Back at home, the kitchen is the heart of my house. While most families spend their time in living rooms, my family tends to gather in the kitchen, usually because my grandma is cooking up something for dinner that night. Coming from a family of Italian immigrants, I have very high expectations for Italian restaurants. Last Friday, a couple of my f...

Enter the brick building at 715 E. Locust St. and you’ll find a cozy deli accented by warm lighting, whitewashed walls and handwritten menu boards. A collection of scenic photos and prints of Italy hang among cheerful strands of tinsel as the smell of onions and slow-cooked tomatoes wafts from the kitchen. In short, the long-awaited return of Scard...

Thursday, October 13 at 7:30pm - UWM Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts - 2419 E. Kenwood Blvd, Milwaukee, WI. FREE Presenting a CineConcert featuring the groundbreaking 1911 silent film L’Inferno, accompanied live by Stefano Maccagno (piano) and Furio Di Castri (double bass) on the mesmerizing musical score composed by Maestro Maccagno....

Against all odds, Milwaukee's Festa Italiana is returning in 2022, though not at the usual time and place. Organizers have come a long way to get to this point. They first canceled the Italian-themed festival originally scheduled for April of 2022. But in a surprise announcement, organizers revealed the festival would indeed be held - this time at...

Off the main drag and down a quiet Bay View side street lays a hidden gem of the Milwaukee dining scene. You will be charmed by the ambiance the moment you enter Santino’s Little Italy. From the welcoming hosts at the door, the simple elegance of the decor, the fantastic food, and the delightful Sofia Loren films playing, silently, on screens throu...

Taking inspiration from the street festivals that once took place in the Italian Third Ward, Festa Italiana will host its 2022 festival on the grounds of the Italian Community Center, 631 E. Chicago Ave. After canceling the festival on the Summerfest grounds in 2020, 2021 and 2022 fears were that Festa – the oldest of the lakefront ethnic festivals...

Petra Orlowski’s passion for pasta led her to open Semolina MKE. This love for pasta started with her Italian grandmother's Sunday dinners, where the entire family gathered and made pasta. Petra says that “pasta is a way of life for us.” A picture of Petra’s grandmother hangs in the front of her Bay View store, and Petra feels as though she is watc...

It’s been over four years since guests had their last taste of the Sicilian dishes from longtime Milwaukee restaurant, Giovanni’s. But all of that will change this fall when Safina, a new casual Italian concept comes to the historic building at 785 N. Jefferson St. Safina, which could open as soon as mid-October, will be operated by its namesake, t...

A version of Giovanni's restaurant is coming back to Milwaukee in a more casual establishment that still is centered on family recipes by the Safina family. The restaurant, named Safina's, will be run by three brothers, Giuseppe (Joe), David and Sal Safina. Their father, Giovanni Safina, will also be a part of the venture, pounding and cutting veal...

The Florentine Opera Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is the 6th oldest grand opera company in the United States. Founded in 1933, the group was called the Italian Opera Chorus under the direction of John David Anello Sr. and later he explained that changing the name was to honor the birthplace of opera as we know it. Saying that the craft originate...