Reviews Italian Legacy in Philadelphia

Reviews of the volume.

The

Italian

Legacy in

Philadelphia.

History, Culture, People and Ideas.

Edited by Andrea Canepari and Judith Goode

Italian edition published by Treccani

American edition published by Temple

REVIEWS “The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia”

 Recensione sul sito “L’Opinione delle Libertà” a cura di Antonio Saccà, 1 marzo 2024

If not impossible, it is certainly challenging to write about the book The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia. The purpose of spreading knowledge, preserving memory, and representing the city, its citizens originally from the Boot, and the connections between the two countries (USA-Italy) is achieved clearly and brilliantly, also thanks to the physical presentation of the text: thick and glossy paper, splendid illustrations, faces, characters, and places.

It gives a sense of satisfied pleasure to browse through the Italian surnames, to identify the prestige of their professional achievements, and to trace the history of a successful immigration while preserving the original roots, which are felt more deeply because they are distant and at risk of being forgotten. The main author of the volume, Andrea Canepari, is currently responsible for promoting our country abroad at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Together with Professor Judith Goode, he leaves no stone unturned in providing a comprehensive understanding of the city concerning the Italian presence, both past and present, and, ultimately, regarding the relationships between Italians, Americans, and ItalianAmericans.

Philadelphia is a crucial place in American history. It is the constitutional place, the place of law, of democratic-liberal America. The historical

references in this regard, with images of personalities and documents, present the features of a bourgeois aristocracy. The entire marble-like book reveals this socio-historical portrayal. The United States did not have an aristocracy similar to that of Europe, but it forged a bourgeoisie that, at certain brief periods in time, could be said to have coined its own unique bourgeois aristocracy. In this sense, Philadelphia became its emblem.

The association between the representations of characters, environments, buildings, and constructions, thanks mainly to the efforts of Andrea Canepari and Judith Goode, brings the United States closer to Europe, especially to Italy. In that aspiration of civilization that is not limited to economic power but extends into culture and art. And in this aspect, Italy enriches the world. A book to read and to look at. It will be presented at Palazzo Madama on March 6 at 12 PM. (*) L’Eredità italiana a Filadelfia. Storia, cultura, persone e idee, edited by Andrea Canepari and Judith Goode, Treccani, 400 pages, 50 euros.

https://opinione.it/cultura/2024/03/01/antonio-sacca-filadelfia-libroandrea-canepari-judith-goode/

 Recensione sul sito Gazzetta Diplomatica a cura di Stefano Baldi, 5 dicembre 2023

The volume The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia: History, Culture, People, and Ideas, edited by Andrea Canepari and Judith Goode, has just been published by Treccani. Canepari, former Ambassador of Italy to the Dominican Republic, served as Consul General of Italy in Philadelphia and, during his years in this role, explored various aspects of the historic presence and influence of Italians in the American city.

The book's preface is written by Ambassador Riccardo Guariglia, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, who states: “The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia has the merit of combining the necessary remembrance of Italian emigration – the true vehicle of Italian identity in the world – with the appreciation of the many initiatives carried out by the ministry and its network of offices abroad to promote Italy beyond stereotypes.”

Here is the publisher's description:

“Italian arts and culture have had a significant influence on Philadelphia dating back to Thomas Jefferson and colonial times. In the following decades, Italian artistic and architectural styles flourished, and the wealthy residents of Philadelphia traveled to Italy and brought back objects to display in emerging art and culture institutions. The new wave of immigration formed neighborhoods—like South Philly, home of the Italian Market—and Italian business leaders, politicians, artists, musicians, and athletes emerged and became part of the city's social fabric. This fine volume celebrates the history, impact, and legacy of this vibrant community, tracing four key periods of transformation in the city's political, economic, and social structures. The editors and contributors narrate the changing dynamics of the city with the settlement of Italian immigrants and how these continue to have lively interactions with people and institutions in Italy. Forty-two interdisciplinary essays, along with nearly 250 splendid images, explore the shifting perspectives and styles of those who contributed to Italian influences. As travelers to and from Italy, the settlers and their descendants brought daily cultural practices, memories, and traditions, creating diverse Italian-American experiences that have become important parts of American culture, a legacy that is thriving in contemporary and globalized Philadelphia.”

https://gazzettadiplomatica.it/leredita-italiana-a-filadelfia-nel-libro-curato-daandrea-canepari-pubblicato-da-treccani/

 Recensione Rivista di Studi Politici Internazionali, a cura di Antonio Saccà - n. 1 2024 RSPI, p.151

The volume narrating L'Eredità italiana a Filadelfia: storia, cultura, persone, idee is a bibliographical “sculpture”, recalling, in an actualized way, ancient miniate books. Of course, the photographic image replaces the brush, but the purpose of the work is the same: uniting writing and image in a historical, social, and artistic folds that L'Eredità italiana a Filadelfia draws its mutual representativeness. People and places within remembrance, memory. Talking of memory, Philadelphia is the city that perhaps has the most or at least more exponentially than any other city in the United States, due to the crucial fact that shaped its history: the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in Philadelphia, and laid the legal foundation of the country. The origin of the city is Quaker, European, and immigrant. The State in which it stands is Pennsylvania, the founder William Penn. The Quaker belief has the greatest openness to the understanding freedom of others. This due to the spirit, even if indirect, of an Enlightenment that held the man to be rational, thus to be able to be rational in individual and intergroup relationships. Although being a religion, and it would seem more

mystical than rationalist, in fact the religious inspiration was implemented in a rational, moral, understanding behavior. After all, the term Philadelphia, looking at its Greek meaning, indicates disposition to brotherhood, determination to brotherhood. Being or having to be all men, inspired by a brotherly God, rational. It was the triumph of the bourgeoisie. The United States was born largely bourgeois and enlightened. Freedom was connected to the Enlightenment: if the man is rational, or inspired by God, he is entitled to freedom to the extent that he can implement it, exercise it. Not having an aristocratic heritage implies that the new citizen is “self-made.” And while in Europe self-madeness was long regarded negatively, in the United States it was and remains a virtue, the mark of personal achievement, even if over time the successful bourgeoisie tended to have genteel Europhile traits. It is in these historical, social and artistic folds that L'Eredità italiana a Filadelfia draws its stirring vein. Andrea Canepari, former Consul General in Philadelphia, now promoter of Italy in the world at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with Professor Judith Goode, in first person and with contributions have scouted out every possible ramification of the city activities and Italian input. If it achieves perfection it is not possible to say, but the book is, until proven otherwise, perfect, a totalization. Which moreover is read and looked at happily. Especially the decisive places, particularly the people, past and present, particularly the Italians, attached to their homeland, never giving up being Italian, never reluctant to be American. In giving, even visually and in succinct biographies, the people, een better the characters of Italians capable of affirmation Canepari and Goode have accomplished a sociological undertaking of significant representation. We perceive the secret of America. Welcoming people from all over, perhaps not in advantageous conditions in the places of departure, and placing them in the need to survive with difficulty in hardships. In each case it raises clusters that grow stronger in the competition, and from a meagre immigrant comes a third, fourth generation magistrate, parliamentarian, entrepreneur. The section dedicated to this rise is to be gazed at with passion and devotion, a part of the book that does not get disperse, images and small biographies stand out: the name of the ancestors and then those American names in Italian surnames! At the presentation of the book, at the Italian Senate, with Maria Grazia Melchionni, there is a friend of hers, who coins a phrase that gives the golden seal to this work: ‘A book written with pride. And rightly so'. Mary Diane Crupi, granddaughter of Italians who emigrated to Philadelphia at the beginning of the 20th century, poor but proud to be Italian and able to stand up for themselves, declares this. Here are the United States, multiple ethnicities making up for their origin, asserting themselves, and asserting themselves where it was possible to assert themselves, honouring the new country and their country of origin. This book is held in the hands and in the eyes with the pride and emotion of so many stories to conquer a worthy existence. Canepari and Goode, the other contributors, the Treccani publisher have added

honour to the Italian honour, a work to be read and looked at. And, as I said, it gives a better understanding of the American ‘mind’ than exclusively non-fiction works. It is a biography of biographies.

(Antonio Saccà)

 Recensione sulla rivista “Il Politico” a cura di Filippo Alberto Cotta, vol. 260 No. 1 (2024), p.165, pubblicato il 7 giugno 2024

The marked Italian and European character of the city of Philadelphia is soon revealed to the visitor by the presence, in place of the distinctive US downtown, of an area known as centre city, which immediately recalls the Italian ‘centro città’.

Andrea Canepari, the conceiver of this imposing volume (the original edition of which was published in the United States in 2021 and has had a great prominance) has sought to rediscover the potential of this identity, building, during his years as Consul General of Italy in Philadelphia (2013-2017), close ties between the different souls of the Italian community in the city.

