One of the biggest events celebrating Italian culture is returning to the Piedmont-Triad! Raffaldini Vineyards is hosting the 19th annual Festa Italiana September 21-22. Owner of the vineyards, Jay Raffaldini says the annual event is about "more than just wine" and joined The Local Vibe team to share what's planned for the weekend. During Festa Ita...

April 2024 500 years later: "Leonardo da Vinci and Verrazzano's Royal Discovery of New York"

The Kittredge Arts Center at Warren Wilson College (701 Warren Wilson Rd Swannanoa, NC) presents Cantu: an evening of Sicilian Folk Music interpreted by Michela Musolino in concert with special guest artist, Lorenzo Piccone, on September 17th. Door open at 6:30pm. Show begins at 7pm. Meet & Greet at 8:30pm. Tickets here. Internationally recognized...

Philly Italian Pastas and Subs is a place where owner Howard Knepper goes out of his way to make sure his customers know that they come first. He laughed when he was told one of the reasons he was selected for this interview was because he loves to talk. The other reason was he runs a great business with great food. During the pandemic, it was a go...

A relentless Lorenzo Sonego doo almost two years of fasting returns to win an ATP tournament final by smashing 19-year-old Alex Michelsen 6-0, 6-3 and winning the last act of the ATP 250 tournament in Winston Salem, North Carolina. For the Italian this is the fourth career title while for Italy it is the tenth ATP Tour title won by an Italian playe...

Angelina's is an Italian market treasure in the Carolinas. You’ll find them in Waxhaw, North Carolina, which is a suburb of Charlotte. Co-owner Mariel LoRe is quite young, however this business is in her blood. Her father owned Enzo’s Italian Market in Matthews, NC.  Small world story: Enzo's was my first experience with an Italian store in the Sou...

Al Cervini said that diners at his restaurant, Rosalie’s Trattoria, regularly try to categorize his food.   “They ask if it’s Tuscan or Northern Italian,” he said. “To me, it’s just food.” In fact, the menu focuses on those dishes that Cervini enjoyed growing up in New York. He opened the restaurant, named for his wife who is a local teacher, in 20...

Looking at his name, you'd never guess that Robert Kalish has Sicilian blood running through his veins. But with one taste of the Italian meals he serves up from his popular Fayetteville food truck, Bella Nonna, there's no mistaking that Kalish is a paisano. Kalish got his culinary chops by cooking in his family’s old-school Italian restaurants in...

Located in the highly anticipated Flat Iron Hotel (20 Battery Park Ave, Asheville), Luminosa opened on Wednesday, May 15. The newcomer is the work of Charleston-based Indigo Road Hospitality Group, which has multiple restaurants all along the East Coast. Still, Luminosa is very unique to its Blue Ridge environment. Indigo Road was committed to hiri...

You are looking at a field of fluffy, golden grass dotted with yellow flowers. There are trees in the background and mountains beyond that. Where are you? Now you’re facing a terracotta sarcophagus. Where are you? When are you? A new exhibit in the Rubenstein Arts Center uses AI to bring viewers into ancient Roman and Etruscan landscapes spanning 1...