Hartford city council votes to replace Columbus holiday with Indigenous Peoples Day
Hartford will celebrate its first Indigenous Peoples Day in place of Columbus Day next month, the city council decided Monday in a vote that may set the stage for changes to other city memorials and monuments to the controversial Italian explorer. The Court of Common Council renamed the holiday at the recommendation of a city task force, which repo...
Columbus Day parade off, but New Haven area Italian Americans will celebrate their pride
There won’t be a Columbus Day parade again this year, but the region’s Italian Americans plan to celebrate their rich heritage in a new way. “We had to kind of scale back, but we’re praying and hoping” to revive the parade in 2022, said Laura Florio Luzzi, chairwoman of the parade committee. “The town of East Haven is very excited about us coming.”...
La Befana Comes to Southington
This event is a cultural arts and community engagement project centered around a one-toothed puppet from ancient Italian folklore, who is on a mission to spread love and inspire unity one neighborhood (and cookie) at a time. Since the beginning of the pandemic, La Befana, in partnership with NYC Relief, has been engaging the public in a legendary...
Council to vote on Indigenous Peoples' Day proposal
The City Council is expected to vote Monday on a proposal to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Though the city cannot officially change the holiday since it is a state holiday, this would be a resolution to recognize the day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day for city purposes. Ward 3 Councilor Heather Shand, who sponsored the Aug. 9 order...
City Of Boston: An Ode To Community: The Religious Feasts Of Boston's North End
From watching a game at Fenway Park to sailing on the Charles River, summers in Boston are defined by a variety of activities and customs. In Boston's North End neighborhood, summers revolve around one thing: feasts. Join us as we examine the religious feasts of Boston's North End neighborhood as an emblem of the Italian-American identity and exper...
Preview of 'Chazz Palminteri's A Bronx Tale'
The Palace Theater is kicking off the 21-22 Webster Broadway series in a big way with the legendary Chazz Palminteri presenting his one-man tour de force, the semi autobiographical, A BRONX TALE for two performances October 1 and 2 at 8:00pm. This is the story that led to the eponymous movie of the same title and the Broadway musical, that played t...
Boston Athletic Association snubs Italian-Americans
Poor Lawrence Brignolia is rolling over in his grave. The Italian-American won the Boston Marathon in 1899 with a time of 2:54:38. In 2000, he was elected to the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame. That's quite an honor for a horse shoeing son of Italian immigrants, but there is no honor for Italian Americans at this year's Boston Marath...
Philosopher Angelo Codevilla Died at 78
Another awful news awestruck everyone when they learned that one of the renowned philosophers Angelo Codevilla has passed away He was 78 years of his age at the time of his death. The news has been confirmed by his Social Media handler with a heavy heart. He died on 21st September 2021 and news gets viral like a wildfire all over the Internet. His...
FESTA ITALIANA: New Series Celebrates Italian Cultural Heritage
The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University continues to offer enlightening conversations and seminars designed to engage community members and avid lifelong learners. Their new virtual series, FESTA ITALIANA, was created in collaboration with the College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and I...
Dante Carrafa Sr.
Dante Carrafa Sr., of Southington, passed away peacefully at UConn John Dempsey Hospital in Farmington on Sept. 11, 2021, with his devoted family by his side. He was the beloved husband of Monica (Raudis) Carrafa and a much-loved son, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother, cousin, and uncle in a close-knit Italian-American family. Never w...
Concord Could Change Columbus Day To Indigenous People's Day
A proposal by a Concord city councilor to change the name of the Columbus Day holiday to Indigenous People's Day without a public hearing was nixed on Monday but the full body and the public will debate the issue in November. Ward 10 Concord City Councilor Zandra Rice Hawkins, at the end of business at Monday's meeting, made a motion to change the...
Nina Pane Sanseverino recalled as New Haven Italian-American cultural icon
Some might say Nina Pane Sanseverino sang like an angel — in Italian and English — for decades before she become one. Pane Sanseverino, one of Greater New Haven’s cultural gifts to the world, was both one of a kind and one of the last of a kind — an Italian-American cultural icon who for generations helped keep alive a style of Italian music known...