NOIAW, a national organization dedicated to empowering, connecting and inspiring women of Italian American descent recently celebrated the Epiphany by recognizing the achievements of “Three Wise Women,” and the role their heritage has played in their achievements. According to Pat Tinto, president of the 43-year-old nonprofit, the traditional cerem...
READ MOREA new Italian restaurant is opening in a SoNo space that has been empty since 2020. Ciao! Ristorante and Bar SoNo, which is set to open during the first week of March at 68 Washington St., offers a variety of Italian specialties. The restaurant replaces Local Kitchen & Beer Bar's Norwalk location, which closed on July 31, 2020. The menu includes it...
READ MOREAnnino “Nino” Antonelli never complained, was willing to take a chance on people, loved politics and managed to participate in a host of community organizations while remaining devoted to his family, said his wife of 37 years. Nino Antonelli died Feb. 3 after a hard fight against prostate cancer, his wife Marylena said. He was 70. Marylena Antonell...
READ MOREJoining the Sons and Daughters of Italy Lodge 2805 began as a family affair for Mark DeFranco. Mark, the group’s treasurer, who joined in 2004 to be with his cousin and the group’s founder Neil Velleca, Sr., saw it as an opportunity to socialize and work with other Italian-Americans. “My cousin, Neil Sr., thought it would be a great idea to have a...
READ MORESt. Michael School was built in 1940 during the period when the immigrant children were being more fully exposed to the influences of the secular education opportunities that were part of the American system. The ethnic parishes were encouraged to create local schools that were more aligned to those in their countries of origin, where there was les...
READ MOREWhen life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Or — if you’re Pierluigi Mazzella — make sourdough bread, focaccia, panettone, biscotti and pastries. That’s the life he knows. Pierluigi began baking as a 12-year-old, on his native island of Ischia in the Gulf of Naples. He apprenticed with a world competition winner, then came to the US. He worked hard...
READ MOREA small Connecticut town just took a big step to observe and honor Christopher Columbus. After a decade of holding class on the second Monday in October, Columbus Day will once again be celebrated during the 2024-25 school year in New Canaan. The New Canaan Board of Education passed a motion 5-4 on Monday to reestablish the holiday. The board vo...
READ MORECarl Anthony Trattoria will close its Monroe (CT) location in Clock Tower Square after 25 years in business, restaurant representatives announced Thursday, with plans to relocate. Chef/owner Sam DeVellis and his Carl Anthony Restaurant Group have entered into a partnership with Market Hospitality Group, according to a statement. Eli Hawli's Market...
READ MORESteven Guarnaccia is something of a renaissance man in the art world. Born in Fairfield and now living in Brooklyn, N.Y., Guarnaccia is a graphic designer, illustrator of children’s books, a professor in the department of Illustration at Parsons The New School for Design in New York and a curator. “I grew up in Fairfield and my parents were both s...
READ MOREA recently renamed arena deserves a big name to call attention to it, right? On Dec. 11, Total Mortgage Arena (formerly Webster Bank Arena) in Bridgeport got just that as tenor Andrea Bocelli made his Connecticut debut as part of a U.S. tour featuring son Matteo and daughter Virginia. The family and some equally talented friends performed Italian...
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