Come back to the table for Part 2, as we throwback to the old “Italian American Power Hour” days, with the second half of a conversation already earning rave reviews!

Pat, John, and Rossella are joined by longtime friend Marianna Gatto (Executive Director and Co-FoundRESS of the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles) for a freewheeling conversation about all things #ItalianAmerican!

Recorded LIVE & UNCUT at the 46th Biennial National Convention of the Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA), in #Pittsburgh PA, it’s a conversation that only gets better in this second half!

Jump back into the conversation as Marianna asks why the “New York/New Jersey image” dominates popular perceptions of Italian Americana, and whether this mass-media projection gives other Italian American communities an identity complex.

We’re also discussing the benefits and distinct cultures born of intermarriage between Italians and other American ethnic groups, and what benefits this might present for the future of the Italian American culture.

We ponder why our sense of identity is so distinct from the rest of the Italian communities living throughout the global diaspora, including the unique circumstances separating the Italian experience in Anglophonic America and those encountered by communities that formed in Latin America.

As talk turns to beloved Italian traditions, we examine why the “cookie table” remains a staple of so many Italian American communities while it has nearly completely disappeared in others.  And, are the cookie table and the football wedding set to make serious comebacks?

It’s an episode filled with the history, heritage, and hilarity you’ve come to love from the Italian American Podcast!