It’s not too early to think about summer giardini. The University of Rhode Island is offering interested gardeners a chance to learn from the tradition of Italian-American gardeners. On Thursday, Jan. 18, at 7 p.m., the public is invited to experience the beauty and charm of traditional Italian-American backyard vegetable gardens and learn about th...

The Italian Garden Project Foundation is pleased to announce that we are the recipients of a grant from the Francesco and Mary Giambelli Foundation for our Legacy Fig Tree Collection! The fig is a revered fruit to Italian Americans. It adapts and thrives in a land not its own, much like the immigrants themselves. Growing a fig tree when they arrive...

Farm-to-table might seem like a novel concept to many, but for Italian immigrants, it was simply a way of life. When coming to the New World, along with their culinary skills and traditional recipes, they brought their extensive gardening knowledge as many lived in rural areas and sustained themselves as farmers. Italian immigrants gardening tradit...

As a child, Mary Menniti spent a lot of time with her Italian grandfather, who visited their rural home to tend his figs. “He came from a lifestyle of surviving on what he could grow and brought that knowledge to New Castle,” she says. Even then, she could tell there was a special connection between her grandfather and those figs. They grew easily...

Mary, Mary… How does your garden grow? If you’re an Italian American, Mary Menniti is the person to answer this question—and many more—in this week’s episode of the Italian American Podcast. We’re sitting down with Italian America’s Number 1 Green Thumb to discuss her groundbreaking Italian Garden Project. Mary will share her appreciation for the c...

Saturday, May 23rd • 10:00am. Italian, and Italian-American, gardening knowledge has been carried from generation to generation and is now more relevant  than ever. REGISTER HERE Join Beatrice and guest Mary Menniti , founder of The Italian Garden Project, as they celebrate the joy and wisdom inherent in the traditional Italian American vegetable g...

Come Celebrate the Joy of Figs! September 15, 2019, 2:00 – 5:00PM. Wigle Barrelhouse and Whiskey Garden, 1055 Spring Garden Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212. Click here for tickets: $35. Children age 11 and under free. Includes: Fig-based delicacies demonstrated and prepared by Vallozzi Exec Chef Josiah Henry; A complimentary fig-based Wigle cocktail crea...

The Italians who arrived in America during the period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and then also those who came after the Second World War, had some very precise characteristics. They were poor. They were used to a lot of work. They were able to do extraordinary things with their hands. They were willing to live off what they...