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North End’s Gino Colafella, Mario Di Leo, JoPino Scarcella and Italian Sports in the April 2013 Bostoniano

In the April 2013 issue of Bostoniano Magazine, we found some new articles featuring the North End and its people.

Stefano Salimbeni interviews Gino Colafella from Johnny & Gino Barber Shop on Hanover Street.

After his lifetime partner officially retired, North End barber Gino Colafella talks of his shop and the neighborhood that, over 40 years, has passed in front his eyes and reflected itself in his mirrors.  Together Johnny and Gino (which is also – still – the official name of the business) made their barber shop on Hanover street an iconic hangout, where the daily life of the North End (one the few Italian neighborhoods in the country still worthy of this adjective), its current residents, and its many returning ones would be discussed, analyzed and dissected daily, along with politics , current events and , really, everything under the sun. Continue reading.

Lauren E. Forcucci explores the North End and finds the pride Italians have for their sports.

At various locations, posters of the Italian national team are hung, soccer scarves are lifted proudly at area cafes, while images of athletes and other Italian sporting logos are worn proudly on the chests of passersby. At one point, two individuals began to yell across the street at one another to announce that the game was on and that their espresso was ready. Another indicator of how sports and our culture are intertwined. Continue reading.

James Pasto writes about Mario Di Leo, a native North Ender and instructor at the North Bennet Street School who literally saved his life.

Many of you will remember him in your own way, but I’m sure the thoughts will just a special as mine are. I’m referring here to Mario Di Leo, a man who helped to make the North End the wonderful place that it was when I was growing up. The North End was in truth a wonderful place with many wonderful people – but we all know that it had its rough edges too. Mario, as part of Shaw House, was a big help in pulling a lot of us along the right path. Continue reading.

Michele McPhee, brings us up to date on JoPino Scarcella, a North End native, boxer, actor, designer, model, trainer and hair stylist.

Scarcella himself likes to say, he is “a Joe of all trades.” And when he says it, he likes to sprinkle his sentences with some Calabrian dialect, using his Italian tongue as a seasoning for his communications, like chopped garlic, as he speaks. Scarcella’s life is so dramatic and full, he needs two languages to keep it all straight. Continue reading.