Panoram Italia Vol. 2 No. 2

Q U A R T E R LY • T R I M E S T R A L E • T R I M E S T R I E L

OUR GRADUATES IL NOSTRO FUTURO

DIRITTO DI VOTO ALL’ESTERO YES OR NO? YES OR NO?

CAST YOUR VOTE

FERRARI

60 ANS DE GLOIRE

COVER

NANCY COLAGIACOMO ONE OF US • UNA DI NOI

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I TA L I A

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I TA L I A

PANORAM Q U A R T E R L Y PUBLISHER AND EDITOR Tony Zara EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Filippo Salvatore MANAGING EDITOR Mario Di Flavio COVER PHOTO Geraldo Pace PRINTING Accent Impression DESIGN I ART DIRECTOR Accent Impression I Manon Massé TRANSLATIONS Filippo Salvatore COVER HAIR STYLIST Lora Colagiacomo Académie de coiffure Bellezza CONTRIBUTORS Filippo Salvatore Mario Di Flavio Laura Casella Joey Franco Daniela Scoppa Massi Miliano Aicha Cissé Gabriel Riel-Salvatore Sabrina Marandola Claudio Antonelli Maria Loggia Joanne Latimer Giovanna Guaiani Ciampini

Index Editorials ............................. 13, 14 Dossier................................. 15-20 Stories....................................... 41 Business.................................... 26 Graduates ........................... 34-37 Wine.......................................... 39 Events ........................... 49-51, 57 Gastronomy ........................ 46, 47 Our towns.................................. 48 Profile ................................. 24, 28 Music .................................. 52, 53 Fashion................................ 42, 43 Sports ............................ 56, 58-60

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Our Cover W

hen you hear people say, “That person wears several hats” it’s usually a metaphor. In Nancy Colagiacomo’s case it is literally quite true.

For this wife, mother of two, police captain and recent graduate, changing hats is not simply an expression, it’s a way of life. Nancy is the youngest of four daughters born to Augusto and Filomena Colagiacomo. They settled on the corner of Mozart and Dante in Little Italy when they first arrived from Frosinone, which is in the Lazio Region of Italy, between 1959 and 1960. Nancy was an introverted child who loved school and kept to herself but enjoyed the closeness of family. They stayed there for four years until they moved to St-Leonard. “My dad had a scrap metal company and my mom worked in a sewing factory.” says Nancy. By the time she reached high school, Nancy had come out of her shell and become quite the outgoing person. “That’s when I started dreaming of becoming a police officer…” Since she first joined the Brossard Police Force in 1989 at the age of twenty-one, Nancy has been promoted three times. From Constable to Sergeant, then Sergeant Detective, then Captain in the North District in Longeuil. She has also completed two certificates, one in Police Administration, the other in Industrial Relations, both at l’Université de Montréal. Most recently she has earned a Masters Degree in Public Administration from l’Université du Québec à Montréal, and is always looking to pursue even higher goals. “ I like to be challenged” says Nancy, “especially if someone tells me I can’t do something!”. Nancy’s first obstacle came when she decided to become a police officer. “ At first my parents were not exactly thrilled, they were hoping I would do something a little more traditional. But it’s something I’d wanted since I was thirteen, so they gave me their support and are very proud of me now.” Colagiacomo attended John Abbott College and the Police Academy, one of the few women in the program at the time. “There were about thirty women and several hundred men. When I joined the force, the women had to wear male uniforms, things have certainly changed!” In her eighteen years as an officer Nancy has been involved in her fair share of physical confrontations and high speed pursuits, but speaking to her, one cannot deny her complete femininity, the lady, wife and mother always comes through. “ I’ve been in fights and chases, but I like to say, I’m a woman first, then a police officer.” She also happens to be a marathon runner, participating in 3 races per year. Colagiacomo credits her achievements to her active personality and thirst for knowledge, but says she couldn’t do it without the love and encouragement of her husband Jacques Cardinal, also a police officer, and her two children, Julian and Karina. Interestingly, of all the experience that her career has brought her, Nancy says, “Being a police officer has made me appreciate my Italian heritage even more, it has made me realize the value of our type of upbringing, not everyone has the good fortune to be raised and taken care of like we are.” Well put, Captain.

Mario Di Flavio, Managing Editor. v

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sando una metafora, si dice “quella lì porta molti cappelli”. Nel caso di Nancy Colagiacomo l’espressione corrisponde a pura verità.

Moglie, madre di due figli e capitano di polizia e da poco laureata, portare diversi cappelli non è semplicemente un modo di dire, è uno stile di vita. Figlia di Filomena ed Augusto Colagiacomo, è la più giovane di quattro figli. Al loro arrivo a Montreal nel 1959 dalla provincia di Frosinone, i Colagiacomo sono andati ad abitare all’angolo di

Mozart e Dante nella Piccola Italia. Di temperamento introverso, Nancy preferiva da bambina starsene per conto suo a scuola, ma le piaceva il calore famigliare. I Colagiacomo hanno abitato nella Piccola Italia per quattro anni e poi sono andati a vivere a Saint Leonard. “ Mio padre aveva una ditta di rottamazione di metalli, mentre mia madre lavorava con una macchina da cucire in una fabbrica”, ricorda Nancy. Nel frequentare la scuola media superiore, avviene in lei una profonda trasformazione. Smette di essere la ragazzina timida e diventa un’adolescente espansiva “ E’ da allora che ho cominciato a sognare di diventare poliziotto. Nel 1989 all’età di ventuno anni, si arruola nella polizia della città di Brossard. Da allora ha ricevuto tre promozioni, da agente a sergente, a sergente investigativo, a capitano nel Distretto Nord di Longueuil. Ha ottenuto anche due certificati, il primo in Amministrazione Poliziesca ed il secondo in Relazioni Industriali, entrambi all’Université de Montréal. Ha da poco ottenuto un Master in Amministrazione Pubblica all’Université du Québec à Montréal. Ed intende perseguire mete sempre più alte. “Mi piace essere messa alla prova, soprattutto se mi si dice che non ci riuscirò”.

Il primo ostacolo da sormontare è stato quello della scelta di diventare agente di polizia. “Lì per lì la mia scelta non piaceva affatto ai miei genitori; avrebbe preferito che facessi qualcosa di più tradizionale. Ma arruolarmi nella polizia è qualcosa che ho voluto fare da quando avevo tredici anni. Mi hanno così appoggiata e da allora sono molto fieri di me.”

Colagiacomo ha frequentato l’Accademia di polizia del John Abbott College, una delle rare donne a farlo ai suoi tempi.

“Eravamo una trentina di donne e diverse centinaia di uomini iscritti all’Accademia. Quando mi sono arruolata le donne dovevano portare la divisa da uomo, ora però le cose sono molto cambiate!” Nella sua carriera che dura da diciotto anni Nancy ne ha viste di cotte e di crude, da scontri fisici e risse ad inseguimenti ad alta velocità. Colpisce tuttavia nel parlarle la sua femminilità di donna, di moglie e di madre.

“Sono stata coinvolta in risse ed inseguimenti, ma preferisco dire che sono prima di ogni cosa donna e poi agente.” Nancy, tra le tante altre cose, è anche maratoneta e partecipa a tre corse all’anno. I risultati ottenuti sono certo il frutto della sua personalità e del continuo desiderio di conoscenza, ma anche dell’amore e dell’incoraggiamento di suo marito Jacques Cardinal, anch’egli agente di polizia e dei suoi figli Julian a Karina. Nel considerare quello che ha appreso ed acquisito nella sua carriera, Nancy sottolinea “Essere agente di polizia mi ha fatto apprezzare ancora di più la mia eredità italiana, in quanto mi ha fatto rendere conto del valore del modo in cui sono stata cresciuta ed amata; non tutti hanno la fortuna che ho avuta io.” Ben detto, capitano. v

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n dit, en utilisant une métaphore, elle porte plusieurs chapeaux. Dans le cas de Nancy Colagiacomo ce dicton correspond à la vérité.

Elle est mère de deux enfants, femme, capitaine de police et, depuis peu, graduée universitaire.

Porter différents chapeaux est donc pour elle un style de vie. Elle est la plus jeune des quatre enfants de Filomena et Augusto Colagiacomo qui sont arrivés de leur Frosinone natal à Montréal en 1959. Ils sont allés vivre dans le quartier de la Petite Italie, coin Mozart et Dante. Toute petite Nancy était timide et préférait rester seule, mais elle adorait la chaleur qu’elle recevait de sa famille. Après quatre ans de résidence dans la Petite Italie, les Colagiacomo sont allés vivre à Saint Léonard. « Mon père avait un commerce de ferraille, tandis que ma mère travaillait avec une machine à coudre dans une usine» dit Nancy en se souvenant. Une pro-

Nancy Colagiacomo fonde transformation dans son tempérament a lieu pendant qu’elle fréquente l’école secondaire. Elle n’est plus la fillette timide d’autre fois, elle devient une adolescente expansive.

«C’est depuis cet age là que j’ai commencé à rêver de devenir un agent de police. En 1989, à vingt un ans, elle s’engage dans la police de la Ville de Brossard. Elle a reçu depuis ce temps-là trois promotions: agent à sergent, sergent détective et capitaine dans le District Nord de Longueuil. Nancy a obtenu aussi deux certificats, le premier en Administration Policière et le second en Relations Industrielles, les deux de l’Université de Montréal. Elle vient de terminer une maîtrise en Administration Publique à l’UQAM. Elle entend relever des défis toujours plus glorieux. «J’aime bien relever des défis, surtout si l’on me dit que je ne réussirai pas.»

La première difficulté à surmonter pour elle a été son choix, devenir agent de police. «Au commencement mes parents n’aimaient pas mon choix, ils auraient préféré quelque chose de plus traditionnel. M’engager dans la police a toujours été depuis l’âge de treize ans ce que j’ai voulu faire. Alors ils m’ont appuyé et maintenant ils sont fiers de moi.

Colagiacomo a fréquenté l’Académie de Police du collège John Abbott, une des rares femmes à le faire à ce temps-là. «Nous étions une trentaine de femmes et plusieurs centaines d’hommes quand je me suis inscrite à l’académie. Quand je me suis engagée, les femmes devaient porter l’uniforme d’homme, mais maintenant les choses ont bien changé.»

Pendant sa carrière qui dure depuis dix-huit ans, Nancy en a vu de toutes les couleurs; des affrontements physiques à des courses en voiture à haute vitesse. Ce qui frappe en lui parlant, toutefois, est sa dimension féminine d’épouse et de mère. «J’ai été mêlée dans des rixes et dans des poursuites, mais je préfère dire que je suis d’abord et surtout une femme et ensuite un agent de police.» Parmi tant d’autres choses Nancy est aussi une coureuse de marathon et participe à trois compétitions chaque année.

Les résultats qu’elle a obtenus sont certes le fruit de sa personnalité et de son désir continuel de connaissance, mais ils sont dûs aussi à l’amour et à l’encouragement de son mari Jacques Cardinal, agent de police lui aussi et de ses deux enfants Julian et Karina. En considérant ce qu’elle a atteint dans sa carrière et grâce à son expérience, Nancy souligne: «Être agent de police m’a fait apprécier encore plus mon héritage italien, car je me suis rendue compte de l’importance des valeurs familiales et de l’amour que j’ai reçu de mes parents. Ce n’est pas tout le monde qui peut en dire autant et qui a eu ma chance.» Bien dit, capitaine! v

EDITORIALE

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Editorial

by Filippo Salvatore

Right to run for office from abroad for Italian nationals: Canada should oppose it

1. The number of members of parliament should be reduced by half.

2. The Senate ought to be the expression of the 20 regions.

The small regions( such as Valle d’Aosta or Molise) should be given 2 seats and the big ones (Lombardy, Sicily, Latium, Campania, Piedmont etc) a maximum of 10.

3. A political party should receive the support of at least 5% of the electorate before being allowed to send representatives to both the Camera dei Deputati and the Senate.

4. The right to run for office at every institutional level should be limited to two mandates.

5. The Prime Minister should be elected directly by the voters 6. The electoral ridings “abroad”, as stipulated in the so-called Tremaglia law, must be abolished.

Here are some further comments on point 6.

In the 2006 national elections 12 mps and 6 senators were elected amongst Italians living abroad. They were allowed to run and be elected by means of ballots each voter received in the mail. This resulted in many cases of rigging.

A year later it can safely be said that by and large the election of mps and senators from “abroad constituencies” is of very little use. Our representatives at the Camera and at the Senate have either fallen into step with a specific political party or are simply yes-men.

(The case of senator Pallaro from Argentina is unique). The role that our 18 representatives from abroad play is insignificant and their claim that they are the true spokespersons of the needs of Italians living outside of Italy

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can easily be challenged. Italian professional diplomats, as well as the elected members of CGIE (Consiglio Generale degli Italiani all’Estero – General Council of Italians Abroad) and of Com.It.Es (Comitati Italiani all’Estero – Committees of Italians Abroad) perform the same function. Their role is simply redundant.

This leads me to the conclusion that the Tremaglia electoral law, when looked at a year after its implementation, is striking for both its juridical and political incongruence. Its incongruent nature from a juridical point of view is the fact that it is an undeniable form of Italian meddling into the national sovereignty of other countries. From a political point of view the right to be a candidate from abroad and run for office in the Italian Camera and Senate has shown itself to be useless and the electoral process lends itself to abuse and rigging. Only the “professionals” of emigration still defend the Tremaglia electoral law.

The Italian language media published outside of the country have not been able or have simply refused, for their own ulterior economic motives, to underline the abstruseness of this law and continue, with rare exceptions like this one, to present it as a great conquest. They commit a big mistake by so doing.

The same grave error was committed by the Quebec Chapter of the Italian-Canadian National Congress when it took a public stand in favour of the Tremaglia electoral law and recommended to federal Prime Minister Harper to renew the agreement with Italian authorities.

It has been a few months that a rumour is circulating that the Canadian Federal Government will prevent Italian nationals (the vast majority of whom are Canadian as well as Italian citizens or landed immigrants) from being candidates and holding an election on its soil for a foreign parliament.

This makes a lot of sense because the federal government, if it takes this decision, will simply reassert a basic right of international law: the principle of national sovereignty. The almost unanimous opinion of Canada’s Italian communities agrees and will go along with such a decision.

The probable “refusal” by the Canadian government ought to be the occasion for Italian legislators to think anew about who should have the right to vote and about the modalities to exercise it.

The new Italian electoral law should include the following three principles: 1. Italians residing abroad should retain the right to vote for a candidate in a riding located on Italian soil at every level (national, regional, provincial and municipal).

Almost all countries, Canada as well, grants this right to their citizens.

2. Each elector should ask the local Italian consulates for the right to vote, which should be exercised in a way that guarantees its secrecy.

3. An Italian expatriate loses his/her right to vote if he/she has been residing abroad for more than 10 years with the exception of those who own property on Italian soil and pay taxes. The sound principle of no representation without taxation would apply. v

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JAGUAR LAVAL-IL VOSTRO STILE-IL NOSTRO SERVIZIO. JAGUAR LAVAL

Should Italian nationals permanently residing in Canada be allowed to run for office and wage a political campaign on Canadian soil to be elected to the Italian parliament and Senate in Rome?

Yes

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he striking features of the Italian political reality, as it is perceived from abroad in 2007, are its factiousness, the suffocating stronghold of the many parties and its huge size. Immediate and profound changes are needed in order to make of Italy a true democracy both de jure and de facto. Here is my take on the matter and some of the necessary modifications to bring about to the electoral law and political representation in both the Camera dei Deputati (Lower House) and in the Senate.

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EDITORIALE

Editorial

La legge Tremaglia sul diritto di voto all’estero va emendata I deputati ed i senatori eletti all’estero o si sono aggregati ad un partito oppure sono dei semplici yesmen. (Pallaro non fa scuola). Il ruolo che svolgono è minimo e la loro utilità come portavoce dei bisogni degli italiani residenti all’estero è senz’altro dubbia. Ci sono già il CGIE (Consiglio Generale degli Italiani all’Estero) ed i COM.IT.ES. (Comitati degli Italiani All’Estero) che svolgono questo ruolo,oltre a tutta la rete diplomatica.

Dopo un anno dalle ultime elezioni nazionali la legge Tremaglia appare in tutta la sua incongruenza giuridica 1. Ridurre di metà il numero dei deputati al parlamento. e politica. Giuridica perché è una innegabile ingerenza nella sovranità nazionale dei vari paesi e politica perché il diritto 2. Riformare il senato per farne l’espressione delle regioni passivo di candidarsi dall’estero alla Camera ed al Senato con un minimo di due senatori per le regioni piccole italiani si è rivelato inutile e suscettibile di numerosissimi (Valle D’Aosta o Molise) ed un massimo di 10 per brogli ed è difeso solo dai “professionisti” del mondo quelle grandi (Lombardia, Sicilia, Lazio, Campania, dell’emigrazione.

Piemonte ecc.)

La stampa italiana all’estero, con rare eccezioni, 3. Ricevere minimo il 5% dei voti per avere diritto di non ha saputo o voluto mettere in evidenza le astrusità essere rappresentati in parlamento o al senato. della legge Tremaglia e continua a presentarla come una grande conquista. Grave errore. Qui in Canada persino il 4. Limitare a due mandati il diritto di candidarsi alle Congresso Nazionale degli Italo-Canadesi R.Q. ha preso elezioni a tutti i livelli istituzionali. pubblicamente posizione a favore del mantenimento della 5. Elezione diretta del primo ministro. legge elettorale Tremaglia, sbagliando grossolanamente.

Circola da qualche mese la voce che il governo 6. Eliminazione delle circoscrizioni estero previste dalla federale canadese impedirà che gli italiani (molto spesso con legge Tremaglia. doppia cittadinanza, italiana e canadese) stabilmente residenti sul suo territorio possano candidarsi per un parlamento estero Sul punto 6 (e quindi alle prossime elezioni nazionali italiane).

L’eliminazione dei collegi elettorali estero, vorrei Si tratta di sano buon senso e della difesa di un fare qualche considerazione. sacrosanto principio di sovranità nazionale che la Le elezioni del 2006 hanno permesso a 12 depustragrande maggioranza della nostra comunità accetta. tati ed a 6 senatori stabilmente residenti all’estero di candiSarebbe auspicabile quindi che il probabile “rifiuto” darsi e di farsi eleggere (con voto per corrispondenza che ha canadese costituisse l’occasione per i legislatori italiani di dato adito a tanti brogli) in Italia. Dopo un anno si può ripensare completamente a chi concedere il diritto di voto fare un primo bilancio sulla loro nswer utilità e sul ruolo che e le modalità da seguire per usufruirne. svolgono. Il bilancio è senza mezziinfo@panoramitalia.com termini negativo.

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a realtà politica italiana del 2007 è dominata dalla faziosità, dalla partitocrazia e dal gigantismo.

Vista dall’estero essa risalta per tutte le sue mastodontiche incongruenze che andrebbero cambiate o eliminate per farne una vera democrazia de jure come de facto. Mi permetto di intervenire sulla questione e proporre alcune modifiche da apportare alla legge elettorale ed al sistema di rappresentazione alla Camera dei Deputati ed al Senato.

La nuova legge elettorale italiana dovrebbe attenersi a questi tre principi: 1. Va mantenuto il diritto di voto attivo, ossia poter votare per un candidato in una circoscrizione italiana, e va esteso anche alle elezioni regionali, provinciali e municipali.(quasi tutti i paesi, Canada incluso, concedono questo diritto ai propri cittadini).

2. Il diritto di voto va richiesto alle autorità consolari e deve espletarsi in modo da garantirne la segretezza.

3. Il diritto di voto si perde dopo 10 anni di residenza permanente all’estero, a meno che l’elettore possieda beni immobili in Italia e paghi le tasse fondiarie. v

Domanda:

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www.rimarvw.com

I cittadini italiani residenti in Canada dovrebbero avere il diritto di essere candidati e di fare una campagna elettorale sul territorio canadese per essere eletti alla Camera dei Deputati ed al Senato a Roma?

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di Filippo Salvatore

R ispondere a info@panoramitalia.com

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Dossier Editorial

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DOSSIER EDITORIALE

Riflessioni personali sull’Incontro dei Ricercatori Italiani in Quebec sul tema ‘Cervelli in Fuga’, Novembre 2006 di Federico Rosei

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novembre 2006 si è svolto presso l’istituto italiano di Cultura di Montreal un incontro dei ricercatori Italiani in Quebec (…) dedicato al tema dei ‘Cervelli in Fuga’. Si tratta di un tema che ci tocca tutti da vicino dato che siamo quasi tutti scienziati italiani che hanno lasciato l’Italia temporaneamente (la minoranza) o permanentemente per via di condizioni precarie in patria a fronte di opportunità di lavoro e di ricerca molto migliori all’estero.

