Italian-American Heritage Month: the Italian Consulate in Boston recognizes Dr. Anthony Fauci
October is Italian-American Heritage Month! It’s time for all Italians and Italian-Americans to celebrate with renewed pride our common roots, culture and values. Congratulations to all the Italians and Italian-Americans mentioned in this year’s Proclamation by Massachusetts Governor Charles D. Baker and especially to Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of...
Parishioners celebrate Padre Pio at LaSalette
Even with concerns about coronavirus keeping attendance lower than in previous years, a few dozen parishioners still came to Attleboro’s LaSalette Shrine on Saturday during the third annual Italian Cultural Festival, which also paid homage to Saint Padre Pio. The well-known Italian friar and priest who showed signs of stigmata lived from 1887 to 19...
Joe Amerigo Della Zoppa (1939 - 2020)
Joe Amerigo Della Zoppa, 80, of Fairfield, died September 5, 2020 at NorthBay Medical Center after a long illness. Born December 22, 1939 in Bakersfield he was raised in Richmond. After graduating Richmond High he earned a BS degree in Pharmacy from Idaho State University. From 1967 -1978 he ran Mira Vista Drug Pharmacy until he found his lifelong...
Wooster Square Monument Committee turns to community
After nearly three months of continuous community debate sparked by the removal of the Christopher Columbus monument in Wooster Square on June 24, New Haven is now looking to its Italian American citizens for ideas for an “appropriate” replacement, according to a Sept. 16 memo sent out from New Haven Major Justin Elicker’s office. The Wooster Squar...
Waterbury Christopher Columbus statue will get its head back after November election
News 8 has exclusively learned the head of the decapitated Christopher Columbus statue in Waterbury will be placed back onto the statue after the November election. There’s a referendum on the ballot asking Waterbury residents if the statue should stay in front of the city hall or be moved somewhere else once the head is reattached. The statue has...
MIT and Indigenous Peoples Day
The following letter was sent to the MIT community today by President L. Rafael Reif. To the members of the MIT community, I write to announce three encouraging and related steps in our ongoing efforts to make MIT more welcoming and inclusive. First, this summer, I asked Institute Community and Equity Officer John Dozier and Vice President for Huma...
Salem City Council Passes Indigenous Peoples' Day Ordinance
Salem residents will have a pair of holidays to recognize on the second Monday in October after a resolution to name the day Indigenous Peoples' Day in the city narrowly passed the Salem City Council Thursday night. While all City Councilors who spoke were in favor of adding to Indigenous Peoples' Day to the Salem calendar at some point in the year...
Bridgeport Mayor Ganim misses 45-day deadline to restore Columbus statue
Having had the Christopher Columbus statue taken down in Seaside Park, Mayor Joe Ganim indicated this week he wants no role in its future. Friday marked the end of the 45-day window the Parks Commission gave Ganim to restore the likeness of the Italian explorer to its pedestal. But in a statement Wednesday to The Connecticut Post, the mayor claimed...
New Britain Columbus statue may be headed for a new home after 79 years on public land
The city’s Columbus statue is likely to still be in McCabe Park when Columbus Day arrives, but city leaders will soon be negotiating with a private Italian-American association to relocate it. New Britain’s statue is one of the last in Connecticut still on public land, and has become a focal point for debate about Columbus' legacy. In the wak...
Columbus should spark debate about our origins
A contradiction: it is misguided and unfair to judge historical figures under contemporary standards; yet historical judgement is virtually all that modernity offers us to measure human action. Christopher Columbus and his statue in front of Worcester’s Union Station epitomize the dilemma Columbus’ long shadow sheds on the exploration of the Americ...
IAP 157: it’s not an Italian bookstore! The rise, fall, and rebirth of America’s favorite Italian American bookstore
As the air begins to chill, and the days grow shorter and shorter, it’s the perfect time of year to snuggle up with a good book— and if you love to read about your Italian American heritage and culture, Nicola Orichuia of Boston’s I AM Books is the man to help you pick the perfect page-turner! I AM Books is Boston’s first—and only—bookstore created...
It’s Official: “Italian Heritage Day” Replaces “Columbus Day” In New Haven
Good-bye, Columbus Day. Hello, Italian Heritage Day. Starting this year, the city-recognized holiday on the second Monday in October will no longer be named after the 15th-century European explorer whom many Italian-Americans celebrated as a heroic, cultural icon, and whom critics lambasted as an enslaver of Indigenous peoples and an emblem of viol...