It’s been empty since June of 2020 and the statue that once stood atop the granite pedestal is packaged away somewhere near the State Capitol. St. Paul restaurateur Pat Mancini knows that it is unlikely the 10-foot-tall bronze depiction of Christopher Columbus will ever return to its previous perch. But he wonders if the time has come to do somethi...

In his 1919 poem “The Second Coming,” William Butler Yeats describes our fledgling modernity as follows: "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold … The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity." The life of Mother Francesca Cabrini, who is the subject of the new film Cabrini,...

March 21, 2024, National Day of Action organized by the National Association of Immigration Lawyers (AILA) based in Washington DC. Attorney Brancaccio- Honorary Consul of Italy, chosen with other 200 lawyers to speak on behalf of immigrants. Divided into teams, they met Senators and Deputies starting from Washington DC and reaching all states.   At...

Dover Congregational United Church of Christ is proud to host a screening of the award-winning documentary, "La Mia Strada: My Road." Six-time Emmy Award recipient, Michael Angelo DiLauro will be on hand to share his feature-length documentary. The program offers a personal perspective on ethnicity and culture as it links ancient and contemporary I...

Franco entered the barn to gather the cows and lead them out to graze.  A few chickens followed him clucking and prancing at his feet. The 14-year-old boy gave three crisp, high-pitched whistles announcing his presence to the cows, which rustled in their stalls, turning their heads toward the piercing noise. They had been milked three hours ago and...

Casa Lago Press and Anthony Socci Announces the Release of the Italian History Nonfiction paperback, “United We Stand: Pre WW II-Chronicles of the Italian Colony of Stamford,” a comprehensive history of pre-WW II Italians of the City of Stamford, CT, available at bookstores currently (including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, alibis.com).  It is well known...

The Galata Museo del Mare in Genoa presents from March 14 to April 14, 2024, Giovanni Cerri's exhibition "L'Italia che partiva. Via mare verso l'America," bringing attention back to one of the most pregnant social and cultural phenomena of Italian history, which saw between 1876 and 1925 more than six million Italians leave their country to reach t...

As late as the 1940s, newspaper stories written about Buffalo’s Italian population were painted with wild strokes of exotic color. “Off in a section of the city where the rays of the sun, on a bright day, glisten down upon dilapidated housetops and seek their way into narrow streets and by-ways with which the place abounds, are colonized a people i...

At age 17, Constance Cassinelli came across letters dated as far back as 1899 addressed to her great-grandfather, Nicola Cassinelli, from his siblings. When she held them, she said it was as if the letter’s authors were giving her instructions: “Remember us. Remember us.” Right then, she decided to turn that request into a promise. Later, her fathe...

Madalyn Monto grew up outside New York City and knew she'd live there one day. After college in San Diego, she did just that and got a job in marketing. But she wasn't prepared for how rigorous her work schedule would be. And, like a growing number of Gen Zers and millennials, the absence of a work-life balance didn't sit right with her. She and he...