BOSTON – In Boston’s North End, a woman has turned her love of entertaining into a booming dinner party business.
Inspired by Italian upbringing
Aperitivo The Shop can be found on Prince Street and is full of splashes of Maria Colalancia’s Italian upbringing.
“Every single Sunday, Sunday dinners, it was non-negotiable,” said Colalancia. “No matter how busy we all were, we were always sitting down or at a table at least once a week. And that was just such a special part of my upbringing.”
All the items in the shop are inspired by her love for good wine, good food and good company. Colalancia’s mission to meet new friends when she moved to Boston from upstate New York a couple of years ago led to the start of her dinner party series.
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“I put a TikTok together, put it out on my personal TikTok and it went viral,” said Colalancia. “I had 700 people sign up for this supper club and we hosted the first dinner party a few weeks later. And then fast forward a year and a half later, I came across this space.”
Aperitivo now helps customers planning their own dinner parties. Colalancia was just 27 years old when her journey of opening Aperitivo began and she continues to chronicle the ups and downs of building a small business on TikTok.
“There were certainly nerves but I think it was very much everything just felt like it was meant to be.”
Started as side hustle
Aperitivo also happens to be Colalancia’s side hustle. She works at Wayfair during the day and spends the rest of her time at the shop, greeting customers and sourcing new, unique items.
When asked for her advice for those who have a creative idea or passion project they want to get off the ground, Colalancia said, “I think something I’ve always had a hard time with is I want everything to be perfect and I want to have a plan and I want to think things through. And you do need to do all of those things but it also needs to be a healthy amount of just getting, like, pushed off the ledge and just do it.”
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Tiffany Chan
Tiffany Chan is a general assignment reporter for WBZ-TV.
ALLSTON, MASS. (WHDH) – Boston police are searching for a gunman who opened fire in Allston Thursday and left one person hurt.
Police responded to a radio call for a person shot in the area of Brighton Avenue at approximately 6:46 p.m. When officers arrived, they said they found a male “juvenile” suffering from a gunshot wound. The victim’s age has not been released.
Boston police said the shooter fled the scene and remains at large. No arrests have been made.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Boston police.
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This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.
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A State Police trooper who was allegedly found “slumped over” in his car at around 5 a.m. in the South End with an open container of High Noon vodka has been “relieved of duty.”
Mass State Police confirmed to the Herald Wednesday night that Trooper Donovan Preston, 31, arrested for alleged drunken driving in Boston this past weekend, “has been relieved of duty.” Preston’s base pay is listed as $80,213.
A Boston Police report states that police arrived at Herald Street on Saturday to see Preston “stopped in lane 2 of the road” with his brake lights on. The suspect was slumped over “with his eyes closed,” the report adds.
“The officer observed that the car was on and in drive. The officer observed an open container of alcohol (High Noon) in the cupholder,” according to the report. The BPD officer then knocked on the window “for approximately 10 seconds before the suspect lifted his head up.”
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Once he picked his head up, police said he appeared “confused and he looked around. The suspect’s vehicle began to roll to which the officer announced, ‘Boston Police. Open the Door.’ ”
Preston stopped on the three-lane, outbound road with his black BMW in the middle of two lanes.
A State Police spokesman said in an email: “Trooper Donovan Preston was relieved of duty and will be subject to a department discipline process.” All other comments were directed toward the police report.
That report, provided to the Herald Wednesday night, added that State Police were notified after Preston’s arrest.
The can of High Noon was logged into the evidence book.
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This latest OUI case comes as State Police Sgt. Scott Quigley is being investigated in an alleged drunken driving fatal crash in Woburn in 2023 that killed a disabled passenger in a van.
In the Quigley case, his blood alcohol level reportedly tested at a .114 at the hospital following the crash (the legal limit is .08). That detail came out in a wrongful death suit filed by the victim Angelo Schettino’s family.
‘Unless he’s s###-faced, I’m not worried’: Mass State Police dash cam catches aftermath of deadly cruiser crash [+video]
The smashed van at the Woburn crash scene. (MSP body camera video screengrab)
