of Italy to the United States, Mariangela Zappia
On her mission to Boston, Ambassador Zappia, assisted by Consul General Arnaldo Minuti, had a meeting with the Friends of Italian Cultural Center of Boston (FICC-Boston) cultural association, which will collaborate with the Consulate General in organizing, in November 2024, the Festival of Italian Creativity in Boston. The Festival, an integrated p...
At 95, he is his son's full-time caregiver, hero, best friend, chef
At age 95, using recipes he learned from his Italian mother, Carmine "Charlie" Mazzulli started preparing this year's Thanksgiving dinner a week ago in Hingham (MA). The Korean War veteran and Army cook knows the drill. First came the pickled beets. Over the weekend, the rapini, or broccoli rabe, and Italian vinegar peppers. Then his mother's celer...
Mass in honor of the life and works of Mother Cabrini
Mass in honor of Mother Cabrini will be celebrated on Sunday Nov 12th, at 10:30am at St Leonard's in the North End, 320 Hannover St, Boston, MA. At birth, her name was Francesca Saverio Cabrini. After her death, she is now known as Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini, the patron saint of Immigrants. When she was canonized on July 7, 1946 by Pope Pius XII...
Sons and Daughters of Italy hold Special Veterans Ceremony at Italian-American War Monument in South End
Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and Deputy Director of Veterans Services Joe Decaro attended a special Italian-American Veterans Ceremony hosted by the Sons and Daughters of Italy on Saturday, November 4th in the South End neighborhood of Springfield. Mayor Sarno states, “As we approach Veterans Day, I was honored to attend our annual Italian-American Veter...
Italian Heritage Month: A Family Working to Keep an Italian Heritage Alive
October, Italian Heritage Month in Massachusetts, is celebrated in different ways by different people. Many in Franklin have immigrant connections dating back to the early 20th and both remember and celebrate moments of survival and some of triumph. Paul DeBaggis, for instance, a former Selectman, recalls the time in the 1970s when the once-powerle...
Social groups helped immigrants adjust to New Haven's Wooster Square
The Wooster Square neighborhood, as it came to be identified as an enclave for Italian immigrants, found those of other ethnic origins leaving, and the original Yankee industrialists abandoned their stately homes in favor of other neighborhoods that were more protected against foreign intrusion. The diaspora-like influx of the primarily southern I...
Sons & Daughters of Italy holds first ever gala in Springfield, MA
The first ever Italian gala was held Saturday night hosted by the Springfield Son & Daughters of Italy. The Sons & Daughters of Italy celebrating its revitalization in the greater Springfield area, a rebirth thanks to an interest from younger generations in preserving Italian heritage and culture. The sold-out gala at the Sheraton featured dinner,...
From agriculture to politics, Italian-Americans make many contributions in Connecticut
October is Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month. In Connecticut, more than 584,000 Italian-Americans call the state home, according to World Population Review 2023. They make up 16-percent of the population, making Connecticut the state with the highest percentage of Italian-Americans in the country. Over the decades, Italian immigrants and...