Bar Guide: Two-in-1 Vignola Cinque Terre the best of Old World
Portland may not have a Little Italy like New York or Boston, but it certainly has a slice of the old country with chef Lee Skawinski's Vignola Cinque Terre. Even the stroll down Wharf Street, with its precarious cobblestones and lively foot traffic, makes for a more authentic experience. The entrance of the restaurant on Dana Street is dr...
Giuseppe Giangregorio: The Italian “Ambassador” Behind Green Cross Pharmacy’s Counter
"Let's sit down in my office," says Giuseppe Giangregorio after agreeing to my impromptu request for an interview. We do sit down — on two small folding chairs he keeps between two of the many shelves in his Green Cross Pharmacy. That's when I realize there is no office. Instead, we are sitting in a corner of the store he and his brother Fernando h...
Wanted: Families To Host Italian Students in July
by Susan petroni An Italian High School leadership program is bringing 14 international students to Framingham in mid-July. The high school students were selected to take part in this pilot initiative and will arrive in the Commonwealth for a 3-week program. Each student will live with a local family to discover what day to d...
Informational talk planned for Southern Vermont Arts Center's Italy trip
The Southern Vermont Art Center will hold an informational meeting for those interested in participating in its April workshop to Tuscany, Italy. The meeting will take place on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. at the Southern Vermont Art Center. There will be wine and cheese provided, and a slideshow presentation will take place in Gallery II...
Hartford’s “Little Italy”, CT
By Mike Messina In the early 1900s, Hartford was a booming economic center. Italy, on the other hand, suffered both economically and socially. Hundreds of thousands of Italian men looked for unskilled work in other countries; many eventually headed to the United States. Hartford's potential job opportunities attracted Italians and soon the...
Lakes Region Italian Cultural Club hosts Piccolo Market
The April meeting of the NH Lakes Region Cultural Club took place at the Weirs Community Center on April 26 and featured the owner of Piccolo Market as the guest speaker and caterer. Bill Bennett spoke about his passion for Italian cooking which came from his Italian mother and his successful market located in Moultonboro. His market featu...
Boston’s colorful turn-of-the-century Carnevale
On February 4, 1895, the headline of the Boston Globe read as follows:Eleven Masquerading Italians. They Disturb the Sabbath Stillness of the North End by Celebrating a Carnival which Closes Feb 27." The article went on to describe the event and its consequences. Out for "as good a time as could be had," over 1,000 men, women, and children swung in...
Castellani’s families have been fact, fiction, and fulfillment
In Christopher Castellani's "All This Talk of Love," Italian immigrant parents raise American offspring, mirroring the author's own life. Although the novel, Castellani's third, isn't drawn entirely from personal experience, he offered that "certain dynamics in the book are resonant to my family," including the complex idea of home. "There...
‘Monuments Man’ Deane Keller Celebrated at New Haven Museum: Timely Exhibition Underscores Continued Need for Protection
The leveling of the tomb of Jonah (think: whale) in Mosul, Iraq, last July, was a striking reminder of the fragility of our collective cultural inheritance. Have we nearly come full circle? In 1943, as Nazi Germany laid waste to much of Western Europe, Monuments Men-a handful of soldiers whose job it was to protect cultural heritage during wartime-...
Coming to Russell Library: Farms, Factories and Families: Italian American Women of CT - Saturday, Sept. 20
Anthony Riccio, author, photographer and oral historian, will speak about his book Farms, Factories and Families: Italian American Women of Connecticut Farms, Factories and Families. This book documents the rich history of Italian American working women in Connecticut, including the crucial role they played in union organizing. Re...
Honoring Saint Padre Pio in Boston’s North End
by Matt Conti Honoring one of the newer saints, a group from St. Leonard Church held the fifth annual procession for Saint Padre Pio on Sunday, June 28th in Boston's North End. The statue of St. Pio was carried from St. Leonard Church after an Italian Mass and walked through the neighborhood streets where devotees pinned donations on ribbo...
'Sicilian Corner' hosts receive Italian Heritage Media Award
Mike Lomazzo of Windham and Tom Zappala of Merrimac know a thing or two about putting on a show — but on Oct. 3, the WCCM hosts were on the other end, guests at the Massachusetts Statehouse for a ceremony honoring their role in celebrating Italian culture and heritage. The ceremony, attended by Speaker Robert DeLeo and Lt. Governor Karyn Polito, to...