Dalla Sicilia alla Grande Mela: "Il mio Toro compie trent'anni e resta un simbolo di libertà"
E’ sopravvissuto all’attentato dell’11 settembre, ai colpi di un banjo di metallo dello scorso autunno, al recente piano del sindaco De Blasio di spostarne la collocazione, alle violazioni di copyright, alle femministe americane con l’intrusione della vicina statua della “ragazza senza paura”. Parliamo del toro più famoso al mondo, quello di Wall...
«Io, milanese, vi sposo a New York». L’incredibile storia di Paola Rossi
Vista oggi nel caffè a Bryant Park, la Paola Rossi che disse sì al posto fisso a Milano è una donna lontanissima. Perché ora quella dipendente di banca laureata in scienze politiche è diventata la milanese che sposa gli italiani a New York. E dal 2011 vive a Manhattan, con uno sguardo al passato, la serenità del presente e qualche dubbio su dove vi...
A New York seminario di studi su Giuseppe Prezzolini
Il peso che Giuseppe Prezzolini ebbe nella diffusione della cultura italiana negli Stati Uniti è ancora tutto da raccontare, dal lavoro di docente alla Columbia University a quello di direttore di Casa Italia. Un enorme sforzo nel tentativo di far conoscere il valore della cultura italiana presso un mondo, quello nordamericano, che conosceva l’Ital...
Statue Honoring Mother Cabrini To Be Built In NYC’s Battery Park, Gov. Cuomo Says
When the de Blasio administration said they didn’t plan to build it, Gov. Cuomo promised he would. Now, a statue honoring Mother Cabrini has a spot picked out for it right in Manhattan. Gov. Cuomo says the upcoming statue will be placed in Battery Park’s South Cove – direct view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. “The Commission chose a sit...
St. Frances Xavier “Mother” Cabrini's impact in New York
Upon coming to America in 1889 from Italy, Saint Frances Xavier “Mother” Cabrini and her seven Sisters helped newly arrived Italian immigrants in Lower Manhattan who were struggling with poverty. Her order organized catechism and educational classes, opened an orphanage and founded Columbus Hospital (now part of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Cent...
How Ellis Island shepherded millions of immigrants into America
Sixty-five years ago, on November 12, 1954, a Norwegian merchant seaman named Arne Peterssen became the last immigrant to pass through Ellis Island. Later that month, the ferry Ellis Island made its final stop at the island in New York Harbor and the immigration facility closed for good, ending its run as a gateway to the United States for generat...
Frank Seddio hosts annual holiday house-lighting ceremony
Kings County Democratic Chairman Frank Seddio held his much-anticipated house-lighting extravaganza on Friday, Dec. 6. Each year, Seddio invites family, friends, elected officials, community leaders, area residents and children of all ages to attend this festive event. The annual block long “block party” took place at Seddio’s law office at 9306 Fl...
State-funded Mother Cabrini statue and post office renaming plans move forward
While there was heated contention between the City and Roman Catholics earlier this fall – regarding the dismissal of St. Frances Xavier “Mother” Cabrini in the She Built NYC campaign – progress with external initiatives are taking place to honor her. A statue will be made in Cabrini’s honor and a Brooklyn post office may be rechristened to share h...
Arrivederci, Little Italy
Toward the end of 1999, I was living in Atlanta when a friend called with an intriguing offer. He’d finally scraped together enough money for a down payment on a place, and the modest one-bedroom apartment he’d been renting, a fourth-floor walkup in an old tenement building in downtown Manhattan, would be available. What really sold me, before I ev...
‘Buon Natale’ -- Merry Christmas, Italian style
“Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo!” declared Lauren Lombardo, wishing the crew of Life-Wire News Service a merry Christmas and happy New Year. After graduating from the College of Staten Island, Lombardo moved to Naples to paint and ended up living there for the next eight years. While there, she taught painting, wrote two children’s books and becam...
Come view our Elaborate Presepio at the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum!
Come to the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum (420 Tompkins Ave, Staten Island, NY 10305) and view our presepio until January 6th! Free with admission to the museum: $10 non-members, $5 for members. The nativity scene or crèche, called in Italian the presepe or presepio, brings to life the story of the Nativity as told in the canonical as well as apocryphal...
New York, l’albero di Natale più famoso al mondo è "figlio" di un italiano
Si è acceso l’albero di Natale più famoso del mondo, quello del Rockefeller Center di New York. Ma in pochi conoscono la sua storia. La tradizione di questo albero inizia negli anni della grande depressione dall’idea di un italiano: Cesidio Perruzza. Lui nasce negli anni ottanta dell’Ottocento a San Donato Val di Comino, un piccolo paese in provinc...