Two never-before-seen-in-public Florentine Baroque paintings will be on exhibit at the Crocker Art Museum Saturday through Feb. 12: "Saint Sebastian" by Onorio Marinari and "Penitent Magdalene" by Cesare Dandini – as part of "Florence and the Baroque: Paintings from the Haukohl Family Collection" exhibit. The exhibit features Italian paintings and a sculpture from the 16th through the 18th centuries by artists such as Cesare Dandini, Jacopo da Empoli and Francesco Furini. "This is the first exhibition that is all of Italian painting that we've had in many decades," Curator William Breazeale said. "There is one from the Crest collection in 1933, there have been a few in between, but it’s

Biba Restaurant reopened Tuesday with a soft new look after a remodel to celebrate its 25th anniversary in Midtown. Sacramento restaurateur, TV show host and cookbook author Biba Caggiano added a new color palette and made other changes at her namesake Italian eatery. The restaurant at 2801 Capitol Ave. was closed July 3 - Monday to allow work on the its two dining rooms. The makeover was done in time to mark a quarter-century in business next month. "Just like a beautiful woman, you don't stay beautiful forever unless you do something," Caggiano said during the lunch hour Tuesday. "This place needed something: color, other things. I'm very, very, very happy." Both rooms opened Aug. 6,

From a press release issued by the band: Sacramento stalwart punks The Secretions are celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band by hitting the road for northern Italy on an eight day tour, from April 15 to 22. The tour wraps up with a show featuring CJ Ramone's new band with Daniel Rey on guitar, and Italy’s own legends The Manges. For the stateside celebration in Sacramento, CA, The Secretions have planned a three-night festival show for Memorial Day Weekend dubbed "Suck-Fest", a nod to the band’s motto “We Secrete, You Suck.” The Suck-Fest will be held at Citrus Heights bar The Fire Escape, and the Saturday and Sunday shows of the weekend will be all-ages. The Secretions will share

Fabrizio Cercatore is not a chef. He is not a baker. He was trained to specialize in one thing only: pizza. Born in Verbania, Italy, Fabrizio has been a pizzaiolo — a pizza-maker, for 14 years. His knowledge of pizza stretches beyond a typical chain pizza shop around town. The Man Cercatore, co-owner of Hot Italian in Sacramento, has lived in the city to pursue what he calls this “project” of opening an authentic pizzeria restaurant abroad. He studied at a culinary school in Lerici, Italy. His familiarity with pizza hailed from working at his restaurant in La Spezia called La Tavernetta (The Little Tavern), which he owns with his sister. It was always his dream to open up a restaurant a

 Although cheering fans with painted faces, yellow cards or buzzing vuvuzelas were nowhere in sight Saturday night at the Hot Italian restaurant, a little piece of World Cup soccer was in Sacramento. The eatery hosted its second half of the 2010 FIFA World Cup “The Art of the Game” celebration with a fashion contest. Ten local designers randomly chose countries participating in the World Cup and were challenged to design an original piece based on them. Local judges Leigh Grogan, Sacramento Bee’s fashion editor; stylist Health Hamilton; and fashion blogger Jen Wade and votes via Facebook and Twitter decided the winner.Lindsey Bee and her outfit inspired by Spain took first place, foresha

Sacramento's Italian community is known to produce gourmet food, but there's much more to the community than Biba, Sofia's and Hot Italian. With this weekend's Festa Italian opening Saturday and running through Sunday at The Croatian Culture Center, we take a look back at the role Italian immigrants and their descendants played in Sacramento's history. Italian Americans have a long history in the Sacramento area. Agriculture and food processing are just some of the many successes of Italian Americans who settled in the area in the early 1850s, but their successes are hardly limited to that. Early Italian Americans Many of the earliest Gold Rush settlers who migrated in the "Mother Lode