Latest news with #DiBenedetto
Herald Sun
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Herald Sun
Reservoir: House featuring viral dolphin fountain that Sooshi Mango are eyeing off hits market
A quirky Reservoir house featuring a concrete dolphin fountain is ready for a grand sale after being dubbed 'Nonna's House of the Week' by a popular Instagram account. The dolphin fountain was built by the home's late owner, Ignazio 'Benny' Di Benedetto, who migrated from Italy to Australia as a teenager. A plasterer by trade and also an artist, Ignazio's residence has long been something of a local icon, photographed for books chronicling Australian front yards. RELATED: Reservoir home gives off resort vibes with floating staircase, handpainted mural Coburg: Dilapidated house sells for almost $1m after more than seven decades in one family Eaglehawk pad boasts lion sculptures, equine-themed fountain, wine cellar and bird artworks The abode even counts Sooshi Mango among its fans with the comedy super group joking that they would buy the residence 'for the fountain alone' in response to an Instagram post about the house on the Yiayia Next Door account. And it was another Insta page, Nonna's Judging You, that gave the three-bedroom pad at 3 Fiddes St its 'Nonna's House of the Week' honour. The property, which has two bathrooms, a timber-fitted kitchen and double garage, is for sale with a $980,000-$1.05m asking range. Ignazio's oldest child, Vito Di Benedetto, said he had enjoyed a wonderful childhood at the home with his father, mother Ida and siblings. While he never specifically asked his dad the reason why he created the fountain, Ignazio had a love of architecture and art. 'To begin with, it was a simple fountain,' Mr Di Benedetto said. 'I'd say he started building the fountain in the very late sixties, and I think he probably would have finished it in the mid-eighties.' A motor and pump were later connected, and the fountain still works today. The family collected shells at Melbourne beaches to decorate the fountain. As well, Ignazio would buy plastic containers in the shape of animals which had lollies or chocolates in them. 'He'd tell us to eat them as quickly as we possibly could – and being kids, were like, 'Wow, this is like Christmas',' Mr Di Benedetto said. 'So we'd eat them and then within weeks of us finishing them, he would fill those animals or containers with cement and then decorate them and put them on the fountain.' After completing the fountain, Ignazio started buying imitation jewellery and frames to make murals. Inspired by the town hall in the Sicilian village where he grew up, he hung throughout the house. The artworks were taken down to repaint the home before it was put up for sale. Mr Di Benedetto said that his family would be happy to give a few murals to whoever buys the house, if they were keen. Ignazio's artistic talent can also be seen in pebble-mixed concrete columns that he crafted for the veranda and the backyard. Inside, some of the ceilings feature decorative work, such as small, hand-cut pieces of plaster to create an artistic finish. The formal lounge and dining area has what looks like a pressed metal ceiling which is actually made out of plaster. Mr Di Benedetto said the producers of the 2022 movie Wog Boys Forever, starring Nick Giannopoulos and Vince Colosimo, contacted his family requesting to film at the home. But Ignazio, who valued his privacy, declined the invitation. 'They ended up filming it in Reservoir at another house not far from where my Dad lived,' Mr Di Benedetto said. However, photographer David Wadelton captured images of the fountain for his book Front Yards, showcasing character-filled Australian gardens and front yards. Mr Di Benedetto said he hoped that whoever buys the house would keep the fountain, but it would be up to the individual purchaser. Real estate agency Love & Co's Kannan Subramanian said the house had gone viral since being listed for sale. 'It's a very special home, it is quirky but functional,' Mr Subramanian said. 'It's a really good family home.' Most of the interested buyers are families and young couples. The house is close to public transport, Connor Reserve, the Merri Creek Trail and Edwardes Lake. It will be auctioned at 1.30pm on May 24. Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox. MORE: Epping home with luxury fit-out and commercial motorcycle workshop for sale Rolling Stone Australia owner Josh Simons and wife Tatiana selling Patterson Lakes home Melbourne's weirdest home finds: Wacky and wonderful things found inside houses
News.com.au
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Reservoir: House featuring viral dolphin fountain that Sooshi Mango are eyeing off hits market
