Remember Buca di Beppo? The casual Italian chain restaurant (or really, Italian-American) was known for its red-sauce style, with hearty menu items like lasagna, juicy chicken parmesan, and spaghetti and meatballs, as well as seriously big portions. Somewhat ironically, it wasn't dreamed up by an Italian at all. Founder Phil Roberts hails from cent...
Steve Serio, co-captain of the U.S. Men’s National Wheelchair Basketball team, says he never thought he would have the honor of being named a flag bearer for Team USA. And yet there he was with fellow para athlete Nicky Nieves, leading the 225-member Team USA Paris delegation down the famed Champs-Élysées during the opening ceremonies of the 2024 S...
As the Artemis campaign leads humanity to the Moon and eventually Mars, NASA is refining its state-of-the-art navigation and positioning technologies to guide a new era of lunar exploration. A technology demonstration helping pave the way for these developments is the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE), a joint effort between NASA and the Itali...
“What does one think of when reading the words Italian American?” I asked a friend. Was she going to say tomato sauce (gravy) or delicious food? How about fictional characters, Michael Corleone or Tony Soprano? Does the phrase “fuhgeddaboudit” suddenly pop into your head? Or maybe the “Che vuoi?” (pinched fingers) hand gesture? All are the kind of...
The President of the Italian Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, had a telephone conversation with the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, to whom she wished first of all to express her personal and the Italian government's feelings of solidarity for the terrible devastation caused by the fires in California. During the conversa...
“Hey! Hey! We’re the Monkees!” was a familiar ditty that drew so many of us to our black-and-white television sets with the “bunny-ear” antennas on Monday evenings in the mid-’60s. For me, it was the Saturday morning reruns of the ’70s that bound me to America’s Marx Brothers-esque answer to the Mop-Top British Invasion. Davy Jones, the British hea...
As an Italian-American, my fondest memories are of coming home from school to my mom cooking a massive pot of spaghetti and homemade garlic bread, or getting takeout pizza as a family on Friday nights. But as much as I love pasta and a slice, they don't exactly love me. As I've gotten older, increasingly they leave me stuffed and fatigued for hours...
The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) has designated Abruzzo and Molise as the "Regions of Honor" for 2027, a prestigious recognition that highlights the cultural and historical significance of these two central Italian regions. This honor was announced at a special event in Washington, D.C., attended by key representatives from the regio...
Starting in January 2025, Italy is implementing significant changes to its visa and citizenship processes, impacting both long-term visa applicants and those seeking Italian citizenship by descent. These updates reflect Italy’s effort to enhance security and streamline administrative procedures, addressing increasing demand and rising costs. Beginn...
The Italian American Baseball Foundation awards college scholarships to deserving student-athletes who express pride in our culture and heritage. All awardees must follow the application process. Our goal is to honor graduating high school seniors or current college players. An IABF scholarship committee will select the winners each year. The schol...
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited yesterday President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. The meeting marked an important moment in U.S.-Italy relations, reflecting both countries' growing interest in strengthening political and economic ties and drewing attention to Italy’s role within the European Union...
We all know it: Christmas is a season of joy, tradition, and indulgence, a time when families gather to celebrate together with family and, of course, plenty of good food. What many of us may not know is that many of our favorite holiday flavors and traditions owe much to the centuries-old contributions of monastic communities. For centuries, monas...