Italian Artistry and Oscar Gold The Journey of Donna Gigliotti
Italian Boxer, Irish Name Inside the Ropes of America’s Ring
Eat a Home-Cooked Meal…In Italy! Italy’s Home Food Movement
The Bell That Followed Him Home A Major, a Bell, and a Sicilian Town
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by i! ry ian o t g S ri T er a v o n C ia ITALIAN AMERICA dr A
th
28 Annual National Education & Leadership Awards Gala Award for Excellence in Business
SIF Lifetime Achievement Award for Public Service
Dr. Condoleezza Rice Nicholas E. Calio 66th U.S. Secretary of State Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy, the Hoover Institution, Stanford University
President and CEO Airlines for America
Humanitarian Award
Paul Rinaldi President National Air Traffic Controllers Association
National Education & Leadership Award
National Education & Leadership Award
Joseph M. Mattone, Sr.
Mary Ann Pessolano Mattone, RN/MPH
Chairman and CEO The Mattone Group
Master of Ceremonies
Joe Mantegna Award-winning Actor
Philanthropist and Community Leader
Special Guest
Gary Sinise Award-winning Actor Founder, Gary Sinise Foundation
And the 2016 SIF Scholarship Winners with a featured performance by Michael Amante
Date:
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Time:
6 p.m. reception 7 p.m. dinner, awards, performance
Location: National Building Museum 401 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 Black Tie Preferred This special occasion has been made possible by the Sons of Italy Foundation. All proceeds go to the Sons of Italy Foundation’s
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National Scholarship and Education Fund, related charities, and cultural preservation programs.
ITALIAN AMERICA
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VOL. XXI No. 2
Italian America
®
T h e O ff i c i a l P u b l i c a t i o n o f t h e O r d e r S o n s o f I t a l y i n A m e r i c a ®
Features
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ITALIAN BOXER, IRISH NAME Inside the Ropes of America’s Ring By Rolando Vitale
ITALIAN ARTISTRY AND OSCAR GOLD The Journey of Donna Gigliotti By Adriana Trigiani
EAT A HOME-COOKED MEAL … IN ITALY!
Italy’s Home Food Movement Gives You a Place at the Table By Peter J. Ognibene
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THE BELL THAT FOLLOWED HIM HOME A Major, a Bell, and a Small Sicilian Town By Miles Ryan Fisher
ON THE COVER: Vintage film roll (Jag-cz)
D e pa r t m e n t s 4 High Profile 5 National News 6 Oggi in Italia 7 Regions of Italy 8 Pagina Italiana
9 The Sons of Italy® Book Club 14 Our Story 20 Bulletin Board 21 Speakers Bureau 26 OSIA Nation
31 From the National 32 Foundation Focus 33 Fighting Stereotypes 34 Letters to the Editor 35 The Last Word 36 Piacere
Italian America® is published by The Order Sons of Italy in America® 219 E Street, NE • Washington, DC 20002 • Phone: (202) 547-2900 • Web: www.osia.org Editor-in-Chief: Miles Ryan Fisher mfisher@osia.org Writers: James E. Jackson, Rolando Vitale, Adriana Trigiani, Peter J. Ognibene, and Miles Ryan Fisher Graphic Designer: Diane Vincent To advertise: Contact Pat Rosso (215) 206-4678
pieassociates2@att.net
Italian America Magazine® is a publication of the Order Sons of Italy in America® (OSIA), the nation’s biggest and oldest organization for people of Italian heritage. To subscribe, see www.osia.org or call 1-800-552-6742. SPRING 2016
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High Profile
Italian Americans making an impact
Giving the Gift of Independence Peter Ferrantelli Helps Others Help Themselves He struggled in high school. His marks were low, though he tried as hard as he could. “I was on the dangling edge of the school population,” Peter Ferrantelli reflected. “When you can’t solve for x and you can’t write and you can’t spell properly, it limits you.” This was in the early 1950s, a time when attention-deficit-disorder wasn’t understood, let alone diagnosed. But Peter’s father, Michael, refused to give up. “My father spent a lot of time with me trying to help me out with my schoolwork.” Through sheer hard work, Peter managed to get accepted to San Diego State University as a business major. After freshman year, “something clicked” and his grades began to rise—as did the promise for a future in business. Hard work was nothing new to Peter’s family, both sides of Sicilian descent that settled in the heart of San Diego’s Little Italy. His mother’s parents emigrated from Mazara del Vallo, a little fishing village in Sicily. His maternal grandmother worked in a tuna packing plant while his maternal grandfather owned a fishing boat, making his own nets and poles. His father’s parents emigrated “from the hills” of Sicily, a little place called Chuisa Sclafani. His paternal grandfather was a shoemaker—a calzolaio—who worked his way up, eventually owning several properties in San Diego. Peter made his way into the business world and was soon asked to serve on several non-profit boards, the first one being Friends of the Handicapped. While he served on the boards, he found himself in the same position as his father once was—with a son who needed help for a condition that wasn’t understood at the time. Peter’s son, Michael, was born with autism. Like his father, Peter found a way to help. He discovered a place called Noah Homes, which was created by Sister Kathryn Jennings, a Benedictine Nun, in 1979. The project was funded by one of her childhood friends, a man named Walter Fitch III, who so admired her charitable work that he offered to fund any mission she wanted. Fitch, after all, just happened to be the founder of Texas Oil & Gas Corp. (bought out by U.S Steel in 1985). Sister Kathryn used her friend’s generosity to open Noah Homes, a community that currently spans eleven acres with seventy homes (soon to be ninety). The homes SPRING 2016
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Peter addresses the Association of Fundraising Professionals, who honored him last November with their 2015 Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser award. are designed to support individuals with developmental disabilities—ranging from Down syndrome to cerebral palsy. These homes enable its occupants to live an independent life. In 1990, Peter’s son became the first individual with autism to receive a home. But Peter’s mission didn’t end there. That same year, he joined the Noah Homes board—a move that would alter the rest of his life. While on the board, Peter founded the Noah’s Ark Angel Foundation, an organization that raises funds and invests them in order to generate a continual flow of income to support the work of Noah Homes. This way, all donations to the foundation work in perpetuity to support Noah Homes. Peter has served as Chair of the Foundation since founding it in 2007. Last year, Noah Homes embarked on a mission to raise $6.7 million to build two specialty homes, housing a total of twenty individuals. Peter and his wife, Mary Ellen, kicked off the campaign by making a lead gift of one million dollars. Now, at age 78, he continues leading the foundation, knowing that it will be there long after he’s gone. It will be there to work for Noah Homes and help individuals live a life of independence. Individuals like his son. To help Noah Homes reach their goal to build two specialty homes, visit http://noahhomes.org/memorycare/ ITALIAN AMERICA
National News
Italian American issues and events
OSIA Leaders Honor Justice Scalia’s Life With Justice Antonin Scalia’s passing on February 13 at age 79, Italian-American leaders across the country praised his life as the first Italian American to serve on the Supreme Court. OSIA National President Daniel J. Longo reflected on Scalia’s life, describing him as a “shining example of the very best the Italian American community has to offer (with) a brilliant career in public service and jurisprudence.”
Scalia to take the seat vacated by Justice William Rehnquist, who’d become the new Chief Justice. On September 17, 1986, the U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination with a unanimous 98-0 decision. At just 50 years old, Scalia was the youngest justice on the Supreme Court. He quickly became known for the conservative stance he took on most issues, often serving as the voice for the court’s conservative majority. He also became known for his humor, particularly in the court opinions he wrote.
Scalia was born on March 11, 1936 in Trenton, New Jersey and raised in Queens by parents who focused heavily on educa- Scalia accepts the National Edution. His father, Salvatore, had emigrated cation & Leadership Award, the OSIA National Executive Director from Sicily as a teenager and earned un- Sons of Italy Foundation’s high- Philip R. Piccigallo, who personally knew est honor that was presented to dergraduate and graduate degrees before Justice Scalia for more than a quarter him at the 1991 NELA Gala. becoming a professor of Romance lancentury, reflected on the contributions guages at Brooklyn College. His mother, Catherine Louise he made to law and the Italian-American community. (Panaro), was an elementary school teacher. “Whether one agreed or disagreed with his strong legal and Scalia followed in their education-driven footsteps, finishing first in his class at Georgetown University and gaining admission to Harvard Law School. While at Harvard, he met his future wife, Maureen, with whom he had nine children and twenty-eight grandchildren.
philosophical positions,” Piccigallo said, “it was impossible not to recognize Scalia’s intellectual acuity, command of prose, forceful impact on American law, the legal system and culture, and the historical importance as the first Italian American appointed to the Supreme Court.”
In 1972, President Richard Nixon appointed Scalia as general counsel for the Office of Telecommunications Policy, a regulatory commission for the new and expanding cable television industry. Two years later, he became the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Council, for whom he argued his first and only Supreme Court case (he won).
“Moreover,” Piccigallo added, “virtually everyone respected and enjoyed Justice Scalia’s company, irrepressible wit, and sense of humor.”
When Chief Justice Warren Burger announced his retirement in 1986, President Ronald Reagan nominated
not exist.”
“If
it were impossible for individual human
beings to act autonomously in effective pursuit of a common goal, the game of soccer would
- Justice Scalia
Italy Appoints New Ambassador On March 3, Italy’s new ambassador to the United States—Armando Varricchio—presented his credentials to President Obama at the White House. He succeeded Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero, who served in the post for four years, and didn’t waste any time praising Italy’s and United States’ “common love of beauty.” In reaction to his appointment being made official the day following Super Tuesday, Varricchio smiled and exclaimed, “What a Super Wednesday for me!” SPRING 5 ITALIAN 2016 AMERICA
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Oggi in Italia
Italy’s news, politics and culture
Ashes Buried in Espresso Maker Renato Bialetti didn’t create the Moka stovetop espresso maker—his father, Alfonso, did. Alfonso, an engineer by trade, worked with Luigi De Ponti to invent and patent the Moka espresso maker in 1933. But it was Renato who took this invention and brought it to the world. Taking over the Bialetti company in 1947 when it sold just 70,000 Moka pots, Renato turned the octagonal stovetop espresso maker into a worldwide Italian symbol. Through the 1950s and the decades that followed, he expanded the company,
The famous symbol of Bialetti’s company since the 1950s, the cartoon is a caricature of Renato, himself. selling more than 300 million Moka pots internationally.
Renato Bialetti’s ashes receive their blessing. (AP)
Buona Salute: Italy the Second Healthiest Country in the World Healthy ingredients, smaller portions of meat, family dinners, and a daily routine that involves much walking have helped to make Italy the second healthiest country in the world. According to Bloomberg rankings released in January, Italy received the top-ranked health score for European countries and came in just behind Singapore in world rankings. The health score takes into account several factors—including mortality rates, smoking, immunizations, healthcare and healthcare efficiency, and life expectancy (which, for Italians, is 83 years old, tied for second in the world).
