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The current exhibit, SOLE ITALIANO: Una Nuova Storia at the Vacaville Museum, explores the rich heritage of Italian American communities in Solano County. (Chris Riley\/The Reporter)<\/p>\nVacaville residents don\u2019t have to hop on a 12-hour flight to get a taste of Italy \u2014 they can visit the new \u201cSole Italiano: Una Nuova Storia\u201d exhibit at the Vacaville Museum.<\/p>\n
The exhibit, which opened July 24 and runs through Nov. 14, explores the experience of Italian American immigrants who arrived in Solano County between the 1850s and 1950s, as well as the generations who have called the area home since.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tell that story through narratives of families that are in this area, that have ancestors and who have come to America from Italy,\u201d said Clara Dawson, executive director of the Vacaville Museum.<\/p>\n
The current exhibit, SOLE ITALIANO: Una Nuova Storia at the Vacaville Museum, explores the rich heritage of Italian American communities in Solano County. (Chris Riley\/The Reporter)<\/p>\n
The exhibit maps the roots of local families across 10 distinct Italian regions and is an invitation for visitors to reflect on identity, belonging and the immigrant experience that connects everyone in Solano County.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an enclave of Italian Americans that stretches back over a century or more at this point,\u201d Dawson said. \u201cThere\u2019s three waves of immigration that we outline, and we do have some families that span those. We definitely have a strong Italian American community here in Solano County.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the rare artifacts on display are a 1903 miniature Bible carried by 9-year-old Pierina Canclini and tactile stations with historical Po Valley flax cloth. Several of the showcased items were loaned by the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s lots to learn about the process that it takes to get to America, becoming a citizen and then also discussing assimilation versus preservation of traditions,\u201d Dawson said.<\/p>\n
The exhibit also features different interactive activities, including pasta making, poetry and painting. The pasta-making lesson was hosted on Monday by Joe Murdaca of Pietro\u2019s No. 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single exhibit that we have here in the main gallery has a slate of programs that goes with it, and that\u2019s because we can\u2019t fit everything that we want to fit in the exhibit in,\u201d Dawson said. \u201cIt\u2019s a way for people to engage further with the exhibit.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/VACMUSEUM3.jpg\")
The current exhibit, SOLE ITALIANO: Una Nuova Storia at the Vacaville Museum, explores the rich heritage of Italian American communities in Solano County. (Chris Riley\/The Reporter)<\/p>\n
The sold-out class of 25 learned to make ravioli and tagliatelle from Murdaca, learning about the history of the Murdaca family and Pietro\u2019s No. 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cJoe Murdaca\u2019s family is one of the families that\u2019s discussed in this particular exhibit,\u201d Dawson said. \u201cHe was really excited to share the knowledge and the traditions that he\u2019s kept over the years from those family members who had direct connections to Italy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next activity is Poetry in the Palazzo, which invites established poets and novices alike to enjoy an evening of poetry in the museum\u2019s courtyard. The event is scheduled for Sept. 12 from 6-8:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
The exhibit also features a book club that includes four readings \u2014 one for each month from July through October. Meetings are held on the last Thursday of every month at 4 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a chance for people to dive into some of the topics that we discussed,\u201d Dawson said. \u201cIt\u2019s a mix of fiction and nonfiction, so people can pick and choose what makes sense for them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vacaville residents don\u2019t have to hop on a 12-hour flight to get a taste of Italy \u2014 they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7143,26413,4186,26414,26415,5,2852,1333,36,1873,26416,26417,26418,26419,26420,773,26421,26422],"class_list":["post-40274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-italy","tag-arts","tag-benicia","tag-california","tag-dixon","tag-fairfield","tag-italy","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-north-bay","tag-northern-california","tag-rio-vista","tag-solano-county","tag-suisun-city","tag-things-to-do","tag-vacaville","tag-vallejo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}