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September 2025 The Neighborhood: The North End becomes Columbus Park in Kansas City

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We’re back on the road across the United States, exploring Italian American traces, stories, and people in each of the 50 states. Today we stop in Kansas City, home to a vibrant community dedicated to celebrating its Italian roots. Jody Valet has graciously agreed to serve as our Ambassador in Kansas, and she is working on an exciting documentary t...

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Dear friends, As August begins here in Italy, everything pretty much slows down. For an entire month, it's as if the country runs at a quarter of its usual pace—especially in the big cities. But We the Italians never stops. In fact, we're hard at work planning several new initiatives for this fall and even into next year. As mentioned earlier, our...

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A locally-owned Italian restaurant that got its start in Olathe has planted roots further north. Toni’s Italian Restaurant opened its doors in Shawnee last week, in the former home of breakfast eatery Flapjacks ‘n more. The restaurant moved into a space at the Shawnee Crossings shopping center, just off Shawnee Mission Parkway and Kansas Highway 7....

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Of all the businesses you might expect to see in tiny Eureka, Kansas — population 2,332 — a master shoemaker from Italy making custom boots is likely not one of them. Yet, this is where you’ll find Sam Vasta — “rhymes with pasta,” he says — quietly pursuing his craft in a small workshop behind his home. His journey here has included stops in four c...

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Italian food is one of those specialties that it seems like just about everybody loves. Really, when you combine cheese, tomatoes, pastas, and breads, nothing can go wrong. We're lucky enough to have some pretty amazing Italian restaurants in Kansas, but if you want the best of the best, a visit to Garozzo's is a good bet. This family-owned restaur...

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A foundation dedicated to spreading devotion to St. Pio of Pietrelcina, better known as Padre Pio, is set to open a chapel in rural Kansas this weekend that will permanently host a first-class relic of the saint.  Luciano Lamonarca, the founder of the Saint Pio Foundation, told CNA that the plan is to inaugurate five chapels dedicated to the saint,...

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Details were promised last week about a new downtown Italian restaurant currently making plans to open in the former Julian's location, 216 N. Main, just south of the Santa Fe tracks. Another group had announced reopening but ran into problems, enabling the new leaseholders, Tony and Arda Demaj, to launch their plans and move to Hutchinson. Tony sa...

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Capo Italian Kitchen, a new family-owned, fine dining restaurant will open where Jillian's Italian Grill served up lasagna and steaks for more than a decade. Along with fresh coats of red, white, green and black paint, the restaurant will feature new kitchen equipment, some new pictures and lots of new faces and menu items. Along with premium, fres...

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Too many cooks in the kitchen can be frustrating. But when it comes to making cappelletti, it's an all-hands-on-deck affair for the Hamiltons. Jim Hamilton and his sister Susan Hamilton Griffin live in Kansas, about an hour apart. Every Thanksgiving when they get together with the rest of the family, the focus turns from a traditional turkey meal t...

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