Italy: Beauty Beyond Postcards
Italy is a country rich in culture and history that should be unveiled to the entire international public: too often tourists only end up visiting Rome, Florence and Venice. It shouldn’t happen to someone who was born and raised abroad, but since the first time I've heard drums rolling during a show of Sbandieratori Italiani on tour in Australia, I...
Italian-American of the Year
The 35th-annual Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival officially kicked off on Wednesday at the McLure Hotel as nearly 200 festival supporters gathered for a dinner to honor the 2017 Italian-American of the Year, former Ohio Sen. Lou Gentile. “We are very happy to see Lou Gentile honored as Italian-American of the Year for all that he has don...
Review: Patsy's Ristorante in East Longmeadow fills craving for Italian comfort food
For more than a quarter century the Liquori family has been hosting an Italian Sunday dinner experience six days a week at their East Longmeadow restaurant, serving the hearty, festive fare that's long been central to Italian-American family life. Located in a private residence converted to restaurant use, Patsy's is a compact yet attractive place...
The Palio Of The Contrade: Passion, Intensity, And Intrigue
No one knows for sure when it began or exactly why, but official record formalizes the event starting in 1310. By that time, it was already an institution. I’ve wanted to witness the spectacle firsthand since I learned of it more than 30 years ago. The Palio of the Contrade, the raw, primitive, visceral horse race with murky origins wrapped in myth...
Rockin’ the sister city: Stamford band to play at festival in tiny Italian town
In a little town beside the Apennine mountains in west-central Italy, more than 4,000 miles away, you will find a whole bunch of Stamford people next month. The occasion is an age-old festival in Settefrati, a town that in the last century sent more people to Stamford than it kept for itself. The population of Settefrati now is less than 800, and t...
Italy's Coffee Culture Brims With Rituals And Mysterious Rules
Coffee — it's something many can't start the day without. In Italy, it is a cultural mainstay, and the country is perhaps the beverage's spiritual home. After all, Italy gave us the lingo — espresso, cappuccino, latte — and its coffee culture is filled with rituals and mysterious rules. Caffé Greco is Rome's oldest café. Founded in 1760, it's also...
Save Venice Celebrates Il Gran Gala a Venezia: A Venetian Affair
From June 25 to June 28, 2017, more than 125 Save Venice supporters from around the world gathered in Venice for the biennial Gran Gala a Venezia: A Venetian Affair. These four unforgettable days were filled with engaging expert-led visits to Save Venice’s restorations around the city, sumptuous meals in beautiful Venetian settings, and evening per...
Italy's annual calcio storico tournament -- part football, part MMA -- is a brutal sight to behold
A young man lies spread-eagle in the center of a sand-covered arena, blood streaming from a gash above his eye. The guy who opened up this wound is straddled across his chest, pinning him down. All around them, more men are brawling in a terrifying tangle of fists and knees, shoulder charges and thrown elbows. Lending a surreal edge to this scene i...
Italian Foods in New York That Take You to Italy
Where would you find the largest population of Italians or people of Italian origin outside Italy? Surely, it must be the US. Therefore, travelers who are not fortunate enough to have made it to Italy to savor authentic Italian cuisine must not have any regrets when they are traveling in the US. They can derive the same satisfaction of original rec...
70 years since Tropicana pioneered mass production of Florida orange juice
For 70 years, Tropicana has been adding to the American breakfast by getting freshly-squeezed orange juice from Florida into grocery stores across the U.S. The brand was created by Italian immigrant Anthony Rossi, who developed flash pasteurization and pioneered orange juice transport in 1970 via train from Florida to New York. "He figured out how...
Volunteers Prepare For 119th Tontitown Grape Festival
With three weeks to spare, volunteers are starting to prepare the homemade pasta for the 119th annual Tontitown Grape Festival. Volunteer Jettie Franco said participating in the festival is a way to share a piece of her Italian heritage with her family and the community. "I think that's what happens in a lot of nationalities, they don't pass down t...
Franny’s Replacement Will Also Be Italian and Full of Wine
With the news that 14-year-old Brooklyn pizza trendsetter Franny’s will close comes the flip side of that coin: Former Epicurean Group (L’Artusi, Dell’anima, Anfora) co-owner Joe Campanale is taking over the space, partnering with former L’Artusi executive chef Erin Shambura, who also has experience at Lupa and Del Posto, for an Italian restaurant...