The Italian Radio Hour

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - “My mom left Italy for America. I headed for Sicily and built my own culture.”“In Italy, I learned about my American self.”“Is my daughter Italian-American?”Three sentences. Three questions about identity, belonging, and what happens to us when cultures cross borders and generations.Who are we when we belong to more than one culture?Are we defined by where we were born? By our parents? By the language we speak? By the traditions we keep? Or by the identity we create for ourselves along the way?My two guests is that, in many ways, they have crossed the Atlantic in opposite directions.Anna grew up here in Pittsburgh with Italian roots and eventually moved to Sicily.Cristina grew up in Italy and built her adult life in New York.One went toward Italy.The other went toward America.And somewhere along the way, both began asking new questions about who they are.If you have ever felt caught between two cultures — or lucky enough to belong to both — you don’t want to miss this conversation.For this episode, we really would like to hear your comments on what "identity" means for you!
Ready Anna's story at: https://www.publicsource.org/palermo-fulbright-sicilian-american-identity-pittsburgh/
Read Cristina's story at: https://www.cartolinedacristina.com/perche-anno-sabbatico.html

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - What happens when a love story becomes a journey into the heart of Italy?In this episode of The Italian Radio Hour, I’m joined by Emmy-nominated, award-winning filmmakers Marylou and Jerome Bongiorno, the husband-and-wife creative team behind Amore nel Sannio, a 35-minute fiction-documentary premiering nationwide on PBS beginning October 1 in celebration of Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month.Together, we travel to Sannio, accompanied also by Maria Nuzzolillo and Dan Stemmer, founders of Vita Villaggi , and actress Isabella Chiantone Mustilli (Cantine Mustilli) to discover a beautiful and often overlooked corner of Campania, where a story inspired by love and marriage unfolds against a landscape of vineyards, ancient traditions, food, family, and deeply rooted connections.Marylou and Jerome take us behind the scenes of the film—how the idea was born, why Sannio became such an important character in the story, and what they discovered about this remarkable part of Italy along the way.It’s a conversation about love, heritage, filmmaking, Italian-American identity, and the unexpected stories waiting to be discovered beyond Italy’s most traveled roads.🎙️ The Italian Radio Hour — Food, Culture & Lifestyle of Italy#TheItalianRadioHour #AmoreNelSannio #Sannio #Campania #DiscoverItaly #ItalianCulture #ItalianAmerican #ItalianHeritage #ItalianCinema #PBS #HiddenItaly #ItalyBeyondThePostcard

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - Every family has stories.Some are passed down around the dinner table.Others disappear forever...unless someone decides to go looking for them.Today's guest has spent years helping thousands of people reconnect with their Italian roots, but his own story may be one of the most fascinating of all.His own research began with nothing more than a calling card brought from Italy by his grandmother. That single artifact eventually led him from humble farming families in Puglia to an astonishing noble lineage connected to dukes, princesses, European royalty—and even a pope. Bob Sorrentino is the creator of the internationally followed Italian Roots & Genealogy Podcast, founder of the Italian Genealogy Blog, and author of Farmers & Nobles.Before becoming immersed in genealogy, Bob had an accomplished career as a banker. Today, instead of managing people's money, he's helping people reconnect with something equally important: their real wealth, aka their identity.To learn more about Italian Genealogy, visit: https://italiangenealogy.blog/

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - Our guest has spent the last 30 years doing something remarkable: making Italians around the world laugh at themselves.Whether you're in Sydney, Toronto, London, New York, or right here in Pittsburgh, somehow Joe Avati knows your father, your mother, your uncle, your nonna, and that one relative who still won't talk to the family because of something that happened in 1987.Born in Australia to Calabrian parents, Joe has become one of the most successful ethnic comedians in the world, selling out theaters across multiple continents while proving that Italians everywhere share the same stories.And recently, after decades of talking about Calabria on stage, he traveled there to retrace his family's roots in an emotional journey that connected him to the villages his family left behind.Joe Avati will be performing live in Pittsburgh on Sunday, July 26 at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater. If you've ever had an Italian parent, an Italian grandparent, an Italian aunt, or even an Italian neighbor who thought they were your parent, this is a show you won't want to miss.TICKETS: https://kelly-strayhorn.org/events/joeavati/#JoeAvatiLive #ItalianComedy #ItalianDiaspora #PittsburghEvents #Calabrese #ItalianCulture #ItalianCommunity #TheItalianRadioHour

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - Today we're traveling through Italy in a way that most tourists never do—not through famous landmarks or crowded attractions, but through the heart and soul of local communities: Italy's sagre, festivals, historic celebrations, religious processions, and food traditions.Our guest is Katerina Ferrara, travel writer, podcaster, and author of the acclaimed Ultimate Festival and Travel Guide series. For more than twenty-five years, Katerina has explored Italy one festival at a time, documenting everything from centuries-old religious celebrations and medieval reenactments to truffle fairs, wine festivals, and village sagre that preserve traditions passed down through generations. Through her books, podcast, and travels, Katerina helps visitors experience an Italy that exists far beyond Rome, Venice, and Florence—an Italy where entire towns come alive to celebrate their history, their food, their saints, and their identity.
#TheItalianRadioHour #KaterinaFerrara #ItalyTravel #ItalianFestivals #Sagre #TravelItaly #ItalianCulture #VisitItaly #HiddenItaly #AuthenticItaly #ItalianTraditions #FoodFestivals #ItalianFood #ItalyPodcast #SlowTravel #CulturalTravel #DiscoverItaly #ItalyLovers #ItalianHeritage #festivaltravel To learn more about Katerina's giudes, visit: https://katerinaferrara.com/