Although Greater Philadelphia is the second metropolitan district in the United States by number of Italian-American residents, Canepari perceived how often these souls did not communicate with each other. This work thus represents an attempt to unite the descendants of the Italians who arrived en masse to Pennsylvania in the 19th and 20th centuries to the young professionals who recently moved to Philadelphia to work in some of its one hundred and three universities, or in the health centers of excellence in which the city is rich, but also to a category that he defined as ‘friends of Italy’: Philadelphians who, despite having no direct ties with the ‘Belpaese’, are fascinated by its culture, art, and lifestyle.

Canepari therefore sought to reconnect Philadelphia with the Italy of today, but also to reconnect the formal cultural dimension of the city with the informal one. With this perspective in mind, all the resources and clusters of the Italian community have been brought together, enhancing the cultural wealth through relations, which produce a synthesis of that fragmentation and variety that are indeed among Italy's greatest strengths.

It is for this reason that the Secretary General of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Riccardo Guariglia, defines the work, in his preface, as a ‘service book’: conceived, indeed, during the years in which Canepari served at the Consulate General of Italy in Philadelphia, it shows the effort made to enhance the Italian cultural heritage, narrating and creating those connections that are part of the daily activity of those who represent their country abroad.

With this in mind, Ciao Philadelphia, a diplomatic program of integrated promotion open to the public - created in 2014 and grown over the years, subject of an extensive discussion in the volume's afterword - represents a remarkable example of cultural and public diplomacy, showing how the

widespread Italian presence in the world can, if duly exploited, give rise to a valuable soft power. Cultural diplomacy thus becomes, both with this collection and with similar initiatives, a means to root the Italian spirit in the world, enhancing the role of the diaspora as a widespread resource.

Part of the vast collection of publications written or edited by Italian diplomats that have been published in recent years (Canepari himself has edited similar volumes on Washington and the Dominican Republic, other places where he served to represent his country), this book is, in short, an invitation to explore the fascinating Italian heritage in Philadelphia, which pervades its past and present, and guides its future.

While not following a strictly chronological perspective, the work takes the form of an itinerary, a journey through the various eras of Philadelphia's history, allowing the reader to discover and appreciate the contribution made by the Italian culture and community at each historical moment. The organic nature of the collection as a whole thus counterbalances the uniqueness of each of the forty-two essays of which the volume is composed. The first section explores the role of the Italians at the time of the Early Republic, when Philadelphia was the capital of the newly formed American Nation. The presence of aristocrats and intellectuals from the Italian Peninsula already in colonial and cosmopolitan Philadelphia in the eighteenth century gave rise to a surprising influence on the Founding Fathers and, therefore, on the early United States, of the ideas and architectural projects that had characterised the Italian Enlightenment and Renaissance. Thus, Jeffrey A. Cohen shows, in his essay, the importance of Palladio's works in the architectural development of the city, while William B. Ewald analyses the role of Cesare Beccaria's legal theories in the ‘Philadelphia Convention’ that in 1887 approved the Constitution of the United States, still in force today. Thomas Jefferson himself was a great lover of Italian culture and kept up an extensive correspondence in Italian - a language that the third US President mastered - with a Milanese merchant (from p. 69). The Italian influence in Philadelphia, rooted in its colonial history, continued to flourish, shaping not only the architecture of the thirteen colonies and the legal ideas of the Early Republican period, but also leaving a significant imprint on the city's social and intellectual fabric in the centuries that followed. The second section of the volume focuses on the contribution of Italian art and culture to the growth of Philadelphia, especially in the era that marked its transition from being the political and financial center of the country to a major industrial hub: this process was accompanied by an increasing involvement of the elites in ‘Italian things’. Lisa Colletta, in her contribution, investigates precisely the influence Italy had on wealthy Philadelphians, many of whom took part in the Grand Tour. The Italian heritage can also be seen in the numerous cultural institutions of the city, from the Philadelphia Academy of Arts (from p. 127) to the Philadelphia Museum of Art (from p. 141), to the Curtis Institute of Music, the city's main conservatory (from p. 178).

In the next chapter, the themes analysed in the first two sections are reviewed, presenting the new dynamism brought by mass immigration and the social construction of Italian communities in Philadelphia. The diffusion of American-made artistic and cultural practices with a clear Italian matrix is explored, as well as the role of Italians in the city's government. Women and men from Italy created new settlement models within the area known as South Philadelphia (the first two essays of this section deal with this theme), while very often, starting from humble conditions, they were able to achieve leading roles in various spheres of society, fully embodying the ‘American dream’, as described in the subsequent contributions.

The fourth and final part deals with the theme of the collective memory of the Italians and Italo-Americans who populate today's Philadelphia, a global destination and globalised city, where deindustrialisation and the increasing specialisation of the workforce have given new value to design, culture (see Charles W. Sanchirico's contribution), style, as described in the article on the Simeone Foundation's Automobile Museum, and Italian cuisine (p. 324). The history of Philadelphia is thus an example of how Italians have often made significant contributions to the development of foreign countries.

The two editors have made a fundamental contribution to the cohesion of the work: it was introduced above the Italian diplomat, former Ambassador to the Dominican Republic between 2017 and 2021 and currently head of Office VII of the Directorate General for the Promotion of the Country System at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and his efforts to identify connections within the social fabric of Philadelphia, as well as his extensive research work. For his efforts in favour of Italian-US cooperation, he was awarded the Global Philadelphia Award by Temple University in 2016 and an honorary doctorate by the American University of Rome in May 2022.

The co-editor of the book is Judith Goode, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Temple University, and former President of the North American Anthropological Society. A profound connoisseur of urban anthropology, and in particular of the communities and urban development policies that characterised post-war Philadelphia. It is thanks to her contribution that a particular focus on the parallel evolution of the city's urban structure and the various phases of the Italian presence emerges throughout the work.

The volume presents a varied approach, by virtue of the contribution of writers from different disciplines and nationalities: this embrace of different perspectives undoubtedly enriches the reading experience, welcoming essays from very different and seemingly distant academic fields, which in reality find a common leitmotif in the heritage of Italy and Italians.

The collection is also distinctive for the centrality that the visual element plays in it: the richness of the iconographic structure, consisting of some two hundred and fifty images, is undoubtedly one of the aspects that highlight the meticulous research work behind this text, making it attractive not only to academics but to every category of reader. The visual elements therefore do not represent a mere decorative object, aiming instead to invite the

reader to ‘seek the story’. Thanks to its multidisciplinary approach, the volume can thus be useful and interesting for readers from different backgrounds: in addition to representing a clearly valuable historiographical source regarding Italian communities abroad, it can easily interest enthusiasts of architecture, art history, gastronomy, music, and society. Its relevance for those involved in diplomacy has already been discussed, by virtue of its ‘service book’ character. This collection is, however, an ‘open’ book ‘for everyone’: its coffee table book character makes it accessible not only to historians, urban planners, architecture experts, diplomats, but to anyone who wishes to have an overview of the impact that Italian culture, both high and popular, has had on the development of the great US metropolis. Moreover, the variety of themes touched upon allows one to fully grasp the dimension of the Italian community's influence in Pennsylvania, but also provides the reader with the possibility of finding insights into topics that do not immediately appear connected to what had first aroused his or her interest.

In conclusion, this work, whose valuable historiographical significance has already been highlighted, can influence the perception of the history of Italy and Italians in the United States, as well as reshape and reinforce the connections between the various clusters that make up (and have, in the past, made up) the Italian community overseas, ‘from Rocky to Botticelli’, as Paolo Valentino, deputy editor of the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, put it in a piece written in 2014, on the occasion of the first edition of Ciao Philadelphia (reproduced in full on p. 354).

Joseph M. Torsella, former Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Ambassador of the United States to the United Nations for Management and Reform, emphasises in his presentation how Canepari has taken on, in this volume as in his work to promote and enhance Italian culture in the world, the role of connector, knowing how to discern and bring out potential connections. The diplomat does all this by embodying the three characteristics that, according to Ambassador Guariglia, represent the essential qualities for those in this profession: curiosity, enthusiasm, and pride.

This work thus builds bridges between past and future and between the two sides of the Atlantic, revealing to the public and to scholars the precious and centuries-old network of ideas and exchanges between Philadelphia and Italy. Discovering this legacy is a duty: its richness is only fully revealed if it is perpetuated.

