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It was 10 a.m. on a typical warm May morning, and Jerry Colangelo cruised down North Central Avenue in his all-black Mercedes-Benz with tinted windows. He's listening to faint music by Frank Sinatra on the Siriusly Sinatra SiriusXM Radio channel.   "I always have Sinatra on," Colangelo said. "The Italian neighborhood [near] Chicago I'm...

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This year, the mega-fundraiser Celebrtiy Fight Night is raising the stakes even higher with a special, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: Celebrity Fight Night in Italia 2014!   For the first-ever Celebrity Fight Night outside of Phoenix, Ariz., you will fly to Florence, Italy, on a privately-chartered Boeing 767 jumbo jet (all first-class seat...

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By Casey Logan    In 1910, Antonio and Nunziata Pirruccello emigrated from Sicily. They arrived in Omaha's emergent Little Italy neighborhood, where they started a few businesses, owned a number of properties and raised nine children of various talents. More than a century later, the offspring of those children, and the one surviving s...

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The scene: Pizzeria Bianco is one of the most important restaurants to open in my lifetime in terms of transforming America's food scene. Recent years have seen a proliferation of high-quality foods in places outside their traditional regions, places they might not be expected to excel.   The obvious example is barbecue, which can now be fou...

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A backdrop of canals, outdoor dining, authentic Italian food and classic and contemporary Italian entertainment create a Venetian ambiance in Scottsdale during the annual Italian festival.   In its third year, the Italian Festival of Arizona will take place on March 19 and 20 at the Scottsdale Waterfront. The event is organized by the I...

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The 16th hole at the Waste Management Phoenix Open was packed well before 11:30 a.m., but that's when the fans who got there early enough to grab seats got their money's worth. Italian golfer Francesco Molinari's tee shot with a pitching wedge landed on the green, then gently rolled into the cup for a hole-in-one.   Read more   Sourc...

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Downtown Phoenix has a new spot for pastas, salads, and steaks in Mancuso's restaurant, now open at the Collier Center. The Italian restaurant comes from the Mancuso family, who have owned and operated several restaurants around the Valley since the 1960s.   Mancuso's, which is located at 201 East Washington Street, takes over the space most...

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Sanfratello's Pizza, a family-style restaurant that originated in Chicago in the 1960's, is expanding to the Valley. On January 17, 2015, Sanfratello's will open its first Arizona location, a take-out and delivery at 857 Warner Rd. in Gilbert, AZ.   Sanfratello's is well-known for their signature product, a thin crust "party cut" (square cut...

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Way back in the 20th century, before smartphones, iPods and Facebook, Tuscan-born Franco Fazzuoli introduced Valley diners to an unknown foreign cuisine: Italian. Prior to Franco's arrival, what passed for "Italian" fare in this town was actually Italian-American: fried mozzarella sticks, spaghetti and meatballs, veal parmigiana and sauce-drenched...

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In this crazy busy world, sometimes there is nothing better than a big, soothing bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. You know the kind, where the sauce has chunks of real tomato and bits of fresh basil leaf; the al dente noodles curl around the fork; and there is no stinting on the meatballs, dense and beefy and glistening in more sauce. A shower of f...

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