Honor thy father at Onesti’s Oakley Fest
Sausage will be grilling, families will be dancing, and dads will be honored as Onesti Entertainment hosts its 28th annual Italian Block Party — Oakley Avenue Festa Pasta Vino on Father's Day weekend, June 19 to 21. The Father's Day tradition will feature Italian food specialties representing generations-old recipes from the restaurants located in...
88th Fiesta rooted in tradition
By Ray Lamont This year's St. Peter's Fiesta, which steps out in earnest Wednesday, is the 88th edition of Gloucester's salute to the patron saint of fishermen. The 2015 Fiesta, which really began last week with the nine-day Novena of prayer that closes Tuesday night at the Lester S. Wass American Legion Post 3 hall at 8 Washington St.,...
Italian heritage treasured: Fitchburg State archive portrays immigrant lives, legacy
by George Barnes Hank Lisciotti would love to know who the first Italian was who emigrated to Leominster or Fitchburg and paved the way for others to follow and build lives and businesses in northern Central Massachusetts. Between 1820 and 2004, about 5.5 million people emigrated from Italy to the United States, with a majority of...
Browsing Italian Bookstores: Good for the Heart and Mind
What could be better than strolling the aisles of a bookstore, where one may choose a selection from among hundreds, balance the weight of a hard or soft cover volume in one's hand, sniff the paper as one turns the pages, listen to the sheets softly ruffle with ample promise beneath his or her fingertips, knowing that the gem in your hand represent...
Joe Avati Back to Basics and Back to Boston!
When: Saturday, June 6, 2014 at 8:00Where: Regent Theatre, 7 Medford Street, Arlington, MA Joe Avati returns to Boston with an ENCORE performance of his award winning bilingual Italian stand up comedy show 'Back to Basics'. Watching Joe Avati is like attending a master class in comedy – his timing, his observations and his delivery are second to n...
Ella Grasso’s lasting legacy to Connecticut
By Mark Davis There is one Connecticut Italian American who was a national ground breaker for women, and who has over shadowed every Governor for the past 34 years. Of all the statues of famous Connecticut residents from the past that adorn the outside of the Capitol building, there is only one woman, Ella Tambussi Grasso. The statue...
Taste of Italy at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Springfield set for Saturday
The ambiance at this annual festival will be strictly Italian. Italian food and music will be the focus as Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish presents A Taste of Italy on Saturday, Oct. 1, from 4:30 to 8 p.m. at the school auditorium at 36 Margaret St., Springfield. "The colors, the warmth, the tastes, smells and the music heard -- all w...
"Italian American Reconciliation" explores complex relationships
John Patrick Shanley is perhaps best remembered for his memorable screenplay for the film "Moonstruck" (with Cher and Nicholas Cage), as well as his 2005 play "Doubt." The latter garnered a Pulitzer Prize as well as Drama Desk and Tony awards. He subsequently directed the 2008 screen version of the play, starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffma...
Sinatra superfan hosts library film series
by Erica Schmitt Gilbert Gigliotti can recall the moment he fell for performer Frank Sinatra. As a young Italian-American boy growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the mid-1970s, he stumbled upon a greatest hits album in the back of a record store. Over 40 years later, the devout "Sinatraphile" understands why the $1.99 record w...
Meet our Wise Women: Mary L. Pepe
by NOIAW Mary L. Pepe. Director of Human Resources, Town of Greenwich. Mary will be honored at our Connecticut Region Epiphany on Sunday, January 17, 2016. Buy tickets here. WHAT DOES YOUR ITALIAN HERITAGE MEAN TO YOU, AND HOW HAS IT GUIDED YOUR CAREER AND INSPIRED YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS?My Italian heritage is deeply...
A very Italian tour of the North End
by James Pasto On Oct. 26, I had the honor and pleasure of leading a group of about 40 Italians and other Europeans on a tour of the North End. Most had visited the North End before, but they knew little about its past, either as a historical section of Boston or as an Italian-American neighborhood. I lead the tour at the request of Andre...
Senior Center celebrates St. Joseph’s Day in style
"Buona Festa di San Giuseppe!" That's the greeting many of the Italian-Americans inside the Johnston Senior Center's red, green and white decorated multi-purpose room passed around last Thursday during the annual St. Joseph's Day Luncheon. In English, the phrase means "Happy St. Joseph's Day," and in keeping with tradition, the center...