New Jersey is swamped with Italian restaurants, the kind that pop up on every other block and offer the parmigiana, marsala or francese. They are loved for the magical experience that ensues after tasting fresh tomatoes, cheese, bread and wine. It's not rocket­science, it's just good ingredients.   With its sophisticated...

by Barbara Gigante Una giornata all'insegna della cultura e dell'identità italoamericana, quella organizzata dalla Cattedra Theresa and Lawrence R. Inserra Endowed della Montclair State University (NJ), lo scorso giovedì 2 Ottobre. La giornata è stata aperta da un un simposio con studiosi delle università di Bologna, Firenze, della Columbia e Flen...

By David Cote   As reported earlier this month, there will be a surprising number of experimental and refreshingly offbeat plays to choose from this summer. That makes me happy—especially since I'll have the chance to catch up on shows I missed the first time around, such as Small Mouth Sounds and Men on Boats.   But there's weird, an...

The Clifton Arts Center presents the Bloomfield Mandolin Orchestra conducted by Enrico Granafei, who is the owner of Trumpets Jazz Club in Montclair, on Saturday, Oct. 12 from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public featuring Italian folk music, celebrating Italian tradition, culture and custom and honoring the Italian-American H...

La rappresentazione degli italoamericani da parte dei media contemporanei offre spesso delle immagini negative e corre il rischio di confermare sempre stereotipi già noti. Una possibile soluzione è cercare di sradicare queste idee prestando attenzione al cinema indipendente che tende a controbilanciare le immagini proposte dal cinema di grande cons...

Nancy Carnevale è una professoressa associata di storia alla Montclair State University del New Jersey. Nel 2010 si è aggiudicata l'American Book Award con il libro "A New Language, A New World: Italian Immigrants In the United States, 1890-1945" [Una nuova lingua, un nuovo mondo: immigrati italiani negli Stati Uniti 1890-1945 N.d.T.] pubblicato d...

Congratulations to Raffaella Spilotro, Oak Park and River Forest High School (Oak Park, Illinois), recipient of the prestigious national Coccia-Inserra Award for Excellence and Innovation in the Teaching of Italian (K-12).   Presented at "Teaching Italian Symposium/Workshop: Meeting VIII-Imparando giocando," signature professional developmen...

by Owen Satran   Montclair, your prayers have been answered! Just what downtown Montclair needed — another Italian restaurant!   Well, maybe not, but before you roll your eyes, check the dish on this new spot. The restaurant is headed by renowned chef Michael Cetrulo, whose impressive pedigree suggests that Ristorante Scala Del Nonna...

Over the past 15 years or so, visionary director Romeo Castellucci has blossomed into a star of Europe's theater festivals and prestigious institutions with largely plotless, large-scale shows that operate at a dizzyingly high conceptual and technical level, and are so abstract that they become strangely accessible (you can project anything onto th...

by Eric Kiefer   Essex County resident Benjamin Piazza, known locally as "Father Ben," passed away on Sept. 5. As a clergyman, Piazza worked with congregations in Caldwell, Newark, Jersey City, Montclair, Wayne and Morristown. He was 92-years-old.   The following obituary comes courtesy of Codey & Jones Funeral Home: "M...