Maria Pia De Vito and Juan Oliver Mazzariello – Concert
When: Thursday, November 14, 2019 From 6:00 pm To 8:00 pm - Where: Italian Cultural Institute of New York An extraordinary musical encounter between the vocalist Maria Pia De Vito and the English/Italian pianist and composer Julian Oliver Mazzariello. Two artists with a strong bond and joyously spontaneous interaction, with a drive to walk new musi...
Legends of Italy: The werewolves of Puglia
While they may not be as trendy as their broody, ultra-dark mates, the vampires, werewolves have been certainly enjoying a bout of popularity in recent years, courtesy of a popular series of trashy, young adult novels — and subsequent movie franchise — of the early noughties. Werewolves are also known, in a rather more elegant manner, as lycanthro...
Seen @ snaps: Italian Club of Staten Island's annual Gala a night to remember at Staaten
The Italian Club of Staten Island Foundation played host to a crowd of some 200 at their annual gala staged in LiGreci’s Staaten, the West Brighton catering spot where four individuals were recognized for their service to community. Lauded during the evening were: Jackie Delfino and Nicholas Principato, residents of On Your Mark under the leadershi...
Powder sharing agreement: plans to create Italy’s biggest ski area
Is there such a thing as too much snow? The week I arrived in Champoluc, in Italy’s Valle d’Aosta, the whole village seemed to be buried. Trees resembled sticks of candyfloss, huge mounds hid cars that would take days to dig out, and the air itself was laced with a diaphanous glittery frost. Each morning a fresh set of hastily printed warning poste...
The Frank Rizzo Statue Is Staying Right Where It Is (Until at Least 2021)
After a deadly white nationalist riot in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 forced cities around the world to reckon with their Confederate and other controversial monuments, Philly announced that it would remove its Frank Rizzo statue from the steps of the Municipal Services Building. In the weeks before the announcement, the statue had been egged...
Cheap Eats: A family tradition of great food at Bene Italiano
You know the name: Incorvaia. And you know that this name is synonymous with home-style, made-from-scratch, classic Italian-American cuisine. But do you know the new restaurant, Keith and Chris Incorvaia’s Bene Italiano, which opened in mid-June? “Two brothers, one vision” is the motto you’ll see as you walk in the door. And the two brothers in th...
Anthony Martignetti And That Famous Prince Spaghetti Ad, 50 Years Later
Fifty years ago this fall, Prince Pasta began running their now-iconic "Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day" TV commercial. It featured a young Anthony Martignetti running through the streets of the North End, and made him a bit of a local legend here, where he still gets recognized as "Anthony!" "I remember getting letters, people saying they named...
The Making of a Global Village
In January, thousands of citizens of Italy’s Basilicata region gathered in a unique location to celebrate an historic occasion through music — which reverberated around adjacent tuff rock. Marching bands played Beethoven’s Ode to Joy — infusing life into what was, decades ago, an abandoned quarry on the outskirts of town. That town, Matera — famous...
When the 'Sopranos' Creator Didn't Think Drea de Matteo Was 'Italian Enough'
Prior to The Sopranos, you might say the peak “fiery young Italian-American woman” moment in pop culture came in My Cousin Vinny. That 1992 comedy, starring the great Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei, had some classic scenes. Right at the top is Tomei’s character — dressed in a floral, backless one-piece — stamping her foot on a cabin porch to show Vi...
Italian restaurant to open in old Nook space
The owner of a defunct downtown restaurant that focused on specialty diets plans to open an Italian restaurant at the same location early next month. Pomodoro—Italian for “tomato”—will open at 15 E. Maryland St., which until June was occupied by Nook, a restaurant that served food catering to diners who were on the paleo, Whole 30 or keto diets. Th...
Stories from Italy with Jhumpa Lahiri
The Embassy of Italy, the Italian Cultural Institute, the Department of Italian and the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics at Georgetown University invite you to a book presentation by Pulitzer Prize winning writer Jhumpa Lahiri. Jhumpa Lahiri is one of the most important voices of American literature. Her debut book, Interpreter of Maladies, wo...
A short journey through the history of pizza
Strictly speaking, people have been eating pizza for centuries. Flat and flavoured breads appear all over our culinary history from Greek pitta and Mediterranean focaccias to Indian naan bread and the Chinese 'bing'. But where does the pizza we know and love today really originate? Find out in our brief history of pizza... It all began in Naples......