Festa Italiana returns to Harriet Island this weekend
by Jaime DeLage After a year off to reorganize and a year away in Shoreview, the fledgling Festa Italiana is returning to Harriet Island this weekend. The first Festas were held on Harriet Island in September 2011 and 2012, but miserable weather the second year convinced organizers to move their event to midsummer. The lack of sum...
Italian immigrants settled in Greenbush
Many American cities have areas famous for their large populations of Italian immigrants. In New York it is Little Italy, in Boston the North End and in St. Louis the Hill. It was only natural that those seeking a new life in a foreign land would settle among family and friends. Here it was in the southside Greenbush neighborhood, affectionately ni...
In defense of Christopher Columbus
Another Columbus Day came and went this week, although not as such in Minneapolis, which voted this year to honor Indigenous Peoples' Day instead, a time to reflect on the price American Indians paid for the greed and ruthlessness of my European ancestors. Yet it is ironic that Columbus should take the blame, for he was our first "multicul...
House committee rejects bill to abolish Colorado’s Columbus Day
By Joey Bunch Columbus Day will live on in Colorado after legislation to abolish it was voted down Monday night. Rep. Joe Salazar, a Democrat from Thornton who sponsored the bill, originally sought to have Oct. 12 renamed Indigenous People's Day. He dropped that part of the proposal with an amendment during the committee hearing. The four...
Make & Take class: il VOV (Italian holiday drink)
The holidays are the perfect time to enjoy a traditional Italian cold-weather drink: VOV, a delicious egg-based beverage infused with Marsala wine. Born in the city of Padova in 1845, the drink quickly gained scores of aficionados in Italy and abroad, due to its delicate taste and energizing properties. On Thursday, December 3rd from 6:30...
Albert Bellson was Minnesota's mandolin maestro
Italian immigrant Albert Bellson was considered Minnesota's master mandolin player and teacher in the 1920s and '30s, an era when big string orchestras were all the rage. Despite his lofty stature, Bellson took time every week to walk from his downtown St. Paul instrument shop and music school to the Rondo neighborhood. That's where he coa...
House Representative in Colorado Wants Columbus Day Gone, Opposition Fights to Keep It
by Tara Houska "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." Every year, school children across the United States will learn this poem; each October, federal employees will get a day off to honor a man who never stepped foot in North America but is widely associated with its alleged discovery. Over the past few years, however, C...
Festival Italiano at Belmar
Festival Italiano at Belmar will feature the finest Italian food, artisan vendors, chef demonstrations, Balistreri Vineyard's Children's Grape Stomp, performances by the flag throwers from Florence and live entertainment on 2 stages, strolling performers, a two day Bocce Tournament, plus more! Join us on the main stage on Saturday night fr...
NMM’s Amati ‘King’ Cello Holds Summer Court At The Met
One of the world's greatest musical instruments, the 16th-century Amati "King" cello, has temporarily left its home at The National Music Museum (NMM) in Vermillion for a special summer-long exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, running through Sept. 8. Says National Music Museum Director Cleveland Johnson, "The 'King' is one o...
Celebrate Ferragosto...Picnic and Bocce Ball!
Ferragosto, the mid-August Italian holiday, is celebrated in Italy with picnics and informal outdoor gatherings. The Italian Cultural Center invites you, and your family, to a picnic-style celebration to be held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Tartan Park in Lake Elmo, on Saturday, August 10, 2013. The ICC event will take place near the bocce courts and...
Homemade dishes mark 29th annual La Festa Italiana
By Kevin Cole Plaudits came easily Sunday for the food, drink and fun at the 29th annual La Festa Italiana. This was the third and probably final year the festival was at the National Guard Center near 116th Street and Rainwood Road. "Next year, if we're ready, we will be at our permanent home at 132nd and Fort," said Dr. Ted Bolamperti,...
La Festa Italiana Getting New Home
A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Thursday for a new American Italian Heritage Society headquarters in Omaha. The building, at the corner of North 132nd and Fort streets, will provide space to educate the community about Italian culture and serve as a banquet facility accommodating up to 600 people. The group has been the sole spo...