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The Bronx Italian American History Initiative (BIAHI) is a new oral history project established by researchers at Fordham University in 2016.  Our goal is to capture the personal narratives of Italian and Italian Americans in an online archive that documents the Bronx neighborhoods where they settled, lived and worked throughout the 20th century. ...

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In this episode of The Italian American Podcast episode, I have two guests. Firstly I speak with Helene Stapinski, author of the wonderful book Murder in Matera, a true story of passion, family, and forgiveness in Southern Italy. In the stories segment, I speak with Danielle Oteri from Feast on History where she hosts Arthur Avenue Food Tours, and...

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The city is holding public hearings in all five boroughs to let New Yorkers give their two cents on whether potentially-offensive statues should stay or go. The commission created by Mayor de Blasio is reviewing “symbols of hate” on city property, and is expected to give recommendations on monuments to scrap or keep by the end of the year. “Our pub...

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An iconic Throggs Neck businessperson has passed away. Antonio ‘Tony’ Cortese, described by family as “a force of life in any and all his endeavors,” was the owner of the popular Amerigo’s Italian Restaurant at the corner of East Tremont Avenue and Sullivan Place, from 1980 to 1998. Cortese passed away from natural causes at the age of 89 on Friday...

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An effort is ongoing in the borough’s Italian-American enclaves to save a beloved statue of Christopher Columbus. Locals are participating in at least two petition efforts to implore a public art review commission established by Mayor de Blasio to keep a statue of Christopher Columbus in Manhattan’s Columbus Circle. The Sons of Italy placed petitio...

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Hundreds of New Yorkers sent a message to Mayor de Blasio on Sunday: Keep your hands off Christopher Columbus! One day before the nation celebrates Columbus’ discovery of the New World, lawmakers and parade-goers in The Bronx demanded Hizzoner ignore “over-politicized rhetoric” and ensure that the famed explorer’s statue remain in Columbus Circle....

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Mark your calendars – the Bronx Columbus Day Parade is coming up on Sunday, October 8! The 41st annual parade will step off at noon, marching on Morris Park Avenue from White Plains Road to Williamsbridge Road. At Williamsbridge Road there will be a reviewing stand that will include dignitaries and elected officials. The annual celebration of Itali...

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Luigi Ghidetti, the executive chef at Porto Salvo, hails from Terracina, a seaside city south of Rome, and draws his inspiration from Italian port taverns. That much is evident in the restaurant's nautical theme, which includes a 1921 replica diver's helmet above the register, port holes in the wall, a ship engine telegraph, a captain’s wheel, fish...

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Longtime Bronx Columbus Day Parade organizer Tony Signorile said when he arrived in America with his family in 1961, the statue of Christopher Columbus in Columbus Square was the second one he visited, after the Statue of Liberty. “What I learned both here and in Italy, was he was a voyager - he sailed from Italy to Spain with no money, got money f...

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A good, old-fashioned street festival can be just the thing a New Yorker needs as the seasons change. Well after Bikers For Bini at the Mall and shortly after the 41st Festa di Santa Rosalia wraps up on Monday, August 28 in Bensonhurst — that feast runs from 68th St. to 75th St. — so begins the build-up to the San Gennaro Festival in Manhattan's Li...

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