 Recensione sulla rivista “Altreitalie” a cura di Stefano Luconi, vol. gennaio-giugno 2022, pp.126-7

In Philadelphia, a city that saw the settlement of Ligurians as early as the mid-18th century and today stands as the second-largest metropolitan district in the United States by number of Italian American residents, the influence of Italy is closely tied to the movement of people and ideas across the Atlantic. Therefore, although the study of Italian immigrants and their descendants is not the primary focus of this collection, the presence of Italian expatriates, the cultural elements they brought from their homeland, and the experiences of their descendants are themes that permeate the essays in the volume. The diverse backgrounds of the editors—Andrea Canepari, who served as the Consul General of Italy in Philadelphia from 2013 to 2017, and Judith Goode, an expert in urban anthropology—enhance the heterogeneous nature of the contributions: some are the result of original research, others have a more informative, sometimes anecdotal tone, or are based on the conclusions of previous studies.

The book is divided into four sections: the age of American independence, manufacturing development, mass immigration, and the contemporary era. These divisions reflect the different phases of Italian contributions to the life of the city, rather than adhering to the now-canonical periodization of the city's history, as outlined in the monumental Philadelphia: A 300-Year History (edited by Russell F. Weigley, New York, Norton, 1982).

Aside from curiosities that border on scholarly anecdotes (such as Maurizio Valsania's chapter on the brief acquaintance between the Milanese merchant Giuseppe Mussi and Thomas Jefferson at the end of his term as Secretary of State under the Washington administration), Philadelphia's Italian legacy initially stemmed mainly from cultural influences: Palladian echoes in the architecture of some colonial buildings, operatic music introduced by passing artists in the mid-18th century long before Lorenzo Da Ponte's arrival in the early 19th century, the influence of Cesare Beccaria's thought on the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, frescoes by Costantino Brumidi—an exile from the fall of the Roman Republic—in the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, the contributions of Jesuits like Pietro Folci to education, and the allure of Italy for the local elite who embarked on the European Grand Tour.

When the arrival of immigrants from the Peninsula reached a massive scale between the late 19th century and the post-World War I era, driven by the high demand for employment in sectors such as construction, building, and the garment industry, the importance of Italians to Philadelphia shifted from the cultural to the economic sphere. Awareness of this transition could have stimulated a collective reconstruction of the history of the Italian-American community during the decades when the metropolis's growth significantly depended on the influx of southern labor. However, with the notable

exception of Goode's essay on the transformation of the South Philadelphia neighborhood into the city's Little Italy, the editors' intent is to present a gallery of local Italian-origin excellence. Thus, in addition to a lengthy interview with Giuseppe Salvatore Gonnella, a Lucanian who became dean of the Jefferson Medical College, there is a chapter featuring portraits of Italian American leaders who have distinguished themselves in business and politics.

The celebratory approach of these pages highlights positive protagonists. The text includes, for example, a profile of Rosemarie Greco, the daughter of Neapolitan immigrants who started as a secretary at Fidelity Bank and became its CEO, following the best American rags-to-riches rhetoric, as well as a brief biography of Thomas M. Foglietta, a member of Congress and ambassador to Rome during the second Clinton administration. However, there is no mention of Vincent Fumo, a powerful representative of South Philadelphia in the Pennsylvania Senate and president of the First Penn Bank, who was imprisoned for corruption in 2009. Similarly, the abuses of power against African Americans by the city's only Italian American mayor, Frank Rizzo, are balanced by his commitment to expanding infrastructure.

In the cultural context, the absence of writer Jerre Mangione, a distinguished literature professor at the University of Pennsylvania, stands out, even though one essay focuses specifically on the academic institution where he taught from 1961 to 1978. This omission is explained by the book's tendency to favor more popular manifestations of culture from the post-World War II period onward, such as the iconic statue of Rocky Balboa in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Italian gastronomy.

The latter, now enjoyed even by consumers who are not of Italian descent, provides a paradigmatic model of the most recent Italian influences in Philadelphia and their implications. In full harmony with Piero Bassetti's reflection on the notion of Italics (Svegliamoci italici!, Venice, Marsilio, 2015), although without explicitly mentioning it, Canepari refers to the existence of "friends of Italy"—people who, although not Italian Americans, seek out and appreciate everything inspired by Italian culture and lifestyle—and suggests that enhancing their interest offers wide-ranging opportunities, not only commercial, for Italy in the United States. In this sense, Canepari himself has operated in his role as Consul General, especially with the launch of "Ciao Philadelphia," a series of events held since 2014 to promote Italian culture in a broad sense in the city. It is precisely within the framework of these initiatives that the publication of The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia takes place, with its beautiful and numerous images on glossy paper.

(Stefano Luconi)

 Review of: L’eredità italiana a Filadelfia. Storia, cultura, persone e idee, edited by A. Canepari and J. Goode, Treccani –Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2023, pp. 400, € 50,00. Review by Danilo Breschi.

Even those who don't know its name or have never seen it, they know it somehow. All it takes is having seen, at least once in a lifetime, the film that won three Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing) Rocky, released in December 1976. Or even the second episode, Rocky II, of what became a cinematic saga and a true myth of contemporary collective imagination, at least in the West. I'm talking about the city of Philadelphia. What could be more iconic than those steps leading to the Museum of Art, which the ItalianAmerican boxer played by Sylvester Stallone runs up (slow, laborious, and grim at the beginning; fast, explosive, and exhilarating at the end)?

The Philadelphia-Italy connection is even older, more substantial, and more enduring than the film series featuring the boxer Rocky Balboa, "the Italian Stallion." This is now demonstrated by a volume of exquisite editorial elegance, edited by Andrea Canepari and Judith Goode. The first of the two authors is an Italian diplomat, former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, and consul general in Philadelphia from 2013 to 2017, a longtime promoter of synergies between foreign communities, especially on the East Coast of the United States, and Italy, as evidenced by two previous publications (particularly one dedicated to Washington D.C.). For this work, Canepari received the biennial Global Philadelphia Award from Temple University in 2016 and an honorary doctorate in Human Letters from the American University of Rome. Currently, he is assigned to the Directorate General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (Maeci) for the Promotion of the Country System. The second editor is a renowned American academic, a professor of urban anthropology, and former president and founder of the Society for Anthropology of North America. Thanks to their joint work, about forty contributions have been collected to tell the long, multifaceted, and fascinating history of the relationship between Italy and Philadelphia.

This city, which was the fundamental center in the British colonial economic system, became the political leader of the revolt during the war of independence from the motherland and the official seat where the congresses were held, and the main political documents were drafted that led between the mid-1770s and the late 1780s to the birth of the United States of America and the establishment of a federal democratic republic. Therefore, Philadelphia must be considered both the generative epicenter of the American institutional construction and the longest-lasting and most fruitful point of contact between Italy and the United States. Just as much as New York, if not even more.

The volume is divided into four sections. The first examines Philadelphia's role in independence and the early republican era. As a scholar of the history of political thought, I want to highlight William B. Ewald's fine contribution on the influence of Cesare Beccaria on the Philadelphia Convention. Confirming that the Enlightenment was a transnational cultural phenomenon, genuinely cosmopolitan in inspiration and outcome, the influence on the American founding fathers was not exerted only by English, Scottish, and French thinkers, but also by Germans, Dutch, and Swiss. Ewald asserts emphatically that "Italian influences are found everywhere," especially in the intellectual realm, starting with the study of Latin and ancient Roman history,

which characterized the protagonists of American independence. Let's not forget that some Founding Fathers could also read Italian. Among these were Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and James Madison. It is no coincidence that the first, a significant contributor to the drafting of the Declaration of Independence formally ratified on July 4, 1776, Independence Day, named his residence "Monticello." Also noteworthy is Jefferson's close and fruitful friendship with the Tuscan doctor Filippo (Philip) Mazzei, his inspirer and business partner, as well as a neighbor. Mazzei maintained correspondence with the first five U.S. presidents: besides Jefferson, George Washington, Adams, Madison, and James Monroe. We could also talk about Gaetano Filangieri, who counted Franklin among his admirers.

As for Beccaria, his masterpiece, Dei delitti e delle pene (On Crimes and Punishments), published in 1764, was soon translated into all major European languages. In the English- speaking world, it met with the enthusiastic approval of Jeremy Bentham. Thus, it could not have gone unread by figures such as Franklin, Adams, and Madison. But it was Jefferson who was most influenced by it, particularly in his work as a legislator in his state, Virginia, and, according to Ewald, Beccaria's legacy also impacted "the creation of the new American legal system, especially in the field of criminal law, where it has no rivals." Jefferson also established important relationships with another influential Italian personality, the Milanese Giuseppe Mussi, who, having fled Austrian yoke, settled around 1784 in Philadelphia, becoming a citizen of the state of Pennsylvania a couple of years later. Maurizio Valsania discusses this extensively. In short, it is confirmed how strong the Italian imprint was in the early steps of the young American republic. And it is discovered how Philadelphia was often the center of this radiation.

