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Team Saint Rocco’s 81st Feast and Festival is now in the books and as Co-Chairman Richard Montella offered Monday afternoon: “This was one to remember; for as long as I have records, this was our most successful event to date.” A record, Montella said with a wide smile on his face, “which was achieved despite many variables we can’t control.” Team...

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The south section of Atwood Avenue is lined with American and Italian flags. However, it’s the iconic banner — hung over the heavily traveled road around this time every year —that is living proof the ageless Saint Rocco’s Feast and Festival will be back in 2021 after last year’s hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the ageless fun, fam...

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Anthony “Nappy” Napolitano stood at the podium inside the historic and nationally famous Italo-American Club of Rhode Island in Providence Monday night and declared, “the greatest contribution I have made to this club is George Lazzareschi Jr.” That statement set off one of many standing ovations, as Napolitano and Lazzereschi embraced on a night p...

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A new Trattoria Romana is now open and serving lunch, dinner and brunch in Johnston, at 1571 Atwood Ave. If that address sounds familiar, it's because it has been the home of Osteria Toscana since 2015. Chef Luciano Canova's Torre Restaurant Group has rebranded the 100-seat restaurant to capitalize on his Trattoria Romana brand. The Johnson locatio...

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Chef Luciano Canova has raised the bar for fine Italian dining in Rhode Island, taking his high standards and homemade Italian recipes to Johnston. I told two friends who had eaten at Trattoria Romana in Lincoln and they both described the restaurant as “authentic.” They moment you walk through the door, you know that you are in a special place, a...

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There were several mighty milestones celebrated Sunday inside Our Lady of Grace Church in Johnston. First and foremost, the Pannese Society – which dates back to 1909 and was founded on Providence’s Federal Hill by an Italian immigrant named Giuseppe Anzevino – held its annual Mass and Breakfast Buffet in honor of La Madonna del Bosco, the patrones...

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There was something for everyone at the annual Saint Rocco’s Church Feast and Festival, a timeless tradition that completed its seven-day stay Sunday in Johnston. For Anna DeRobbio, 88, of Cranston, it was an opportunity to break bread with her friend Etta Branca, 90, and enjoy a sandwich featuring a freshly made roll from The Original Italian Bake...

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It’s Joseph Spremulli’s most favorite day of the year. It’s equally the same for his wife Eleanor, who like her husband enjoys helping people in need, no matter what the season or reason. So Sunday, the Spremulli’s met their long-time friend William “Bill” Costantino of Columbus Doors as well as Our Lady of Grace’s Pastor Rev. Peter J. Gower for an...

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The rather unique two-sided invitation featured a red fireworks explosion, white stars on a dark blue card and read: “Donna is 60! Let’s party!” Even the flip-side featured a photo surrounded by those same red explosion-like lines and a photo with the words “Fabulous at 60!” Perhaps that invitation was a sneak preview of what 125 guests actually wi...

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It was entitled “a reception”, the type of event Linda Folcarelli has hosted, chaired and worked on time and again during her unique and seemingly endless extraordinary career of community volunteerism. The event, though, was much different than those Folcarelli, who is a part-time civilian employee with the Johnston Police Department, has ever bee...

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