Massive explosion rocks Mount Etna as volcano ERUPTS after earthquake
Photos posted by residents show the black and grey smoke spewed over the blue skies as Etna blew her top on Christmas Eve. Seismic activity has been rocking the active volcano for the past few days, with lava seen bubbling up from its crater. Locals have reported hearing a "massive explosion" – and those used to living the shadow of the volcano hav...
Christmas Eve the most wonderful night of the year
In early December our store and most of the others in the neighborhood began to take on a holiday look. My father always decorated the large windows with laurel roping and a wreath on the door. Inside, there were baskets of figs imported from Italy and sacks of hard-shelled nuts, the most popular being walnuts and hazelnuts, or nocciole. Later in t...
Owner of Gelotti of Essex Named Winner of Gelato Fest, Now Heading To Italy
Gelotti has been invited and will be participating in Gelato Festival World Ranking in Italy next month, store officials announced. On a rainy day in August, Chef Mike Guerriero, and his Gelotti team prepared for Gelato Festival America 2018 at Liberty State Park, https://www.gelatofestivalamerica.com the first stage on the American Gelato Festiva...
Panorama of Bridgeton's History
Bridgeton, a Cumberland County city steeped in history, was originally inhabited by the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation. Some 300 years ago, European settler, Richard Hancock, built a sawmill in the area now known as Bridgeton. Throughout its history, Bridgeton had transformed itself from a city whose economy was based on fishing, hunting, and...
Italy's First Female Racer Was a Driving Advocate for All Women
Maria Antonietta Avanzo only wanted two things in life: she wanted to win, and she wanted more women to find their niche in racing just like she did. Avanzo, like many female racers, fell in love with her first set of wheels at a young age. Born in 1889 in Italy, she hopped on her father’s De Dion-Bouton tricycle nearly as soon as she could sit upr...
Livin’ la vida locavore: Stasio’s Italian Deli
I have a confession. I’m obsessed with anything and everything Italian, to the point where I’ve secretly wished my family was from Italy just to justify my obsession. I adore the hyper-local attention on ingredients, customs, boisterous gatherings with mounds of food, the language. Some people are Francophiles, others Anglophiles. But me, I’m an It...
Medium Rare Trip to Italy: Cinque Terre
I hope Cinque Terre always stays a little bit under the radar. That it remains in that "Italy's best kept secret" category. So, I figure, what better way to keep things secret than to go out there and publish a 1,000 word blog post raving about it. Cinque Terre means "The Five Towns" in Italian. Each town has, maybe, a few thousand residents. To go...
Il Cenacolo: the men and now the women
This year, 2018, marks the 90th anniversary of San Francisco’s premier Italian cultural club, Il Cenacolo. This impressive and important milestone was celebrated on December 7th with a stunning Christmas Gala at the St. Francis Yacht Club. In attendance were members, their spouses, and several notable guests including San Francisco Italian Consul G...
Restaurant review: Tony Tutto Pizza still pleasing people through pizza
In keeping with commonplace thoughts of warmth, generosity and mirth come holiday season, it brings me joy to write about the second rendition of Tony Tutto Pizza. The mid-October reopening in downtown Ross has brought a sigh of relief to those who had to face the disappointment of the original pizzeria’s closure in Mill Valley in early 2017. Greg...
The Passion of Mike Piazza: How the midlife crisis of a baseball Hall of Famer led to the demise of a 100-year-old Italian soccer club
When Mike Piazza arrived in Reggio Emilia, he was greeted as a hero. It was June 18, 2016. Everyone remembers the exact date. Piazza had just purchased a controlling interest in A.C. Reggiana 1919, the Italian city’s soccer club. Few locals had heard of him. Even fewer understood his Hall of Fame career catching for the Mets, Dodgers, and three oth...
The Sacred And Profane In Italian Popular Culture
A feature of life in Europe and North America over the past fifty years or so has been an attempt to blur the lines that separate opposite sides of long-established binaries: man-woman (gender roles and identities), culture-nature (anthropogenic climate change), and right-left (bipartisan populist politics) are just some examples of the binary stru...
Pizzeria Delfina Touches Down in Downtown San Francisco
It’s officially possible to get a taste of Mission favorite Pizzeria Delfina in downtown San Francisco: Annie and Craig Stoll’s fifth location is now open at 688 Mission Street, joining Pizzeria Delfinas in Pacific Heights, Palo Alto, and Burlingame. The new restaurant offers 46 dining seats, 14 counter seats, and will eventually include a 22-seat...