Per iniziare la discussione ho letto alcuni racconti del libro ‘Cervelli in Fuga’, pubblicato nel 2001 (www.cervelliinfuga.it) a cura dell’Adi (Associazione Dottorandi e Dottorati di Ricerca Italiani).* Ho scelto alcuni episodi particolarmente drammatici, per provocare un dibattito il piu animato possibile, sapendo che tra i presenti vi erano anche alcuni che avrebbero in qualche modo difeso il sistema Italia. I protagonisti raccontano di angherie e soprusi vissuti in patria da parte di baroni, a fronte di trasparenza, meritocrazia e conseguente successo all’estero.

Il dibattito è stato molto animato ed è durato più di due ore. La maggior parte dei presenti era d’accordo sul fatto che la situazione in Italia per la ricerca è disastrosa e largamente inaccettabile.

Alcuni idealisti hanno puntualizzato che in Italia in vari settori e regioni geografiche esistono dei Centri di Eccellenza; si sono dichiarati disposti a ritornare per dare il loro contributo e cercare di migliorare la situazione. Personalmente ho sempre rifiutato questa prospettiva, in quanto non sono disposto a sacrificarmi per chi non è interessato ad ascoltare e soprattutto non è interessato a cambiare lo status quo. Troppe volte ho sentito dire ai colleghi italiani rimasti in italia che ‘all’estero è diverso, è tutto più facile’, come se fosse tutto un eldorado, come se bastasse varcare le Alpi per essere inondati di onori e gloria automaticamente, senza muovere un dito. Se tornassi in Italia dovrei penare per ottenere i fondi di ricerca necessari per mettere su lo stesso tipo di laboratorio che ho a Montreal, per non parlare della riduzione di stipendio e della probabile ostilità dei nuovi colleghi. Ho lavorato duramente per creare il mio gruppo di ricerca a Montreal, e tornare in Italia significherebbe fare un passo indietro nella carriera, ricominciare quasi dalla gavetta.

Alcuni hanno giustamente rigirato il discorso in una prospettiva costruttiva, chiedendosi che cosa possiamo fare per cambiare la situazione. Pur trattandosi di una prospettiva lodevole, forse anche auspicabile, personalemente la trovo poco realistica – non vedo come un gruppo di ricercatori italiani residenti su un altro continente e senza una voce da esprimere sulla penisola possano contribuire a cambiare la situazione.

D’altro canto, personalmente noto che prima ancora di guardare al problema della ricerca, l’Italia dovrebbe riformare la propria Economia, da tempo sull’orlo del disastro.

Molti dei problemi della ricerca (mancanza di meritocrazia, eccessiva gerarchia, concetto di posto fisso come un diritto naturale, anziché una meta difficile da conquistare) sono insiti nei problemi dell’Economia del nostro paese – li si ritrova nella gestione dell’Alitalia, di Telecom Italia, delle Ferrovie dello Stato e di molte altre aziende italiane. Anche per questo è importante parlare di questi problemi, sensibilizzare l’opinione pubblica – perché sono legati a molti altri problemi del nostro bel Paese.

In quest’ottica, l’unica speranza di cambiare il mondo della ricerca risiede nel creare una volontà politica che attui una riforma volta a promuovere l’innovazione e le prospettive a lungo termine, similmente a quanto fatto per esempio in Corea del Sud.

Occorre agevolare le imprese, in particolare le spin-off, con finanziamenti statali flessibili a fondo perduto e deduzioni fiscali; e premiare l’interazione tra Università e industria.

Secondo la mia analisi personale, per cambiare il panorama della ricerca scientifica in Italia occorre: (a) introdurre chiari e trasparenti criteri di meritocrazia, anche allo scopo di cambiare la mentalità dei ricercatori; (b) la meritocrazia chiaramente prevede che alcuni vengano promossi e altri vengano bocciati. Il sistema attuale non lascia sbocchi per i ‘bocciati’. In Nord America, chi non riesce a fare carriera in campo accademico può sempre trovare un lavoro in industria. Ma in Italia non esistono veri e propri laboratori industriali che facciano ricerca e sviluppo.

Questo crea una situazione insostenibile, in quanto la maggior parte dei laureati e dottorati delle facoltà scientifiche ambiscono a rimanere nell’Università (che ne può assorbire solo una piccolissima frazione) e nei laboratori del governo come il CNR o l’ENEA, che sono essenzialmente dei grossi apparati burocratici. In altre parole, il sistema attuale non è in grado di assorbire la maggior parte dei giovani formati essenzialmente a spese dello stato con prospettive di lavoro a lungo termine.

Per attuare questi cambiamenti bisogna sicuramente sensibilizzare l’opinione pubblica, ma soprattutto fare pressione politica. L’Italia ha delle grosse similitudini con la Corea e il Giappone (ovvero anche Taiwan e Singapore): nessuno di questi paesi può contare su sostanziali risorse naturali. Per sopperire a questa mancanza, la Corea e il Giappone hanno scelto di investire nell’unica loro risorsa, cioè la loro popolazione, puntando su educazione, formazione, ricerca e sviluppo. Il loro successo scientifico, tecnologico ed economico è dovuto in larga parte a questa scelta di investimento nel lungo termine.

D’altro canto l’Italia punta sul turismo (che non è più competitivo, anche a causa degli aumenti di prezzo legati all’adozione dell’euro) e all’esportazione di prodotti a basso contenuto tecnologico (che quindi sono facili da imitare a minor prezzo, se si è in condizioni di usare manodopera a basso costo) quali sedie, mobili e vestiti. Chiaramente, si tratta di settori economici fragili, che non possono rendere competitivi nell’attuale mercato mondiale basato su informazione e tecnologia.

Personalmente trovo incredibile che l’Italia, membro del G7 (cioè uno dei sette paesi più industrializzati e quindi più ricchi del pianeta) possa permettersi di esportare cervelli e importare calciatori. A questo proposito trovo ridicole le recenti iniziative del Ministro per la Ricerca Scientifica (Mussi) volte al ‘Rientro dei Cervelli’. Rimango dell’opinione che il problema reale non sia quello della ‘Fuga dei Cervelli’ e quindi di un loro possibile ‘Rientro’. Invece il problema reale è il fatto che il sistema della ricerca in Italia non è competitivo (mentre il Campionato di Calcio Italiano lo è anche troppo). Se il nostro sistema fosse competitivo, a nessun ‘Cervello’ verrebbe in mente di ‘fuggire’; gli stranieri vedrebbero l’Italia come una meta di lavoro ambita e prestigiosa (come lo sono adesso per esempio gli Stati Uniti, il Giappone, il Regno Unito, la Svizzera, la Germania, il Canada, ecc.); e il ‘Rientro’ avverrebbe su basi competitive e mettendo a disposizione vere risorse e infrastrutture, non su leggine fatte ad hoc per accontentare qualche nostalgico e forse abbindolare l’opinione pubblica. v * Nota: nel 2005 l’Adi ha pubblicato un secondo volume, intitolato ‘Cervelli in Gabbia’, dedicato ai ricercatori che sono tornati o rimasti in Italia.

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Il SIAL di Montreal : Un incontro positivo fra comunità italiane Gabriel Riel-Salvatore

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n occasione della prestigiosa rassegna internazionale del SIAL di Montreal 2007 dedicata alla gastronomia mondiale, ospitata nel palazzo dei congressi dal 28 al 30 marzo scorso, la Regione Lazio è stata ospite d’onore. Nel corso di questo appuntamento, il più importante in Nord America, PanoramItalia ha avuto modo di incontrare L’Assessore Regionale all’Agricoltura Daniela Valentini durante la sua permanenza a Montreal, insieme alle 25 aziende con la loro vasta filiera agroalimentare che spaziava dalla Porchetta di Ariccia, ai funghi, all’olio extra vergine d’oliva, al pecorino Dop, ai dolci tipici.

L’Assessore Valentini ha voluto incontrare i diversi rappresentanti della comunità italiana in Canada che conta circa 2 milioni di residenti, 300 mila nella sola Montreal, di cui il 9% proviene dalla stessa regione Lazio. «È da li che vogliamo partire per fare in modo di incentivare la domanda, le iniziative e le esigenze di promozione dell’Italia, di Roma e del Lazio … poichè si tratta di una comunità che ha saputo mantenere forti i contatti con il nostro Paese. Questa presenza contribuisce all’internazionalizzazione della cultura dei nostri territori e alla diffusione della loro produzione agroalimentare.» È proprio questo legame che la regione Lazio cerca di promuovere contribuendo a varie operazioni che spingono sempre più avanti nuove strategie di sviluppo di mercato aiutando gli italiani all’estero e gli agricoltori locali a difendere e promuovere la loro identità. «È questa la nostra forza, il nostro orgolio come italiani : di rappresentare cose semplici ma preziose.»

Finanziati con i fondi del nuovo Programma di Sviluppo Rurale (PSR) la partecipazione a quest’evento ha permesso di effettuare un grande lavoro di promozione e di commercializzazione sul mercato nordamericano, variegato e attento alla qualità e all’eccellenza dei prodotti ma anche di riunire i produttori locali che hanno bisogno di questa comunità «at large» per sostenere e mantenere viva la loro propria cultura. Affermare questa volontà di crescita e di scambio è il dovere di ogni istituzione secondo il parere della Valentini. «Faremo il possibile affinchè i contatti siano personali e diretti. L’Italia è andata avanti e noi la vogliamo riportare qua con un immagine forte, Europea, viva !» Ci auguriamo che questo sia l’inizio di una nuova dinamica politica che possa meglio rispondere ai bisogni degli italiani. v

Assessore Regionale all’Agricoltura Daniela Valentini Regione Lazio

foto: Laura Camia

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Facts and fiction about organized crime in North America

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rganized crime, commonly referred to with the label “mafia” has gained such a wide currency that we read, and hear, about not only the Sicilian Mafia, the ItalianAmerican Mafia, the Italian Mafia in Canada but also other Mafias, including the Japanese, Russian and Israeli Mafias, the Donagal Mafia in Irish politics, the ethnic and regional mafias that run the literary world in the United States, the Berkeley mafia in Indonesian development and the Saskatchewan mafia that left to work in Ottawa. The purpose of this article is to point out that conventional knowledge about the mafia in Sicily is a rich mix of facts and fiction, which has the effect of distorting our understanding of criminality in Canada.

1. Organized crime has almost always lurked in the shadowy underside of organized society as far back as biblical times. There was organized crime in Canada and the United States well before the mass emigration from Italy and Eastern Europe since the 1880s.

2. What makes Sicilian organized crime historically stand out are two things: the coinage of the term “mafia” and the selling of protection. These traits have given the Sicilian underworld a particular color since it was first noticed in one setting in the late 1860s.

3. Facts and fiction in the history of the mafia range along several dimensions: (i) Contrary to conventional wisdom, the mafia has seldom, if ever, been a single, unitary, overarching criminal organization, acting as a kind of privatized Leviathan. For this reason, most researchers do not capitalize the word mafia because they have not found a single organization known as “the” Mafia. The news media have not yet noticed this. (ii) The mafia phenomenon is variable, not constant. It has been historically present only in some, but not all, of the 179 cities, towns and villages of Western Sicily. We still do not quite know why mafia groups did not develop in Eastern Sicily. (iii) Not all the known mafia groups started as criminal gangs. (Some emerged as illegal regimes of self-reliance, some as remnants of the revolutionary movement for the liberation of Sicily, some as forms of private protection, and others still as forms of draft resistance; the Italian central government and the national media would often use the term mafia to describe Sicilian opposition to the central government or to account for anything that went wrong in Sicily, as a kind of deus ex machina.) (iv) Mafia groups are neither permanent nor endurable. They have self-destructed. (v) Sicilian immigration to the Americas did not automatically carry on its back the transplantation of mafia groups. The very few immigrants who turned to a life of crime were not “born criminals.” They became criminals for local reasons, like Prohibition, in the New World (see the research by F.Varese, Law and Society Review, June 2006).

4. For a long time, Villalba was hailed as the mafia capital of Sicily. Yet the mafia as a group emerged there only around 1908, and it died roughly when its leader, don Calò Vizzini,

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by Filippo Sabetti*

died in 1954. Throughout the 1960s the Villalba mafia was kept alive as a myth by antimafia professionals who had a vested interest in keeping the fiction alive. Since the 1880s, generations of Villalbesi emigrated to places like Chicago, Montreal, Buenos Aires, Buffalo, New York, and Trenton, New Jersey. It seems that only one villager, Angelo Bruno, who moved to Philadelphia in the late 1920s, became involved in organized crime. He came to North America in his early teens and turned to a criminal career only when he became an adult. The Villalba mafia did not transplant itself to any known American city, or Montreal.

5. Even the Corleone mafia has ceased to be the local outlaw regime it was in the immediate postwar period. Again, no evidence of transplantation to America.

6. Since the late 1980s, the Palermo city hall has become an institutional force for checking machine politics and boss rule – something unthinkable as late as the early 1970s, when I first did field work in Western Sicily.

7. If the disappearance or self-destruction of the mafia can happen in notorious towns like Villalba and Corleone, if the mafia can be marginalized in public life as it has happened in Palermo, it should not be too hard to consider that the same may have also happened in less important mafia centers in Western Sicily. Take any standard Italian history of the mafia and you will be hard pressed to find Cattolica Eraclea even mentioned there.

8. The preceding points suggest, that it is possible to remove the shadows and false lights that obscure the history of criminality in Sicily. The same should be possible in Canada but, unfortunately, the very use of the term “the Mafia” is a hindrance to understanding.

9. Efforts by the police to rid our society of criminal elements, as long as the laws of the land are respected, are commendable. But when Canadian police and the media argue that an organized crime structure involving Canadians of Italian origin closely matches “the” mafia in Sicily, they reveal how little they know about organized crime in Sicily.

10. The terms “mafia” and “mafiosi” should be used to label illicit enterprises and people in Canada only if it can be shown that local criminals are a transplanted branch plant or subsidiary of criminal organizations in Sicily (or Calabria). Otherwise the label “mafia” is inappropriate because it skips over the fact that people turned to a life of crime here and because it automatically conjures up a link between ethnic origin and criminality. The link is, at best, spurious and, at worst, abhorrent. The naming of the Montreal police operations after personalities and places of classical Rome, in November 2006, revealed a prejudicial mindset. To suggest, as some Montreal investigative reporters and some RCMP officers have, that criminality is an Italian family and ethnic tradition should be dismissed as lazy sensationalism, and treated, by concerned citizens, human rights advocates and the judiciary, as verbal violence against truth and as moral lynching of all Canadians of Italian origin. v * Filippo Sabetti, professor of political science at McGill University.

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Under the shadow of the Vatican Pius IX, Monsignor Ignace Bourget and the Risorgimento in French Canada

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s a Montrealer I have always been fascinated to know why so many traces (names of streets, such as Pie IX or Mentana or churches such as Marie Reine du Monde a replica in miniature of Saint Peter’s) in the city where I live recall Italy or the catholic church in Pope Pius IX the 19th century. How did Quebec react to the process of Italian political unification or Risorgimento? The more I got interested in the bilateral relationship between Italy and French Canada, the more I came to realize that Rome, because of its continuous presence and the complexity of issues it was called upon to decide or resolve, is entitled to be considered with Paris and London the third capital of Canadian history.

Ignace Bourget and Ultramontanism The special link between Rome and Montreal, was brought about by Pope Pius IX and the second catholic bishop of Montreal Ignace Bourget (1799-1885).

From the 1830’s to the 1950’s two diametrically opposed currents of ideas dominated the social reality of French Canada: ultramontanism and liberalism.

Ultramontanism first rose in France during the French Revolution as a reaction to the secular ideals of the Enlightenment. It demanded and defended the supremacy of religious over civil society. The cornerstone of its defenders was the unconditional fidelity to the person of the pope and the belief in the doctrine of his infallibility. Ultramontanism emerged in French Canada between 18201830 first in the Séminaire de SaintHyacinthe thanks to the influence of Felicité Lamennais and later in Montreal thanks to its first Catholic Bishop, Jean-Jacques Lartigue.

Lartigue’s successor was Monsignor Ignace Bourget, “a zealous, energetic, authoritarian and very Roman-minded prelate.” It was under Bourget’s leadership that ultramontane ideas asserted themselves in every field: theology, education, church-state relations etc. both in the huge new parish of Montreal and in most of French Canada.

The 1871 census gave Quebec a population of about one million, three quarters of which were French. Although dominant in their homeland they were outnumbered two to one in the newly constituted Dominion of Canada. Montreal, profiting from the fastpaced development of Upper Canada, grew rapidly and passed from 57,751 in 1851 to 90,323 in 1861 to 115,000 in 1871. By 1867 Montreal had become the metropolis of Canada and its port had become the center of the British import and export trade. In 1861 the Montreal population was still more English than French and it was the English Canadians that held the reins of power.

The French Canadian leadership asserted as a reaction its frenchness and its catholic faith, This aggressively protective form of catholicism was spurred after 1850 in the Montreal area by repeated missionary efforts of English-Canadian protestants to break up the religious homogeneity of the French and by attacks on the catholic Church from sources outside Quebec. A good example of this attempted protestant onslaught are the so-called Gavazzi riots in Quebec City and in Montreal in 1853. Because of their close link with an important episode of the Italian Risorgimento, (the Roman Republic of 1848-9 and Pope Pius IX’s reaction to its rise and demise) the Gavazzi riots deserve a close scrutiny.

By Filippo Salvatore

On June 6 Gavazzi gives a speech in Quebec City at the Free Presbyterian Church. A riot results when members of the local Irish catholic community react violently to Gavazzi’s anti-popish sentiments. Only a military escort saves him from being lynched.

Three days later he leaves for Montreal where he repeats his anti PIUS IX diatribe at the Zion Church. In the ensuing riot between Gavazzi’s armed protestant supporters and their Irish opponents standing outside, the police loses control and Montreal mayor Charles Wilson calls a detachment of the local garrison. The mayor who is a Catholic is accused of having given the order for the soldiers to shoot. They open fire on the bellicose crowd. 110 are killed and 50 are wounded.

These violent episodes in Quebec and Montreal illustrate the kind of religious fanaticism so frequent in the course of the 19th century.

Monsignor Bourget’s role in building the basilica Marie Reine du Monde Under Monsignor Bourget’s leadership the clerical hold on the catholic population of Quebec becomes strong and increases over his long life. Between 1841 and 1881 he took seven long trips to Europe and to Rome, his beloved city.

On July 8, 1852, the great Downtown Fire occurred which destroyed the Archbishop’s Palace and the Cathedral. He had to move his residence to St Joseph Hospice and began dreaming about a new cathedral. In 1854 Mgr Bourget bought the present site (René Lévesque/Place du Canada) for the new cathedral in the south west part of the town, well beyond Saint Laurent boulevard, the symbolic divide between French and English Montreal. The solemn laying of the corner-stone of the new cathedral, built according to the plans drawn by Victor Bourgeault, took place on the 28th August, 1870. In addition to choosing the site, Mgr Bourget also chose the style of the architecture.

In October 1854 he had undertaken his third and longest trip to Europe. He only came back in July 1856. On December 8 1854 he was in Rome for the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception by the venerable PIUS IX. It was during this trip that he first thought to make his future cathedral a copy of Saint Peter’s. When in Rome again at the time of the Vatican Council in 1870 he decided definitely of making the cathedral of Marie Reine du Monde a replica, on a smaller scale, of Saint Peter’s in Rome wishing thereby to demonstrate concretely the intimate union between the Church in Canada and the Holy See. Marie Reine du Monde covers about one quarter of the area of Saint Peter’s.

In 1885 Archbishop Fabre ordered the completion of the building begun by Mgr Bourget. For seven years it had not been touched. In 1886 the dome was completed and in August the cross was lifted into place. The original cast-iron was replaced in 1958 by a 24 foot aluminum cross weighing 1200 pounds. In 1894 the Montreal cathedral began its liturgical life. In 1904 it also became a separate parish and in 1910 was constituted a minor basilica.

The similarity of the two basilicas is rendered even more compelling by the baldacchino. Beneath the cupola stands a faithful reproduction of the great baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s baldacchino. It is made of red copper, fashioned by hand and later decorated with gold leaves. This is the work of Victor Vincent who completed it in Rome in the year 1900. It was donated to the cathedral by the Sulpician Fathers.

It is only fitting that a man like Monsignor Ignace Bourget is buried in the bishops’ mortuary chapel. Its’ side aisles are decorated with paintings depicting incidents of the founding and colonization of Montreal. A Montreal artist, Georges Delfosse, is the author of several historical paintings depicting, among others, the martyrdom of the Jesuit fathers

The Gavazzi Riots In 1853 Alessandro Gavazzi , a former priest and Italian patriot who had participated with Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1849 in the Repubblica Romana and had considered pope Pius IX a reformist, was invited by anti-popish protestants to North America. From England, where he had found refuge after he had converted to protestantism, he travelled to New York and Philadelphia. From there he went to Toronto, and later to Quebec City and Montreal where he made anti-papal speeches with the slogan Delenda Papago (the papacy must be destroyed).

