Voce Italiana, August-September 2012

Vol. 51 ▪ No. 7 Washington D.C.

An Italian American Gazette of the Greater Washington D.C. Area

Villa Rosa Italian Festival To Celebrate Its 50th Year

by Francesco Isgrò

August-September 2012 $1.50

Fr. Lydio Tomasi Honored in Hometown of Casoni on Fiftieth Anniversary of Ordination

The annual Italian festival at Villa Rosa, one of the oldest and most popular in the Washington D.C. area, is scheduled for Sunday, September 16, 2012.

This year the festival celebrates its 50th anniversary and is expected to draw more than 5,000 people to the grounds of the Villa Rosa Home in Mitchellville, Md., for food, entertainment, and activities.

In its heyday, the event was known to attract even residents of the White House. President Richard Nixon, after learning that his daughter Tricia would not be able to represent the White House at the 12th annual Villa Rosa festival as planned, decided to replace her himself.

According to the Washington Post of September 16, 1972, he literally dropped in on the festival.

“En route from Camp David to the White house, the President had Helicopters 1 and 2 descend onto the festival grounds, among the thousands of automobiles,” wrote the Post.“Then he headed for the microphones.With more than 15,000 people present, Mr. Nixon chronicled the achievements Italians have attained in music, culture and religion. He pointed to the achievements of his Secretary of Transportation, John Volpe, and John Scali, a member of the White House staff -- both of whom are of Italian descent.”

Darlene DiBattista is coordinating this year’s festival with her husband Nick and a throng of 150 volunteers, as she has for the past five years. DiBattista took over from another Holy Rosary Church couple Rebecca and Bill Please turn to page 7

Fr. Lydio Tomasi with hometown relatives and friends. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi con-celebrated the Mass in honor of his brother's 50th anniversary as a priest.

Pino Cicala: Sono ormai 50 anni che esercita il suo ministero sacerdotale. Come e dove è cominciata questa bella avventura?

Padre Lidio: Cinquant’anni fa, il 16 dicembre 1962, fui ordinato “sacerdote in eterno” dal Cardinale Carlo Gonfalinieri nella Cappella dello Colleggio San Carlo a Roma. Celebrai la prima messa sull’altare sopra la tomba di Continua a pagina 8

INSIDE

The late Fr. Caesar, right, at 1981 Villa Rosa Festival

about his formative years, his mission and his 50 years of priesthood. (See page 11 for an English summary of the following interview.)

Fr. Lydio Tomasi, Pastor of Holy Rosary Church, returned to his hometown of Casoni di Mussolente in the Veneto region of Italy to celebrate the 50th year of his ordination. Relatives, friends and parishioners filled the Parocchia San Rocco in Casoni di Mussolente as Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Permanent Observer of Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva, con-celebrated Mass in his brother's honor.

The official anniversary celebrations in honor of Fr. Lydio will be held here in Washington D.C. at Holy Rosary and at Casa Italiana on December 15 and 16, 2012.

In the interview that follows, Pino Cicala, publisher of the AMICO website, spoke with Fr. Lydio in Italian

Italy at London olympics 3

Luigi Laraia

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Frank Capra 10

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Voce Italiana Holy Rosary Church 595 3rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001-2703

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Washington D.C., August-September 2012

IN THE NEWS

L'Italia di Mario Monti: tra i sacrifici e necessità di crescita di Vivianne Pellacani

Dopo un primo intervento legislativo finalizzato allo snellimento delle strutture e alla riduzione degli organici della PCM e del MEF, con la seduta del 7 agosto il Parlamento italiano ha approvato il Decreto Legge “disposizioni urgenti per la riduzione della spesa pubblica a servizi invariati”, convertendolo in legge. La terza fase di spending review è invece in arrivo tra qualche settimana e si concentrerà sulle agevolazioni fiscali e i contributi pubblici.

Come dichiarato dal Presidente del Consiglio, Mario Monti, il provvedimento si inserisce in un piano di riforma strutturale e mira innanzitutto a “ridurre gli eccessi di spesa pubblica in una logica di aumento di produttività, efficienza e funzionalità della Pubblica Amministrazione, senza tuttavia intaccare la quantità ed il livello dei servizi”.

Tra le misure previste, tagli drastici alla sanità, blocco degli stipendi per i dipendenti delle società pubbliche, riduzione del personale amministrativo, misure volte a

An Italian American Gazette Of the Greater Washington DC Area Published ten times per year by Holy Rosary Church/Casa ltaliana Editor-in-Chief

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Executive Editor Francesco Isgrò

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 (202) 638-0165 Or write: Voce ltaliana 595 Third Street NW, Washington, DC 20001 Rates: Subscriber: $15 Patron: $20; Sponsor: $25 Postmaster/Address Changes: Voce Italiana 595 Third Street NW Washington, DC 20001 Email: editor@VoceItaliana.com Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. Postage paid at Washington DC.

Mario Monti garantire trasparenza all’attività negoziale della p.a., accorpamento o dismissione di enti giudiziari non necessari, stanziamenti per le zone colpite dal sisma.

La manovra consentirà un risparmio di 4,5 miliardi Euro per il 2012, di 10,5 miliardi per il 2013 e di 11 miliardi per il

2014, evitando così l’aumento di due punti dell’IVA, come previsto per il 1° ottobre di quest’anno; libererà altresì 1,2 miliardi di Euro, garantendo il pensionamento a 55,000 “esodati”.

Risparmio. La parola chiave del governo tecnico del prof. Monti. Ma questa politica che, dopo tante delusioni, chiede agli italiani ancora sacrifici, rinunce e fiducia a che il risparmio di oggi si possa tradurre in una ripresa economica domani, funzionerà? Le sforbiciate di Monti sono compatibili con la crescita dell’economia di cui ha bisogno il paese per sopravvivere, superata la crisi?

In una recente intervista il Presidente della Repubblica, Giorgio Napolitano, ha lanciato un monito al Governo: “che i tagli alle spese siano equi e sostenibili”. Per il Premier, queste misure sono dolorose ma necessarie per contenere la crescita dello spread, perché l’Italia superi la recessione, raggiungendo il pareggio di bilancio al più presto e soprattutto in autonomia, ovvero al riparo dalla supervisione europea e dagli aiuti della Banca Centrale. 

Vacanze: Boom enoturismo spesi 1,2 mld in cantina ​Successo estivo per gli acquisti di vino direttamente in cantina che hanno raggiunto il valore di 1,2 miliardi di euro nell’ultimo anno. E’ quanto emerge da una analisi della Coldiretti sul successo dell’enoturismo in occasione della edizione 2012 di “Calici di stelle”, l’appuntamento con l’enoturismo in Italia per scoprire il mondo e la cultura del vino direttamente nei suoi territori di produzione, organizzato dal Movimento Turismo del Vino (Mtv), che ha nella notte di San Lorenzo (10 agosto) il suo momento magico.

Sono oltre 20mila -- sottolinea la Coldiretti -- le aziende agricole italiane che vendono direttamente il proprio vino in cantina, ma negli ultimi anni in Italia si sono moltiplicate le possibilità di acquisto senza intermediazione con l’apertura di mercati e botteghe degli agricoltori di Campagna Amica ed anche attraverso internet. Secondo un sondaggio on line della Coldiretti sette italiani su dieci hanno acquistato vino direttamente dal produttore: il 33 per cento degli italiani nei mercati degli agricoltori, il 27 per cento nelle aziende agricole o in cantina, il 6 per cento in un punto vendita gestito direttamente dal produttore (negozio, bottega, sagra, ecc.) e il 4 per cento in un sito internet gestito direttamente dal produttore.

