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The Council of Italian American Societies of Greater Bridgeport will name Nancy DiNardo the 2023 Grand Marshal of the Greater Bridgeport Columbus Day Parade, presenting her with the Grand Marshal Sash on June 28th at Tashua Knolls Banquets in Trumbull at 5:30 pm. DiNardo is the first woman Grand Marshal of the Parade, scheduled for October 8th o...

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A recently renamed arena deserves a big name to call attention to it, right?  On Dec. 11, Total Mortgage Arena (formerly Webster Bank Arena) in Bridgeport got just that as tenor Andrea Bocelli made his Connecticut debut as part of a U.S. tour featuring son Matteo and daughter Virginia. The family and some equally talented friends performed Italian...

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The Council of Italian American Societies of Greater Bridgeport presented eight area Italian Americans with the John A. Arcudi, Esq Award for their professional success and service to others. The following eight Italian Americans were honored at Trumbull’s Tashua Knolls banquet facility before 180 guests: Mario Bartoli of Trumbull, Frank T. Gennari...

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Just as abruptly as Mayor Joe Ganim had a 60-year-old statue of Christopher Columbus removed from Seaside Park over two years ago and placed in an old horse barn there, his administration last week relocated the bronze monument to the Circulo Sportivo Italian American Club. Where the statue, donated in 1965 by representatives of the local Italian c...

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It's been two long years, but the annual Bridgeport Columbus Day Parade returned to the city on Sunday. "We're coming back and we're coming back strong. And it's going to be a great day," said Chris Caruso, spokesperson for the parade and a former state representative, ahead of Sunday's festivities. The annual celebration is organized by the Counci...

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Over two years after Mayor Joe Ganim's abrupt decision to remove the Christopher Columbus statue from Seaside Park and stick it in storage, an Italian American organization has asked the monument be transferred to its custody. "That statue has been lying in a barn  —  in a barn  —  where horses once were," former state Rep. Christopher Caruso of th...

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The Housatonic Museum of Art presents Vincent Baldassano: To Be Continued. Curated by Joel Leneker, the installation is comprised of new works on cloth and iconic works from the 1970s through 2022. This exhibit will be on view in the Burt Chernow Galleries on the Housatonic Community College campus, located at 900 Lafayette Blvd., Bridgeport, CT...

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The Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport was the site of the 2022 Bridgeport Regional arm of the NCAA women’s basketball Sweet 16 and Elite Eight tournaments this past March. But at the end of the year, the arena will be filled, not with basketball fans, but opera fans. Italian opera star Andrea Bocelli is scheduled to perform. The tenor will be stop...

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The Council of Italian American Societies of Greater Bridgeport laid a wreath in Seaside Park today at the site where the Christopher Columbus statue once stood. The group says despite the statue being removed, they are continuing a tradition they have had for 55 years to recognize the explorer and celebrate the Italians who paid for the statue and...

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After the last blog post, I was reminded of another amazing place that I have visited about five years ago during Lent that was also a message of peace. After Easter dinner, I dug up some old photos from my visit to Saint Margaret’s shrine in Bridgeport, Connecticut. There was a significant Italian enclave surrounding Saint Raphael church in downto...

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