Articles by: Giulia Madron

La Panineria Italiana is fast becoming a popular destination for lovers of Italian food. Specializing in sandwiches, La Panineria offers a large variety of homemade Panini that will make you forget for a moment that you are in a country that isn’t Italy.

The thing Italians living abroad miss most is Italian food, of course. Fortunately,  there are some places that are just heaven for Italian food lovers. One of these is La Panineria Italiana, a lovely sandwich shop in the heart of Greenwich Village.

Only 4 months young, La Panineria was a dream come true for owner Mario Pesce, a young Neapolitan with a passion for food who moved to New York to start his own business with his brother Giuseppe and his girlfriend Olga.

The first thing that strikes you walking into La Panineria is that it is like entering a typical Italian Salumeria. The space is not very big but it is very cozy. A large wood counter faces the street and another square table sits in the middle. Beautiful vintage posters of Italian ads cover the walls, adding a special touch to the welcoming atmosphere.

All the sandwiches that you eat at La Panineria Italiana are prepared on the spot with fresh, high quality Italian products, just like in a real Italian salumeria. The bread comes from the very best bakeries in the city while cured meats and cheeses are provided by Pesce’s uncle Mimmo Magliulo, owner of the Chelsea Market Italian food mecca Buon Italia.

“What differentiates us is that here in New York we only use products of the highest quality. We prepare our sandwiches as if we were preparing them at home. And we put a lot of passion into what we do,” says Pesce.

A quick glance at the menu is enough to make your mouth water: sandwiches, salads, bruschette, cured meats, cheeses and delicious pastries.

Their strong suit? The Parma and the Paestum sandwich. “The Parma sandwich, with prosciutto crudo di parma and robiola fresh soft cheese, besides being delicious, holds a special place in my heart. Indeed I was eating it when I decided to open La Panineria in New York,” says Mario. “Also the Paestum sandwich, with prosciutto crudo di parma, buffalo mozzarella and olive oil, means a lot to me because Paestum is a beautiful town in Campania where I grew up and spent my childhood.”

For its most demanding clients, La Panineria created also 3 special sandwiches: Supermario, Olga and Peppe. The Supermario (prosciutto crudi di Parma, mortadella, salame and mozzarella!) was cooked up special for the American clientele, who really love it!

La Panineria Italiana also does catering and delivery through Seamless. And the great thing is that you can also make your own sandwich with your favorite ingredients and have it delivered to your home. “The most rich and expensive sandwich a client ordered,” says Mario, “was a baguette with mortadella, salame, spicy salame, prosciutto crudo di parma, parmigiano reggiano, provolone, tomato, lettuce, and Italian black truffle oil…$21!”

Thanks to its exquisite Italian products, La Panineria has already become very popular. When I asked Mario about his future plans to open another Panineria Italiana in the Big Apple, he said, “Well, the amazing thing about New York is that if you use a little bit of your head and a little bit of your heart, you can do things that you could not do anywhere else in the whole world.”

1 W 8th St
New York, NY 11001
Greenwich Village

You can take everything away from Italians but not coffee. And when we talk about coffee, in Italy, we are only talking about Espresso, which, if it’s prepared in the right way, can become a real masterpiece. At Zibetto Espresso Bar, in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, they know it.

Anastasios Nougos, the owner, is a man with a mission. Son of Italian immigrants (his father was from Palermo, Sicily) who emigrated to Sweden, Anastasios moved to New York in 2004 with one thing on his mind: opening a real Italian espresso bar.

“I remember my dad always complaining that he could not find a good espresso. And in New York neither could I. So when I moved here I decided to open this place” says Anastasios.

Zibetto Espresso Bar opened in 2006, bringing to the Big Apple the culture of real Italian coffee.

“I worked with a person from Bari whose grandfather owned one of the first bars in Bari back in the 1920s,” explains Anastasios. “I learned the trade from him. I am an extension of his legacy. Here we do coffee in the same way, very traditional.”

At Zibetto’s is all about coffee. And a good coffee is all about quality.

“We have our own personal blend coffee,” says the owner of Zibetto, whom, since 2007, brings the coffee from Italy and roasts it in Poland. “The arabica quality is originally from Brazil and Colombia while the robusta quality is from India.”

But besided the quality of the coffee, an Italian espresso, as we said, it’s a real art form. It’s not only about making a short coffee out of a machine. It’s also about the passion you put into making it. And that is something Anastasios and Mikael Olsson, co-owner of Zibetto, are always looking for in a barista who wants to work at Zibetto.

“What we are looking for in a barista who wants to work here is not the fact that he or she is Italian. Of course, if they speak Italian it would be a plus. But what we are really looking for is a person who is proud of his profession, which is an attribute that you see when you walk into an espresso bar in Italy. This is not just a profession. It’s an art,” affirms Anastasios.

Since its opening, Zibetto Espresso Bar was a success, attracting Americans but most of all attracting Italians. And we all know that where there is good coffee, there are Italians.

