Scalia Speaks: What Makes an American
I’m going to offer occasional glimpses at the wonderful collection of Justice Scalia’s speeches in Scalia Speaks. With Columbus Day just around the corner, I figured that I’d highlight the opening speech in the collection: Justice Scalia’s speech to the National Italian American Foundation in October 1986—just one month after he became the first It...
Gustoso, a Business Network to Bring the Best of Sicilian Food Products to the USA
It is an ambitious project as for the first time 12 leading businesses in the agri-food sector have come together under the same brand to conquer the shelves of large-scale retail shops in the USA. The project Gustoso Sicilian Food Excellence has been cleverly outlined by Daniele Cipollina, the founder of the business network, and Paolo Internicola...
Valerie Bertinelli invites you into her kitchen with new book, 'Valerie's Home Cooking'
Most people know Valerie Bertinelli as a Golden Globe-winning actress who co-starred on "One Day at a Time" in the 1970s and more recently on "Hot in Cleveland." But these days, she's more likely to be sauteing garlic in her kitchen than walking a red carpet at a premiere. Bertinelli is the host of "Valerie's Home Cooking" and co-host of "Kids Baki...
L’On. La Marca (PD) incontra il Direttore Vignali sul miglioramento dei servizi nelle aree periferiche dei grandi Consolati della ripartizione Nord e Centro America
L’on. Francesca La Marca, lunedì 9 ottobre, ha incontrato il Ministro plenipotenziario Luigi Maria Vignali, Direttore Generale per gli italiani all’estero e le politiche migratorie del MAECI, per fare una ricognizione di alcune situazioni sensibili relative ai servizi consolari nella ripartizione Nord e Centro America. Dopo uno scambio di vedute su...
Tearing Down Statues of Columbus Also Tears Down My History
As I watched the disturbing events unfold in Charlottesville, Va., several weeks ago, I knew our Italian-American community would soon be called to once again address questions about statues celebrating Christopher Columbus and the day named in his honor. We would once again be called on to “defend Columbus” against efforts to remake his day into I...
Columbus, Our Lady of Loreto and the Ironies of Italian American History
As controversy and debate rage over the statue of Columbus in NYC and the fate of Columbus Day generally, today might be a good moment for Italian Americans (and others) to ponder the dilemmas and paradoxes of Italian American history. In co-editing a new book, we have come to see Columbus as a prism through which much of Italian American history i...
Celebrate Immigrants on Columbus Day
When it comes to raising the ire of the American left over the imposition of western values on the indigenous peoples of North America, no one quite gets them going like Christopher Columbus. To them his arrival in the western hemisphere was the beginning of a long slide down a slippery slope into cultural oblivion inaugurated and perpetuated by d...
Happy Columbus Day, except in Davenport, Iowa
Happy Columbus Day to you. I know. I’m early. Columbus Day is Monday. Or maybe I’m several years too late. For the past several years, there has been a growing consensus among liberals that the arrival of Christopher Columbus to this continent should not be celebrated. It should be mourned. The European migration that followed led to the destructio...
Group speaks up for Christopher Columbus in statue battle
An organization that promotes and celebrates Christopher Columbus is pushing back against growing calls for the removal of statues of the famed explorer. The National Christopher Columbus Association has launched a website, TruthAboutColumbus.com, to, as it puts it, "separate fact from fiction" about the Italian explorer. The group's leaders say Co...
President Donald J. Trump Proclaims October 9, 2017, as Columbus Day
Five hundred and twenty-five years ago, Christopher Columbus completed an ambitious and daring voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. The voyage was a remarkable and then-unparalleled feat that helped launch the age of exploration and discovery. The permanent arrival of Europeans to the Americas was a transformative event that undeniab...
Honoring our Visionary Founder
Nino, a shoeshine boy wandering in the streets of Rome, reacted with scorn when Monsignor Carroll-Abbing suggested that he knew of an institution where the youngster could learn a trade. Nino looked him up and down and said, “Who, me? Go into an institution? Marching all day in line? Not me! I can come and go as I please, and look … I’ve got a pock...
Honoring Francesco Solimena, a Forgotten Baroque Master
"Painting possesses a truly divine power in that not only does it make the absent present (as they say of friendship), but it also represents the dead to the living many centuries later, so that they are recognized by spectators with pleasure and deep admiration for the artist." – Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) * As is my custom, I will visit th...