I grew up in Scranton with my Italian family and I can say I have been to all of those places. Brought back many memories. I used to love the smell of Catalano's
I have been away from Scranton for 65 years, yet, even today, I could walk from downtown Scranton directly to Saint Lucy’s! Needless to say, I love and miss the city.
@@williamhadley549 I love wales never been to Swansea though. Oh the people first of all, honest hardworking men and women. The pizza in old forge William is to die for, being so close to the mountains is another thing. If you love the big cities you have Philly and nyc under 3 hours from you
Buongiorno~once again warmed my morning. I love the love and attention you give our large proud Italian community. Keep us all in touch and thriving in culture. Safe travels always ...🙏🇮🇹 Grazie
Thank you for sharing this video. I lived in South Scranton for fifty years. It’s my favorite place with so many memories. It was a special place for me. Loved it.
Thank you for sharing this video. I lived in South Scranton for fifty years. It’s my favorite place with so many memories. It was a special place for me. Loved it.
Wow Italian American Podcast! I would totally enjoy visiting NEPA Lackawanna County! Ever since we were young growing up in Bucks County, PA, there were stories from our friends and neighbors of Scranton and Jessup, PA's Ubaldo festival! I look forward to visiting Scranton PA when the weather gets better! Thank you for another enthusiastic genuine and brief glimpse into our Italian American heritage! Tomorrow is St Patrick's Day 2021! So much to be grateful in this awesome country!
@@ItalianAmerican absolutely I myself grew up in the Austin Heights area of Old Forge and if you are ever in the area I would recommend Cafe Rinaldi more than anyone as far as I can tell and know they have the widest selection and highest quality food of any of the restaurants I have eaten at their in my 39 years of life especially the traditional white risotto just make sure you're hungry because even an appetizer size portion is more than enough to fill the Common belly well leaving your taste buds dissatisfied by anything you should eat afterwards since it is just that damn good tell Russ I sent you
That was amazing, me being Italian American, I’m Half Neapolitan through my father’s side, and a quarter Calabrese and Sicilian from my mother’s side, but at the same time, I grew up in New Jersey, and in a way, it’s like A Bronx Tale, absolute beauty, no matter what the case is, and any place in America us Italians go, will always absolutely be beautiful, because we always cared about our country the most, and also, I’m definitely visiting Scranton, much love from a New Jersey Italian
After coming to America, my family settled in Jessup, Old Forge, and Scranton. This was a wonderful episode and I can't wait to get a copy of one of Stephanie's books! Thank you!
I wish Chicago still had Little Italys like this. There is still a community but it's much more underground. So heartening to see many cities in American regions have done a better job and still carry the torch.
big things happening on Harlem Avenue these days! The National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame is even moving there. We can't wait to visit! Thanks for watching.
@@ItalianAmerican Grazie per la risposta! I would love to see a grassroots effort to reinvigorate the Harlem Ave Italian community! I'm in my early 30s but I remember when I was a kid that neighborhood was jam packed with Italian businesses. I remember it was once decently common to see signs in Italian. The last two decades have been devastating with a changing economy and gentrification. The neighborhood has had a huge influx of Polish and other Eastern European immigration with some Hispanic and Middle Eastern as well. And there's nothing wrong with diversity but I would love to see a bastion of Italian America stay strong. I would love to see a couple blocks dedicated to serving the Italo-American Community and Italofiles at large! It would be nice to see more movement also happening in the Original Little Italy of Taylor street and I still love perusing the remnant stores, restaurants, and churches that remain in that area but sadly gentrification, the university, the expressway, and the city taxes seem to have collectively put a death nail into the original little Italy at least in the way that it was once known. Now let's see some movement on Harlem Ave so I don't have to drive 5 hours all the way to St. Louis' Hill to get my dose of Italiania'!
Hope you enjoyed it! It hasn't been easy to arrange filming these days, BUT, we are starting to hit the road again and have a few new adventures in Italian America coming your way soon! Thanks for watching!
Old Forge and Jessup are both boroughs of Lackawanna County, not the city of Scranton. Carbondale is a city of it's own. Since this video the Ritz Theater has new owners. There are so many great Italian restaurants in Scranton and I'm a bit disappointed none of them were shown here. The top ethnicities up to 2010 in Scranton were Irish 21,742, Italian 14,860, German13,404, Polish 9,101, and English 4,325. These statistics have drastically changed the past decade. Other cultural blends have grown here in the city of Scranton before and more so after the pandemic. There are newcomers from various states, including New York City, New Jersey, California and Texas.