“Italian are magnets to good coffee and they know where to go,” says Anastasios, who knows very well not only how to make a perfect espresso (trust me, I tried it!) but also how much Italians appreciate good things in life. And coffee is one of these. When you keep that in mind, the game is over. You win.

Right now, Zibetto Espresso Bar is opening another spot on 42nd street and 5th Avenue. What can we say? We wish Zibetto success that will last for a long time. Even though, when it comes to coffee, please, keep it short!

For more information about Zibetto Espresso Bar check out their Facebook page 

After a day spent on the beautiful island of Capri, the De Blasios desembarked in Naples. The first citizen of New York was warmly received in Sant’Agata Dei Goti, the town which his grandfather Giovanni left at the beginning of the 20th century. More than 2000 people were waiting for his arrival in the majestic square of Tiziano Della Ratta.

“It’s an amazing city,” said De Blasio enthusiastically about the welcoming reception. “I didn’t expect such warmth."

The municipal administration organized a pompeous ceremony and awarded Mr De Blasio with the town's honorary citizenship.

“Thank you very much for the strength you transmitted to me,” said the Mayor of New York, in a quite frankly, decent Italian. “I will never forget that here there were people who watched the New York elections,” he exclaimed, claiming proudly his Italian origins.

“I felt your warmth as if it was your victory as well. My grandfather left Sant’Agata Dei Goti when he was 20 years old and he never forgot his origins,” said the Mayor of New York,“and I want my children to remember them as well.”

Roberta Mongillo, lawyer and daughter of the mayor's second cousin thanked De Blasio for the joy he spread among all the people in Sant’Agata Dei Goti at the time of his election.

After the ceremony, De Blasio together with his wife Chirlane and his children Dante and Chiara, had lunch with Carmine Valentino, Mayor of the Italian town. A very light lunch since, when he arrived, he ate two pizzas on the seafront of Naples. The first pizza with knife and fork, in spite of what they say in the US that pizza should be eaten with your hands, and then the second one without the utensils.

Later on, the De Blasios visited the Cathedral, where the first citizen of New York was very touched by the words of the priest who spoke about his family.

In the evening, Mr. De Blasio had dinner with the Mayor of Naples. Before leaving Sant’Agata Dei Goti, he exchanged a few words with the journalists. In Italian he said: “ I support the Azzurri (Naples’s soccer team) and I had a very interesting conversation with the President of the team De Laurentis.”

For De Blasio, this is the fourth time he visits the town of his grandparents and he said he will be back very soon. Tomorrow he will be in Grassano, near Matera, which is the town where his grandmother was born.

Tribute to Rome is the exclusive solo exhibit that is running through Wednesday on occasion of Rome haute couture week (AltaRomaAltaModa), showcasing New York-based street artist DAIN.

Curated by Valentina Ciarallo, the show, set in the beautiful Spirito Santo in the Sassia museum complex, unveils not only the glamourous side of the eternal city showing divas or models who, with DAIN’s intervention become even more unique, but also directs the attention of the Roman institutions toward Street Art.

DAIN is one of the most influential artists of  New York's street art scene. Born and raised in Brooklyn, this mysterious artist, who doesn’t reveal his real name and identity but is of Italian origins (his grandparents migrated to the US from Calabria), became very popular for his urban portraits, which depict Hollywood celebrities’ faces, from Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly to Angelina Jolie or Kate Moss, recomposed using the collage technique and retouched with his unique tag: a "circle and drip" around the eye of the stars he portrays. A sort of graffiti monocle, from which his whole career departed.

His portraits can be found in the main streets of the Big Apple: on postboxes, portals and walls. He has exhibited not only in New York but also in Chicago, Miami, Portland, Montreal, Paris and London. And now, for the first time, also in Rome.

This special project, which he dedicates to Rome includes 10 exclusive works representing film icons such as Sophia Loren or Liz Taylor alongside with fashion icons like Twiggy, re-elaborated in a unique way by the artist.

“It’s a mix of images, I can combine the lips of American actresses with Italian eyes,” said DAIN. The women portrayed are "new iconographies to be discovered," he explained.

DAIN’s portraits are deconstructed and the image shows a sense of precariousness in the form, but still remains very powerful and incisive. His creative process strats from black-and-white photos, which he layers with old advertisements, printed fragments or logos from vintage magazines.

“I started doing graffiti in New York when I was 7 years old and one morning I woke up and decided I wanted to be a street artist,” affirmed DAIN. “When I was an adolescent I became passionate about movies in black and white. I love films from the 40s and 50s, the actresses of the time, like Bette Davis, their faces, the old pictures in black and white. A simple beauty, where everything can be imagined.”

As already mentioned, among the goals of this exhibition there is also the objective of highlighting the importance of art also in social terms, as a medium to commend entire neighborhoods of the city, especially the roman suburbs.