Close

New Orleans paradegoers will switch out their Mardi Gras beads and lucky four-leaf clovers for fava beans and Italy’s red, white and green flag this weekend. The Italian American St. Joseph Society of New Orleans has planned a weekend of events mostly open to the public, including its annual parade and pasta party, to celebrate St. Joseph’s Day on...

645

On March 14, 1891, prominent New Orleans citizens, including future mayors and governors, led America’s largest-ever lynch mob into the darkest pages of U.S. history. Holding torches, rifles and rope, this mob of vigilantes stormed into Parish Prison and pulled out 11 Italian Americans. Thousands assembled outside the jail and cheered as the wrongf...

1029

Sandra Scalise Juneau has lived St. Joseph's Altars all her life. At age 5 in 1945, she portrayed the Virgin Mary in the "tupa tupa" ceremony, representing the Holy Family knocking on the door, at her Nonna Accardo’s dining room altar. She learned from her two Sicilian grandmothers how to prepare and bake the special foods, and she has passed that...

647

For the first time in the festival’s 14 years, a mother-daughter duo was chosen to reign over the Independence Sicilian Heritage Festival this weekend. Brenda Liuzza, the festival’s madre, and her daughter and festival queen, 21-year-old Faith Liuzza, said they’ve been involved in the celebration all their lives, and the opportunity to serve on the...

461

The American Italian Cultural Center is hiring! We are seeking an Administrative Assistant to join our team. Duties include basic financials, daily operations, and planning our events! Must have solid computer skills, be dependable, and have a positive attitude. Please click here to start your application or call 504-522-7294. American Italian Cult...

622

The St Joseph’s Day Parade is BACK! March 19, 2022. It's FREE. For more info visit: www.iasjs.org Honoring the end of a famine in Sicily by prayers to St. Joseph. The 50th Annual St Joseph's Day Parade presented by the Italian American St Joseph's Society and its Post-Parade Gala, are the premier Italian-American events held post-Mardi Gras in the...

1510

The story of Italians in Baton Rouge stretches like a parade route across the city. The perfume of olive oil and garlic-infused tomato gravy signals proximity to an Italian kitchen where the coveted recipes came from the old country to this new place where immigrants landed, joining family members who came before them. Accompanied by devout faith a...

502

Preparations are underway for the return of the traditional St. Joseph’s Altar at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Denham Springs that will once again be open to the public after two years of interruptions brought on by concerns about the spread of the coronavirus. Members of the Friends of St. Joseph organization have already started bakin...

505

As part of a study on how different cultures impact their daily lives, students in the fourth grade at Independence Leadership academy have been exploring the Sicilian roots that still run deeply in a number of communities in Central Tangipahoa Parish and especially Independence, which at one time had earned the unofficial title of “Little Italy.”...

604

When I started writing a book exploring the crucial contributions that Sicilians had made to New Orleans food culture, I sat down to talk with fabled restaurateur Salvatore “Joe” Segreto. “You’re not going to do one of those “who killa da chief?” histories, are you?,” was the first question he asked me. Segreto referred to a familiar catcall heard...

591