Ancient Italian presence in Philadelphia is also found in architecture and art, as attested by contributions from Jeffrey A. Cohen and Barbara A. Wolanin in this volume. Examples include the First Bank of the United States, the Athenaeum, and the Carpenter's Hall, all buildings inspired by the Palladian model. The Italian legacy also echoes thanks to the Jesuits and their

interconnected network of colleges, especially in the eastern United States. Carmen R. Croce demonstrates this in his dense contribution.

The second section explores Philadelphia in the 19th century when it became an industrial metropolis in continuous expansion. It examines in detail the new emerging elites of a rapidly rising manufacturing bourgeoisie, as well as the new institutions arising in the fields of knowledge, art, and culture. Numerous contributions address from different angles the relationship between Italian art and museums, but also parks and gardens, which, in Philadelphia, take shape and grow thanks to this incessant relationship of cultural exchange, fueled both by the initiative of individual immigrants of Italian origin and the enduring fascination of the Renaissance myth. Italian art includes music, both classical and popular, as well as opera.

The third section focuses on the period essentially between 1880 and 1920, a time when, as Goode highlights in her introduction, "the massive wave of migration from Eastern and Southern Europe that poured into the new industrial factories... was met with growing hostility... and a cessation of immigration by law in the early 1920s". Despite this, and before the period of greatest difficulty in Italian-American relations, namely the 1930s and especially the years of the Second World War, those four decades straddling the 19th and 20th centuries saw the Italian community in Philadelphia grow not only quantitatively but also qualitatively. Numerous

creative experiences were born under this Italian-American mix. Very interesting, in this sense, is the essay that Goode dedicates to how South Philadelphia became known as an Italian neighborhood. By studying the social dynamics of this neighborhood, i.e., the role played by key institutions such as the church, supply businesses, political district structures, banks, mutual aid societies, and confraternities, the urban anthropologist can follow the evolution of the settlement over time, the occupational choices, and the social mobility of Italian immigrants and understand the main changes from one generation to the next. Adding oral testimonies for the period closer to us, the result of this study confirms a relative capacity of a certain tradition of customs and practices within the family nucleus to resist, for example, in celebrating religious holidays or eating habits, despite strong processes of homogenization from the 1980s onwards on the one hand, and the arrival of immigrants of different geographic and cultural backgrounds on the other, which have produced massive erosive action. Goode, in another contribution for the fourth section of the volume, highlights how today Italian food is "an important component of the media competition between Philadelphia and other global cities, which aspire to present themselves as special places to live and experience the best of culture through history, art, architecture, music, and food." The most successful and ultimately fascinating aspect of South Philly, as the neighborhood is colloquially known, is that it has managed to reinforce its original Italian imprint while opening up to new

immigrant communities who have brought their markets and restaurants, making the area and the entire city of Philadelphia one of the most experimental culinary places through the fusion of traditions from many parts of the globe, from Latin America to Asia. A happy example of creative conservation in a cosmopolitan world.

More generally, in the fourth and final section, titled Contemporary Philadelphia. Living the Italian Legacy in a City with a Global Brand, the transformations of the city from the post- World War II period to the present are examined. The United States was the first to experience the new process of globalization, set in motion by the expansion of air transport, the development of media and communication technologies that facilitated and accelerated the circulation of people, ideas, goods, and investment capital. Concurrently, new immigration and refugee laws were passed, also favored by the worldwide competition against the Soviet bloc during the Cold War. Starting in 1970, new migrants and refugees began arriving in Philadelphia from new and different areas of the planet. This new immigration included both high-wage and low-wage workers.

Following the broader phenomenon of the deindustrialization of the Western economy, the city, like others in the Rust Belt, adopted a restructuring strategy focused on the transition to professional services, particularly in the so-called "eds and meds" sector, an expression that refers to higher education, medical training, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare. The fields of cultural and tourist hospitality have also seen a notable increase in investments and achievements. For this reason, the humanities, sciences, and arts have become predominant. In summary, Philadelphia has, in recent decades, increasingly characterized itself as a pioneering center in the knowledge-based economy. Regarding urban reconfiguration, the city has seen old neighborhoods reclaimed and transformed into trendy new areas. In this context, new ties between Italy and Philadelphia have been created and intensified through art and culture in its broadest sense. The American city can boast among the leading education and training centers in the United States, from Penn State to Jefferson (Medical) University, Temple, St. Joseph's, and Drexel.

In the long and thoughtful postscript, Canepari presents the initiative through which he has managed to enhance, if not even relaunch, the Italian presence in Philadelphia, which has once again become the epicenter of cultural exchange between the United States and our peninsula. A few months after his arrival in the American city as Consul General, he "felt the importance that greater attention to the Italian heritage in the city would have for relations between the consular jurisdiction and Italy." Thus, "Ciao Philadelphia" was born, of which Canepari recounts the numerous activities carried out and events organized since 2014. The initial idea was to create a triangular connection, so to speak, between the present of Italian Americans

in Philadelphia and contemporary Italy, through a recovery of the past Italian presence in that city and, more generally, in the USA. A past not always rosy, but which saw success stories for many Italian Americans. The book I present here represents a further significant stage of the "Ciao Philadelphia" project.

Canepari's goal has been and is to unite Rocky with Botticelli, to quote a very effective formula used by Paolo Valentino in a brilliant article published on October 24, 2014, in "Corriere della Sera" and now reproduced in this same volume. Indeed, it should be remembered that the Museum of Art, which stands at the top of Rocky's legendary training steps, houses Italian Renaissance art. The sense of beauty and artistic creativity merges with the fighting spirit of a looser who refuses to remain one forever and reacts with a humble and strong work ethic. Even if a looser, never humiliated. This is the importance of that image with Rocky triumphant at the top of the stairs. It symbolizes, in two forms, the ideal of a dignity achieved.

This is eloquently expressed in the most beautiful line of the film, the first of the saga, with Rocky in dialogue with his beloved Adrian on the night before the big match:

"I was thinking, it really don’t matter if I lose this fight, it really don’t matter if this guy opens my head... Because all I want to do is go the distance. Nobody's ever gone the distance with Creed, and if I can go that distance, and that bell rings and I'm still standing, I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, that I wasn't just another bum from the neighborhood."

Last but not least, the wonderful iconographic apparatus that enriches the volume is worth mentioning, consisting of numerous archival photos and more recent images, always in vivid colors, as well as drawings, sketches, and other precious documents reproduced in high graphic definition. All this makes this volume an object of high value, not only editorial but almost artistic.

In conclusion, I must say that it confirms what John Dunlap wrote in his introductory greeting to the volume, namely that what animates the work of Canepari, excellently supported by Judith Goode's scientific expertise, "is the idea that Italy, as a global ambassador of Western culture in all its magnificent forms, has greatly contributed to the creation, development, and preservation of one of the most important and historically rich American cities," Philadelphia indeed. No better tourist promotion could have been conceived for a historically aware and culturally updated visit to this city. It demonstrates the precious function of diplomacy in general, and the high quality of Italian diplomacy in particular.

Recensioni USA

 Recensione Journal of Modern Italian Studies, a cura di Alyssa M. Brophy, 12 maggio 2023

The experiences and influences of Italians in Philadelphia is a complex and dynamic history that scholars had yet to weave together in a cohesive history until the publication of Andrea Canepari and Judith Goode’s 2021 volume The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia: History, Culture, People, and Ideas. In nearly 400 pages, the series of essays touches on several topics, with the bulk ranging from the sixteenth century to the twenty-first century, but with most of the focus on the American colonial period until the present day.

The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia is a collected work divided into four main themes. The first section is focused on Italians throughout the Early Republic and the networks and connections with Italian thought and culture of Italy. The second section highlights Italian art and culture as an emergent influence within the city of Philadelphia and the city’s expanding industrial metropolis as elite Europeans travelled to the U.S. The third section discusses immigration and the social construction of community. The fourth section examines the collective memory of Italians and Italian-Americans in Philadelphia and their founding of organizations and institutions or their inclusion and participation.

Visual elements included throughout the essays help to construct a cohesive narrative of the Italian legacy in Philadelphia. Images include architectural sites, art, manuscripts, portraits, posed photographs, organizational event photos, and historic landmarks. Andrea Canepari and Judith Goode include individuals from various disciplines to contribute essays to The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia, including essays by Philadelphia Inquirer journalist, Igna Saffron; Italian Maurizio Valsania, Professor of American History; politician, Joe Torsella. This interdisciplin- ary effort highlights the dynamic relationship Italians have had in the U.S. The volume presents the historical legacy of Italians in a more dynamic light than historians have previously portrayed. Canepari served as the Italian consul in Philadelphia from 2013–2017 and Goode is Professor Emerita at Temple University. The acknowledgements capture the network of organizations, institutions, and individuals involved in the volume, including Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Center for Italian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Sons and Daughters of Italy. In her introduction, Goode emphasizes that there is no such thing as a singular ‘Italian-ness’, but that a multitude of peoples and experiences have been formed by the ethnicity and its influences in Philadelphia history.

