Italian-Americans have lived in my hometown of Ashtabula, Ohio, for well over a hundred years. In that time they have become an integral part of the community’s culture, economy, and history. Many of the immigrants that came directly from Italy throughout the 20th century were able to find steady work in one of the area’s numerous factories, allowi...

Dear friends, since the beginning of the year, we have been working on a new version of our website, which will be online by the end of May. Our new We the Italians will be more innovative, faster, and more rational. There will be several new features, but the biggest change concerns the areas into which we have divided the United States from the v...

Long before he became a restaurateur, Peter Reuter had the Italian word “scorpacciata” permanently inked on his forearm. The technical translation is “big feed,” calling to mind a long table full of all your Italian relatives passing around homemade platters. Reuter connects to the word’s more symbolic meaning, which relates specifically to seasona...

Tickets are now on sale for Italian Bowl XLIV, with organizers hoping a return to the University of Toledo’s Glass Bowl stadium will build on the success of the 2023 championship game. The Glass Bowl was the scene for Italian Bowl XLII, on July 1, 2023. It was the first Italian Bowl played outside of Europe. Tens of thousands of fans participated i...

The story of Italian families immigrating to various cities in Northeast Ohio starting in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s has been documented in books and newspapers for many years. One city that remained unexplored was the Akron and Summit County area. Now, there is a new book published by John Vallillo and available to order on the Amazon and Ba...

A long-time member of NIAF Board of Directors, Mr. Tosi is poised to help shape the future of the Rome City Institute and its students. With students from over 50 different countries, the Rome City Institute offers an innovative blend of international education and high-level collegiate sports, allowing students to balance collegiate athletics with...

Rumor has it (A.K.A, TikTok) that if you order a cappuccino in Italy past 11 a.m., the Italian baristas and servers will poke fun at you (that has never actually happened to me in my travels to Italy, and I order a cappuccino at dinner when I’m there, by the way). Fortunately, that’s not the case of Central Ohio’s first Qargo Coffee location, where...

2025 marks the 18th year of CWRU and the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures Program in Italian collaborating with Italian Film Festival USA (IFFUSA), the CWRU Film Society, and the campus student organization for Italian, La Dolce Vita, to host Italian Film Festival USA - Cleveland in Strosacker Auditorium.  This year we also thank the...

A brief history, on October 12, 1955 (Columbus Day), the City of Genoa, Italy became Columbus’ first Sister City. For almost 70-years now, the local “Greater Columbus Sister Cities International, Inc” (GCSCI) organization has established a long-standing cultural relationship with Genoa that includes one hallmark event, the local bi-annual Columbus...

Pete and Philomena Corrova look out over the dining room at TAT Ristorante di Famiglia, the way they might have 96 years ago when it first opened in another part of town. Their son, Jimmy, and his brothers, Frankie and Tony, are part of the tableau. Jimmy always said at least one member of the family should be in the restaurant from open to close....