Close

I’ve always considered myself Sicilian more than American. Growing up in Baltimore in the mid-20th century, that old world setting blended slowly into modern society. Timeworn traditions crashed into the space age of plastic, planned obsolescence. Nothing lasted. Throw it out. Buy now, pay later, the layaway plans of consumer heaven. A place where...

517

The lawsuit between Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA) and the city of Pittsburgh regarding the fate of the Schenley Park Columbus statue is in the discovery process, and a rally was recently held at the historical site where protestors demanded that the tarps be removed from the monument. Judge John McVay, who is presiding over the suit,...

852

After a group of protesters threw Little Italy's longtime Columbus statue into the Harbor two years ago, the statue has been recreated by a local sculptor. Meanwhile, Baltimore's Italian-American community wants to put a new statue of an anonymous Italian immigrant in the plaza where the Columbus statue once stood. John Pica, president of the Itali...

571

Launching a business venture, whether one has experience or not, can be a difficult undertaking and the road to the ribbon-cutting ceremony is filled with many twists, turns, and potholes. Throw into the mix opening a new business in an almost post-pandemic period and it’s understandable why it’s important to have dotted the I’s and crossed all the...

648

Sunday April 24, 2022. 12:30 PM - 04:30 PM. St Leo’s School Hall - 908 Stiles St, Baltimore, MD 21202. The Foundation Board of Directors has approved two fundraisers in the coming 2 years. Our first Scholarship Foundation event will be held in the St Leo’s School Hall on Sunday April 24, 2022 from 12:30-4:30pm. The event will be chaired by Tim Elli...

559

On April 14, the Walters Art Museum will open “Activating the Renaissance,” an exhibit that brings together paintings, sculptures, and photography by contemporary artists with works from the Italian Renaissance. A majority of the six contemporary artists – Jessica Bastidas, Tawny Chatmon, Bernhard Hildebrandt, Murjoni Merriweather, Stephen Towns, a...

532

Frances H. Vitale, a familiar figure in Little Italy and Patterson Park, died Feb. 28 at Stella Maris Hospice of complications from a fall. Her kindness and care for her community were motivated by her deep and abiding Roman Catholic faith. The Lutherville resident was 91. “Frances was a living saint, and I don’t often say that about people, and sh...

526

M. Joseph “Joe” Sperato Jr., a popular all-around athlete who had been an assistant soccer coach at the Community College of Baltimore County Essex and was an athletics facilities supervisor also enjoyed coaching neighborhood kids in soccer, died in his sleep Monday at his Highlandtown home. He was 62. “Joe was everyone’s friend,” said the Re...

637

I am so accustomed to hearing people trash Baltimore that it’s refreshing to hear someone defend it. That’s especially true when that someone has been here as long as Vince Fava and his family. His ancestors immigrated to Baltimore more than a century ago from Cefalu, Sicily and, like so many of their peers, set up shop downtown. More than 10...

588

When snow fell on my hometown in Massachusetts, kids used Flexible Flyer sleds, wooden toboggans, metal discs, rubber inner tubes, plastic dishpans and their daddies’ coal shovels to sail down the snow-covered hills. I thought I’d seen everything in the way of sledding vessels until I moved to Maryland years later and witnessed a shower curtain dep...

528