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Saturday Oct 7, 2023 at 12:00 PM. Town Center Park, 2761 Dixwell Ave, Hamden, CT. Attention Greater New Haven area! The Town of Hamden, Connecticut is excited to host The Greater New Haven Italian American Heritage Festival at Hamden Town Center Park on Saturday, Oct. 7 from 12-6. This is a six-town event and we’re excited to welcome Branford, East...

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The streets of Wooster Square, beginning at the turn of the 20th century right until the 1950s, were frequented by street vendors, or peddlers as they were originally known. Many goods were offered for sale off off pushcarts so that the housewife, at home, could purchase goods right from their front door. Vintage photos show small clusters of peopl...

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The Italian-American Defense League with plaintiff Ralph Marcarelli, a lifelong resident of Wooster Square, filed a lawsuit against Mayor Justin Elicker of New Haven for removing the neighborhood’s Columbus statue.  Under Elicker’s reign, Columbus School changed its name, Columbus Day is now called Italian Heritage Day, and the Columbus statue was...

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New Haven’s beloved pizza shop is now getting a new location. In May, Abate’s Apizza was forced to close its doors on Wooster Street in the Elm City when a fire ignited and spread along a flu pipe from their pizza oven. The blaze left the business destroyed. For the time being, owners Louis and Loretta Abate will temporarily open a new location unt...

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In 1898, the Societa Santa Maria Maddalena di Mutuo Soccorso was founded by settlers from Atrani, a village along the Amalfi coast. Originally intended to function as a mutual aid organization, assisting those in need within its community of members, it soon expanded its philanthropic interest beyond that goal. Antonio Cannelli in his 1921 book, "L...

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A staple for Italian pastries and breads in the Fair Haven section, Rocco's Bakery on Ferry Street, is going to be another city memory people talk about, especially when longtime customers go looking for their Easter pies, anginettes, ciccioli bread, chocolate lemon pie or cannoli. Rocco's, owned and run across from St. Francis Church at 432 Ferry...

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Within the span of 50 years, beginning in1900, the Italian-American community in Wooster Square as able to utilize the free public schools to fully integrate into American society. Even though many of the first-generation children were unable to take full advantage of the opportunity to get a diploma, by mid-century almost everyone graduated from h...

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Dressed in a blue tee shirt with “Amalfi” printed across the chest, Fran Calabrese remembered walking hand in hand with her grandfather to a Wooster Square-hosted celebration of St. Andrew when she was just three years old. Now 70, Calabrese returned on Thursday to that very same neighborhood Italian festa — which for her is about carrying on the t...

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The buzz started when people noticed workmen replacing the familiar Adirondack green trim outside Le Petit Café with a sleek modern black. Then the windows were covered with brown paper hiding the interior for weeks.  The package was unveiled last month as Mi Bella Restaurante, fulfilling a lifetime dream of head chef Fernando Chiliquinga and his w...

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The Italian American Defense League, and a Wooster Square neighbor, have filed a lawsuit against the City of New Haven and Mayor Justin Elicker over the removal of a Christopher Columbus Statue. The lawsuit claims that the removal of the statue on Wooster Square was unlawful and the League, along with resident Ralph Macarelli, suffered damages t...

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