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Growing up and even more so later in life I often reflected on what exactly did it mean to be a third generation Italian American. I knew that meant I was a descendant from family that was from Italy. Through my early genealogy research, I was able to document and layout my family roots back to Italy. In doing so there was some sense of closure of...

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Two years after a group sued to try to keep the Christopher Columbus statue in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park over city officials’ objections, an Allegheny County judge has thrown out the complaint, clearing the way for the statue’s removal. A spokeswoman for the mayor’s office said they are reviewing the opinion and considering next steps. Common Plea...

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Stephanie Longo of Dunmore was recently recognized by both the Association of Former Citizens of Guardia Lombardi and the town of Guardia Lombardi for her work in preserving Italian and Italian American heritage. Ms. Longo’s grandfather, the late Joseph Anthony Longo, a prominent barber in Dunmore, emigrated to the United States from Guardia Lombar...

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It’s official: October is now Italian American Heritage Month in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania! ISDA member Stephanie Longo and Rep. Kyle Mullins (PA-112) brought this historic occasion to fruition. This proclamation recognizes the numerous contributions of Italian Americans to the state’s history, as well as NEPA’s local history. The Pennsylvan...

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Alvaro Bread & Pastry Shoppe in uptown Harrisburg will soon have two stops for its Italian pastries and pastas. In the coming months, Alvaro will open a larger outpost at 4715 N. Front St. in Susquehanna Township near the Glass Lounge Restaurant, said Vincenzo Alvaro, a manager. “To be honest, we’ve been looking for five to seven years,” he said, a...

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In recent years, the Columbus Day holiday – celebrating the man who discovered America — has taken a hit in some circles across the country. Some governments have changed the name of the holiday to Indigenous Peoples Day. Others, like Montgomery County, have removed Columbus Day from the list of official holidays and replaced it with Junteenth. In...

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Rossini’s “Otello” premiered in 1816, and the musical adaptation of Shakespeare's famous play was a hit for seven decades. Then Verdi’s version debuted in 1887 and was acclaimed as a pinnacle of the art form, causing Rossini’s version to recede into a rarity.Opera Philadelphia excavated it Friday night at the Academy of Music for its O22 festival i...

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A Sharpsburg native is paying tribute to his hometown with a documentary highlighting an Italian American immigrant who brought over more than just luggage with him from Italy. Pete Ferraro, an Emmy-award winning filmmaker, producer and writer, will premiere his documentary, “il Messarggero” — “The Messenger” — Oct. 1 on WQED. Ferraro spoke Italian...

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An author with deep South Philadelphia roots explores grandfather’s experience fighting with the U.S. Army during World War II and her Italian-American heritage in a new book released this month. “The Time Left Between Us” by Alicia DeFonzo, an NPR contributor and English professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, took more than a d...

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A contingent of Italian farm implement manufacturers made a 4,000-mile trek to the U.S. this week, hoping to expand into America’s eastern machinery market. On Sept. 13, representatives of the Italian Trade and Investment Agency and 11 representatives of Italian machinery manufacturers hosted Pennsylvania farmers and equipment dealers at a luncheon...

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