The Great Caruso
Enrico Caruso was born in Naples Italy in 1873 into a working class neighborhood. His father was a mechanic who expected his son to follow his trade. His mother objected and he was sent to be educated where his clear angelic voice was discovered in a church choir, and his singing career was born. Whether or not you are Italian or an opera buff, the...
Luscious Restaurant Quality Italian Dishes Are Now On board American Airlines
Major airlines frequently experiment with their meal offerings in the premium cabins, linking with world class chefs to produce top of the line dishes that can survive microwave oven reheating and the inevitable dulling of passengers’ taste buds at 30,000 feet. It’s a real challenge; some chefs succeed, others, no matter the number of Michelin star...
Holy Rosary crib tradition a holiday classic
This real photo postcard of the Holy Rosary Church’s Christmas crib was taken during the 1941 holiday season. Missionaries of St. Charles founded Holy Rosary Parish, located at 911 E. Missouri Avenue, in the 1880s to serve the Italian immigrants in Kansas City, who settled near the old Market Square (now City Market) area. Still standing after the...
Florence’s Finds: 4 Great Vacation Stops
For tourists, the best months to visit the breathtaking city of Florence are May, June, September and October. That is because the days are warm and long. July and August are very humid, to the point that even Florentines tend to leave the city and seek the cool of the Apennines or the coast. This means that, very often, many restaurants and shops...
Franklin County restaurant’s Toys for Tots campaign helps donate more than 600 toys to local kids
Melanie Mitchell grew up like most Italian Americans, eating dishes that challenged your stomach. When her mother re-married Ray, a Texan, they all learned very quickly about each other’s cultures through food. Christmases were spent eating everything from pasta to barbeque, which is now what you get at their Franklin County restaurant, Napoli Cowb...
FIAO spreads Christmas cheer with party at Il Centro
Lucky children got to see Santa Claus in person at a recent holiday party hosted by the Federation of Italian American Organizations at the organization’s community center, Il Centro. It was an afternoon filled with fun and laughter as Santa Claus happily posed for pictures with smiling children in the spacious community room at Il Centro, 8711 18t...
Along the Prosecco DOC trail in Veneto, Italy
Prosecco is big business in north-east Italy. While the region of Veneto isn’t necessarily known for its gastronomic prowess, the surrounding area’s wine production is generally exceptional. Produced in Veneto, Friuli and Venezia Giulia (named after the village of Prosecco in Trieste), the wine’s popularity has grown exponentially in recent years,...
Naples restaurants: Grappino Regional Italian Cuisine grows Aielli empire
Fabrizio Aielli is chef and owner to three of Naples' most prominent restaurants: Sea Salt, Dorona and Barbatella. Last week, he welcomed a fourth into the fold, Grappino, with a menu focused on Italian comfort foods. “It’s a very classic, very homey Italian menu,” Ingrid Aielli said. Fabrizio's wife and business partner, Ingrid has helped launch...
The Meaning and Melodrama of an Italian-American Christmas
Grandma Bruni lived in a working-class neighborhood in a two-family home that I’d struggle to describe — it was that ordinary, that humble. But it was known for blocks in every direction, at least around this time of year, and not because she went wild with multicolored lights or put one of those sleigh-plus-Santa monstrosities on the roof, the way...
Totowa Public Library Plans Annual Italian Family Style Dinner
The Borough of Totowa Public Library Foundation, together with the Borough of Totowa Public Library, are hosting its ninth annual Italian Family Style Dinner on Monday, Jan. 20, 2020 at The Brownstone. Doors open at 6 p.m. This year, they will be presenting the Mayor Sam Cherba Award to the American Legion Post #227 for their generosity to the Toto...
'How I ended up in hospital in Italy – without health insurance'
Having a medical emergency in Italy before you've got to grips with the healthcare system is many foreigners' nightmare. Mark Hinshaw, an American resident in Le Marche, explains what happened when he found himself in an Italian emergency room – without health insurance. The boy asked me: “Why is your face red? Did you run here?” I had just arrived...
Italian food is in Felix Glorioso's blood, as he carries on at the family market
Felice Glorioso has worked his entire life at the family business, Glorioso’s Italian Market, 1011 E. Brady St., and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He learned meat cutting from his mother, Mary, and the produce and Italian food business from his dad, Joe, and his brothers, Ted and Eddie. There were tiny detours along the way — a brief time auto...