L’acquisto del vino in cantina - precisa la Coldiretti - è un fenomeno in rapida espansione che rappresenta una opportunità

per i consumatori che possono così risparmiare e garantirsi acquisti di qualità, ma anche un’occasione per le imprese agricole che possono vendere senza intermediazioni e far conoscere direttamente le caratteristiche e il lavoro necessario per realizzare una specialità territoriale unica e inimitabile.

La vendita diretta del vino con la possibilità di conoscere vigneti e cantine sono molto diffuse tra i nuovi Paesi produttori come Sudafrica, Australia e Stati Uniti dove la visita alle wineries - riferisce la Coldiretti - alimenta anche un importante flusso turistico. In Italia si stima che il 60 per cento della produzione nazionale sia destinata – conclude la Coldiretti - a vini di qualità con ben 517 vini a denominazione di origine controllata (Doc), controllata e garantita (Docg) e a indicazione geografica tipica. 

GINO MARINUCCI, C.P.A., P.C. CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS “SINCE 1975 YOUR SMALL BUSINESS SPECIALIST” ACCOUNTING ● TAX PLANNING TAX PREPARATION ● SOFTWARE SUPPORT COMPLETE PAYROLL SERVICE (301) 942-2266 GINO MARINUCCI, C.P.A. ANTHONY MARINUCCI, C.P.A.

Noted Briefly... ►Lady Gaga’s mother, Cynthia Germanotta, and her husband Joe made an appearance at an anti-bullying event recently sponsored by the Education Department.

Lady Gaga, who was herself bullied at a young age, and her mother are co-founders of the Born This Way Foundation, which educates young people about the dangers of bullying. ►Ever dream of owning your own palazzo in Italy? Now is the time. To raise much-needed funds, the Italian government is selling off 350 buildings, including army barracks in Bologna, the 13th century Orsini Castle in Lazio, 18 properties in Venice and more than 100 buildings in Milan.

The 18th century Diedo Palace in Venice, which was once a criminal court, is selling for about $19 million. ►Lion Attacking a Horse, a 3.3 ton marble sculpture that could date back to the time of Alexander the Great is on display at the Getty Museum in Malibu, Calif. Historians at the Capitoline Museums in Rome, its permanent home, say that Michelangelo’s student Ruggero Bascape restored ruined parts of the sculpture in 1594. ►Thanks to Google and Luce Cinecitta, you now have another excuse to stay up late--nearly 30,000 Italian videos have been digitized and made available on YouTube. ►The fashion world mourns the loss of Anna Piaggi, 81, who died recently in Milan. Piaggi was a fashion journalist who graced the front rows of Milan and Paris runway shows for years and whose vibrant and often outrageous sense of style inspired famous designers like Karl Lagerfeld. ►Marion Cunningham, a revered food writer, educator, and the cook chosen to revive The Fanny Farmer Cookbook in 1972, died at age 90 in California.

Cunningham credited her Italian grandmother with introducing her to the joys of cooking and advocated for the return of a true dinner hour at home. She went on to win the James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award. ►Carlo Rambaldi, a noted special effects master and winner of three Oscars recently died in southern Italy at age 86.

Rambaldi worked on more than 30 films but is best remembered as the father of ET: The Extra Terrestrial.

Washington D.C., August-September 2012

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Insieme, New Political Party Established to Represent Italians Abroad

by Vivianne Pellacani

A new party called Insieme has been formed to give Italians living abroad greater representation in their ancestral land. The party calls for transparency, fair play, and the pursuit of a common good for all Italians residing abroad.

Insieme was founded by Carmelo (Melo) Cicala, a longtime Holy Rosary parishioner who is already well know in the political arena as president of the Washington COMITES. As head of Insieme, Cicala says, “We expect to act as insider informers. We want to use the energy, the expertise and the outside perspective we gain from living abroad, generation by generation, to spread information and awareness, to make visible the invisible, to make seen what some people do not want to be seen.”

Insieme per gli Italiani, as the party is officially known, was born in Rome on September 22, 2010, through the will of ten Italian residents in the United States who were weary of inefficient Italian political parties and politicians, and decided to seek more effective representation. The growing organization is united in its goal of fostering change and improving the traditional Italian

way of looking at and managing the res publica.

Insieme backs Salvatore Viglia's Partito degli Italiani dall'Estero (PIE). Among the candidates to the Italian parliament for constituents abroad is ex-deputy Salvatore Ferrigno, the political secretary of Insieme.

According to its manifesto, Insieme is an independent lobby seeking change in two precise areas. First of all in Italy, which currently faces huge political, economic and social problems. These problems could be tackled, according to Insieme, by reforming the political, administrative and justice systems, and, indeed, the society at large.

Cicala believes it is the Italian mentality that has to break with the past, promoting a new qualified ruling class, inspired by fundamental values like fairness, loyalty and practice. The civil service system must be reconfigured and redefined to ensure trust, transparency and efficiency.

In short, the state machinery must work for the common good, helping instead of exploiting its citizens. The plan calls for replacing nepotism, collusion and corruption with meritocracy, team work and transparency.

Secondly, regarding Italian residents abroad, the goal is to elevate the importance

of people of Italian descent living in the Americas, and to increase their representation in their home country, in accordance with the Italian Constitution's

Carmelo "Melo" Cicala principles of equality, dignity and a fair deal. According to Insieme, this goal could be easily reached by facilitating the process by which Italian residents abroad vote in Italian elections.

“Moreover,” says Cicala, “Other European countries already ensure this Constitutional right to their citizens thorough the absentee ballot or other telematic voting systems.”

The movement also foresees participation in other measures such as dual citizenship, effective representation through capable deputies, abolition of the CGIE (General Council of Italians Living Abroad), and strengthening of the democratic COMITES, the most important “middlemen” between Italians and diplomatic representations.

Cicala believes that Italians and people of Italian descent living abroad not only represent their country of origin, but also actively contribute to its international artistic, cultural and economic strength. His hope is that the idea and spirit of the movement – fostering change by working together – will raise awareness and strength on both sides.

Italy Wins 28 Medals at London Summer Olympics, Places 8th in Gold

“We are in the world-wide G8 of sports.”

The Azzurri Italian Olympic team, yet again, provided their homeland with unforgettable moments at the London Olympics 2012, as they collected 28 medals -- 8 gold, 9 silver and 11 bronze -- handing Italy the number 8 spot on international rankings.

Flag bearers of the Summer Games were fencing champion Valentina Vezzali (1 gold, team foil; 1 bronze, women foil) and slalom canoer Daniele Molmenti (1 gold, men’s slalom K-1). Joining them as medal winners were Michele Frangilli (archery), Jessica Rossi (shooting) and Carlo Molfetta (taekwondo).

The 26th Summer Games hosted 290 Italian competitors in 22 sports. As the Italian athletes challenged world-wide champions, they succeeded in winning gold in fencing, shooting, archery, Taekwondo and canoeing; silver in boxing, rowing and water polo; and bronze in gymnastics, cycling, volleyball and judo.

Azzurri turned in a better performance than in the Bejing games in 2008, winning in 15 sports compared to 13. Further, another

20 athletes placed in 4th and 5th places.

In total, Italy has won 122 medals at the Summer Olympic Games and another 106 at the Winter Olympic Games, for a total of 228 gold medals: the 4th most successful country in Olympic history after the United States, Russia and Germany.

Italian National Olympic Committee President Giovanni Petrucci stated, “We are in the world-wide G8 of sports. I expected that Italy would have aimed at winning at least 25 medals. Well, we reached that goal and surpassed it.” The Italian Olympic team also received the compliments of Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, who declared himself “fully satisfied with the achievements of our athletes.”

