The Italian American Podcast

On September 25, 2022, snap elections in Italy yielded two unprecedented results, as Giorgia Meloni is set to become Italy's first female Prime Minister, and her "Fratelli d'Italia" (Brothers of Italy) Party, which took the highest percentage of votes, will sit at the heart of Italy's most right-wing government since the end of World War II. This week, after considerable audience requests, we sat...

This week, the Italian American Podcast marks its 250th episode, and we certainly have a lot to celebrate as we kick off another Italian American Heritage Month! We discuss John and Dolores's recent trip to Sicily, where they experienced the island in ways few Americans ever get the chance to experience. They share their stories, and how they came to realize just why their — and countless other —...

Many of us have that "one" cookbook that we reach for whenever we want to make something special for our friends and famiglia… and for one of our hosts (and perhaps for many of you out there) that special book was written by this week's incredible guest. Award-winning author Arthur Schwartz (LINK) is a legend in the world of Italian cuisine, thanks to his definitive work "Naples at Table: Cooking...

When it comes to fashion, the phrase "MADE IN ITALY" evokes excellence in every step of the process.  From the world's most luxurious textiles to cutting-edge technologies in manufacturing, to the unparalleled sense of design that Italy has shared with the world for millennia, every aspect of the clothes we wear is defined by Italian ingenuity and taste. In this week's episode, we sit down with ma...

For many Italian Americans, the American Civil War, a seminal chapter in the history of the United States, can often feel like a chapter detached from their own American experience. Since the massive wave of Italian Immigration to the United States between 1870 and 1920, the brilliant thread of the Italian American experience has been indelibly woven into the tapestry of American history, but even...

He was the "King of Cool," an Italian American star whose casual magnetism and incomparable voice defined the Rat Pack style that influenced generations of American popular culture.  Now, Dean Martin's hometown is seeking to honor him for all time with a larger-than-life statue at the heart of this once-bustling community. In this week's episode, we are exploring the life and legacy of Steubenvill...

What does it mean to live "La Dolce Vita?" This week's guest is here to tell us how the answer to that question is just as varied as Italy herself! Carla Gambescia is a cultural "edu-tainer," award-winning author, travel journalist, lecturer and avid photographer. The author of " La Dolce Vita University: An Unconventional Guide to Italian Culture from A to Z ," Carla seeks to teach people about I...

"Viva San Rocco!" It's the last weeks of summer in Italian America, and in neighborhoods across the country, paesani are celebrating the Feast of Saint Rocco, one of the most venerated saint days in the Italian American year. For our part, we're sitting down with Stephen La Rocca, president of the St. Rocco Society of Potenza, to discover more about this saint and the feast that has been held in h...

We spent last week filming in one of the most overlooked (and criminally underappreciated) corners of Italian America… deep in the Ozarks in a little Italian village called Tontitown, Arkansas! In this week's episode of The Italian American Podcast, we're sitting down with two of the new paesani we met during our travels, Heather Ranalli Peachee and Kara Jo Engle. Both of these proud Tontitown Ita...

"What does Italy mean to you?" For those of us who think about Italy and our Italianness on a daily basis, it's a question that can force the mind into an exhausting array of mental gymnastics. To this week's guest, Nikki Taylor of  La Dolce Vita Lifestyle Magazine ,  it's the question she is asking the entire world to answer! The Australian Italophile behind the uplifting #MyItaly2022 social medi...

On Thursday July 21, 2022, Mario Draghi, Italy's technocratic Prime Minister, resigned from his role as Head of Government. With Italy facing a summer of unprecedented heatwaves, fires, draught, inflation, war on the continent, gas shortages, and the lingering effects of COVID shutdowns, the departure of this highly-regarded European technocrat has sent shockwaves across Italy and the world.  And...

In modern America, countless thousands of Italian American women and men practice every imaginable discipline of the law.  However, not so long ago, a vowel on the end of one's surname was likely a barrier to entry to most of the nation's elite law schools and most important law firms.  What exactly changed to allow so many of our fellow Italian Americans to proudly bear the title of Esquire? Perh...

