Bocce ball league creates community at John Pirelli Lodge in Kettering (OH)
A group of women have met up in Kettering over the last 30 years to play Bocce Ball. “You learn something from everybody. There’s always laughs, always good stories, and it’s just a good time,” says Caitlin Davis, Chair of the Women’s Bocce League. The game is relatively simple. “You throw a ball called the pull and it is a little yellow ball. And...
Christopher Columbus statue could return to Columbus (OH) in a new park. See the proposal
Reimagining Columbus has unveiled its "generational vision" for a park that includes the Christopher Columbus statue but is not centered on it. Their plan is an approximately 5-acre park designed in a spiral around a circular community gathering space where festivals and concerts could be held. The hope is the park would include access to the river...
Youngstown’s Brier Hill Festival: A taste of Italy in Ohio
If you’re in the mood for Italian, it’s another good week around Youngstown, OH. The Brier Hill Festival is set up at Calvin and Victoria Streets in Youngstown. It’s the 33rd festival in what was called Little Italy. The neighborhood was where many of Youngstown’s first Italian settlers lived. There’s Morra on Friday, a hot pepper contest on Satur...
Fundraising dinner for Italian Cultural Garden, Sept. 4 at Dante
A fundraising dinner for Cleveland’s historic Italian Cultural Garden is Thursday, Sept. 4, at Dante Restaurant in Tremont. Established in 1930, the garden is part of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Money raised will be used for renovations to preserve and enhance its cultural significance. Recent restoration work, t...
Group to present vision for Christopher Columbus statue, but not new location
Five years after the 22-foot Christopher Columbus statue was removed from the grounds of City Hall, Reimagining Columbus is ready to present a vision for how the statue could be displayed in the city again — but don't expect an announcement about where it's going. Just know, it's not going back up at Columbus City Hall. Mayor Andrew J. Ginther has...
IACC celebrates Una Serata Italiana 2025
The Italian American Cultural Club held its 2025 Una Serata Italiana event Aug. 1 at Froehlich’s Classic Corner in Steubenville, OH. Those in attendance had the opportunity to sample various foods, drinks and sweets from three regions of Italy, where the largest number of area families came from, including Abruzzo, Calabria and Sicily. Young people...
Kenosha-Cosenza Sister city mural project
Kenosha Sister Cities has embarked on an exciting new collaboration. We are working with Professor Carey Waters and her students at UW-Parkside to create a mural celebrating our relationship with our Sister City in Cosenza, Italy. Her class will be working with an Italian Mural artist named Carlo Giardina to create two designs, one to be placed i...
St. Rita of Cascia Parish displays eucharistic miracles exhibit designed by first millennial saint
St. Rita of Cascia Parish in Chicago on Saturday debuted an exhibit designed by the soon-to-be-canonized first millennial saint, Carlo Acutis. The Vatican International Exhibit of Eucharistic Miracles of the World, designed by Acutis, features panels of photos and descriptions of eucharistic miracles that the Italian teenager documented on his webs...
Olivia Simone is Winner of National Italian American Foundation Congressional Fellowship
The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) Congressional Fellowship Program places outstanding Italian American college students and recent graduates in offices of members and associates of the Italian American Congressional Delegation (IACD) to educate and support the next generation of Italian American leadership. This fellowship serves as a...
Champion rower Christina Salvi
The New Trier High School Freshman Girls crew battled choppy waters, fended off fierce competitors and ultimately won a gold medal at the top rowing tournament in the country on May 24 at the Scholastic Rowing Association of America’s Championship Regatta. The event was hosted on the Cooper River in New Jersey, just a few miles east of Philadelphia...
Festa Picnic in Peoria (IL) on Sunday, August 10, 2025, 12-5 p.m.
The Summer Festa Picnic is a long-standing family event held by the Society its founding in 1929. The picnic brings a small piece of Italy and its traditions to central Illinois each summer. What began as a social event for Italian immigrants has evolved into the Society's major fundraiser for its scholarship programs. Indeed, the picnic has become...
Italian fest celebrates 40th edition
He’s only 39 years old, and his grandfather, Lou Metter, founded the downtown Warren (OH) festival in 1985 before he was born, but he believes his grandfather would be proud to know that the event is celebrating its 40th edition today through Sunday. “I think he’d be happy that it’s still going strong,” Hovance said. “We’re still trying to keep up...