Cathedral of Marie Reine du Monde

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Breboeuf and Lalemant and the martyrdom of father Nicolas Veil and his disciple Ahuntsic.

Another feature that underlines the historical role played by Mgr Bourget in defense of the Holy See is the Chapelle du Souvenir.

Monsignor Ignace Bourget was a born pilgrim and he felt the need to renew himself spiritually first and foremost in Rome, which for him was the source of spiritual life and of truth. On his trips to Rome he brought back a special love for the capital of catholicism and for the pope, as he made c lear i n h i s numerous pastoral letters.

During his first trip to Rome he made a retreat at the “Gesù”, a retreat he renewed each The “Baldacchino” in the Cathedral of Marie Reine du Monde time he would return to the Eternal City. He made many visits to the authorities of the Roman Congregations and convinced the Jesuits to return to French Canada. He allowed them to build their impressive looking headquarters the Grand Séminaire with pierre de champ grise along Sherbrooke St West almost facing the Masonic Temple, a part of town dominated either by free masons or English speaking protestants.

In 1867 when Giuseppe Garibaldi tried to capture Rome for the new Kingdom of Italy, the Zouaves who were mostly French waited for him at Mentana and prevented him from attacking Rome.

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Two French Canadians and one English Quebecer served with the Zouves in their early days, while in 1867 Bishop Bourget of Montreal decided to raise a contingent of Canadian Zouaves, although the Pope had only appealed for financial aid and not for volunteers. This is the historical background that explains the reason why an important street in Montreal is named Mentana.

The participation of the French Canadian contingent of Papal Zouaves is a minor episode of the Italian Risorgimento notwithstanding the boasting of heroism found in the Chapelle du Souvenir inside the basilica Marie Reine du Monde. Its true historical significance however lies in the fact that it widened the gap between French and English in Canada, because Garibaldi was considered a hero by the English speaking world and the defense of the temporal power of the Pope was not a very popular cause outside Quebec.

The departure of the French Canadian Zouaves for Europe also brought to the fore the conflict between the ultramontanes and the liberals known as Les Rouges or Parti Démocratique which gathered at the Institut Canadien founded in 1844. The political ideas of the members of the Institut were inspired by the republican ideas of the deist and anticlerical Louis Joseph Papineau who, like Camillo Benso di Cavour in Italy advocated “ libera chiesa in libero stato”. Their staunchly anticlerical positions caused the animosity of Mgr Bourget and later of Mgr Louis-François Laflèche who mobilized journalists and conservative politicians to establish control of education and to reform laws in conformity with canon law. Surveillance of civil legislation by the episcopate became the norm after a bitter fight against the Institut Canadien that lasted 30 years(1858-1885) and which saw the final victory of the ultramontanes.

Ultramontane thought came to dominate French Canadian society from the second half of the 19th century until the 1950’s.

Politicians and journalists like Henri Bourassa, founder of the daily Le Devoir and historians like Lionel Groulx have been the faithful disciples of Mgr Bourget. It took the death of Maurice Duplessis in 1959 to end what has been defined as the “grande noirceur” and to start, with the victory of liberal Jean Lesage in 1960, La Révolution Tranquille . It took as well a new, vibrant group of young intellectuals like Pierre Elliott Trudeau and their magazine Cité Libre in the late 1950’s as well the calling of Vatican Council II to bring about an ideological aggiornamento and the final separation between church and state in French Canada.

Despite the critical judgment being expressed nowadays by historians on Bourget’s religious and political ideals, he remains a towering figure of French Canada.Today Mgr Bourget’s bronze statue cast by artist Philippe Hébert, a former Zouave, unveiled on June 24 1903, stands impressively on the Cathedral Square, the place so dear to his heart. v

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Tu vuo fa l’americano...

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l ridicolo vezzo di adottare parole tratte da una lingua straniera – oggi soprattutto l’inglese – sostituendo con queste termini italiani perfettamente validi è stato denunciato dal linguista Migliorini in questi termini: “Il danno per le singole lingue non sta tanto nell’accogliere parole forestiere, quanto nell’accogliere parole di forma aliena dal sistema fonologico di ciascuna lingua; e nell’accogliere parole per cui già esisteva un termine adeguato.” (Migliorini, Lingua contemporanea). Una spiegazione di questo vezzo esterofilo, secondo Migliorini, è che “Crollato il fascismo, il gusto della ritrovata libertà spinse ad adoperare parole forestiere a dritto e a rovescio.”

Insomma dal fascismo siamo passati allo... sfascismo. “E così – scrive la giornalista Ercolina Milanesi – abbiamo un Veltroni che, anni fa, ad un congresso Ds fece fare un cartello con un logo che recitava: ‘I care’ (me ne importa), un Rutelli che interviene ad una conferenza sullo sviluppo economico dal titolo: ‘pro growth’ (pro crescita), i nostri politici dibattono certi argomenti durante il ‘question time’ (spazio dedicato all’interpellanze ), abbiamo un ministro del ‘welfare’ (stato sociale), organizzazioni che si definiscono ‘no profit’ (senza scopi di lucro), revisori dei conti che analizzano il ‘rating’ (punteggio o valutazione), assessori comunali all’urbanistica che promuovono il ‘bike o car sharing’ (noleggio cittadino di biciclette ed auto), supermercati dotati di ‘health corner’ (angolo della salute, cioè quello spazio dove da qualche tempo si possono vendere medicinali), cantanti intervistati nel “back-stage” (dietro le quinte), gli indici di ascolto che diventano ‘shares’, sceneggiati che ora si chiamano ‘fiction’ per non parlare degli idioti ‘reality show’, l’allenatore in palestra è divenuto un ‘personal trainer’, i travestiti dello spettacolo diventano ‘drag queen’, la nostra marca di automobili nazionale nel lanciare un nuovo modello, alcuni mesi fa lasciava l’annuncio pubblicitario ad un attore americano che parlava solo inglese ma con sottotitoli in italiano, e per una TV italiana è il colmo! Ci sono, poi, giochi di memoria che si chiamano ‘brain training’, i dibattiti televisivi diventano ‘talkshows’. L’ultimo tormentone insopportabile è quello dove due noti calci-

atori scimmiottano la frase: ‘life is now’(la vita inizia ora) pubblicizzando telefonini cellulari. Chi vuole una bevanda alcolica con ghiaccio deve ordinarla ‘on the rocks’ altrimenti il barista ci rimane male.”

Ed ecco cosa io scrissi in un mio intervento in un gruppo di discussione sul web: “Trovo molto utile la discussione su ‘scannerizzare’, ‘scannare’, etc. come maniera italiana di rendere ‘to scan’. Io sono per la lingua viva, quindi accetto le inevitabili adozioni di parole straniere, e considero ancora più lodevole il tentativo di adattarle al nostro contesto linguistico, anche se a tutta prima certi adattamenti possono sembrare non troppo convincenti perché l’orecchio non vi si è ancora fatto. Ciò che trovo veramente ridicolo, invece, è l’azione d’impoverimento della lingua italiana in cui tante parole sono rimpiazzate dalla paroletta americana mal pronunciata e qualche volta anche mal scritta. Ciò avviene perché gli italiani sono dei gran adoratori del feticcio della moda (ed amano salire sul carro dei vincitori; dei più forti, più belli, più moderni...) A chi vive all’estero questo scimmiottamento italiano della lingua inglese appare ancora più ridicolo, a causa forse di quella particolare sensibilità che una vita ‘in casa altrui’ (o meglio in un mondo fatto da altri) sa talvolta dare.”

Di fronte all’invasione di parole e frasi inglesi nella lingua italiana, reagiscono… prendendo in giro i francesi che si coprirebbero di ridicolo con i loro tentativi, giudicati assurdi e vani, di “purezza linguistica”. I francesi possiedono infatti una commissione nazionale per la difesa della lingua. E hanno difeso con successo, tra l’altro, la parola “ordinateur”, mentre si direbbe che per gli italiani la parola “computer” possegga un potere taumaturgico.

Io non sono contro l’uso nella nostra lingua di parole coniate dagli americani e che identificano prodotti o conoscenze “made in USA”. Pertanto accetto anche computer, anche se sono sicuro che l’adozione di “elaboratore”, o di un altro termine autarchico, non ritarderebbe di un nanosecondo l’avanzare dell’informatica. Il fatto è che nella loro precipitazione imitativa, gli italiani – questo popolo afflitto da un cocente bisogno di seguire le mode, meglio ancora se mode straniere

By Claudio Antonelli

– non si fermano a “computer”. Vanno oltre, ben oltre, masticando parole e frasi mal comprese, senza accorgersi di suscitare il riso. A chi usa “jackpot” al posto di monte premi, “flop” invece di fiasco – questa parola italiana usata universalmente – “killer” invece di assassino (o omicida, o sicario), e che ricorre gioiosamente all’espressione “traffico in tilt”, che consacra nella Gazzetta Ufficiale l’espressione “question time”, e che ha un ministro del “welfare”, devo dire che trovo molto meno ridicoli i francesi. Adesso anche la parola italianissima “tifoso”, così espressiva, è diventata rara nei giornali, sostituita sempre più da “supporter”, parola, evidentemente, tecnologicamente più avanzata come lo è computer nei confronti di “calcolatore” o “elaboratore”. Le parole “international”, “welfare”, “killer”, “jackpot”, “flop”, comicamente pronunciate dagli italiani, con suoni forti e vibranti che fuoriescono dalle loro bocche come da canne d’organo, lungi dal garantire una patente di cosmopolitismo e di progressismo riescono solo a far ridere.

L’inglese è senz’altro una lingua straordinariamente ricca, bella, e soprattutto utile perché è la lingua della più grande potenza economica e militare, e inoltre perché è diffusa in tutto il mondo. Ma bisogna poterla capire, parlare, in tutta la sua ricchezza, e pronunciarla in maniera comprensibile. Allora sì che potrà sostituire efficacemente, in tutto o in parte, le lingue nazionali, a mo’ di nuovo esperanto. Nel frattempo, parliamo tra noi “come ci ha fatto nostra madre”.

Parlare americano come sembrano voler fare gli italiani somiglia un po’ al gesto di quelle bambine che si pavoneggiano dopo essersi infilate la gonna e le scarpe della madre, e che incespicano ad ogni passo. Così fanno loro con l’inglese, sorta di formula magica di Aladino, con la quale non riusciranno ad aprire nessuna caverna del tesoro.

Io so che gli italiani non possiedono la sensibilità necessaria per trovare ridicolo un popolo che scimmiotta un altro popolo. Ed è, secondo me, un vero peccato. v

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ADVERTORIAL

Window of opportunity

By Mario Di Flavio

T

o start your own business is one thing.

To have it thrive for 29 years is another.

But to watch it turn into a multi million dollar enterprise while preserving the work ethic it was built on is rare. That is precisely what Aluminium Atlanta is all about. Franco Palmitano founded his window and door installation business in 1978.

His son, Gianfranco, describes his father’s philosophy about his work. “ My father wanted to make a good living while offering people excellent products and service, he had no intention of becoming a window and door baron, he was conservative with his approach to business, big projects didn’t interest him.” By sticking to that philosophy, his father made a name for himself and by the time he retired in 1999, Aluminium Atlanta had become one of the most successful companies in the industry and the major installer for the Italian community in the east end of Montreal. When Gianfranco took over the business he saw an opportunity for broadening the horizons of the company that his father had built. He took on a partner, Joe Spezio, who was a smart, hardworking entrepreneur in his own right, and together they began taking Aluminium Atlanta to new heights. “ We decided that we could handle large scale projects and began taking them on.” says Palmitano. That meant producing and installing windows and doors for big construction projects such as the Côte Vertu Princesse VI, Terasse Versaille and Rive Boisée. By changing their game plan, Aluminium Atlanta went from earning three million dollars a year to ten million. What didn’t change, is the company’s handling

Joe Spezio and Gianfranco Palmitano owners of Aluminium Atlanta

Aluminium Atlanta’s 36 000 sq foot warehouse

of regular projects. “We still provide products and service for every type of endeavour, from small homes to million dollar houses to renovating old apartment buildings, we offer payment plans and a vast selection of products suited for every budget.” says Palmitano. Quality and service is what drives Aluminium Atlanta, from educating the customer on what to buy, to following up after installation, “ We don’t forget about our clients once we’ve completed a job, we make sure that everything is still working well after we’ve gone.” Joe Spezio also believes that having optimum products is a key element to success in his business, “We are always updating our merchandise and every product is tested according to climate and energy preservation.” In 1999 the excellence of their products and the fact that 98% of all builders are now using PVC (plastic) windows prompted Gianfranco and Joe to establish a separate division called FENESCO solely for the production of PVC and HYBRID (half plastic/half aluminum) windows. “Our own PVC is the only one on the market that is tested at

minus 30 degrees.” Gianfranco Palmitano reflects, “We have grown substantially since we took over the business but our philosophy has remained the same as my father’s, give good quality and good service. The only difference now is that we have magnified it to a bigger scale.” With a 36 000 square-foot warehouse, 60 employees, 8 trucks on the road and nearly 30 years of experience behind them, Aluminium Atlanta looks like it will continue providing beautiful views for its customers for years to come. v ALUMINIUM ATLANTA INC. 8330 Pascal Gagnon St-Léonard (Québec) H1P 1Y4 Tél.: 514-326-7888 • Fax: 514-326-1635

www.aluminiumatlanta.com

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RICORDO

se souvenir

Remebering

A SUPERHERO...

J O S E P H D’O N O F R I O

I

n the eyes of his three grown children, and to many people in the Italian community, Joseph D’Onofrio was seen as a superhero.

“He was a very generous man, with a huge heart,” says his 36-year-old son Marco D’Onofrio, who uses the words generosity, leadership and classiness to best describe his dad. “He’s a difficult act to follow. With the combination of me, my brother and my sister, we may be able to fill a part of his shoes… we may be able to.”

Joseph D’Onofrio was president of Groupe D’Onofrio, an insurance company situated in the East End, until his sudden and recent death shocked many people in the Italian community.

“A lot of people are telling me they are having a tough time dealing with my father’s death. I am hearing that a lot,” Marco says.

Joseph D’Onofrio died suddenly on March 29 at Trudeau airport. The 61-year-old had just gotten off a flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when he suffered a massive heart attack between the aircraft and the customs gate.

“It was 1:16 a.m.,” recalls Marco, who had gone to the airport to pick up his parents. “My mom called my cell, it was a 51-second phone call, and she was just hysterical. I didn’t even recognize her.”

Marco ran through the gate, to find his father lying on the floor.

“Paramedics were already there, doing CPR and defibrillating him, but there was nothing left to do.”

Joseph and his wife Zina were in the middle of renovating a condo they had just purchased in the Sunshine State. They came back to Montreal for the

WITHOUT THE CAPE

by Sabrina Marandola

weekend in order to attend a fundraising gala for the Santa Cabrini Hospital Foundation.

Besides creating and running his family business since 1976, Joseph was also president of the Santa Cabrini Hospital Foundation, and had also been presiding over the Mount Stephen Club for five years.

“He was the only allophone to ever be president of Mount Stephen Club, so he broke history with that,” Marco says, adding that his dad’s busy schedule and big heart had him attending about 40 golf tournament fundraisers a year. “All of his work was volunteer. Everything he did was because he wanted to. For a man to fly back home for a weekend because of a gala, you know for sure things like this were key for him.”

His three children, Marco, Paul and Lina, all agree their father was a man with a huge presence. Standing at 6’3” tall, Joseph was often mistaken for Habs great Jean Beliveau, and would even be stopped in the street for autographs.

“If he came across you, you remembered him,” says Marco, adding that he and his family were touched by an Air Transat flight attendant who was one of the last people to see Joseph alive on that March 29th.

“The air stewardess, Sonia, stayed with my mom and I at the airport, after he had collapsed. Two days later, we got a flower at the house from Sonia, and she even showed up at the funeral home,” Marco says. “She told me she had just seen him on the plane, and he was joking and laughing. His death marked her.”

Friends were also deeply affected by Joseph’s death.

The Gentile family of Madison reception hall opened their doors and their hearts to the D’Onofrio’s during the wake.

“We had a break from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the funeral home. We live in the West Island, so to avoid driving back home for supper, Gentile opened up a whole room for us. He set up places for 80 people – even though we were 20 – the place settings were there and the wine was poured. It was unbelievable,” recalls Marco. “And everything was free of charge. Steve Gentile said, ‘For everything your father did, there is no way in hell I will charge you a penny.’”

Joseph was born in Lupara, Campobasso in 1946. He immigrated to Canada at the age of nine. He married his wife Zina in 1968, and was a family man ever since.

“My father taught me to never take your family for granted. Enjoy every moment,” his daughter Lina says. “My dad never said no. If he had the means to do something, he’d do it. He didn’t wait for retirement, and he always included my mom and us in all he did. He always wanted his family with him.”

“We spent a lot of time together as a family,” agrees Paul, the eldest son.

“My father could have lived anywhere he wanted, but he bought a house across the street from his sister. So we all grew up together with our relatives. He really taught me family values.”

Marco says his father taught him to always be there for people.

“My dad was always present, and very good at people management. My office door is never closed, and my dad taught me that…He was the most available person on the planet.”

Besides presiding over committees and spearheading fundraisers, Joseph donated money to the community, including helping to pay for renovations at the Church of the Madonna della Difesa. He also offered $90,000 to build a room in the Leonardo Da Vinci Centre.

“He lived a full life. He was only 61, but he did what most people do in three lives,” says Marco, adding that his challenge now is to keep up in his father’s fast-paced footsteps.

“Somewhere in my heart, my mind and my soul, I’ll have to give a part of myself to the community to honour my dad’s legacy. It’s not even an option.” v

w w w . p a n o r a m i t a l i a . c o m

Tony Loffreda, C.P.A. Regional Vice-President, Commercial Financial Services Quebec West

Jenny loved and remembered –

Remebering

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RICORDO

by Sabrina Marandola

A

lmost one year has passed. The minutes, the weeks and the months go by, but time and space is not enough yet to heal the broken hearts of the Remigio family.

“When you lose a daughter, you lose half of yourself,” says 50-yearold Marina Remigio, as her big eyes well up with a few tears.

Her long, blond hair is neatly tied back, and stands out against her powder pink blouse. She glances over at her husband, Guglielmo, also donned in pale pink.

“Pink was Jenny’s favourite colour,” Marina explains.

Jenny was 19 years old when she lost her life in a tragic car accident last summer. The Laurier Macdonald High School graduate woke up early that July 3, 2006 to go to the beach with two friends.

“They were three in the car. They were on their way back from the beach,” says Marina. “And the strange thing is we called her just at the time of the accident.”

Marina and Guglielmo were on their way out, and called their daughter’s cell phone to let her know they wouldn’t be there when she got back to their St. Leonard home.

“We called her at 4:15 p.m. There was no answer. The accident happened at 4:17 p.m.,” Marina says.

“As soon as I heard there had been an accident, I knew right away that Jenny was dead,” recalls Guglielmo. “That was the first thing I told my wife.”

The 54-year-old says he had been overcome with senses of negativity weeks before his daughter’s fatal car crash.

“We had two beautiful children – really good kids – an open dialogue, we communicated a lot… It was too good to be true. I kept telling myself, ‘Something must happen. It can’t go on like this because this is too perfect.’”

The car accident that killed Jenny also left one of her friends, riding in the car, paralyzed.

This is what motivated the Remigio family to keep their daughter’s spirit alive in a grand way.

They organized a walk on Dec. 3, the five-month anniversary of the accident.

“We had it at Île-de-la-Visitation, and up to 300 people came. It was the first snowfall of the year. Snowflakes were falling lightly and it was just beautiful,” recalls Marina.

Friends and family of Jenny who attended the walk gave donations. They raised $11,000 for Jenny’s friend, who was left paralyzed and had to go overseas for surgery.

“We woke up one day, and said to ourselves, ‘Jenny’s no longer here, and we have to help this boy. Jenny would have done the same thing,’ ” says Marina.

Guglielmo agrees.

“My daughter was unique, and she always had to help everyone. I called her l’aspirapolvere because every cent she had, she always spent it all. There wouldn’t be a penny left over because she had to pay bus fares for her friends, buy lunch for her friends, give money to people on the street – she was always helping others and she never had anything negative to say at all.”

“She would never talk bad about anybody,” says Frank Renzelli, Jenny’s 27year-old cousin. “She was genuine, innocent, and very giving.”

Renzelli recalls how Jenny would call him during World Cup fever, and meet up with him in Little Italy.

“She called me to ask me if I had an Italian flag. I said no, so she bought me a flag and met me in Little Italy to give it to me. That’s just the kind of person Jenny was.

Jennifer Remigio The Remigios say people’s love for their daughter is what allows them to find some comfort in this tragedy.

