Mazzini Charitable Foundation Hosts Spring Fling
The Mazzini Charitable Foundation celebrated a Spring Fling at the Bayfront Convention Center Saturday. The Italian American organization is best known for awarding scholarships to students and honoring an Italian American of the year, but Saturday was all about dancing. It featured a supersized version of the Ruby Port Band with the Rudler Brother...
An ‘amazing public orator’: UC Berkeley Italian studies professor Steven Botterill dies at 60
Steven Botterill, a UC Berkeley professor of Italian studies, died at age 60 on May 5. Botterill came to UC Berkeley from England in 1986 to become an assistant professor of Italian studies, according to Albert Russell Ascoli, a professor and colleague of Botterill’s for 23 years in the campus department of Italian studies. He added that Botterill...
Sons of Italy, Akron Lodge 685's initiation/scholarship dinner
The Sons of Italy, Akron Lodge 685 held its initiation/scholarship dinner on May 2 at The Venue in Tallmadge. Scholarship recipients are selected by a committee that reviews GPA, recommendations, accomplishments and activities, and essays on their career choice and their Italian heritage. Zachary Conti, son of John and Andrea Conti, was awarded a s...
I Madonnari Is the Chalk of the Town This Weekend at Santa Barbara Mission
Thousands of spectators strolled along the Santa Barbara Mission’s plaza Sunday to watch artists at work during the free I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival, which runs through Monday. Roughly 140 large-scale images are being drawn with pastel chalk, and they stretch across the pavement in front of the mission. The 32nd annual gathering —...
Tribute to American soldiers
“Outta’ My Mind on a Monday Moanin’” Along the Po River, bound for Chioggia, Italy. With over 60 of our WJR Travel Club Members, (some making a first stop in Rome, then meeting up with the rest of us for a couple days in Florence) all headed to Venice to catch our Uniworld River Cruise: “Venice & the Gems of Northern Italy.” We quickly learned jus...
Italy and Virginia, a friendship shaping the future
IN JULY, the Italian Navy tall ship Amerigo Vespucci — a three-mast, 331-foot school ship built in 1931 — left Italy and ventured on the long journey to the United States and Canada. A year later, the Italian Navy FREMM-class frigate Alpino, built by Fincantieri with state-of-the-art technologies, is engaged in a U.S. campaign tour and is moored in...
Fundraiser: Italian American club of Walpole
The Italian American club of Walpole has promoted the celebration of Italian American culture since its founding in 1921. The club is located at 109 Stone St. in Walpole, Massachusetts, and operates a banquet hall with a capacity for 98 people. The club also has four professional bocce courts, a member’s lounge, kitchen and outdoor sitting area fo...
Why Italy's Bodacious "B-List" Cities Should Be On Your A-List
No, its not just because the pizza you'll find in Italy's smaller cities will likely be cheaper than comparable pies in the big touristy ones like Florence and Rome. It's because to overlook places in Italy off the main tourist track is committing a travel sin of the highest order. Sure, I love Venice as much as the next person, but the summer thro...
Nearly 1,500 migrants rescued in Mediterranean in two days: Italian coastguard
Around 1,500 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean on Thursday and Friday in operations involving the Italian navy and ships chartered by NGOs and the EU border agency Frontex, the Italian coastguard said. On Friday alone, seven separate operations picked up 1,050 people as they tried to make the crossing to Europe. The operations were coordin...
IN SCENA! ITALIAN THEATER FESTIVAL NY Wraps 6th Season
The 6th Edition of In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY presented by Kairos Italy Theater and KIT Italia, had its most successful Festival to date showcasing a record 12 shows, brought over from Italy to NYC. The 15-day, 5-borough Festival, founded by KIT Artistic Director Laura Caparrotti and KIT Italia Artistic Director Donatella Codonesu, boast...
A passion for food, family and life made Bel Paese a York County institution
Sal Ferrante is passionate about tomatoes. He starts talking about the importance of tomatoes and how having the right ones make all the difference in the world between a good sauce or a bad sauce and, well, he says, "Let me show you." He imports his tomatoes from Italy. They're the best tomatoes in the world. He goes into the kitchen at his resta...
John Andreoli’s time
It was a sunny day on the back fields at Peoria, and I was standing near a scout from one of the Dominican League baseball teams. He was wearing out an American player he knew from previous teams, offering him fifty bucks for every batting practice home run he could hit. John Andreoli was in that player’s hitting group. When he stepped up, the scou...