The Italian team thrilled and excited their countrymen with their performances and they created emotional moments as they shared their places on the podium with their coaches, families, friends and supporters at home. The country looks forward to the challenges its Olympic team faces in Rio de Janeiro 2016.

--Vivianne Pellacani

Elisa Di Francisca, Arianna Errigo, Valentina Vezzali, Ilaria Salvatori and their medals

CASA ITALIANA 595 Third Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001-2703 202-638-0165

casaitaldc@yahoo.com

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Washington D.C., August-September 2012 Editor-in-Chief: Lydio F. Tomasi, c.s.

Executive Editor: Francesco Isgrò

Founded in 1960 An Italian American Gazette of the Greater Washington DC Area

Editorial Board: Anna Bujatti (Italy), Pino Cicala, Enrico Davoli, Dona De Sanctis, Anna Isgrò, Gemma Puglisi, Fred Rotondaro Board of Trustees: Franco Nuschese, Stephanie Razzano, Beatrice Tierney

Voce Italiana’s View

Immigration Reform and the Presidential Election It has been observed that civility is order lifting the threat of deportation from practically absent in the public discourse, 800,000 illegal immigrants. Those reprieved particularly in the immigration debate. Thus must have been brought to the United States myths persist about the facts and the people before the age of sixteen, be under the age involved. of thirty-one, and have been here for at As recently reported in Commonweal, least five years. These young people must more illegal immigrants have been also be high-school students or graduates or deported under President Barack Obama’s have been honorably discharged from the administration than during any other three- military. year period in the Obviously, this order nation’s history. Obama is a stopgap measure, and President Obama and has also devoted more called on Congress to Mitt Romney should resources to “securing revisit the DREAM Act, make immigration a the border” than any of which would create a his predecessors. path to citizenship for all central issue in the Moreover, illegal immigrants brought presidential campaign. illegal immigration from here as children.

Mexico has virtually stopped, due to Republicans rejected the DREAM Act the fact of border surveillance and more and Mitt Romney promised to veto it should rigorous enforcement of immigration he become president. His “solution” is to laws, but, above all, due to the recession, make things so difficult for undocumented which has destroyed millions of jobs once workers that they will “self-deport.” eagerly sought by undocumented workers.

Most Americans think it is undesirable Meanwhile, Mexico’s improving economy or even impossible to deport 11 million has reduced incentives to make the people. Mayor Michael Blumberg of New dangerous trip north.

York has often called tighter immigration Also, the influx of legal temporary restrictions and mass deportation a form of workers and those on business visas from “national suicide.”

Mexico has increased dramatically. So has At some point, a path to citizenship the number of Mexicans who have become for the undocumented will have to be naturalized American citizens. The difficult made available. President Obama and question is how to deal with the 11 million Mitt Romney should make immigration a undocumented aliens who remain in the central issue in the presidential campaign.

United States.

--LFT President Obama issued an executive

The Lido Civic Club of Washington, DC 1929-2012 Our 83rd Year

Metropolitan Washington’s Premier Italian-American Business and Professional Men’s Organization

Phil Finelli, Esq., President “To the end that American citizens of Italian descent or origin and their families may find a welcome and ready entrance into the social, civil and community life of Washington, D.C.,and thus be helped in forming acquaintances and taking part in the activities of community life which leads to contentment and tends to make the new member more valuable to himself, his employer and his community; to perpetuate the bond of friendship and good will which has always existed between the American and Italian peoples....”

(From the Preamble to the 1929 Lido Club Constitution)

www.lidocivicclub.com Contact: president@lidocivicclub.com

Letter to the Editor Dear Editor, When we lost power recently I enjoyed drinking what I call “Power Outage Caffe Con Latte.” Here's the easy recipe: ¼ cup of powdered milk 1 teaspoon instant coffee 1 cup water In a glass stir together the powdered

milk and instant coffee. Add the water and mix well.

It’s a delightful beverage for any coffee lover who does not have electricity and whose local convenience store has also lost power!

Grazie, A.M. Ferrara

At Casa Italian Language School, a Diverse Menu of Language, Cooking, Art, Wine and Music Classes Fall classes at the Casa Italiana Language School (CILS) will begin on September 9, 2012. This fall, in addition to Italian language classes at several levels from children's to beginner to advanced, the school is also offering a series of courses on Italian culture and arts.

Instructor Ceil Lucas, for example, will teach a course in Italian that focuses on the Sicilian classic, Il Gattopardo, by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa.

Marisa Darvish will teach a course titled Il Risorgimento Italiano, the political and cultural movement that led to the unification of Italy just over 150 years ago.

Advanced conversation classes by instructor Matteo Recanatini are designed to develop an appreciation of Italian culture through discussing current events, among other activities.

A course on contemporary Italy by Federica Paparelli is for advanced students who want to gain greater fluency while learning about life and culture in modern Italy.

In Anthology of Italian Cinema, taught

by Ingrid Nifosi, students will view Italian movies and improve conversational skills by discussing the films.

Another class is designed for those planning a trip to Italy for business or pleasure.

Students will learn about transportation sys-

tems, currency and culture as well as key phrases for getting around Italy.

Antonella Longoni offers a six-week course that uses modern Italian songs as a means to expand vocabulary and communication skills while enjoying good music.

Wine-tasting classes are a perennial favorite at the school. This fall, sommelier Vittorio Vettori, Wine Ambassador for Castello Banfi wines, will offer a series of wine-tasting seminars.

Vettori will explain the origin of wine and participants will sample wines specially picked from different regions, while enjoying Italian appetizers.

A series of cooking classes called "Let's Cook Italian" will feature Chef Daniele Catalani, (turn to page 11 to read an interview with the Chef), who will demonstrate specialties from several Italian regions.

In keeping with tradition, art instructor, Maestro Roberto Paolinelli, will conduct a workshop on the art of Italian ceramics.

Paolinelli is a contemporary Italian master who was born and raised in Pescara. His work, which uses Renaissance classical design, is exhibited in galleries across Italy. He recently won the Vincenzo Palumbo Artisan Award. Studio sessions will cover sculpting, decorating and glazing skills.

For more information and class schedules, go to the CILS web site at http://www. casaitalianaschool.org/index.html. 

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Washington D.C., August-September 2012

ITALIANS IN DC

A Snapshot of Holy Rosary History Provided by the 1940 Census “The Holy Rosary neighborhood was much more densely populated than it is today.”

by Mary Brown The U.S. Census Bureau has released the raw data of the 1940 census, the sheets that the census-takers filled out as they walked the streets, ringing doorbells and talking to residents. This data can help families discover their history. It can also provide a snapshot of Holy Rosary at a crucial time in its history.

The most efficient way to use the census is to get the enumeration district in which one’s family lived in 1940. To get it, go to http://stevemorse.org/census/unified. html and identify the state, county, city, street, house number, and the name of the nearest parallel street or intersecting street. This program will provide links to the enumeration districts that cover those streets. (Most streets run through more than one enumeration district.)

Clicking on an enumeration district link brings up a screen offering a choice of which software to use to view the census records. The National Archives and Records Administration and World Heritage are free to use; the World Heritage software is especially easy. Both allow users to download the file. A downloaded copy can be easier to view.

Census takers wrote the street they were covering on the left side of the records, and it is easiest to scroll through the records by

watching the street names go by and slowing down to take a closer look for house numbers.

The census taker organized information the same way for each household, listing the male head of the house first, then a spouse, then children in order of age, then other people living in the house.

For each person, the census-taker recorded the same information: name, age, sex, race, years of schooling, where the person lived ten years ago at the last census, the type of job the person performed and recent tallies of hours worked and recent wages.

