Il Cenacolo: the men and now the women
This year, 2018, marks the 90th anniversary of San Francisco’s premier Italian cultural club, Il Cenacolo. This impressive and important milestone was celebrated on December 7th with a stunning Christmas Gala at the St. Francis Yacht Club. In attendance were members, their spouses, and several notable guests including San Francisco Italian Consul G...
Restaurant review: Tony Tutto Pizza still pleasing people through pizza
In keeping with commonplace thoughts of warmth, generosity and mirth come holiday season, it brings me joy to write about the second rendition of Tony Tutto Pizza. The mid-October reopening in downtown Ross has brought a sigh of relief to those who had to face the disappointment of the original pizzeria’s closure in Mill Valley in early 2017. Greg...
The Passion of Mike Piazza: How the midlife crisis of a baseball Hall of Famer led to the demise of a 100-year-old Italian soccer club
When Mike Piazza arrived in Reggio Emilia, he was greeted as a hero. It was June 18, 2016. Everyone remembers the exact date. Piazza had just purchased a controlling interest in A.C. Reggiana 1919, the Italian city’s soccer club. Few locals had heard of him. Even fewer understood his Hall of Fame career catching for the Mets, Dodgers, and three oth...
The Sacred And Profane In Italian Popular Culture
A feature of life in Europe and North America over the past fifty years or so has been an attempt to blur the lines that separate opposite sides of long-established binaries: man-woman (gender roles and identities), culture-nature (anthropogenic climate change), and right-left (bipartisan populist politics) are just some examples of the binary stru...
Pizzeria Delfina Touches Down in Downtown San Francisco
It’s officially possible to get a taste of Mission favorite Pizzeria Delfina in downtown San Francisco: Annie and Craig Stoll’s fifth location is now open at 688 Mission Street, joining Pizzeria Delfinas in Pacific Heights, Palo Alto, and Burlingame. The new restaurant offers 46 dining seats, 14 counter seats, and will eventually include a 22-seat...
The Blood-Right Citizenship System That Creates A Shortcut To One Of The Most Powerful Passports
Italian citizenship is for many South Americans an appealing loophole that leads to an easy visa-free entry to many countries, first and foremost the United States. Passports are not all worth the same; they are ranked according to their power of letting citizens into the largest number of countries without a visa, or with as little bureaucracy as...
Larry Racioppo’s Photographs Document Decades Of Change In Brooklyn
Photographer Larry Racioppo loves his native Brooklyn and has made it his life’s work for nearly 50 years to document the borough’s transforming neighborhoods as well as his family and friends who have called it home. His latest book, Brooklyn Before, Photographs 1971—1983, was released earlier this year and illustrates a very different, pre-gentri...
Harnessed horse unearthed in ancient stable near Pompeii
Archaeologists have unearthed the petrified remains of a harnessed horse and saddle in the stable of an ancient villa in a Pompeii suburb. Pompeii archaeological park head Massimo Osanna told Italian news agency ANSA that the villa belonged to a high-ranking military officer, perhaps a general, during ancient Roman times. Osanna was quoted on Sunda...
Neighbors give emotional goodbye to Sabatino’s on Northwest Side
After 49 years, Sabatino's is closing its doors for good. A red awning on Irving Park Road has long marked the entrance to the Italian-American institution on the Northwest Side. Its sign, which for decades displayed congratulations for weddings and graduations, now simply reads, "THANK YOU FOR 41 YEARS." A festive and busy lunch hour was served wi...
Q&A: Chazz Palminteri. The actor and writer on the musical version of A Bronx Tale, opening this week at AT&T Performing Arts Center
Proud Italian-American actor, writer and Academy award nominee Chazz Palminteri is excited to have North Texas audiences see the new musical version of A Bronx Tale, the latest incarnation of a personal story that’s become, over the past two decades, his life’s work and legacy. Lucky for us, the musical opens just as the turkey coma should be weari...
Italian Hall Christmas Eve disaster site gets new monument, 73 victims' names displayed
A special Christmas Eve ceremony is planned Monday to dedicate a 4-ton granite memorial to the 73 victims of the Italian Hall tragedy - the worst disaster this small village has ever seen. The dedication service, planned for noon, comes on the 105th anniversary of the terrible event, which occurred during a 1913 Christmas Eve party for the families...
A River of Fire in the Land of Bells: The ’Ndocciata, Agnone’s Ancient Fire Ritual
In the Molise region of southern Italy, in the Province of Isernia, stands the ancient hill top town of Agnone. Rich in history, art and culture, it is perhaps most famous for the manufacturing of bells. In fact, Agnone is known as the "town of the bells” and boasts the world's oldest foundry, the Pontificia Fonderia Marinelli, which some say dates...