Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "italy"

Never-before-seen-in-public Florentine Baroque art exhibition at the Crocker Art Museum

2011-11-05T07:03:29Z

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 been a long time for the Crocker."

He said that having this collection is a wonderful opportunity in bringing a new world to the Sacramento public since the museum's permanent collection is focused on other areas, such as Central Europe, Germany and Austria.

The Baroque style developed because there was a period in the 16th century when artists were looking at other artists' work more than they were looking at nature, and because of that, there was a new look at the human body, at clarity of storytelling, and there was a new look at emotion, Breazeale said.

"They deal both with the realistic depiction of the human body, but also emotion, as in, you'll have a statue with flowing drapery that sort of (adds) drama into it," Breazeale said, describing Baroque art.

He said through Baroque's clear storytelling style of art, somebody can look at it without bringing out the Bible and recognize, for example, the image of the Madonna and Child or Saint Sebastian.

"We have a few Baroque paintings but not from Florence," Breazeale said of the museum's permanent collection.

The Baroque in Florence, while still in-keeping with the Baroque style, has its heritage from artists such as Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Raphael to Bartolomeo, said Breazeale.

The dimly lit exhibit room features 16 paintings and one sculpture of Florentine Baroque art from the Haukohl family collection loan to the museum by Sir Mark Hers Haukohl, a collector and patron of the arts who lives in Houston, Texas. It is the largest private collection of Florentine Baroque painting in the U.S., and the ones on display are selections from that, said Breazeale.

The "Allegory of Musical Fame" by Cesare Dandini shows a winged woman, bearing a star above her head, holding a trumpet on one hand with a loosely entwined banner with the inscription "per ora virum" and on her other hand a viola.

"Per ora virum" translates to "through the mouths of men, " according to Breazeale. He explained that this can have a double meaning because it can both refer to singing, but can also deal with fame, because it is a herald's trumpet, or it can mean both.

He said that the exhibition is very unique because Cesare Dandini is the first of a dynasty of painters in Florence, and that the exhibition has represented four members of that family.

"It's something that very seldom happens even in exhibitions in Europe," he added.

"I like Baroque art in general. It's exciting, it's active, a lot of action going on in the pictures," said Brian Bates, an American River College humanities professor.

He said that in his modern humanities class he teaches Baroque art, and his students would benefit in seeing the exhibit to get a better understanding of the art.

The exhibition is open Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Thursdays from 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Lectures and presentations related to the exhibit will be available from Saturday through Jan. 26. at the museum. Pricing and schedules for these programs are available at the Crocker Art Museum website.

Biba Restaurant makeover marks 25 years

2011-07-13T01:33:25Z

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, 1986, with white walls, white wood and white linens broken up by black lacquer chairs. The lounge walls had later been painted light peach, but the color was too soft to be noticed. The overall effect was stark, formal and a bit cold, and the décor changed little over 25 years, Biba Restaurant Manager Scott Smith said.

Caggiano said she didn’t know exactly how to get away from the restaurant’s established look, but interior designer Bruce Benning – with input from Caggiano and management – found the perfect solution.

The remodel gives the main dining room and the lounge dining room new color, upholstery and accents. Restaurants have a lot more color now, Smith noted.

The goal was to update the restaurant’s look and create different moods or experiences in the two rooms. The new yellow main dining room has a summery vibe like a formal sun room, while the darker lounge dining room resembles a more subdued study, said Benning, who pushed for the big color change.

The changes were conservative to save money, said Smith, manager of the restaurant for 24 years.

The main dining room was painted a yellow poppy color to give it a Mediterranean summer feel with the white wood accents that remain.

Brass accents were removed, and glass partitions were removed from a service area and between two banquettes. Handpainted Italian silk sconces by Fortuny were added. Crema marfil marble was added to a ledge near the back wall, Benning said.

The marble was used to add sophistication. The sconces were added to invoke a sense of Italy, Smith said.

They also reupholstered 150 chairs and 10 bar stools. More padding was added and the covers changed from orange paisley to blue.

The lounge dining room was repainted slate blue and raisin brown to give it the feel of a study. Faux wood panels measuring 4 feet tall were added. Brass and glass accents were removed to soften the overall look of the interior. Mirrored panels were added above the bar, Benning and Smith said.

"The thought was to warm this up a little bit," Benning said.

Management and Caggiano listened to younger customers who commented on Yelp to make changes to reduce the formal atmosphere. Those comments also helped lead to a change in employee uniforms.

Some customers commented on Yelp that the restaurant’s brass and glass gave it a 1980s “Miami Vice” look, they said, referring to the TV show. Others commented on what they felt were stuffy waiters and formal service.

