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Celebrities

  • Tony Bennett at NIAF’s 27th Anniversary Gala in 2002

  • Sophia Loren inducted into the NIAF’s Italian American Hall of Fame in 2002

  • President Bill Clinton speaking at NIAF’s 25th Anniversary Awards Dinner in 2000

  • Martin Scorsese and Ellen Pompeo at NIAF’s 32nd Anniversary Awards Gala in 2007

  • Sophia Loren arriving at the 27th Anniversary Gala

  • Alan Alda, Mel Brooks and Jack Valenti at the 31st Anniversary Awards Gala in 2006

  • Barbara Bush, Frank D. Stella and former President Bill Clinton at the 2006 Anniversary Gala

  • Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro speaks at the 1984 Gala Awards Dinner as NIAF President Frank Stella, President Ronald Reagan and NIAF Chairman Jeno Paulucci applaud

  • New York Governor Mario Cuomo and NIAF Chairman Jeno Paulucci with at the NIAF New York Dinner in 1983.

  • President Gerald Ford; Italian Ambassador Rinaldo Petrignani; Congressman Silvio Conte; and Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill at the 1980 Gala Awards Dinner

  • President Barack Obama after speaking at the 2011 Anniversary Gala

  • At the 2013 Gala, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and honoree Leon Panetta

  • At the 1985 Gala VIP Reception, Sen. Pat Leahy, Frank Sinatra and Congressman Frank Annunzio

  • NIAF Founder Jeno Paulucci and President Ronald Reagan who spoke at NIAF’s 10th Anniversary Gala in 1985

  • Honorees Liza Minnelli and Congressman Peter Rodino at the 1988 NIAF Awards Gala

  • Robert De Niro and Sophia Loren were inducted into the NIAF’s Italian American Hall of Fame at the NIAF’s 27th Anniversary Awards Gala in 2002

  • At the 2014 Gala Awards Dinner, Joe Piscopo and honoree John Turturro

  • Jack Valenti, Pierferdinando Casini, Roberto Benigni, Tony Bennett and Joe Cerrell at the 2003 Anniversary Gala

  • Joe DiMaggio with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Congressman Leon Panetta at the 1989 Gala Awards Dinner

  • NFL Hall of Famer and NIAF honoree Franco Harris at the 2016 Gala

  • Luciano Pavarotti and Italian Ambassador Sergio Vento at the NIAF 2004 Gala

  • Matilda Cuomo and Antonin Scalia at 1993 Congressional Dinner

  • Maria Bartiromo, Gina Lollobrigida, Rudy Giuliani, and Susan Lucci at the Gala in 2007

  • Jimmy Kimmel and Connie Britton at the 34th Anniversary Gala

  • 2016 Gala Honoree Tony Renis

  • Barbara Bush at the Anniversary Gala in 1991

  • Dom Deluise, Congresswoman Connie Morella, Al Pacino and Donatella Versace at the 1997 Gala

  • Mike Piazza and Giuliana Rancic at the 2010 Gala

  • One America Award honorees Angelo Dundee and Muhammad Ali with President Bill Clinton and NIAF Chairman Frank J. Guarini at the 2000 Awards Gala

  • Tony Lo Bianco, Dick Vermeil and Yogi Berra at the 32nd Anniversary Gala

  • 2017 NIAF Celebrity Ambassador Michael Badalucco

  • Former MLB Player Tommy Lasorda at the 44th Anniversary Gala

  • Danny DeVito and Aurelio De Laurentiis at the 2010 Gala

  • Joe Mantegna, Mike Piazza and Robert Davi at the NIAF West Coast Gala on May 19, 2011 West Coast Gala in 2011

  • Maria Bartiromo at the 2019 Gala

  • 2004 Honoree Tim McGraw and MLB legend Yogi Berra

NIAF’s magnificent celebration of our Italian American community and our Italian culture and heritage tonight all started back in 1975 when a group of dedicated Italian American leaders came together with a vision to create a national organization that would serve and represent the Italian American community.

The first NIAF Gala Dinner took place at The Washington Hilton and attracted more than 2,000 guests, including notables such as President Gerald Ford, presidential candidate Jimmy Carter, vice-presidential candidate Walter Mondale, and 150 Members of Congress. “Never before in history” has there been a meeting with more political power, wrote Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory, who attended that benchmark event.

In saluting the past four decades of fulfilling our mission, we’d like to put a spotlight on some of the many remarkable moments in NIAF Gala history captured in these photographs as well as recognize some of the special people who helped NIAF become what it is today!