In its first section, ‘Independence and Early Republic’, The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia includes several essays on the influences of Italians in early America. Italians’ involvement in colonialism and the Early Republic are often overshadowed by American Revolution history because Italians contributed through ideas, art, and culture instead of as active military participants. Italian elites, politics, and philosophies reached the colonies prior to the massive wave of Italian immigrants from Renaissance and Enlightenment thought.

In ‘Palladians in Philadelphia’, Jeffery A. Cohen explains how Renaissance thought influenced the founding fathers and the buildings of Italians including how Andrea Palladio shaped the architectural design of Philadelphia. William B. Ewald writes in ‘Cesare Beccaria’s Influence on the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention’, about the influence of Enlightenment thinkers, including Beccaria, on the development of the Constitution. Both Maurizio Valsania, ‘Thomas Jefferson and Joseph Mussi: Enjoying the Milanese Life in Philadelphia’ and Barbara A. Wolanin, ‘Artists of the Capital in Philadelphia’ include artwork in relation to Italian architecture. Valsania examines the relationship of Joseph Mussi, an Italian merchant, and Thomas Jefferson, which stemmed from Mussi’s ability to create comfort for Jefferson through Italian interior design to furnish the Declaration House in Philadelphia. Wolanin writes about Catholic church altar- pieces and murals created by Italian artists, Constantino Brumidi and Filippo Costaggini. By exploring the works of Mussi, Brumidi, and Costaggini, the authors of section one highlight examples of Italian architectural influences in Philadelphia’s infrastructure.

The second section, ‘The Expanding Industrial Metropolis’, in The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia dives into Italian ideologies and material culture while also pro- gressing the timeline of Italians in America. Italians helped to globalize the U.S. as they travelled to the geographic location. Although not mentioned in this section, the collective essays suggest the Consolidation Act of 1854 created a boom in new wealth as the geographic expansion of Philadelphia capitalized on the absorption of local town mills, the economic reach of the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers, and transportation gained a greater land reach in Philadelphia. The act also allowed elite Italians to more easily travel within the U.S., expanding their business capacities to Philadelphia.

The third section, ‘Made In America’, covers the most researched area of Italian and Italian-American history – immigration. Massive numbers of immigrants entered the U.S. between 1880 and 1920, but the federal government halted migrants’ relocation through various legislative actions such as The Immigration Act of 1917 and 1924. The limiting of Italian immigration to the U.S. cut off familial and commune ties between ItalianAmericans and their kin in Italy. Initially, the hinderance of Italian

immigration was a result of nativists who argued that Italians were in a lower hierarchy than other European nations. The Italian immigrants and their descendants built roots in America and over time became recognized as an Italian-American ethnic group as these individuals built a strong community in Philadelphia.

The final section, ‘Contemporary Philadelphia’, incorporates contemporary Philadelphia history and the modern Italian community. In a chapter by Goode, the author highlights Temple University’s role among the ItalianAmericans and the university’s promotion of the Italian legacy. The book is published by Temple University Press emphasizing the role the university plays as an important institu- tion in the social network of the Italian legacy in Philadelphia. Goode details how the school became a private university and implemented a program in the 1960s to connect Americans and Italians, a program that continues to this day and further globalizes the two countries with cultural ties.

The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia makes clear that Philadelphia is a city with rich Italian/Italian-American influences evident in its arts, culture, and organizations. The book will be a vital source for historians of ItalianAmerican history and those of other disciplines interested in this topic.

Alyssa M. Brophy (2023) The Italian legacy in Philadelphia: history, culture, people, and ideas, Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 28:4, 514-516, DOI: 10.1080/1354571X.2023.2204775

 Recensione “The Italian-American Herald” a cura di Al Kemp, 1 febbraio 2022

When Andrea Canepari was a student at University of Pennsylvania Law School studying for his Master of Laws degree, and later representing Italy as the Italian consul general from 2013 to 2017, he found himself a keen observer of the rich culture surrounding him.

One social constant he observed was that while the Italian influence in Philadelphia was impossible to ignore – indeed, Italian culture and heritage seemed woven into the city’s DNA – there seemed to be no clear roadmap linking the past and present.

Canepari has now tried to fill in what was missing with an impressive coffeetable book, “The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia.”

Co-edited by Canepari and Judith Goode, professor emerita of Anthropology and Urban Studies at Temple University, the book is a collection of 31 interdisciplinary essays examining the Italian influence as far back as America’s Colonial era, lavishly illustrated with more than 200 photographs.

Canepari and Goode divide the essays into four sections: Independence and Early Republic; The Expanding Industrial Metro-polis; Made in America; and Contemporary Philadelphia.

Jennifer Thompson’s essay, “A Dazzling Array,” looks at Italian art and the Philadel-phia Museum of Art. Jeffrey Cohen’s “Making Place” examines building patterns in South Philadelphia. Dr. Fred Simeone contributes an essay on the Simeone Foundation Auto-motive Museum. Inga Saffron contributes “Recalling Italy in Bricks and Mortar.”

Sidebar articles are sprinkled throughout the 400-page volume, examining topics ranging from the Italian Americans of south-ern New Jersey to filmdom’s Rocky Balboa.

When Canepari represented Italy as the Italian consul general, he spearheaded an Italian cultural month, Ciao Philadelphia, in partnership with area civic, academic, cultural and business leaders. Ciao Philadelphia grew into a series of more than 700 events at its peak, highlighting the area’s cosmopolitan and sophisticated character while also recognizing the vital contributions of its Italian and Italian-American community.

In a foreword to the book, former diplomat and state treasurer of Pennsylvania Joseph M. Torsella describes it as “a continuation of [Canepari’s] diplomacy.”

“It unearths and highlights centuries of connections – in the arts, commerce, science, the built environment, politics, and so on,” he writes. “Though some are well known, many are surprising, and collectively they are staggering in their breadth and impact.”

Under the stewardship of Canepari and Goode, this impressive volume is an epic undertaking that is not content to merely examine the history of the Italian legacy in Philadelphia.

Much more than that, taken as a collective, the essays answer a higher calling, chronic-ling the everyday practices and traditions of earlier generations that have become integral parts of American culture, a legacy that thrives today in Philadelphia and beyond.

https://italianamericanherald.com/italian-legacy-in-philadelphia-animpressive-compendium/

 Recensione Broad Street Review a cura di Pamela J. Forsythe, 18 gennaio 2022

https://www.broadstreetreview.com/reviews/the-italian-legacy-inphiladelphia-history-culture-people-and-ideas-edited-by-andrea-canepariand-judith-goode

 Recensione “The Italian Canadiana” a cura di Robert Zecker, Volume 36, Number 2, Fall 2022, p. 214–217

It is easy to fall in love with Italy, perhaps even to over-romanticize the land of Dante and Verdi. More counterintuitively, Philadelphia is another locale that surprisingly charms residents or visitors, not least courtesy of South Philadelphia, the site of the Italian Market, Rocky Balboa and the Montagues and Capulets of Passyunk Avenue, Geno’s and Pat’s Steaks. This edited volume, The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia, therefore, is a welcome exploration of enduring Italian influences on the City of Brotherly Love, including both “high” and folk culture. Some surprising insights into Italian contributions to the city are revealed via stories of business and political prominenti as well as more working-class influences, in an ambitious framework exploring three centuries of Italian accomplishments.

The thirty-one chapters in the book are divided into four sections. The first and second sections examine Italian influences during different periods: “Independence and Early Republic” and “The Expanding Industrial Metropolis.” Section three, “Made in America,” explores immigration and community formation, and section four is entitled “Contemporary Philadelphia.” Some of the cultural cross-pollinations lean towards elite culture, focusing on artistic models somewhat tenuously related to campesino society. Jeffrey Cohen, in “Palladians in Philadelphia,” documents the emulation by wealthy “culturally and socially ambitious Americans of many stripes” of the British aristocracy. The building of residences in the Palladian style “ideally defined classical orders” (33). Architectural ideals of grace and refinement were articulated by Palladio in the late sixteenth-century Venetian republic, evoking the grandeur of ancient Rome. But as Cohen notes, it was the panache of Brit- ish gentry that Philadelphians were looking to claim in the New World, not necessarily something Italian. Cohen points out that residents of estates such as Cliveden hoped their homes “struck notes of consonance that asserted a social kinship, creating disconnected points in a landscape of gentility” (39). While some builders, and owners, of these estates knew of the Italian connec- tion, the salient connection was to Britain and the tastemakers embraced by that country’s landed gentry.