When Renato Bialetti passed away last February at age 93, his three children decided to honor him by burying his ashes in a large replica of the pot he made famous. They had the pot blessed by a priest in his hometown of Casale Corete Cerro (Piedmont region) before laying him to rest.
Italy World’s Largest Wine Exporter … Thanks to Americans Today, one in five bottles of exported wine is Italian. In 2015, Italy exported more than $5.5 billion in wine, $1.4 billion to the United States alone—making the U.S. the largest consumer of Italian wine. Right behind the United States was China, importing $88 million of Italian wine. This news comes on the heels of October’s announcement by the International Organisation of Wine (OIV) that Italy had surpassed France to become the world’s largest wine producer.
The Italian diet—which consists of fresh foods such as fish, vegetables, and fruits—contributed to longer, healthier lives, as was the tendency to eat smaller, leaner portions of meat. Cooking with olive oil was also noted for its health benefits, helping reduce risk for heart attacks and strokes. Also mentioned as a key factor in promoting well-being are family dinners, which provide a daily way to relieve stress. As for Italy’s healthcare system, it was noted as being one of the most efficient systems in the world—and is a universal healthcare system. SPRING 2016
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Regions of Italy
Italy’s Twenty Regions
The Heel of Italy’s Boot Apulia is a southeastern region located in one of the most recognizable parts of the country—the heel of Italy’s “boot.” Its eastern coastline runs along the Adriatic Sea, sitting across from several Slavic countries and Greece. The Ionian Sea runs along the “sole” of the boot. Spanned mostly by broad plains, Apulia is the least mountainous region in Italy. These plains, however, contain some of Italy’s most fertile soil, making Apulia one of the more productive agricultural regions. The most notable product is, of course, olive oil. Apulia produces close to 300,000 tons of olive oil, which accounts for 40% of Italy’s total production (second in the world only to Spain). In addition to producing olive oil, the plains also produce a substantial amount of wine and wheat, used to make bread and pasta. Apulia’s most well-known pasta is oricchiette (or “little ears”) and is usually made without eggs, which for a long time were considered a luxury in this region. Fishermen take advantage of the substantial coastline to bring in fresh fish on a daily basis—such as sea bass, red mullet, anchovies, mussels, and cuttlefish. Meanwhile, shepherds utilize Apulia’s interior land—which can become rather rocky—for raising sheep and goats to produce meat and cheese products. Because of Apulia’s close proximity to Greece, it is one of the richest archaeological regions, having been colonized by the Greeks in 8th century BC. However, it is the city of Lecce that brings many tourists to Apulia.
The Basilica di Santa Croce exemplifies the Baroque architecture that flourished in Lecce. (Tango7174) Frequently referred to as “The Florence of the South,” Lecce is rife with 17th and 18th century baroque architecture constructed from “Lecce stone,” a type of limestone indigenous to the region. Between seeing this ostentatious form of architecture, swimming at the beaches along its long coastline, and walking through the idyllic olive tree groves, Apulia offers its visitors a wide variety of experiences. FUN FACT: When a McDonald’s opened up in an Apulian piazza, residents refused to eat there, preferring their fresh local food. Less than two years later, the McDonald’s was no longer in business.
Apulia (Italiano: Puglia) Capital:
Bari
Population: 4.0 million (6.7% of Italy) Size:
7,500 square miles (6.4% of Italy)
Provinces: Bari Barletta-Andria-Trani Brindisi Foggia Lecce Taranto
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Pagina Italiana Venerdì a Genova “Friday in Genoa” Written by James E. Jackson Translated by Dr. Frederica Anichini
Sei disoccupato. Hai quarantaquattro anni. Ti svegli, un venerdì. Venerdì in ufficio è il giorno dei biscotti. Era il giorno dei biscotti. Capisci perché il tuo capo ha deciso così (te lo meritavi.) Non ti dimentichi del tuo migliore amico e college (Marcello ha quarantadue anni. Molto amato. Ha accettato il lavoro che facevi tu, il tuo titolo, il tuo salario.) Ti fai la doccia, ti vesti, e cammini verso la libreria più vicina. La Vittorio Piluso in Via San Lorenzo. Fuori, venditori ambulanti friggono verdure. All’interno, i commessi di un negozio accendono candele profumate di lillà. Ovunque, il fuori e il dentro, le strade e il negozio, odorano di sale e di salmastro. Compri un romanzo appena uscito. Un dizionario in miniature. Poi esci dal negozio. I sassi dei Carrugi sono scivolosi per il vapore che viene dal mare, ma cammini sicuro verso il bar, La Tarantula, dove—di fronte al vecchio palazzo di pietra con gli scalini malmessi e il tetto di tegole—piccolo margherite bianche si fanno compagnia in un’aiola. Ne cogli una. Seduto a un tavolino in fondo a La Tarantula, sorseggiando una birra tiepida, vedi una donna di fronte al bar. È seduta su uno sgabello, ti dà la schiena. Mentre beve il suo cocktail rosa, frizzante, gira la testa, si piega,
Per chi studia la nostra lingua e lentamente avvicina le labbra alla cannuccia—come se fosse un bacio. Com’è adorabile! Quando si piega le vedi il profilo, di tre quarti. Apri il dizionario. Le pagine sono lucide. Si appiccicano. Sono piccole, e difficili da girare. Alla fine trovi la pagina giusta, quella che definisce la parola pulcritudine (n. bellezza). Poi fai girare la margherita, la metti nelle pagine del libro, chiudi il libro, schiacci i petali, e rompi il gambo così che solo un paio di centimetri escano dal libro. Fai la tua mossa, tenendo in mano il dizionario. La donna è seduta, ben dritta. “Lo prenda.” I suoi occhi si spalancano. “Avanti.” Le porgi il libro. Ha una peluria sottile, bionda, delicata, sul labbro superiore. Non si muove. Le prendi i polsi, per costringerla a prendere il libro. Allora ti accorgi che le sue mani sono deformi: le sua dita fuse insieme, i suoi pollici minuscole protuberanze. Prima che tu possa riprendere il libro, allunga le braccia, e lo prende, con il dorso delle sue mani deformi. Poi lo lascia cadere sul bancone, e cerca di aprirlo. La guardi mentre fa fatica. Continua a guardarti. Le ossa dei suoi polsi battono sul legno del bancone. Le metti la mano sinistra sulle sue. Le sua dita sono morbide, lisce, i suoi pollici come fatti di velluto schiacciato. Prende il libro per la quarta di copertina, con la mano destra. Tu lo prendi per la copertina, con il tuo pollice sinistro, e l’indice. Insieme, tu e la donna, aprite il libro. Insieme, tu e la donna, girate le pagine. Legge la definizione della parola pulcritudine (n. bellezza). Più tardi, tu—ancora disoccupato, ancora quarantaquattrenne—avresti proprio voglia di chiamare il tuo migliore amico, Marcello.
Salve Signori! My name is Danielle. I can teach you some basic Italian to ensure your travel success through my online program consisting of 11 videos. Lift off with me!
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James E. Jackson co-wrote the full-length feature documentary film “Rosetta: Audio/Visual,” and he is currently completing his Master’s in fiction at Johns Hopkins University. Contact him at jayjackson7729@gmail.com Dr. Frederica Anichini is the Middle and High School Coordinator for L’Scuola d’Italia Gugliemo Marconi, the only English/Italian bilingual schools in the country.
To read the English version, visit www.osia.org and sign in to access the digital copy of Italian America. SPRING 2016
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The Sons of Italy®
Book Club
SPRING 2016 Selections
NEVER TRUST A THIN COOK And Other Lessons from Italy’s Culinary Capital
EMBROIDERED STORIES: Interpreting Women’s Domestic Needlework from the Italian Diaspora
A window into modernday Italy, Never Trust A Thin Cook takes you into the customs and quirks that make Italy and its people so unique. Travel through daily life with Author Eric Dregni as he teaches English for two years in Modena, a northern city in the Emilia-Romagna region, close to Bologna.
In past generations, needlework was not simply a hobby to be enjoyed in one’s free time—it was an identity. To many 19th and 20th century Italian women, especially those of southern Italy, it represented social standing and symbolized womanhood. It also provided a means of income, especially for those who immigrated to New York City, where the top three jobs for women were tailoress, dressmaker, and seamstress.
