People

“One of the memories I hold dearest it’s me sitting on the lap of my Grandpa, while we are watching the Italian football matches on TV . If he were still here, I hope he said I’m doing the right thing”. Matt Rizzetta is much more than a football fan: he is among the stakeholders of S.S. Città di Campobasso and Ascoli Calcio 1989 F.C., adding his huge passion for soccer to his deep love for his Italian heritage.

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What is it like being an Italian American? A stereotype? Or rather a mix of cultures and traditions? Mike Fiorito, a Newyorker from an Italian family, explores the vivacious universe of the Italian Americans in his books, finding out that there’s much more out there than just a bunch of Guidos.
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“Discovering my roots has been essential to understand who I am”. John Turturro  was born on Febraury 28th 1957 but this is not the news here. John, son to a man from Puglia and a woman from Sicily, has always been so keen on his Italian heritage that he has let it influence not only his lifestyle but also his work.
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An authentic Brooklynite, Marisa Tomei started loving acting at a very early age, following her theatre-addicted parents back and forth the Broadway shows. In 1984, at 20, she debuted in “The Flamingo Kid”, a movie in which she had just one line.
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John Travolta has turned 66, but he still looks – and feels – like a kid. Born and raised in Englewood, New Jersey, John is the younger of six children. His father Salvatore was a second generation Sicilian American, coming from the outskirts of Palermo.
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About her Italian ancestry, she uses to say: “Well, there was this Italian man – four of five generations ago – who married an Irish woman. And they had all sons, who married other Irish women. And so on. This basically means that the Italian blood has been bred out of me”. Yet, she hasn’t changed her Italian last name for a stage one.
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He heard The Voice and soon realized what he would do in life. Frankie Valli, the frontman of the glorious Four Seasons, was just 7 when his mother took him to the Paramount Theatre in Manhattan to listen to a young Frank Sinatra: that night was enough an inspiration to him.
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Little Alphonso Jo couldn’t become anything other than an actor. Born in 1936 in the Bronx, New York, he was the son of Alphonso Giuseppe Giovanni Roberto D’Abruzzo – stage name Robert Alda – an Italian performer in burlesque theatres.
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Some families are truly blessed with talent. The Coppolas are among these ones: everyone knows Francis Ford Coppola, his daughter Sofia and his nephew Nicholas Cage (that last name is a stage one, a tribute to the comics superhero Luck Cage). But there are other notable Coppolas, as Christopher. Read more…

People call him both “The Big Ragu” for his red hair (and his Italian ancestry) and “The Michael Jordan of Delaware” for his skills. Donte DiVincenzo, 23 years old, is one of the brightest rising stars in NBA.
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“I’m the perfect example that if you give somebody a chance, especially here in the States, one can find a way”. She definitely found hers. Linda Matticchio Bastianich now is a celebrity chef, an author and a restaurateur.
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He liked mechanics as a kid: he loved to see how things work. Then, he saw “The Godfather”. And he realised he could turn his great passion into a real work. Rob Legato is the Maestro of visual effects, the mind who’s behind “The Lion King” – just to say. Read more…

A haunting family secret. A saint who seems no longer protect his villagers. Two towns, Melilli, Sicily, and Middletown, Connecticut, across the ocean linked by something more than a history of migration.
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He was named after Leonardo Da Vinci, as his mother felt him kick for the first time while she was looking at a painting at the Museo degli Uffizi in Florence. And maybe carrying the name of the Genius brought him good luck.
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Her name is Corinne Antonelli and she is from New Jersey. Corinne has always been fond of art, particularly that kind that helps people spread their imagination. Now her work of art literally makes people fly: she is the one who has painted an airplane with two iconic symbols both of her hometown State and New York. Read more…

Funny, fast, free hearted. Jay Leno is definitely the man of the three “Fs”. His being a natural born comedian doesn’t need any explanation, neither does his passion for motors and vehicles (“Jay Leno’s Garage” is a website and a TV series since 2014). Maybe the third “F” is somewhat less known. Jay is generous, and charity is his third big activity in life. Read more…