A quirky Reservoir house featuring a concrete dolphin fountain is ready for a grand sale after being dubbed 'Nonna's House of the Week' by a popular Instagram account. The dolphin fountain was built by the home's late owner, Ignacio 'Benny' Di Benedetto, who migrated from Italy to Australia as a teenager. A plasterer by trade and also an artist, Ignacio's residence has long been something of a local icon, photographed for books chronicling Australian front yards. Eaglehawk pad boasts lion sculptures, equine-themed fountain, wine cellar and bird artworks The abode even counts Sooshi Mango among its fans with the comedy super group joking that they would buy the residence 'for the fountain alone' in response to an Instagram post about the house on the Yiayia Next Door account. And it was another Insta page, Nonna's Judging You, that gave the three-bedroom pad at 3 Fiddes St its 'Nonna's House of the Week' honour. The property, which has two bathrooms, a timber-fitted kitchen and double garage, is for sale with a $980,000-$1.05m asking range. Ignacio's oldest child, Vito Di Benedetto, said he had enjoyed a wonderful childhood at the home with his father, mother Ida and siblings. While he never specifically asked his dad the reason why he created the fountain, Ignacio had a love of architecture and art. 'To begin with, it was a simple fountain,' Mr Di Benedetto said. 'I'd say he started building the fountain in the very late sixties, and I think he probably would have finished it in the mid-eighties.' A motor and pump were later connected, and the fountain still works today. The family collected shells at Melbourne beaches to decorate the fountain. As well, Ignacio would buy plastic containers in the shape of animals which had lollies or chocolates in them. 'He'd tell us to eat them as quickly as we possibly could – and being kids, were like, 'Wow, this is like Christmas',' Mr Di Benedetto said. 'So we'd eat them and then within weeks of us finishing them, he would fill those animals or containers with cement and then decorate them and put them on the fountain.' After completing the fountain, Ignacio started buying imitation jewellery and frames to make murals. Inspired by the town hall in the Sicilian village where he grew up, he hung throughout the house. The artworks were taken down to repaint the home before it was put up for sale. Mr Di Benedetto said that his family would be happy to give a few murals to whoever buys the house, if they were keen. Ignacio's artistic talent can also be seen in pebble-mixed concrete columns that he crafted for the veranda and the backyard. Inside, some of the ceilings feature decorative work, such as small, hand-cut pieces of plaster to create an artistic finish. The formal lounge and dining area has what looks like a pressed metal ceiling which is actually made out of plaster. Mr Di Benedetto said the producers of the 2022 movie Wog Boys Forever, starring Nick Giannopoulos and Vince Colosimo, contacted his family requesting to film at the home. But Ignacio, who valued his privacy, declined the invitation. 'They ended up filming it in Reservoir at another house not far from where my Dad lived,' Mr Di Benedetto said. However, photographer David Wadelton captured images of the fountain for his book Front Yards, showcasing character-filled Australian gardens and front yards. Mr Di Benedetto said he hoped that whoever buys the house would keep the fountain, but it would be up to the individual purchaser. Real estate agency Love & Co's Kannan Subramanian said the house had gone viral since being listed for sale. 'It's a very special home, it is quirky but functional,' Mr Subramanian said. 'It's a really good family home.' Most of the interested buyers are families and young couples. The house is close to public transport, Connor Reserve, the Merri Creek Trail and Edwardes Lake. It will be auctioned at 1.30pm on May 24.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cheezy's Grilled Cheeses creates vegan Chipotle Philly for Rockford Chef Contest
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — 21 restaurants are competing in the 2025 Vegan Chef Contest, offering vegan menu items for those in the community. Co-organizer of the contest Shanasy Bratt said she began the challenge to bring more awareness of people's desire to eat more humanely and sustainably. In 2024, 17 restaurants participated. Co-organizer Amy Belle said the growth of the competition in just one year is promising. 'There are a lot of returning restaurants that had a great time participating last year and wanted to challenge themselves to create new dishes again this year,' Belle said. 'There are new restaurants that our volunteers have gone around and recruited and let them know what was going on and they wanted to be a part of it, too.' Cheezy's Grilled Cheeses on 11th Street is a returning competitor. Owner Dustin DiBenedetto said competing was no question, since the bread they use is Keto, gluten and vegan friendly. 'We have a great friend, Amy, who's really big into the vegan community that helped us out and got us involved in that,' DiBenedetto said. 'She had reached out and said 'Hey, would you like to get involved in the challenge?' We've always been able to incorporate vegan, gluten free, keto and we want to be able to give those options to everyone so everyone can eat.' DiBenedetto said the restaurant even recreated its most popular menu item and made it vegan, so customers can expect to see a vegan Chipotle Philly on the menu. 'This is our number one seller, and we wanted to make it vegan,' DiBenedetto said. 'I'm hoping to take first place. We're grinding and we're making great sandwiches.' Cheezy's sits in 4th place in the competition as of Sunday. The runs until March 31. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Wall Street Journal
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘The Suicides' Review: Antonio di Benedetto's Lost Souls
