Italian club takes off at DU
A Drexel University freshman has started an Italian club to serve as a vehicle to express Italian heritage and pride across campus. Mario De Lorenzo, studying computer engineering, started the “Italian Pride” club after realizing that the university lacked an organization dedicated to Italian culture, which made it challenging to stay connected to...
Italy and its tourists: the many types of visitors you’ll find in the Bel Paese
My experience with tourists started when I moved to Ireland, in a city known for its all-year-round, endless flux of visitors: certainly essential for the economy, they also brought a colorful touch here and there, with their awkward requests, strange dress sense and endless photo-taking sessions in the middle of the street. Back in Italy, I found...
Chicago’s First-Ever Italian Beef Festival to Benefit Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation
It’s as Chicago as “Da Bears” and the “Machine” that ran the city for decades – just a whole lot tastier. For uninitiated foodies, an Italian beef is a sandwich comprised of thinly sliced beef served in its own gravy on Italian bread and served “hot” (with pickled vegetables a.k.a. giardiniera), “sweet” (with grilled bell peppers), and then either...
Their unskilled immigrant ancestors came here and built America
Immigrants didn't always have to be exceptional to seek a new life in America. There was a time when an eager man or woman needn't speak English or hold an advanced degree to build a future here -- and to contribute to the nation's greatness. As calls for a merit-based immigration system mount, the notion that similar rules might have barred their...
S. Maria in Trastevere façade restored to former glory
The façade of the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere has been restored to its former glory after a restoration carried out by experts of the Rome Special Superintendent's office lasting a year and a half and costing 400,000 euros. Now the splendid medieval mosaics that run horizontally across the front can be admired in all their glimmering gold...
Viaggio brings new life to Highland Park location
On a beautiful but chilly May Monday evening, the flames in the outdoor heaters are ablaze on the patio at Viaggio in Highland Park. Inside, Lori Slavin, wife of co-owner Larry, works the room, greeting diners and taking the occasional order. “Something I haven’t done in 40 years,” she jokes. Opened on May 1, Viaggio is the sister restaurant to the...
Roman Marketplace/Dinner Theme a Successful Sell-Out for Hunger Relief Fundraiser
“When in Rome ... A Feast of Italian Flavors” raised approximately $100,000 for food banks in Southern Ocean County. The estimated net proceeds from the April 25 themed gourmet dinner and auction have been announced by The Hunger Foundation of Southern Ocean, presenter of the event. The amount raised by the 23rd annual dinner/auction adds to the pr...
5 Minutes With . . . Antonio Sabato Jr.
With a Hollywood and modeling career that has spanned nearly three decades, Antonio Sabato Jr. is now making a run at elected office. The 46-year-old Italian-American started out as a Calvin Klein underwear model and was a star on “General Hospital” before going on to become a successful actor and a household name. Now, Sabato is running for Congre...
Ciro Rocco, 97, truck driver, World War II POW
The first time Ciro Rocco came to the U.S., he was a prisoner of war. A truck driver in the Italian Army in North Africa during World War II, he was captured by the British during the Siege of Tobruk, Libya, in 1941. He was among the Italian soldiers who were turned over to American forces and brought to the U.S. for the duration of the war. “He sa...
Italy’s pizza in a cone is coming to Berkeley this month
You’re used to coffee on the go. Why not pizza? After years of dripping grease and folding triangular slices, the folks at Italy-based Kono Pizza developed an ingenious way of eating pizza. It’s in a cone. Seems like the kind of thing you’d see deep-fried at a state fair, but it actually started in Italy in 2004 and expanded to the United States ma...
Postcards from the Giro: Sicily is love
My first trip to Sicily was pre-GPS in the early 2000s. Desperately lost in the chaos of downtown Palermo on a congested one-way street, I yelled over honking horns to ask a policeman how to get to my hotel. “Well, you can go straight, left, left, and left again, then right … or,” he paused and waved his hands with the drama of an opera star, “you...
Enzo Ferrari conquista l'America
Enzo Biagi lo definì ‘uno dei pochi italiani da esportazione’. E quanto coniato dal grande giornalista per descrivere Enzo Ferrari è confermato da “Ferrari Rex – Biografia di un grande italiano del Novecento”, la monumentale quanto scorrevole opera scritta da Luca Dal Monte, già direttore della comunicazione Maserati e responsabile della comunicazi...