Little Italy Trip

Honors Program Spring 2008 Little Italy Trip

April 11, 2008

This past April, students from the Students Honors Advisory Council (SHAC) planned a group trip to Little Italy in order to learn about the area, its history, residents, and to get a sample taste of Italian-American culture. We began our trip at the Mural outside the area’s entrance. Our resident guide, Frank Fiorilli, met us there and explained the meaning behind the artwork. He continued his talk at Holy Rosary Church. We learned about the history of the area, his history in the area, as well as Little Italy today. Frank joined us for dinner at Mama Santa’s, where he was able to answer our questions about the area.

After hearing the historical overview of Little Italy, we had time to walk into the different stores and shops and around the area, including La Bella Vita. The ladies at La Bella Vita recommended we stop at Presti’s Bakery & Café for dessert before heading back to JCU. We took them up on this suggestion and made a final stop before we headed back. Little Italy is known for its Italian restaurants, art galleries, shops, and museums, and is also known for its annual Art Walk festivals and the Feast of the Assumption festival. The honors program hopes to plan a trip around one of these events for the 2008-2009 school year.

We began out tour in Little Italy by the outdoor Mural at Little Italy’s entrance. Our tour guide, Frank Fiorilli, a resident of Little Italy, explained the significance of each part of the mural.

The ship depicted represents the Italians who immigrated to the United States and their voyage.

(Storia del Popolo Italo-Americano: History of the Italian-American People!)

Holy Rosary Church: Frank completed his historical overview of Little Italy and answered our questions in the Holy Rosary Church

Holy Rosary Church has been celebrating mass for the residents for the past 113 years.

We stopped for dinner at Mama Santa’s! Frank joined us for dinner and continued to answer our questions about the area and tell us about his experience as an Italian American and growing up in Italy.

We then had time to tour around the city and check out the different boutiques, museums and specialty shops

These Italian flags were few of many outside the restaurants and shops in Little Italy!

La Bella Vita

(http://www.labellavitacleveland.com)

(Pictured above: Dany Diax)

The store had a room of hand painted glass products including these wine glasses!







(Pictured above: Tina Lattouf, Megan McGunnity, Laurie Wanninger)

The galleries had a variety of hand made objects, such as this huge grasshopper handcrafted with hundreds of gems.

Before we ended our day’s trip, we had dessert at the popular Italian restaurant Presti’s Bakery & Cafe!

(http://www.prestisbakery.com/ for more info!)

(Pictured above: Megan McGunnity , Laurie Wanninger )

(Pictured above: Meghan May)

(Pictured above: Zack Walker, Josh Marcin)

Until the Fall 2008 Little Italy Trip….Ciao!