“When we’d walk down the street, she’d stop and say hi to everyone. We used to joke that she should run for mayor of St. Leonard. She knew everybody,” Marina says. “There were 4,000 people at her funeral.”

“The Gentile family, of Madison reception hall arranged for a bronze plaque to be put up outside the Leonardo Da Vinci Centre, dedicated to the memory of Jennifer. They’re not even family, so think up to what point she was loved,” Guglielmo says. “If everyone had a little bit of Jennifer in them, the world would be a much better place.”

“I miss her,” says Marina. “But I’m happy that people still remember her.

Every time I go to the cemetery, I see someone different there visiting her.”

For Guglielmo, who referred to Jenny as his shadow because she followed him everywhere, his strength lies in knowing that he and his wife were the best parents they knew how to be.

“I have only beautiful memories of my daughter – nothing negative. I can’t say she ever did me any wrong,” he says. “I have no remorse, so I’m at peace. We are parents who cannot say she was ever deprived of anything. She left because Jesus needed her.” v The Remigios will be holding a walk, in memory of Jenny, on Sunday, July 1st, 2007.

For more details go to Facebook.com

December 3rd, 2006, Île-de-la-Visitation, a walk in Jenny’s name to help her friend.

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RITRATTO

portrait

Profile

L ’art de Jacqueline Valenti Janniello Par Aicha Cissé

es artistes talentueux, il y en a partout. Il est cependant rare de rencontre ceux qui dès la première fois vous imprègnent d’un sentiment d’admiration presque’ immuable.

Peintre depuis plus de soixante ans, Jacqueline Valenti Janniello a trouvé une nouvelle muse: la flore.

Ses esquisses à caractère didactique ornent sa résidence d’Anjou et sont dessinées avec une telle exactitude qu’on croirait contempler un ouvrage de botanique. Mme Valenti-Janniello examine et esquisse la flore avec précision, créant ainsi des chef-d’œuvres d’un réalisme quasi palpable au moindre trait de crayons. Nul besoin d’employer de la couleur – aujourd’hui ses dessins sont faits strictement à la mine et au plomb – car tout le comme le célèbre Leonard De Vinci, elle voit la couleur comme un moyen de camoufler les imperfections.

«J’ai déjà été coloriste, ça ne m’a pas trop emballée. Je préfère être minutieuse. Je crois qu’il faut tout montrer, car ce sont les imperfections et les défauts qui sont fidèles à la réalité. La nature n’embellit rien alors pourquoi en tant qu’artiste, devrais-je le faire? Je dessine ce que je vois. Je dessine la beauté et la vérité. La beauté réside dans cette branche brisée ou cette fleur fanée ou dans ces pétales abîmée», s’exclame celle qui peut consacrer une centaine d’heures sur une seule œuvre.

Son grand intérêt pour la nature n’est pas chose récente. Mme Valenti-Janniello relate sa passion pour les fleurs depuis sa tendre enfance.

«Je me souviens encore lorsque je m’assoyais pendant des heures dans notre cour. Je regardais les fleurs,

complètement fascinée. Je dessinais tout ce que je voyais dans la nature. Aujourd’hui encore, quand je regarde une fleur avant de la dessiner, je retrouve ce sentiment de mon enfance et je commence à gratter le papier. J’ai eu de la chance car mon père a vu en moi beaucoup de potentiel et croyait vraiment que je pouvais devenir une grande artiste,» raconte-t-elle.

C’est durant plusieurs voyages en Italie que Mme Valenti-Janniello a développé son art. De 1954 à 1958, elle a suivi des cours privés donnés par le maître et artiste François Desiel à l’École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal. Cinq années de stages d’études et de perfectionnement à l’Académie des Beaux-Arts de Ravenne en Italie lui ont permis de s’épanouir et de se découvrir. Elle s’y est initiée à la mosaïque byzantine et a la marqueterie de bois.

«Je n’avais que 21 ans et j’ai été complètement subjuguée par Ravenne. Les mosaïques sont magnifiques» dit-elle.

Après avoir dessiné des animaux mythologiques inspirés de son imagination, elle a accepté un jour de dessiner des schémas techniques pour des travaux de recherches de la Faculté de médecine de l’Université de Montréal. C’est de la qu’est né son goût de décrypter les fleurs de manière presque robotique.

«Je voulais tout reproduire dans les moindres détails. Je regardais une plante et je ne pouvais m’arrêter!» exprime-t-elle en riant.

Sa nouvelle muse l’a amenée à créer Mythologies des plantes médicinales amérindiennes du Québec et du Canada durant plusieurs années. Cet ouvrage lui a

d’ailleurs valu une invitation à exposer chez la princesse de Monaco à l’occasion de la fête des bouquets l’hiver dernier.

Cette compétition, instituée par Grace Kelly en 1968, met en vedette l’art floral.

C’est avec une immense fierté que Mme ValentiJanniello a vu ses chef-d’œuvres faire le tour du monde a travers diverses expositions. De Osaka à Milan, en passant par notre chère métropole, ses créations ont certainement ébloui plus d’un. Amateur d’art ou pas, il est impossible de rester indifférent à la beauté de son art.

«Je suis vraiment heureuse qu’après toutes ces années, je me sois tournée vers la nature. Quand on regarde la nature, tout devient si simple. On se fond dedans et on oublie nos problèmes.» v

Equisetum Les Amérindiens se servaient de toutes les parties de la plante.

La tisane servait en usage externe contre les démangeaisons de la peau et les maladies des reins. Elle arrête le saignement du nez, des blessures et soulage les douleurs articulaires.

Helianthus Les Amérindiens cultivaient le Tournesol à cause de l’huile alimentaire qu’ils estimaient. Ils en retiraient les graines bien mûres, qui torréfiées peuvent remplacer le café, que certains ne tolèrent pas, à cause de la caféine.

Ariseama atrorubens «Les Amérindiens buvaient l’eau dans laquelle la plante avait bouilli pour guérir leurs coliques, contre les troubles d’estomac, rhumatisme, fièvre, bronchite, asthme et coqueluche.

La racine fraîche est un poison.»

D

Jacqueline Valenti Janniello

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MONTRÉAL

The City of Montréal and its Cross

by C. Giovanni, e.c.

Does the cross above Mount Royal still have a meaning, or has it become insignificant in our post-modern Montréal?

ondly to commemorate its first planting by Paul de Chomedy in order to remind Montrealers of their origin and how their Catholic faith had helped them to build and achieve the impossible, to safeguard the city of Ville Marie (Montréal) from destruction.

T

The Cross Today

his is the question I wish to answer. To many Mount Royal is to be considered the heart of Montréal. At the summit of the mountain stands erected a giant metallic cross which at night is illuminated.

This cross is so much a part of the city that it has become one of its defining features. No other major city in North America has, like Montréal at its center such a huge cross, the symbol of Christian faith. Everyone knows what the cross symbolizes, but to understand and appreciate its spiritual and human “value” and its historic presence on top of the mountain, we need to go back in time and consider Montréal’s (formerly called Ville Marie) foundation and its mission. If we do so we can truly comprehend why it was first erected.

The first cross on Mount Royal was raised at what is now the corner of Atwater and Cote-des-Neiges on January 6th, 1643 by Paul de Chomedy and the first settlers of Ville Marie to give thanks to God for protecting them from a flood that was about to wash away the small fortified town just before Christmas in 1642. As an act of gratitude to God, Sieur de Chomedy had planted a small cross at the entrance of the fort to protect it from the flood.

He thought it fitting to honour God for the grace the settlers had been bestowed by erecting a bigger cross as a sign of gratitude and faith for their present and future generations. In 1653, two years before the arrival of Marguerite Bourgeois in Ville Marie, the cross had been burned down by the Iroquois. With the recruit of 100 new men and women coming from France to the new colony, Marguerite Bourgeois organized an expedition to erect a new cross on the mountain close by where the first cross had been planted. Once again, not long after, the Iroquois burned that one too.

Marguerite Bourgeois proposed a new emplacement for the cross in 1676 (which is most likely the corner of Sherbrooke and Fort). What was meant as a place of prayer has become today a place of education. Between the middle of 17th and the end of the 18th century the cross location did not move. It was only in 1924 that a new one, the very summit of Mount Royal, was chosen (this is where the actual metallic cross is today) and a new cross was built and erected by the Saint Jean-Baptiste Society. This was done for two reasons, firstly as a sign of victory, the cross had brought the city safety through the centuries and sec-

The cross at the top of mount Royal is a strong symbol and continues to play an important role in the history of Montréal. Many brave men and women both known and unknown had to carry their own crosses so that Montréal could become a place where peace and brotherhood reign and an example to the rest of the world. The cross remains a universal expression of God’s love for humanity for it symbolizes not only the Christian faith but man’s double dimension: His horizontal (human, social) one and his vertical (spiritual or celestial) one. The horizontal part of the cross stands for man’s life on earth, the joys and trials of his life. The vertical part is that which bonds man to God through his prayers and the graces he receives. It is the combination of these two dimensions that elevate human beings to their highest degree of dignity as sons and daughters of God the Father.

In View of tomorow Many people who lead stressful and hectic lives love to go on the mountain close to the cross to find peace and to pray to God, much in the same way Paul de Chomedy used to do 365 years ago. Since 1924 there have been no improvements to the cross such as making surroundings more inviting for prayer and pilgrimages. Only very recently has the city of Montréal undertaken renovations to improve the cross and its grounds. The work is scheduled to be completed by the first half of 2007.

Furthermore by the end of 2008 a new base for the cross is to be built in order to enhance its beauty. These ameliorations are entrusted to Miss Wendy Graham of Landscape Architect. The cost of these renovations are estimated at $850 000. These and other initiatives will hopefully bring back to the fore the purpose behind the founding of the city that Montréal has become today. The cross is made up of 1830 pieces and contains 6440 rivets. Its weight is 26 tons. The cross rests on 8 pillars, 5 of which are visible.

PERSONAL THOUGHTS-At a time like ours, dominated by technology, pressure to perform and material gain, man needs a place of solitude where he can get away from the noise, hustle and bustle of city life.

Montrealers are truly fortunate to have at the center of the city a beautiful mountain where they can escape and recharge their “batteries”. Many city dwellers do so by prac-

The Cross on Mount Royal, Montreal Québec

ticing different types of sports or hobbies; others simply by taking a walk with their family or loved ones. There is no better way to start or to end an outing on Mount Royal than paying a visit to the cross in order to regain a better perspective on life. The cross is there to remind each and every one of us of God’s presence, protection and love. The cross on Mount Royal thus keeps more than ever its historical and spiritual significance and deserves its central place in contemporary Montréal. v

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AFFARI

affaires

Business Live the life you want: Be a driver, not a passenger

By Peter Pomponio

“

f you don’t know where you’re going, you may end up somewhere else” Are you sitting in the driver’s seat, steadily moving toward your dreams? Or are you a passenger, letting life take you for a joy ride and going nowhere in particular?

Most people have thought about their dreams, but not everyone has articulated them and even fewer have developed a financial plan to achieve them.

Financial planning may sound onerous, but it can be relatively painless and the rewards immense. Quite simply, it involves setting goals and then taking steps to reach them.

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Step 1 • Pinpoint your destination – Define your goal. What do you want from life? What makes you happy? Where do you want to be in five, 10 or 20 years?

• Your goals should be specific and measurable, with a target date. For example: • To be debt-free in three years • To pay university tuition for a niece in 10 years • To fully retire in 2015 and spend a year in Tuscany.

After you have identified them, you need to prioritize them and estimate the cost, if any, for each.

Step 2 • Take stock of your supplies – Once you have an idea of how much your dreams will cost, quantify your available resources. This step requires gathering current financial data – including pay stubs, investment statements, credit documents, insurance and benefits policies – and creating two key documents: • a net worth statement, which lists what you own and what you owe as of a given date. The difference (assets less liabilities) is your net worth, a figure that should steadily rise over time.

• cash flow statement, which lists income sources and expenses, either monthly or annual. A surplus may point to increased opportunities to fund your goal, while a deficit may indicate a need to make spending choices.

Step 3 • Create a roadmap – After analyzing the data and quantifying any gaps, you need to develop a plan of action to eliminate them. A financial plan is a forward-looking document that brings the various financial components into perspective – cash flow, insurance, investment, retirement, education, tax and estate planning.

• Few people have the time, interest or skills to develop a sound financial plan on their own. The vast majority of us can use the help of a navigator.

• A financial professional, as your navigator, can point out potential opportunities and issues that you may not be aware of. Among other things, he or she can: • Create a number of scenarios using assumptions about inflation, investment returns and other factors to help you save for retirement, a child’s education or other long-term goal • Build a balanced investment portfolio that maximizes potential returns while considering your capacity for risk, both emotional and financial • Identify strategies to minimize taxes during your lifetime, and on your death • Advise you on how to use debt wisely • Determine whether your dependents are adequately protected in the event of disability or death, and • Monitor your financial situation in light of changing economic, regulatory and personal circumstances.

Step 4 • Start the engine – Implement the plan. This means starting that savings or debt reduction program, getting the disability or life insurance you need to supplement your employment benefits or sitting down to review your will. Don’t put off your dreams.

Step 5 • Make regular pit stops – Goal setting and financial planning are lifelong processes that may require mid-trip adjustments. You should review your goals and plan every year, and whenever you experience a life change – a marriage or a divorce, a new child, an inheritance or unexpected large expense, a new job or loss of existing one. Sometimes, though less often than you may imagine, a significant change in economic circumstances may warrant a review of assumptions made in the plan.

• Finally, barring these kinds of changes, make a personal commitment to stay the course. It’s easy for plans to get derailed when day-to-day demands compete for your funds or when market volatility leads to distraction. Only by sticking to the plan will you progress towards the things that you’ve determined to be most important.

• So climb in. Put yourself in the driver’s seat. Capture your dream.

- Peter Pomponio is a Vice-President of Assante Capital Management Ltd. (Member CIPF) He is the owner of the Ville St-Laurent Branch and practices as a Senior Fully Licensed Financial Planner from the Ville St-Laurent office. He can be reached at (514) 832-5100, or by e-mail at ppomponio@assante.com.” v

Be with the best.

Nobody knows more about administering, investing, diversifying, sheltering, bequeathing, preserving and augmenting your hard-earned wealth than we do. But it all starts with you. Only by understanding your needs and goals can your Assante advisor design a plan that will meet - or exceed - them. We'd be only too happy to show you how.

For a free consulation, please call...

Peter Pomponio, CFP, RFP, C.Adm., Fin. PL. Financial Planner Senior Fully Licensed Representative Owner, Ville St-Laurent Branch Assante Capital Management Ltd. (Member CIPF) 8301 Trans-Canada Highway St-Laurent, QC H4S 1Z1 Tel: 514.832.5100

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RITRATTO

portrait

Profile

Rising Star

By Daniela Scoppa

onia Benedetto the tall, 23 year-old redhead has encountered a new career by becoming the host of CH’s newest Italian language television show, Siamo since January 2006.

“I really wasn’t expecting this job,” she says. Benedetto has no formal training in television but is in fact a classically trained Soprano. “I did get a little bit of training [in television], when I was eight,” she says giggling while recalling the events that now seem ironic considering the circumstances.

According to Sonia, when she was in Italian school (which she attended every Saturday as a child), her class would put on shows where she’d always be appointed as the MC or host. Once the shows were over, Sonia would sing a song much like she does today. She once closed “Siamo” with a song.

Benedetto was contacted by CH after they saw her make a television appearance where she was speaking Italian. According to her, they loved her ease with the language and offered her the position as host also knowing that she had already performed as a singer and was comfortable being on stage. “ ‘Siamo’ is proof of being in the right place at the right time because I really was not looking for it at all,” she says of her newfound career, which she really enjoys.

Born and raised in St. Leonard, Quebec, Sonia had a very structured childhood. At three years of age she sang her first notes, at four she began taking classical ballet, which she practiced for nine years, the youngster took private piano lessons, attended Italian school, sang everyday (rehearsing or performing), and still maintained excellent grades in school. “I pretty much grew up with a tight schedule,” she says. “But I really enjoyed it.”

As a child, Benedetto says she was never shy and to this day has never once experienced stage fright. She says she was always in front of some sort of camera, be it for videos or pictures, again a foreshadowing of her current career. “Every time I had the chance to sing at a family wedding or occasion, I would jump at the opportunity,” she says of her outgoing personality.

After graduating from Ecole Secondaire Jeanne Normandin with top honours (she was the recipient of the prestigious Prix du Lieutenant Gouverneur in her last year), she continued on to Vanier College where she studied business for one year then switched to music. At the end of 2004, she graduated with a major in classical voice. Although she sings many opera pieces, Benedetto doesn’t only limit herself to one style. She also loves singing popular songs after having grown up listening to Italian, French and English language pop music.

With her close-knit family, originally from Guglionesi in the Molise region of Italy supporting her, Sonia has made numerous appearances where she has entertained large audiences with her voice. In 2001, she won the Superfantastico singing competition organized by CFMB radio station, and made the finals in 2005.

She’s been performing at Montreal’s Semaine Italienne since she was 15 years old, and has sung at numerous school recitals. Sonia also performed for RAI International when they came to Canada last year and on many other different occasions in between. Sonia says her most prestigious performance to date took place in October 2005 where she performed an opera piece at the Bal des Gouverneurs, describing the experience as “magical.”

For Benedetto, discipline is key and her hard work is what she credits her success to. She trains her voice every day by vocalizing and warming up for 30 to 40 minutes.

“A willingness to do things has to be present because if you don’t have that, it’s hard to achieve anything,” she says.

She also credits much of her success to her family’s love and support, which has been there without fail from the very beginning of her singing career. “My parents always encouraged me to follow my dreams and do whatever I thought I needed to do.”

For Sonia, getting to where she is with her career has not been easy. She says she’s had her ups and downs just like anyone in the business and she’s been let down in certain situations but couldn’t recall a specific time that really set her back.

According to her, that’s because she doesn’t let the tough times affect her emotionally. “It has to do with facing the challenge and deciding what you’re going to do about it,” she says of the way she approaches all obstacles that stand in her way. “Are you going to just let it drag you down and say everything is going wrong, or are you going to take it as another experience and use it for something better?” Benedetto chooses to learn from all her life experiences.

This very mature young woman says she is elated with how her life is going.

Sonia is happy with the direction her career is taking, but feels there is so much more to do.

“I want to keep working as a singer and eventually become a recording artist in an international field,” she explains. Benedetto currently writes her own songs but has never performed them because the opportunity hasn’t come yet. For now, she sings covers of both pop and opera music and would eventually like to branch out and sing the newly emerging style of classical and pop combined. This style is sung by the likes of Andrea Bocelli, Josh Grobin and Sarah Brightman and is very popular in Europe and slowly gaining recognition in North America.

Sonia would also like to continue to work in television and in 10 years, would like to be a very successful woman but she’s not limiting her success to occur in a certain amount of time. “I’m not giving myself a deadline. Things happen at their own pace,” she says.

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Before going on stage to sing, Sonia always says a prayer because her Catholic faith is very important to her. She doesn’t get nervous but gets a certain adrenaline rush, probably because of her passion for music.

Benedetto says she can never wait to get on stage and for this already successful and wise young adult, she feels this excitement gives a certain edge to her performances. “You can rehearse for months but none of those rehearsals will make you feel what you feel at that specific moment when you step on that stage.” v

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Vinegar

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ADVERTORIAL ACETOvinaigre

Il Borgo del Balsamico The art of making and tasting balsamic vinegars PanoramItalia explores some of Italy’s greatest traditional products reviewing the country’s best culinary treats.

By Gabriel Riel-Salvatore

eople in North America have a vague idea of what balsamic vinegar is, but few really know and appreciate what it is until they taste its unique and refined flavour. It is a culinary jewel, a gastronomic gem from the North-East Emilia-Romagna region of Italy where parmigiano reggiano and prosciutto di Parma are also produced. It is a legally protected, traditional product sold under specific labels: Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Reggio Emilia and Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena. It is sold and exported worldwide according to the strict and high standards set by the Italian government under the label Denominazione di Origine Protetta (DOP) and the European Union’s Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) regulation. Thicker than common vinegar, the balsamic kind has a dark, shiny colour with unique, penetratingly sweet and complex aromas.

The countryside around two towns, Reggio and Modena, is since medieval times, the place where balsamic vinegar has been produced. This illustrious tradition is kept jealously. This exquisite product was restricted at first for kings and nobility as a medicinal balsam. It is obtained from sweet fermented cook-must of Emilian grape wines, mostly trebbiano, kept and aged in oak casks for a long (often decades) maturation period. In past centuries barrels of vinegar were often highly praised items in the inheritance of noble lineages that kept them preciously in their attics or cellars. Balsamic vinegar is nowadays famous and appreciated by buongustai worldwide, for heightening the finest dishes with its seducing roundness of taste and exquisite flavour.