By Eric Dregni
Writing in personal essay form, Dregni—who is fluent in Italian—takes you through everyday experiences like buying food in the outdoor markets, dealing with the notorious (and often times comical) bureaucracy, and expressing one’s campanilismo, or town pride. By taking this trip into Italy, you’ll learn about the interesting dichotomy between what is taken seriously and what is not—from sports and coffee culture to bicycle protocol (if your bicycle gets stolen, just steal another bicycle!). You’ll learn the value of parmesan cheese, prosciutto, and salami—and especially balsamic vinegar (which was created in Modena). You’ll learn just how seriously Italians take their food (hint: they consider food from one town away to be imported). Perhaps the most liberating aspect of this book lies in Dregni’s voice, which carries a consistently friendly and oft-times humorous tone toward life in Italy. Never does it disparage customs that depart from those in America. Rather, he embraces those differences, casting a charming light on them that you will find endearing. Never Trust A Thin Cook is a must-read book for anyone who wants to experience what it is like to live in Italy and become acquainted with its day-to-day culture. Each of the book’s brief, energetic chapters will make you feel as if you’re taking a moment out of the day to have a shot of espresso with a dear friend. To contact the authors, see page 21. Reviews by Miles Ryan Fisher SPRING 9 ITALIAN2016 AMERICA
Edited by Edvige Giunta and Joseph Sciorra
Embroidered Stories is a collection of poetry, memoirs, and scholarly essays that gives a thorough perspective of the central role needlework played in the lives of immigrant Italian women. It speaks to how the skill and artistry of needlework was passed down from mother to daughter, grandmother to granddaughter. You’ll see the many purposes of sewing, whether it was to assemble a dowry or knit an afghan or even create a handmade wardrobe for a Barbie doll. A very interesting aspect of needlework—in addition to the memories it preserves—is how many of the stories speak of struggle. Needlework was often used in order to supplement otherwise insufficient family incomes. Some did so through piecework at home while others entered factories to become veritable sweatshop workers. In this collection, the poetry is fearless and accessible to readers (see those written by Maria Mazziotti Gillan and Paola Corso), the memoirs touching (see “White on Black” by Louise DeSalvo), and the essays informative (see “How la Sartina Became a Labor Migrant” by Jennifer Guglielmo). There is undoubtedly something for every reader, regardless of one’s prior knowledge of needlework. The writing in Embroidered Stories proves the very thing that needlework itself proves: in a world of machine-made products, nothing is still more treasured than what is crafted by hand. ITALIAN AMERICA SPRING 2016 9
Italian
irish Inside the Ropes of
boxer
name America’s Ring
By Rolando Vitale
To the untrained eye, it seemed that prior to the 1920s there were few noteworthy American boxers of Italian origin—and a limited presence in the decades that followed. But behind many Irish boxing names, there frequently stood an olive-skinned, dark-haired fighter with a hidden identity. More than one thousand Italian professional boxers went by Irish pseudonyms. Italian immigrants entered boxing at a time when the booming American economy took advantage of Italian muscle to fuel the nation’s growth. However, the ruling elites—the very ones who benefitted from cheap immigrant labor—disparaged Italians, describing them as “biologically incapable” and a “burden on America.” In addition to enduring these attacks, Italian immigrants came into conflict with the established Irish working class in almost every sphere of society. They fought over municipal and construction jobs. They argued over church matters within the predominantly Irish-controlled Catholic Church. In many instances, Italians were forced to worship in the back, and sometimes even in the basement, of these buildings. Neighborhood enmity spilled onto the streets and led to frequent skirmishes, particularly in New York. Italians feared the Irish-controlled police force, leading some to change their names. This included one individual named Peter Robert Gagliardi,
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who changed his name to Bobby Gleason in an attempt to keep the Irish cops from beating him up. Gleason later became a boxer before opening the famous Gleason’s Gym in the Bronx, a place where the likes of Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson trained. During this pre-World War I era, most Italian men were laborers, many of them working in railroad construction camps and on large-scale city-wide projects. Their Irish counterparts complained that they worked for lower pay and longer hours. Brawls ensued, and in some cases the problem got so bad that separate crews were delineated along ethnic lines. The strife contributed to an overall antiItalian sentiment. Some of that sentiment painted Italians as anarchists or communists. It also led to the enactment of immigration quotas, singling the group out as undesirable and inferior. With such prolonged stigmatization, many Italians opted for a name change. The world of boxing was not immune to such anti-Italianism. Angelo Dundee, the legendary boxing trainer from Philadelphia who trained champions like Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, and George Foreman, said: “In the early 1900s it wasn’t advantageous to have an Italian name. Italians were not held in high esteem by the host population. We lived in Italian ghettos, held menial jobs, spoke funnily and
ITALIAN AMERICA
ate spaghetti and ice cream and were considered by the average American to be “gangsters” and members of crime societies.” The Palermo-born Gaspare Leone was the first notable Italian prizefighter, competing between 1891-1904. Leone changed his name to Casper Leon, yet he still bore the brunt of racist epithets and jeers from the predominantly Irish crowds. By the time he retired, the derision had not diminished. In 1903, the National Police Gazette captured this, reporting that:
Tony Caponi
“It is amusing to note the way in which the crowd at ringside receives the different nationalities of fighters. There is always a hearty cheer and earnest backing for the Irishman; grins and good-humored tolerance for the German and virulent hostility to the Italian and the Negro. Put a boy of any race in with an Italian and everybody in the house who is not himself of Italian origin at once begins to root frantically against the son of ancient Rome. It is to the credit of the Italians that they have pushed so far forward against such adverse influences.” By 1910, more than three million Italian immigrants had arrived in the United States, and those that pursued boxing quickly discovered that an Irish cohort dominated the sport. Boxers like John L. Sullivan and Jim Corbett were part of the steady stream of Irishmen who held the heavyweight title, creating the misconception that nobody could be successful in the ring unless they had an Irish name. This led many Italian fighters to adopt a pseudonym so that their ability to make a living in the ring wasn’t defeated before they even set foot in it. OSIA members benefit from a 10% discount on all our services!
The Irish stronghold over what was America’s second most popular sport at the time gave them a virtual monopoly over it and allowed them to dictate the rules of engagement to ethnic newcomers. According to Carmelo Bazzano, Professor Emeritus of Physical Education at the University of Massachusetts, commercial considerations also pressured Italians into adopting non-Italian names. continued on next page
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Irish and English promoters sought to manipulate the cosmetics of boxing. They forced Italian boxers to adopt Irish names, thereby producing an army of “ready-made” Irish boxers who were palatable to the predominantly Irish crowds. Those who refused to change their name frequently complained at the lack of regular fights. Minnesota-native Tony Caponi, who fought between 1902-1917, blamed his lack of booking on his surname, believing that to promoters his real name sounded “more like a music master than a prizefighter.” For a time, Caponi changed his name to TC O’Brien. For the next several decades, a host of other Italian boxers from all across the country followed this trend. New Jersey-native and pre-World War I heavyweight contender Andrew Chiariglione claimed his Irish moniker on a Utah boxing card. Irritated by the announcers’ inability to pronounce his surname correctly and anxious to get the fight under way, Chiariglione bellowed, “Oh, hell, just call me Jim Flynn.” From then on he became known as “Fireman” Jim Flynn, the only fighter to ever knock out Jack Dempsey.
The Calabria-born Francesco Conte settled with his family in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he grew up attending Catholic School. When he flattened the school bully one day, his Irish friends started calling him Frankie Conley. He later adopted the alias and in 1910, Conley laid claim to the world bantamweight title when he knocked out Monte Atell. Vincent Esposito, who hailed from South Philadelphia, fought as a flyweight boxer during the early 1930s and changed his name to Jimmy Dugan just to get fights. Later on, he reflected on the South Philly Italian enclave that “all of the fighters down there were (Italians), but almost none of them used their real names.” John DeJohn (Di Gianni) was a member of the famous fighting clan from Syracuse, New York and the eldest son of sharecroppers from Avellino, Campania. He grew up during the 1920s, managing and training Italian boxers through the 1940s and 1950s, and remembered the strain on his fellow countrymen to conform. “The Italians were forced to change their names because the Irish and the Germans were running everything,” he reflected. “They had to change their names otherwise they would have got the worst of it. They got better jobs.”
The famous statue of Rocky Balboa stands outside the Philadelphia Art Museum, right by the steps he ran up in the movie. (Susan Smith)
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ITALIAN-AMERICAN CHAMPION PRIZEFIGHTERS USING IRISH NAMES (1900-1955) Kid Murphy (Peter Frascella) Frankie Conley (Francesco Conte) Eddie Martin (Eduardo Martino) Bushy Graham (Angelo Geraci) Carl Duane (Carlo Iacconetti) Jimmy Perrin (James Lacava) Steve “Kid” Sullivan (Stefano Tricamo) Lou Ambers (Luigi D’Ambrosio) Young Corbett III (Raffaele Giordano) Tippy Larkin (Antonio Pilliterri) Hugo Kelly (Ugo Micheli) Johnny Wilson (Giovanni Panico) George Nichols (Phillip Nicolosi)
1907 world bantamweight title claimant 1910-11 world bantamweight title claimant 1924-25 world bantamweight champion 1928-29 world (NYSAC) bantamweight champion 1923-24 world junior-featherweight champion 1940 world (Louisiana) featherweight champion 1924-25 world junior-lightweight champion 1936-38, 1939-40 world lightweight champion 1933 world welterweight champion 1946 world junior-welterweight champion 1905-07, 1910 world middleweight title claimant 1920-23 world middleweight champion 1932 world (NBA) light-heavyweight champion
While no area remained untouched, having an Irish moniker was a necessary evil just to get a foothold in the boxing arena. It offered more prominent billing on boxing cards and ensured a wider appeal to audiences expecting to see men with the crowd-pleasing qualities that were synonymous with Irish-American prizefighters. But with greater participation and frequent championship success, Italian boxers started to become more visible. As the economic position of Italians improved, vigorous support from the fighter’s local community followed. Italian crowds clamored to see their hero enter the ring under his real name. The boxing landscape started to shift, and shrewd promoters began to exploit neighborhood interethnic tensions by bringing them into the ring. Ticket sales rose, and boxers with Italian names grew to be so common that they started to gain acceptance.
have to face a backlash simply because of their name. They could finally step into the ring under their real names, ones that proudly represented those who came before them. Rolando Vitale is the author of The Real Rockys: A History of the Golden Age of Italian Americans in Boxing 1900-1955. It is currently available in paperback and in ebook format on Amazon.com. Contact him at rv1publishing@aol.com “This book is packed with startling revelations, from the Roman Legionnaires ... to Italian Eurofighter Typhoons. An amazing world tour.”
From the 1920s to the 1950s, Italian boxers with Irish names steadily became a thing of the past. Instead, names like Tony Canzoneri, Jake La Motta (the “Bronx Bull”), Joey Giardello, Carmen Basilio, and Rocky Marciano filled the boxing ring. By the mid-century, Italian boxers didn’t Between 1900-1909 decade 100% of Italian American champions/ title claimants used Irish/Anglicized names. Between 1910-1919 decade 100% used Irish/Anglicized names. Between 1920-1929 decade 62.5% used Irish/Anglicized names. Between 1930-1939 decade 50% used Irish/Anglicized names. Between 1940-1949 decade 36%used Irish/Anglicized names. Between 1950-1955 20% used Irish/Anglicized names SPRING 13 ITALIAN 2016 AMERICA
How Italians Conquered the World Christopher Kelly Stuart Laycock Available at Amazon.com or get your exclusive signed copies bundled with limited edition gifts at W W W . I TA LY I N VA D E S . C O M
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Our Story
Italian American history and culture
How Saint Anthony Saved Little Italy from Burning
The destruction left by the Great Fire of Baltimore. (Library of Congress) On a cold and windy Sunday morning in June 1904, a spark—thought to be caused by a tossed cigarette—ignited the basement of the John W. Hurst Company, a dry goods store. Flames burst up from the basement, engulfing the building and blowing through the rooftop. Wind spread the flames to adjacent buildings, and the fire escalated.
The fire rages through Baltimore. When Fire Chief George Horton arrived, he or(Library of Congress) dered the entire Baltimore City Fire Department to respond. But the fire continued to grow. So Horton called Meanwhile, a priest from on Washington, D.C. to send help. And then he called St. Leo’s led the crowd in Philadelphia, and Wilmington, and even New York City. prayer to Saint Anthony, the More than 1,200 firefighters arrived to combat a fire that patron saint for the recovery was quickly turning Baltimore into ruins. of lost things and people.
Born Fernando Martins de Bulhões (1195 –1231), Saint Anthony was a Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order. He died in Padua, Italy.
Parishioners of St. Leo the Great Roman Catholic Church gathered by a nearby river and watched as the fire headed straight for their place of worship—and all of Baltimore’s Little Italy. They began praying to God and someone cried, “Saint Anthony protect us!” The crowd echoed this plea and a couple of men ran back to the Church to grab a statue of Saint Anthony and a vessel of holy water.
