Lambrusco: The Comeback Kid
One great thing about millennial consumers is that they don't remember their parents' mistakes. This is why Lambrusco is ripe for a comeback. But it's not an overnight sensation: Medici Ermete, a fourth-generation winery, has spent two decades painstakingly laying the groundwork. Lambrusco is a red sparkling wine from the Emilia-Romagna region of n...
Liberty Township: The 1873 Coal War and the Italians
In the Mahoning Valley, there’s a layer of fine coal dust that overlays Italian American history. To retrace the time when Italians first arrived, head north on Youngstown’s Belmont Avenue and you’ll soon find yourself on Route 193. In Liberty Township, not far from where the highway crosses Churchill Road, stood Church Hill and its coal camp. The...
Travel setbacks overcome by Europa Galante in a splendid early music concert
There’s good news and bad news about Europa Galante’s visit to San Diego for their Sunday evening concert at St. James-by-the-Sea. Good news: The 13 musicians of this acclaimed early music group from Italy arrived safely this weekend in San Diego, the first stop of their American tour. The bad news: Their checked luggage did not come with them. Tha...
Cassata Cake: Elegant, creamy and oh so delicious at Bruno's NYC
Spending time in the prolific kitchens of Bruno's NYC Bakery in Dongan Hills means learning from the master himself, master pastry chef Biagio Settepani, as he walks an observer through the process of building Italian desserts. Take the cassata cake, a complex specialty of the Bruno house. The dessert, the pastry patriarch and his colleague/son Joe...
From Italy to South Jersey, Ferrari making an impact for Gloucester Catholic boys basketball team
It is safe to say that Nico Ferrari will not be visiting any Olive Gardens during his stay in America. But other than missing the pasta from his native Italy, the senior exchange student is loving his time in the United States – and his new school is embracing him right back. In addition to forming an immediate bond with his teammates on the Glouce...
Etruscan settlement found in Sardinia for first time
An Etruscan settlement that dates back to the 9th century BC has been found on the Sardinian coasts near Olbia. The presence emerged during a review of the findings of recent years by the archaeological superintendency for the Sassari and Nuoro provinces. The area of the settlement - according to a statement issued by the superintendency - is on th...
Bollo's used its noodles
Joseph Bollo ran restaurants in Charleston and Folly Beach for two decades, but didn’t develop a spaghetti specialty until the latter half of his career. When he first opened Washington Square Café, Bollo focused primarily on seafood. Yet at around the same time, spaghetti from his native Italy was starting to catch on with the dining public. Pasta...
Versace Family disowns 'Fiction' of US TV Series on designer's death
The family of Italian designer Gianni Versace has distanced itself from a long-awaited US television series about his violent death. The nine-part series, made by 21st Century Fox and premiering next week, stars Spanish actress Penelope Cruz and Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin. Versace was gunned down in 1997 at the entrance gate of his Miami beac...
Beppe Gambetta, playing Friday at Best Video in Hamden, may be from Italy, but he can flat-pick with the best of them
Let’s dispel a big misconception some people around here might have: Not all of the world’s great flat-pickers are from Appalachia, the South or even from the United States. Just ask Beppe Gambetta, who hails from Genoa, Italy, one of the masters of the acoustic guitar who will be here as a living breathing example of that. “Here” in this case will...
Tradition be damned. This quick Italian sauce suddenly goes with everything
Vitello tonnato. Pronounce it, as an Italian would, trippingly off the tongue. Translate the traditional dish into English — veal with a tuna-flavored mayonnaise — and that initial mellifluous charm fades fast. “It’s such a delicate dish, but such specific, strong flavors,” British chef Ruth Rogers said. “Once you start describing it, it becomes mo...
Forget Milan, Florence is cradle of Italian fashion
Think Italian fashion and you are likely to think of chic central, Milan. But "Made in Italy" actually has its roots in Florence, where the hotly anticipated Pitti Uomo trade fair opens this week. The most famous men here may be naked -- from Michelangelo's David to the sea-god Neptune -- but every year the Tuscan city becomes the capital of men's...
A volunteer to the end
When Dante Caldera turned 100, he said he liked the idea. At 100, he was still volunteering at Citrus Memorial Hospital, in the same-day surgery department, greeting patients. “I don’t think of myself as old,” he told the Chronicle on his 100th birthday, March 23, 2016. “Age is just a number. From the hips down I feel 150. From the hips to my shou...