Onesti emerges as King of the Italian Summer Fest
Coming off a triumphant Father’s Day weekend on Oakley Avenue, Ron Onesti is gearing up for a pair of blockbuster Italian-themed summer fests in August. Onesti Entertainment’s Oakley Avenue Festa Pasta Vino was another runaway success, attracting more than 20,000 attendees with its irresistible combination of headline entertainment, authentic cuisi...
Fantastic Food, Exciting Entertainment and More at Festa Italiana July 20-22
Festa Italiana is excited to combine new selections with old favorites to this year’s festival on Milwaukee’s lakefront July 20-22, celebrating food, family and tradition. To kick off Festa week, organizers are offering a one day, $5 ticket promotion on Monday, July 16. The $5 tickets can be purchased online at www.festaitaliana.com starting at 12:...
Pecori Fioretti offers sage advice to Loyola grads
When Nicki Pecori Fioretti graduated from Loyola University with an MBA in finance in 1996, she never dreamed she’d be returning in triumph two decades later. But return she did, as the director of community affairs for the Illinois Housing Development Authority, to deliver the commencement address to the Class of 2018 at Loyola’s Quinlan School of...
My father’s Italian legacy
I’ve had more than a few good cries since my father passed away in early May. He lived a long life and he was busy and robust until the end, and I’m grateful for that. But in some ways, it makes the loss even harder to bear. Tears still flow over the smallest of things, like driving to Joseph’s Finest Meats for the first time without my dad’s sausa...
Mt. Carmel Catholic Church Festival is July 13-15, 2018
When it comes to summer church festivals, longevity and tradition matter. But so does having a good time. Just ask Tom Rizzo, the longtime festival chairman at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church. “As I like to say, ‘come for the cannoli, stay for the entertainment,’” he said. The parish is celebrating its 71st annual festival this weekend, an...
Plan your weekend: Festa Italiana at Freedom Hill
It’s time to celebrate the red, white and green! Pasta, opera, Sunday mass and a cannoli-eating contest are among the activities in the lineup for this weekend’s FESTA ITALIANA at Freedom Hill County Park. Food is a star of the annual festival presented by the Italian American Cultural Society, and local restaurants and vendors will be offering som...
Artists flock to Mantua street festival
Local and traveling artists will set up work under white tents Saturday morning for the start of Mantua’s street festival, Art on the Hill. Debbie Haylett, an oil painter and embroideress from Mantua, will arrange paintings, wine coasters, embroidered T-shirts and personalized stuffed animals and portraits along Prospect Street. "It is special for...
Things to Do, July 12: Italian-American fest
Mangia! The Italian-American fest in and around Lock 3 in downtown Akron will run Thursday-Saturday. Food vendors will set up and music will include Straight On, a Heart tribute band, at 8 p.m. Thursday; Satisfaction, a Rolling Stones tribute band, at 8:30 p.m. Friday; and a Frankie Valli tribute band at 8:30 p.m. Saturday followed by fireworks. Ac...
Giasone’s to offer adult-only, upscale Italian experience
Co-owners Jason Gray and Derick Crumpacker see a fine line in how to offer an upscale dining experience: they want to strike a balance between casual elegance while avoiding the pretension that some may associate with higher-end restaurants. And the pair, along with their CFO Terri Caskill, may have nailed that balance with Giasone’s Ristorante, th...
As an immigrant, I will never forget the pain of being separated from my father
It was more than 60 years ago — March 27, 1956 — and my family was waiting at the Port of Palermo in Sicily to board the SS Queen Fredericka. We were emigrating to America. An official-looking man at the gate checked our papers — first those of my mother, then those of us five kids. He probably checked my papers last, since I had been crying nonsto...
Shrine remembers Vietnam casualty Thomas Davino
Parishioners at the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii marked two important anniversaries Sunday, June 3: Italian Republic Day, commemorating the vote in 1946 when Italy established a republic as its government, and the 30th anniversary of the death of local resident and U.S. Army Sgt. Thomas Davino, killed in action in the Vietnam War. On hand during a...
CIAO awards $1,000 scholarships to Allen County teens
The Charitable Italian American Organization of Lima awarded $1,000 scholarships to 12 area students during the organization’s awards banquet on May 16, at the Knights of Columbus Hall. Nicholas Azzarello, Nikiyja Carter, Nicholas Dove, Gabrielle Goecke, Faith Gossard, Alexa Hawk, Michael Johnston, Madison Langhals, Ethan Mangette, Savannah Meeker,...