The Italian statue from 1810 that inspired Lady Liberty
We all know that the Statue of Liberty is the symbol of New York, and has a history of its own, but perhaps not many people know that on the facade of the Duomo of #Milan is carved a statue depicting the Statue of Liberty, which is also most likely the original version. The representation, which is located on the left side of the balcony and more p...
What's Living in Little Italy Like?
Ah, Italia — the nation that invented “la dolce vita” — not to mention pizza and gelato. But Little Italy is far, far more than a tourist mecca. People do actually live here, but the immigrants of yore would be surprised by the neighborhood’s current price tag. According to the StreetEasy Data Dashboard, the median sales asking price as of December...
Memories of Italy: Ravenna Mosaics of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Hempstead, NY
The Byzantine mosaics of Ravenna are part of our lives. We don’t even realize it. At a recent holiday social of the Constantine Cassis AHEPA Chapter in the hall of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Paul, at St. Paul’s Cathedral of Hempstead, it was brought to my attention that their mosaics had elements from Ravenna’s Byzantine art. The church ha...
Is she Staten Island’s oldest? ‘Age is just a number,’ she says. But what’s that number?
Age has never reigned supreme in the life of Lena Vallone, who looks with enthusiasm toward having her hair coiffed and nails manicured every week. What’s more, she still enjoys a good game of cards. This Willowbrook resident will tell you she loves her Italian family’s tradition of gathering together each Sunday with their must-have freshly made s...
Buffalo's Sam Noto: A World-Class Jazz Trumpet Virtuoso
Adapting and surviving the unforeseeable trials and tribulations of the Great Depression in the 1930s and early 1940s were painful and disheartening for all that experienced it. Despite these horrible economic times, Buffalo born-and-bred, first-generation Italian America Sam Noto persevered and never gave up on his dream to become a jazz trumpet p...
Ettore Spalletti’s Legacy Bridges the Distance Between Art and Poetry
On January 26th, 2022, Italian artist Ettore Spalletti (1940-2019) would have turned 82, after spending all his life in or around Cappelle sul Tavo, a small town in the Province of Pescara encapsulated between the Apennines and the Adriatic Sea, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Until March 5th, the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York City is honoring...
Discover never-before uncovered treasures at renovated Garibaldi-Meucci Museum ... and learn Italian too
After extensive research, discovering artifacts and uncovering items stored in the basement of the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum, the 1849 Gothic Revival cottage that once served as the home of inventor/candle maker Antonio Meucci in Rosebank, a more complete story has been revealed about Meucci and General Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Italian revolutionary a...
Exhibition: WE LOVE ART - Italian Cultural Institute - New York | February 8 - 28, 2022
We Love Art in New York is organized by the Italian Cultural Institute. February 8 - 28 , 2022. On view Monday through Friday 10AM to 4PM. Italian Cultural Institute - 686 Park Avenue, NYCurated by: Ludovico Pratesi and Marco Bassan. Works by: Benni Bosetto, Giulia Cenci, Tomaso De Luca, Lulù Nuti, Amedeo Polazzo, Alice Ronchi, Giulio Saverio Rossi...
Italo-American, 22, stabbed to death in New York
A 22-year-old Italian-American, Anthony D'Onofrio, was stabbed to death in a fight outside a restaurant on Third Avenue in New York on Saturday night, local media reported Monday. A 19-year-old man, Kevin Cuatlacuatl, has been arrested. Born in Brooklyn of a Sicilian mother and a father from the province of Latina south of Rome, D'Onofrio dreamed...
Spectacular Illustrations of Dante Alighieri's Inferno presented by Dr. Snjezana Smodlaka, Ph.D.
Saturday February 19, 14:00 EST. Garibaldi Meucci Museum - 420 Tompkins Ave., Staten Island, NY 10305, USA. Dante's masterpiece The Divine Comedy had great impact on the Italian and world literature. Less known is, however, that Dante's poetry inspired and affected emotionally and artistically the most famous painters and sculptors throughout centu...
Rare Botticelli sells for $45 million at New York auction
A rare Botticelli painting depicting Jesus Christ sold at auction for more than $45 million Thursday at Sotheby's in New York, a year after a record $92 million was paid for a work by the Italian Renaissance master. While the majority of works by Sandro Botticelli, such as the famous "Allegory of Spring" or "Birth of Venus", are on display at the U...
NY Gov. Appoints Italian American Affairs Director After Backlash
It’s official: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has appointed Thomas Scarangello, from Staten Island, as the state’s new director of Italian American Affairs. This past November, Hochul faced a firestorm of criticism when she abruptly fired the previous director, Dolores Alfieri, who was hired on in 2017 by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Hochul and her staff...