Arcaro and genell isn't in scranton it's in old forge. Pettinatos is in Carbondale, 20 minutes away. There's great pizza and Italian food within walking distance or a short drive in this city.
So I had to watch this just to comment, ya shoulda gone to Catalanos for one with / hot. So glad you made it there, and got in. Lunch time it's packed there. Best Italian subs ever. That bread just kills and the perfect amount of each ingredient plus extra TLC makes it perfection. I've bought 2 and doubled the meat to make 1 sandwich and it's not nearly as good. $4.75 is a great price for a chunk of heaven. Great place, when you finally get to the register just say one with or one without if ya don't want peppers and your on you way to complete blis. Whoever set you guys up on your tour absolutely knows their stuff.
Ok I watched the next segment. I've been to Acaro &Geneli as well. It's just a couple miles down Main st. From Catalanos. (Probably S Main St there.) Great hot subs. I've not found a pizza in the city I like. It's just so different from what I grew up with in NJ. I'm used to great NY style pizza. I'm not knocking it, I might try theirs here. Looks pretty good, just different. Best pizza in the style of NY pizza, for my money is Renos pizza in Hawley or Tafton. It's kinda on the border so I don't know technically which but it's on the east/north end of route #507 by Lake Wallenpaupack.
Fuí una temporada, creo que fue en septiembre. Estaban celebrado algo no recuerdo, era sobre las personas Italianas. Lo que si recuerdo haber comido mucho, disfruté su gastronomía ¡Fue algo inolvidable! Les saludo desde Honduras.
I am from NYC I have lived in scranton for 10 years...i am 5 mins from Catalanos. Love! Love their hoagies. Definitely disagree about the pizza...the "blend" of cheese is American cheese...I think you either like it or hate it unless you grew up on it. But there are many good places that make a decent NY round with mozz...JS! Good video. Ty!
There’s plenty of NY style pizza, not just the “old forge” style. Idk what style it is but Nicholas’s is the best pizza I’ve ever eaten. Right across from the jail, try it.
Angelo says on another video with Frank Pinello that the Acaro & Genell blend was mozzarella, white cheddar and a touch of American. The original in town- Ghigiarelli's was mozzarella and brick as confirmed when written up in Parade Mag. -Great podcast
You're right, the "Old Forge" style pizza has its place, but if you want truly delicious, real NY style pizza in Scranton....you need to check out Roberto's in West Side.👍
Old Forge...brings back sweet memories of Aldino’s restaurant where they used to serve my father beer on Sundays in the 50’s. They served it in a ceramic teapot and he drank it from a teacup...all the while breaking the law! Fantastic Italian food too! 😁😁
Scranton is a predominantly Irish city. There's certainly an Italian community there, though. You got the Dunmore enclave which is roughly 50/50 Irish and Italian, and Old Forge is nearby which is predominantly Italian. Cafe Rinaldi is delicious and the owner is a really great guy.
Come to Johnston RI , that town has more italians per capita , believe it or not Rhode Island is the most italian state, come to RI we have some damn good.. PIZZA !!!
Mass was said in Latin everywhere in the world until the Vatican Council in the 1960's. Same for this church. Sermons were the only thing completely in the vernacular which here would be Italian. Baptisms, marriages and some other devotions such as the Stations of the Cross were said partly in the vernacular. But the Mass was always in Latin.
moved to north east PA from Long Island right before covid happened Italian food in Scranton is not good and I’m not just being a proud New Yorker lived in Boston 4 years never complained about Italian food there . Plenty of other decent food options if you are visiting from NY Jersey don’t bother getting hot Italian food in Scranton not the same. Delis are fine not as many but they got good bread. The bread is good in NEPA the sauce not like mammas not the real stuff.
I'm from NJ and oh god, I can't agree with you enough! We ordered pizza from somewhere when we 1st moved here 16 years ago & it had cheddar cheese mixed up with mozzarella! I've never in my life heard of putting cheddar cheese on pizza 🤢. The closest thing to really good Italian food is Basilico's in Dickson City and Granteed's in Scranton.
