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September 27 – 29, 2024. The Italian Cultural Institute of Washington is glad to announce the participation of Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino to the 20th edition of the Richmond Folk Festival this fall in Richmond, VA. For more information please visit the event’s web page here.   Formed by writer Rina Durante in 1975, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentin...

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Daniel Navarro says the food prepared at his relatively new Italian-style deli in Richmond is the same way he prepares food at home for his family. “Everything is fresh,” he said, adding, “I treat making my food like art. It must be beautiful.” A Richmond resident who was raised in Mexico, Navarro decided to open Navarro’s Italian Deli at 987 23rd ...

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In the midst of the Civil War, on May 14, 1864, in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, George Richardson posted a two-hundred-dollar reward in the Daily Dispatch for the return of his runaway slave, Henry. On the same day, Italian padrone, Pasquale Falvella posted a reward in the New York Herald for the return of Antonio Pricolo, an elev...

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It’s not every day the North Chesterfield neighborhood of Bon Air gets a new restaurant. Even more rare, the chance at a free lunch. On Wednesday, more than 200 people lined up at Genova’s Pizza Station & Take Out Kitchen at 2723 Buford Road just off Huguenot Road to get a free taste of the New York-style pizza, eggplant rollatini and paninis pile...

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Franco Rubini put his hands over his ears in order to describe his experience at Sunday’s NASCAR event in Richmond. “Very loud!” he said. “Good people watching.” Rubini, a photographer from Este, a northern Italian town that is one of Fredericksburg’s sister cities, is spending most of April in the Fredericksburg area hoping to experience and captu...

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Not to be this girl, but I got back from a trip to Italy in October, feeling starved for even a tiny bit of what I felt there. I also happened to be looking for a new restaurant job, one where I could feel passionate about the food and the process behind it. The stars aligned and I found myself starting a new job at Sprezza.  Italian food reveals a...

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Two years after it was toppled by protesters, Richmond City Council has given away a statue of Christopher Columbus to a local Italian-American organization. The statue of Columbus, which stood over Byrd Park, was torn down and thrown into a nearby lake in the Summer of 2020, during a spontaneous demonstration in the wake of the death of George Flo...

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Angela Petruzzelli is about to open her dream Italian restaurant Sprezza in downtown Richmond. When she moved to Richmond with her boyfriend in 2020, she recognized restaurants that served Italian food, but the style of Italian food they served was not the kind she preferred. "[Italian] food is not only something I relate so strongly to, but it's s...

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For the past year, Sprezza Cucina has brought Italian food pop-ups to Richmond that have shared a more diverse take on that country's cuisine, gathering a cult following along the way. Now, fans and newcomers alike can rejoice, because Angela Petruzzelli—founder, owner and chef of Sprezza Cucina—is opening the first Sprezza brick-and-mortar this No...

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Shopping at various grocery stores in the Richmond area the early 2000s, customers might have heard a toddler singing in the cart as her mother shopped for her family. Little did they know that the young vocalist in the cereal aisle would one day be performing opera on the international stage and would release her first single recording, "Cinema Pa...

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