Bow ties and white jackets with big shoulders have been replaced by lightweight gray shirts, which are cooler in the summer, Caggiano said.

"I have a little girl who works here, and with that jacket, she looked like she was going to war," Caggiano said.

Raised in Bologna, Italy, Caggiano opened the restaurant to bring quality Italian food and more diversity to Sacramento's restaurant scene.

The California Travel Industry named her Northern California Chef of the Year in 1999. The restaurant has won accolades in publications such as Gourmet Magazine, Travel and Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, Wine Spectator, The Sacramento Bee and Sacramento Magazine.

She hosted 100 episodes of the internationally syndicated cooking show, "Biba's Italian Kitchen," on the Discovery Channel and TLC. Her ninth cookbook, "Spaghetti Sauces: Authentic Italian Recipes from Biba Caggiano," has just been published by Gibbs Smith and is now being shipped to bookstores.

"I tried all the recipes when it was coming together," Smith said. "It's a book I will use at home. It's phenomenal."

The 25th anniversary will be celebrated with book-signing nights in August and a more formal celebration in September, after the book has been out awhile and the summer restaurant season ends, Smith said.

The restaurant's summer menu began June 27. Lunch entrées are $16.50 to $19.50, and dinner entrées are $17 to $30. The restaurant offers a $30, three-course fixed-price dinner Monday - Friday.

The restaurant has lost a third of its customers because of increased competition from the expanding number of restaurants in the central city, the recession and Sutter Medical Center construction that has closed down streets, moved a parking garage and confused customers since 2007, Smith said.

The restaurant was forced to offer more expensive valet parking. Older customers, which the restaurant caters to, have been intimidated by the construction and don't want to walk the extra block to the new parking garage, especially in winter, he said.

"With the recession, we took a double hit," he said.

Longtime patron Art Rankin, a retired engineer with the state Department of Water Resources, admired the changes during lunch Tuesday.

"I think they're fine. It's less formal," Rankin said. "This is probably – outside of the Bay Area – the best restaurant in Northern California.”

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

After Italy tour, Secretions host "Suck-Fest"

2011-04-13T22:50:04Z

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-Fes t", 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 the stage with some of Sacramento and the Bay Area’s best local punk acts at the event, with a special rare performance by The Mr. T Experience kicking off the first night.

Since their inception in 1991, the Secretions have put out 5 studio albums, one split CD, and 5 7’’ records. Their most recent CD was 2009’s Greasyhotmeatcheezy.

The Hot Italian story, as told by Fabrizio Cercatore

2010-07-27T04:11:31Z

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 abroad. This dream became a reality when he met now co-owner Andrea Lepore through a mutual friend, Ruthie Bolton. Bolton — a former WNBA player for the Sacramento Monarchs — would come in to his restaurant in Italy with her team.

“Ruthie got engaged to my friend, and they invited me here for a vacation. When I was here, I met Andrea, and we became friends. I invited her to Italy to see the Cinque Terre, the restaurant. Then, speaking more profoundly with Andrea, she told me ‘Come on, let’s truly do this thing’ and slowly, slowly, we constructed this project.”

The restaurant opened Feb. 14, 2009.

“It was always a dream of mine to open a restaurant abroad. Perhaps a bet with myself,” he said. “And when I met Andrea, it was the perfect balance because she has the marketing aspect, something I lack. It’s the perfect equilibrium.”

Cercatore said he plans to stay in America for at least five years to see the project through.

“But, you never know with the life,” he said.

He recreated a typical Italian atmosphere at Hot Italian — large communal tables, no hostess, Italian music playing, and a soccer match on the big screen.

“At first, people feel a little timid to eat next to people they don’t know. But, when they continue to return, they feel a rapport of familiarity, of friendship,” Cercatore said. “They start sitting next to each other, getting a little more comfortable. It’s like this in Italy, and because of this, I don’t feel the absence of Italy.”

The Pizza
Cercatore, a tall, rather thin man in his 30s with a warm smile, spoke of the difference between a typical American-style pizza and a more traditional Italian pizza.

The dough he makes at Hot Italian is kept to rise for 24 to 48 hours, whereas typical places may let the dough rise from morning to night time.

“When you eat pizza at certain places, you get thirsty when you go to sleep. This is because the yeast retains liquids,” he said. “Instead, with a long leavening...the humidity becomes matured in the fridge. So, when one eats, it is much more light and digestible.”

Cercatore said the concept of strictly a pizza-maker does not really exist in the United States.

“There are lots of people who call me chef, but I don’t like it, because I don’t have the knowledge of a chef. I have the knowledge of pizza. It’s a trade that is well-known in Italy.”