It's easy to make the argument that the annual feast is the soul of the Italian American neighborhood, and for the true feast aficionado, it's the music that is the soul of the feast! And no two people know this better than this week's guests, the talented musicians at the helm of two of Italian America's most renowned feast bands, Marty Caliendo and Joe Annecchino. Based in Chicago, Marty is the...

When we scored an interview with famed Italo-Australian comedian Joe Avati, we figured we would be lucky to get 45 minutes with the man many credit with creating a worldwide Italian comedy revolution. In fact, we ended up spending two hours in deep discussion with the man known around the world as the "Italian Seinfeld!" On this week's episode of the Italian American Podcast, we're bringing you Pa...

Until recently, Joe Avati never thought of himself as a "real comic."  This bout of self-deprecation probably comes as something of a surprise to the Italo-Australian's legion of devoted fans, who many years ago dubbed him the "Italian Seinfeld!" Avati's signature "clean style" of comedy and his laser-sharp insight into the minds of Italians around the world have made him a comedy superstar in his...

It's said that Heaven touches Brooklyn, New York, every July… and if you know Brooklyn like we do, then you know that celestial poke occurs at the famed Festa del Giglio at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, and you also know the passionate pastor there! This week we sit down with the one-and-only Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello who, beyond his job as the spiritual father of one of the nation's most imp...

Family is the cornerstone of our life as Italian Americans, but what happens when one member of the family is diagnosed with a serious illness? That's just one of the topics we cover with this week's guest, Dr. Benedict Albensi, Ph. D., BCMAS, CRQM. Dr. Albensi is a professor and chair of the department of pharmaceutical sciences at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Renowned...

Are you guilty of crimes against Italian food? A recent YouGov survey that polled 20,000 people across 17 different countries decided that Italian cuisine was the most beloved on earth… but also established a list of alleged "Italian Food Crimes" that might trip up even the most passionate Italian American, let alone the first-time visitor to "il Bel Paese." Some of the worst offenders list will r...

We're back for the second half of our incredible conversation with Ian MacAllen, the author of Red Sauce: How Italian Food Became American , as we continue our quest to understand the evolution of "Red Sauce Italian," - that unique cuisine born of the melding of Southern Italian tastes and American abundance. This week, in Part 2, we'll take the conversation even deeper to explore everything from...

Once in a long while, a book comes along and immediately qualifies as a "must have" in the Italian American home library. In Red Sauce: How Italian Food Became American , author Ian MacAllen has created one of those books! In this rollicking two-part episode, we're joined by this proud Italian American writer as he leads us in an exploration of the evolution of traditional Italian American cuisine...

For countless Italian Americans, many of the best-loved hallmarks of our distinct culture are intrinsically tied to Catholic tradition.  Even for those who have let their personal practice lapse, or for others who come from different religious backgrounds, recollections of a special feast day in the old neighborhood, or holiday traditions rooted in Catholic practice remain treasured touchstones of...

Of the more than 20 million Americans with Italian roots, approximately 87 percent are of Southern Italian origin.  This massive dispora from Italy's south has made southern Italian cuisine, culture and traditions into familiar aspects of Italian American life; yet the wealth of classical music originating in the Italian south has remained a mystery, even to the millions whose ancestors left her s...

With 20 titles to her credit, Adriana Trigiani is one of Italian America's most profound and authentic voices. This week, she joins us to celebrate the launch of her latest book, "The Good Left Undone," a generational story that will easily secure a place of honor in anyone's Italian American book collection upon its release on April 26. Adriana tells us about her process for writing her latest ep...

This week we're jumping back into the second part of our two-part episode exploring the 50-year relationship between the Italian American community and Francis Ford Coppola's " The Godfather ", with a commercial-free conclusion to this well-received conversation. Since its premiere in March of 1972, The Godfather has been considered one of the most influential and important films of all time, but...

It is considered one of the most influential films of all time, a critical and commercial success, the winner of the 1972 Academy Award for Best Picture, selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, and ranked as the second-greatest film in American cinematic history by the American Film Institute… and for 50 years it has aroused equal parts love and loa...