The classification of traditional balsamic vinegars is managed by two local consortia : The Consorzio Produttori Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena and the Consorzio Produttori Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Reggio Emilia. The quality standards are set according to the quality of various visual, olfactory and taste properties. Different shades of colour designate three levels of aging. The Lobster red label means a vinegar aged for at least 12 years, the silver label a vinegar of at least 18 years and the gold label a vinegar of at least 25 years or more providing for the further denomination extravecchio (extraold). Becoming progressively sweeter, more full-bodied and richer in fragrance with the passing of time, each colour corresponds to specific characteristics and uses. Some producers of traditional balsamic vinegars also produce less expensive condiment grade vinegars, made from simple fermented cook must, but aged for a shorter time period. They are nonetheless rigorously scrutinized and selected by The Balsamic Food Condiment Consortia. The secret of Traditional Balsamic Vinegars hence lies in the ageing process carried out in wooden barrels of various sizes and requires an ageing of at least 12 years.

Traditional balsamic vinegars like all Italian agricultural and food DOP products carry features closely tied to specific environmental and cultural factors. This is clearly reflected at the Borgo del Balsamico Acetaia (vinegar factory), where love for the land, tradition, authenticity and posessive custody have been at the heart of their production for more than 40 years. Making both Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena and Reggio Emilia as well as Condimento, the Borgo has managed to gather hundreds of vinegar-making barrels, passed down to it from noble families, lying in all corners of the region in secluded lofts, old farmhouses and greenhouses.

I have tasted, for PanoramItalia, three of the Borgo’s products. First, the youngest of the range, the Condimento alimentare balsamico del borgo - etichetta gialla – Borgo del Balsamico, is a 5 year old balsamic vinegar of relatively low density. Soft and light with an agreeably nice sweet and smoky cook must flavour, it carries a vibrant and slightly pungent acidity. Perfect for salad dressing and everyday use, it is also ideal for marinades. The freshness brought by the high level of acidity of this fairly young vinegar enables it to withstand

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brief cooking. It is therefore perfect for deglazing meat and fish dishes. Try it on an insalata di filetto di manzo con uvetta e pinoli abbrustoliti (Salad with fillet steak, sultanas and roasted pine nuts). You will adore it.

The Condimento alimentare balsamico del borgo - etichetta arancio - Borgo del Balsamico, is an 8 year old balasamic vinegar of low to medium density. Mild and sapid, it offers sweet, velvety, dry raisin aromas. Slightly more viscous than the etichetta gialla, it has already gathered complexity, offering smoky notes of fine wood (wet cedar), dry dates and figs and a lovely spicy touch (moutarde de Meaux). Its acidity still carries a slight bite, but it is already more luscious. This balsamic vinegar is especially apt as a condiment for fish, greens and roasted or grilled meats. However, it will also make a surprisingly appetizing combination with cold pasta dishes, vegetable sauces and hard cheeses. Try it with a baccalà con pane grattugiato e panna fresca (stockfish with bread crumbs and fresh cream) or as a starter with an insalata di indivia con scaglie di Parmigiano-Reggiano (Endives and flakes of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese).

The Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Reggio - etichetta rossa - Borgo del Balsamico, is a 12 year old balsamic vinegar of medium to high density. Syrupy, rich and unctuous, it displays a lovely coffee, dark caramel colour. Nice smoky and woody (sandal wood, cherry wood, oak, dried leaves) notes of good complexity reveal an ageing in various essences. Dry fruits (figs, dates) aromas are combined with old madeira notes (dried and roasted nuts) ending on a spicy (curry) and almost salty caramel touch. Fresh and velvety, sublimely full in the mouth it carries long-lasting, unctuous fruity flavours with a soft and tamed acidity. This dashingly sweet-sour balsamic vinegar is ideal for special occasions. Pour it delicately on fresh strawberries, ice cream or Parmesan cheese. A real culinary treat for dessert with crespelle dolci ripiene con gelato alla panna e fragole (Pancakes with vanilla ice-cream and strawberries).

Finally, I have tasted the Condimento Agrodolce – L’Asè – Acetaie F.lli Gorrieri, a 25 year old balsamic vinegar from Novellara-Emilia. Its dark, amber-brown colour is quite similar to an old Solera Sherry. An elegant sweet and sour bouquet indicative of its aging in barrels of various wood types (oak, chestnut, mulberry, cherry and juniper) offers complex fragrances of cooked fruits, smoke and pine resin, ending on a spicy finish that recalls toasted sandal wood. Rather fluid for a vinegar this old, it is nonetheless overwhelmingly sapid.

A vibrant acidity gives it a still youthful character recognisable by notes of fresh fir cone mixed with dry raisins, Corinth raisins and grilled walnut flavours. Have it on a Tortino caldo di ricotta (hot ricotta tart) with bitter almond ice-cream. Most nut ice-cream will do.

For instance, I have tried it on a pistacchio ice-cream. It was absolutely marvellous. v References: Consorzio Produttori Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Reggio Emilia. Cuore di Reggio gusto d’Emilia www.acetobalsamicotradizionale.it

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EVENTI

événements

Events

Franco Di Giovanni Foundation Fundraiser

By Joey Franco

n Saturday March 24th, 2007 the Franco Di Giovanni Foundation held their third annual social night fundraiser at the Prima Luna reception hall.

Franco Di Giovanni was born on January 4th 1939 in Pescara and moved to Committee Members from left to right: Montreal in 1958. He later married Anna Carmela Nigro, Vince La Croce, Enza Passa, D’Amelio and had two daughters, Grace and David Hun, Lina Di Giovanni, Lorette Gauthier, Lina. After 44 years of hard work and sacriGrace Di Giovanni, Mike Talevi fice, Franco was looking forward to his well deserved retirement. Unknowingly, his dream would be shattered when he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor called Globlastoma. In September 2002, just 40 days after his diagnosis, Franco Di Giovanni passed away.

Following the death of Franco Di Giovanni, Lina Di Giovanni, with the help of her sister Grace, started the foundation in memory of their loving father. For the past four years they have been raising Lina, Anna and Grace Di Giovanni funds for Dr. Rolando F. Del Maestro’s lab at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital Brain Tumor Research Center. “It’s a great gift that she’s [Lina] given to her father who passed away from a brain tumor,” said Del Maestro.

The Montreal Neurological Institute has been a leader in developing ground-breaking ways to illustrate the human brain for more than 40 years. The MNI was the first Canadian institute to introduce the CT (Cerebral Tomography) scan in 1973, the PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan in 1975 and the MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) in 1984.

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Dr. Del Maestro has recently taken up the position of Clinical Director of the Brain Tumor Research Center at the MNI. His contribution to brain tumor research has been outstanding. Moreover, he has written over one hundred papers and book chapters related to his research. According to Dr. Del Maestro, the MNI is the only neurological institution in the world to have a research center and a hospital in the same building, making it a model for the rest of the world.

Dr. Del Maestro believes that neuroscience probably knows less than one percent of how the human brain actually functions. “Our brains are the most complex things that are in the universe … there are more connections in each of our brains than there are stars in the universe,” said Del Maestro.

Thousands of grey ribbons have been distributed to raise awareness for brain tumor research by the foundation. Committee president Lina Di Giovanni hopes that one day the grey ribbons will be as recognizable as the red and pink ribbons which symbolize awareness for AIDS and breast cancer. Through ticket sales, raffles and a sport memorabilia silent auction, over $27,000 was raised during the evening. v Bob Gainey, General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens voiced his support and encouragement for the Franco Di Giovanni Foundation in this heart-felt letter to Lina Di Giovanni.

Dr. Rolando Del Maestro and Pam Del Maestro

EVENTI

événements

Events

Superfantastico

2007

By Aicha Cissé

a Place des Ar t s vibrated once again to the sound of the mesmerizing voices of contestants in honour of the 12th edition of the Superfantastico singing competition. Hosted by Group Photo Superfantastico 12th edition creators Silvana Di Flavio March 25th, 2007 and Nick De Vincenzo, the soiree featured awe-inspiring performances which showcased not only the participants’ vocal talent but also their outstanding stage presence under the gaze of a captivated crowd of over 1400. This year Canadian Idol’s Farley Flex made an appearance and congratulated the contestants and creators of the show and MC Mario took a seat among the judges for the first time.

“Superfantastico brings everyone together in the community. It gets people excited about a major event within the Italian community. The young performers are not only showing their passion for singing, but Silvana Di Flavio & Nick De Vincenzo also foster a sense of culture retention,” Organizers and Mc's of event. explained Isba Music Entertainment producAnnouncers Mid-Morning Show CFMB 1280 er Larry Mancini.

AM Radio Montreal (Italian programming) Founders Silvana Di Flavio and Nick De Vicenzo are proud that the competition has gained so much popularity. Every year, more hopefuls waiting to be discovered audition and the public response couldn’t be better. What does it take to be ‘superfantastico’? Charisma and perseverance are two indispensable qualities of the ideal winner.

“It clearly takes singing talent, and a will to sing in the Italian language.

Since the final show is a Place des Arts live event, one who wishes to participate should Nick De Vincenzo, Canadian Idol Judge Farley also have stage presence and a desire to Flex and Silvana Di Flavio perform in front of a live audience” said Di Flavio.

Amidst the exceptional performers, 12-yearold Claudia Vaccaro and 21-year-old Concordia student Amira El Zammar snatched the top prizes. Vaccaro kept everyone on the edge of their seats with her vocal abilities and contagious charisma. El Zammar was happy that after trying out since 2002, she had finally won. For her, singing at la Place des Arts in front of family and friends is the greatest achievement.

“The biggest challenge is accepting the fact that you’re not there to win. The experience you acquire and the friends you make are priceless,” expressed El Zammar who intends to pursue a singing career.

The competition is indeed so popular that already, auditions for next year have been booked for June – all this to the delight of its founders.

WinnerGroup 1: Claudia Vaccaro “We wish to continue growing as an event, in that the individuals auditioni n g c o n t i n u e t o be more numerous .

Superfantastico is a stepping stone for young artists to not only show their talent, but get a break in the industry. The competition is a concert that is known by the grandparents, parents and children. It’s an event that caters to all generations with a common interest; music and Italian culture,” declared Di Flavio.

Important to note that auditions will be held in mid-June and that anyone between the ages of 12 and 32 years of age can sign up by calling at (514)483-2362 or by e-mail admin@cfmb.ca v Winner Group 2 and winner Original Song:

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Amira El Zammar

L’ E X C E L L E N C E À M O N T R É A L

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MEMORIES STAY WITH Moments in our collective and connection to our

still get goose bumps whenever I see a replay of Fabio Grosso’s close-up before he pots the winning kick.

Twelve months haven’t erased the emotion felt on that ninth day of July, 2006. Looking back on the last soccer World Cup final, Marco Materazzi’s contribution stands out. As for the entire run, the Azzurri captain’s passion made the difference. Fabio Cannavaro never looked so good. Many would agree that the game of the tournament was Italy versus Germany, the highlight being Fabio Grosso’s incredulous face after having put them through with one minute to go in extra time. These memories will stay with me forever. Why do we care so much about such events? As for me, it is a combination of pride, admiration, love of the sport and of the country that bears my roots. These are the reasons why some of the great moments of my young life were spent watching eleven men in blue shirts chasing a round ball on a green field.

U.S.A. ’94 began my love affair. I was an eight year old running around the piazza of a tiny Italian village while onlookers watched Roberto Baggio on a giant screen lift his team against Bulgaria in the semi final. The victory parade that ensued opened my eyes to the allure of the beautiful game. That year’s final was the first soccer game that I had ever watched, on my aunt’s balcony in Termoli, Campobasso, and its result ignited a small fire in me. On my twelfth birthday in 1998, Italy was scheduled to battle Cameroon in the group phase. I was stuck in school, lamenting the fact that I would miss the game. I don’t think I’ll ever receive a better birthday gift than having

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sense of community m o t h e r l a n d by Adam Zara

my dad bail me out of class with a little white lie and take me to Little Italy. After yet another failure in the finals of Euro 2000, 2002 promised to have a better ending. Well, after taking the city bus at 6 A.M. to get a decent place at Caffè Epoca, that ending was devastating. The only positive I could take from seeing Italy being defeated by South Korea and the horrible decisions by an amateurish Ecuadorian referee is that it made me that much more eager to see us win in 2004. From then on, every qualifier and friendly match is watched. The Azzurri would become a year-round matter. Unfortunately Euro 2004 would end the same way 1996 did: disappointing early exit on goal differential. Last year’s expectations were the same as always, nothing less than victory. Caffè Epoca was my venue for most of the games, and for the final. On July ninth, my day began with a 10 A.M. trip to La Difesa’s Sunday Mass for a little divine reinforcement, and it ended at 1:30 A.M. as the police re-opened Boulevard St-Laurent after the huge street party that had erupted. The Azzurri’s victory on that fateful day of 2006 ended a twenty-four year wait –twelve years in my case- and will remain a defining moment in our collective sense of community and connection to our Italian motherland. v Photographs courtesy of Augustis Photo & Video Tel.: 514.273.9198

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THAT WILL US FOREVER

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LAUREATI

diplomés

Graduates

BE GOOD IN SCHOOL W

e’ve all heard these words over the years, those of parents concerned with their children’s education, wanting them to become the best that they can. Students understand the perseverance that it takes to get through school and those who love them, do too. So to our graduates in the Italian community, we know how hard you’ve worked to get where you are and we are so very proud of you. Congratulations, the future is yours. Mario Di Flavio Managing Editor Fatevi onore a scuola: ecco la raccomandazione dei genitori ai figli.

Sia gli uni che gli altri sanno quanta perseveranza è necessaria per completare gli studi. Ai diplomati e laureati della comunità italiana porgiamo le nostre più sentite congratulazioni. Sappiamo che c'è voluto tanto lavoro per completare gli studi. Siamo molto fieri di voi. Tanti auguri.

Faites-vous honneur: voici la recommendation des parents à leurs enfants. Les uns comme les autres savent que la perseverance est nécessaire pour completer les études. Aux diplomés de la communauté italienne nous offrons nos meilleurs voeux. Nous savons qu'il a fallu beaucoup d'efforts pour terminer vos études. Nous sommes très fiers de vous.

Félicitations! v

Angelo Longo Université du Québec à Montréal Masters in Business Administration (MBA) 2006

Nancy Colagiacomo Université du Québec à Montréal Masters degree Public Administration 2007

Dr. Laura C. Gioia Université Laval Doctorat en médecine 2007

Graduates

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LAUREATI

Anthony Germano Concordia University Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering 2007

Danny Galimi Université du Québec à Montréal Baccalauréat en Sciences Comptables 2007

Concettina Fusco Concordia University Bachelor of Commerce Major Accountancy 2006

Marco Nocella Université de Montréal L.LB Baccalauréat en Droit 2007

Diana Doreen Miceli McGill University Bachelor of Science 2007

Christina Diane Johnston McGill University Bachelor in Physical Therapy 2007

Valentina Baratta John Molson School of Business Concordia University Bachelor of Commerce 2007

Kristina Asaro McGill University Bachelor of Education 2007

Nadia Lo Monaco Université de Montréal Baccalauréat en Psychoéducation 2006

Marissa Strano McGill University Bachelor of Science 2007

Alexandra Gallo McGill University Bachelor of Science in Biology 2007

Roberto Catinelli Jr. John Abbott College Commerce DEC 2006

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LAUREATI

diplomés

Graduates

Marie-Christine Sergi T. Collège Bourget Social Science 2007

Katrina Ballerini Collège Regina Assumpta High School Diploma 2007

Alexandra Talarico Bisbikis Villa Maria High School High School Diploma 2007

Sabrina Michelle Mazza Laurier Macdonald High School I.B.O. 2007

Maura Lisa Forese Laurier Macdonald High School High School Diploma 2007

Lisa Rosito École Secondaire Des Rives D.E.S. 2007

Tiffany Anne Ouimet Collège Saint-Louis D.E.S. I.B.O. 2007

Laura Daniela Sardella Collège Reine-Marie D.E.S. 2007

Michelangelo Luigi Diodati Rosemount High School High School Diploma 2007

Danny Mucciacciaro Laurier Macdonald High School High School Diploma 2007

Jessica Trombino Villa Maria High School High School Diploma 2007

Vanessa Gauthier Laurier Macdonald High School High School Diploma Science 2007

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2007

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Graduates

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diplomés

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LAUREATI

Alexandre Picotte Pietrantonio Collège D’Anjou High School Diploma 2007

Pamela Laura Johnston Laurier Macdonald High School High School Diploma 2007

Amanda Caroline Johnston Laurier Macdonald High School High School Diploma 2007

Melina Spedaliere Rosemount High School High School Diploma 2006

Bianca Galasso Rosemere High School High School Diploma 2007

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I

Tra mare e montagne Gabriel Riel-Salvatore

Wine

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VINOvin

Abruzzo

Land of Montepulciano

By Gabriel Riel-Salvatore*

anoramItalia looks at one of Italy’s great wine production areas: Abruzzo in central Italy.

This column will guide readers though the country’s 20 regions offering a partial list of some of the best local products as well as hints to help match wines with food dishes.

Wines from Abruzzo in central Italy, although being produced since the time of the Roman empire, have remained until recently little known abroad and often misjudged as generic vini da tavola. While it is true that few producers make wines worthy of being called great, those who do can easily compete with the best in the world.

The landscape of Abruzzo goes from high mountain-tops, to beautiful rolling hills slowly degrading towards the Adriatic coastline covered with vine groves and olive trees. Latins used to say “Bacchus amat colles”.

Abruzzo is thus an ideal emplacement for viticulture which has become in the last three to four decades, the prevailing activity among local growers. Driving along the North-South bound Autostrada Adriatica from San Benedetto del Tronto to Termoli, the beauty of the landscape can truly be appreciated. Standing on one of the many hilltops the traveller can admire awe-inspiring sceneries. On one side he will see the sandy beaches of the Adriatic Sea and on the other the snow covered mountaintops of the Majella and the Gran Sasso, the highest of the Appenine Ridge that cross the region.

Quality wines are derived from two main locally grown grapes under strict regulations: Montepulciano and Trebbiano d’Abruzzo. Sangiovese and Malvasia as well as Trebbiano Toscano with a few other autochtonous grapes (Passerina, Pecorino, Coccociola, Ciliegiolo), can also be found as complements in Doc blends but rarely as single vintages. Sangiovese and Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, far relatives of Tuscany’s world renowned grapes, have nothing to do with the town of Montepulciano located just south of Siena where the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is made from Prugnolo Gentile Sangiovese grapes famous for its white, sweet tasting vin santo.

Abruzzo’s producers have nothing to envy their Tuscan counterparts as the land, the grapes and the wines they produce are amongst some of Italy’s finest. Robust and ropy, carrying moderate acidity, Montepulciano is a soft, full-bodied, dark-coloured, fruity red, ideal for early drinking. These characteristics enable it to fare well in the international market that loves food, friendly, chunky, fruity and easy reds typical of most of the local cooperatives (Citra, Miglianico, Roxan). Trebbiano grapes turn into light, slightly aromatic dry whites. Often dull, it nonetheless carries the potential for creating superb wines of great ageing potential. Zaccagnini’s San Clemente, Edoardo Valentini’s Montepulciano d’Abruzzo or Masciarelli’s Villa Gemma or Maria Cevic stand out.

The general Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Doc label covers all four provinces ( Chieti, L ’Aquila, Pescara and Teramo) and is by far the largest in Italy quantity-wise.

The traditional high-trellised tendone system used to grow the vines, can be seen region-wide displaying lovely leafy c arpet-li k e c a n o pies . Ab r u z zo c o u n t s o n e Do c g (Denominazione di origine controllata garantita), three Docs (denominazione di origine controllata) and nine less restrictive IGT (indicazione geografica tipica) denominations. This simplicity unfortunately makes for relatively bland wines. The recent upgrade of the local disciplinare have not yet been able to correct significantly the score. Its middle-priced wines offer nonetheless some of Italy’s best values. Moreover, the low priced Montepulcianos and Trebbianos are perfect for everyday consumption. Rosé

P

wines, locally known as cerasuolo, display a cherry-like colour, are also available at low cost and are probably Italy’s tastiest.

With Ragù alla Genovese, Pasta all’Amatriciana or Fettuccine alla Carbonara, try the mouth-filling Riparosso 2005 - Montepulcinao d’Abruzzo DOC Controguerra – from Illuminati. It reveals a nice cherry colour evolving towards a dark ruby-red with sweet chocolate with predominantly ripe, red berry aromas, reminiscent of morello cherries and strawberries. The smell recalls fresh tomatoes (acidity), an aroma typical of wines from central Italy. The taste in the mouth is smooth and lovely.

Its 13 degrees of alcohol confer it a deep, satisfying bouquet with a tasty, warm finish. Its soft tannins make it a simple and tasty medium body wine. Riparosso 2005 14.70$ - SAQ : 10669787 ★★★ Perfect with saltimbocca di vitello con salvia e prosciutto or orecchiette con rapini, the Majolica 2005 – Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC – Podere Castorani (owned by Formula 1 driver Jarno Trulli) is equally savoury.