This made it difficult for him to find people who could make his pizzas just right. He spent several months interviewing and then training suitable pizza-makers. During that time, he made all of the Hot Italian pizza himself.

“When we looked for personnel, there were plenty that were chefs that had good experience in the kitchen, but had never worked with pizza before. So at the beginning, it took awhile,” he said.

Currently, there are four “let’s call them pizzaiolo’s” and four in the process of learning. Cercatore said it can take around three weeks to teach basics on how to make pizza, but up to five months for complete training.

“Our pizza is the true Italian pizza. The difference is in the crust, dough and toppings. In the American pizza, there are much more toppings, they become heavy. Even the tastes are more strong. Perhaps the Italian version is something more simple.”

Cercatore and Lepore spent a year researching products for the restaurant. They use a combination of local produce and specialty items and imported specialty items. Speck prosciutto, for example, is imported from the Alto Adige region of Italy, while they purchase their ricotta cheese from a local family-owned shop in Sacramento.

All the pizzas are named after “hot Italians” — people who are perhaps not only good-looking, but prominent and current figures of Italian culture and society. Most on the menu are Italian soccer players.

Cercatore’s favorite pizza? La Fiori, with prosciutto Parma, mushrooms, arugula and mozzarella.

Yes, he eats his pizza every day, but he said he never gets tired of it.

“I change the toppings,” he said.

Note: Fabrizio Cercatore’s quotes have been translated from Italian to English by Angela Ruggiero.

For more information about Hot Italian and to view their menu, visit hotitalian.net

Photos by Angela Ruggiero. Photo of pizza courtesy of Hot Italian.

“The Art of the Game” struts World Cup-inspired fashion, art

2010-07-12T04:44:01Z

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, foreshadowing the World Cup win on Sunday, when Spain beat the Netherlands 1-0 in overtime.

Argentina came in second with a design by Mila Anatichuk and Anastasoa Clemons’ France-inspired outfit took third. Judging was based on the spirit of the game, craftsmanship, originality and creativity, said Hot Italian co-owner Andrea Lepore.

In addition to the runway models, members of the Sacramento Ballet and the Washington Ballet modeled Dolce and Gabbana and Calvin Klein World Cup men’s underwear. Midfielder Clemente Fonseca of the Sacramento Gold also showed off some fancy footwork during the show.

The first half of “The Art of the Game” displayed 15 pieces of FIFA-licensed World Cup artwork June 11 through July 11— the only ones in the United States.

The collection is part of 160 original pieces from international artists from 32 countries. Hot Italian had art on display from South Africa, the United States and Italy.

Lepore said the art has been well received.

“People come in to watch the games; it’s sort of an added bonus,” she said. “It was a perfect tie-in for us.”

Soccer fan Anabel Gil, originally from Mexico, was pleasantly surprised by the art.

“I really enjoyed sitting here and looking at it,” she said. “I am not a big fanatic, but I can feel the spirit.”

Although many have asked if the art is for sale, it is not and will be shipped back to Africa. The winning three fashion designs however, will be displayed in the restaurant’s windows.

Although she admits she is “more than a little sad” that Italy did not advance further in the World Cup, Lepore was happy to see two teams make it to the finals who have never won the title before.

“That’s what makes the World Cup so special — that anyone can win it,” Lepore said.

Fashion photo courtesy of Juan Ayora, jfayora.com

Traces of Italy in Sacramento

2009-08-01T03:17:50Z

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" area surrounding Sacramento were from the Liguria region of Italy -- specifically the city of Genoa. That was followed by a second wave of Italian immigrants from other areas such as the Veneto region.

By 1880 an estimated 10,000 people from the area around Genoa began to dominate the farming industries to meet the demands of the local population. The people are known as "The Genovese," which also refers to the regional Italian dialect they speak.

By the end of the century, Italians were one of the largest groups of immigrants working in the deep gold mines. But they were also masons, woodcutters and ranchers.

The Italians continued to thrive after the Gold Rush, Italian farmers produced large amounts wine, olive oil and other crops. Italian fishermen established themselves on the Northern California coast.

After the Gold Rush, Ligurians Antonio Cerruti and Marco Fantana founded the Del Monte canned food label. Giovanni Lombardo built the Lombardo Winery in El Dorado County, which is now the award-winning Boeger Winery.

Domenico Ghiradelli, who had traveled through the Gold Rush towns selling chocolate and candy, settled in San Francisco and built a chocolate empire. Many local Italian Americans shared similar stories of success.

"Italians in Sacramento had a concentrated community," said Bill Cerruti, founder and executive director of the Italian Cultural Society. "Many had farms and lived in East Sacramento near East Portal Park."

