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Tony Danza was brought to tears while learning about the struggles his maternal grandfather endured on his journey to become a U.S. citizen during an appearance on Season Eight of the PBS show “Finding Your Roots.” While chatting with the show’s host, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Danza explained how he always thought his grandfather, Antonino Camisa, cam...

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The South dominates the podium of Italians' favorite destinations ahead of the Easter vacations. These are the data provided by Jetcost, a search engine for airfares, hotels and car rentals. Once again this year, the study shows, our compatriots will favor Italy, with as many as 14 Italian destinations among the 25 most searched for ahead of the ho...

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On his isolated Sicilian hilltop, Francesco Spadafora is fueled by a cocktail of passions: He’s a reflective nature lover, a creative cook and an exacting, self-taught winemaker. “I have three nicknames here,” jokes Spadafora, looking up from an iron gas-burning stove on which he is fussing over lunch on a bright winter’s day. In the kitchen with f...

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Louisiana native Charles Marsala has done a lot to promote the history of Italian life in the Bayou State.  From creating hours of documentary videos to a mobile app that provides a free walking tour of over sixty Italian American points of interest in and around the Crescent City, the President of the American Italian Federation of the Southeast n...

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A serial restaurateur, Joey Maggiore is embarking on his most personal venture yet: The Sicilian Butcher. A tribute to his late father, the restaurant celebrates his Italian heritage and the foods he would cook for Maggiore as a child. “He gave his life for Italian food and culture,” Maggiore said of his father. In every location of The Sicilian Bu...

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And to think that everything started from a bowl. Quas'at, that's what it was called. At least originally, when it was a very simple cake, very different from the opulent dessert we know today. Sheep's milk ricotta and honey, nothing else. A perfectly fitting combination that over the years has evolved to become the symbolic dessert of Sicily, whic...

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From cannoli to almond biscotti, passing through cassatelle — semi-circular dough pockets filled with ricotta — we owe much of Sicily’s wonderful pastry culture to the creativity of cloistered nuns who, since at least the 13th century, turned the simple ingredients they could source locally into signature desserts.  As explained in a recent Aleteia...

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Pasqua (Easter) is perhaps the most celebrated holiday in Italy, with La Settimana Santa (Holy Week) rites commencing on Palm Sunday and ending on Easter Sunday. Sicily and Sardinia are particularly well-known for solemn displays of religious devotion during this period. Local customs blend with Catholic rites to create unique traditions celebrated...

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Katie Parla is quickly becoming one of the great modern encyclopedists of regional Italian cooking. Her own cookbooks include Tasting Rome (with Kristina Gill) and Food of the Italian South, and she also authored National Geographic’s Walking Rome: The Best of the City and Eater’s “The 38 Essential Rome Restaurants.” In addition, she’s co-written a...

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If you’re an avid wine lover, then you know that Sicily is one of the most well-regarded wine regions in the world. With its beautiful rolling hills, amazing food, and climate, Sicily offers a wide variety of wines that can satisfy the most discerning palate. My article looks at some of the hidden gems of the Sicily wine region so you can explore l...

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