The priest and his parishioners vowed to Saint Anthony that if the Church and their homes were spared, they would honor him with an annual festival.
Baltimore’s Saint Anthony Festival Saturday, June 4 and Sunday, June 5 Visit www.littleitalymd.org
It wasn’t until 31 hours after it started that firefighters extinguished what would be known as the Great Fire of Baltimore. The fire destroyed more than seventy city blocks, causing an estimated $200 million in damage. But St. Leo’s and Little Italy still stood. And to those who prayed for its salvation, Saint Anthony was the one who saved it.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Hughes)
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Then, the Baltimore winds suddenly changed direction. Strong gales blew the fire back, redirecting it away from St. Leo’s and Little Italy and all the homes of the parishioners.
True to their word, the parishioners formed the Saint Anthony Society and the very next year, held the Saint Anthony’s Festival, a festival that still exists to this day. On the first weekend of every June, people gather in Baltimore’s Little Italy for the two-day festival to celebrate Saint Anthony’s miracle—and eat a lot of delicious Italian food. ITALIAN AMERICA
Our Story
Italian American history and culture
Joe Garagiola: A One of a Kind Joe With the passing of Joe Garagiola on March 23 at age 90, we are reminded just how unique a Joe can be. After a modest nine-year big league career playing catcher, Joe spent fifty-seven years in broadcasting where he became one of the most beloved personalities in baseball, much akin to his childhood friend, Yogi Berra. Joe and Yogi grew up in the same St. Louis neighborhood, on which Joe quipped, “Not only was I not the best catcher in the major leagues, I wasn’t even the best catcher on my street.”
Joe’s
memorable career in broadcasting included
calling
Mickey Mantle’s 500th home run.
In 1991, the Baseball Hall of Fame awarded Joe with the Ford C. Frick Award, an annual award given to broadcasters who make “major contributions to baseball.” Then, in 2004, the Baseball Hall of Fame awarded Joe with the Buck O’Neill Award, presented just once every three years for positive contributions to Major League Baseball. In Joe’s case, the Hall of Fame cited his advocacy against smokeless tobacco (which is now being banned in Major League ballparks by cities across the country). It wasn’t just his association to professional baseball that Joe was known for. As a result of his long relationship with the NBC network, he became a regular panelist on The Today Show and guest-hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He also appeared as a host and panelist on numerous game shows. Above all, Joe was an Italian American who represented his roots with pride. As OSIA National Executive Director Philip Piccigallo said, “Like his dear and lifelong friend from St. Louis, Yankee Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra, who passed away last year, Joe was a true son of Italy. He was profoundly proud of his heritage and roots, a strong supporter of our organization, and a believer in the fundamental values of family, country, and community. The world will truly miss this one of a kind individual.” SPRING 15 ITALIAN 2016 AMERICA
Learn Italian
at a Minnesota summer camp! • One-, two- and four-week programs available. High School Credit session also available. • Scholarships available. For details, visit our website. ConcordiaLanguageVillages.org
(800) 222–4750 • CLV@cord.edu ITALIAN AMERICA SPRING 2016 15
The Journey of Donna Gigliotti By Adriana Trigiani
My story starts at sea... a perilous voyage to an unknown land... a shipwreck... the wild waters roar and heave... the brave vessel is dashed all to pieces, and all the helpless souls within her drowned... all save one... a lady... whose soul is greater than the ocean... and her spirit stronger than the sea’s embrace... not for her a watery end, but a new life beginning on a stranger shore.” – Will Shakespeare, Shakespeare in Love
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When the first set of barn doors rolled open to reveal the first scene shot in the first rustic movie studio in Hollywoodland a century ago, Italians rushed to be a part of moviemaking. At first, craftsmanship was the way in for the immigrant upstart, as scenic artists, painters, builders, and seamstresses flooded the front office looking for jobs. Soon, actors like Rudolph Valentino made inroads on camera, and it became chic to be The Sheik. But there were no Italian Americans in positions of power and certainly no Italian-American producers, which makes the miracle of the career of Academy Award-winning Donna Gigliotti one to celebrate, study, and emulate. Whoopi Goldberg, a fellow Oscar winner who worked with Donna on Big Stone Gap, described her as “strong, intelligent, and as sharp as a tack. Like the producers of the Golden Age,” Goldberg said, “she knows how
Donna on the set of Big Stone Gap ITALIAN AMERICA
to pull the elements of the writer, director, and actor together to make a great movie. Her taste in actors is superb.” Indeed, when you study the cast lists of Donna’s movies, you are overwhelmed by their scope and diversity—from Robert DeNiro to Jennifer Lawrence; Gwyneth Paltrow to Robert Downey Jr.; Michelle Williams to Paul Rudd; Taraji Henson to Reese Witherspoon. When you list the directors she has worked with, you are equally enthralled—Mira Nair, Akira Kurosawa, Martin Scorsese, and Stephen Daldry. Donna Gigliotti took the lessons of her Italian-American upbringing and spun them into Oscar gold. Donna’s mother, a Tomaselli by birth, was one of a number of strong, creative women who supported the budding producer. Her father was an executive, so it’s no surprise she can handle budgets, corporate structures, and personalities. Donna’s red-haired blue-eyed grandfather was from the Piedmont region of northern Italy, the hub of Italian invention and production. It’s the home to Olivetti typewriters and computers, Fiat car manufacturing, Barolo wine, and Ferrero chocolate. When Donna was fresh out of Sarah Lawrence College, she moved to New York City with a list of filmmakers she admired, planning to approach them for a job, or at the very least, for advice on how to break into the film business. Inexperienced, but eager and ready to work, Donna became Martin Scorsese’s assistant on Raging Bull. Donna continued working with gifted filmmakers when she went to United Artists Classics and became the director of acquisitions. With her partners Tom Bernard and Michael Barker, she acquired films from JeanJacques Beineix, Francois Truffaut SPRING 17 ITALIAN 2016 AMERICA
Donna produced Adriana Trigiani’s (left) directorial debut of Big Stone Gap, which starred Ashley Judd (middle). and Werner Fassbinder. She moved on with Tom and Michael to form Orion Classics for Arthur Krim, acquiring films directed by Louis Malle, Steven Frears, Akira Kurosawa, Claude Berri and Gabriel Axel. Perhaps Mr. Axel’s acquisition of Babette’s Feast was an omen for Donna, as it won the 1987 Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards.
honed her own point of view about art and artists. Her ability to choose material, scripts, actors, directors, and artisans began in her years of acquiring films for studios. She studied movies from around the world for audiences, living and breathing them. She learned how to negotiate a deal and how to market and distribute films.
Her experience at Orion not only brought her to the world stage of moviemaking and filmmakers, but it
“A
good film is when the price of
the dinner, the theater admission, and the babysitter were worth it.”
– Alfred Hitchcock
Donna was destined to become a producer, to put the entire package together and shape the movie productions themselves. The multiple Tony Awardwinning Broadway producer Daryl Roth shared, “Donna has the qualities most needed in a good producer. She is smart, creative, dedicated, and tenacious, and her films reflect her exquisite taste.” It seemed everyone acknowledged her level of good taste, including the most discerning of institutions. In 1985, the French Republic knighted ITALIAN AMERICA SPRING 2016 17
her the rank of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. Donna was the youngest woman in the Republic’s history to ever receive that honor. Imagine an Italian-American girl celebrated in Paris for her artistic contributions to cinema. I can hear Frank Capra whooping it up from heaven. It was only natural that Donna’s eclectic taste in movies would place her at the top of USA Films, in the inimitable Barry Diller’s film division of his USA Entertainment Group. As Donna took her place in the front office, the company produced a slew of Academy Award winning films including Traffic and Gosford Park.
could not be more contemporary, and therefore the movie was paced with a modern sensibility.
In the mid-1990s, Donna moved on to Miramax, where she oversaw and executive produced Emma, Restoration, and Jane Eyre. Franco Zefferelli’s version of Jane Eyre felt old world Italian in color and tone, though it was executive produced by an Italian-American woman who
Donna produced Doug McGrath’s Emma and later his film, I Don’t Know How She Does It, which was based on the bestselling novel and starred Sarah Jessica Parker. The tireless Parker, known to be fully engaged behind the scenes, has a lot to say about working with Donna.
Donna shows off her Oscar for Shakespeare in Love alongside (left to right) David Parfitt, Harvey Weinstein, Gwyneth Paltrow, Edward Zeick, and Marc Norman. (Everett Collection) “First of all, comparing Donna to both her male and female colleagues, she is one of the greats. After all these years, all the time spent on sets and hunkered down with writers and pushing movies to the finish line, she still loves her work. My experience with her (after hearing about her from just about everyone) was that the day to day of working with her far exceeded my already very high expectations. I found Donna to be serious and diligent about her work and every single detail but simultaneously fun, warm and a respected but generous figure of authority. She is a true fan of actors and seems very devoted to good storytelling. I left my too brief time with her wanting very much to not only find another opportunity to be side by side with her professionally but to remain friends and know her always.” Donna’s reputation led her straight up the stairs to Oscar gold for Shakespeare in Love when it won Best Picture in 1998. It also won the 1999 Golden Globe and 2000 BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) as well, cleaning up the top awards for the great producer of this great film. Donna’s work ethic sustained her, as she was again nominated for an Oscar in 2009 for Stephen
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den Figures, the glorious story of the African-American women who were behind the NASA space expeditions— the women who ran the numbers, performed the calculations, theorized the heavy lifting on paper, and cracked the codes that allowed the astronauts to fly. As a producer, Donna provides the director with everything he or she needs to make the movie of their dreams, so they too, can fly.
Donna takes a very active role in the films she produces. Daldry’s The Reader, which was also nominated for the Golden Globe and BAFTA for best picture.
“Desires,
memories, fears, passions
form labyrinths in which we lose and find and lose ourselves again.”
– Bernhard Schlink, The Reader
Jean Morrissey, Executive Producer of Big Stone Gap, shared an observation about Donna’s consistent and admirable work ethic in the day-to-day grind of filmmaking on the set and the months of post-production that follow. “Every day, on the set and later in the editing room, Donna brought her keen intelligence to her love of filmmaking,” Morrissey said. “She was willing to work as hard as anyone else
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there because she has a real joy and excitement for the work.” That particular joy led her to make exciting choices in films and filmmakers, such as Silver Linings Playbook, a David O. Russell film. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It swept the Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Picture for 2013, and also received four Golden Globe nominations and won the Best International Picture Award from the Australian Academy of Film. Now, Donna runs Levantine Films, a company that has a specific mission: to produce great stories for the underserved audience of women, stories that mirror their struggles, joys, and lives yet aren’t found with any consistency at the local movie theaters. On the horizon for Donna is Ted Melfi’s Hid-
I would know this for sure, because she did it for me. It would not be a surprise to the readers of this magazine that Donna Gigliotti would reach the ultimate ranks in her profession. But the world outside our homes isn’t wrapped in red, white and green ribbons. The reality is, the struggle and the amount of work it took to create and build the stellar career Donna designed, took two attributes that all great craftsmen must possess: strength and taste. In the end, as the credits crawl in the dark, the greatest beneficiaries of Donna’s generosity and vision is the audience, who comes away having been emotionally moved or somehow changed by the experience of the art in the movies. Her movies. Now, that’s Italian, and it’s also American—and it is so perfectly Donna Gigliotti. Adriana Trigiani is a best-selling novelist who wrote and directed Big Stone Gap, a movie produced by Donna Gigliotti.