Direct Italian influence was felt in the early republic, with Andrea Canepari, former Italian consul general in Philadelphia, tracing the enduring diplomatic presence in the city – although, he notes, emissaries from the 1790s to 1860 actually represented independent Genoa, Piedmont-Sardinia, or the Kingdom of the Sicilies, as a unified Italy did not yet exist. More direct influences on the early republic, and Philadelphia, are explored in William Ewald’s eye-opening chapter on the influence that legal reformer Cesare Beccaria had on Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and other founders, with Ewald remarking that Jefferson marked up – in Italian – his copy of Beccaria’s treatises while drafting the Constitution of Virginia. Likewise, Jefferson, who had enjoyed travelling through Italy while ambassador to France, maintained a friendship with Milanese transplant Joseph Mussi once back in

Philadelphia. Before the late nineteenth century, Philadelphia had few Italian residents, and most of these early migrants were, like Mussi, of a wealthier, transnational mercantile class as compared with the later migrants.

Most Philadelphia–Italy interactions of the nineteenth century were of an elite, high-culture nature. Wealthy Philadelphians sent sons on the Grand Tour, where some men developed a love of Rome. How atypical such elite dalliances with Italianitá were may be judged by Lisa Colletta’s description of William Camac, who “[i]n an incomprehensible act of eccentricity [...] spontaneously decided to pack up the whole family, servants and all, for a journey to the Mediterranean” (89). This was not your great-grandparents’ vacation. Some Philadelphians such as scholar Henry Charles Lea developed epistolary friendships with continental prominenti, and department store magnate John Wanamaker acquired artistic Italian treasures for the University of Pennsyl- vania Museum. Such high-culture connections had only a tangential effect in Philadelphia at large. Colletta writes, “The aim [of the Grand Tour] was to acquire classical learning,” as well as confirming a sense of American supe- riority to decadent old Europe. Sons were “sent [...] to Europe to get a little culture, but the point was to return better able to manage and build a nation” (88). Bourdieu’s “distinction” meets Yankee jingoism. These were personal Italian influences, not radiating too far into greater Philadelphia.

But if one couldn’t make the Grand Tour, the Grand Tour could come to Philadelphia. In 1903 an Italian-themed Panadrome offered hoi polloi a “120mile trip through Italy,” with glimpses of ancient Rome as well as contemporary Italian culture and art (125). At a time when more than 100,000 Italian migrants had settled in Philadelphia, the Panadrome offered a virtual peek at Italy without requiring a Camac-style Grand Tour.

Some Italians had already made an impact on the city. Italian Jesuits played an outsized role in the development of Saint Joseph’s College (now University) and the city’s Catholic archdiocese. Artist Constantino Brumidi provided awe-inspiring decorations for Philadelphia’s Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, as well as Washington’s Capitol Building.

Later religious architecture creatively adapted Mediterranean models to give an old country feel to the city’s St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi Roman Catholic Church. As Ingrid Saffron states, soaring towers on a constrained city block emulate “huge churches stumbled upon in unexpected places” and “look more Italian than American” (329). A later church, Our Lady of Loreto, playfully blended futurist homages to flight and peans to a saint well-known overseas. And even as South Philadelphia has always been multi-ethnic and increasingly accommodating of non-European newcomers, Judith Goode and Saffron note that the Italian marking of the landscape through busi- nesses, restaurants, and landmarks such as the Ninth Street Market (now officially

the Italian Market) claimed the turf as Italian. Although, as Hasia Diner reminds us in Hungering for America (Harvard University Press, 2003), it is unlikely the “traditional” bounty of contemporary South Philly restau- rants, bakeries, or Sunday dinners was typical for poverty-stricken émigrés. The current reviewer’s Avellino ancestors rarely enjoyed repasts available at Philadelphia icons Termini Bakery or Esposito’s Meats.

Still, the chapters detailing the marking of South Philadelphia as Italian space are compelling reads. Tailoring of modest rowhouse fronts by Italian residents, Cohen provocatively writes, gave the neighbourhood a distinctly Mediterranean feel to supplement Italian American spaces of consumption. Facades of long-vanished storefront immigrant banks still proclaim “Banca d’Italia” and “Banca Calabrese” decades after the buildings have moved on to new uses (329–331). These chapters focusing on the humbler but vibrant aspects of migrants moving into Philly are some of the strongest features of this volume.

At other times, the volume verges on filiopietism. The foreword by Pennsylvania Senate President Joseph Scarnati speaks of ancestors who “came in search of the American dream,” forebears who were “ambitious and hardworking individuals” (xi). With all respect (and with no knowledge of this family’s history), a more grounded story of migrants might point out that nearly 50% returned home after a few years, that rates of naturalization for South and East European migrants who remained here were extraordinarily low, and that “old stock” Americans viewed newcomers as threats to the country, not contributors of new, valued cultures. Some writers suggest an almost triumphal, inevitable quality to Italian achievements and influences.

While this volume rightly celebrates one ethnic group’s achievements, more nuanced consideration of the messy, circuitous route anonymous Philadelphians trod might more firmly ground the work in an Italian-American historical context.

Still, The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia is replete with fascinating stories of influences and connections, high and folk, that Philadelphia continues to have with Italy. For lovers of Immigration and Ethnic Studies, with or without personal connections to the Mezzogiorno, this book is an absorbing read.

Robert Zecker, Saint Francis Xavier University

 Recensione “Annali d’italianistica” a cura di Corie Marshall, 2023, pp.665-67

Philadelphia is the setting for a centuries-long series of encounters between Italy and the United States in Andrea Canepari and Judith Goode’s substantial volume. Spanning over three hundred years, the history between the MidAtlantic city and Italy is presented in all its diverse aspects, from the

traditional look at Italian immigration to Philadelphia in the last decades of the nineteenth century to more obscure cultural junctions, such as the impact of Palladian principles on colonial Philadelphian architecture and the influence of Italian Jesuits within the city’s expanding education system. The volume was written in promotion of “Ciao Philadelphia,” the Italian cultural month first organized by Canepari in 2014 while serving in his role as Consul General of Italy in Philadelphia. As a result, the contributions, provided by a mixed group of scholars, professionals, diplomats, and artists, take on a celebratory air. In keeping with this tone, the work contains numerous photos and images to complement its essays. The promotional nature of the work somewhat inhibits nuanced discussion of the more controversial inclusions. The references to Christopher Columbus, who is depicted as a symbol of Italian American pride, call for a more critical analysis, for instance. Nonetheless, Canepari and Goode’s volume serves as a wellintentioned homage to the sociocultural partnership between Philadelphia and Italy, in addition to a compendium of topics relevant to the broader field of Italian American Studies.

The work presents its thirty-one essays in roughly chronological order and divides them into four temporal periods, starting with Philadelphia’s colonial past and the years it served as the first capital of the fledgling United States. This section, entitled “Independence and Early Republic,” aims to complexify the longstanding relationship between Philadelphia and Italy by demonstrating how this connection is rooted in a number of crucial interactions that preceded the decades of mass Italian immigration to the United States. This section’s contributions discuss the early American interest in Italian architecture, the presence of Giuseppe Garibaldi’s brother in Philadelphia, and Thomas Jefferson’s friendship with the Italian merchant Joseph Mussi. Because of its understudied nature, the sparser historical record, and the small number of native Italians actually living in the United States at the time, this period is the shortest of the four presented in the volume. Furthermore, some essays, including the chapter on Cesare Beccaria’s impact on the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, are slim, numbering just a couple pages. The uneven length of the contributions is a feature of each of the work’s four periods, with some essays representing little more than a tantalizing snapshot of their featured aspect of the relationship between Philadelphia and Italy.

The next period, which is given the title “The Expanding Industrial Metropolis,” examines the link between Philadelphia and Italy from the perspective of affluent, nineteenth-century Philadelphians, whose appreciation for Italian art and visits to the country ultimately enriched the city’s cultural institutions. This transfer of Italian patrimony to American shores was enabled, as the essays in this section explain, by Philadelphia’s status as an industrial powerhouse, which led to the creation of enormous fortunes and a class of privately funded art enthusiasts. The resulting

collections of Italian statuary and paintings in Philadelphian museums are a lasting reminder of Philadelphia’s cultural embrace of Italy’s artistic traditions. Among the essays dedicated to Italian art are two spotlighting the Italian influence on the Philadelphia Opera House and the Curtis Institute of Music. As the volume demonstrates in this section, Italy’s influence on Philadelphia begins to make itself felt in the contributions of Italian immigrants and their offspring. Philadelphia’s music scene, for example, is revealed to be shaped by the presence of Italian American composers and musicians.

In “Made in America,” its third section, the volume heads into more familiar territory with its examination of mass Italian immigration to Philadelphia, beginning in the final decades of the nineteenth century. The character of neighborhoods such as South Philadelphia owes itself, in large part, to Italian immigrants, whose arrival left a visible mark on the city’s local architecture, social institutions, and food scene. Many of the essays covering this period are substantially longer than those featured in the preceding two periods, attesting to the increased documentability of the topics at hand and to the crucial way in which they promote Philadelphia as still vibrantly connected to Italy due to its large Italian American population.

