About

Bostoniano.info is a news website about all things Italian that go on in Boston and the surrounding areas. It is a concept developed by Nicola Orichuia and is open to ideas, suggestions and contributions.

You can be a part of Bostoniano.info, too! To find out more, send an email to [email protected]

Nicola Orichuia
Nicola is an Italian journalist and media enthusiast living and working in the United States. He started his reporting career back in 2004, working in a small daily newspaper in Rome, where he covered — among other events — the election of Pope Benedict XVI and the 2006 Lebanese peace talks. In 2008, he moved to Chicago, where he earned his Master’s degree in Journalism at Columbia College Chicago and interned at NBC-Universal. Two years later he moved to Boston and is currently writing and working for Fra Noi. He has written for Huffington Post, as well as Italian publications Limes, Il Riformista and America Oggi. He keeps an eye on the Italian-American communities across the country and is always looking for positive stories to highlight.
Nicola is the founder of Bostoniano.info.

Emanuele Capoano
Emanuele is a correspondent from Boston for the Tuscan magazine LoSchermo and a blogger covering American news for the online magazine Il Futurista. As a theatrical actor, he played several comedies on stage in Italy and took, amongst others, the role of Jim O’Connor in Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, and the role of Tom Merritt in Spoon River Anthology. He also experimented Pasolini, Shakespeare, and Jane Birkin plays.
Before coming to Boston to teach Italian, he was a freelance radio journalist in Florence, Italy, and a cinema projectionist. He also wants to become a screenplay writer.
His personal blog is www.spremiacume.wordpress.com
Lisa Cappuccio
Lisa is an East Boston resident who works in the area of media and public relations. She is President of Italia Unita Inc. of Massachusetts, a non-profit organization that promotes Italian culture and heritage.

Lisa worked and volunteered in the areas of public relations, community development, film, politics, and radio. Through Italia Unita, Lisa initiated the grass roots effort to have Comcast Cable add RAI television, which is now available as a premium channel. Lisa is the president of Boston Concepts, a full service marketing and public relations agency.
Her blog is everyonewantstobeitalian.

Danielle Festino
Danielle was born and raised in Stoneham, now resides in Medford, and has roots in Puglia.

In 2004, she graduated from Wellesley College with a degree in International Relations and Italian Studies.

She is passionate about telling stories and hopes to provide a glimpse into what it means to grow up Italian-American.

For Bostoniano, Danielle writes the monthly column “Nostre Tradizioni.”

Lauren E. Forcucci
Lauren is a Boston area college instructor of Political Science, researcher and writer. Her work focuses on Fascism, examining both its historic trends and current resurgences. In a recently published article, Lauren explores the Battle for Births pronatalist campaign in Fascist Italy, in which she uncovers a piece of her family’s history. Lauren is interested in all aspects of Italian customs as well as the political, cultural and social ways of life. She enjoys learning about and experiencing her personal connections to Italian culture through music, food, the arts, sports and other traditions. Lauren is a first generation Italian-American with roots in the Abruzzo region. She is passionate about educating and informing others of the many facets of Italian heritage. Learn more about Lauren’s work by visiting her blog: laureneforcucci.blogspot.com/
Kathy McCabe
Kathy is the founder of the award-winning subscription travel newsletter Dream of Italy, and a noted Italy travel expert.

Kathy’s travel advice has been quoted in USA TODAY, BusinessWeek, U.S. News + World Report and on ABC News, among others.

Follow Kathy and Dream of Italy on Facebook and Twitter.

Michele McPhee
Michele McPhee is a best-selling author, emmy-nominated investigative journalist and award-winning columnist. McPhee’s true crime stories have appeared in more than a dozen national magazines including Maxim; Stuff; Cosmopolitan; New York; ESPN the Magazine; Gotham; Manhattan File; and other international publications. A longtime columnist for the Boston Herald; she has covered high-profile crime cases across the country and has been a commentator on breaking news for national programs on CNN; MSNBC; and the Fox News Network. She is also a commentator for Boston affiliates. To find out more about Michele, visit www.michelemcphee.com.
Valentina Oppezzo
Valentina was born in Italy, in a small town close to the city of Torino, but she moved to Trieste to earn a Bachelor Degree in Intercultural Studies and a Master Degree in Cinema. She started her career as a photographer when she was still in Italy, but she opened her own photographic studio after moving to Boston. She’s specialized in studio photography (portraits, products, model portfolios), but also enjoys shooting cultural and social events. Her studies about cinema meet her passion in fantasy fiction in her book “Harry Potter al cinema“, published in Italy by Le Mani in 2010. Her work can be seen on her personal website, while her ideas and comments on fashion and style can be found on her blog Think Outside the Purse. Valentina is a photographer and contributor at Bostoniano.info.
Briana Palma
Briana Palma is a writer and editor who splits her time between Boston and Dublin, Ireland.

Her work focuses on travel, art and lifestyle, and as an Italian-American, she especially enjoys writing about all things Italy.

Briana’s work has appeared in a number of print and digital publications, including Italy Magazine, the Sunday Business Post Magazine, Outsider and U.S. Airways.

For more information, visit www.brianapalma.com.

James S. Pasto
James S. Pasto was born in Boston’s North End in 1958. He attended St. Anthony Grammar School and Christopher Columbus High School (’76). He received his BA from University of Massachusetts, Boston, in 1989 and his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1998. He is a Senior Lecturer at Boston University, where he teachers courses in cultural anthropology and “The Social History of Boston’s North End.”

He is a co-founder of the North End Historical Society (established 2009) and the editor of the Journal of the North End Historical Society. He is married with three children.

Stefano Salimbeni
Stefano is a freelance reporter, currently writing for Famiglia Cristiana, one of Italy’s largest and most circulated weekly magazines. For over 10 years, he has been a Boston correspondent and producer for Italy’s national TV network RAI. He produced more than 600 “Italian-angled” news stories and features from New England and from around the United States for RAI’s international channel, RAI Italia, broadcast to over 60 million viewers of Italian origins or of Italian descent living outside of Italy. He also assisted, and occasionally still does, RAI’s main correspondents in producing news stories and special reports during major news events. He came to Boston in 1996 to earn a master’s degree and fulfill a lifelong dream of being a journalist. Stefano’s work can be viewed on his personal website, www.stefanosalimbeni.com.

Our awesome interns!

Natalie DiMaria
Natalie hails from Dunstable, a small town north of Boston. She graduated from Saint Michael’s College in May of 2012 where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies with concentrations in film, journalism, and creative writing. While at school she worked as a journalist for her college newspaper and as a radio personality for 95 Triple X in Vermont. She also created a documentary about the relationship between immigrants and their traditional foods titled More Than Nourishment.
Natalie is a second generation Italian-American with roots in Abruzzo and Sicily. Growing up surrounded by Italian culture inspired her to spend a semester traveling through Italy. She is passionate about her heritage and enjoys sharing it with others. Get in touch with Natalie through LinkedIn.

Drew Webster
Drew Webster is a graduate student at UMASS-Boston, where he studies Archaeology. He recently graduated from the University of Notre Dame with degrees in both Italian Literature & Culture and Anthropology. Originally from the Chicago area, his mother’s family has roots in both the Veneto and Lazio regions of Italy. His studies have taken him all over the world, including a half-year period in Bologna. When he’s not getting muddy uncovering New England’s past, you can find him meandering through the North End, eating gelato alla nocciola and sipping a caffè lungo. A longtime aficionado of all things Italian, Drew is always looking for new ways to get involved with the Italian cultural scene in Boston. Drew assists in managing the Bostoniano website as well as its social media outlets.