Lee Coppola: Exploring roots spurs a spiritual awakening
"But that's not the way I heard it said by my parents," I responded when told how to pronounce "hard-headed" in Italian. " 'Desta dutta' is the way they said it, not 'testa dura.' " Oh, the complexities of trying to learn to speak Italian in the sixth decade of your life. But as a second-generation Italian-American, as with most of my gene...
Bleed for This is a rugged, uplifting biopic on boxer Vinny Pazienza
It was Rocky Balboa who said, "It ain't how hard you hit, it's how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward." Of course, Balboa also said, at the end of the first Rocky film, that he didn't want a rematch with Apollo Creed. But they had one. They always do. There's always another fight, just as there's always another boxing film. ...
Il Volo Takes Off In The U.S.
Italian vocal trio Il Volo is headed Stateside in 2017 with a tour full of tunes from one of the group's greatest inspirations. The group will be performing material from its latest album, Notte Magica – A Tribute to The Three Tenors, which honors the legendary vocal trio. Il Volo released that album earlier this year and its performance of the co...
Quel capolavoro di C'era una volta in America
Il 17 febbraio del 1984, per la storia del cinema, fu contemporaneamente un gran giorno e un giorno sbagliato: un gran giorno perché ci fu la prima proiezione al pubblico, dopo più di 10 anni di lavorazione, di C'era una volta in America, di Sergio Leone, uno dei più grandi film di sempre; un giorno sbagliato perché, nelle due sale americane in cui...
Nonna’s Independence Day
by Carlo Rotella FOR REASONS that have to do with my family's immigrant history, the Fourth of July always reminds of my Sicilian grandmother, my Nonna. I used to sit at the table in the basement kitchen of her house in Queens, eating seconds and thirds of her pasta and sausage while the neighborhood cats looked down at us through the wind...
IASA Memorial Fellowship and Conference Travel Subsidy
IASA MEMORIAL FELLOWSHIP ($1000) IASA awards this annual fellowship to the author of the year's outstanding Ph.D. dissertation or MA thesis proposal in Italian American studies. We welcome all approaches to the field of study. ELIGIBILITY: Graduate students in any discipline whose work focuses on Italian American culture are eligible and...
Joe DiMaggio at 100: 7 Facts About the Yankee Clipper
by Tim Ott On November 25, 1914, Joe DiMaggio was born to poor Sicilian immigrants in San Francisco. He grew up to become baseball's most famous player, a graceful outfielder with a regal presence off the field, but behind the always-impeccable appearance lurked a complicated man. Here are seven facts about the life of this imperfect but c...
Tony Verna, Who Started Instant Replay and Remade Sports Television, Dies at 81
by Bruce Weber The Army-Navy game of 1963 was an important one in that season's college football landscape. With a Heisman Trophy winner and future pro star at quarterback, Roger Staubach, Navy, the No. 2 team in the nation, won by 21-15 and went on to face top-ranked Texas in the Cotton Bowl. (Texas won.) The Army game is better...
Say Hello to Marilyn for Me – The “Yankee Clipper” Revisited
By Niccoló Graffio Since I began writing for this blog, my articles have dealt mainly with famous indigenous inhabitants of Southern Italy/Sicily. It behooves me to mention, though, since the destruction of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1861, the majority of the members of our ethnos were born outside the borders of the modern state...
America’s 50 Best Italian Restaurants
By Dan Myers The Italian restaurant in America has changed in style probably more than any other genre of restaurant over the past several decades. Even as recently as 50 years ago, the term "Italian restaurant" conjured images of red and white checkered tablecloths, carafes of middling chianti, and a red sauce-heavy menu with classic...
Can we turn off the work ethic as Italian Americans? Do we need to?
In the last six months, as host of the Italian American podcast, I have spent a lot of time researching Italian-American culture, but I've also had the opportunity to talk to and interview many Italian Americans. There seems to be a major trait that most of these Italian Americans share: They have an intense work ethic, or what I refer to...
Lou Romano: Italian of the Week
It takes many people to create a film – Lou Romano is one of them.Lou Romano works in animation as a production designer and art director. Essentially, he helps create the visual world of some of our favorite animated films. Lou has worked on the Pixar classics Up, Monsters, Inc., and The Incredibles. He has contributed work to The Iron Giant and,...