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Dear friends, tomorrow, October 1st, marks the beginning of Italian-American Heritage Month in New Jersey. This year, more than ever, I urge you to join myself and our fellow OSIA members in celebrating our Italian-American history. In Fourteen Hundred and Ninety-Two Columbus Sailed The Ocean Blue. This is the rhyme I was taught in public school as...

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Albert Innaurato, a playwright who enjoyed spectacular success for a time in the late 1970s, including having a play run on Broadway for more than four years, has died in Philadelphia. He was 70. His cousin Stephen Paesani said Mr. Innaurato was found dead in his bed on Tuesday, and had probably been dead for two days. The cause was not clear, Mr....

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Think pizza in Italy and the first image that will likely spring to mind is that of a Neapolitan-style pie: relatively small, circular, and leopard-spotted by char from the blistering heat of a wood-fired oven. While these southern Italian-style pizzas are becoming easier to find — at Anthony’s Coal Fired in Mount Laurel; at Villa Barone in Colling...

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Last year, I chatted with Philly musician and chef, Mariano Mattei, about his appearance on the Food Network’s “Cooks vs. Cons.” At the time, he revealed his plans to open a pizzeria in Point Breeze and we even got to see the space before renovation began. Flash forward to this year and the Mattei Family Pizza is officially open to the public and w...

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In his native city of Campania, Italy, Dr. Antonio Giordano shops at local markets for fresh ingredients to make caprese, an Italian dish, which he always pairs with a glass of wine. “You cook a bit of olive oil, onion and tomato together, and then throw the pasta right in,”  said Giordano, a biology professor. “It’s fresh, it’s healthy and it is t...

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When the long-simmering controversy over the statue of former Mayor Frank Rizzo reached the screaming phase this summer, city officials invited the public to offer suggestions for the monument’s future. Over the course of three weeks – late August to September 15 – more than 3,600 submissions were received online. (A lot of them are repeats or mess...

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It gives me great pleasure to announce that on October 24, 2017, Nonna Romana and I will host a Pugliese dinner with recipes exclusively from my Cooking with Nonna Cookbook at the fine restaurant in Philadelphia, PA: Gran Caffe L'Aquila. The dinner will be a five course dinner with wines from the renowed winery of Puglia: Tormaresca. Nonna Romana a...

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On March 14, 1891, in the city of New Orleans, 11 Italian Americans were lynched by an angry mob.  The anger stemmed from a jury’s failure to convict the men of killing a police officer, Daniel Hennessy.  Refusing to accept the verdicts, a crowd marched to the prison where the acquitted defendants were held post-trial, broke down the doors screamin...

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Family and friends joined Michelina “Ms. Micky” Chiofolo in celebrating her 99th birthday at Autumn Care in Shallotte with cake and ice cream Sunday, Sept. 3. As an Italian-American, Ms. Micky grew up in Philadelphia where she got married and had two children. Her family says he is a special woman who has spent her life caring for her family and sh...

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When Bon Appétit magazine ranked the Palizzi Social Club as the fourth best new restaurant in America, Owner Joey Baldino was honored. But he doesn’t want people tweeting about it. “I feel like what happens here should stay here, almost,” said the chef and 2001 entrepreneurship alumnus. The Palizzi Social Club has a list of house rules, one of whic...

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