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Bulletin Board
What’s new: discounts, services and events
2016 National Membership Contest The National Membership Commission is proud to announce the 2016 National Membership Contest, which will be a competition among all the Grand Lodges in OSIA. With your help, your Grand Lodge could win the top prize of $1,000. The rules of the contest are simple: the Grand Lodge with the highest net percentage increase of members (includes both active and social members) for the period starting the 2nd Quarter 2016 to the end of the 1st Quarter 2017 receives a $1,000 cash award to be spent or distributed at the winning Grand Lodge’s discretion. There will also be additional winners for second, third, and fourth places. This contest is different from many of our previous membership contests as it is not just about recruiting new members. Now, not only is recruiting new members a factor, but retaining existing members is also equally important. Because it is based on the net percentage increase and not the total number of members increased, the smaller Grand Lodges have a “level playing field” against the larger Grand Lodges. More importantly, this contest will allow the National Membership Commission to convene at a national meeting after the contest ends and the winning Grand Lodges will be able to share their strategy and ideas with all the other lodges.
The presidents of the Top Five Filial Lodges with the highest net increase in members will be awarded admittance to the Golden Lion Program as a personal reward for their leadership and contributions to the long term success of OSIA. This part of the program will also be administered through the National Office with the assistance of the Grand Lodges. So use your powers of persuasion to recruit new members while retaining your existing members, and your Grand Lodge might take home the top prize and bragging rights. Updates on the contest will be provided throughout the year. The contest will be administered by the National Membership Commission and will use the required quarterly per capita reports submitted by each Grand Lodge to the National Office. Please direct any and all inquiries, questions, or comments regarding the contest to the Chairman of the National Membership Commission, Mark DeNunzio at denunziodds@yahoo.com. 2016 National Membership Contest Prizes First Prize ($1,000) Second Prize ($750) Third Prize ($500) Fourth Prize ($250)
Joseph Tusiani Named New York Win Autographed Children’s Book! State Poet Laureate Emeritus Log into Facebook and follow Order In recognition of contributions made to the international literary community, Governor Andrew Cuomo named Joseph Tusiani New York State Poet Laureate Emeritus last January. Tusiani, who was born in San Marco (Foggia region) in 1924, earned a doctorate from the University of Naples in 1947 before immigrating to the United States later that year. While teaching college courses, Tusiani gained acclaim for his poetry, which he writes in four different languages: Italian, English, Latin, and Apulian. He is internationally regarded as the greatest living modern Latin poet. “I humbly accept this great honor which I consider a public recognition of my lifelong love for poetry,” Tusiani said. He is 92 years old and lives in New York City. SPRING 2016
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Sons of Italy in America’s page for a chance to win a free autographed copy—made out personally to the little one you’re giving it to—of Art Manno’s Bumbino. A story about a little Italian bumble bee that has difficulty finding friends because other animals fear his stinger, Bumbino is a well-illustrated children’s book that incorporates basic Italian words along with a wonderful message about friendship. The contest will be held from May 3 to May 6, so be sure to go on Facebook and click the “Like” button on Order Sons of Italy in America’s Facebook page so that you’ll receive an update when the contest starts. Rules will be posted at the start of contest, and entry will be quick and fun. ITALIAN AMERICA
Speakers Bureau
learn more about your culture & history
Need a speaker for your club meeting or a special event? Contact these experts directly. Some may require travel expenses and/or honorariums. For more speakers see: www.osia.org at “Culture & History.” To apply as a speaker, contact Miles Fisher at mfisher@osia.org • ANYWHERE USA Professional Singer/Entertainer Lawrence Branchetti performs Frank Sinatra along with songs from his own collection of 140 personal recordings. Last December, he performed with Sinatra on an international radio show to commemorate Sinatra’s 100th birthday. Contact: (305) 758-5081 (Florida) Email: lizprod@aol.com Website: www.branchetti.com • ANYWHERE USA “Renaissance Man” and Professional Singer Matthew Phillip FitzGerald speaks on Italian Popular Music and Opera, Sicily (language/culture/ history), Italian as a Second Language, and Italian Art/ History. He spent eight years of his youth in Italy (Rome, Calabria, Sicily) and graduated with a B.A. in Italian Studies from the University of Washington. Contact: (425) 346-6891 (Washington) Email: mpfitzgerald4@gmail.com Website: www.linkin.com/in/ mpfitzgerald4 • NORTHEASTERN/MID-ATLANTIC USA and FLORIDA Author Michael Medico speaks on writing suspense/thriller fiction and tradition direct response marketing. He is the author of The Sainted, a novel about a man who communicates with the saints. It is the first in a trilogy. Book signings. Contact: (631) 4240240 (New York) Email: mmedico1@optonline.net Website: www.thesaintednovel.com • MIDWEST AND BEYOND Associate Professor of English and Italian at Concordia University Eric Dregni speaks on his book Never Trust a Thin Cook: Three Years in the Culinary Capital of Italy. He also speaks on his
ten-year experience as dean of Lago del Bosco, an overnight Italian summer camp attended by kids across the country, and on raising three kids in a bilingual household—what works and what doesn’t. Book signings. Contact: (612) 236-5888 (Minnesota) Email: ericdregni@yahoo.com • NEW JERSEY/NEW YORK AND BEYOND Professor of English at New Jersey City University Edvige Giunta speaks on Italian-American women writers, and also the transmission of Italian cultural memory through storytelling, embroidery, cooking, gardening, and rituals. She also teaches a workshop entitled “Write Your Memoir 5 Minutes at a Time.” She is the co-editor of Embroidered Stories: Interpreting Women’s Domestic Needlework from the Italian Diaspora. Book signings. Contact: (201) 424-1840 (New Jersey) Email: egiunta@njcu.edu • WISCONSIN Author Art Manno speaks on both writing and illustrating children’s books. He is the author of Bumbino, a children’s book about a little bumble bee that incorporates introductory Italian words. Book signings. Contact: (952) 937-7592 (Wisconsin) Email: artman1@q.com Website: www.bumbino.org
Is there an Italian Festival in your area? Find out at OSIA.org! More than 350 Italian Festivals in over 35 states will be listed in OSIA’s 2016 Italian Festival Directory so that you don’t miss out on any Italian celebrations in your area. To access the directory, visit www.osia.org/culture/italian-festival And be sure to share your Festa pictures on the Order Sons of Italy in America Facebook page!
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Italy’s Home Food Movement Gives You a Place at the Table
This apple SPRING 2016 torte 22 was the finale to a delightful
three hours at table with Nicoletta and Fabio.
Made with creamy ricotta cheese and topped with toasted pistachios, Germano’s gelato di ricotta alla AMERICA romana ITALIAN might well be considered una nonna of today’s gelato.
By Peter J. Ognibene
Many of Italy’s best cooks never leave home. They prepare meals in their own kitchen solely for family and friends. If you are fortunate to share such a table when you travel to Italy, you will come to appreciate—at a truly gut level—the skill and joy these wonderful cooks bring to each meal. But many Italian-Americans have little or no contact with relatives in Italy and, when they do visit the country, find few opportunities to meet Italians apart from those they see in hotels, shops, and restaurants. Short of finding a branch of your own family in Italy, there is now a way to meet Italians in their homes and share a meal at their table. An organization known as Le Cesarine has nearly 400 members in 150 locations throughout Italy. These cooks invite guests into their homes to enjoy authentic home-cooked meals, often based on recipes handed down across generations. On our recent trip to Nicoletta’s minestrone is served in colorful china from Deruta, a city in Umbria renowned for its porcelain.
Italy, my wife and I were fortunate to enjoy such unique dining in Milan and Rome—and the stories that came with these delightful encounters.
A Milano!
Before setting off for Milan, we got in touch with our hosts through Le Cesarine and phoned them once we got to our hotel. Milan’s subway and bus network made it easy for us to find our way to their neighborhood, which was just a short walk from Porta Vittoria, where Milanese rebels defeated Austrian troops in the first Italian War of Independence in 1848. We, however, encountered no resistance in the streets as we made our way to the apartment.
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Nicoletta and Fabio were colleagues as journalists for many years before they became a couple and married. The rise of online communications, which has cut deeply into the circulation of print media in Italy as it has in the United States, triggered their early retirement from journalism and led them to turn entrepreneurial. They began entertaining dinner guests through Le Cesarine and renting a separate room in their spacious, book-lined apartment through Airbnb. We also learned that they’d bought a beach house in Brazil that they rented out as well. Though their kitchen was rather small, the two worked harmoniously in close quarters. They started with the dessert, an apple torte (tortine di mele alla cannella), because of its longer baking time. Nicoletta placed it on the lowest rack in the oven. Soon thereafter, Fabio placed a zucchini appetizer on an upper rack. While both courses were baking, Nicoletta served minFabio cleans the food processor that he used to slice the green apples for the torte Nicoletta is preparing.
estrone unlike any we’d ever tasted. For dinner, she combined eighteen vegetables picked from the rich cornucopia of fresh summer produce, cooking them slowly, adding no water so that the richness of the broth came solely from the moisture released as the vegetables were heated. For our main course, Nicoletta had butterflied tenderloin of beef in advance and layered in a frittata with ham, spinach and various herbs. She rolled it up, securing it with string, and cooked it in milk at a relatively low oven temperature (about 250º F) for more than two hours. In addition to this outstanding food, they served wine from their region of Lombardy and engaged us in an ITALIAN AMERICA SPRING 2016 23
Fabio in his New York Yankees baseball cap and Nicoletta.
Germano whisked the risotto for more than 15 minutes, allowing it to slowly absorb water, then blended in pieces of cuttlefish and other ingredients. (Photo courtesy of Le Cesarine)
evening of spirited conversation that went back and forth in Italian and English. Having traveled extensively, including many visits to the United States, Nicoletta and Fabio spoke multiple languages.
eventually persuaded her to have an espresso with him. Today, Germano and his American wife, Kathleen, live in a modern apartment a short walk from Saint Peter’s Square with their five-year-old son, Lorenzo, and three-year-old daughter, Mia.
