Mangia! Inside Luciano Pavarotti’s Italian Kitchen
“There’s one thing I have to say about Luciano’s favorite foods—it’s all about Modena,” Nicoletta Pavarotti tells me on the phone from the very town of Modena, where she shared a home with her late husband and has lived since the great tenor passed away 12 years ago. Best known to contemporary American audiences for being the set of Aziz Ansari’s...
10 Reasons We Should All Have Salento in Our Lives
It’s easy for an Italian Enthusiast to fantasize about Italy. Whether we’ve been to the big cities of Italy and brought back everlasting memories, or we’ve memorialized the dolce vita lifestyle commonly depicted in cinema, the idea of Italy garners in many of us feelings of happiness. But for the seasoned Italian traveler, it’s not so easy to choos...
Scaturo’s: 25 Years of Dining in Sturgeon Bay
If you’re familiar with the dining scene in Sturgeon Bay, chances are you’re familiar with Scaturo’s. Robert and JoAnne Scaturo’s family-owned restaurant does it all: breakfast, lunch, dinner, bakery, catering, fresh take-home food, a traditional fish boil and even a seasonal food truck called Scat’s Got Your Tongue. This spring marked the start o...
Tony Provenzano Is One Of The Most Colorful Characters In 'The Irishman' — Who Was He In Real Life?
In Martin Scorsese’s latest mafia movie, "The Irishman," loosely based on a true story, there's a whole host of fascinating, dramatic characters. Of course, there's the titular "Irishman," Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) a mob hitman, and the man he took credit for killing: Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), the mafia associate and union leader whose mysterio...
Word of the Day: Cioè
Cioè (tcho-eh) is one of Italy’s most common intercalari, those words we like to throw here and there while we talk, but hey! It has a real meaning, too. Cioè is the contraction of two words, ciò, this/that, and è, “is,” the third person singular of the verb to be. Its meaning corresponds to the English “that is,” “that is to say,” or “namely,...
Delizioso: Aldo’s Italian Kitchen Will Make You Smile
Have you tried the Eggplant Parmesan at Aldo’s Italian Kitchen? It’s outta this world! And the Chicken Piccata? Forget about it. Close your eyes and take a bite and you’ll think you’re sitting in a deli in Parma, Italy. Actually, it was in a similar place that Aldo’s owner, Emanuele Cognetti, was raised, and his entire life has been focused around...
Love, Italian style from MidVille author
“Finding Forever: A 1970s Love Story” is a new book from the mind of Middle Village resident Anthony Sciarratta. He describes his book, published by Post Hill Press, as “the Italian version of ‘When Harry Met Sally.’” The main character, loosely based on himself, is a neurotic Italian American who falls in love with a quirky Broadway actress. He’s...
Call for proposals for the “Italia in mostra” contest of ideas
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation – Directorate General for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation, in association with RO.ME - Museum Exhibition, presents the first edition of “Italia IN Mostra”, a contest of ideas aimed at acquiring projects for exhibitions aimed at promoting Italian cultural heritage abroad, t...
Italian Restaurant Il Pomodoro Now Open In Grove Market
After living in Florida for the past 23 years, Sal Tuto recently opened his new Italian restaurant in the Grove Market Shopping Center on Seminole Pratt Whitney Road. Il Pomodoro is a family friendly space with an expansive menu for all tastes. The restaurant opened only a few weeks ago, but it has already become a local hotspot. “I felt very stron...
Umbria, il museo che racconta quando a emigrare eravamo noi
I fenomeni migratori sono sempre esistiti. Anzi, sono alla base dell'evoluzione umana. Oggi il tema è ampiamente dibattuto, e occupa molto spazio nell'agenda politica di ogni nazione. In Italia, l'argomento è caldo, caldissimo, e spesso chi si accende particolarmente quando afferma che il fenomeno migratorio verso l'Europa va arrestato, dimentica d...
Our boys from Jefferson Street: reckoning with the murder of Jimmy Hoffa and a culture of tarnished men
I had answered a request in the summer of 2017 for “Italian-American extras” for Martin Scorsese’s Netflix production of The Irishman, a film based on the biography of Frank ‘The Irishman’ Sheeran’s I Heard You Paint Houses, written by Charles Brandt. My interest in the book and film centered on the accounts of Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa’s murd...
This is why Philly has so many pizzerias
Philly has a lot of pizzerias. It’s not something the city is known for — tomato pie is a whole different beast — but anyone who lives here can speak to the idea. “I literally have a pizza shop on my block, and there’s many others.” said Carolyn Wyman, a nationally-recognized food historian with seven books to her name. “I live in South Philly and...