The fourth section, “Contemporary Philadelphia,” highlights the contributions of the city’s Italian American community to its civic and educational landscape. Topics discussed in previous essays—universities, architecture, and gastronomy—return in a modern context. Stressing the ongoing nature of the relationship between Philadelphia and Italy, this section pays particular attention to the cultural and academic bonds that the city’s two most prominent universities—University of Pennsylvania and Temple University—have established with Italy through their Italian programs and study abroad initiatives. The volume makes a case for the central role that American universities play in shoring up the country’s relationship with Italy through their partnerships with Italian institutions and their temporary export of American students through study abroad programs.

In the afterword, Canepari declares that the volume “aims to put together under one roof all the Italianity woven into the social fabric of the Philadelphia region, even if it is still difficult to see that unity” (378). With its holistic approach, the book succeeds in assembling the seemingly disparate proofs of Italy’s long and lasting impact on Philadelphia, from the city’s early days as the nation’s capital to its present status as an important educational and cultural center. The volume’s take on the historical and sociocultural connections between Philadelphia and Italy is less scholarly than it is laudatory. Nevertheless, a critical question haunts the final section: in the face of ever-increasing globalization and shifting demographics, how can Philadelphia maintain not just its links to Italy, but also its identity as a city

with an unmistakable Italian American flavor? A certain degree of tension thus underlies the volume’s exultant act of commemoration.

Corie Marshall, Indiana University Bloomington

 Recensione “Pennsylvanian Heritage” a cura di Giuseppe BrunoChomin, Summer 2022

This recent volume is comprehensive and interdisciplinary, featuring essays from a variety of contributors. It is organized into four sections that focus on important periods of Philadelphia’s history. Section one explores the colonial period and the Ameri- can journey toward independence. Readers learn of the role Philadelphia played in import- ing, embracing and transmit- ting Italian ideas (topics include Palladian architecture, Cesare Beccaria’s legal theories, and the Founding Fathers’ interest in Italian thought).

Section two considers the 19th and 20th centuries, industrialization, and the European “Grand Tour.” It shows how travel and contacts with Italy influenced the city’s intellectual, aesthetic and artistic identity (topics include scholarly enterprises, museums and exhibitions, singers, composers, and the Curtis Institute of Music).

Section three focuses on immigration, the building of communities, and the Italian American experience. Essays discuss how immigrants assimilated into their new city through institutions, positions of leader- ship, and creative endeavors (topics include South Philly, the Italian Market, artists, musicians and other prominent Philadelphians).

Section four is dedicated to contemporary Philadelphia and the impact of deindustrialization and globalization. It explores urban planning, the Italian legacy at local universities (Temple, St. Joseph’s, Drexel and Penn), the sociocultural role of Italian cuisines, architectural vestiges (such as Philly’s “Bridge of Sighs”), and initiatives for strengthening the relationship between Philadelphia and Italy (like Ciao Philadelphia).

Editors Canepari and Goode explain that their book considers “the flow of ideas, people, objects, and cultural prac- tices between Italy and the United States” and aims “to highlight gems heretofore overlooked.” The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia succeeds in this endeavor and is a rewarding read and trove of information. It brings into clearer focus the breadth and complexity of Italian cultural heritage in the United States through the unique experience of Philadelphia and its residents. With its well-structured format, pleasant-to-read essays, and wealth of images (211 color photos, 29 halftones), this book is of equal value and interest to scholars, students and lovers of all things Italian.

— Giuseppe Bruno-Chomin

University of Pennsylvania

 Recensione Journal of the American Planning Association a cura di David P. Varady, 9 giugno 2022

The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia emerged from Ciao Philadelphia (created by Canepari in 2014 when he was Italy’s consul general in Philadelphia), a citywide series of events including operas, film screenings, and food celebrations aimed at highlighting the contribution of Italians and Italian Americans to greater Philadelphia. Ciao’s goals were to better link Philadelphia with contemporary Italy to enable newer generations of Italian Americans to connect with their ancestors and to promote enhanced trade and commerce between Italy and Philadelphia. The book aims to share the wealth of Italian heritage in a structured manner.

The 40 essays written by experts from cultural insti- tutions from throughout the Philadelphia area are organized into four sections: “Independence and the Early Republic,” “The Expanding Industrial Metropolis,” “Made in America, Immigration and Industrialization,” and “Contemporary Philadelphia.” The numerous color photographs and the eight sidebars, which highlight notable individuals and sites, make this an enjoyable and easy read.

Italian ideas and designs were incorporated into colonial America through key Renaissance and Enlightenment texts as well as the presence of a surprisingly large, transient, highly educated Italian elite such as diplomats, artists, large-scale traders, and members of religious orders. Palladian architec- tural designs influenced many colonial buildings such as Carpenter’s Hall, a key meeting space. Cesare Beccara’s treatise On Crimes and Punishments (1764) condemned torture and the death penalty and influenced penal codes.

By the mid-19th century, Philadelphia was a major industrial powerhouse and transportation center. Wealthy families took the Grand Tour of European culture and assimilated Italian ideas that provided the basis for the new City Beautiful. We learn about the story of John Wanamaker (department store magnate) and his roles as a board member of the University of Pennsylvania Museum and donor of funds for Italian excavations focused on Etruscan and Roman cultures and how the Philadelphia Museum of Art was generated by the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition (1876), benefiting from Grand Tour collections.

Philadelphia’s Italian population exploded between 1880 and 1920 in response to America’s expanding economy, and by the 1920s Italians

numbered 150,000, with roughly half settling in South Philadelphia over a few decades. “Visually, this can be seen in the symbols of vernacular [row] housing, ... the market space, and the turn-of-the century Italian churches” (p. 205). In 2009 the city named the market space “the Italian Market,” solidifying this space as Italian. Nevertheless, South Philly is a diverse community, with Italians sharing the area with Asian and Latin American immigrants and gentrifiers, many of whom are returning younger generations of the original Italian families.

Philadelphia’s playbook responded to deindustrialization by restructuring the economy from manu- facturing to professional service or technical jobs and attracting creative workers and tourists by branding the city as diverse and cosmopolitan. Philadelphia “eds” and “meds” play a role in this restructuring via the connection to contemporary Italy. The University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and Jefferson University’s medical schools have attracted top-flight Italian researchers.

Food plays a surprisingly important role in changing Philadelphia’s image. Italian food checks all the “foodie” boxes: a) people take the iconic cheesesteak sandwiches seriously, b) pizza and pasta restaurants abound, c) Italian food is inspired by Italian agrarian and South Philly’s past, and d) the chefs of Queen Village (a gentrifying section of South Philadelphia) demonstrate ways in which Italy’s food legacy is broadened and goes deep in the city.

The challenge for planners, say the authors, is to unite the high and popular cultures of Italian Philadelphia. The coexistence between these two poles can be seen at the Philadelphia Art Museum, with Rocky Balboa’s bronze statue standing atop the steps of the museum with a collection that boasts Italian artists from early Renaissance to contemporary.

The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia makes a fine cof- fee table book, but I expect it to accomplish much more. Canepari and Good have not only helped us better understand Philadelphia’s Italian heritage, they have laid out a cultural strategy to simultaneously strengthen Italian Philadelphia and to enable this diverse city to successfully compete with other globally aspiring cities. Though the book should be of interest to planners in general, those specializing in historic preservation, urban design, neighborhood upgrading, and tourist/cultural planning will find it especially useful.

 Recensione Journal of Urban Affairs, a cura di Anthony J. Filipovitch, 18 luglio 2022

The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia is several things at once. It is a coffeetable book, with full-color photographs of street scenes, architecture, art, and people with ties to the Italian and Italian-American community in Philadelphia. It is an appreciation of “Ciao Philadelphia,” an annual celebration since 2014 of the influence of Italy and Italian-Americans, sponsored in part by the Consulate General of Italy in Philadelphia. And, taken as a whole, it is an interesting sketch of urban ethnography of one ethnic group in one American city (albeit a large ethnic group in a major American city). The primary editor, Andrea Canepari, was formerly the Consul General of Italy in Philadelphia (he is currently ambassador to the Dominican Republic); the second editor is professor emerita of anthropology and urban studies at Temple University in Philadelphia. Canepari was also the editor of an earlier volume, The Italian Legacy of Washington, D.C. (Molinari & Canepari, 2007), although that volume is more narrowly focused on the legacy in art and architecture.

