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Milwaukee's Italian families have a distinguished heritage, one that began in a great rush to the city shortly before the turn of the 19th century, when Italian immigrants poured into Milwaukee and quickly formed two distinct communities. The Bayview settlement was dominated by newcomers from northern and central Italy, many of whom took jobs in th...

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Italy's ambassador to the United States visited Milwaukee Public Schools' Victory School for the Gifted and Talented and Italian Immersion on Monday. Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero visited and spoke with students, families and staff at the school, home to what is believed to be one of the first Italian Immersion programs in the country.   Re...

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By Heather Ronaldson    No one is excluded from celebrating Festa Italiana. In fact, they say tutti Italiani — everyone's Italian.   At this year's Festa Italiana, which runs Friday through Sunday at Maier Festival Park, the cultural tent features products from Puglia. Forty other Italian vendors will sell traditional Italian-Ame...

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by Kirstrin Roble   From roughly 1700 until his death in 1737, Italian luthier and crafter Antonio Stradivari produced more than 1,000 instruments, considered to be "bold and innovative" even in his lifetime. To call a Stradivarius bold and innovative today is an understatement.   The nearly 450 violins that have survived are consider...

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Summerfest isn't the only Milwaukee event attracting big names in music this summer. Festa Italiana announced this week that it would welcome Matt Nathanson and the Plain White T's, who are slated to perform at the Spiked Island Adult Lemonade Stage on Saturday, July 20.   Nathanson, whose hits include "Come on Get Higher," "Faster" and "Run...

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Play bocce with friends young and old (then watch the champs compete in a tournament Sunday). Watch cooking demonstrations and sample cuisine at the Cucina Showcase. Enjoy Henry Prego's musical tribute to Frank Sinatra and Dove c'è Musica's salute to Eros Ramazzotti daily.   Grab an espresso so you're wide-eyed for a Festa tradition: firewor...

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David is on the move. The statue, that is. A full-sized replica of Michelangeo's "David" statue has been featured at Festa Italiana for years. Thursday, it took a trip to the Milwaukee Art Museum. "We (have to) get him out of here," said Dean Cannestra, of the Italian Community Center. He and his crew loaded David onto a truck to be part of an exh...

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By Bill Glauber   Mario Carini was the unofficial historian of Milwaukee's Italian-American community. He was a retired schoolteacher who spent months poring through records in reference libraries. He was the man families entrusted with their precious, vintage black-and-white photos of people and places long gone yet lovingly remembered...

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By Heather Ronaldson   The ornate marble work they produced distinguished Milwaukee's first Italian immigrants from other ethnic groups in the city. So did their unification under Festa Italiana in 1978 — the city's first ethnic festival on the Summerfest grounds. This citywide Italian family reunion at the lakefront keeps getting bigger and...

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We are Pursuing Our Italian Names Together, Chapter 22. We are also known as and the Italian Family History Club at the Italian Community Center and Milwaukee County Genealogical Society's Italian Area Interest Group.   An opportunity for you to learn and to search for your relatives will be held Saturday, November 7, 2015 starting at 1:00 p...

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