The census indicates that Holy Rosary’s neighborhood was much more densely populated than it is today. No. 624 Third Street NW, across from the church, housed a basement grocery store and, on the three floors above, thirteen people. The head of the house was Peter Veneziani, but he was not the oldest resident. His elderly parents lived with him, as did his wife, son, two daughters, brother, sister-in-law, nephew and three bachelor lodgers.

The Rinaldi family at 624 Third Street NW demonstrated the different reasons for this dense population. The Rinaldi family included father Salvatore, mother Catherine, and five children. Three of the “children” were young adults: 22-year-old Angelo drove a truck for the wholesale bakery where

The Rinaldi coal truck is visible in the background of this 1915 photo of a Holy Rosary procession. Members of the Rinaldi family still lived across the street from the church in 1940.

his father worked as a porter, 21-year-old Anna was in sales, and 19-year-old Tony was in his second year of college.

Italian custom and the lingering Great Depression kept the young workers and college students at home rather than in college dorms or in apartments of their own.

People call the census a “snapshot” of the nation, but sometimes it is more like a moving picture. Using their answers to the census questions, one can figure out the history of the Barbieri family. Mother Florence was born in Italy but Father Gabriel was born in France, and the couple lived there between 1922 and 1924, when they had a son and a daughter, who were 18 and 16 years of age at the time of the 1940 census.

One or both lived in Italy in 1926, where Albert, 14 at the time of the 1940 census, was born. In 1930, Gabriel left Florence in Italy, where she had the couple’s daughter Rina, and established himself in Washington; he told the census-taker that he had been living in the family’s house at 301 F Street NW for at least ten years.

The census also shows that change was on the horizon for Holy Rosary. In the Veneziani family, only the elderly parents and the three boarders, all of whom were in their fifties, were born in Italy. By 1940, there were already two generations of

Italian-American Venezianis.

Beginning in the 1920s, U.S. law limited migration from Italy to about 5,000 people a year. The result was that Holy Rosary’s population grew by natural increase rather than by immigration.

Unfortunately, the census seems to have overlooked 227-229 F Street, where Fr. De Carlo’s rectory was. However, the census did record some information about the closest neighbors and, again, one can see the harbingers of change at Holy Rosary.

Next door at 225 F Street NW lived 52-year-old George Cherkos, an ice-cream vendor and a landlord, and his three lodgers.

No. 221 F Street was a multi-family building housing a multi-generational family.

Howard Watts worked as a janitor and also drew some income by renting to a lodger, Martha Meyers. Mrs. Meyers was a widow who earned her money in domestic service and shared space with her mother and sister, both of whom were named Julia Wilson.

Everyone in the Cherkos residence was Greek. Everyone in the Watts household was black. Within the next three censuses the area around Holy Rosary would become an African-American neighborhood.

Within the next six censuses, there would be almost no homes for the census-takers to visit, and Holy Rosary would inhabit a neighborhood of offices, ramps on and off Route 395, and places to eat lunch.

Members of the Children of Mary walk in procession in 1931. They pass a young black boy on a bicycle, a visible sign of a changing neighborhood.

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Washington D.C., August-September 2012

Italian-American Delegation Honored by Ambassador Bisogniero at Villa Firenze Italian Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero and Mrs. Bisogniero recently welcomed the Italian American Congressional Delegation and leaders of the Italian community for a receoption at their Villa Firenze residence.

Fr. Lydio Tomasi delivered the invocation before a large representation of Italian American legislators.

After thanking the legislators for their work in Congress and noting the strong ties

between the two nations, Amb. Bisogniero joked that his remarks would be brief so that he didn't stand in the way of enjoying the lasagne dinner in the adjoining room.

The current Italian American Congressional Delegation is co-chaired by Rep. Pat Tiberi of Ohio and Rep.Bill Pascrell of New Jersey. Senator Pat Leahy, whose Italian heritage derives from his mother's side, was also at the event. 

Italian Wine Producers Hold Historic Wine-Tasting Event on Capitol Hill A group of some of Italy’s most wellknown wine producers recently held a winetasting on Capitol Hill for the Congressional Wine Caucus and other distinguished guests.

The co-chair of the Wine Caucus, Congressman Mike Thompson from California called it “an historic event” because, he noted, it is rare for a country to come to the Capitol to show off its wines.

Thompson referred to Italy as “one of our greatest allies.” In following remarks, Italian Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero said that Italy is now the number one exporter of wines to the United States.

“Wine is an essential element of our culture,” said Bisogniero, and it will be one of the highlighted areas in 2013 for the Year of Italian Culture in the United States.

The six Italian wine companies participating in the wine tasting were: Cantina Castello Banfi, represented by Cristina Mariani-May; Cantina Allegrini,

represented by co-owner Marilisa Allegrini; Cantina Terredora’s co-owner Mariella Mastroberardino; Cantine Ferrari’s president Matteo Lunelli; Casa Vinicola Zonin/ Barboursville Vineyards represented by Luca Paschini; and Gruppo Italiano Vini’s assistant vice-president Odila Galer-Noel.

Among the wines enjoyed at the tasting were sparkling wine from Ferrari, Castello Banfi’s 2007 Brunello di Montalcino, a robust 2009 Banfi Belnero, an Amarone from Allegrini, and a 2005 Taurasi from Torredora Winery.

The event was sponsored by Vinitaly, Verona Fiere, and the Embassy of Italy.

The Congressional Wine Caucus was founded in 1999 by Congressmen and winegrape growers Mike Thompson and George Radanovich to protect the interests of the vibrant wine industry from grape to glass.

Today, the Caucus brings together more than 200 Members of Congress representing all 50 states, and is chaired by Congressmen Thompson and Dan Lungren. 

Vittorio Vettori, Wine Manager, Cristina Mariani-May, CEO Castello Banfi

Rep. Pat Tiberi, Amb. Claudio Bisogniero, Fr. Lydio Tomasi at Villa Firenze

“Ricordi, Racconti, Poesie e Canzone”

A Columbus Day celebration at Casa Italiana di Bruno Fusco Non c’é una sola cittá in Italia sulla quale non si possa costruire un “Amarcord.”Aveva ragione Federico Fellini quando, preso da un’acuta nostalgia per la sua cittá Rimini.

Per quegli usi che gli erano tanto cari, per quel parlare della sua gente che non lasció mai di tenere vivo e che, in un impeto di affettuoso riandare ad una matrice che lo accompagnó nel suo troppo breve percorso, gli fece sospirare: Amarcord “Mi ricordo.”

Ma chi di noi non coltiva in se la reminiscenza dei luoghi nati? Lo fece con superba cultura il Manzoni con il suo: Addio monti sorgenti dalle acque... ma lo hanno fatto anche piú modeste figure, ma non per questo prive di un affiato poetico di autentica genialitá. É sufficiente ricordare il sapore della cultura popolare Romana cullata dalle gustose rime del Belli e di Alberto Sallustri meglio conosciuto come Trilussa.

E che dire dei Napoletani che hanno lasciato al mondo intero la testimonianza di una vena poetica e musicale capace di radicarsi, con la sua insinuante dolcezza, anche nelle piú severe e rigide tradizioni nordiche, fino a suggerire ad un modesto pianista napoletano emigrato ad Odessa la musica di una canzone che non conosce tramonti: ”O’ Sole Mio“.

Due popoli che amano raccontarsi, quello napoletano e romano, e che sanno, con accattivante simpatia affabulatoria, narrare il mistero di un fascino sempre vivo,

sia che appartenga ad una canzone, sia che occhieggi tra I versi di divertenti invenzioni poetiche. Quando Sei Bella Roma... cantava con inimitabile accento Anna Magnani, Chist’é o’ paese d’ó sole... le faceva eco Regina Bianchi, anch’essa insuperabile attrice e squisita cantante.