With 31 chapters, eight “sidebars,” four section introductions, a prologue, an introduction, and an afterword all in 385 richly illustrated pages, most of the articles are brief. The first section covers the early days of Philadelphia into the mid-19th century, when there were few Italians in the city but classical influences were strong. There is a nice review of Palladian influences on some of the estates around Philadelphia (Mt. Pleasant, Cliveden, Walnut Grove, and Frankford), and on the design of Carpenter’s Hall. Other essays sketch the influence of Cesare Beccaria on the early Founders; the several Italian influences on the thinking of Thomas Jefferson (including the friendship with his Italian landlord when, as secretary of state, he was resident in Philadelphia); the role of Italian Jesuit emigres in establishing Catholic parishes and St. Joseph College in the mid-19th century; and the influence of Italian muralists Brumidi and Costaggini on 19th century Philadelphia. The second section covers the role of Italian Americans and Italian influences on high culture as new wealth was created by industrialization in the mid- to late-19th century. Several essays explore the connection of the 19th- century Philadelphia leisure class with Italy, through the “Grand Tour” of Europe (which usually began in Italy, often in Rome) or through correspondence with counterparts in Italy. Others explore the Italian influence on Philadelphia artists and arts institutions established during this era, including the Union League, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the University of Pennsylvania Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Still others explore the Italian influence on landscape design, opera, and instrumental music (including the founding of the Curtis School of Music). The third section looks at the impact of the great Italian immigration to Philadelphia in the late-19th and early- 20th centuries. Here, the focus shifts to vernacular culture, including the formation of Italian neighborhoods and the building patterns that shaped them, and the contributions of Italian immigrants and their children and grandchildren to the arts and business. There are surveys of Italian- American business leaders, Italian-American

artists and musicians, and Italian-American architects (Jody Pinto, Romaldo Giurgola, and Robert Venturi). And the final section considers the role of Italy and Italian-Americans in in the last half of the 20th century as Philadelphia shifted from manufacturing to knowledge work (“eds and meds,” as Judith Goode calls it) and tourism/hospitality. There are essays on the role of the University of Pennsylvania in bringing Italian influences into Philadelphia and preparing Italian Americans to contribute to Philadelphia. Another traces the influence of Dr. Giuseppe Gonnella in shaping American medical education as dean of Jefferson Medical College. A third looks at the Italian connection with Temple University and its campus in Rome. Other essays trace the role of hospitality and tourism through the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum, Italian gastronomy in Philadelphia (from street food to gourmet dining), and 20th-century architecture by and for Italian-Americans in Philadelphia.

The weakness of this work is that while it provides a wealth of detail, it does not place those details in their larger context—either of other ethnic groups in Philadelphia, or of the Italian-American experience in other American cities. It is as if the editors were informed by James Mease’s Picture of Philadelphia when he wrote, “In composing a work like the present, the author is of the opinion that the chief object ought to be the multiplication of facts, and the reflections arising out of them ought to be left to the reader” (Mease, 1811, p. xi). The audience of this journal will be primarily interested in this work as urban ethnography (and, more narrowly within that, the Italian and Italian-American influence on architecture). The sketches are mostly too brief to inform detailed scholarship, although most include footnotes and some provide extensive bibliographies. The book could be particularly useful as a model and a reference for an introductory course built around Bernice Braid’s “City as Text” design for urban reconnaissance (Braid & Quay, 2021).

 Recensione Voices in Italian Americana, a cura di Jerome Krase, Volume 33 Number 22 (2022), pp. 107-11

I have always been pleased when asked to review books on Italians in America, especially those poor and working-class Italian women and men who by the sweat of their brows, contributed so much to making our country what it is today. To my surprise, when I started reading The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia: History, Culture, People, and Ideas I discovered that it was not really about Italians or Italian Americans. It was about how Italy, as a global conduit for western culture in all its magnificent forms, contributed so much to the creation, development and maintenance of one of America’s greatest cities — Philadelphia. Of course, it also informs the reader of the significant contributions of particular Italians and Italian Americans over the centuries,

as framed in reverse historical order in Chapter 31 by Paolo Valentine from “Rocky to Botticelli.” But, the main thrust of the book is Italy as a “Muse.”

Over the decades I have come across many publications celebrating the accomplishments of Italians who have to come to American cities at one time or another. Most, including one of my own (The Staten Island Italian American Experience 2007) have been more celebratory than informative. When I was asked to review what I thought would be a huge coffee table book, I was anticipating more of the former than the latter. Thankfully, this informative, well-written and extremely well-illustrated volume offering twohundred and fifty images, edited by Andrea Canepari, Ambassador of Italy to the Dominican Republic and Judith Goode, Judith Goode, Professor Emerita of Anthropology and Urban Studies at Temple University, was a pleasure to read.

Although I might have guessed, given my knowledge of the impacts of the revolutionary political ideologies such as those of Thomas Jefferson’s friend Filippo Mazzei, and other less political traditions, of the nascent nation of Italy during colonial times, I was barely aware, as was revealed by this ambitious book, of the enormous impacts of Italian arts and culture on the “City of Brotherly Love.” For example, while cognizant of the impact of Andrea Palladio’s architectural genius on Jefferson’s Monticello, I was less aware of the wider influences of his and other Italian architects, as well as the decorative building styles (especially Italianate) that grace the streetscapes many of Philadelphia’s more and less famous civic, commercial and residential neighborhoods.

As informed by the book’s contributors, many valuable samples of Italian art, music, and architecture were imported from Italy to the city throughout the post- colonial periods as the more and less wealthy, or otherwise prominent, Philadelphians made Italy an important part of their de rigueur Grand Tour of Europe. Many of these exquisite, privately-owned objects and collections, later became the impetus for the establishment of Philadelphia’s major cultural institutions.

The editors and contributors chronicle, via a wide variety of inter and multidisciplinary number essays the changing dynamics of the city as different classes of Italian immigrants established themselves and exploited their deep connections to Italy for their own and the benefit of the city as whole. In order to efficiently cover so much historical and cultural ground, The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia, was carefully divided by the editors into four periods in order to mimic the major developments which changed the city’s political, economic, and social structures. Each period is given equally careful scholarly, and sometimes reverential, treatment by the thirty-two contributors in addition to the two editors. They are: “Independence and the Early Republic;” “The Expanding Industrial Metropolis: New Wealth, New elites, and New Institutions of Knowledge, Arts, and Culture;” Made in America: Immigration, Community Formation, and Varieties of Creative Italian American Experience;” and “Contemporary Philadelphia: Experiencing the Italian Legacy in the Branded Global City.”

As a left-leaning social scientist, I have been less interested in learning about the laudatory accomplishments of American elites than those oppressed by them, especially during the 1880-1920 mass immigration period. However, as this volume clearly demonstrates, it is more than reasonable to learn about the lofty contributions to America of Italy, Italians, and Italian Americans. This is especially true since the lower and middle brow impacts of Italian Americans have been overly done, especially in the mass media. I must admit that, given my biases and my study of urban neighborhoods, especially Little Italies I was most comfortable with Chapter 17, “Marking Place,” by architectural historian Jeffrey A. Cohen, where he writes on how Italian immigrants in South Philadelphia created “. . . streetscapes that are insistently varied, marked by incremental celebrations of hard-won economic successes of individual families at different moments and in different ways (p. 184). Chapter 18 “How South Philadelphia became known as Italian,” was also up my academic alley. In it, Judith Goode puts more historical meat to the bones of this long term process. Another favorite was Chapter 30 “Recalling Italy in Bricks and Mortar” There, architectural critic for the Philadelphia Enquirer, Inga Saffron, rather than looking at the most famous classic buildings, carefully reflects instead on ten more modest structures that reflect their Italian heritage to core, before moving on civic monuments, and then to how Italian architecture is present in Philadelphia’s most modern buildings.

I have visited and extensively photographed the changing neighborhood since the 1970s as it has been invaded by gentrifiers and transformed into what I call and “Ethnic Theme Park” (Krase 2017) in recent decades. In this regard, will present a few of my most recent images at the end of this review. As to the volume’s high-level scholarship, as opposed to “coffee table” books, I must register my pleasure in that my esteemed close colleagues Richard Juliani and Stefano Luconi were major sources for the discussion of the Italian Americans in Philadelphia. Finally, given the value of this volume and its potential for other American Cities which sorely lack projects of this quality and scope, I think it is extremely important to understand how this impressive book came to be. As outlined in the “Preface” by the editors, I would say it was the genius, of one of the editors, Andrea Canepari. He is the current Italian Ambassador to the Dominican Republic and had been consul general in Philadelphia. Ambassador Canepari recognized the need for documenting, in a multivolume series, how the presence of Italians abroad, Italian ideas, and indeed Italian ideals, have contributed so much to the cultural and other development of other lands. The first was of Washington D.C. and the second of the Dominican Republic. I look forward to Ambassador Canepari stimulating scholars in other cities to follow suit.