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World War II reached from end to end of the Italian peninsula, leaving devastation in its wake. With the Allies’ aid and support through the Marshall Plan in 1946, structural reconstruction and governmental reform began. The monarchy was abolished by popular vote. Benito Mussolini’s death minimized the Fascist Party. America supported the democrati...

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This weekend I had a moment of simultaneous panic and joy. My book, The Italians of Newark: A History, is now available for pre-order. I’ll be honest, when I saw it online, I felt the blood drain from my face. It has been 16 months since I signed the contract with The History Press, and another eight to twelve months of research before I made my pi...

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When I was growing up in Humboldt County, I did not learn much from my parents about their lives in Italy; however, I was exposed to the Italian language every day, especially at mealtimes when my father and mother spoke in the dialect of the Trentino region of northern Italy. Although I always spoke to them in English, my memory stored the Italian...

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Nick DiMatteo grew up in the 1940s in a little town by Naples, Italy and made his way across the Great Pond to America while in his twenties. He set up his first shop in Saratoga Springs the late 1970s, more than half-a-lifetime ago.   “I got to Ellis Island September first in ’68,” DiMatteo says, seated in his shop at number 119 Church Street, whe...

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Sal Lapio is taking it easy now, heading to work at 7 a.m. and heading home midafternoon, a sharp contrast to when he was running a gas station that was open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. six days a week. Two things justify the new routine. He’s 79. And, as the founder of Sal Lapio Homes, he’s the boss. Yet, he still goes to work five days a week and does...

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We are thrilled to feature Lauren Braun-Strumfels, the brilliant author of “Partners in Gatekeeping,” who shares her fascinating journey into Italian culture and immigration. Together, we uncover the allure and complexity of Italian culture, drawing parallels to Lauren’s personal experiences and discussing cultural obsessions that shape our lives....

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Wednesday marked a day of remembrance for those who lost their lives in the Monongah Mine Disaster, an event that’s widely considered to be the worst mine disaster in U.S. history. On Dec. 6, 1907, Monongah mines number six, and number eight suffered a large explosion that killed 361 miners. Although the explosion’s exact cause was never discovered...

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In the heart of Little Italy, an old brick retail shop opened by one of Nebraska’s early Italian immigrant couples nearly a century ago is being resurrected. It won’t be the Caniglia Dry Goods of yesteryear. But the small structure will have definite ties to the cobbler and his wife whose family sold shoes and clothing there for more than 50 years....

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Italy is a place that has ignited literary inspiration in foreigners for thousands of years. Since the time of Homer, who set big portions of The Odyssey in what is today Calabria and Sicily, the narrative of the expatriate wandering through the landscape-, art-, and food-rich Italian countryside has developed into a classic form. These expats’ adv...

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Joseph A. DiAngelo, 76-year-old dean and professor of management at St. Joseph’s University in Merion, Pa., was the first person in his family to obtain a doctorate degree. When he was growing up, his paternal grandmother Camille DiAngelo wanted him to become an accountant so that he could always find work preparing people’s income taxes, and his b...

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