A year from now, a new monument surrounded by four panels that trace the story of Italian immigration to the city starting in the late 19th century should be in place as a unified reflection on their contributions to New Haven. “We have learned so much about ourselves and each other,” William Iovanne Jr., chairman of the large Wooster Square Monume...
READ MOREIn contrast to their present-day placement at the conservative end of the political spectrum, Italian Americans once played an under-appreciated role in the “Old Left” progressive movement. Such was the thrust of a recent presentation by Dr. Gerald Meyer, author of Vito Marcantonio: Radical Politician (1902-1954) to the New Haven Public Library. Th...
READ MOREThe Christmas season in Wooster Square used to begin with the decorations that were placed in downtown New Haven. You see, we were all just a few blocks away from the splendor that was created in the store windows, the lighted arches across Chapel Street with a small tree on either side, Santa and the reindeer sailing through the air on the corner...
READ MOREThose who enjoy reading this column seem to have dual goals: nostalgia, reminiscing about the days and times of youth, and also to gather information about the way things were when grandparents or parents lived in Wooster Square. You see, for some, family history remains fragmented or unknown. Those who are now seeking DNA-based documentation are a...
READ MOREThe first and only Congressional debate this year took place in Woodbridge, but its spiritual center was Wooster Square. That began when a question about who truly represents the Italian American community transformed into three different views on history, culture, and the best ingredients for an equitable society. Those perspectives were offered b...
READ MOREThursday, October 29th, 12:00 PM—1:00 PM ET. Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86288400500. Neil Thomas Proto (author of "Fearless: A. Bartlett Giamatti and the Battle for Fairness in America") is an attorney, writer, and professor based in Washington, D.C. He earned an MA in International Affairs in 1969, and a JD in 1972, at the George Washing...
READ MORELocal Italian-Americans marked Columbus Day Monday by placing a wreath at the site that formerly held a statue of the explorer and renewing the call for the city to return the figure to Wooster Square Park. Louis Pane, president of the Italian-American Heritage Group of New Haven, noted the importance of Columbus to people of Italian heritage in th...
READ MORENonostante la pandemia Covid e la situazione economica poco incoraggiante, quasi di fronte alla famosa pizzeria Pepe sulla Wooster Street a New Haven, l’albanese, cresciuto in Italia, Gazmir Zeneli ha aperto la nuova Pizzeria Trattoria Napoletana Zeneli che offre al pubblico squisite pizze e calzoni napoletani ad hoc, e cucina tipica napolet...
READ MOREAfter nearly three months of continuous community debate sparked by the removal of the Christopher Columbus monument in Wooster Square on June 24, New Haven is now looking to its Italian American citizens for ideas for an “appropriate” replacement, according to a Sept. 16 memo sent out from New Haven Major Justin Elicker’s office. The Wooster Squar...
READ MOREGood-bye, Columbus Day. Hello, Italian Heritage Day. Starting this year, the city-recognized holiday on the second Monday in October will no longer be named after the 15th-century European explorer whom many Italian-Americans celebrated as a heroic, cultural icon, and whom critics lambasted as an enslaver of Indigenous peoples and an emblem of viol...
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