By the mid-1900s, the community, now unofficially referred to by elders as "Little Italy," had a weekly newspaper called La Capitale, which ran from 1906 to 1945, as well as festivals and dinners.

Men were known to play bocce ball in East Portal Park. The group is now the East Portal Bocce Club.

Italian American Internment

As America’s involvement in World War II became imminent, many Japanese, German and Italian immigrants in Sacramento were detained and forced to relocate. Italians, who were at the time the largest immigrant group in the United States, were interned, restricted and taken from their homes.

"Ten thousand were forced to relocate," Cerruti said. "The Exclusion Act used on Italian Americans destroyed the [Northern California coastal] fishing industry."

After the end of the war, Italians built East Sacramento's St. Mary's Catholic Church in 1948. This was the "golden era" of the community, according to Cerruti.

Italians from other areas in the city moved to East Sacramento, and the community reached new heights. But in the 1960s, Cerruti explained, many second generation Italian Americans looked to drop their "foreign" identity to assimilate into a more "American" identity. The next generation, in the '70s and '80s, wanted to learn about their Italian roots again.

Italian Cultural Society

In 1981 Cerruti created the Italian Cultural Society (ICS) with several goals in mind. His dream was to create a newsletter, have a location where Italians could gather and learn to speak Italian and hold a cultural festival. All of these dreams were realized in the first five years of the ICS' operation, which was originally headquartered in a room at the Sierra 2 Community Center in Curtis Park.

As the ICS grew, so did the need for new facilities. The group used a second classroom in the Sierra Center and other facilities such as Cal Expo and the Croatian Cultural Center, for its festivals.

Then, in 2007, the ICS moved into a building in Carmichael, near Carmichael Park.

Complete with custom marble flooring, a library, four classrooms, a full kitchen, a ballroom with multimedia equipment and alabaster chandeliers and a patio overlooking Carmichael Park, the Italian Cultural Center is a sight to behold.

Cerruti took out a mortgage for the center, located at 6821 Fair Oaks Blvd. The biggest question is how to pay it off.

"Basically we figured to pay it off in 10 years," Cerruti said. That was before the economy tanked. Now the ICS must cut costs and hold more fund-raising efforts, he said.

Currently the ICS has more than 1,000 members, and its monthly newsletter Altre Voci (other voices) is sent to nearly 11,000 households. Annually, more than 1,000 students attend 13 levels of Italian language classes at the center.

The original location in the Sierra 2 Community Center still holds half of the ICS' language classes.

Lately, Cerruti said, traditional dinner dances have become less popular. In order to increase community involvement, a youth group named Gioventú formed to bring together a younger 18- to 40-year-old Italian American crowd.

"I'm amazed at the activity in the Italian American community," Cerruti said. "Right now there's more activity than ever before, due to a revitalization in Italian American culture."

A "Hot" Italian

Igor De Angelis is one young Italian immigrant from Milan who wants to bring an authentic Italian flavor to the community. Currently working as a waiter at Hot Italian, Igor's dream is to be a successful rapper.

"It was an obsession," De Angelis said of his love of hip hop. "My dream was always to make my music."

As a teenager, he became a member of a graffiti team, break danced and studied the lyrics of American emcees. After moving to the United States to pursue his dream, he bought a laptop and began making beats.

By chance, De Angelis ran into an old friend of 2Pac's, who listened to his music. She told De Angelis that his beats were better than many other musicians’ who had been in the industry for years.

This motivated him to find a recording studio, and he eventually record an album. In 2008, De Angelis was finally able to achieve his dream of creating his own album, called La Nona - The Ninth District of Milan, rapped almost entirely in Italian. It was recorded under the stage name "Rigo of Di Casa Nostra."

"Rigo" was his nickname name back in Milan, when he was in a graffiti crew called Di Casa Nostra, or DCN for short. It means "our house."

A single from the album, "Grand Prix," was recently played on Yuba City's KRYC 105.9. Having a friend tell him, "I heard your song on the radio," De Angelis said, was a great moment.

Festa Italiana

This weekend, everyone is Italian at Festa Italiana. The ICS' 24th annual celebration of all things Italian will be held Aug. 1-2 at the Croatian Cultural Center at 3730 Auburn Blvd. (The Italian Cultural Center would hardly hold the estimated 3,500 attendees)

The highlights include an Italian marketplace, car show, children’s activities, festival queen pageant, bocce ball, music and dancing. The festival features food from Northern California's Italian restaurants and caterers. On the menu is calamari from Monterey Bay Calamari, lasagna from La Famiglia and Gelato from Hot Italian, among other dishes. The ICS describes the festival as "like attending two-day wedding reception."

Festa Italiana will take place from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m.- 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $10. Visit italiancenter.net for more information.