Balducci was born in Brooklyn but raised in Italy after his family moved back when he was two months old.
He returned to New York with his family in 1939, later serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II and participating in the D-Day invasion.
Source: Andrew Balducci, of the iconic NYC gourmet food store, dead at 92
In 1948, the United States worried Italians would vote socialist in the country’s upcoming election. Thousands of Central New York Italian-Americans wrote letters to their native home urging them not to.
With the Cold War heating up, both the United States and the Soviet Union sent bags of money to the Italian political party they favored. (By its own admission, the CIA gave $1 million to Italy’s “center parties.”)
American agencies funded the publishing of books, made numerous short-wave radio broadcasts and wrote millions of letters to help influence the election.
Source: Vintage election meddling: Italian-Americans urge relatives to vote against communism in 1948
It’s not a stretch to call Tony Vallone a Houston restaurant legend. For over 50 years, he’s been the powerhouse behind Tony’s, the swanky Italian restaurant that’s long been a staple for foodies and the see-and-be-seen crowd alike. He also founded Vallone’s steakhouse in the Memorial area and Ciao Bello near the Galleria. He also started La Grigilia and…
Source: Houston Restaurant Legend Tony Vallone Honored For Excellence In Italian Cuisine
It’s one of the hottest emerging new cuisines in Minnesota, but many already consider a classic. Italian-American food. Here’s where to find some great restaurants specializing in the cuisine around the Twin Cities.
Source: Appetites: Italian-American cuisine is back, here’s where to find it
Palermo’s Teatro Massimo is the biggest opera house in Italy and a symbol of the mafia’s disgrace in Sicily. It also starred in “The Godfather: Part III.”
Yes, Milan’s La Scala may have more seats, and La Fenice in la Venezia is more venerable by a century, but Palermo’s Teatro Massimo is easily the biggest in Italy, a sprawling, 83,000-square-foot, neo-romantic edifice that dominates the Sicilian capital’s antique skyline. In Europe, only L’Opéra in Paris and the State Opera in Vienna are bigger.
Source: Not Just a Pretty Facade, Palermo’s Opera Is an Anti-Mafia Symbol
L’Ambasciatore d’Italia negli USA, Armando Varricchio, ha appena concluso una missione nello Stato del Texas a Dallas, Wichita Falls e Austin. Le varie tappe del viaggio hanno confermato l’eccellenza dei rapporti tra gli Stati Uniti – il Texas in particolare – e l’Italia. “La cooperazione in ambito militare e di sicurezza, quella nel settore culturale ed i strettissimi legami economici, testimoniati anche dalla presenza di società e startup italiane alla fiera SXSW di Austin, sono i pilastri di un rapporto solido, vivace ed in continua crescita” ha affermato l’Ambasciatore.
A Dallas, Varricchio ha partecipato quale guest speaker ad un evento organizzato dal World Affairs Council di Dallas/Fort Worth, visitato alcune istituzioni artistiche e culturali della città, tra cui la Bush Presidential Library and Museum, il Dallas Museum of Arts che ha recentemente rinnovato un prestito di opere d’arte dall’Italia, tra cui anche alcuni manufatti di epoca etrusca, e il 6th Floor Museum. In città l’Ambasciatore ha incontrato Doug Parker, 
Amministratore Delegato di American Airlines, compagnia aerea che collega gli USA all’Italia con numerosi voli diretti da diverse città americane, inclusa Dallas.
A Wichita Falls, accompagnato dall’Addetto Militare dell’Ambasciata, Gen. Luca Goretti, l’Ambasciatore ha visitato la base dell’Aeronautica USA Sheppard dove è di stanza un contingente di piloti italiani che partecipa al programma Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program.
A Austin, l’Ambasciatore ha visitato lo stand italiano alla fiera SXSW, la manifestazione più seguita negli USA dedicata al mondo della musica, del cinema e delle start-up che ogni anno vede confluire nella capitale texana oltre 100.000 visitatori da 75 Paesi. Per l’Italia erano presenti, tra le altre, le start-up Adam’s Hand, Digital Mosaic e Tactile Robots, mentre la Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI) ha selezionato 15 gruppi per partecipare all’evento. “Anche negli Stati Uniti, culla dell’innovazione scientifica e tecnologica, la presenza di società e start-up italiane, qualificate e competitive, conferma l’eccellenza e la vitalità dell’imprenditoria del nostro Paese” – ha affermato l’Ambasciatore Varricchio.
“My father comes from the bottom of the boot — he lives for wine, women and mozzarella,” said Greco, whose accent sounds at home in the Bronx or Chalmette. “My mother from Naples cares about the five Fs: family, food, friends, faith forever. That’s what my life revolves around.”
Source: Pasta and present: Italian American St. Joseph Society dines first, walks it off in annual parade
Christian Democracy, Fascism, Eurocommunism (“communism with a human face”) and a Trump-anticipating rule by a randy property-and-media mogul, Silvio Berlusconi, were all wholly or largely developed in Italy. The two forces now vying for the country’s leadership, the Five Star Movement and the Lega (“League”) are, in turn, the first party formed and run on the internet with a comedian-turned political blogger in charge of its ideology; and a party which created a non-existent region—Padania—in the north of
Source: The Impossibility of Italian Politics – The American Interest
Populist parties have gained ground at the expense of establishment voices in Italy’s parliamentary elections, which produced no clear winner as votes were being counted in the early hours of Monday.
The anti-establishment Five Star Movement is projected to have gained the most votes by a single party, while a center-right coalition looks set to hold the most seats in the country’s senate.
San Francisco stripped the name of Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer, from his commemorative day in October. But that doesn’t mean the city’s Italian Americans should stop holding their annual parade in North Beach, where the floats putter up Columbus Avenue as bystanders wave flags and cheer. On Tuesday, Supervisor Catherine Stefani offered a compromise: split the day in two. For those inclined to celebrate the discoverer from Genoa, it’s Italian American Heritage Day. For those who would rather honor the people who had already lived in California for centuries, it’s Indigenous People’s Day.
Source: SF Supervisor Stefani wants indigenous people, Italian Americans to share day
