Tag Archives: Villa Cesare

Jim Malloy, president of the Cesare Battisti Lodge, has enjoyed a lifetime of involvement with the organization. The lodge, which is affiliated with the Italio American National Union and The Italian Sons and Daughters of America, owns Villa Cesare Banquet and Events in Schererville, Indiana, about 40 miles south of Chicago. Malloy, who lives in nearby Saint John, Indiana, has been a member since he was a child, following in the footsteps of his father and his Italian immigrant grandparents. His great-uncle helped build the first lodge in East Chicago, Indiana. “I and my brothers and sisters were all involved,” …

The Cesare Battisti Lodge #27 of the Italian Sons and Daughters in America honored Jon Biancardi as Member of the Year on Dec. 10 at the lodge’s clubhouse, Villa Cesare, in Schererville, Indiana. The grandson and son of lodge members, Biancardi serves on the board of directors and has spearheaded several new initiatives. In 2017, he launched an indoor bocce league that has grown from eight teams on one court to 24 teams on three courts. That same year, he created, marketed and executed the lodge’s first Festa Italiana. The annual three-day celebration of Italian culture and spirit features food …

  The Festa Italiana at Villa Cesare in Schererville grew by leaps and bounds in its second year, adding an additional day to the event and nearly doubling its attendence. Roughly 7,000 festival-goers were serenaded by traditional and non-traditional music as they sampled from an expanded array of food, craft and beer and wine vendors. They also enjoyed non-stop live entertainment, played bocce at their leisure and in tournaments, watched pasta-making demonstrations, participated in spaghetti-eating and grape-stomping competitions, and learned from the experts at a wine-and-food pairing. For more information about Villa Cesare, click here.  

The Cesare Battista Lodge #27 has a long and proud history of serving the Italian-American community of Northwest Indiana. Formed in 1919 as the Loggia Cesare Battisti Musicale, the group soon joined forces with a large Chicago-area fraternal organization that morphed into the Italo American National Union, which eventually merged with the Italian Sons and Daughters of America. After decades of meeting in halls throughout the area, the lodge built a clubhouse in 1956 in East Chicago, and then a new, multi-million-dollar facility in 1989 in Schererville. Dubbed Villa Cesare, the new clubhouse boasts three banquet rooms, a commercial kitchen, …

Cesare Battisti Lodge at Villa Cesare in Schererville spread Italian cheer across Northwest Indiana in August at its first annual Festa Italiana. Roughly 4,000 festival goers were serenaded by traditional and non-traditional Italian music as they made their way to food, craft and beer and wine vendors. They enjoyed non-stop live entertainment, played bocce at their leisure and in tournaments, watched pasta- and pizza-making demonstrations, participated in an entertaining spaghetti-eating contest, and learned from the experts at a wine-and-food pairing. For the rest of the story, visit. On the food front, there was pizza, Italian beef, Italian sausage, meatball and …