Italian American Mother-Daughter Doctors Become Dames of Holy Order
Drs. Gilda and Mary Celeste Rorro, a mother-daughter duo, were invested as Dames of The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. They participated in a blessing of their robes at The Church of Our Savior in New York on October 13, 2023. The sacred Investiture Mass was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on October 14, 2023. His Eminence Fer...
Rita Monte brings rhythm to the World of Poets festival
After being uprooted from her life in Italy in 1968, Rita Monte turned to poetry to express how she felt about leaving her home country, which led her to a world of like-minded poets. Monte, Baldwin resident, wrote her first poem called “Italia” upon arriving from Italy at age 12. From there, she has won several poetry contests with some of her wor...
From Italy, Balloon Museum debuts in New York with immersive contemporary art exhibition "Let's Fly"
After repeated successes in Europe, the Balloon Museum has opened the immersive contemporary art exhibition "Let's Fly" in New York City. The Balloon Museum is a project of Italian excellence, involving renowned international artists creators of inflatable art. The exhibition has received the patronage of the Ministry of Culture and the support of...
The Honorable Christian Di Sanzo receives the award dedicated to Enrico Caruso in New York on the 150th anniversary of his birth
The Hon. Christian Di Sanzo, elected to the North and Central American Repartition, received at the IIC in New York the Caruso Tribute Award Prize, organized by Melos International and dedicated to Enrico Caruso, in recognition of his work for the dissemination of Italian culture in North America, with special emphasis on the younger generation. Th...
John Vecchio Tells The Story Of Mariano Lucca And Columbus Day
This week’s guest, John Vecchio, is Executive Director Emeritus of the Centro Culturale Italiano di Buffalo. He starts by telling us about this center and what it took to create it during Covid. In the show’s second half, Vecchio tells the origin story of Columbus Day and the irony of President Harrison’s attempt to use it to apologize to Italian-A...
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church began as a church of immigrants | Then and Now
The carnival at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel R.C. Church, West Brighton, was a local highlight at the end of every summer in my youth. That ended after a fire brought down the church on Dec. 8, 1966. According to the church website, in 1913, Father Campbell and Father Poole decided there was a need for another parish. Father Louis Riccio, then an assista...
IAP298: cars, culture, and camaraderie at “Casa”- a visit to the Italian Cultural Foundation at Casa Belvedere
We’re keeping the Italian American Heritage Month party going with a visit to one of our favorite Italian American hangouts, a place that lives up to its cozy name, Staten Island, NY’s stunning Italian Cultural Center at Casa Belvedere. The “House with the Beautiful View” was the brainchild of our friend Gina Biancardi, an Italian American with an...
NOIAW Gathers Around the Table To Celebrate “HER Story”
On Wednesday, October 25th, at 6:30 pm NOIAW presents the first edition of A Tavola. The National Organization of Italian American Women launches a National Dinner Conversation live from NYC at the Columbus Citizens Foundation and via Zoom everywhere else on the importance of celebrating Italian American "HER - story!" All NOIAW members will be inv...
Celebrating Recent Work by Jo Ann Cavallo
Wednesday, October 25, 2023. 6:15pm EDT. The Heyman Center, Second Floor Common Room, Columbia University, NY. The Sicilian Puppet Theater of Agrippino Manteo (1884-1947): The Paladins of France in America By Jo Ann Cavallo. Sicilian puppet theater is a unique nineteenth- and twentieth-century popular theatrical tradition based on the masterpieces...
How 6 Italian brothers shaped the story of New York
Few people have shaped the streetscape of New York as prominently as the stone-carving Piccirilli brothers, six Italian immigrants who turned out one important public sculpture after another at their studio complex in the Bronx starting in the 1890s.From the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House at Bowling Green to the Bronx Zoo, from the figures of...
Community mourns Robert J. Gigante, a judicial giant and Staten Island legal icon
He was one of the most accomplished judges to ever grace the bench. A highly respected jurist, Surrogate Robert J. Gigante was admired for his professionalism, his powerful and innovative decisions, his inherent humility and his personal philosophies that would ultimately benefit children and families in and out of the courtroom. A consummate gent...
Looted antiquities worth $19m returned to Italian authorities in New York
Nineteen looted antiquities, collectively valued at almost $19m, were turned over to Italian authorities by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a repatriation ceremony held on 10 October at the Italian consulate in New York. The objects were seized amid multiple ongoing investigations related to the activities of known dealers...