The Wilmington Sons and Daughters of Italy will be celebrating Italian Heritage Month in October with a number of events. The events will include a cooking demonstration, art history lecture, concert, car show and a golf outing, and many will take place at the Wilmington Memorial Library, located at 175 Middlesex Ave. "These events have been extrem...

Despite all the well-earned accolades between them, Scott Stein and chef Antimo DiMeo felt a bit frazzled on the phone last year while negotiating cattle prices from specialty ranch in El Paso. The main problem? They didn’t speak dude ranch. “Buying whole cows for the first time, it was a little intimidating,” Stein says. “Their terminology, their...

For the last 60 years or so, the streets of Wilmington’s Little Italy have looked quite similar in the middle of each June. The Italian Festival brings food, music and carnival rides and games to thousands of visitors, but that was all missing in 2020 and 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic. It all returned this year, and patrons and volunteer...

These days, names like Capano, Pettinaro, and Robino are associated with business success, real estate development and acclaim.  But on a recent Thursday afternoon, the men who founded companies that became giants in Delaware gathered with other childhood friends from Wilmington's Little Italy neighborhood to reminisce about days past. Although som...

The theme for this year’s St. Anthony’s Italian Festival in Wilmington is simply benvenuti: Welcome back, after two years of the world torn asunder by the pandemic. The festival – expected to draw tens of thousands people to St. Anthony of Padua Church on June 12-19 – succeeds because of extensive planning and the commitment of people to the parish...

Several years after Italian oriented radio programs ceased broadcasting in the Delaware Valley, a group of Italian-American business owners and other individuals funded the return of Italian American radio programming. On Sunday, Nov. 13, 2013, at 8 a.m., “Radio Italian Style” debuted on Wilmington’s WILM 1450 AM. The sponsors engaged the talents o...

To be a supposed “foodie,” I often find myself wondering what to eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Admittedly I will settle for some fast food here and there, if for no other reason than to return to the favorites of yesteryear...which then serves as a reminder as to why I don’t eat that anymore. Then there are times you want a sandwich, or could...

Mangia. Mangia. Mangia. St. Anthony's Italian Festival in Wilmington's Little Italy neighborhood is back this year. Well, kind of.  The carnival atmosphere is still a no-go even as pandemic social distancing guidelines ease, but the festival, one of the most popular in the state, will be offering takeout foods from June 8 to 11. Foods will be avail...

Wilmington City Council did not find majority support to encourage the city to permanently remove statues of Christopher Columbus and Caesar Rodney during a vote on a resolution Thursday night. The two statues were ordered removed by Mayor Mike Purzycki on June 12, 2020, less than two weeks after a riot took place in Market Street, and in a time pe...

Alessandro Iaia has always believed in the American dream. That anyone – whether they are born in this country or have made this country their home – with hard work, can get far. With perseverance, they can receive equal treatment and be able to live their lives without anyone looking down on them or thinking anything negative about them.  But as h...