Enrico Caruso was born in Naples Italy in 1873 into a working class neighborhood. His father was a mechanic who expected his son to follow his trade. His mother objected and he was sent to be educated where his clear angelic voice was discovered in a church choir, and his singing career was born. Whether Read More…
Street Corner Society is an iconic study published by William Foote Whyte in 1943. I read and researched this book 46 years ago in college and recently revisited it with the North End’s Dr. James Pasto of Boston’s University. I continue to be puzzled at his use of “gangs and slum” as major notation of Read More…
Giuseppe Verdi, the first child of Carlo Giuseppe Verdi and Luigia Uttini, was born in their home in 1813 in the town of Le Roncole, within the borders of the First French Empire. He died in 1901 in the newly formed Italian Republic so influenced by his passion and music. Verdi, was given private lessons Read More…
When I first emigrated from Sicily at age seven into the North End of Boston, my transformation from a country bumpkin to my new urban environment was a personal culture shock into the four story Hanover Ave. neighborhood. I was welcomed by my immediate neighbors with love and bore the taunts of a “grease ball” Read More…
Since 2015, Wynn Resorts has purchased 33 acres of land along the Mystic River in Everett, and the excitement grew in Eastern Massachusetts with the historic vote legalizing a gambling casino on this plot of land. The project was later renamed Encore Harbor Resorts when Steve Wynn was removed from the chairmanship and C.E.O. of Read More…
Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca, Tuscany in 1858. He was one of nine children of Michele Puccini and Albina Magi. The Puccinis were established in Lucca as a musical dynasty by Puccini’s great-great grandfather, also named Giacomo. Music ran in his blood. Puccini is the Italian opera composer whose music makes us all fall Read More…
Every time I drive by the Stephen Steriti Ice Rink in Boston’s North End, my mind wanders back to the spring of 1965 and meeting Stephen who, smiling, motioned toward me at Bova’s Bakery, excited to tell me of his enlistment in the Army. He knew I had been recently discharged from my tour in Read More…
Little Italy is a symbol of Italian culture and flavor, no different than many neighborhoods in Boston. Look at neighboring Chinatown, people flock there and here for the same reason: to taste a little Italian or Chinese food and feel the culture, not to sip a cup of coffee from a place its residents will Read More…
Living in Boston’s North End in the 50s and 60s with its winding narrow streets and alleyways, it was always amazing to see so much greenery growing on fire escapes and on our flat patio rooftops. Besides laundry lines on fire escapes, there were hundreds of potted plants and herbs to be growing in the Read More…
Read Part I here. When I began college at UMass Boston in 1972, my love of history and human nature made me want to major in Political Science and Psychology as a dual major because of my involvement in North End politics during the late 50’s early 60’s. In those days, Joe Langone and my close Read More…
The first Italians arrived in the North End in the 1860s when the political and economic situation in Italy had become untenable. Their numbers grew here in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Most were unskilled laborers and lacked the ability to speak English. They faced severe discrimination and took what jobs were available with Read More…
Rocky Marciano, his very name has a ring of the fury and power that made him the undefeated Heavy Weight Champion of the World for 49 fights 43 by knock outs… Marciano, born Rocco Francis Marchegiano in 1923, defended his Title 6 times and retired undefeated in 1956. At age 46 He died in a Read More…