by James Pasto October is Italian Heritage Month, and I'm certain the pages around me will be filled with tributes to Italians and to the North End. There is certainly a lot to be proud of and a lot to display. But October is also the month of Halloween. A quintessentially American holiday with roots in the native Celtic religion, Hallowee...
READ MOREWTI Magazine #79 2016 May 13Author : Umberto Mucci Translation by: Ciao from Rome! Welcome to the 79th issue of our online magazine. The second tour of presentations of We the Italians – the book has been a big success! Once again I've been lucky to meet a lot of committed successful Italian Americans and Italians recently moved to t...
READ MOREby James Pasto "Ravioli, meatballs and sausage, holy smoke.Carnevale, scunzalata and Grampa's donkey joke.Oh, we eat a lot and we laugh a lot and do everything that we can,A credit to old Carnevale is Grampa Vaudo's clan". The above refrain is recited every year as part the pre-Lenten celebratory meal of the multi-generational Vaudo clan....
READ MOREby Nicola Orichuia Dear readers, Life has a funny and mysterious way of taking us by the hand and pulling us towards projects we never dreamed of until recently. That is how I feel right now, as I announce this big step forward in our goal to give the local Italian and Italian American communities a voice and identity they can be...
READ MORESoccer via the World Cup is making the headlines this past month. Recently, in column for in the Clarion-Ledger, Ann Coulter helped it along when she linked the growing popularity of soccer to "moral decay" in the United States. I thought it was a funny column, a tongue-in-cheek stab at the definite media hype around this increasingly (albeit quadr...
READ MOREby James Pasto The Boston Draft Riot of July 14, 1863, is remembered more as the "North End Draft Riot," since it began in the North End and the worst part of it occurred in the nei. The context was the American Civil War and the resistance of many Irish immigrants to conscription into the Union Army. Immigrant resistance stemmed...
READ MORENow that the snow has finally all melted, the Boston area can start gearing up for Italian feast season once again! Boston's North End will once again feature the bulk of the celebrations, which will kick off June 7 with the Santa Maria di Anzano procession, followed by processions for St. Anthony of Padua (June 14), St. Padre Pio (June 28), M...
READ MOREBy Antonio Planas The Columbus Day Parade march yesterday from downtown through the North End evoked memories of Boston's longest-serving mayor, the late Thomas M. Menino, whose Italian heritage made the day special for him. "I know that he loved this day," Mayor Martin J. Walsh said. "He loved almost every day of being the mayor....
READ MOREby James Pasto In February I wrote about what I called "The American Connection" and some people misunderstood what I meant. Some thought I meant that I grew up with doubts or confusion about my Italian identity. That is not the case. I want to clarify what I meant and then use it as a stepping stone to talk about "North End identity." In...
READ MOREBy Madeline Bilis The North End has a lot more to show for itself than amazing cannolis, which is why the North End Historical Society decided to produce a documentary about the neighborhood's longtime residents: Italian Americans. After five years of working on Boston's North End: An Italian American Story, the new documentary is...
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