Maria SS. Lauretana Festival Returns To Niles Labor Day Weekend
A centuries-old Catholic festival set to take place in Niles over Labor Day weekend has roots to the 1600s in Sicily and dates back 117 years to the Chicago area. The 117th annual Feast of Maria SS. Lauretana of Altavilla Milicia in Chicago will take place Friday, Sept. 1 to Monday, Sept. 4 on Church Street between the Golf Mill Shopping Center and...
Meet this baseball-loving 95-year-old — and Joey Votto’s biggest fan
When Ernesta “Ernie” Szabo was born 95 years ago into a large Italian family in Canton, Ohio, the world was a very different place. There were no microwaves, no computers and the invention of the television was still five years away. But growing up in a bustling household with six sisters and one brother, she soon discovered she shared a love of ba...
Is A Statue Of Christopher Columbus Next To Come Down? Protesters Hope So
As protesters around the country push for the removal of Confederate monuments, a group will rally near the Ohio Statehouse on Saturday against a different kind of statue: one of Christopher Columbus. Several cities like Lexington, Ky., and Baltimore, Md., have pledged to remove their Confederate monuments following the violent protests in Charlott...
Columbus Day expected to go away in Oberlin
Big crowds are anticipated for a Council meeting Monday night where the city’s leaders are expected to abolish Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous Peoples Day. Interim Police Chief Mike McCloskey said additional officers will be stationed at the doors of City Hall, where all visitors are asked to go through a metal detector. Visitors are re...
What should be done with Chicago’s Balbo Monument?
For decades, an ancient Roman column given to Chicago by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini has stood in Chicago’s Grant Park, but this week, the discussion of its merits and what to do with it has moved from social media and into the Chicago City Council. This morning, the Chicago Sun-Times published a story which indicates that 14th Ward Alderman...
Can You Win A Meatball-Eating Contest In Little Italy? Try This Weekend
Festa Italiana — featuring a meatball-eating contest and lots of other food — returns to Taylor Street this weekend, but with a shorter schedule then in recent years. The fest, in its 13th year, runs 5 to 10 p.m. Friday; noon to 11 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 10 p.m. Sunday. The fest, which also features Italian dancing and music, will take over Tay...
A taste of Italy comes to farmers market
Mama Mia, what a weekend it was in downtown Farmington last Saturday as we celebrated Italian American Day under Mediterranean blue skies, a market full of sunflowers and the "close your eyes" feeling of being in an old-world European marketplace. People came to market early, ushering in with them, the early morning warmth of a rising sun. There wa...
Chicago Is Now Home to Rome’s Best Pizza Al Taglio
It’s finally here: America’s first, and highly-anticipated, pizza restaurant from acclaimed Italian pizza maker Gabriele Bonci opens in Chicago’s West Loop today. The pizzeria, called Bonci, will serve the same pizza al taglio — baked in rectangular pans and cut into slices with scissors — that has earned Bonci Anthony Bourdain’s approval, not to m...
Dishing It Out at Pastificio for 40 Years
When Patricia Galli offered to help her stay-at-home mom start her own business, her mom said “no, grazie.” “I didn’t send my daughter to college to work hard physically,” said Elsa Amidei, who is glad she changed her mind about letting Patricia join Pastificio, the Highwood take-out eatery that specializes in Northern Italian cuisine. “My daughter...
Philly native brings Italian ice recipe to Northwest Indiana
The sweet and cold mixture of Italian ice can be as refreshing as taking a dip in Lake Michigan under the sweltering summer sun. Three years ago, Brian and Jodi Tillman brought their version of this frosty culinary delight to Northwest Indiana when they opened Jodi's Italian Ice Factory in Hammond, located at 7322 Calumet Ave. The factory in Hammon...
Franklin: A community turns to St. Rocco
Three days before the 690th anniversary of St. Rocco’s death, four men carried a small statue of the medieval man down the steps of St. Mary parish, across the intersection of Church Square and Pleasant Street, through a school parking lot, and onto the field of grass and woodchips that has served as an annual fairgrounds for 39 years. One hundred...
Toledo institution Inky’s Italian Food celebrates 60th anniversary
More than a dozen Toledo mayors have come and gone since 1957, but not much has changed at Inky’s Italian Food on North Detroit Avenue. Inky’s still gets all its ingredients from the same local providers that worked with the restaurant in the 1950s. The menu has not been updated in decades. Even the electric sign hanging from the roof dates back to...