Our exchange ranged broadly from food to family to politics, and then sports. After touching on soccer, I asked if they had a chance to see a baseball game when they visited the United States. Fabio smiled, bounded from the table, and promptly returned with a New York Yankees baseball cap perched proudly on his head. He proved to be one of the few Italians I’ve met who not only enjoys the sport but also understands its fundamentals. As he was talking, Nicoletta began to smile and slowly shake her head. When Fabio paused for a moment, she interjected, “I don’t understand. All they do is stand around and wait for something to happen.” After this lively exchange, it was time for the apple torte they had prepared shortly after we arrived. Nicoletta brought it to the table, and as she dusted it with cinnamon, I realized it was the perfect finishing touch to our memorable meal. Before we left, we swapped email addresses and phone numbers. At the door, we exchanged hugs and parted with the familiar Italian phrase: “Ci vedremo.” (We’ll see each another again.)
As the family cook, Germano reaches back generations for the recipes he prepares, making abundant use of the fresh seafood and produce available from the specialty grocers and open-air markets that are so plentiful in Rome. While Germano prepared the appetizer—bruschetta with clams—his father Ettore told me the recipe originated with his own father, a butcher in Passo Oscuro, a seaside town west of Rome, who much preferred seafood to meat. Germano started with fresh clams, steaming them open, retaining the liquid, and then lightly sautéing them with garlic, olive oil, and chopped pepper from plants he grows in pots on the deck of the apartment. We went to the kitchen with Germano and watched as he prepared the next course, a risotto with cuttlefish that included flecks of its ink, parsley, finely chopped tomato,
A Roma!
Twelve years ago, Germano stopped his motor scooter at a traffic light in Rome and noticed an attractive woman on a motor scooter next to his. He turned to her and said, “Ciao.” She returned the greeting but said nothing else. When the light changed, he followed her and
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and pieces of those homegrown peppers. The final dinner plate was a tender fillet of cod that Germano coated in a beer batter and deep fried. It arrived at the table along with thinly sliced zucchini that was grilled with oil, parsley, thyme and oregano. With Germano busy in the kitchen and his wife even busier trying to corral their wide-awake children and steer them toward the bedroom, I had an opportunity to practice my Italian with Ettore and his wife Daniela. Both are retired and enjoy the freedom to travel, yet it was abundantly clear that their greatest joy came from spending time with their grandchildren. And though it was not on the “official” menu for the evening, Daniela had baked a cherry torte for the occasion, which she brought to the table when it was time for dessert. It’s hard to imagine Italy without gelato, but before modern machines took over the production of nearly everyone’s favorite frozen treat, Italians whipped eggs and ricotta cheese by hand, incorporating hazelnuts and other flavors to create rich desserts. Drawing on another family recipe, Germano used those ingredients to prepare gelato di ricotta alla romana. Because it needed to be frozen, he prepared it in advance and brought it to the table with Vin Santo, an Italian dessert wine akin to a mild Port.
Germano with his daughter Mia and his father Ettore.
Once the children were finally asleep, Kathleen rejoined us as we were preparing to leave. We expressed our regret at having disrupted their daily routine and said we hoped she might finally get a chance to sit down and have something to eat. “You needn’t worry about me,” she said with a big smile. “I eat quite well here.” Based on the evidence we had just consumed, we could not have agreed more. Peter Ognibene has authored two books and hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. This is his fifth article for Italian America magazine. Contact him at pjognibene@ gmail.com All uncredited photos courtesy of (Kathleen Ognibene)
Check out Le Cesarine at: http://www.homefood.it In the 11 years since its founding, its members have served more than 27,000 meals. Ninety percent of their guests are American. You can choose to browse the website in Italian by clicking on “Percorsi” or switch to English and select “Journeys.” But be warned:This is not something to do on an empty stomach because I guarantee your appetite will be piqued by what you see and read. If you know where you plan to go, put in the city name and peruse the menus. Unless your trip is just a few days off, ignore the dates available or absence thereof. I found the organization and its members to be quite flexible. Once you know the places and dates of your itinerary, send an
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email directly to the organization with your menu preferences at: info@homefood.it Unlike automated dining sites, such as Open Table, which let you directly book a table for a specific date and time with no human interaction, Le Cesarine is very much hands-on.You can email them in English or Italian, indicating the locations, menus, and dates you prefer. Le Cesarine will reply by email to let you know which of your dates and menus are available and the cost per person. Our dinner in Milan cost 50€ ($55) per person; in Rome the price was 65€ ($70) per person. Le Cesarine does not currently accept credit cards, but it does accept payment via PayPal or a wire transfer from your bank.
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OSIA Nation
OSIA LODGES AT WORK Massachusetts Greater Boston Renaissance Lodge #2614 member Philip Privitera made a generous contribution to save a languishing parks project in Brockton, Massachusetts. Three years ago, a 20-foot Rocky Marciano statue was erected in the Brockton’s Rocky Marciano Stadium complex. The surrounding area was meant to become Champions Park, but fundraising for the project dried up, leaving the space undeveloped.
Contemporary ITALIA in the Heart of the Southwest
Fe! a t n o Sa June 1-4 t e Com Festival: 1-30 Film ure: Juntehru JUNE Cuhltactivities wit
help people and make the world a better place,” he said. Rocky Marciano (born Rocco Francis Marchiegiano in Brockton, Massachusetts) is the only World Heavyweight Champion in boxing history to never be defeated. He retired in 1955 with a 49-0 record. Marciano was a member of the Order Sons of Italy in America.
Massachusetts Sons of Italy placed a call-to-arms in a newsletter late last year. When Privitera saw the bare land surrounding the Marciano statue, he felt inspired. Through his Privitera Family Charitable Foundation, he donated the entire $50,000 needed to make Champions Park a reality. Privitera, a National Trustee for the Sons of Italy Foundation for almost twenty years, will be dedicating Privitera Champions Park to the memory of his mother, Jennie “Jean” Privitera. “She fought every day to
Philip Privitera (middle) holds a smaller version of the Rocky Marciano statue. Beside him are Mayor of Brockton Bill Carpenter (left) and former City Councilor Todd Petti. (Photo courtesy of Todd Petti)
Buy tickets online
CineFestaItalia.org
new jersey Enrico Fermi Lodge #2229 of Pennsauken celebrated the long life of OSIA’s oldest member, Phyllis Mignogna, who passed away in February. She was 107 ½ years old.
Partial funding was granted by the City of Santa Fe Lodgers Tax
GOT A GOOD STORY? Have you or your lodge done something remarkable that makes a difference to your community or promotes our heritage and Italian studies? If so, send details including your lodge’s name/number, a brief write-up, and digital photos of 300 DPIs to Editor Miles Fisher at mfisher@osia.org.
SPRING 2016
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Born in Landisville, New Jersey in 1908, Phyllis grew up in a large Italian family with five sisters and three brothers. She attended business school and worked in the legal profession as a personal secretary for judges and attorneys before working for Camden County and retiring at 75 years old. She loved celebrating her Italian culture and its holidays, particularly the
Feast of St. Joseph. Like many in the Philadelphia area, her favorite place to vacation was the Jersey shore. Phyllis was a member of Lodge #2229 for about four decades and served as an officer. ITALIAN AMERICA
OSIA Nation
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Illinois
florida
Italian-American Civic Organization of Berwyn (IACOB) Lodge #2889 received its OSIA charter on October 24, 2015. It brought 60 new members to the Order. IACOB was founded more than 50 years ago. A very active organization, IACOB supports our active military personnel (hosting a Christmas luncheon for those stationed at Great Lakes in Chicago), veterans, schools, and many more worthy causes.
Cuore d’Italia Lodge #2703 of Jupiter, Florida celebrated their 20th anniversary in style with an elegant dinner and dance. Through their 20 years, the lodge has been very active with charities, contributing to Cooley’s Anemia, Alzheimer Foundation, American Cancer Society, Autism Foundation, and the Wounded Warrior Project. Every year for the past 15 years, they have awarded scholarships to two deserving local high school graduates.
“To add a new lodge with 60 chartered members is a wonderful accomplishment,” said Grand Lodge of Illinois/Wisconsin President Marie Marsalli. “My thanks to long-time member of IACOB Frank Amaro, OSIA National Historian Richard Della Croce, and myself for bringing this all together successfully. We anticipate an additional 40 members to join this lodge.” Benvenuto, Berwyn!
Between their celebrations and charity work, Cuore d’Italia certainly lives up to its name: The Heart of Italy.
Marie Marsalli stands at the podium with the newly-elected officers of the IACOB. On her right, in the suit, is Richard Della Croce, and on her left is IACOB Lodge President Michael Cigmaglia.
Lodge President Carole DeVito (in the blue pant suit) poses with lodge officers, trustees, and members of Cuore d’Italia Lodge #2703 at the celebration.
