Lawyers present arguments in Columbus statue removal lawsuit against city of Syracuse
Lawyers for both the city of Syracuse and the Columbus Monument Corporation presented arguments on Monday to the New York State Appellate Division’s Fourth Judicial Department amid CMC’s ongoing challenge to Mayor Ben Walsh’s plans to remove the Christopher Columbus monument in downtown Syracuse. The hearing comes after a year-long appeal process t...
Italians in America – Our Immigrant Stories: The profound truth about the town of Roseto, and owing it all to the meatball
In 1882, a group of men left Roseto Valfortore (Valley of Roses), a town of 1,300 near the province of Foggia in the region of Puglia, to set sail for New York. The men spent their first night in America sleeping on the floor of a tavern on Mulberry Street in Manhattan’s Italian neighborhood. They eventually found work in the slate mines of Bangor,...
The Italian Jew Who Wrote Some of Mozart’s Most Famous Operas
The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte are some of the greatest works in the Western musical tradition, and did much to build the reputation of their composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. But the man who wrote their libretti, Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749–1838)—an Italian poet who spent the last years of his life teaching Italian at New Yor...
We Must Expand Italian American Education in Schools
Dear Friends, I was fortunate to meet with Governor Kathy Hochul Monday and discuss issues that concern our community. I briefed her on our agenda of top legislative initiatives for 2023 in Albany. I advised the Governor of our strong support for her plan to create more charter schools. We propose developing the first-ever Italian Language Academy...
Remembering the Victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 112 Years Later
It’s been 112 years, but several hundred people gathered on the corner of Washington and Greene Streets in Greenwich Village to make sure the 146 victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory were not forgotten. It marked the first in person commemoration since the COVID-19 pandemic forced the gathering to go remote. “I’ve been coming every year since...
Book Lecture: A Fireside Chat with Judge Guido Calabresi
Join us on Wednesday, April 19, at Columbus Citizens Foundation (8 East 69th Street, New York, NY) for a Fireside Chat with Judge Calabresi and author of Outside In: The Oral History of Guido Calabresi, Norman Silber. RSVP today! The reception and lecture cost is $25. For $65, attendees may enjoy the reception, lecture, and receive a copy of Volume...
A year after ruling to keep city Columbus statue, local groups file to support removal
In March 2022, New York State Supreme Court Justice Gerard Neri issued a ruling to keep Syracuse’s Christopher Columbus statue standing in downtown Syracuse. Now, a year later, local community organizations have filed amicus briefs to support Mayor Ben Walsh’s plan to remove the monument. The ruling was a result of the Columbus Monument Corporation...
Antonin Scalia: The Origins of a Supreme Court Originalist
He was confirmed on Constitution Day, September 17, 1986, to the nation's highest court with a unanimous Senate vote. To many who'd known Antonin Scalia it wasn't a surprise, because more than any lawyer in recent history, he held in such high esteem not just the words of the Constitution (and their original meaning) but the Constitution's structur...
Magazzino Italian Art: A Little Eden in the Hudson Valley
Bare trees and the white snow piled here and there unevenly. Winter is coming to an end and the sun melts the ice. The paths to the Sardinian donkeys are impossible to walk on with city shoes. If the rolling Hudson Valley is naturally uneven on the outside, the art inside is deliberately uneven: Arte Povera, Italian art from the 1960s onward. A vis...
Welcome to the Tristate Italian Art Prize
A new prize for Italian art in the United States is born. In fact, the Consulate General of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute in New York have announced the first edition of the "Tristate Italian Art Prize" art competition. The Prize aims to to promote and recognize the artistic creativity of the Italian and Italian-American community in the...
NIAF New York Gala to Honor Angelo Vivolo, Beth T. Mazzeo and Silvio Petriello
The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) will host its annual New York Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on Thursday, April 20, 2023. This distinguished event, held at the world-famous, historic, New York City venue, will highlight the very best in Italian food, beverage and cultural experiences – as well as celebrate some of the most notable and...
Rocco Commisso: How a billionaire businessman runs a soccer club
A billionaire cable TV empire owner does not own a yacht, private jet and mansion on a beach, instead he shelled out $170 million to buy an Italian pro soccer team. Rocco Commisso, 73, bought ACF Fiorentina in Florence three years ago. His wife told him that if he insisted on buying a team, it needed to be somewhere nice. The price tag was also a b...