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It was just two years ago when State Senator Joe Boncore blasted on the local political scene in the special election to fill the seat vacated by Anthony Petruccelli representing the First Suffolk & Middlesex District (Boston’s North End / Waterfront, Beacon Hill, East Boston as well as Revere, Winthrop and parts of Cambridge). Now, Sen. Boncore is...

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When I began college at UMass Boston in 1972, my love of history and human nature made me want to major in Political Science and Psychology as a dual major because of my involvement in North End politics during the late 50’s early 60’s. In those days, Joe Langone and my close friend Ernie Guarente were two mortician’s and always running for one off...

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Nicola, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today? There is an immigrant story behind I AM Books. I moved from Rome, Italy, to the United States in 2008. After two years in Chicago, where I started working for an Italian American magazine named Fra Noi, I moved to Boston. Soon after, I launched bostoniano.info, a websi...

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There are still many Little Italys in the United States. Some of them are just a few blocks now, other are what's left of the urbanization that brought large roads in the middle of many American cities after the war, several times crashing an Italian community. Every one of them is a place where a big Italian heart has been, is and hopefully always...

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The first Italians arrived in the North End in the 1860s when the political and economic situation in Italy had become untenable. Their numbers grew here in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Most were unskilled laborers and lacked the ability to speak English. They faced severe discrimination and took what jobs were available with their limited resou...

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So you’ve eaten your North End lunch (and maybe you’re a little drunk too), and now it’s time for your North End dessert. It’s maybe a bit of a cliché, but an eater in the North End could do worse than stopping at Mike’s Pastry, Modern Pastry, Bova Bakery, and Caffé Vittoria. Forget the cannoli wars, though: Get your cannoli at Mike’s — it’s good f...

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In 1904, Saint Leonard’s parish welcomed Father Valerian Pianigiani. It was under Father Pianigiani’s tenure as Pastor that various Church groups still in formation today came to be, the most prevalent of these groups being the Third Order of Saint Francis and the Knights of Columbus. The Third Order is a group of lay men and women who wish to carr...

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The Franciscan Friars arrived in Boston in 1873, and immediately were welcomed by the city’s growing Italian population, many of which viewed the order as patriarchal. The Franciscans main objective was to service the needs of their parishioners, building churches, schools, and orphanages all for the use of the immigrant population, particularly in...

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How do you say, “Thank you” to people who have stood by you, in good times and bad, for more than 100 years? That’s the question pondered by the Society of St. Joseph when they became aware that St. Leonard Port Maurice Church was in the midst of a multi-million dollar restoration project. In fact, the St. Joseph Society could think of a million re...

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On December 16, the The Saint Leonard Choral Society accompanied by The North  End Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Dan Drzymalski will perform  its Annual Christmas Concert. This year’s concert is entitled “An Italian-American Christmas Concert”. Continuing with tradition, the concert will be held in  the lovely setting of Historic Sac...

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