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One-hundred years ago, a church was built to accommodate a growing Roman Catholic congregation. Albany architect Andrew Delehanty designed the building, Our Lady of Mercy Roman Catholic Church in Colonie; and Italian immigrants were among those who helped build the church and then later attended worship services there. Since 2009, it has been the h...

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Giuseppe “Joe” Ritmo has been a barber for 60 years, but you won’t hear him calling cutting hair a job. “When you do work that you love to do, it’s not work,” said Ritmo. He’s owned Ritmo’s Barber Salon on New Scotland Avenue since he was 21. “I see it as a privilege to do so many people that the haircut has become a secondary thing,” said Ritmo. M...

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New York State Sen. George Borrello announces the New York Conference of Italian-American State Legislators is accepting applications for four $4,000 scholarships, two academic and two athletic. Scholarships are available to residents of the 57th Senate District who are current college students or high school seniors entering college.  Students can...

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Rosanne Hargrave soprano; Michael Clement piano. Sunday, November 7th, 2021 at 3:00 pm. American Italian Heritage Museum - 1227 Central Ave, Albany NY 12205. Reservations Required: (518) 435-1979. Admission check must be mailed in prior to the event. $12 Admission| Dessert Reception | Masks Required Delight in the glory of Italian Opera and Neapoli...

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The American Italian Heritage Museum sits inside an old church building on Central Avenue in Colonie. Much like the people it represents, the building has blended into the scenery while still having a distinct identity of its own. The credit for this goes to Philip DiNovo. A retired professor from SUNY Morrisville, he felt the need to record and pr...

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Founder and president Philip J. DiNovo began the mission in 1979 when the American Italian Heritage Association was founded “with the expressed purpose of recording and preserving Italian heritage.” In 1985, he established the first museum of Italian American history and culture in Utica, New York, selecting the city because of its large Italian Am...

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My Italian restaurant is better than yours!  Those are fighting words! Everybody has a favorite place for pizza or pasta.  Whether it is a small hole-in-the-wall pizza joint down on the corner, or a fancy ristorante dripping with crystal glassware and chandeliers, we each have our favorites. I have been eating Italian food for over 60 years, and I...

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The Rappoccio family said a tearful farewell to their family restaurant after celebrating their 50-year anniversary just three months ago. Sam’s Italian American Restaurant in Albany couldn’t find the staff or handle the rise in food prices the pandemic brought with it to make it another year. Today, the sounds of a full table laughing, and even ha...

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Sam’s Italian American Restaurant opened April 6, 1971, and has been run by the same family since. It will observe its 50th anniversary from April 6 to 10 with three-course meals for $19.71. (The regular menu will also be available.) Entrees on the anniversary menu are spaghetti with red or white clam sauce, cheese tortellini with mushroom cream, b...

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The gravitational pull of Cardona’s Market is strong on most of the men in the eponymous family. This spring, as the store celebrates its 75th anniversary, the third generation is officially taking over. Augusto Cardona founded the food market downtown in 1945, a few years after arriving from his native Italy to New York’s capital, where his brothe...

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