NEWS FROM : EAST  

Filmed between Italy and the United States, Ferrante Fever is born from the same passion that devours the readers of Elena Ferrante. But the film doesn’t necessarily go in search of the identity of the “faceless writer,” whose novels have sold more than five million copies worldwide. The film is not looking to uncover the truth behind the pseudonym...

Celebrate everything Italian at a free, three-day festival moving from Mercer to Burlington County the weekend after Labor Day. The Burlington County Fairgrounds will host this major Italian-American festival for the first time Friday to Sunday, Sept. 7 to 9, rain or shine at 1990 Jacksonville-Jobstown Road at the intersection with Route 206 in Spr...

Marcello DeFeo wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but he says he felt like he was born twirling bucatini around a fork. His family came to America from Italy, and brought with it some amazing food. Now, DeFeo is sharing that food with the South Jersey community. DeFeo recently opened Valente's Italian Specialties in King's Court, Haddonf...

Some of the board members, committee volunteers and civic officials associated with La Festa Italiana raise the Italian flag on Courthouse Square in downtown Scranton, site of the festival to be held Labor Day Weekend beginning this Friday, Aug. 31, at 4 p.m. and continuing through Monday, Sept. 3 until 8 p.m. For more information, the entertainmen...

Italy is synonymous with history. We visit Rome and Naples and see remnants of an ancient civilization. But Italy has a modern side too, that comprises of some exceptional contemporary artists that art lovers should have on their radar. On the occasion of the International Day of Italian Contemporary Art, promoted by AMACI, the Embassy of Italy and...

The New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera, the house opera company of the Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC), opens in September the Bring the Family to the Opera. This well-received program introduces children and the extended family to live, fully staged performances of grand opera, as the composer intended. On September 13, 14, and 15,...

The St. Bart's Italian Festival is an annual tradition in Scotch Plains that bids farewell to summer and kicks off the fall calendar. Founded in 1974, the festival features live music, amusement park rides, games, and, of course, great food, including pizza, pasta, clams, mussels, calzones, and the festival's famous zeppoles. Additionally, there ar...

The mission of the Italian Trade Agency's campaign, "Italian Wine - Taste the Passion," is to educate consumers of the breadth, diversity and quality of Italian wines. Its aim is to increase awareness of the many excellent Italian wine varietals and wine-producing regions. The agency sent me four wines to sample: Masut de Rive Pinot Grigio, La Capr...

Every year in Easton, a dozen men from the Religious Society of San Placido hoist a statue of St. Anthony onto a float festooned with flowers — altogether weighing about 1,000 pounds — and take a 3-mile trek around the city’s South Side. Every year it gets a little harder as society members age, leaving fewer men capable of parading their patron sa...

Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA) is making history with its dramatic growth. Hundreds of delegates gathered in Buffalo, N.Y. at ISDA’s Biennial Convention last week, and were the first to hear the news: National President Basil Russo unveiled plans for three lodges — one in New York City and two in New Jersey — that will become new corn...

When Pete Lombardi, owner and founder of Lombardi Pizza Co., studied cooking and baking at Baltimore International College and hotel restaurant management at Fairleigh Dickinson University, he wasn’t planning on one day cooking up Neapolitan pies in the then-unknown-to-him Martinsville section of Bridgewater. Instead, the Edison resident planned on...

Mill Creek Residential, a leading multifamily investor and operator specializing in premier apartment communities across the U.S., today announced the start of preleasing at Modera Sedici, a luxury apartment community located on the esteemed grounds of the former Italian Embassy. Situated along venerable 16th Street in the nation's capital, the com...