Meet “Manila John” Basilone: A World War II Marine Hero
Banzai! Banzai!” screamed the Japanese at the top of their lungs as they launched a ferocious night attack against Marines dug in on Guadalcanal. It was October 24, 1942, and the intensity of the Japanese assault in the darkness was terrifying. Through it all, however, Sergeant “Manila John” Basilone—his fellow Marines gave him that nickname becaus...
Small Italian Town Unveiling World’s Largest Christmas Tree Display
Trumpets will sound this Saturday in Gubbio on the Eve of the Immaculate Conception, as the world’s largest Christmas tree display once again comes to life. The attraction, which takes up an entire mountainside in the medieval Italian town, is 2,100 feet tall and more than 1,000 feet wide. The tree display shines throughout the holiday season, unti...
The beauty of Mike Easton’s Il Nido
FOR A LONG TIME, the Alki Homestead served fried-chicken dinners, the old-fashioned, family-style kind with plenty of side dishes plus, of course, biscuits with butter and jam. The décor of that era inside the circa 1904 West Seattle building — a sort of log-cabin manor, constructed of Douglas fir — might best be described as Extreme Grandma, with...
Martin Scorsese Working On Documentary About 1970s-Era New York City Music Scene
Martin Scorsese has really turned up the volume on projects themed around music and rock and roll in recent years. Following his and Mick Jagger‘s debacle of an HBO series in the quickly-canceled VINYL after one season in 2016, Scorsese will now look to further explore New York City’s vibrant music scene of the 1970s in a forthcoming documentary. A...
One Hundred Years of Panettone
What do you mean, one hundred years? It is common knowledge that panettone was likely created back in the Renaissance, possibly at the Milanese court of Ludovico Sforza: that’s much more than 100 years! Well, it’s true: our delicious, beloved panettone, symbol of Christmas festivities, soft, buttery goodness of our holidays does come from the Renai...
Iozzo’s Garden of Italy celebrates 10 years of business, beloved family recipes and movie-worthy backstory
Back in the 1930s, Iozzo’s Garden of Italy was the place to get dressed up and go out to eat in downtown Indianapolis. Originally located at 323436 S. Illinois Street (where the Hyatt hotel currently sits), Iozzo’s was the largest restaurant in the Midwest—with a dining room that sat 500 people and a banquet room that could seat 350 more. There wer...
These Italian Sisters are the Toast of the International Film Scene
It isn’t entirely unheard of for siblings to find success separately in the spotlight; look at Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine, Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, or even Beyoncé and Solange Knowles. When it comes to talent making their way from overseas to find acclaim in the crowded U.S. film market, however, it’s a much smaller club. So, when the It...
Pope visits place of first Nativity Scene, in Italian town of Greccio
During his brief trip to Greccio on Sunday afternoon, Pope Francis paused to pray at the site where Saint Francis of Assisi created the first nativity scene. The small grotto resembles the tiny cave of Bethlehem where the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus. Frescoes from the 14th century adorn the cave’s walls, depicting Mary breastfeeding the Christ...
Anthony Scotto poised to open Italian restaurant One10 in Melville
Amazingly, Anthony Scotto has not opened an Italian restaurant on Long Island for more than 50 years. A herd of steakhouses, catering halls to seat thousands, yes. But One10 in Melville, which will open Wednesday for special events (and in early January for lunch and dinner) is the first Italian concept he’s launched since Scotto’s Pizzeria and Res...
Lou Ragusi, whose Capt’n Nemo’s submarine sandwich shops fed generations, has died at 88
In 1971, Lou Ragusi opened Capt’n Nemo’s, a restaurant that promised customers “A Whale of a Sub.” The Army veteran used to joke about how he came up with his restaurant’s name. “I couldn’t get my rank in the service,” he’d say. “So I bought it.” Since then, Capt’n Nemo’s has served hundreds of thousands of sandwiches at the original Rogers Park lo...
Nonna's Kitchen bringing traditional Italian cuisine to Spearfish
Feeding the multitudes, as Nancy Manzari puts it, is no problem. She has been doing that with her good Italian cooking for years. Next month, Manzari’s new restaurant, Nonna’s Kitchen, will bring traditional Italian cuisine to Spearfish, with a soft opening planned for Sunday, Dec. 15 at 544 N. Main St. “I’ve always done this for free, I might as w...
Bandleader, rock ’n’ roll pioneer Jimmy Cavallo, of Pompano Beach, dies at 92
Longtime Pompano Beach resident Jimmy Cavallo, a rock ’n’ roll pioneer and charismatic bandleader who entertained South Florida audiences past his 90th birthday, died Monday afternoon at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale. He was 92. Cavallo died of congestive heart failure brought on by a recurring battle with pneumonia, a family spokesman s...