Little Italy Historic District
Cities as diverse and far-flung as San Francisco, London and Melbourne have a neighborhood they call Little Italy. Now, Sacramento has one, too. In late 2021, the city council adopted a resolution designating a portion of East Sacrament —the area bounded by Folsom Boulevard and 48th, 59th and J streets—as Little Italy, in recognition of the role It...
SMAU | Italy RestartsUp in San Francisco
The week of May 22nd, San Francisco welcomed SMAU | Italy RestartsUp, an event dedicated to innovation between Italy and the Bay Area Ecosystem, organized by SMAU in collaboration with ICE, the agency for the internationalization and promotion abroad of Italian companies. Innovation and excellence of “Made In Italy” were at the center of the conve...
I Madonnari bring Italian chalk art back to the Santa Barbara Mission
The 37th I Madonnari Italian street painting festival is coming alive at the Santa Barbara Mission. It's referred to as a romantic Italian festival in line with a sister festival in Grazie di Curtatone, Italy. The event takes place for three days beginning Saturday and through the end of the Memorial Day weekend. Some of the artists have already be...
Italian Festival Coming Back to San Francisco’s North Beach in June
Music history has long been shrouded in myth—from the lore around Delta bluesman Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil to become a guitar master to the tall tale that Jimi Hendrix lived in Haight-Ashbury (he didn’t). Similarly, the story of how the accordion became the official instrument of San Francisco may sound legendary. But in this c...
San Francisco Opera's Italian Roots Celebrated in New Museo Italo Americano Exhibition
The Museo Italo Americano celebrates the 100th anniversary of San Francisco Opera with a new exhibition: BRAVO—Celebrating San Francisco Opera, Its Italian Roots and Legacy. Presented in partnership with San Francisco Opera and Museum of Performance + Design, the exhibition runs through October 22, 2023 at the Museo Italo Americano located at Fort...
An Italian Cowboy: The remarkable story of 1960 Olympian Battista “Tita” Pordon
For Battista “Tita Pito” Pordon, being named to the 1960 Italian Olympic Team was a dream come true. As one of Europe’s top young ski racers, it was a golden opportunity to make his mark on the world’s grandest sporting stage. The allure of skiing on an unknown mountain, nearly 6,000 miles away in Northern California, added to the prestige of the...
A.P. Giannini grew his bank by serving the little fellow, and put down roots in Palm Springs
Amadeo Pietro Giannini had seen disaster before. He’d survived an earthquake, the stock market crash and world war. And he’d done so with remarkable aplomb and grace. His childhood had been marked by struggle due to the violent death of his father. When his mother remarried, Giannini, who was known as “A.P.,” left school and worked furiously to bui...
A residency in Rome to uncover the Eternal City’s ancient voting culture
The voices that have endured from the Classical period describe what life was like in ancient Rome for their authors, who were literate and educated elites. But what about everyone else? One way to learn about life outside the privileged classes is to examine how people engaged with laws and politics, particularly voting. Finding the evidence howev...
AnniVenti La Trattoria Brings Authentic Italian Flavors To Lemon Grove
AnniVenti La Trattoria, the Italian restaurant owned and operated by three brothers, is now open in Lemon Grove. The restaurant is named after their family’s original restaurant located just 10 miles from Palermo in Italy, where the brothers grew up working. Emanuele Gagliano, one of the brothers, says, “It’s been our lifelong dream to bring the au...
Italy Run LA 5K Marathon in San Pedro
Celebrate this year’s Festa della Repubblica by connecting back to your Italian roots and showing your Italian pride through the Italy Run LA. Italians and Italian-Americans are an integral part of what makes Los Angeles the hub of Italian culture and heritage. Join the Little Italy of Los Angeles Association (LILAA) in filling the streets of San P...
Bedda Mia’s Italian Fusion Brings a Fresh Twist to Traditional Dishes
Alessio Casagrande was born and raised in Santa Margarita on the Italian Riviera. He comes from a long line of pastry chefs, butchers and cooks, so the kitchen was always his family’s gathering place; as a kid, Casagrande helped his mom and grandma make dinner every Sunday. In 2013, Casagrande moved to Santa Cruz, where he and his business partner,...
The Wizard of All
Talking wine and food with America’s most revered grocer, it is hard to keep up. A spry 81, Darrell Corti has an athletically agile mind. His knowledge is encyclopedic. His curiosity, voracious. Want to know the profile of an obscure olive cultivar or rare European cheese? Or perhaps about the flavors and shelf price of the first Conterno Barolo Mo...