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Nicola, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today? There is an immigrant story behind I AM Books. I moved from Rome, Italy, to the United States in 2008. After two years in Chicago, where I started working for an Italian American magazine named Fra Noi, I moved to Boston. Soon after, I launched bostoniano.info, a websi...

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There are still many Little Italys in the United States. Some of them are just a few blocks now, other are what's left of the urbanization that brought large roads in the middle of many American cities after the war, several times crashing an Italian community. Every one of them is a place where a big Italian heart has been, is and hopefully always...

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The first Italians arrived in the North End in the 1860s when the political and economic situation in Italy had become untenable. Their numbers grew here in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Most were unskilled laborers and lacked the ability to speak English. They faced severe discrimination and took what jobs were available with their limited resou...

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So you’ve eaten your North End lunch (and maybe you’re a little drunk too), and now it’s time for your North End dessert. It’s maybe a bit of a cliché, but an eater in the North End could do worse than stopping at Mike’s Pastry, Modern Pastry, Bova Bakery, and Caffé Vittoria. Forget the cannoli wars, though: Get your cannoli at Mike’s — it’s good f...

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In 1904, Saint Leonard’s parish welcomed Father Valerian Pianigiani. It was under Father Pianigiani’s tenure as Pastor that various Church groups still in formation today came to be, the most prevalent of these groups being the Third Order of Saint Francis and the Knights of Columbus. The Third Order is a group of lay men and women who wish to carr...

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The Franciscan Friars arrived in Boston in 1873, and immediately were welcomed by the city’s growing Italian population, many of which viewed the order as patriarchal. The Franciscans main objective was to service the needs of their parishioners, building churches, schools, and orphanages all for the use of the immigrant population, particularly in...

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How do you say, “Thank you” to people who have stood by you, in good times and bad, for more than 100 years? That’s the question pondered by the Society of St. Joseph when they became aware that St. Leonard Port Maurice Church was in the midst of a multi-million dollar restoration project. In fact, the St. Joseph Society could think of a million re...

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On December 16, the The Saint Leonard Choral Society accompanied by The North  End Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Dan Drzymalski will perform  its Annual Christmas Concert. This year’s concert is entitled “An Italian-American Christmas Concert”. Continuing with tradition, the concert will be held in  the lovely setting of Historic Sac...

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Around the midway point of the 19th Century, the city of Boston was developing into a thriving metropolis. Many of the landmarks we still hold dear today were being built across the city. Such institutions as the Boston Public Library, the oldest public library system in the country, the world-renowned Parker House Hotel and the Charles Street Jail...

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“Against the ball, put the laser against the ball, kid! Madone.” I was folded over on one knee at Boston’s North End bocce courts, trying to get the guys a measurement. Eyeing the distance between a bocce ball and a pallino often doesn’t work, so Sammy Viscione comes armed with both a tape and a laser measure, though his sciatica makes it impossibl...

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