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“Of course I know it — cassata Siciliana, my mom used to make it,” says Cecelia Maiogan, a Chicago-area resident who grew up in a small town outside of Palermo on the Northern shore of Sicily. “From the time I was seven or eight, around Easter, she would send me on foot to town to go buy the candied fruit that we used to decorate it with,” Maiogan...

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Chocolate eggs are stacked high in supermercati, Colomba dove cakes decorate pasticcerie windows and lambs are being made ready for the dining table. But away from the well-known traditions of an Italian Easter there are many different ways to celebrate. From cheese rolling to Florentine fireworks, dancing devils to sprinting Madonnas and tree lift...

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Please join us! On Tuesday, April 25th at 6:30PM, I will be co-hosting an evening at the Italian American Museum in New York City. Along with Eszter Vajda of You, Me & Sicily (pictured with me here in Catania’s Piazza del Duomo), we will be sharing some news from the region, presenting an episode of Estzer and Alfred Zappala’s video series, and alo...

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Thu, April 13, 2017. 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM EDT - I AM Books, 189 North Street, Boston, MA 02113 Sissy Castrogiovanni 4et, feat. Andrea Beneventano. A night of fine jazz, with special guest internationally acclaimed, Sicilian pianist, Andrea Beneventano. “Italian vocalist Sissy Castrogiovanni sparked in her Panama Jaz Festival debut performance..” JAZZI...

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" Travelers have been drawn to Sicily intriguing history,volcanoes & famed cuisine, but somehow the island’s distinctive chocolate - made in the Unesco World Heritage town of Modica and inspired by  traditions of the ancient Aztecs - has remained one of the world best-kept secrets. " This is what Lucinda Hawksley says in BBC.com website talking abo...

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In this episode of The Italian American Podcast, we talk with Paul “Paulie” Malignaggi, a former two-weight World Champion who currently works as a commentator. Paulie tells the story of how he transitioned from Sicily to Brooklyn and had to learn to adapt to the diverse cultures and lifestyles, and how that led him to start his boxing career, desp...

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Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 6pm Sicily Jass: The World's First Man in Jazz (2015), 73 min. Michele Cinque, dir. - John D. Calandra Italian American Institute - 25 West 43rd Street, 17th Floor. New York, N.Y. 10036 Sicily Jass, an intermingling of fiction and documentary, uses the Sicilian puppets and narrating voice of Mimmo Cuticchio to tell the st...

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THEN: Starting in 1884 and continuing through to 1924, an estimated 290,000 Italian immigrants -- a great deal of them from Sicily -- arrived in New Orleans, fleeing economic and political turmoil. In short order, their indelible influence would be felt on the city. With the French Quarter no longer a fashionable address, many of the city's more we...

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Spring is in the air and it is that time of year again when lemon trees bloom and the Sicilian air is fragrant with Fiori di Limone which then turn into big juicy lemons. The Sicilian climate and fertile volcanic earth creates a long growing season and the gathering of lemons takes place over three periods. First is the Autumn harvest Primo Fiore f...

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It’s a snowy Saturday afternoon in Rockford, Illinois. My grandfather, Ignazio, is all but pressing his ear against the Zenith radio to hear the Metropolitan Opera broadcast of La Boheme, starring Bidú Sayao and Ferruccio Tagliavini. He pleads with me to sit with him and listen to the music of his country, which he deeply misses. No doubt the opera...

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