It displays a translucid ruby dress of medium depth and an elegant nose of small baked berries with inviting cherry aromas. Warm, smooth and rich, it is quite well balanced.

No wood here, only pure fruit. At this price, consider it your best everyday wine. Majolica 2005 - 13.75$ SAQ 10754252 ★★★ Ropier than the last two, the Jorio 2004 – Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC- Umani Ronchi expresses a mix of black and red berry flavours (black cherry, strawberry), and a slighty animal (leather) nose with a hint of licorice and empyreumatic (tar, burnt rubber) characteristics. Combine it with grilled meats, ideal with BBQ or with a sweet and sour marinade. Jorio 2004 – 16.80$ SAQ 862078 ★★ Proof of the Montrepulciano’s unequivocal potential, the San Clemente 2000 – Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC – Zaccagnini, is a rich and full-bodied wine of great aromatic complexity. Its dark, crimson, garnet-red colour is accompanied by a lovely bouquet of ripe, cooked fruits (plums, black cherries, dark figs) elegantly combined with animal (leather), smoky (cigar) and spicy (eucalyptus) aromas. The mouth is charmingly fruity and well balanced by chalky, yet soft, tannins and a pleasant and refreshing acidity, lingering on a peppery finish. Try it with roasted lamb poked with rosemary and garlic and coated with a black olive and truffle tapenade.

Flanking the Marche region and using 90% Montepulciano and 10% Sangiovese grapes, Colline Teramane (Docg) and Controguerra (Doc) are probably the best wines produced in Abruzzo. They possess a convincing character that have been winning a growing number of admirers abroad. Dino Illuminati, owner of the

Azienda Agricola Illuminati, is the best representative of the work underway to move towards high quality standards. He has constantly upgraded his estate since 1980 with the introduction of international cepages, new production techniques and blending methods that successfully intertwine tradition with modernity.

Close to the southern part of the region and bordering with Molise, the Terre di Chieti (IGT) and central Colline Pescaresi also offer great potential. From the sub zones of Campo Sacro and Castelluccio, one of the long established and leading producers of Abruzzo, Edoardo Valentini, owner of the Azienda Agricola Valentini, is a true traditionalist. Working his wines the old fashioned way with a minimal intervention at all stages of the process, he makes some of Italy’s most complex and long lived wines.

Another master, Gianni Masciarelli, owner and winemaker at Azienda Agricola Masciarelli in San Martino near Chieti, has recently been rewarded as a master winemaker. His 2003 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Villa Gemma has been chosen as one of Italy’s top 7 wines. v * Second place winner of the Championnat Québécois de dégustation in 2006, Gabriel Riel-Salvatore has worked in the wine industry for seven years. He has traveled extensively through the various wine regions of Italy and is currently collaborating with the Slow Food movement as an organizer and event manager.

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Story

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STORIAhistoire Gabriel Riel-Salvatore

My First Marriage I

by Mario Di Flavio

don’t like weddings. The nerves, the tension, the ceremonies, the clothes, the pictures, the confetti, the line-ups, the speeches, the clapping, the waiting, the excessive hand shaking and endless two-cheek kisses… but maybe that’s just me. When you’re a kid, it’s different. It’s a big occasion. You get dressed up in your three piece suit with velvet bow tie and frilly shirt, (the lasagna shirt), you get to see the most Cadillacs you’ve ever seen in one day, and you go to a big reception hall with plenty of space to run around in. (Until someone gets hurt, or the owner of the hall screams at you to get out of his stock room, or of course, your mother finally catches up with you, grabs you by the ear, and forces you to sit and not move for the rest of the evening).

In the old days, it was simple, a plate of prosciutto & melon, a soup, a plate of pasta, a salad and a steak. Nothing fancy. Some Italian cake with the rum in it, and it was off to the races, the tie came off, the blood started pumping and you ran, danced, played, and slid (the leather soles on your dressy shoes were good for that). Then the lights went off, and after the wedding party had lined up and marched towards the bar to some Spanish bull fighting music led by waiters wearing sombreros and holding flame-lit torches, the party resumed. By the time the sweet table had come and gone, (that red pizza, the panini, the fruit and some desserts), you were completely exhausted, falling asleep in your father’s arms as your parents said goodnight to the bride and groom. The last thing you’d remember until Sunday morning. But there comes a time in a young man’s life when weddings change for him, they take on a different meaning. It all changed for me when I was ten years old.

Before Frodo and the Lord of the Rings, there was me, Mario the Ring Bearer. One of our cousins was getting married that summer, so he came over and asked me if I would like to “be in the wedding”. I thought I had a choice so I said, “No thanks.” “Of course you will” my mother said, and that was it. The stress and pressure mounted as the big day approached. Tuxedo fittings, rehearsals, family gatherings where people kept asking me, “So, are you ready for your big wedding?” “My big wedding?” I thought to myself, “What exactly is going to happen to me? And what’s this about a flower girl? Nobody said anything about a flower girl. What precisely do I have to do with this girl? Will I have to hold hands with her? Dance with her? Or worse, kiss her in front of everybody? Oh God, this is not good, not good at all.” The girl in question was a distant relative from the United States.

She was a few years younger than me, she was short, cute, sassy and as flirty as a seven year old could possibly get. She’d hold her hands together, tilt her head, smile and bat her eye-

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lashes at me. I would smile back weakly and turn away.

The “Big Day” arrived, (I had grown to hate this expression) and I woke up, got out of bed, and with my head down and the look of a condemned man, I proceeded to get ready for the wedding (I wonder if this is how all grooms feel when they are about to get married… just a thought). Of course, before I left my house my mother had to get a picture of me in the tux. Snap. My face said it all. I grabbed my satin pillow, and hopped into the Champagne colored Fleetwood. “Nice”, I thought, “electric seats.” Then someone spoke, “Hiiii Maaario” There she was, grinning at me with her little braids and crown of flowers on her head, holding her bouquet. She spoke to me seductively in her Connecticut accent, “We’re gonna daaance together, and hold haaands”. “Just my luck”, I thought, “With all the shy, quiet, seven year old girls that there are in this world, I end up with Marilyn Monroe over here.” I just wanted to do my bit, deliver the ring, take a few pictures, have something to eat and get the hell out. No spotlights, no Mario... wedding day microphones, no announcements, no attention, no embarrassment.

The ceremony went well enough, I did my job, we took some pictures, while she kept toying with me. We finally arrived at the hall and for a while things had simmered down so I thought I was safe. Then suddenly the sound of cutlery clanging against glass and ceramic began to rise from the distance until it was almost deafening. I scanned the room and saw the guests shouting at the bride and groom, coaxing them to get up. They concurred and smiling lovingly, embraced each other, much to the satisfaction of the crowd who burst into applause. I went back to eating, and avoiding the coquettish glances of the flower girl, when once again the banging of the plates started. I may have been naïve but it didn’t take me long to realize that each couple at the honour table was getting up and kissing, and they were getting closer and closer to me. I looked at the guests who were pointing at us, the children. I knew this was it. All of a sudden, everything turned to slow motion and I couldn’t hear anything but my heartbeat. Then I heard it, that first fork hit a plate.

As the sound rang out I could feel the blood rushing to my head, a drop of sweat trickling off my nose and a nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach.

But then something came over me, and as I thought of the worries I’d had leading up to this very moment, a feeling of courage swept through me and I thought, “No way am I gonna let this little chick scare me, I’m the one wearing the pants here, (the pants with the black velvet stripe going down the side of the legs) I’m the man here. A ten year old man, yes, but still a man. I am going to show everyone here how it’s done, I am going to give this little broad what she’s been asking for since she got here, and baby, you ain’t never gonna forget it! I’m going to plant one on you that people will remember for the next twenty five years.” As I got up I could hear everyone cheering, I flashed a toothy smile, and waved grandly to my people, after all, I was The Ring Bearer, I couldn’t let them down, they’d paid good money to see this. I snorted manly as I pulled up my cumberbund and turned to face her, and when I finally did, she was still sitting down, hiding her face shyly and shaking her head “no”. I couldn’t believe it. After all the flirting, all the tough talk, she was more scared than I was. Cheers turned into laughs as I stood there and waited for her to get up. But she wouldn’t. I kept whispering “Get up!” “Get up!” but she just kept shaking her head. When she finally did, I knew I had to end this massacre. I leaned in to kiss her but she wouldn’t let me, she kept moving her head around, like a baby who doesn’t want to be fed. The crowd kept laughing at this horror until I decided I couldn’t take it anymore.

I grabbed the flower girl by the shoulders (soap opera style) and planted one on her cheek.

She looked like she’d been slapped. Embarrassed, I straightened my tie, sat down and buried my face in my lasagna until the laughs and clapping died down. “This could only happen to me.” I thought.

After that I kept a low profile, and when it was time for the wedding party to dance I didn’t take a chance, I hid in the bathroom. I spent the rest of the evening chatting happily with one of the bride’s maids ( something that I would continue to do as I got older but for very different reasons. Isn’t it funny how things change?) Over the years, I would become an usher several times over, and continue to attend many other weddings as a guest, and every time I see one of those little kids waddling down the isle in their mini people suits, somewhere, deep down, I can’t help but feel a little sympathy for them. I also can’t help but smile. v

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GIVE

YOUR

WA R D R O B E S O M E Summer Sizzle

by Joanne Latimer

Three trends to reload your look, from lily white suits and metallic must-haves to showstopping sandals.

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Lily white is leading the colour charts. Step out in some Quadrophenia-style boots and white denim.Crisp and fresh, white suits are a winning bet, as are sheer white gowns, fancy blouses and sundresses.

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3) Mondo Metallic

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CONSIGLI

conseils

Advice

L’HYPOTHÈQUE LÉGALE DE CONSTRUCTION par Roberto T. De Minico

L

orsque l’on fait procéder à la construction ou à la rénovation d’un immeuble qui nous appartient, il est important de savoir que certains intervenants du domaine de la construction bénéficient d’une hypothèque légale de construction contre notre immeuble qui leur garantie d’être payés pour les travaux qu’ils ont faits ou les matériaux qu’ils ont fournis dans le cadre des travaux.

Les règles relatives à ces hypothèques se trouvent notamment aux articles 2724 et suivants du Code civil du Québec.

Ces intervenants du domaine de la construction qui bénéficient de ce privilège sont l’architecte et l’ingénieur qui sont membres de leurs ordres professionnels respectifs, le fournisseur des matériaux pour la construction de l’immeuble, les ouvriers et l’entrepreneur ou sous-entrepreneur. À l’exception de l’ouvrier, lorsque ces intervenants ne contractent pas directement avec le propriétaire mais par exemple avec un entrepreneur général, ces sous-entrepreneurs doivent dénoncer leurs contrats par écrit au propriétaire et indiquer que s’ils ne sont pas payés ils pourront enregistrer une hypothèque légale contre l’immeuble. Dans ce cas, l’hypothèque légale ne couvrirait que les travaux effectués après la dénonciation au propriétaire.

En effet, cette mesure vise notamment à s’assurer que le propriétaire sache que des travaux seront exécutés et que le sous-entrepreneur qui a dénoncé son contrat soit payé par l’entrepreneur. En conséquence et pour ce faire, le propriétaire pourrait se garder une réserve sur les montants qui devraient être payés à l’entrepreneur général.

C’est le propriétaire qui doit demander les travaux puisque c’est ce dernier qui détient un droit réel sur l’immeuble. En conséquence, des travaux demandés par un locataire ne pourraient être couverts par l’hypothèque légale, à moins que ce locataire agisse au nom du propriétaire, à titre de mandataire par exemple.

Bien que nous parlons de travaux, l’hypothèque légale bénéficie également à celui qui fourni les matériaux utilisés dans le cadre de la construction ou des rénovations. Ce ne sont pas seulement les matériaux qui ont été incorporés à l’immeuble. Par exemple, si des matériaux ont été préparés spécifiquement pour la construction mais n’ont pas été installés, ces matériaux peuvent également être couverts.

L’hypothèque légale de construction garantie la plus-value apportée à l’immeuble par les travaux de construction ou de rénovation effectués. La plus-value totale des travaux de construction ou de rénovation est équivalente à la différence entre la valeur de l’immeuble après les travaux et celle avant les travaux.

Sous réserve de l’obligation de dénonciation, le droit à l’hypothèque légale des personnes ayant participé à la construction ou à la rénovation d’un immeuble subsiste sans aucune formalité jusqu’à 30 jours après la fin des travaux. Dans ce délai, les bénéficiaires de l’hypothèque légale peuvent enregistrer un avis d’hypothèque légale au registre foncier afin de conserver leurs droits pour une période additionnelle, lequel avis devra être signifié au propriétaire de l’immeuble.

La date de fin des travaux, c’est la date à laquelle l’ouvrage a été exécuté et qu’il est en état de servir conformément à l’usage auquel on le destine. Il faut noter qu’il n’existe qu’une seule date de fin des travaux. Cependant, ce n’est pas nécessairement la date d’occupation de l’immeuble ou d’acceptation des travaux par un architecte.

Malgré l’avis d’hypothèque légale, dont nous avons fait mention précédemment, dans les 6 mois suivant la fin des travaux, le créancier devra prendre action devant les tribunaux contre le propriétaire ou signifier à ce dernier un préavis d’exercice d’un droit hypothécaire afin de soit notamment faire vendre sous contrôle de justice ou prendre en paiement l’immeuble visé.

En tant que propriétaire, lorsque vous faites exécuter des travaux de construction ou de rénovation, assurez-vous d’obtenir des quittances de tous les entrepreneurs et autres intervenants ayant travaillé sur le chantier.

Veuillez noter que plusieurs règles particulières s’appliquent en l’espèce et qu’un propriétaire se trouvant devant une telle situation aurait avantage d’obtenir des conseils légaux appropriés à cet effet. v

S U B S C R I B E T O O U R Y E A R LY E D I T I O N

5 1 4 . 3 3 7 . 7 8 7 0 www.panoramitalia.com

Voyage

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voyage

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VIAGGIO

Class trip

By Giuseppe Valiante

F

or years, Pat Buttino, principal of Laurier Macdonald high school in St-Leonard, headed a field trip with his students to Europe. They visited countries like France, Spain, Croatia, England, and Greece. But being the principal of a school with over 950 students - 80 per cent of whom are of Italian descent - Buttino got around to asking himself a simple question: “why aren’t we going to Italy?”

His colleagues said students weren’t interested in going to the land of art, the Roman Empire and the Renaissance.

They’ve already been with their parents, he was told, they’d be better off going to other new places.

“I don’t buy that,” Buttino said confidently in his Laurier Mac office.

Surrounded by various plaques and pictures he’s acquired working in the educational system for 34 years, he explained how students “tend to be local” when visiting their ancestral land with parents, touring the villages and surrounding areas relatives came from.

“You don’t really visit Italy,” he told his colleagues, “I think we would get a good response.”

Bottom (left to right): Dino Marzinotto (vice principal), Carlo Radovic, Pasquale Buttino, (principal), Luigi Santoro (travel agent), He was right.

Matthew Mirabella, Elsie Chaput. Second Row (left to right): Nick Morello, Zina Vaccaro, Sara Gaudreau, Francesca Filippone, Jessica Picciano, Buttino and 33 students returned from southern Italy Amanda Droghini, Crystal Sills, Riccardo Caimano, Francesco, Tartaglia, Sabrina Angelicola, Third Row (left to right): Anthony Bastone, March 6, the second year they started visiting the country.

Christina Reino, Steve Basciani, Anthony Maurati, Massimo Tenaglia, Lorella Terlizzese, Joseph Insogna, Peter Martoccia, Michelangelo Di Niro, Marco De Cobellis. Forth Row (left to right): Matteo Martoccia, Sebastian Villani (teacher), Rosalia Barbieri, Erica Spina, Selena Lobo (teacher), Last year, while touring the northern region, he brought Francine Romano, Jessica Lo Basso, Michael Zrihen, Luis Parga-Cavaiuolo, Christopher Cristiano, Marc Antoine, Bourdon, Gaetano Ciccone 54 eager travellers.

This year’s trip had a twist.

CTV’s Entertainment Spotlight hosts, Mosé Persico and Orla Johannes, decided to join the group for 7 of the trip’s 11 days and filmed a half hour segment with the students.

The group was divided into four sections representing the themes of the trip: food, fashion, culture, and tradition. The television personalities made sure all the kids were showcased on the program that has aired twice since they got back.

Among the many historical sites and breathtaking landscapes, they visited Naples, stopped by the volcanic ruins of Pompeii, and went to the Amalfi Coast.

“We were picking oranges right off the trees,” Buttino said in a tone giving away the fact that his mind left his St-Leonard office and was back in Italy.

Buttino pointed to the snow-capped mountain slope on his computer screen where he and his students stood over a crater on the highest active volcano in Europe, Mount Etna.

“They were awestruck, you could see it on their faces,” he said of his students, some of whom only knew Italy from the stories their parents and grandparents told them.

And therein lies the problem, according to Buttino.

Trips like the one he took his students on are paramount, he said, to developing an understanding of what it is to be Italian.

Buttino says the Italian community needs to expand its influence to foster this sense of pride at a much younger age.

“I think we, as Italians, don’t do enough grassroots communication with our young generation,” he said. “The Italian associations that you find here, I’m sure do some of the expansion of knowledge within the region, but in a global picture, we could be doing a lot more.”

“Whatever inspired you about Italian culture and language, what kept you part of that From left to right, Selena Lobo (Teacher), Dino Marzinotto (Vice-Principal), Orla Johannes (CTV'S Entertainment Spotlight), Pat Buttino (Principal), Joanne Giove (CTV's Entertainment Spotlight), community?” he asked me, changing the direction of the interview.

Mose Persico (CTV's Entertainment Spotlight), Luigi Santoro (Vision 2000 Travel) and I knew right away there was only one answer: “my grandparents,” I answered quickly.

“Exactly,” said Buttino. “Isn’t the role of our community at large to take on the transmis- Sebastian Villani (Teacher). sion of that knowledge and the wonder and intricacies of the country? Shouldn’t it be the community at large that tries to impart that on you? v • • • • • • • • • •

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GASTRONOMIA

gastronomie

Gastronomy Energy, passion, an understated sense of sophistication.These words can be used to describe the art of Italian cooking… or Maria Loggia.

With her love of food comes the desire to teach others about the traditions, technique, beauty and pleasure of Italian gastronomy.

Maria has been teaching students at her Tavola Mia cooking school in Hudson since 1999. She also offers culinar y tours of Italy, showing people that there is an entire life-style that accompanies the world of Italian food. From choosing your first ingredient to putting that last touch to a finished dish, what happens in between is the fun part. In this issue, Maria guides you through Montreal’s little Italy, showing us the places and people who can provide us with what we need to begin our Italian culinary journey.

Mario Di Flavio, Managing Editor.

Maria Loggia sampling a tomato at “Birri & Frères” at the Jean Talon market.

At the market

by Maria Loggia

ho hasn’t gone into a supermarket and selected what they thought to be quality fruits and vegetables only to discover that they were not quite as fresh as they appeared to be. For many of us, shopping for food is a chore and is simply a matter of survival... it doesn’t have to be that way! I have always loved shopping, be it for clothes, shoes, and yes even ingredients. I can’t help it! Food gets me excited! Discerning quality and finding it requires a small investment in time, but the rewards are gratifying.

It provides a full sensory experience; smell, taste, feel, a feast for the eyes with their bright colors and shapes I may sound a bit off to you, but there are others like me out there! We’re called “foodies”. People who are passionate about food and what it can create when mixed together with different ingredients in the right combinations.

This is the passion that I hope to instill in my students during classes or during the walking tours of little Italy. Italians throughout the world are known for their passion of all things good. To that end, great Italian cooking is composed of 2 parts fresh ingredients, 1 part technique, 1 part passion and of course a little wine doesn’t hurt!

The Tavola Mia walking tour of little Italy is meant to be an introduction to the Italian pantry, but it is much more than that, it is meant to be an outing. Shopping for food should be thought of as an important event in our day to day lives. Even if your passions lie elsewhere, make a day of it, combine shopping with a stop in a café or even better a lunch at a favorite haunt of yours, like our stop at “Ristorante Lucca”.

Some of those “other people” that have passion for food are found in the specialty shops like “Milano”. Here you can source many of the ingredients that are a must for your family dinner. Owner, Mr Zaurrini has been in business for over 50 years, showcasing the best products that Italy has to offer. From imported pastas, to unctuous extravirgin olive oils and aged balsamic vinegars. If you’re looking for veal shanks to make a tantalizing osso bucco or perfectly pounded veal scalloppine, they are there for the asking.