Il nostro appuntamento del 6 Ottobre prossimo, sará proprio per proporvi un affascinante incontro con queste due cittá: Napoli e Roma.

Per prenotazioni, chiamate: 301-6545218. 

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Washington D.C., August-September 2012

COMMUNITY NEWS

50th Annual Italian Festival To Draw Thousands to Villa Rosa Grounds

Continued from page 1

Gallerizzo, who organized it for many years.

It is a massive undertaking, said DiBattista, “Planning for the event takes a village.”

What she enjoys most, she said, is meeting the volunteers who are all working together for the common good, namely raising funds for Villa Rosa and Holy Rosary Church.

DiBattista’s planning starts in early April and for one week before the event she closely monitors the weather channel.

“The worst that can happen is a rain storm,” she said, “and that occurred last year when it rained for six straight days making for very soggy grounds.” The festival was canceled but the raffle was still held, she said.

Villa Rosa was purchased by the late Fr. Nicholas De Carlo, architect of Holy Rosary Church, who named it after his mother.

In the early days, the property was referred to by the Italian community as “la farma.” Fr. De Carlo initially had hoped the

Dancing troupe performs at Villa Rosa Italian Fall Festival on September 14, 1975.

Il Volto Santo: Shroud of Manoppello Lecture Presented

Sister Elizabeth, Mary Petrino, Jeffrey Petrino, Joe Grano On Sunday, July 29, Jeffrey and Mary Petrino presented a lecture and film about the Veil of Manoppello, Il Volto Santo, at a meeting of the Abruzzo and Molise Heritage Society.

The little known Shrine of the Holy Face is located in the small village of Manoppello in Abruzzo, and houses the cloth believed by the faithful to be that which was placed over the face of Jesus in the tomb.

Long a source of devotion for local people, the relic was raised in stature by a visit to the Shrine by Pope Benedict XVI and by the research of scholar Paul Badde, who, continuing the work of Trappist Sister Blandina, discovered congruities between the Veil and the Shroud of Turin. --Joann Novello

building would be an orphanage to care for the children of soldiers killed in WWII, but later discovered there was a great need to care for the elderly of the community.

The grounds were eventually transferred to the Scalabrinians, who appointed Fr. Anthony De Balcon to take charge of the property and the unfinished structure.

This year’s festival begins with an outdoor Mass at 11 a.m. on the premises.

The festival runs until 6 p.m. Admission is free. Activities for children will include pony rides and games.

Many Italian food specialties will be available, including sausage, grilled chicken, pizza, polenta, pasta, cannoli and gelato from Dolci Gelato. DiBattista noted that Gian Luigi, owner and founder of Dolci Gelato, will personally be scooping gelato.

Among the local Italian clubs supporting the event are the Lido Civic Club, the Abruzzo and Molise Historical Society, and the Knights of Columbus. 

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Washington D.C., August-September 2012

Conversazione con Padre Lidio Tomasi: 50 anni fa fu ordinato “sacerdote in eterno” Segue dalla prima pagina

San Pietro. Ma il seme della mia vocazione al sacerdozio fu piantato dalla fede profonda di mia madre e dall’esempio illuminante del parroco e del Cappellano di Casoni, Don Angelo Vincenzi e don Eugenio Gatto.

La fede solida senza compromessi di Don Angelo e la direzione spirituale attenta e costante di don Eugenio prepararono “il buon terreno” dove germoglio’ la mia vocazione sacerdotale e missionaria.

Quello che rafforzò’ la mia vocazione scalabriniana fù l’ambiente vocazionale della parrocchia di Casoni che Pio X defininì il” roccolo” delle vocazioni. Il grande numero di seminaristi appartenenti a diversi ordini religiosi ma tutti ugualmente accolti dal parroco nella casa canonica durante le vacanze estive creava un sano ambiente “clericale” che rafforzava la vocazione di ciascuno.

Ha studiato nel Veneto e a Roma, dove è stato ordinato sacerdote. In che cosa si è specializzato a Roma e come ricorda gli anni di studente?

Frequentai le scuole elementari a Casoni. Per le scuole medie entrai, assieme ad altri 147 ragazzi, nel seminario minore scalabriniano a Bassano del Grappa per due anni e quello di Rezzato (Brescia) per altri due anni. Frequentai il liceo classico a Cermenate (Como) per 3 anni.

Alla fine del liceo, entrai nel Noviziato Scalabriniano a Crespano del Grappa (Treviso), dove ho avuto l’opportunita’ di meditare sulla Bibbia e gli scritti di San Giovanni della Croce, Santa Teresa D’Avila, e Thomas Merton.

Alla fine del noviziato, fui uno dei 2 scelti per continuare gli studi presso la Pontificia Universita’ Gregoriana a Roma, dove in 6 anni ottenni la licenza in filosofia (2 anni) e in teologia (4 anni). In particolare, p. Naber con la teoria della conoscenza di Merachal, p. DeFinance sull’etica, p. Lonergan sullo sviluppo del dogma, e p. Flick sulla Grazia, contribuirono a fare della mia permanenza a Roma un periodo di approfondimento e di grande crescita.

Nove giorni dopo la mia ordinazione sacerdotale, Giovanni XXIII formalmente

convocò il Concilio Vaticano Secondo con la sua appertura al mondo che trasformò la concezione del mio sacerdozio.

La destinazione agli Stati Uniti: è stata una scelta od una risposta? Il primo incontro con l’America che impressione le ha fatto? Come e dove ha speso i suoi primi anni negli USA? Nelle comunità

italo-americane che ha incontrato allora si sentivano più italiani o americani?

Dopo il quarto anno di teologia alla Pontificia Università Gregoriana, fùi mandato a New York ad insegnare filosofia al Collegio San Carlo in Staten Island (NY), dove ho sostituito un popolare insegnante, p. Paolucci. Nel 1966 il Collegio San Carlo mosse a Chicago (IL) e io fu assegnato come assistente parroco alla chiesa di Saint Micheal in New Haven (CT) e frequentai un corso di composizione inglese a Yale University.

Nel 1968 fui assegnato al Center of Migration Studies (CMS) of New York dove rimasi “una vita,” cioè per 34 anni, fino al 2001. Come direttore executivo del CMS ebbi come scopo di portare all’attenzione del mondo accademico il soggetto dell’emigrazione e dei rifugiati. Fu uno sforzo immenso di un piccolo Davide contro il colossale gigante delle Ivy League universita’ americane per porter poi influire la politica verso gli emigrati e salvaguardare i loro diritti umani.

Prima cominciai con la preparazione personale con un dottorato in sociologia presso da New York University. Il titolo della tesi era, “The Other Catholics: The Adjustment Process of Metro Toronto’s Italians.” Poi ci siamo collegati con i migliori esperti in questo campo in tutto il mondo in modo di rafforzare la rivista scientifica, “International Migration Review,” che divenne l’organo più importante nei 5 continenti.

Nel 1973 cominciai un’altra rivista mensile di attualità migratorie, Migration World Magazine. Per portare all’attenzione del pubblico i risultati di ricerche nel campo migratorio iniziammo varie serie di volumi pubblicati dal CMS assieme a 2 serie di saggi occasionali, una scientifica e una pastorale.

Un’altra importante attività iniziata allo scopo di dialogare per trovare una soluzione comune al p r o b l e m a migratorio fu la Conferenza L e g a l e Nazionale tenuta a Washington ogni anno per 22 anni e i cui atti furono pubbicati in 22 volumi presenti nelle biblioteche di tutte le scuole di

legge.