I visited Catalano’s for the pre-made sandwiches, They were a joke. You get more meat on a subway sandwich. The bread was no more than 1.5” wide, mire like a soft breadstick. They did have Manhattan Special, but it was in an open refrigerated display, and any true Italian knows what happens when you open a warm Manhattan special.
You must not be from this locality Scranton is known for being predominantly Irish if you want Italian you go to Old Forge the title of this video is something that anyone from this locality with more than likely argue
3 things you need to do in Scranton 1 bet on ubaldo he always wins 2 don’t eat old forge pizza it is not good 3 watch talk back 16 either on RU-vid or on location
What should be researched is USA military that went overseas in world war 2 that is 8million went overseas and 8million stayed in USA ( they were not in war production either" Arsenal of Democracy") and just important who worked in USA war production (Arsenal of Democracy)..why? USA was 140million at maximum 1939 to 1946..what was manufactured in ships ,planes and other weaponry in some cases remain unmatched in the entire world ( China may soon surpass that production with 1.4 billion people and robots). On the 8million American in uniform that never left American shores were heavily into administrative ,clerical,security , management..bureaucratic functions....WW2 still has 73,000 American missing in action presumed dead.. much to often not mentioned in veterans day ceremonies just like America s huge war production. I have evidence in many instances this was a conscious effort to hide Americas great war production and the 73,000 MIA ww2. if Americans want America to bring back it's manufacturing and middle class it can be done by returning to the Arsenal of Democracy (without Americans in combat needed),housing and USA infrastructure. the nondictorial and fledgingly democracies of the world want and need military materiels..only one caveat keep American globalist debt capitalist traitors out of it .they destroyed American manufacturing ,middle class and partnered with anti American foreignor to fill THIER pockets,destroying American middle class and place debt on American public which they never will pay a dime.
I had to watch this. I live about a 5 min walk from St. Lucy's Church in West Side Scanton. LOL BTW Old Forge pizza is definitely NOT the best. There are plenty of other pizzas in the area that are way, way better. Just sayin.
@@ItalianAmerican If you ever make your way back to Scranton in the summer, I highly recommend Andy's Pizza in Peckville which is a few miles outside Scranton in the opposite direction. It is just a small place but very popular. Literally Everyone loves it. I never once heard anybody say they didn't love their pizza. It is amazing.
@@bgoodfella7413 I don't understand how you can say Old Forge pizza isn't good in general - there are so many pizza places there and honestly they are all pretty different from one another
@@joelp5093 Old Forge pizza is not bad. Especially the restraunt they went to called Arcaro & Genelli's. I like their pizza there but it's certainly not the best in the Scranton area though IMHO. Old Forge is mostly hype. Go to Peckville for the best.
@@bgoodfella7413 I live 10 minutes from Andy's, it's actually my mother in law's favorite and we had it on Saturday. I like how you can taste the beer in the crust
To me the pizza in the Scranton area is subjective. American cheese should never be on pizza. If you go to Italy I doubt you're getting American cheese.
Above all else Scranton is an IRISH city.. we have the third largest St Patrick's day parade in the US & one of the densest Irish populations in the entire country. Old Forge is a more Italian populated city that outside of Scranton. Annual Italian Food fest is in Scranton but most vendors are not from the area. Same with St Ubaldo in Jessup, it's tradition ppl come from all over, other than that Jessup is a tiny insubstantial town. Lastly old forge pizza is disgusting! 🤢🤮 It's American cheese over canned tomato & papery crust. We call it Cardboard soup cus it sure ain't pizza!🍕 Tourists fall for the self proclaimed "best pizza in the world" crap. Using term tourist loosely here, doubt many ppl choose to spend time anywhere near Scranton on holiday. Facts!
The reason why it is not "sacralidge" is because the immigrants who settled there literally had no other choice of ingredients to use at that time. Spaghetti was still considered and exotic, foreign food like Ethiopian food would be considered today so they couldn't just go to their local Whole Foods and browse the selections of imported cheeses.
@@allisons3663 What you have in the US as „Mozzarella“ has nothing to do with actual Mozzarella! It is pressed, tasteless and artificial. Real Mozzarella or Mozzarella di Bufala has a unique taste! Same with that fake „Parmesan“ that‘s pre-grated and in a plastic container. Has nothing in common with actual Parmigiano Reggiano, that has to come from Reggio Emilia/Parma due to microbes only found in the grass there.