However, if you’re looking for something even more special such as oxtail or rabbit, they are all available upon request. “Here, special orders don’t upset us”, says Mr Pino Bifarelle and Joe Caruso (Meat Counter Managers). Another Montreal landmark food store is Capitol Butchers, founded in 1957 by owner Antonio Le Donne. He offers premium products, the best meat you could find and top notch, first class service rendered by manager, Adamo Alfieri. Many of us don’t use these well trained, experienced professionals, but they are a valuable resource. Chances are if you frequent the same places, you will make a friend and they will always serve the very best they have to offer and will be eager to give friendly advice in exchange for a smile. Once you know your butcher, don’t be surprised if you’re offered bones to make that stock that is essential in the Italian pantry.

In Italy, when selecting fresh fruits / vegetables, you need only tell the vendor how much of a particular product you need. They select the fruit / vegetables based on their knowledge and whether you will be consuming them immediately or in a couple of days.

This is what they do, day in and day out, so why not trust these specialists here at home.

How many of us know what to look for when selecting artichokes? At “Chez Nino”, owner Nino Marcone will not only select the best, but will show you what to look for. He’ll describe the squeegee sound a fresh artichoke should make when gently squeezed or how to pick that perfect watermelon.

We live in a self-serve society, however, what distinguishes smaller, owner operated shops from the large supermarket chains is their specialization and value added service that they offer.

So, as the walking tour marches through Milano to sample the freshly sliced Bresaola and Cerignola olives from Puglia, then on to “Pasticceria Alati - Caserta” for a sample of the city’s best cannoli Siciliani ( a dessert surely served in heaven), the group is starting to get an appreciation for these specialty shops.

A quick stop at “Birri & Freres” at the Jean Talon market, where Bruno and Lino Birri offer seedlings for the novice or expert gardener. Even if you live in a small one? room

W

Maria and her group at Milano’s

apartment on the plateau, when you brush up against your small rosemary bush set in a colorful clay pot, the smell can conjure up images of delectable arrosti or pollo al mattone served with roasted garlic potatoes. Smell being the strongest of the senses, it can even take you back to another time and place in your life.

If you’re Italian, you know that it was a special day when your mother (back then fathers didn’t cook!) made fresh pasta! The pasta machine was harnessed to the table and the hand crank quickly started turning. Today, great fresh pasta can be purchased as well at the Jean Talon market at “Pastificio Sacchetto”. Owner Mr Giancarlo Sacchetto can usually be found manning the bridge. He is a member of the slow food movement and has embraced an artisan methodology. He only produces what he can sell in his shop to his patrons and is not interested in mass production as market forces would require him to cut corners in order to be competitive.

Gastronomy

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gastronomie

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GASTRONOMIA

Italian cuisine is a favorite world-wide due to its simple but varied dishes. Although the days of having a cold room filled with homemade preserves (tomato sauce, baby artichokes, eggplants, peppers, demijohns of wine, homemade cheese and yes, even capicollo) are over for most of us (I think I’m tearing!) , we can all keep these bare essentials in our pantry so that we can make and share our favorite Italian dishes with family and friends. v

Maria Loggia’s web site www.tavolamia.com

A few of my favorite vendors Capitol Butchers 158, Place Marché du Nord Tel.: (514) 276-1345

Enjoying cannoli at Pasticceria Alati - Caserta

try TSomheeof Ithteaspliecaianlty Pproadnucts required itchen; in an Italian k

lian variety ably imported Ita er ef pr s; oe at m , plum to • Canned whole es ic ailable in tubes sp without conveniently av n, lia Ita ed rt , impo • Tomato paste uced brands, n of mass prod io ct le se , al brands, sta pa • Dried ecco and artisin C e D d an e, rd ve i.e. Barilla, Del tini d’Abruzzo or La la el ch sti Ru . i.e a nt r making pole • Cornmeal, fo ing ive oil for cook ol a condiment • Extra-virgin e oil for using as iv ol in rg vi atr ex ed ttl • Estate bo mary, and sage • Fresh garlic lian parsley, rose Ita , sil ba s: rb he • Fresh af oregano, bay le • Dried herbs: e fin d an • Sea salt: coarse ppers • Dried Chile pe fava, lentils ired or ch as cannellini, su es, grate as requ • Dry legumes eese, whole piec ch o nn ia gg Re • Parmigiano enjoy in chunks gar • Balsamic vine lone-Nano , Carnaroli, Via rio bo Ar : • Rice • Capers your local mushrooms purchased from or • Dried Porcini e ad em m ho , preferably • Bread crumbs bakery or oil cked in sea salt • Anchovies, pa oil e iv ol in packed • Canned tuna, gar ely defatted • Red wine vine emade, complet m ho ly ab er ef , pr • Chicken stock

Giancarlo Sacchetto explains the art of pasta making

Founder and owner Mr. Antonio Le Donne entrepreneur, butcher, salami and prosciutto maker and connoisseur established what is now known as Capitol Butchers in 1957 and has been serving up the finest quality meats, fresh and cured ever since. Apart from all of the other fantastic products that you can find here, he has been making his own brand of prosciutto and other cured meats for the last 19 years, selling them retail and wholesale, making Capitol Butchers a “cut” above the competition.

Milano Fruiterie 6862 St-Laurent blvd.

Tel.: (514) 273-8558 Owner Mr Vincent Zaurrini has been offering the best imported Italian fine foods for over 50 years. Wide selection of estate extra-virgin olive oils. balsamic vinegars, artisinal pastas and much, much ,more. A full service grocery store with both a meat and deli counter. A great place for foodies!

Chez Nino 192 Place du Marché du Nord Tel.: (514) 277-8902 Mr. Nino Marcone is a specialist when it comes to fresh produce.

Here, fruits and vegetables are displayed and handled like rare jewels!

Birri et Frères Place du Marché , Jean-Talon Market Tel.: (514) 276-3202 Owners, Bruno and Lino Birri are passionate growers. Their staff offer professional, and courteous service with a smile. All gardeners flock here to purchase seedlings to start their garden. They carry a large selection of tomatoes, eggplants, onions, peppers and herbs. You can also find fig, lemon and bay laurel trees.

Pasticceria Alati- Caserta 277 Dante Street Tel.: (514) 271-3013 Mr Vittorio Caldarone has been baking delicious cannoli Siciliani, code d’aragoste, sfogliatelle and Italian cookies for several decades.

If you are shopping for true cannoli Siciliani look no further. He offers the best in town.

Pastificio Sacchetto 7070 Henri-Julien Street Tel.: (514) 274-4443 Mr. Giancarlo Sacchetto is a passionate artisinal fresh pasta maker. He produces a wide selection of both filled pasta and colorful string pastas: fettuccine, tagliatelle and spaghetti. For the hurried cook, impress your guests and leave the pasta making in the capable hands of Mr. Sacchetto.

At “Chez Nino” with Nino Marcone, a man passionate about his produce.

nos villages

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I NOSTRI PAESI

Our towns

Acquasanta Terme

by Giovanna Guaiani Ciampini

A

cquasanta Terme è una cittadina sita nel Centro Italia, a 170 km a nord-est di Roma ed a circa 50 km dal Mare Adriatico. È un Comune facente parte della Provincia di Ascoli Piceno, nel sud delle Marche, ubicato alla base delle montagne degli Appennini, territorio compreso in larga parte nei Parchi Nazionali del Gran Sasso e dei Monti della Laga.

Ad un’altitudine di 411metri sul livello del mare, ha una superficie di 138,31 km?, e 3320 abitanti residenti di cui Acquasanta capoluogo ne ha 540. È sita su un lato della valle in fondo alla quale scorre il fiume Tronto, al quale si congiunge il torrente Garrafo, poco Acquasanta – prima di arrivare in Acquasanta. La portata dell’acqua proveniente Interno Chiesa dalle montagne circostanti ha formato nei secoli un canyon la cui facS. Giovanni Battista ciata si erige ripida e maestosa in fronte ad Acquasanta. Il comune è costituito da 54 frazioni di cui alcune ora sono completamente disabitate, dovuto all’emigrazione.

“I monti, i fiumi, le stupende vallate, sono una cornice insostituibile del paesaggio ma la vera bellezza è costituita, dai centri abitati, dai paesi, che con la loro storia millenaria, questo paesaggio lo hanno modellato e caratterizzato in maniera indelebile.” (Ivo Guaiani – Il mio Paese) Particolare: Chiesa di Le origini di Acquasanta si confondono con Quintodecimo quelle delle sue terme: l’antico tratturo preistorico, poi divenuto via consolare in età augustea, (meglio conosciuta come Via Salaria) trovava in Acquasanta, per la ricchezza di grotte e i tepori delle acque termali, un naturale punto di sosta e di ristoro. Da questo l’antico nome “Vicus ad Aquas” che la indica negli itinerari militari romani della “Carta Peutingeriana”.

Alla caduta dell’Impero Romano d’Occidente, Castel di Luco, raro esempio di la città vede in successione insediamenti Longobardi, il castello a pianta circolare passaggio dei Franchi, l’influenza dei monaci benedettini dell’Abbazia di Farfa, il dominio dei Vescovi-Conti di Ascoli. Dal 1300 il territorio è suddiviso in “sindicati” autonomi uno tra i quali quello chiamato Aquis. Questi entrano a far parte dello Stato Pontificio a seguito delle “Costituzioni Egidiane” del 1357 e ne rimangono parte vitale fino all’Unità d’Italia. Nel ‘500 i quattro sindicati acquasantani che fanno parte dello Stato della Chiesa sono conosciuti come Acquasanta e Luco, Quintodecimo, Monteacuto, Montecalvo. Nel 1865 i quattro sindacati vengono riuniti in un’unica realtà amministrativa, con capoluogo Acquasanta.

La montagna acquasantana è stata interessata nei secoli da fenomeni di ribellione, solidamente radicati nel contesto socio-economico. Negli anni immediatamente successivi al 1860 si formano delle bande dei cosiddetti “briganti”, tra i quali si ricorda l’ex Priore di Montecalvo, Cascate Macera della Morte che continuano per anni a combatttere contro l’esercito Piemontese/Italiano per la difesa dello Stato Pontificio.

Nel corso della seconda guerra mondiale, italiani e slavi danno vita alla resistenza partigiana che culmina con l’eccidio di Pozza e Umito, 11 marzo 1944.

Nel 1957 il comune assume il nome di Acquasanta Terme.

Il nome è dovuto alle copiose sorgenti idrosolforose saturate di iodio e di ferro, sgorganti da meandri di estese gallerie naturali, che generano vapori benefici e fanghi, abbondanti e curativi. Non vi è luogo più rispondente di Acquasanta Terme come oasi di pace, lontano dal chiasso e dal disordine. L’ambiente realmente intatto, stimola l’entusiasmo per camminate nelle campagne circostanti e sulle montagne, abbinando una vacanza al trattamento sanitario. La chiesa del Patrono S. Giovanni Battista, il Ponte romano di Acquasanta, quello di Ponte Ponte romano con sovrapposizione d’Arli, Castel di Luco, l’Abbazia di Valledacqua costruita di archi ottocenteschi, sul Torrente nell’anno 970 d.C. e completamente ristrutturata, la chiesa Garrafo prima di sboccare nel di S. Sabino e l’edicola di S.Giacomo del ‘400, a Pito, case fiume Tronto rinascimentali in tutte le frazioni: Gioielli tutti, testimoni della storia e dell’arte del territorio Acquasantano. La speleologia ha raggiunto una conoscenza invidiabile sul carsismo locale, attirando l’interesse in tutto il mondo Speleologico.

I prodotti della campagna costituiscono la base della gastronomia locale che può essere assaggiata nei vari luoghi di ristoro, quali agriturismi, bed-and-breakfast, alberghi e ristoranti.

L’edicola di S. Giacomo del ‘400

Acquasanta Terme – Paesaggio

Tra i prodotti tipici della zona si trovano funghi porcini di eccellente commestibilità reperibili freschi nei periodi umidi di primavera ed autunno.

Molto ricercato è anche il Tartufo Nero, in due varietà, presenti tutto l’anno con maggiore frequenza in estate ed autunno.

Funghi porcini Le montagne sono ricoperte da castagneti. I gustosissimi “marroni” sono adoperati, tra l’altro, per i famosi “ravioli di castagne” dolce tipico del Carnevale.

L’industria più importante è la cavatura e la lavorazione del famoso travertino di Acquasanta Terme.

Essendo Acquasanta un comune di montagna, la popolazione è sopravvissuta lavorando i campi, la legna, il carTartufo Nero bone, allevando greggi di pecore. La vita è sempre stata molto dura. Questo ha stimolato l’emigrazione soprattutto dei suoi giovani. Già nella decade del 1890 si ricordano le partenze di giovani verso il Nordamerica, con destinazione Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimora negli Stati Uniti e Montreal ed altre località Canadesi ovunque si costruivano le reti ferroviarie.

Nei primi anni del ’900 l’emigrazione era stagionale. Poi man mano i giovani hanno incominciato a portare le moglie ed i figli e la loro permanenza è diventata permanente. Dopo la fine della Seconda Guerra Mondiale l’emigrazione dal comune di Acquasanta diventa intensissima. Dai quasi 9,000 abitanti degli anni cinquanta la popolazione di oggi è inferiore ai 3.500 residenti.

La maggior parte di questi emigrati si sono stabiliti a Montreal e costoro, con tutti gli altri provenienti dalla Provincia di Ascoli Piceno, costituiscono la parte più numerosa dell’emigrazione Marchigiana a Montreal seguiti da un folto numero di origine della Provincia di Pesaro Urbino.

La “Loggia Marche” dell’Ordine Figli d’Italia sta ad indicare la fitta presenza Marchigiana a Montreal negli anni tra il 1922 ed il 1940.

Agli inizi degli anni ’70 lo scrittore di origine Marchigiana Jos Mingarelli aveva fondato a Montreal un’associazione che purtroppo non riesce a sopravvivere per molti anni. Nel 1976 viene fondata una nuova associazione: “Centro Sociale e Culturale A.L.M.A”, basata sul modello di A.L.M.A Roma (Associazione Lauretana Marchigiani) fondata nel 1956 per aiutare i marchigiani ivi emigrati.

Per 30 anni i volontari di A.L.M.A. si sono prodigati per riunire tutti i Marchigiani residenti a Montreal e dintorni, per provvedere assistenza spirituale e morale ai suoi membri, per organizzare attività di carattere sociale e culturale, per mantenenere i legami con la terra di origine, per promuovore la loro integrazione nella vita del paese di adozione oltre a dare assistenza ai meno fortunati. Il gruppo più folto dei membri di A.L.M.A. sono di origine del Comune di Acquasanta.

Il 22 aprile 1998 questa è stata iscritta all’Albo Regionale delle Marche con lo Statuto revisionato e con il nome di “Associazione Regionale dei Marchigiani A.L.M.A. CANADA INC.” Numerosissime sono le attività organizzate da A.L.M.A. in 30 anni di esistenza: Dalle raccolte di fondi per ospedali e per Consiglio di Amministrazione A.L.M.A. in carica per il 2007. ricerche scientifiche, alle In piedi, da sinistra: Il Presidente Camillo D’Alesio, Sonia Borse di Studio, alle mostre Bernardi, Claudino Cesari, Fausta Polidori, Adriano Droghini, d’arte (Raffaello nel 1984 a Emilia D’Addio, Silvano Monti, Anna Perrotti, Egidio Pedicelli.

Terre des Hommes), per Seduti, da sinistra: Zita Pulcini, Quintina Ciampini, nominarne solo alcune; dalla Anita Scartozzi, Luisa Forlini. promozione delle tradizioni Marchigiane, dei suoi usi e dei suoi costumi, alle semplici occasioni per incontrarsi, scambiare ricordi tra corregionali e con i nuovi amici provenienti da altre regioni d’Italia e da altre parti del Mondo. Il tutto per arrivare al 2007 per celebrare la Giornata delle Marche, con mostre, concerti ed attività culturali e gastronomiche, organizzata dalla Regione. v

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EVENTI

événements

Festa dei Nonni

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Events

by Joey Franco

S

aturday April 14th, 2007 – The “Club de l’âge d’or” St. Antoine du West Island held a mini event to render homage to the numerous grandparents in attendance and their grandchildren. The gathering took place at St. Antoine Elementary School in Pierrefonds.

Committee president Maddalena Schittarelli welcomed all the guests. “The nonni are true guardian angels to their grandchildren,” said Schittarelli.

At the beginning of the event, the grandchildren presented their grandparents with a drawing. Later, games such as musical chairs were played and prizes were handed out to the winners.

Committee coordinator Filomena Solari, along with vice-president Teresa Palladino and Saturday school teacher Maria Grazia Tarsitano were responsible for organizing the event.

Approximately one hundred grandchildren, parents, grandparents and greatgrandparents attended the get-together. Four bisnonni were in attendance.

At the end of the gathering, Tikiti the clown amused the children with his clever antics and serenaded both the young and the young at heart. v

A u nique… Italian-style concept in Saint-Léonard

O W ccu i nt p a e r nc y 20 07

Five appliances included*

Apartments from

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Celebrate with your family

Residence for independent seniors Maintain your habits

Participate in our activities

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RÉSEAU SÉLECTION

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EVENTI

I

événements

Events

Land Rover LR2 arrives in

Laval

by Mario Di Flavio

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n May 2nd, 2007 Jaguar Land Rover Laval celebrated the unveiling of its all-new Land Rover LR2 2008 with an exciting evening in their beautiful Laval showroom. Brothers and owners Nino (Ercole) and Renato De Cubellis welcomed cherished clients and prospective buyers to get their first official glimpse of this outstanding luxury machine. Over 300 guests enjoyed the live music of jazz band Romanza, fine food and drink, wonderful door prizes and valet parking. National sales manager for Jaguar Land Rover Canada, Santino Pirillo, was also present for this special event. In addition to the festivities, guests were encouraged to sign up for a professional road test with the instructors of the renowned off-road driving school, The Land Rover Experience, from Montebello, Quebec, which took place at the dealership the following 2 days. The lovely LR Divas were readily available to provide information and take bookings for this extremely popular activity. “We are very excited to present this newly designed Land Rover. The LR2 is a great entry-level luxury vehicle that, with all its standard features, offers you the most value for your money, for under $45 000” says Nino. The LR2 is built in Halewood, England in the same plant that won the JD Powers European Plant Quality Gold Award in 2005, making its craftsmanship undeniable. v

2

3

Bijoux artisanaux l sacs en tissu l foulards en pashmina l batiks

c-cassia

3753, Wellington, Montreal H4G 1V1

Tél.: (514) 362-8368

www.c-cassia.com

PA S Q U A L E A RT U S O & ASSOCIÉS

Pasquale Artuso Avvocato di Fiducia Consolato Generale d’Italia

Valérie Carrier Avvocatessa

Pierre Fugère Avvocato - diritto criminale e penale

Caroline Francoeur Avvocatessa

Elena Milioto Avvocatessa

Joseph W. Allen Avvocato dal 1976 diritto dell’immigrazione

T.: 514.259.7090

F.: 514.256.6907

artmars@securenet.net

Complexe Le Baron, 6020, rue Jean-Talon Est, bureau 630 Montréal (Québec) Canada H1S 3B1

4

1. From left to right; Renato De Cubellis, owner and Vice-President, Villio De Cubellis, father of the owners, Nino De Cubellis, owner and President and the All New 2008 Land Rover LR2.

2. All New 2008 Land Rover LR2 and Jaguar Land Rover Laval dealership.

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3. LR Divas and the LR2.

4. From left to right; Nino and Renato De Cubellis, owners and respectively President and Vice-President and Santino Pirillo, National Sales Manager for Jaguar Land Rover Canada.

5. The guests.

w w w . p a n o r a m i t a l i a . c o m

Events

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événements

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EVENTI

Gianni Vattimo Launch

by Filippo Salvatore

I

n February 2007, the launching of the volume “weakening philosophy” on the thought of Gianni Vattimo, took place at McGill University as part of the Italian Studies Series of public lectures.

In cooperation with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Montreal.. v

From left to right:Gianni Pillonca (deputy director of IIC), Dr Sergio Monti (Console Generale Reggiente d’Italia), Prof. Maria Predelli (Director of the Italian Department McGill University), Prof. Gianni Vattimo (Università di Torino), Antonio Lucarelli (Director of the Italian trade Commission - I.C.E., Angelo Mazzone (Director of IIC), Prof. Filippo Salvatore (Concordia University, Editor-in-chief PanoramItalia Magazine)

Photo by: Pierino Di Tonno

CAREER OPPORTUNITY PanoramItalia Quarterly is looking for a full-time

SALES REPRESENTATIVE to sell advertising space Requirements: • Trilingual (Italian, English, French) • Experience is an asset but not a must Please send curriculum vitae to :

info@panoramitalia.com or fax to 514-337-6180

Du lundi au vendredi, un 5 à 7 avec ambiance, le mardi, 2 pour 1 sur le menu à la carte, le mercredi, soirée cartomancienne et moules à volonté, le jeudi, au féminin, les jeudi, vendredi et samedi, musique et dance et en tout temps un salon privé pouvant être réservé pour des groupes de 35 à 40 personnes.