Inoltre CMS organizzò varie conferenze nazionali e internazionali. Partecipai a centinaia di conferenze in ogni continente ed ero membro di tutte le organizzaioni accademiche che si occupavano di migrazione.

Un’altra iniziativa di grande impatto fù la biblioteca specializzata e gli archivi di emigrazione che vide tanti ricercatori a consultarli. Dopo 34 anni si può dire che la battaglia di portare il soggetto dell’emigrazione all’attenzione degli accademici e legislatori fù vinta, anche se la soluzione globale della riforma migratoria è ancora lontana.

Conferenze, pubblicazioni, articoli,

hanno creato una rete di contatti che ancora continua ad influire sulle politiche americane di immigrazione. Ci puo’ dire qualche evento speciale che ha avuto piu’ risonanza culturale e politica? Di quali pubblicazioni sugli italo-americanie sull’emigrazione in genere è piu’ soddisfatto?

Conferenza Nazionale Legale diventò l’ incontro annuale obbligatorio per quanti volevano sapere lo stato presente delle riforme migratorie. Inoltre alla conferenza erano invitati democratici e repubblicani, liberali e conservatori, e il dialogo si basava sul principio che ognuno ha la sua opinione personale, ma che i fatti devono essere in comune.

Un’ altra iniziativà che fu efficace fù l’attenzione speciale che ricevette l’esperienza degli italiani negli Stati Uniti da parte del CMS. In fatti, la mia prima impressione appena arrivato in America fu la confusa identità degli italoamericani che volevano dimenticare quello che era “italiano” per essere pienamente “americani.” CMS organizzò periodiche conferenze sullo stato degli italo-americani, partecipo’ alla formazione di una organizzazione nazionale per lo studio dell’ esperienza italo-americana e pubblico’ dozzine di libri sulla loro esperienza.

Il contributo culturale che ha potuto dare è stato notevole, ma non è il solo. Lei è stato parroco della parrocchia di St. Joseph in Chinatown nella Lower East Side di New York. Una missione unica dove Italoamericani e Cinesi pregavano assieme. Ci puo’ raccontare un poco quella esperienza pastorale tra nuovi e vecchi immigrati?

Fui sempre desideroso di sperimentare la teoria analizzata nello studio. Per questo Continua a pagina 9

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Washington D.C., August-September 2012

Luigi Laraia: Una corsa contro la leucemia da Washington D.C. a Vancouver, Canada di Vivianne Pellacani "Niente e’ impossibile, ma alcune cose sono difficili”: così Luigi Laraia, economista trentasettenne della Banca Mondiale, il 26 luglio ha inaugurato il suo blog, la notte prima di partire per la Grande Avventura.

Nonostante il caldo, nonostante i 7 mila km, nonostante il male che il suo corpo ha recentemente scoperto di combattere, la leucemia, alle ore 2 p.m., in sella alla sua amata bicicletta, Luigi ha salutato l’Ambasciata italiana di Washington alla volta di Vancouver, Canada.

Un viaggio che lo terrà in sella per 35 giorni: quasi 200 km al giorno, per circa 8 ore di guida.

Il suo blog (http://luigilaraia.blogspot. com) ci tiene aggiornati sulle innumerevoli tappe: dopo sole tre settimane di corsa, ha attraversato Pittsburgh, Chicago e Milwaukee, lasciandosi alle spalle il Mississippi, il Theodore Roosevelt National Park nonchè la terra dei bisonti.

La sua impresa non sembra facile.

Non lo è. Soprattutto se quattro mesi fa ti hanno diagnosticato la leucemia. Ma Luigi è allenato. Il ciclismo è la sua passione, il suo talento. In più, due anni fa ha già attraversato l’America, questa volta alla scoperta del Gran Canyon, sfidando il gran caldo americano.

Il giovane di Bologna è partito solo con l’essenziale: due bottigliette d’acqua, uno zainetto, un paio di vestiti di ricambio, l’inseparabile laptop per aggiornare il suo blog.

L’obiettivo è diffondere “speranza” a

chi, come lui, all’improvviso ha perso tutte le sue certezze e ora lotta per la vita. Luigi, infatti, è un ragazzo del tutto normale: sportivo, giovane, brillante. Ha tanti amici, un bel lavoro. Tre mesi fa però ha iniziato la chemioterapia. E nonostante una vita sana ed equilibrata, da allora, la sua esistenza è cambiata.

Il viaggio di Laraia non è solo un’occasione per diffondere fiducia e speranza: è un mezzo per aiutare altre persone come lui a vivere e sognare, contribuendo attivamente alla lotta contro il cancro. Scopo dell’impresa è finanziare la Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS),

una delle associazioni no-profit più famose in America per la passione, dedizione e successo nella ricerca di una cura contro i linfomi e la leucemia.

Come lui stesso ha affermato: “la ricerca sul cancro progredisce anche grazie ai contributi dei singoli”. Per la LLS, Luigi ha già raccolto più di 22,000 Dollari. E ogni giorno è sempre più vicino al Canada quanto al suo obiettivo più importante: raggiungerne 25,000. Una cifra simbolica, ma dal potere pratico di cambiare la vita a migliaia di pazienti, offrendo a medici e ricercatori gli strumenti necessari per far progredire la scienza.

Luigi Laraia di Bologna e partito solo per diffondere "speranza"

Conversazione con Padre Tomasi: “Sono grato al nostro Fondatore” Segue dalla pagina 8

accettai volentieri il nuovo incarico di parroco di Saint Joseph in New York.

Potei constatare il declino della “Litttle Italy” di Manhatten e la veloce crescità di Chinatown. Anche se non potevo parlare cinese, il fatto di accogliere a braccia aperte i nuovi emigrati cinesi, essi si sentivano parte della comunità.

Nella Capitale, Washington, è arrivato da New York ed ha preso la guida della parrocchia di Holy Rosary e di Casa Italiana. Cultura e servizio pastorale si ritrovano uniti. Che ci può raccontare delle delle famiglie che costituiscono la parrocchia, degli eventi organizzati in questi anni tra noi?

Ovviamente, Washington non e` New York, ma gli italiani di Washington sono diversi da quelli di New York. Non sono

parte di una “Little Italy,” molti di loro non sono parte dell’immigrazione di massa discriminata di fine secolo, ma sono più vicini a quel gruppo di artisti da Carrara, e musicisti dalla Sicilia invitati dal Presidente Jefferson a creare statue e ornamenti nella construzione del Campidoglio, e a portare musica alla Casa Bianca e altri posti pubblici.

Trovo che gli italiani di Washington non formano un blocco omogeneo, ma sono divisi in gruppi diversi che pero’possono trascendere le loro differenze attraverso una cultura piu’ profonda. Ed e’ questo il ruolo della Casa Italiana.

Cinquant’anni sono un traguardo importante e per lei davvero ricco di iniziative che continuano a portare frutto.

Le varie dimensioni della sua vocazione scalabriniana sono state vissute in pieno.

Come vede oggi questa vocazione che è stata la radice che ha nutrito questa bella

varietà di servizi?

Sono grato al nostro venerato Fondatore, Beato Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, che la mia ordinazione sacerdotale ha trovato l’ambiente adatto a sintetizzare la dimensione culturale e pastorale.

Ha un’ultima parola per il futuro: comunità che evolvono, nuovi immigrati, sfida per la Chiesa ad accoglierli. Scelta fatta tanto tempo fa in un piccolo paese: le aspettative si sono realizzate?

