Italian American Heritage Month is at the center of this weekend’s conversation on In Focus. JoDee Kenney welcomed in Lianna Tatman, executive director, Centro Culturale Italiano di Buffalo, established in 2010 to promote Italian culture in Western New York. At its building on Delaware Avenue, CCI Buffalo offers Italian language and cooking classes...

This week’s guest, John Vecchio, is Executive Director Emeritus of the Centro Culturale Italiano di Buffalo. He starts by telling us about this center and what it took to create it during Covid. In the show’s second half, Vecchio tells the origin story of Columbus Day and the irony of President Harrison’s attempt to use it to apologize to Italian-A...

Centro Culturale Italiano di Buffalo has received the single largest contribution in the organization’s history. Benefactor Francis S. Lestingi, professor emeritus of physics and the history of science at SUNY Buffalo State University, bestowed a gift of $600,000 that will be used to pay off the building’s mortgage, allowing the Italian Cultural Ce...

Buffalo's Italian Cultural Center (CCI) hosted its first ever St. Joseph's Table on Saturday. The Italian tradition commemorates a medieval drought and famine where people facing starvation turned to St. Joseph for help. Now people show their appreciation with an altar music and a feast. "I think it's part of our heritage, celebrating St. Joseph's...

The Board of Directors of the Centro Culturale Italiano di Buffalo is excited to announce Lindsey Lauren Visser as the new Executive Director. Lindsey Lauren joined the CCI in February of 2021 as Deputy Director where she played a critical role in preparing the organization for its grand opening. Since then, she has overseen the development of the...

Gifts from New York State and Erie County on Saturday morning made the first anniversary celebration especially happy for Buffalo’s Centro Culturale Italiano. State Sen. Sean Ryan presented a $100,000 grant to the organization at the event. The money will be used to fund the renovation of the courtyard at the center to make more outdoor programs po...

Adding to the zestful nature of Hertel Avenue, the Centro Culturale Italiano di Buffalo recently held a ribbon cutting for the new Russell J. Salvatore Courtyard. The focal point of the new courtyard is a magnificent fountain that was imported from Sicily. Earlier today, I stopped over to the Cultural Center to take a look at the new courtyard, whi...

Buffalo’s Italian Cultural Center cut the ribbon yesterday on a brand new courtyard. It’s called the Russel J. Salvatore courtyard. The restauranteur helped fund the project. It’s located at the corner of Delaware Avenue and Hertel. The courtyard has new statues, lights, tables along with a bocce court and community garden. There’s a fountain that...

Though the Centro Culturale Italiano Di Buffalo has been involved in many ways in the Italian heritage of Buffalo, they finally have a new home with many exciting activities to come this summer. The “Little Italy ” of Buffalo got a little bigger in the Italian Heritage Month of October 2021 when the historic North Park Library was reopened as the n...

Dozens of Western New Yorkers joined together to help the people of Ukraine. Representatives from the Italian Center of Buffalo presented a check for more than $16,000 to the Dnipro Ukrainian Cultural Center. A few weeks ago the italian center hosted a “stand together for ukraine” event. The fundraiser brought together 42 businesses and organizatio...