washington Auburn Lodge #1955 member Mary Scoccolo received a National Sons of Italy recognition certificate last January for reaching 75 years as a member of OSIA. Mary originally joined OSIA in February 1940, and last year State President Tony Anderson and Auburn Lodge President Dan Chicketti presented her with a custom made 75th medal on her anniversary date. During her 75 years as an OSIA member, Mary served as a Grand Lodge officer for 30 of them. To put Mary’s extraordinary length of membership into perspective, when Mary joined in February 1940, the average cost of a new house was $3,920; the average yearly wages were $1,725; and the cost of a gallon of gas was 11 cents. Joe DiMaggio was still one year away from his 56-game hitting streak (and Jackie Robinson was seven years away from breaking the color barrier); M&Ms and Cheerios didn’t exist; and John Lennon was just one-month old while Paul McCartney was two years away from being born. Congratulations, Mary, on the achievement of 75 years and all the wonderful experiences you’ve had along the way! SPRING 27 ITALIAN 2016 AMERICA
Mary Scoccolo reflects on her 75 years as an OSIA member. State President Tony Anderson holds the microphone for her. ITALIAN AMERICA SPRING 2016 27
The
Bell That Followed Him Home
Licata’s Palazzo di Citta, where Toscani’s bell still hangs to this day. SPRING 2016
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ITALIAN AMERICA
By Miles Ryan Fisher
The 35-year-old major stepped out of the olive green army jeep. The pebbles in the road crunched beneath his boots. He looked at the ravaged Sicilian town of Licata, assessing the damage the World War II front had left behind after it blew through the island and moved onto Italy’s mainland. Tasked with helping the town rebuild, United States Army Major Frank Toscani entered the Palazzo di Citta, the town’s City Hall that had a clock atop its tower and, above the clock, an empty space where a bell once hung. He climbed marble stairs and entered an ornate room, much more elaborate than what he preferred. Seventy feet long and thirty feet wide, the room was lined with paintings and furnished with heavy black furniture. Toscani made this his office, in spite of its fine décor. His door, however, would remain open so that the people of Licata could come to express their needs and voice their opinions. It was a place where they would not simply be heard—they would be listened to. The moment Toscani settled in, a couple of townsmen came into his office, pleading him for work. Toscani, whose parents emigrated from Florence to New York City, responded in their native tongue. He gave the men work, but before they left, he asked something of them. He asked them for an answer to a simple question. What does this town need most? Food, the first one replied. A bell, the other replied. The two started bickering over what was more essential—food or a bell. Toscani understood why food would be essential. But a bell? Why, he wondered, would anyone in a town SPRING 29 ITALIAN 2016 AMERICA
Under his supervision, the town of Licata flourished. A people who were downtrodden regained their spirit. And while regaining that spirit, Toscani found them their bell. He managed to locate an extra bell from a Navy ship and arranged to have it delivered to Licata. Three days before the bell was unloaded at Licata’s docks, Toscani was transferred to Palermo, Sicily. He never saw it arrive. The bell, however, was far from being a part of his past. Frank Toscani was honored with the rank of Commander from the Crown of Italy. (Erik Skytte)
devastated by war say it needed a bell above all else. What he’d yet to understand was that in many Italian towns, life revolved around its town bell. It rang to announce births and celebrate marriages. It rang to mourn deaths. It rang to signal the end of the workday, the time when men could go home to their families. The bell was their spirit. And Licata’s bell had been commandeered by Mussolini just a few days before the Americans arrived. Their 700-year-old bell had been taken down from the Palazzo di Citta in order to be melted and molded into gun barrels for the Fascist army. Though it wouldn’t be easy, and as odd as it still sounded to him, Toscani made this his top priority: he would find Licata a bell. Amidst his efforts to obtain this bell, the Major focused on enabling the townspeople. He opened up roads for food carts. He opened up waterways for fishing boats. He provided the town with order. But above all, he brought the people a sense of respect through the fairness with which he governed.
At the end of the war, Toscani returned to New York City. It was the city where he was born in 1911 and raised by first-generation parents, whose struggles prompted him to drop out of school in ninth grade in order to get a job. He drove trucks before becoming a clerk with the New York Sanitation Department. In 1935, Toscani married Georgiana Santini, and the following year he enlisted for the National Guard in order to supplement his income. Five years later, his unit was activated for World War II, sending Toscani to Greenland and North Africa before fighting in Operation Husky, the Allied Invasion of Sicily one month after D-Day. Then came his mission to find a town bell. When he returned home, he transitioned back to civilian
In the movie, Major Victor Joppolo convinces one of Licata’s fishermen that the fish they catch are for the people and that they will not have to pay bribes or extra taxes to the Americans as they had done for the Fascist government. ITALIAN AMERICA SPRING 2016 29
life, working as a sales manager for the Santini Brothers warehouse and moving business (co-owned by his father-in-law). But Licata’s bell didn’t leave Toscani. Rather, it followed him back to the United States—in the form of an award-winning novel. A young reporter for Time Magazine named John Hersey had visited Licata during Toscani’s tenure and learned about his mission to find the town a bell. This story inspired Hersey to pen a “fictional” novel named A Bell for Adano. In it, Toscani’s name was changed to Major Victor Joppolo and Licata was changed to Adano. But the resemblances were clear—from Joppolo’s assignment to oversee the recovery of a small Sicilian town, his mission to replace a beloved bell, and his steady, levelheaded demeanor. The novel even went so far as to describe Major Joppolo’s job prior to the war as a civil servant. A Bell for Adano went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1945 and became a Hollywood film as well as a Broadway play the following year. This upset Toscani so much that he sued Hersey and the 20th Century-Fox Film
Democracy is this: democracy is that the men of the government are no longer the masters of the people. They are the servants of the people. What makes a man master of another man? It is that he pays him for his work. Who pays the men in the government? The people do, for they pay the taxes out of which you are paid. Therefore, you are now the servants of the people of Adano. I too am their servant. When I go to buy bread, I shall take my place at the end of the line, and I will wait my turn.
Major Victor Joppolo, A Bell for Adano
Corp. for $225,000 (almost $3 million today). However, it wasn’t that they were using his story that upset Toscani. It was the fact that they were using two things that weren’t true to his story that upset him. Or more accurately speaking, upset his wife. In the novel, Hersey introduced a romance between the married Major and an Italian girl. Toscani’s wife apparently didn’t take too kindly to this. Toscani, himself, didn’t appreciate how Hersey had his character defy General Patton’s direct orders, leading him to be removed from his position and demoted (when in reality Toscani was promoted from major to lieutenant colonel).
Two years after publishing his Pulitzer-prize winning novel, Hersey penned Hiroshima, which is perhaps even more well-known. SPRING 2016
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Ever reasonable, Toscani met with Hersey to discuss the matter in person, meeting for dinner at, quite fit-
tingly, the Bell for Adano restaurant in New York City. Toscani explained his points of contention to Hersey, and by the end of the dinner, the lawsuit was settled—Hersey agreed to donate all his profits from the film to the American Red Cross. Toscani didn’t earn a penny from his own story. So Toscani was left to walk the streets in relative peace even though his story was nationally known. There was, however, a distant town that still recognized him—and did so on a daily basis. It wasn’t until 1962, almost two decades after his assignment, that Toscani returned to Licata. He finally set his eyes on the bell he’d brought to them. And for the first time, he heard it ring. During the three days he visited, Licata’s town bell rang every hour on the hour in his honor. When asked about it four years later, Toscani laughed. “Sometimes I think I can still hear it,” he said. Miles Ryan Fisher is the Editor-inChief of Italian America magazine. He thanks Frank E. Marra, who served as Staff sergeant to Lieutenant Colonel Frank Toscani during part of the war, for his help with this story.
Lieutenant Colonel Frank Toscani died at the age of 89. For his military service, he received numerous honors, including the Bronze Star. He is buried at Frederick Loescher Veteran’s Cemetery in New Hempstead, New York. (Ginny M)
The movie—“A Bell for Adano”— can be viewed for free online at http://www.youtube.com
ITALIAN AMERICA
From the National
WHAT NATIONAL DOES FOR YOU
From the President’s Desk By Daniel J. Longo, President of the Order Sons of Italy in America® During the month of February, the Order Sons of Italy in America lost two icons of our organization. The Honorable John G. Spatuzza, Esq. served as National President of OSIA from 1975 through 1977. In Chicago in 2014, the Supreme Council honored him with the title of National President Emeritus. The Honorable Robert A. Messa served as National President of OSIA from 2001 through 2003. Brother Bob was instrumental in creating the State Lodge of Pennsylvania. Last year at our Biennial Convention in Florida, he was named National President Emeritus. Both these gentlemen were dedicated to OSIA and their contributions were beyond measure. They will be missed but their memory and contributions to OSIA will live forever.
Your Participation is Essential! Sons of Italy Membership Survey
The National Membership Commission has developed an online member satisfaction survey in order to measure the opinions and desires of the active and social members. The information gained from the responses will be used to guide OSIA in making changes and improving the organization for the general membership. The satisfaction survey is being administered through the website Survey Monkey at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JGKX3RH The survey is also available on the OSIA website at www.OSIA.org. Just click on the “2” button under “New Features”. The survey is completely anonymous and only takes 5-10 minutes to complete. There is even a section at the end to share any concerns or ideas you may have to improve our beloved Order. Thank you in advance for participating in this important project. To ensure security and data integrity only one survey response will be accepted from each individual computer. For questions or comments regarding the member satisfaction survey please e-mail the National Membership Commission Chairman, Mark DeNunzio, at denunziodds@yahoo.com SPRING 31 ITALIAN 2016 AMERICA
This past February, we held a very successful Executive Session in Baltimore. These meetings set the stage for the changes needed to begin the processes of implementing “Best Practices,” financial oversight, and compliance. Our congratulations to National Orator Christopher Cannatella for developing and presenting an overview of governance, fiduciary responsibilities, and compliance as it applies to 501(c)(8) and (c)(3). Membership has shown a modest increase. I encourage all State, Local, and Subordinate Lodge Presidents to concentrate their efforts on membership retention and growth. As we enter the summer months and your events unfold, please remember to include information about OSIA, SIF, CSJ, and our Italian heritage. Share what we are proud of and encourage your family, friends, and neighbors to join us. Have a wonderful spring and summer! Sempre Avanti,
In Memoriam
John G. Spatuzza OSIA National President Emeritus
Robert A. Messa OSIA National President Emeritus ITALIAN AMERICA SPRING 2016 31
®
The Sons of Italy Foundation
®
HELPING THOSE IN NEED
The Worthy Ways We Give Back
By Joseph DiTrapani, President
As our 28th National Education & Leadership Awards (NELA) Gala approaches, I would like to take the opportunity to say how honored I am to be a part of the incredible projects and causes the Sons of Italy Foundation supports—and how proud I am for what the foundation has accomplished in its 57-year history. The SIF/OSIA has raised and donated more than $165 million for medical research, domestic and international disaster relief, cultural preservation (notably promotion of the Italian language), patriotic causes, and Veterans charities. For example, the SIF has donated:
morial, and was a founding underwriter of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and the World War II Memorial. It has also been—and continues to be—a leading sponsor of Veterans causes, such as the Wounded Warrior Project, Gary Sinise Foundation, Disabled Veterans National Foundation, and Luke’s Wings. Together, the SIF and OSIA have contributed more than $64 million to scholarships for outstanding young Italian-American students. This philanthropy would not have been possible without the past twenty-seven years of NELA Galas, which have raised more than $32 million. So please join us for the 28th Annual NELA Gala this May 26 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.
• Nearly $3 million to the Cooley’s Anemia Foundation
Be part of a wonderful night dedicated to both our Italian heritage and the act of giving as we continue to uphold the basic ideal: Make it better.
• Nearly $300,000 to Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism, Inc.
For more information on the NELA Gala, visit: www. osia.org/nela-gala or call (202) 547-8115.
