What’s an ethnic group to do when its icons are under assault? There’s the traditional approach, which relies heavily on anger-fueled protest marches. Then there’s the Enza Raineri way. If you were to codify the crisis management playbook of this longtime government official turned political consultant, it would read something like this: Get your f...

George Bochetto — the attorney representing Italian Sons and Daughters of America in its fight to block the removal of Pittsburgh’s Columbus statue — presented legal arguments to the judges of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania on Wednesday morning. ISDA’s legal position, in part, stems from a 1955 ordinance that permitted the statue’s construc...

Plainfield's Chapter of UNICO celebrated Italian Heritage Day & Columbus Day on Monday, October 9th. Thank you to all who came out to attend this event, which was held on the corner of Belmont Ave & Hamilton Boulevard. Thank you to Bob & April Bengivenga for sharing your property for this event. Thank you to Congressman Pallone for joining us (alon...

The Amerigo Vespucci Society (AVS) of Long Branch, New Jersey once again celebrated Italian American Heritage and Culture month in as many ways as they could. Their current President, Joseph Mossa, stated, "as the nation's oldest Italian American Mutual Aid Society, the AVS wanted to make sure it did all it could in October to celebrate and acknowl...

The Italian Civic League hosted its 82nd annual Columbus Day luncheon Monday. It was held at the Italian American Community Center in Gates. Quintino DiCesare, the civic league’s president and an Italian immigrant, says while the federal holiday started as a celebration of Christopher Columbus coming to America, it has since become a celebration of...

On the day the U.S. commemorates Christopher Columbus’ landing in the Americas, Italian Americans in the Chicago area are demanding the city return three statues of the explorer that were removed due to protests. In 2020, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered the removal of the statues from Grant Park, Arrigo Park and South Chicago. At the time, Lightf...

It was a weekend of celebration for the Township of East Hanover (NJ) which began with a packed Columbus Day Dinner Dance on Friday night and culminated with the 17th Annual Columbus Day Parade along Ridgedale Avenue on Sunday. The dinner dance was held at the Hanover Manor and had over 400 people dining, mingling and dancing to a fabulous Italian...

The unveiling of the Christopher Columbus statue at its new home in Johnston drew mixed reactions on Monday morning. People in favor take pride in the statue, saying Columbus is a symbolic figure of Italian heritage. “Our heritage is still here. Most of the people that live here are Italians… the old Italians, they live here,” said Lucy DaLessio of...

Hundreds of thousands of people celebrated their Italian heritage at the 79th annual Columbus Day Parade in New York City on Monday. It’s the world’s largest celebration of Italian heritage and it all happens on Fifth Avenue. Columbus Citizens Foundation is the nonprofit organization that puts on the parade. Marian Pardo is the board chair and says...

A half-dozen members of a group called the Italian-American Defense League gathered in Wooster Square Park to celebrate Columbus Day — and to renew their call for a return of the long-gone statue depicting that federal holiday’s namesake. The group charged with coming up with a new Italian heritage-celebrating sculpture for that same spot of Wooste...