Rich Puppione (Author of the book "One Hundred Years: A 100 Year History of the Colombo Club")
Without the pandemic, the 100th anniversary of a prestigious Italian club in California, founded in 1920, would have been celebrated last year: the Colombo Club. The round-figure anniversary called for major celebrations, but we know that 2020 didn't allow for that. There is, however, a book that celebrates the club's history, and this year it will...
Anna Marra (Teacher of Italian language and culture in New Hampshire)
Italian emigration to the United States came, of course, initially to the East Coast. Then the Italians spread throughout America, but many remained on the Atlantic coast. Not all of them, however, settled in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut. Some went north and stayed in Rhode Island, others further up Massachusetts, others even continued north...
Andrea Gumina (President of Amerigo Association)
The list of Italians who hold here in Italy institutional positions of collaboration with the United States is not very long. We have interviewed almost all of them over the years, and today we host one of them, who is also a close personal friend of mine. Andrea Gumina is the President of Amerigo - Intercultural Exchange Program Alumni Association...
Ale Gambini (Italian Chef in the USA)
A few days ago, the Taste Awards 2021, often called “the Oscars of Food, Fashion and Lifestyle Media”, were assigned. For the the fourth time an Italian chef, Ale Gambini, has been recognized by The Taste Awards commission as creator, host, and chef of online food programs (A Queen in the Kitchen, Estate Italiana, Eatalians-Fresh Up Your Life). If...
Jenna Capra (Editor of Andiamo! - Colorado's Italian Community Newspaper)
Our tour of the United States takes us this time west to the Centennial State: Colorado. Here, too, there is a vibrant community that celebrates Italy, gathered around a successful magazine that for exactly 10 years has been led by a young Italian American, Jenna Capra. We thank her three times: because with the magazine she directs, Andiamo! she...
Matt Rizzetta (President of North Sixth Group)
Every now and then we read the news that some Italian soccer team is being bought by an American. Sometimes they are not Italian Americans, as in the Serie A alone, the owners of AC Milan or Spezia or Parma or Roma, whose previous owner was indeed an Italian American. As Italian American is Rocco Commisso, the owner of Fiorentina. In Serie B, where...
Basil Russo (President of the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations)
One of the problems that the Italian American community has always had, and the consequences of which it has always paid for, is division, the lack of unity. When I say that Italian Americans are, to all intents and purposes, Italian, even if some of them do not have an Italian passport that officially certifies it, I mean that there is an Italian...
Matteo Pretelli (Author of "Hollywood’s Depiction of Italian American Servicemen During the Italian Campaign of World War II")
When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor (this year is the 80th anniversary) and the United States declared war, Italy also went to war with America on the basis of the alliance pact signed with Japan. Italians who lived in America found themselves guiltless citizens of an enemy country: some were removed from the two coasts, all were asked to choose betwe...
Silvia Zamarripa (President of the American International Club of Rome)
Those who live in Rome and are in love with the United States have some landmark institutions that represent and America here. One of these, which organizes events and gathers Americans living in the eternal city (but not only them) is the American International Club of Rome. I've had the pleasure of attending a couple of Independence Days organiz...
Taylor Taglianetti (President of the National Organization of Italian Americans in Film & Television)
In the Italian American community there are many examples of wonderful personalities who have made great contributions to every field of American society, culture, and economy. None excluded. One of the fields in which there are truly hundreds of examples of exceptionalism is entertainment. That is why the work done by NOIAFT, National Organizati...
Francesco Isgrò (President of the Italian American Museum of Washington DC)
There are almost twenty museums of Italian emigration to America, and another one has recently been inaugurated. It is part of a wonderful complex in the US Capital, Washington DC. I am pleased to have Francesco Isgrò as guest and protagonist of this interview, President of this wonderful new place that celebrates the Italian American experience an...
Chris Schembra (Author of the book: “Gratitude and Pasta: The Secret Sauce for Human Connection”)
In 2015 I made a small contribution to a crazy, unprecedented and wonderful feat. A group of visionaries managed to bring the great actor Tony Lo Bianco to Rome, where in a historic evening at the Sala Umberto he staged his show "The Little Flower," the story of Fiorello La Guardia, the most beloved mayor by his citizens in the history of New York....