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Organizers of a popular festival in Pittsburgh are still hoping to stage their event this year despite the coronavirus. Every August, Bloomfield hosts four days of ethnic food, music and fun. But this year’s Little Italy Days have been put on hold because of the coronavirus. Organizer Sal Richetti says the event is now tentatively planned for Octob...

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You can find Pittsburgh-based muralist and graphic designer Brian Gonnella’s artwork on walls as far away as New Zealand. His work is colorful, fun, and even Rick Sebak-approved. When he painted a sweet mural of the local icon holding up a sandwich and posed in a yoga position above floating pierogies and a banner reading "Zen of Yinz" a few years...

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It’s been two years since the bronze statue of Pittsburgh-born composer Stephen Foster and a barefoot black man playing a banjo was removed from Schenley Plaza. The statue was denounced for decades, but the criticism gained steam in the aftermath of a deadly protest in Charlottesville, Va. over the removal of Confederate monuments. The city held pu...

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A statue of Christopher Columbus in Schenley Park has been vandalized. The statue was sprayed with red paint and multiple phrases including “Murder.” It comes as other local statues like the Doughboy in Lawrenceville and the Mario Lemieux statue at PPG Paints Arena have been desecrated. Columbus statues have now attracted attention nationwide, as s...

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Experience a preview of our upcoming publication Highlights from the Italian American Collection: Western Pennsylvania Stories through our new Google Arts & Culture exhibit, "Italian Americans in Western Pennsylvania." Thirty years ago, the History Center embarked on a project to preserve and interpret the history of Italian migrants that settled i...

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Ciao Amici! This year, the Italian American Program is celebrating 30 years as a part of the History Center and, in honor of this milestone, we are publishing a book entitled Highlights from the Italian American Collection: Western Pennsylvania Stories. While we might not be able to host a public event as we originally intended, we are offering a v...

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Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine report initial success in animal trials for a vaccine to neutralize the virus that causes COVID-19. During tests in mice, the vaccine was shown to produce antibodies specific to SARS-CoV-2, known as the novel coronavirus. University researchers said the mice responded with antibodies su...

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The Italian American Studies Association (IASA formerly the American Italian Historical Association AIHA) celebrates its fifty-third year of academic inquiry into all things Italian and Italian American. We welcome independent thinkers, scholars, and academics, past and present, to participate in its annual conference. The conference will focus on...

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Did you actually get to the bank?” “Nope. Just to the flower stand.” Jimmy Sunseri never tires of this exchange whose punchline is a foregone conclusion. “The big joke here is I’ll say I’m going to the bank and be back in 15 minutes. [The cashier] will say, ‘See you in an hour’,” said Jimmy, with his signature unlit cigar stuffed into one cheek. He...

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The Italian Club has been active on Pitt’s campus for 106 years, but until the day Charlie Partridge walked Habakkuk Baldonado through the front door, it never was used as a recruiting tool for the football team. Partridge, Pitt’s defensive line coach and assistant head coach, said it’s an experience he never will forget. Partridge was ushering Bal...

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