Durante il primo volo diretto Mosca-New York anni fa, dopo aver parlato sulla politica delle minoranze etniche in the USSR a piu’ di 100 Ph.D’s dell’Accademia delle Scienze Russe, pensavo alle tante opportunità avute negli ultimi 50 anni a implementare la visione del Fondatore e al grande numero di persone, a tutti livelli, che mi furono di aiuto e di sprone nell’adempiere la mia missione.

--Pino Cicala

"Inarrestabile per la ricerca", così recita il suo blog. Perché Laraia non è solo un uomo, un economista, un ciclista, un paziente bisognoso di cura. È un pezzetto di umanità che attraversa la cartina geografica e con essa la debolezza, superando la paura e l’angoscia. Luigi rappresenta il coraggio, la voglia di vivere, la forza della volontà individuale: è un sognatore e come tutti coloro che credono nel potere dei sogni, non teme la morte, ma solo la fine di ogni speranza.

A salutarlo alla partenza, nella commozione generale, l’Ambasciatore d’Italia a Washington, Claudio Bisogniero, il suo vice, il Ministro Luca Franchetti Pardo, il Ministro Plenipotenziario, Cristiano Maggipinto e tutto il personale di Whitehaven Street. Con loro, amici e colleghi, Laura e Ashley della LLS nonché Fabio e Fiorella, una coppia di italoamericani che hanno regalato al ciclista ottime barrette energetiche per il lungo viaggio.

Nel ringraziare ed incoraggiare il connazionale l’Ambasciatore Claudio Bisogniero si è dichiarato orgoglioso dello spirito e del coraggio del giovane di Bologna. “Siamo orgogliosi di Luigi" - ha affermato l’Ambasciatore, stringendo con calore la mano di Laraia durante la cerimonia precedente la partenza - "per il suo coraggio nell’affrontare questa terribile malattia e nell’intraprendere questo lungo e faticoso viaggio che però la trasforma in esperienza costruttiva ed esempio di forza d’animo e altruismo. Luigi rappresenta il meglio dell’Italia. Tifiamo per lui e gli auguriamo grande successo”.

E mentre Luigi è in viaggio, a noi non resta che seguire la sua avventura sul web, condividendone in diretta emozioni, paure e speranze. Perché, come dice lui stesso, citando Tom Hanks, “la vita è come una scatola di cioccolatini”: e benché non ci sia dato sapere quello che ci capita, spesso le conquiste più importanti sono quelle che non ci si aspetta. 

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Washington D.C., August-September 2012

FILM

Centenary of Legendary Film Director Michelangelo Antonioni’s Birth Italian modernist’s films defined him as master visual stylist

September 29 is the centenary of the birth of one of cinema’s legendary directors, Michelangelo Antonioni. Best known for his trilogy on modern life and its discontents – made up of the films L’Avventura, La Notte and Eclipse – Antonioni is credited with redefining narrative film. An iconoclast, he challenged traditional perspectives on film, storytelling, drama, and the modern world.

Antonioni rejected action films in favor of movies that explored introspective characters and created intricate mood pieces. His focus was not on adventure or plot but on images and a movie’s design.

He received numerous awards and nominations for his enigmatic films, including several prizes at Cannes Film Festivals, and the Venice Film Festivals, and an honorary academy award in 1995.

Born in Ferrara in Emilia Romagna, Antonioni was the son of prosperous

landlords, Elisabetta and Ismaele. His childhood was a happy one, as he once said in an interview, spent drawing, practicing the violin and playing outdoors, mostly with the children of working class families.

“I always had sympathy for young women of working-class families, even later when I attended university: they were more authentic and spontaneous,” he said in the interview.

After graduating with an economics degree from the University of Bologna, Antonioni became a film journalist with the local newspaper. He later moved to Rome and took a short-lived job with Cinema, the official Fascist film magazine before enrolling at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia to study film technique.

Shortly afterwards he was drafted into the Italian army.

Early in his film career, Antonioni

Director Frank Capra Honored with U.S. Postal Stamp Sicilian-born filmmaker’s movies focused on patriotism and hope A stamp to honor film director Frank Capra, best known for the perennial favorite It’s a Wonderful Life starring Henry Fonda, has been issued by the Postal Service. Capra is one of four famous filmmakers to be awarded their own stamps. The others are John Ford, John Huston and Billy Wilder.

The stamps will feature images from their most famous movies.

“With these stamps, we’re bringing these filmmakers out from behind their cameras and putting them in the spotlight so that we can learn more about them,” said Samuel Pulcrano, U.S. Postal Service vice president of corporate communications.

Capra’s movies, which along with It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), also include It Happened One Night (1934), You Can’t Take it With You (1938), and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), reflect an America ready for social change but still strongly attached to traditional family and class values.

One common theme running through his films is the presence of patriotism and hope, which Capra sees as an antidote to a hard life. “I see a small farm boy becoming a great soldier; I see thousands of marching men…And I can see the beginnings of a new nation like Abraham Lincoln said. And I can see that Ohio boy being inaugurated as president. Things like that can only happen in a country like America,” says the hero of Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936).

Born Francesco Rosario Capra in 1897 in Bisacquino, near Palermo, Sicily, he was six years old when he emigrated with his family to the United States. He once recounted the ship’s arrival into New York, where he saw “a statue of a great lady, taller than a church steeple, holding a torch above the land we were about to enter.”

His father said to him, according to a 1992 biography of Capra, “Ciccio, look! Look at that. That’s the greatest light since the star of Bethlehem!

That’s the light of freedom.

Remember that. Freedom.”

Capra’s family moved to an Italian section of Los Angeles, where the young Capra sold newspapers to help support his family.

He worked odd jobs and played the banjo to pay his way through college, eventually earning a chemical engineering degree from California Institute of Technology.

He enlisted in the Army during World War I and after the war went into the entertainment business, starting out in comedy and eventually turning to filmmaking in the early 1930s.

At the height of his career, Capra again enlisted in the Army during World War II and directed war films for the government.

He earned an Academy Award for one and a Distinguished Service Medal.

Capra’s films earned many Academy Awards but It Happened One Night, a comedy starring Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable that captured the country’s need to escape the realities of the Depression, became the first movie to win all five top Oscars including Best Picture.

Capra was also active in the film industry, working with the Screenwriters Guild and serving as president of the Academy of Motion Pictures.

Capra died of a heart attack in California in 1991 at age 94. His son Frank Capra was also in the film business until his death in 2007. A grandson Frank Capra III is a Hollywood director whose work includes the 1995 film The American President.

Capra’s films are considered timeless fables that glorify the average individual, decry materialism and offer optimism for the future. --Voce Italiana

produced a series of neorealist short films, some of them semidocumentaries of the lives of common people.

His first full-length movie was Cronaca di un amore (1950), which focused on the middle classes. In Le Amiche (1955), Antonioni introduced an experimental style that used exaggeratedly long takes and disconnected events.

He also used those techniques in L’avventura (1960), which became his first international success, followed by La notte (1961), starring Jeanne Moreau and Marcello Mastroianni, and L’eclisse (1962), starring Alain Delon. Many of the films of this period also star Monica Vitti, Antonioni’s love interest at the time.

Perhaps his most famous film is Blowup (1966), set in London and starring Vanessa Redgrave, which won him Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Zabriskie Point (1970), his first film set in America had a countercultural theme and a soundtrack by popular artists such as Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones, but was not a critical or commercial success. The Passenger (1975), starring Jack Nicholson and Maria Schneider, received critical praise but also failed at the box office.

Antonioni continued to make films throughout the 80s and 90s and to collect awards, including an honorary academy award in 1994 as “one of the cinema’s master visual stylists.”

