Italian-American Professional Profiles Arts and Entertainment feature by Andrea Di Fabio is brought to you by Italian-American professionals on this page. RENEE PATRONE RHINEHART  CEO & FOUNDER OF PARTY HOST HELPERS AND EVENTS BY RENEE / PARTY PLANNING & NATIONWIDE PARTY STAFFING partyhosthelpers.com 844-30-PARTY ANTHONY MIRARCHI OWNER/VICE PRESIDENT, J.M. PATTON ASSOCIATES, WBENC CERTIFIED anthonym@jmpatton.com www.jmpatton.com (215) 370-9811 DONALD MOORE CO-FOUNDER/CO-OWNER: CALISTA SALON & SPA, CALISTA TOOLS, SOCIAL LOUNGE (WEST CHESTER AND DOWNINGTOWN) domoore ..read more

Traveling along major highways through Italy you will often see ruins of castles and old villages. In fact, there are thousands of these towns across the country, many in the interior regions, which are completely depopulated or have very few residents. These “ghost villages” have met this fate due to natural disasters, emigration and also because of population shifts for economic reasons. According to Istat, the Italian National Institute of Statistic, these numbers may be as high as 6,000 abandoned towns if you consider concentrated areas of housing which were actually separate towns.  ..read more

Grammy Award winner Sara Sant’Ambrogio will appear in a week of programs to kick off the Music School of Delaware’s Serafin Summer Music 2024 program in the first week of June. Sant’Ambrogio, a cellist best known as a member of the Eroica Trio, has performed with symphonies around the world as well as recording numerous CDs. She won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition for her recording of “Bernstein Arias and Barcarolles.”  The Serafin Ensemble, from left: Eric Pritchard and Kate Ransom, violin; Miles Brown, double bass; Charae Krueger, cello; and Amadi Azikiwe, viola ..read more

Written by Tanya Tecce First-generation Italian-Canadian-American Dr. Antonio di Carlo moved to the United States more than 20 years ago to further his medical training in adult and pediatric abdominal organ transplantation and living organ donation. He was a long way from the small town of Fornelli, Isernia, Italia, which his father Michele di Carlo left at age 15 to look for work. After stints in Germany, France and Switzerland, Michele di Carlo eventually made his way to Montreal where he landed for good in 1965. Dr. di Carlo’s mom Rocchina del Sonno arrived from Orsara, Provincia di Foggi ..read more

Looking back on my past two years as associate publisher, I recognize it has taken a team effort to bring IAH forward to where we are today. We now have increased circulation, more subscribers, an interactive web site, e-newsletters and activity across social media. Here are some of the dedicated people who bring IAH to life every month to attain the goal of preserving Italian heritage, culture and traditions.  Art director Rosalinda Rocco makes us look good in print. She created the multi-story front cover design used these past two years. Plus, she makes sure the stories appear on the w ..read more

Giusepppe Venuti was born Sept. 16, 1903, in Philadelphia. Joe was known throughout his life as being a jokester and using hyperbole to explain his early life. Did he study violin at a Milan Conservatory, learn from his grandfather or did he pick it up on his own?  Whatever his true beginnings, he became the first jazz violinist.  Giusepppe Venuti After World War I Joe was playing for a Philadelphia symphony. He observed that other violinists were better than him. Since jazz was all the rage, he decided to use the violin as a jazz instrument, which was unheard of in early jazz. Ban ..read more

In their 1968 hit song “Mrs. Robinson,” Simon and Garfunkel posed a question to a famous Italian American: “Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?” In the song, the Yankee center-fielder’s name was used to represent heroes from the past. Today, however, if we were to use Joe DiMaggio’s name to represent all Italian Americans, this question would take on a very different meaning. According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, the population of those with Italian heritage in the United States has been declining for at least the last 11 years. This is especially true in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Are ..read more

Dr. Dario Altieri doesn’t know all the reasons why last year he was named one of the region’s most admired CEOs by Philadelphia Business Journal. The Justinian Foundation and Society – founded in 1935 by attorneys of Italian ancestry in greater Philadelphia – in 2023 also honored Altieri, for his scholarship, civic leadership and integrity. Maybe it’s his commitment: He’s at his desk by 8 a.m. as president and CEO at The Wistar Institute, America’s first nonprofit biomedical research organization. He’s often working at 6 p.m., plus evenings and weekends. He is also director of the Ellen and Ro ..read more

My friend and I sat quietly in the classroom at the acclaimed Wine School of Philadelphia recently, trying to absorb everything our instructor, school founder Keith Wallace, was saying. Good wine is a product of “chemistry and statistics,” he said, noting that it takes a vineyard 20 years to produce a good wine. Good wine is not simply a product of soil and climate, according to Wallace. Equally important are the required warm air, cool nights and sunshine. He said those variables can make or break a grape harvest. Leaving aside matters of taste, a huge factor that makes a wine “good” is its c ..read more

A who’s who of the Delaware Italian-American community gathered on Feb. 29 to pay tribute to their own at the biennial gala of the Delaware Italian American Foundation. Honoree Nick Caggiano with Italian Consul General of Italy to Philadelphia Cristiana Mele. The highlight of the event, which was held at the Newark Executive Banquet & Conference Center near Glasgow, was honoring three of Delaware’s most influential Italian-Americans: Delaware Secretary of Education Mark Holodick, Nemours Children’s Health Executive Vice President Gina Altieri, and the Nick Caggiano family, owners of Nico ..read more