Ten years ago, "My Big Gay Italian Wedding," a production by playwright/actor Anthony J. Wilkinson that satirizes the controversy surrounding same-sex marriage while drawing on larger-than-life gay and Italian characters, was signed for a six-week run at the Actors' Playhouse in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. Six months became a year, then the show...

di Beatrice Bondi   L'Italian Trade Commission inaugura la mostra fotografica Sensational Umbria, che raccoglie un'accurata selezione di scatti attraverso i quali il fotografo di fama mondiale, Steve McCurry (indimenticabile la sua fotografia della ragazza afgana pubblicata come copertina del National Geografic nel 1985), ha catturato l'anim...

On Saturday, Young ladies of Italian Descent competed for the Miss Italia Peekskill title at the Harbor at Charles Point in Peekskill, NY. The pageant was open to young ladies between the ages of 16 and 26 from all areas, not just Peekskill. The categories they competed in was photogenic appeal, casual wear, evening wear and intervie...

A Franciscan priest celebrated his last Mass Sunday after decades at the helm of Most Precious Blood Church at the heart of what was once teeming Little Italy. The Rev. Fabian Grifone, 88, bade farewell to his now tiny, teary-eyed congregation at the Mulberry St. Catholic church. "It was very bittersweet," he said after celebrating morning Ma...

Assemblyman Joe Lentol announced this week that the New York Conference of Italian-American State Legislators is now accepting applications for four $2,000 scholarships to be awarded June 9th at their Annual Legislative Conference Day.   "The cost of attending college is increasing every year, every opportunity must be made by Brooklyn stude...

When Rizzoli closed its doors at 31 W. 57th St. in April, the elegant bookstore promised it would be back. That's what everyone says.   But given the challenging economics of brick-and-mortar bookstores, I assumed Rizzoli was toast and assigned it a choice niche in the columbarium of my memory. It's a space becoming increasingly clutter...

Book Presentation of: Writing Fashion in Early-Modern italy From Sprezzatura to Satire (Ashgate, 2014) by Eugenia Paulicelli. The author in conversation with: Virginia Cox, NYU and Bella Mirabella, NYU Location: Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, 24 West 12th Street, New York, NY 10011   The firs...

A few weeks ago I heaped high praise about the 22-year-old midtown Italian restaurant San Pietro, whose owner, Gerardo Bruno has long been one of New York's premier hosts.   Upon writing that, I realized that it's been at least a decade since I'd dined at his brother Giuseppe's restaurant, Sistina, located on the upper east side for 30 years...

Vincent Abate, the longest-serving — and first — chairman of Williamsburg's community board, died last week at the age of 96.   Abate, who was born in the neighborhood and left only once to serve as a soldier in World War II, dedicated his life to working on behalf of Greenpoint and Williamsburg, from volunteering as an altar boy at St. Fran...

Elliot Klein of EVO Real Estate Group, a member of NAI Global, has negotiated a lease for Poliform USA, a luxury home furnishings brand, for a showroom and store at 112 Madison Avenue. The space comprises more than 10,000 s/f on the ground floor, mezzanine and basement.   According to Klein, Poliform was impressed with the space's stree...