It was in 1977 that I flew down to Los Angeles from San Francisco with a group of Italian-Americans, including former mayor Joseph Alioto and his daughter Angela Alioto Veronese. Born in San Francisco in 1916, Alioto rose to prominence as an attorney and politician, becoming the 36th mayor of San Francisco, serving from 1968 to 1976. He was known f...

If you were set out to tell the stories of every great Italian and Italian American to leave their mark on human history, you could probably speak for a thousand years without even scratching the surface of such an illustrious list. And for businessman and philanthropist Robert Barbera, that’s exactly the task he has set out for himself. At 89 year...

At the end of the interview with Robert Barbera, who is over 80 years old, I felt like I was talking to a 20 year old boy. I was asking him about the wonderful things he has helped to create, why he is one of the largest and most generous financiers of the Italian American and Italian community not only in California, but all over the United States...

From Roman statesman Marcus Cicero to pioneering activist Angela Bambace to accomplished music composer Henry Mancini — Italy’s contributions to the world stage are legion, and Robert Barbera is determined to shine a light on them. A frequent and long-time donor to California State University, Northridge (CSUN), Barbera has most recently made a con...