Honoring Sal DiMasi is complicated
Couldn’t the North End Columbus Day Celebration Committee find an Italian-American who didn’t go to prison for public corruption to honor with a public service award? Former House speaker and convicted felon Sal DiMasi was recently recognized by a North End community organization, at an event attended by Mayor Marty Walsh and City Council President...
Thousands view St. Padre Pio relics at St. Thomas More
St. Pio of Pietrelcina — known throughout the world as Padre Pio — likely faces competition only from John Paul II and Mother Teresa for the title of most popular saint of the 20th Century. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the public veneration of his relics at St. Thomas More Church attracted record crowds to the Narragansett parish. More...
Commemorating October Italian American Heritage Month
The October 2017 Italian American Heritage Kick Off at Massachusetts State House was sponsored by the Italian Consul General Nicola De Santis and the Italian American Heritage Committee. Speaker of the House Rep. Robert De Leo served as Master of Ceremonies ushering in a full month of activities all over the Commonwealth run by Italian and Italian-...
‘Pomodoro’ aims to modernize city’s 80-year-old Italian tradition
Roger Savini, owner of Savini’s Restaurant, was eating Italian food on Rathbun Street before he was even born, at least according to family legend. Grandmother Anna Savini was a cook at the restaurant’s predecessor, the Sons of Italy, in the 1940s, and when her pregnant daughter came in for a meal, she’d tuck an extra meatball beneath the pasta jus...
Joseph Barbieri celebrated for service to Torrington, named Italian Mayor of the Day
Joseph Barbieri was honored Thursday for his years of good work and service in the city by being named the 2017 Italian Mayor of the Day and Lord Mayor for Columbus Day. The event was part of Torrington’s annual festivities celebrating Columbus Day and the city’s Italian citizens, who founded many of its neighborhoods and businesses and have integr...
Norwalk statue, like Columbus, has storied history
Seventy seven years ago this month, members of Norwalk’s sizable Italian-American community gathered proudly in front of Columbus Elementary School on Concord Street and dedicated a monument honoring the school’s namesake. The Columbus Memorial Scholarship Fund donated $2,800 for the statue, which was built by a sculptor from Fairfield and dedicate...
An 'Italian street festival' on Main Street
A mix of Italian food, family friendly games, clothing and artisan vendors, and traditional fall fun brought families to Tuscan Market's Main Street location for Toscana Fest Saturday. The sun held strong Saturday for the Salem event, after it had been rained out just a week before. Families painted pumpkins, perused vendor tents and sampled Tusca...
Bridgeport’s Christopher Columbus statue holds many histories
As city workers tried tried again Wednesday to wash red paint from a statue of Christopher Columbus vandalized over the weekend, one of them remembered watching the sculpture’s unveiling with his mother in 1965, when he was 8 years old. “I thought it was an incredibly proud moment for the city of Bridgeport,” Kevin Monks said. “What a beautiful sta...
Familiar Faces at Sold Out Columbus Day Dinner Honoring Renato Berzolla
The St Lawrence Society held its 30th annual Columbus Day dinner, this year honoring Renato Berzolla. The St. Lawrence Club in Cos Cob was packed as the event sold out in advance, a testament to the community’s admiration for the honoree, and perhaps, the wonderful cooking. Dinner started with antipasto and salad, followed by Italian wedding soup....
Peter F. Tardo
Peter F. Tardo of Taunton, who leaves family in Bourne, died at his home October 6. He was 76. Mr. Tardo, who was born in Boston's North End and grew up in South Boston, was the son of Peter A.V. Tardo and Maria (Ciampa) Tardo. He graduated from Gate of Heaven High School and furthered his education at Fisher Junior College and Providence College w...
Anthony DeVito headlines at the Fairfield Comedy Club
Anthony DeVito is a funny Italian guy, who is also a talented comic. He’s honest and humble, too. As he says on his website: “Hi, this is Anthony. I made this site, so it’s probably not great. I’m a comedian, not a web designer. But, feel free to click on things.” He goes on to share that his comedy credits include an appearance on CBS, on “Late Sh...
Sons of Italy: Columbus statue should be moved to Federal Hill
After a statue of Christopher Columbus was targeted by vandals in Providence, the head of the local chapter of the Sons of Italy is calling for the effigy to be moved to the community it primarily represents. Presumably in protest of Columbus Day, vandals doused the statue bearing the Italian explorer’s likeness with red paint Monday morning. The s...