The Italian heritage is something of an artwork. The sounds and emotions of loud family gatherings; the picturesque villages, provinces and regions that one's family roots may be planted; the graceful hand gestures synonymous with the Italian language -- these are just a small part of what makes being Italian so much fun. To that extent, there are many clubs, publications, radio shows, Web sites and the likes that celebrate our heritage everyday. We commend these organizations and, in the hopes of somewhat paying homage these very special groups, bring them to our pages to spread the word about who and what is out there, displaying their Italian pride and sharing it with the world.

Music is key in most Italian households. Most of us grew up to songs like O Sole Mio playing in the kitchen on Sundays while dinner was being prepared, or recognized the music to the Tarantella before we even knew our ABCs. Today, there are radio shows throughout the country that are dedicated to playing new and old Italian music.

Jon Carroll Salerno and Filippo Andaloro have been long-time mainstays at WJCU 88.7 FM on Sundays from 10am to Noon. Memories from Italy has proved to be very popular with community news, information from Italy and music.

The Touch of Italy Hour with Carmelina Antonelli continues to be a one-hour favorite on Sundays from Noon until 1pm on WELW AM 1300. Music and a children's segment have proved to be very popular.

Mike Sinicropi is Mr. Italian in the Steubenville region on WEIR. He also has a request line. On the radio dial, Sinicropi can be found down south in the Buckeye state at AM 1430 on Sunday mornings beginning at 9am.

Giovanni Catalano hosts the Italian show, Domenica e Sempre Domenica on Sunday afternoons beginning at noon on WAPS 91.3 FM. The signals blanket the Akron/Canton/New Philadelphia area.

One of northeast Ohio's favorite Italian personalities is Al Pascarella, host of the radio show Serenata d'Italia. It's almost like he's been around longer than radio station WNIO 1390 AM in Youngstown. He has a request line at 330-747-1390.

Italia: Ieri, Oggi e Domani is a rather new radio show based in Courtland, OH. Heard on WKTX AM 830, Tony Marotta and Nick Zappitelli host the show on Sunday afternoons from 1pm to 3pm.

Cincinnati has The Italian Voice on WAIF 88.3 FM. Joe Santoro and Maria Tenaglia are the Tuesday evening regulars beginning at 6pm.

Aside from the many Italian American radio broadcasts across the country, there are a litany of publications reaching the Italian American community.

The Italian Tribune of Newark, NJ has been rolling off the presses for 74 years and the credit and the staying power begins with the founder, Ace Alagna. Prior to the Tribune, Alagna covered major news stories as a photo journalist. He created the Tribune, which turns out a weekly 28 pages. His Columbus Day Parades were among the largest in the country and featured national celebrities like Bob Hope and Sergio Franchi as Grand Marshals. Though the Tribune's main focus is in the Greater New York area, publisher Buddy Fortunato and his staff deliver to readers, like Winchell used to say, "All the news fit to print."

Fra Noi, "Chicagoland's Italian American Voice," has more pages and advertisers than any Italian American newspaper in the country. The Windy City's monthly publication is at 100 pages plus, and the Italian American business community comes off the walls to support it. They focus on a lot of community news, but Editor Paul Basile and his staff offer readers an excellent mix of news and features from Italy and across the U.S.

La Voce is a rather new publication out of Las Vegas and has chipped in with interesting features. Of interest was a recap of Italian Americans working in key jobs at many of the hotels and casinos, including the Venetian and the Belaggio. The Italian Times of Milwaukee, WI always does a bang-up job highlighting their top-of-the-line festival, Festa!, which is packed with celebrities working different stages. The Italian Tribune of Clinton Township, MI continues to fill in Italian American readers in the Detroit area. (The Baker family is key to that operation.) Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, offers a chance at "living the good life" in their publication, The Italian Newspaper, which is directed by Gregory and Claire Jacovini; St. Louis puts a lot of thought in their Pensiero, the only Italian newspaper published in Missouri (and most news is reported in Italian) and Colorado has Andiamo, a colorful and visually impressive bi-monthly publication.

Magazines that have made contributions over the years and continue to do so are Attenzione; Buon Giorno; Primo; Italy, Italy; Ambassador; Italic Way; Red, White and Green and Amici. The NIAF News Bureau also does a good job of keeping the general media aware of Italian American related news.

If you haven't subscribed to or explored any one of these publications, you've missed an important part of having a leg up on your culture and heritage.

Italian social and charitable clubs are extremely proud of their heritage. There are many organizations and foundations that promote the 26 million estimated Italians and Italian Americans in the U.S.

Take the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) for instance. This organization's mission is to "preserve and protect the Italian heritage and culture." Through scholarships, the promoting of Italian political figures, encouragement of Italian language classes and its Italian American defamation monitoring, NIAF acts as the ultimate protector of the Italian culture.

The Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA) is yet another outstanding organization dedicated to the wellbeing of Italians and Italian Americans. OSIA has more than 600,000 members and more than 700 chapters throughout the U.S. who are helping to fight defamation and encourage our Italian heritage.

Fieri International is an organization of young professionals, age 18-39, with a purpose to "foster the values of higher education and personal achievement in young Italian Americans" and to "facilitate career opportunities and networking relationships for young professionals." Not to mention its mission to fight defamation and preserve the Italian culture, of course.

These are just three of the many clubs and foundations throughout the nation that share the same goals to protect our heritage. The pride doesn't stop there, though. The Internet contains a plethora of Web sites dedicated to the preservation of and sharing the Italian way.

Virtualitalia.com, "the resource for enthusiasts of Italian culture," features everything and anything Italian that anyone could possibly think of. Books? Check. Music? Check. Information on genealogy, wine, travel? Check, check, check. Virtualitalia.com even has separate pages for New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles with listings of Italian events going on in each place, along with forums and business listings. There's no page for Cleveland yet, but we still have hope.

Virtual Little Italys are also popping up everywhere on the Internet. Arthuravenuebronx.com is the Web site for, you guessed it, Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. Here, you can find a listing of merchants and restaurants in the Bronx's Little Italy, plus news, recipes and proverbs. Other Italian community sites to check out are: italiaseattle.com, italystl.com (St. Louis's Italian community site), and littleitalynyc.com. Common on these sites are listings of Italian businesses, events and news in that specific area.

Italianamericanshowcase.com is a virtual Little Italy for anyone, regardless of where they live. The Web site lists Italian-owned businesses and Italian events throughout the U.S., all in one place. Businesses of all kinds, from accounting to wedding planners, from all over America and Italy, are listed in the directory. Events from L.A. to NYC are on the site, as well as a shopping mall with music, books, wine and everything in between and up-to-the-minute breaking Italian news.

It is wonderful to know that so many people from so many different places are proud enough of their Italian background to share, preserve and protect it any way they can. It is a duty of ours to make sure that the culture in which we are all a part of never fades from the foreground and is passed on to the generations that follow. Fortunately, we are on the right track.

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