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by Alyssa Sage   John "Cha Cha" Ciarcia, guest actor on "The Sopranos" and owner of a bustling Italian restaurant in New York's Little Italy, died Nov. 21 at NYU Langone Medical Center following a brief illness. He was 75.   Dubbed the "unofficial mayor of Little Italy," Ciarcia's acting career included film appearances alongside long...

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Actors, directors and producers love tossing around the most overused word in Hollywood, "organic," to describe how naturally a project progressed. Yet few people are less slickly Hollywood than chef Lidia Bastianich on the least Hollywood network, PBS. Her PBS special "Lidia Celebrates America: Holiday Tables and Traditions" Tuesday, Dec. 20 (che...

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With Cooking Channel's Laura Vitale, what you see really is what you get. Vitale, a native of Italy but has been a resident of Atlantic County since age 12, is a self-taught 29-year-old culinary personality who earned her stripes as the star of her self-created Web series "Laura in the Kitchen."   Vitale, regarded for her mix of all-America...

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by John J. Moser   When comedian Joe Piscopo was appearing on "Saturday Night Live" in the 1980s, he says he did an impression of legendary singer Frank Sinatra with great trepidation. "I didn't even want to do him," Piscopo says. "I hesitated, didn't want to do him. And then I'm a good team player; they said, 'Joe, we need you to do hi...

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If Americans have learned that the fettuccine Alfredo sauce or chicken Marsala does not belong to the true Italian tradition, it is thanks to her. Italian 100%, not only in the beauty of the Mediterranean and solar, but especially in the vitality and warmth, Ornella Fado 21 years ago he left Rome and her career as a dancer who had brought in the mo...

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Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will host the U.S. Television premiere of filmmaker Edoardo Ponti's short film Human Voice, starring Sophia Loren as part of the networks five-film tribute to the actress tonight, April. 21. The evening is scheduled to kick off at 8 p.m. (ET) with the U.S. television debut of the internationally acclaimed Human Voice (20...

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ABC's The Chew star Michael Symon will soon be opening an Italian restaurant at Atlantic City. The 46 year old restaurateur, author, and James Beard awardee who was born in Cleveland has partnered with Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City to open his first Italian restaurant. Symon hasn't thought of a name for the restaurant yet, bu...

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La Italia de Lidia en América (Lidia's Italy in America) is the Spanish-language version of a programme designed to educate and entertain food-loving audiences. Bastianich takes viewers by the hand on a culinary journey through different American cities.   In each episode of La Italia de Lidia en América, the chef offers up the ingredients o...

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by Manny Alfano   to Christopher J. Dodd, CEOMotion Picture Association of AmericaDear Mr. Dodd: The Italian American ONE VOICE Coalition's sole focus is to battle negative stereotyping and discrimination against Italian Americans. It is the only national Italian American organization with this mandate.   As such we would like to...

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Debi Mazar and her brood spend at least a month in Tuscany each year, but if the "Younger" actress had her way, the region would be a far more permanent fixture in her life. "If I didn't have children in American schools, I would leave tomorrow," the New Yorker says.   While the charms of the Italian region are obvious, it's more person...

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