Though Argentina's cultural hub was in Buenos Aires, the writer Antonio di Benedetto (1922-1986) stayed for most of his life in his birth city of Mendoza, in the foothills of the Andes mountains and some 650 miles from the capital. Di Benedetto was far from a recluse: He worked as a journalist and deputy director of a Mendoza newspaper; he wrote novels, short stories and screenplays; and he had a vocal admirer in the country's literary panjandrum Jorge Luis Borges. Even so, it's tempting to interpret his life on the outskirts as an act of self-imposed isolation. Di Benedetto's books are compact, existential allegories of estrangement and longing. They are about misanthropic yet disarmingly vulnerable men who are marooned on the periphery of society—'ready to go,' as one of them thinks, 'and not going.' Di Benedetto's provincial focus also meant that his intricate, original fiction went underappreciated in his lifetime. It fell to later Latin American writers, the most notable being Chile's Roberto Bolaño, to insist upon his place in the 20th-century canon. In a 1999 essay, the Argentine writer Juan José Saer suggested that three of Di Benedetto's novels—'Zama' (1956), 'The Silentiary' (1964) and 'The Suicides' (1969)—were so thematically similar that they could be considered a trilogy. Though there's no evidence that Di Benedetto contemplated such a thing, the idea stuck. Bringing out new translations of 'Zama' in 2016, 'The Silentiary' in 2022 and, now, 'The Suicides,' NYRB Classics has published this set as the Trilogy of Expectation. All three have been rendered into English with exceptional style and discernment by Esther Allen. Geography is most like destiny in 'Zama,' the story of a colonial administrator stationed in a remote backwater of Spain's South American empire at the close of the 18th century. Separated from his wife and children, Don Diego de Zama yearns for a favorable posting back to Buenos Aires, which never comes. Biding his time, he pursues a love affair with a great European-born lady, who also eludes him. Following Zama's slow-motion decline from lordly pomp to penury, Di Benedetto produces his most memorable character, a man as piteous as he is foolish, defeated by the world but in recompense granted an insight into the essential anticlimax of existence: 'Everything is possible, I saw, and in the end every possibility can be exhausted.' Another thwarted soul narrates 'The Silentiary,' which involves a blocked writer's attempt, sometime in the 1950s, to escape the noise of his nameless Latin American city. As he drags his family from lodging to lodging, hauling along a piano that no one is permitted to play, his doomed quest for silence acquires metaphysical overtones, becoming a search for some idealized place 'where everyone sleeps at night.' As in 'Zama,' the story grows increasingly surreal (dreams are prominent in all of Di Benedetto's books), though the writing remains formal and dignified.
CBS News
31-01-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Pittsburgh Remodeling Expo set to take place this weekend at Acrisure Stadium
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Spring is just around the corner and that not only means tulips and gardening, but also the start of home remodeling season. So how can you make those improvements while also navigating higher costs from inflation? This weekend at Acrisure Stadium is the Pittsburgh Remodeling Expo and whether you're remodeling bathrooms, windows, doors, or kitchens, we've taken a look at how much it will cost you. How much will remodeling cost me this year? The hammers, saws, and pounding will actually cost you a little bit less in 2025. According to the Harvard Business School, the cost has dropped 1.2%, and while that's not much, it certainly is better than the days of the pandemic when supply costs skyrocketed and were passed onto you, the consumer. "During COVID, the prices did increase about 10 to 15 percent due to a lack of getting material," explained Roberto DiBenedetto, the owner of Home Pro Remodelers. "After that, they went down about 8 to 10 [percent]." So, what are we talking about in terms of prices for some of the most often-requested remodeling projects - kitchens and baths? Several sources showed that on average, nationally, a kitchen remodel will cost around $26,969 and a bathroom $12,115. Keep in mind, those are the averages for the most basic job to the biggest job. Again, an average. Can I save money on a home remodeling project? Of course, they can go much, much higher. Does that mean you can cut the costs even more? The answer is yes, but that includes doing some of it yourself or finding a remodeler who will let you buy some of the materials. "We can work with them," said DiBenedetto. "If they want to get some of the materials and we're able to install or we can provide them the materials. We all like to save as much money as possible with our clients." A great piece of advice is to find a remodeler who will let you buy the sink, the toilet, appliances, and whatever else you wish to install. That's a great way to avoid the markup. The Pittsburgh Remodeling Expo is a place where you can find all of that together and get exactly what you're looking for. It costs just $5 to get in and it's on the club level at Acrisure Stadium and runs today through Sunday.