• More than $2 million to the Alzheimer’s Association
• $13.5 million to the March of Dimes The SIF was the largest non-police, non-corporate sponsor of the National Law Enforcement Officers Me-
Massa Wins SIF 2016 T-Shirt Design for Second Straight Year In 2015, Anthony Massa of Addison, Texas submitted the winning artwork for the 2015 Sons of Italy Foundation® T-shirt Contest. The 2016 SIF T-Shirt Contest received many impressive and worthy entries, but it was one of Massa’s entries that was picked, making him a winner of the contest for the second consecutive year. When asked if he will defend his title in 2017, Massa remarked, “The plan is to try at least one more time.” The contest runs from October to January, but it’s never too late to start thinking of the design that will dethrone Massa! Anthony Massa’s winning design SPRING 2016
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Along with a free t-shirt, Massa also received a copy of Boze Hadleigh’s 492 Great Things About Being Italian. ITALIAN AMERICA
®
The Commission for Social Justice
fighting defamation
The CSJ Perspective By Kevin Caira, President
The past few months have been troubling for me and the CSJ. It seems that mounting an attack against Columbus has become a popular trend. The States of Colorado and Utah mounted attacks. The City of Seattle mounted an attack. Brown University and the University of Utah mounted attacks. The Southampton School District in New York mounted an attack. And many more lie in wait, trying to erase recognition for Columbus Day. But your National CSJ—along with State CSJ Presidents and Grand Lodge Presidents—have not been quiet. We have been campaigning against the rebranding of Columbus Day into Indigenous People’s Day. And let me be clear that we support an Indigenous People’s Day—just not in place of our day. Yet the unfair trial on Christopher Columbus continues. It pits present-day morals against a courageous man who lived in the 15th century. If that’s a reasonable thing to do, then wouldn’t it be proper to do so against our forefathers? Against George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom owned slaves? Perhaps that day will come. And perhaps Christopher Columbus stands at the front of a long line of celebrated historical figures destined to be attacked.
by writing to state congress, local officials, and college presidents who are threatening to rewrite history. If we let them take away Columbus, they not only take away the contributions of a man whose courage led to globalizing the world—they also take away our heritage. I ask you to support Italians in other parts of the country. When you hear of Columbus Day being threatened elsewhere, write letters and emails to those who have influence over it. And I ask that you support our endeavors at a national level. We will continue to campaign to preserve Columbus Day—but we need your help! Every contribution counts, no matter the amount. Mail your check today to: CSJ Save Columbus Day Initiative 219 E Street, NE Washington, DC 20002
This is why we all need to voice our disapproval. We need to come together to protect our Italian heritage
Shop to Give Did you know that both OSIA and the CSJ participate in iGive, the same program that has raised hundreds of dollars for the SIF? iGive is a free way to generate donations by shopping online at more than 1,700 retailers (including Amazon. com and most major stores).
Support any of the three by joining iGive via their respective links below: http://www.iGive.com/OSIA http://www.iGive.com/CSJ http://www.iGive.com/SIF SPRING 33 ITALIAN 2016 AMERICA
ITALIAN AMERICA SPRING 2016 33
The Perfect Gift
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Letters to the Editor While I enjoy the Sons of Italy Magazine, the magazine regularly brings up the Stereotyping of Italian/Americans through the movie industry. This is 2016! While an active member in my community, I have never seen this of any sort! People respect you for who you are. It’s not about where you’re from or what some Hollywood movie makes up about some small group of similar ethnicity … it’s about you as a person! I think it’s time to stop the hype about stereotyping! Dominic DiNino Sons of Italy Shasta Lodge #2453 I truly enjoyed each article in the magazine. I liked the page on Lisa Scottoline, her grandparents are also from Ascoli Piceno. Perhaps I’ll invite her over to make some olive all’ascolana! Lorraine Haddock
CHECK IT OUT! Visit your OSIA web site WWW.OSIA.ORG for updates on the latest OSIA news, reports & issues. SPRING 2016
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“Agnoli understands how the pendulum has swung from his father’s time of assimilation to today and the unapologetic self-promotion of one’s ethnicity in the public square.” - PRIMO Magazine
Archway Publishing http://bookstore.archwaypublishing.com/Products/ SKU-000926255/Edge-City.aspx. PRIMO Magazine For and About Italian Americans http://www.onlineprimo.com/. Order Online Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com Author: Rdiangelica@aol.com ITALIAN AMERICA
Italian America® Italian America® Magazine is produced by the national headquarters of the Order Sons of Italy in America®, 219 E Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 202/547-2900. Email: nationaloffice@osia.org OSIA National Executive Director Philip R. Piccigallo, Ph.D. Office Manager Andrea Beach Director of Programs and Development Diane Crespy Editor Miles Ryan Fisher Social Media/Communications Coordinator Carly Jerome Administrative/Scholarship Coordinator Laura Kelly Executive Assistant Katie Vivian Italian America® is the official publication of the Order Sons of Italy in America® (OSIA), the largest and longest-established organization of American men and women of Italian heritage. Italian America® provides timely information about OSIA, while reporting on individuals, institutions, issues, and events of current or historical significance in the Italian-American community nationwide. Italian America® (ISSN: 1089-5043, USPS: 015-735) is published quarterly in the winter, spring, summer and fall by OSIA, 219 E St. NE, Washington, DC 20002. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C., and at additional mailing offices. ©2015 Order Sons of Italy in America. All rights reserved. Reproduction by any method without permission of the editor is prohibited. Statements of fact and opinion are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily imply an opinion on the part of the officers, employees, or members of OSIA. Mention of a product or service in advertisements or text does not mean that it has been tested, approved or endorsed by OSIA, the Commission for Social Justice, or the Sons of Italy Foundation. Italian America® accepts query letters and letters to the editor. Please do not send unsolicited manuscripts. Italian America® assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials. Annual subscriptions are $20, which are included in dues for OSIA members. Single copies are $4.95 each. OSIA MEMBERS: Please send address changes to your local lodge. Do not contact the OSIA National Office. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Italian America®, 219 E St. NE, Washington, DC 20002. Subscriptions are available through the OSIA National Office, 219 E Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002. OSIA membership information is available at (800) 552-OSIA or at www.osia.org. Archives are maintained at the Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn. Printing by Printing Solutions Inc., Sterling, Va. To advertise: Call Pat Rosso at 215/206-4678 or email her at pieassociates2@att.net. Also see www.osia.org for advertising rates, specs, demographics, etc. SPRING 35 ITALIAN 2016 AMERICA
By Miles Ryan Fisher Editor-in-Chief, Italian America Magazine
A little more than a year into this position, one thing has become quite clear to me: Italian Americans are mighty proud of their heritage. This may go without saying because, of course, there’s the exquisite cuisine and full-bodied wine, the high fashion and fine art, the classical music and extraordinary architecture—all this and more which makes Italy’s culture second to none. But I’ve noticed that the pride comes from something that extends far deeper, something that reaches a place that is much more personal. I’ve noticed that so many of us are very in touch with our individual roots—still very connected with the ones who came before, the ones who struggled in order to give each of us the opportunities we are afforded. Many of our ancestors came from nothing. That’s not an exaggeration. The more one reads about the conditions in Italy just a century or two ago, the more one learns of the conditions in early twentieth century America for those who emigrated, the more you find hardship. Not simply a hardship that tests strength, but the hardship that tests survival. Of my great-grandparents who came over in the early 1900s, there’s one that always stands out to me: Grandpa with the hat. That’s what he was called because he always donned a fedora. In 1913, he left Abruzzo and crossed the Atlantic when he was just fifteen years old, holding one suitcase and speaking not a word of English. When he arrived, he started working in a factory that manufactured chain systems for automobiles. He married a young woman from Terracina, had two children (one of them my grandmother), and worked in that same factory for more than four decades. He never again saw his family back in Italy. When he was 84 years old, just a year before he died, he met me as a newborn—the only great-grandparent to do so. And I always wondered what he thought when he set eyes on me. Did he think of all he’d gone through in his life? Did he think of the struggles he’d endured—ones he’d never get to tell me about—ones that would give me opportunities? But maybe what’s more important is that I think about these things. I think about the opportunities that I’ve been given all because, like so many of us, someone came before me who didn’t have those opportunities—and then lived a life that created them for those who would follow. And I can’t think of anything that makes me more proud.
ITALIAN AMERICA SPRING 2016 35
Piacere!
Pleased to meet you, Pat
Pat Venditte Pat Venditte became the first ambidextrous pitcher in Major League Baseball history when he made his debut last summer as a relief pitcher with the Oakland Athletics. At a young age, Pat learned how to throw with both arms, spending hours with his father in the backyard of their Nebraska home. He walked on at Creighton University, playing for four seasons and becoming an All-American before being drafted by the New York Yankees in 2008.
Pat pitches for the A’s in 2015. His father Pat Sr. is a former officer of Christoforo Colombo Lodge #1419 and his mother Janet is a current member. (Keith Allison)
His ability to throw with both arms not only brought a new kind of excitement to Major League Baseball, it also required the league to create a brand new rule, known as the “Pat Venditte Rule.” The rule states that the pitcher must declare which arm he will throw with before the at-bat and then pitch with that arm for the entire at-bat. Pat currently pitches in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. What role did your parents play in your young sports life? My mother and father have provided tremendous support to my baseball career. They are two people who led by example and were there to support me and make sure I had all of the things that I needed to chase my dream. I would not have been able to achieve any of my goals without them. You experienced a lot of success in the minor leagues, yet it took awhile before you got your shot in the big leagues.Talk about how you handled that. Baseball has taught me about patience, hard work, and believing in the process of getting better every day. Two things that my college coach would always say helped me get through the trying times of reaching the majors. “Don’t give in.” “Just keep going.” Sounds simple but those words have been some of the best advice I have ever received. Few players have ever altered the game enough to create a new rule. What was your reaction when you found out baseball created a rule that would be referred to by your name? That part might be something that I appreciate down the road, but right now it is just a unique part of what I do. SPRING 2016
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What was the experience of representing Team Italy in the 2013 World Baseball Classic like? Surreal. I can’t tell you how proud and fortunate I felt to represent Italy. We had some success as well, and hope to build off of that in 2017. Since then, I have participated in the European Championship in 2014 where we placed second, losing to the Netherlands in the final. Every chance I get to play for the Italian National team, I will be there.
If you were coaching a little league team, what would be the most important thing you’d want your players to learn? The process of getting better every day is the most important part. Winning today for a ten-year-old does nothing for his future. However, instilling the value of practicing and playing hard every day will play a much more important role as that player gets older. Whoever can overcome the most challenges and bring a positive attitude every day will, in the end, be the most successful. How did your family come to settle in Nebraska? My great grandparents came from Vinchiaturo (Molise region) and settled in Omaha around the turn of the century. Over one hundred years later the Venditte name is carried on with pride in the same neighborhood on the edge of downtown Omaha. Are there any specific Italian restaurants you look forward to when you’re on the road? Of course! Mazzaros Deli in St. Petersburg, Florida; Brothers Pizza on Staten Island, New York; and Tony’s Pizza in San Francisco’s Little Italy are at the top of my list. Do you think that you’ll inspire kids to pursue switch-pitching? As far as that goes, I believe that it will influence others to try. It is, however, a very time-consuming and at times frustrating skill to learn. With the proper guidance from parents and coaches as well as positive attitude and putting in the practice hours, I could see there being a bit of a spike in those who try to pitch with both arms.
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