Beltrami County Historical Society to celebrate Beltrami Bicentennial
In August 1823, the 44-year-old Italian juror and aristocrat Giacomo Beltrami was on the Red Lake River, southeast of Thief River Falls. Actually, he was in the river, not on it. He had a buffalo hide rope tightly wound in his right hand, with the strap pulled taut across his shoulder and fastened to a birch bark canoe laden with supplies and artif...
The Cowboys of the Wild West in… Italy? A new exhibit focuses on the Butteri
Karen McWhorter, the Collier-Read director of Curatorial, Education, and Museum Services at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, walked into the center’s temporary photography exhibit space. “We'll walk through and check out a couple of these. Some are printed in larger format on metal,” McWhorter said as she started a quick tour of the newest phot...
Kansas City: Motori in Piazza
Kansas City's only all-Italian motorsports show--Motori in Piazza--returns on Sunday, June 4, Noon to 2pm, at Zona Rosa, in connection with UNICO KC's Festa Italiana (June 2, 3 and 4). Lamborghini, Maserati, Ferrari, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Ducati, Moto Guzzi, Vespa and Lambretta! Free admission and no cost or pre-registration to display vehicles. For th...
Caravaggio's 'Judith Beheading Holofernes', on loan from Rome, comes to MIA
The Minneapolis Institute of Art is borrowing a famous work by Italian Baroque master Caravaggio from Rome for a temporary display. On Friday, MIA announced that the painting “Judith and Holofernes,” also known as "Judith Beheading Holofernes" is currently on display on the museum’s third floor. The work, which was completed in 1599, is on loan fr...
An artist’s fight to save the culture of the Italian cowboy
For centuries, Italian cowboys — i butteri as they are called — have raised horses and herded cattle through regions of the southern European nation. There are many parallels one can draw from their culture and lifestyle with western American cowboys, but for a couple significant differences; these cowboys have more than 2,500 years of history in t...
Msgr. Sal Polizzi, who led efforts to boost The Hill in St. Louis, dies at 92
Monsignor Sal Polizzi, whose efforts to organize and preserve The Hill neighborhood in the city gained national attention in the 1970s, died Monday night at Mother of Good Counsel nursing home in Northwoods. He was 92. Polizzi, while associate pastor of St. Ambrose Catholic Church, was a founder of The Hill 2000 booster organization still active to...
Family remembers life, legacy of Malara's Italian Restaurant owner
An Omaha state senator honored the late owner of an iconic Italian restaurant in the city Friday at the Nebraska Legislature. Most knew her as Grandma Malara, who founded the business that bears her name near 22nd and Pierce 39 years ago. She died this month at age 87. Caterina Malara simply loved to cook, Italian food, to be exact, of which she ha...
Groundbreaking Ceremonies Held For Bocce Complex
Special Olympians were joined by coaches, City officials, contractors and business officials this afternoon (March 17) for the official groundbreaking ceremonies for the Special Olympics Bocce Complex. The facility will be located off Mount Rushmore Road near the parking lot of the old Memorial Park tennis courts. Various groups held official dirt-...
WWII combat veteran from Bayfield celebrates his 100th birthday
One hundred years ago, Prohibition was repealed – construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge – the first drive-in movie theater in the United States opened – and WWII veteran Herman Todeschi of Bayfield was born in the four-cabin hamlet of Cold Creek. The nearly lifelong resident of Durango and Silverton will celebrate the century mark Sunday wit...
Kansas City’s oldest St. Joseph Table tradition makes its grand, cookie-filled return
The Feast of St. Joseph, on March 19, is a major celebration for Italian Catholics in Kansas City. Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Columbus Park lays claim to the city's original “St. Joseph Table," with volunteers spending weeks baking 30,000 homemade cookies. Ahead of St. Joseph’s Day, the pews at Holy Rosary Catholic Church are already filled — b...
In the 1920s, a lawman in North Dakota had a dark secret — He was Al Capone’s brother
Can you imagine the stress on poor old Vincenzo Capone as he tried to hide his real identity? What would his fellow prohibition agent friends think if they found out the man they knew as “Richard Hart” — a guy fighting corruption and crime just like they were — actually shared a last name with the most notorious gangster of the era: “Capone.” And i...
St. Louis museum acquires second work by 18th-century Jewish woman artist
Few art aficionados can rattle off many names of 18th-century women artists. And one who is Jewish? That’s almost like chancing upon a yeti riding a unicorn. Having bought a Torah ark curtain by Simhah Viterbo (1739-79) in 2019, the Saint Louis Art Museum is sticking with the Jewish artist, whose husband and son were rabbis. In December, it bought...