Antonioni has had his share of detractors, among them director Ingmar Bergman, who said he considered some of Antonioni’s films as masterpieces for their detached and dreamlike quality, but thought the others were monotonous and questioned why he was held in high esteem.

Antonioni died at age 94 on July 30, 2007 in Rome – the same day that Ingmar Bergman died. He lay in state at Rome’s City Hall; a large screen projected a collage of his life. He is buried in Ferrara.

--Voce Italiana

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Washington D.C., August-September 2012

Chef Daniele Catalani Teaches Regional Italian Favorites at Casa Italiana

Where are you from in Italy and when did you come to the United States?

I was born in Pistoia, which is part of the metropolitan area of Florence. At an early age I worked in a restaurant and began my love for cooking. At fifteen, I enrolled in culinary school in Montecantini for four years where I also studied the major European languages and food chemistry. I later worked in Italian restaurants in places like Cannes, London and Paris.

I came to the United States in 1999 and started working at Galileo, considered at the time to be one of the best Italian restaurants

in D.C. I was later promoted to Executive Chef at Galileo. I have traveled the U.S. cooking for special events such as the Oscars and for an appearance on the Iron Chef cooking show along with the owner of Galileo.

I met my wife at Galileo and we have a three-year old daughter, Anabella, who never stops moving.

reflects our informal and comfortable food, but during special events we recreate the gourmet experiences similar to what I made at Galileo’s.

Toscana Café reflects the basic and wonderful tastes of Tuscan food, which is

When did you open Toscana Café, your own restaurant?

I began a catering business in 2005 and we still cater for weddings, corporate events, fundraisers for U.S. Senators and other special parties. I opened Toscana Café (www. toscanacateringdc.com) in 2009 on Capitol Hill near Union Station.

We make fresh mozzarella, handmade pasta and our own bread daily.

During the summer at our happy hour, we have fresh porcetta, which we also serve at the annual Italian Festival at Holy Chef Daniele Catalani Rosary Church. We also provide not complex, but known world-wide for its lunch sandwiches and carryout. fresh and vibrant flavors. Our regular menu What is your philosophy of cooking?

VIVIANNA PELLACANI

Do you want to impress your guests by serving home-made mozzarella and pasta made from scratch? Or traditional specialties from Venice, Sicily, Tuscany and other parts of Italy?

The mysteries behind creating authentic Italian cuisine, using the same ingredients and techniques used in Italian kitchens, are taught in cooking classes offered by Executive Chef Daniele Catalani, held at Casa Italiana. Chef Daniele's fall classes begin October 4, 2012.

Roger McClure, who has attended many of Chef Daniele’s classes, recently interviewed the Chef for Voce Italiana.

Fr. Lydio: Reflections on a 50-Year Mission Following are excerpts translated from the Italian interview that begins on page 1.

“Fifty years ago on December 16, 1962, I was ordained by Cardinal Carlo Gonfalinieri in the Chapel of San Carlo College in Rome. I celebrated my first Mass on the altar above the tomb of St. Peter.

But the seeds of my vocation were planted by the profound faith of my mother and by the example set by two local priests in my hometown of Casoni in the Veneto region, who reinforced my desire to become a Scalabrinian.

I entered the Scalabrinian seminary and then attended the Scalabrinian Novitiate.

On graduation I was one of two in my class selected to attend the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where I studied philosophy and theology for six years.

This was a period of great growth for me.

Nine days after my ordination, Pope John XXIII formally convened the Second Vatican Council, opening up a world that transformed the path of my priesthood.

My first assignment in the United States was to teach philosophy at a college in Staten Island, NY, followed by becoming assistant

pastor at St. Michael Church in New Haven, Ct. In 1968 I was assigned to the Center for Migration Studies in NY, where I remained nearly a lifetime, that is, 34 years until 2001.

As executive director of CMS, my mission was to bring the subject of human migration and refugees to the attention of the academic world. I further prepared myself for the role by earning a doctorate in sociology from New York University.

At CMS we united the most knowledgeable experts in the field, we produced the International Migration Review, which became the most important publication of its kind worldwide, and started Migration World. a monthly magazine.

Another important project was the National Legal Conference, which we held every year in Washington D.C. for 22 years. CMS also organized conferences about being Italian American, which led to the formation of a national organization to study the issue, as well as the publication of dozens of books on the Italian American experience. We also developed a specialized library and maintained archives that were consulted by researchers worldwide.

After 34 years, it can be said that the

battle to bring immigration to the attention of academics and legislators was won but a global solution is still far off.

I was very interested in putting theory into practice and toward that end I gladly accepted a new role as pastor of Saint Joseph in New York City, where the Little Italy was declining and Chinatown was growing rapidly. Even though I speak no Chinese, I greeted them with open arms and they felt part of the community.

From New York City, I was assigned to Holy Rosary, whose parishioners differ greatly from those at St. Joseph. They are not part of a Little Italy. Many are descendants of immigrants who came here as stone carvers and artists, at the invitation of Thomas Jefferson to create statues and Email: Jplamari@msn.com Web: AttorneyLamari.com

JOSEPH P. LAMARI ATTORNEY AT LAW 414 HUNGERFORD DRIVE

SUITE 404 ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND 20850 (301) 762-2018 FAX: (301) 762-0999

FOOD

What are your goals with the cooking classes at Casa Italiana?

I share my passion for the many different styles of cuisine in Italy and enjoy watching the students go from learning to chop onions to making more complicated pasta such as ravioli. Over the years, I have worked with many Italians from all over Italy and have learned their recipes which I share with the students.

We usually prepare an appetizer, primi and secondi platti and a dessert. In past classes, we have made pappardelle, carbonata, tiramisu, arrancini, and carpaccio.

In classes this fall, we will visit the cuisines of the Piedmont, Lombardy, and Emilia Romagna. We will also make a traditional Italian Christmas meal.

We always provide wine with the meals.

You can dive in and help prepare the dishes or just enjoy the fun. I feel greatly rewarded when people learn how to cook great Italian dishes.--Roger McClure

decorate the Capitol and to bring music to the White House. But the Italian Americans in Washington are not a homogeneous group. They make up many diverse groups who overcome their differences through a profound culture that unites them. And this is the role of Casa Italiana, to provide a forum to bring them together.

Looking back over 50 years, I am grateful to our founder Blessed Giovanni Battista Scalabrini for having provided me with an environment that synthesizes the cultural and the pastoral.”

Thomas V. Caruso First Vice President - Global Wealth Management Morgan Stanley 1775 Eye Street, NW - Suite 200 Washington, DC 20006 Tel. 202-862-9129, Fax 202-862-9198 800-745-2451 Retirement planning • College savings plans Asset allocation strategies Comprehensive financial planning

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12

Washington D.C., August-September 2012

MARK YOUR CALENDAR Sept. 9, 2012. The sensational three teenage Italian tenors, Il Volo return to Washington D.C. at the Warner Theatre.

Sept. 12, 2012. At the U.S. Dept of Justice, 52nd Annual Ceremony commemorating Charles J. Bonaparte. Hon. Donald B. Verrilli, U.S. Solicitor General, will be the keynote speaker. Contact francesco.isgro@ usdoj.gov for additional information.

Sept. 16, 2012. The 50th Annual Villa

Rosa Italian Festival takes place in Mitchellville, MD. See related article on page 1.

Sept. 20, 2012. Congressional Night sponsored by the Lido Civic Club.

Oct. 6, 2012. Maestro Bruno Fusco presents "Incontro con Napoli e Roma" at Casa Italiana.

Oct. 28, 2012. Polenta Dinner at Casa Italiana after the noon Mass Dec. 15, 2012. Fr. Lydio Tomasi's 50th Anniversary of Ordination Dinner.

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