Michael Chiarello, Celebrity Chef and Former Food Network Star, Dies at 61
Michael Chiarello, a celebrity chef and former Food Network star, has died. He was 61. Chiarello died Saturday at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, Calif., where he was being treated for an acute allergic reaction that led to anaphylactic shock, his company Gruppo Chiarello announced in a statement. “We deeply mourn the loss of our belove...
Columbus Day was intended to encourage greater acceptance of immigrants: Basil M. Russo
Tomorrow, thousands of Greater Clevelanders will gather in Little Italy to attend our annual Columbus Day parade. The story of how the first Columbus Day celebration began in 1892 is a tragic example of the mistreatment of immigrants that needs to be told. Between 1880 and 1920, some 4 million Italian immigrants left impoverished towns throughout s...
IAP 295: If you’re not willing to laugh at yourself, don’t worry… we’ll laugh at you! (part 2)
Brandon Ficara thinks we Italian Americans have a special relationship with humor. Born in Philadelphia, and raised in Ocean City, NJ, this proud Italian American used humor to combat the tribulations of life at an early age. Born with Sprangles Deformity, a condition that required major back surgery when he was three years old, Brandon turned to h...
A Proclamation on Columbus Day, 2023
Today, we celebrate all the Italian Americans, whose courage and character reflect and help define our Nation. In 1891, 11 Italian Americans were murdered in one of the largest mass lynchings in our Nation’s history. In the wake of this horrific attack, President Benjamin Harrison established Columbus Day in 1892. For so many people across our c...
Let’s wholeheartedly embrace our Italian heritage month
As we usher in the Italian Heritage Month, dear readers, it’s our collective moment of reconnection, appreciation, and valorization of the cherished legacy that resonates in our surnames, the roots of our families, within the vibrant Italian-American communities that sustain our shared social identity, the language and dialects we’re acquainted wit...
Working on Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day? It depends on where your job is
Columbus Day, the second Monday in October, is one of the most inconsistently celebrated U.S. holidays. It’s one of 11 official federal holidays, which means federal workers get a paid day off and there’s no mail delivery. Because federal offices will be closed, so will most banks and the bond markets that trade in U.S. government debt. The stock m...
Mira Sorvino of 'Dancing with the Stars' shares how dad, Paul Sorvino, transformed her into Oscar winner
"Dancing with the Stars" contestant Mira Sorvino has followed in her late father’s acting footsteps, but she admits it wasn’t an easy journey. Mira, the daughter of late "Goodfellas" actor Paul Sorvino, shared how her father would criticize her acting – but in the nicest way possible. "If I was acting, he'd be really, really harsh," Mira told Fox N...
Francis Ford Coppola Reveals How Often He Thinks About the Roman Empire: “Quite a Lot”
Francis Ford Coppola has decided to reveal how often he thinks about the Roman Empire. The filmmaker took to Instagram Friday to join the TikTok trend by asking himself the viral question: “How often do you think about the Roman Empire?” “Quite a lot,” Coppola wrote in response. “As the Roman Republic served as the example for my country America an...
Mother of Blessed Carlo Acutis visits U.S., invites all to encounter Christ in Eucharist
The mother of an Italian teen on the road to sainthood recently toured several U.S. parishes to kindle increased devotion to the Eucharist, which was "the center of life" for her late son. Antonia Salzano Acutis, mother of Blessed Carlo Acutis, spoke at gatherings in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington and Texas during a Sept. 28-Oct. 4...
First Lady Jill Biden to Host First-ever Italian American Heritage Month Delegation at White House
Basil M. Russo, in his capacity as president of the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations (COPOMIAO), wrote the First Lady in July requesting that she host an event to celebrate her Italian heritage and honor the 18 million Americans of Italian descent. On Sept. 25, the First Lady agreed and graciously invited a large del...
Letter Written by Christopher Columbus Announcing Discovery of New World Heading for Auction Block
In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. A year later the legendary explorer wrote an astounding letter announcing his discovery of America. Now a rare Latin translation of that letter will be offered for auction by Christies, 530 years later, in a sale expected to fetch up to $1.5 million. In the original letter, written after his return to Europe,...
Wine cocktails are gaining traction in the USA
In a departure from trends since 2020, wine consumption in the United States is dwindling, while the popularity of wine cocktails is surging. In the world’s largest wine market, the industry is capitalizing on its adaptability to weather a consumption downturn (-7.3% in the initial half of 2023) and regain prominence, driven notably by the escalati...