This is the Italian Cultural Center in Des Moines, Iowa.
It's located at 1961 Indianola Avenue in the building that was the bakery owned by the Marasco family.
The following photos are of some of the collections maintained inside the center.
On the left is Pat Civitate, who has been one of the driving forces behind the center and who volunteers countless hours of her time to maintain and improve things at the center and it's museum.
On the right is COI listmember Kathy Foggia who was kind enough to accompany me to the center and to lunch at Noah's Ark, a restaurant owned by the uncle of COI listmember Valerie Lacona.
Here are the photos and the letter from the mayor of Scala Coeli from Valerie Lacona, on exhibition at the center.
I had an excellent meal at Mama Lacona's restaurant located at 2743 86th Street.
The restaurant is owned by the Lacona family and I got to meet Valerie (below) and her father and brother at the restaurant and also got the first taste of her new batch of homemade Crema Limoncello (it was excellent as was the meal).
Below is Graziano's Italian Grocery, they have a very nice selection of items there along with some great Italian bread selections made fresh daily from the 3 Italian bakeries in the area. It's located not far from the Cultural center.
Also, you can check out Bambino's Restaurant and Des Moines nightlife
This is the picture of the Genealogy Group at the Cultural Center