2000, Pierre Péladeau, Laval (Québec) H7T 2Z6 Tél.: 450-973-3687

MUSIC I

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musica

Musique Lost Gem

by Massi Miliano

Blue Stuff – L’acqua è poca (1994)

W

hat if the Mississippi river and the Vesuvio volcano where located in the same region of the world? What if the blues tradition and the Neapolitan creativity could blend as one to tell stories of a city, Napoli, where the good and the bad live together with the same identical strength?

This is the Blue Stuff project, born from an idea of Mario Insenga, a mechanical engineer/ drum player who started this fantastic venture in 1972. The album I propose here is the most representative of the group who, in 1992, worked with Edoardo Bennato on the album “È Asciuto Pazzo Ò Padrone” and who plays with success in Italy as well as the USA. Hard to find, but blues sung in napoletano has no price! v

DEI BRANI ITALIANI PIÙ SUONATI DALLE RADIO IN ITALIA ARTISTA

by Massi Miliano

Mia Martini - I colori del mio universo

T

hanks to a deep work of exploration of the archives, today we can enjoy this fantastic double cd containing 10 unpublished tracks and 10 new versions of already published songs. In particular, Grande più di lei that was originally written for Mina. Few tracks are recorded in English like (You make me feel good - Alba or I’m a woman, I’m a person - Io donna, io persona) and one in French (Tout petit homme - Il piccolo uomo, written by Bruno Lauzi). The album, also contains a fantastic Valsinha of Vinicius De Moraes and Chico Buarque. I promise to talk more about this artist who gave an unforgettable contribution to the Italian music scene.

Dirotta su Cuba – Jaz

CLASSIFICA

Fabrizio Moro Paolo Meneguzzi Daniele Silvestri Mariangela Simone Cristicchi Studio 3 Tiziano Ferro Biagio Antonacci PQuadro Neffa Mango Breda - Battaglia Dan Ghost Marcella & Gianni Bella Momo Zero Assoluto Lila Elsa Velvet Samuele Bersani Stefano Centomo

I recommend

TITOLO Pensa Musica La paranza Ninna Nanna Ti regalerò una rosa Alice Ti scatterò una foto Lascia stare Malinconiche sere Passione Chissà se nevica Vorrei dirti che è facile Farfallina Forever per sempre Fondanela Sei parte di me Il senso della vita Tutto da rifare Sicuro Precariato Bivio

Released in 2005, Jaz is the perfect album for a summer sunset on a terrace, sipping a tall drink. With a 60’s inspiration (evident from the cover design), this album will let you shake your head from its very first note. Fantastic keyboards and brass section, as for the Dirotta su Cuba’s tradition, Jaz sees the magic voice of the new vocalist Marquica, a 25 year old young lady, who has a sexy (on Ora) but thoughtless (on La goccia che canta) sound. Walking on the path of the Dolce Vita style, with a ver y funky attack…

My favourite track? Mmm… Hard to say… v

DINNERR’SEADY!

CATERER • TRAITEUR

MUSIQUE ET AMBIANCE par Massi Miliano

E

nfin l’été! La saison des vacances, des voyages et du… rêve d’en faire! Alors, fermez vos yeux et rêvons ensemble! Rêve d’un voyage en Italie et d’une journée entière passée en Rome. Se réveiller dans la chambre d’un hôtel et ouvrir une fenêtre avec vue sur la Vieille Ville, pour distinguer de loin les silhouettes du Colosseo, de l’Altare della Patria et des ruines du Foro Romano en écoutant Via Margutta (Luca Barbarossa) et Porta Portese (Claudio Baglioni). Sortir et se promener dans les rues embrouillées pour découvrir les beautées de la Fontana di Trevi et de Piazza Navona, jusqu’à la perpétuité du Vaticano.

Passer l’après midi à faire des achats dans les plus beaux boutiques de Via dei Condotti avec le rythme hip hop de Il cielo su Roma (Colle der fomento) et Un’estate di città (Il Regno), pour aller après se reposer assis sur les marches de Piazza di Spagna. Avec les heures qui passent si vites, c’est déjà soir. Nous attends une Osteria de Trastevere avec la tradition de Er Barcarolo (chantée par Lando Fiorini), La società dei magnaccioni (chantée par Gabriella Ferri) et On an evening in Rome (chantée en italien par Dean Martin). La journée est terminée. C’est le moment de découvrir le visage romantique d’une ville qui à nuite devient femme fatale. Imaginez-vous en scooter dans le rues, maintenant désertes, de la notte romana. La trame sonore de ce scenario? Roma Capoccia (Antonello Venditti), Vacanze Romane (Matia Bazar) et Roma di Notte (Tiromancino). Est-ce que vous étés encore convaincus que Paris soit la capitale la plus romantique d’Europe? v

1700, Boulevard Saint-Elzéar Ouest, Laval (Qc) H7L 3N2 T.450.687.1514

di Massi Miliano

I

n un’Italia ancora ubriaca dei fumi della seconda guerra mondiale, in un’Italia che pensa alla ricostruzione, ma che non ha ancora trovato la strada, in un’Italia che viaggia in Lambretta ed in 500 e che si prepara a vivere il boom degli anni sessanta, una ragazzina, appena maggiorenne, sotto lo pseudonimo di Baby Gate, incide in inglese i brani Be Bop a Lula e When reinterpretati in chiave jazz, ancora ignara del grande successo che coronerà la sua carriera.

Nata nel 1940 a Busto Arsizio e cresciuta a Cremona, Mina Mazzini si fa conoscere dal grande pubblico esibendosi nell’estate del 1958 presso la Bussola di Focacce a Marina di Pietrasanta, un locale storico della riviera toscana, con il brano Un’anima pura.

Il successo fu immediato. In effetti, negli anni ‘50 la Versilia era la regina dell’estate italiana e sul palco della Bussola, si esibivano nomi del calibro di Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Celentano e Luigi Tenco, solo per citarne alcuni.

Il debutto televisivo avvenne di lì a poco nel programma Il Musichiere, con una versione rock del brano Nessuno.

Nel 1960 arriva la prima partecipazione a Sanremo con i brani È vero e Non sei felice (ricordiamo che in quegli anni il regolamento sanremese prevedeva che ciascuna canzone venisse interpretata da due artisti). L’anno successivo, il Festival di Sanremo conferma la sua tradizione di vetrina “opaca” della musica italiana. Più volte, infatti, ho avuto modo di ricordare come molti grandi cantanti, agli esordi della loro carriera, siano stati “bocciati” dal concorso ligure. Anche Mina subì la stessa sorte. La “Tigre di Cremona”, partita favorita, non riesce a superare lo scoglio della quarta posizione con i brani Le mille bolle blu e Io amo, tu ami. La delusione per il risultato ottenuto e la presunta rivalità (frutto di una montatura della stampa) con l’esordiente Milva portarono Mina a giurare che quella sarebbe stata la sua ultima partecipazione al festival. E la promessa risulta a tutt’oggi mantenuta.

Accanto alle sue strabilianti doti canore, Mina rivela una sorprendente familiarità con il piccolo schermo, conducendo importanti programmi di prima serata. In effetti, in quegli anni, Mina rappresenta il filo conduttore che in modo invisibile lega due generazioni contigue, le quali, a causa della guerra e della rapidità del successivo boom della ricostruzione, sembrano separate da un secolo. Grazie al suo carattere, che rispecchia anche la sua voce dolce, ma al contempo aggressiva, Mina interpreta con facilità i classici della musica italiana ed il rock urlato che tanto piaceva ai giovani.

Nel 62, la carriera televisiva di Mina viene bruscamente interrotta, a causa di una scelta che farà gridare allo scandalo i dirigenti della Rai; la cantante, infatti, decide coraggiosamente di portare a termine la gravidanza nata da una relazione extra-coniugale con l’attore Corrado Pani. Il grande affetto che la lega al pubblico mantiene comunque viva la sua popolarità, tanto che, dopo alcuni anni, torna finalmente in Tv. Ma la sua carriera sembra destinata ad essere vissuta da dietro le quinte. Così, nel 1978, Mina decide di ritirarsi in un esilio volontario, anche a causa di una malattia che la tormenta; esilio che però non le impedisce di continuare a pubblicare innumerevoli successi. È impossibile elencare tutti i brani che hanno fatto grande Mina, tra gli autori dei quali, compaiono nomi del calibro di Morricone, Tony Renis, Mogol, Battisti, Maurizio Costanzo, Gino Paoli…

Se volete davvero apprezzare le sue doti canore, non potete fare a meno di ascoltare Brava, realizzato su un’aria di Chopin, brano che poche persone sono in grado di cantare…

Mina è la voce femminile dell’Italia, di ieri e di oggi, basti pensare che, accumulando tutte le sue presenze nelle classifiche di vendita italiane, otterremmo un periodo superiore a 15 anni!

La notorietà di Mina si sarebbe potuta estendere all’estero oltre quanto non sia avvenuto, ma, probabilmente a causa di una forte paura di volare, l’Italia ha perso un “ambasciatore artistico” di tutto riguardo. v

PANORAM

I TA L I A

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Mina, una tigre con la paura di volare

LIVING ITALIAN STYLE

2007

Coming in September!

Annual Edition Volume 6 ... Yes, the Cover is red, the rest is yours to discover.

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CINEMA & LIBRI cinema & booksCinéma et livres

Legionario in Indocina

La Voce delle Pietre

1951-1953

Lungo i Sentieri dell’Anima

di Filippo Salvatore

Domenico Aceto, Milano, Mursia, 2006, pp. 240

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uando si pensa alla guerra del Vietnam vengono subito in mente film come The Deer Hunter oppure Apocalypse Now. Ci si dimentica così che le operazioni belliche americane sono state precedute da quelle francesi dell’inizio degli anni Cinquanta nello stesso territorio che allora veniva chiamato Indocina. Il libro di Domenico Aceto fa rivivere le esperienze di un giovane italiano, Andrea Fugnitto, che alla fine degli anni Quaranta raggiunge la Francia e si arruola nella Legione Straniera. Entra nei paracadutisti e all’inizio del 1951 viene trasferito in Indocina, allora una colonia francese nel Sud-est asiatico, sconvolta dalla guerriglia dei vietminh che si battono per l’indipendenza.

Fugnitto partecipa a numerose azioni e vive a contatto con il nemico ed è t e st i m o n e d i a t roci t à di ogni genere commesse sia dalle truppe francesi che dai guerriglieri vietnamiti.

Fugnitto, quando non partecipa ai combattimenti, coltiva la sua passione per il pugilato e diventa campione d’Indocina dei pesi leggeri. Subisce tante angherie da parte dei suoi superiori che gli fanno provare il martirio della “tomba”, una fossa che contiene appena il suo corpo ed un telo che lo copre, per una settimana. Andrea conosce anche l’amore per una ragazza cinese in fuga dal suo Paese. Catturato dai viet, riesce a scappare e per qualche tempo trova rifugio presso un popolo primitivo dell’interno del paese. All’inizio del 1953 Fugnitto lascia l’Indocina e, dopo un periodo trascorso in Algeria, dove partecipa ad altre operazioni della Legione, termina il suo periodo di ferma e si stabilisce in Francia dove vive per un trentennio. Nella sua vecchiaia preferisce ornare al suo paese natio in Italia dove incontra l’autore del libro, Domenica Aceto, a cui racconta i suoi ricordi che hanno lasciato in lui una traccia indelebile. “Tuttora, confessa Fugnitto, continuo a sognare di essere ancora laggiù.E’ un vero incubo… Cerco di fuggire, ma c’è una folla di vietnamiti che mi impedisce di correre. Riafferrano per le braccia, per i vestiti e annaspo, annaspo, finché mi sveglio di soprassalto, madido di sudore”.

Un racconto di vita affascinante che illustra le atrocità che si commettono durante un conflitto bellico ed un monito contro la guerra. v i ll e B Errori

Gli

di Filippo Salvatore

Ermanno LaRiccia, Montreal, ERL Libris, 2006, pp. 90

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opo i tre volumi di racconti Terra Mia, Viaggio in Paradiso ed Infinito Amore ed il romanzo La Padrona, l’ingegnere e giornalista Ermanno La Riccia ha pubblicato la raccolta di poesie La Voce delle Pietre. Si tratta di un volumetto di 90 pagine suddiviso in queste sezioni: “briciole di universo, richiami della natura,il fuoco dell’amore, sui sentieri della fede,in cammino tra la mia gente, poesie in dialetto, poesie trasformate in canti”. Nato a Larino nel Molise, ma residente a Montreal dal lontano 1952, il LaRiccia ha coltivato la poesia sin dalla sua fanciullezza ‘più per istinto che per convinzione” dapprima ed in seguito” per esigenza spirituale, per trovare refrigerio e forza, per superare delusioni, insuccessi e sconfitte.” La poesia è quindi per lui l’espressione di “un pensiero, di una visione o di una spinta emotiva che viene dall’anima”. Scritte in diverse circostanze e nel giro di un lungo arco di tempo, i componimenti hanno due temi centrali; il primo è la realtà contadina e paesana lasciate (evidentissime sia nella poesia ‘la voce delle pietre” di una scalinata nel centro storico del paese natio, che dà il titolo al volume sia nelle sezioni in cammino tra la mia gente e nelle poesie scritte in dialetto e messe in musica).Il secondo tema del volume è la ricerca di un senso da dare alla vita che si ottiene solo per mezzo di una contrastata ed angosciosa fede in Dio. Il rischio di questa tematica è di scadere nel bozzettismo tardo-realistico che purtroppo il LaRiccia non riesce del tutto ad evitare (specialmente nelle canzoni). La realtà espressa nei componimenti è quella fissa ed accarezzata nella memoria di chi ha lasciato la propria terra da decenni ma che in realtà non esiste più. Proprio di questo scarto occorreva trattare per rendere la riflessione esistenzialmente complessa, problematica. L’altro pericolo presente nel volume è il buonismo, ossia la difesa di valori scontati,come l’amore del prossimo, l’uguaglianza tra i popoli, il bisogno di eliminare la fame nel mondo, il rispetto della natura, la pace dell’anima che solo la fede nel Creatore riesce a dare.

La lingua usata nei componimenti è piana, accessibile ed il messaggio è altrettanto chiaro: struggenti nostalgia ed amore per la terra lasciata, carità cristiana, ilarità fatta di doppi sensi. I due temi indicati sono sia la forza che il limite dell’ispirazione del LaRiccia e de La Voce delle Pietre.Il messaggio enunciativo diventa a volte troppo trasparente e suona scontato.Ma egli è rimasto sempre e volutamente ligio ad una concezione tradizione dei valori in cui credere ed alla loro resa realistica.E di questo gli va dato atto. v

Gli Errori Belli

Giovanni Princigalli, Italia-Canada, 2006, 35 minuti

di Filippo Salvatore

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l grosso della presenza italiana in Canada risale ormai a tre/quattro generazioni.Il film-documentario di Giovanni Princivalli, nato dall’idea delle lettrici d’italianistica Vigliano e Joli dell’Université de Montréal et di Carleton di Ottawa rispettivamente, ha il merito di fare il punto della situazione su cosa significa nel 2006 essere italiano in Canada. Seguendo l’esempio usato da Paul Tana (a cui il film è dedicato) in Caffè Italia Montreal una ventina d’anni fa e montando le dichiarazioni degli intervistati con materiale d’archivio del fondo Alfredo Gagliardi del programma televisivo Teledomenica, il Princigalli riesce a darci uno spaccato interessante sul senso di appartenenza delle generazioni nate in Canada alla madre patria italiana. La domanda a cui il regista chiede a Raffaele Forcione, Giovanna Vilella, Marie-Josée De Sanctis, Francesca Ruscito e Maya Santoro (le due ultime residenti ad Ottawa) di rispondere è: in cosa consiste la vostra italianità? Se dico Italia, cosa significa per voi?

Il comune denominatore è che ormai l’italianità è un concetto identitario di rimando, eccetto per coloro che sono nati in Italia e sono arrivati a Montreal da decenni.

Ne sono la conferma le dichiarazioni di Forcione, De Sanctis, Ruscito , Santoro e degli

scolari della scuola elementare East Hill a Rivière-des-Prairies. Solo la Vilella sente ancora un attaccamento forte all’Italia e lo coltiva tramite il suo coinvolgimento nelle attività del Giovani del Comites di Montreal. E’ la sola a difendere il diritto di voto degli italiani all’estero ed a dirsi di sinistra. Gli altri intervistati,come la De Sanctis i cui antenati sono arrivati a Montreal all’inizio del Novecento, si sono dichiarati contrari ed hanno espresso simpatie per la destra. Significativo è il fatto che la Ruscito abbia saputo nominare Gianfranco Fini come personalità politica italiana di sua conoscenza.

La prima generazione racconta i sacrifici dovuti affrontare per rifarsi un posto al sole,come la vecchia, simpatica contadina dal cui viso sprizza forza e determinazione e che continua ancora a parlare solo italiano ai nipotini. Il tema principale del filmato però è quello del mantenimento e/o del recupero delle proprie radici italiane destinate inesorabilmente ad affievolirsi ed trasformarsi in un canto struggente, come quello degli alunni della East Hill, di “Una casetta In Canada”.

Se Dico Italia di Giovanni Princigalli, se inserito nella scia delle sei puntate della serie Planète di Tele Quebec, di Caffè Italia e del filmato recentissimo sugli archivi di Teledomenica di Paul Tana, di Mediterraneo di Nicola Zagaglia e di Enigmatico di Patricia Fogliato, costituisce un documento sociologico interessantissimo per capire come è avvenuto nel giro di due o tre generazioni l’inserimento di una comunità immigrata, come quella italiana, nella patria di adozione, il Canada. v

w w w . p a n o r a m i t a l i a . c o m

Magdi Allam Di Claudio Antonelli

Appassionatamente italiano

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agdi Allam, giornalista del “Corriere della Sera”, scrittore, polemista, è un personaggio atipico della scena intellettuale italiana. Musulmano – anzi “musulmano laico” come egli stesso si definisce – nato in Egitto da genitori musulmani, giunto in Italia all’età di venti anni, Allam è un implacabile nemico della cultura della morte e della tirannia del radicalismo islamico. Egli si batte per “la formazione di un islam italiano rispettoso della nostra identità nazionale e delle nostre leggi”.

Per queste sue posizioni è stato fatto oggetto di minacce da parte degli esponenti di un islam ideologizzato e guerriero, attivi in Italia, tanto che gli è stata assegnata dalle autorità una scorta armata.

Allam è un appassionato difensore dell’identità nazionale italiana contro l’idea di un multiculturalismo rivendicante una pluralità identitaria nella penisola. Egli auspica per gli immigrati italiani una cittadinanza che “sia un traguardo raggiungibile solo attraverso un processo d’integrazione che implica piena adesione ai valori fondanti dell’identità nazionale italiana.” È un cultore della libertà, della sacralità della vita, dell’umanità dell’uomo, ed è quindi nemico dichiarato di ogni radicalismo, di ogni dogmatismo, e di ogni ideologia basata sull’odio e la violenza.

Gli eventi traumatici da lui vissuti in Egitto, una concezione etica della vita, una profonda coerenza, un radicato senso di lealtà e di riconoscenza per la terra che lo ha accolto sono alla base di queste sue posizioni inflessibili.

In “Io amo l’Italia - ma gli italiani la amano?” (Milano: Mondadori, 2006), Magdi Allam ci presenta la sua vicenda umana e i suoi valori.

Una prima constatazione: dotato di un prodigiosa penna, Allam possiede il dono della concretezza, della chiarezza, del metodo di ricerca, della sintesi. L’amore che prova per l’Italia è al centro di questo suo libro. Di ciò gli italiani dovrebbero essergli grati. Allam è invece avversato da molti sia della sinistra sia della destra più radicale, che infatti conducono virulenti campagne nei suoi confronti per il suo dichiarato filoamericanismo, la sua totale, acritica solidarietà con Israele, il suo atteggiamento inflessibile nei confronti dell’islamismo. Inoltre, un tale personaggio così poco convenzionale suscita, nella patria di Machiavelli, inevitabili sospetti di calcolo e di doppiezza. È stato persino accusato di lavorare per i servizi segreti: CIA, Mossad, e via enumerando. Fatto rilevante della sua carriera giornalistica: lasciò la Repubblica, da lui giudicato “prototipo di giornale-partito”, perché insofferente della linea militante di questo giornale.

Magdi Allam ci racconta che giunse a Roma, dall’Egitto, un freddo giorno di dicembre. Era il 1972, aveva vent’anni. Veniva nel nostro Paese per gli studi universitari, grazie ad una borsa di studio. Era la prima volta che metteva piede in Italia, paese che amava e in parte conosceva, avendo vissuto nell’“Italia trapiantata in Egitto”. Fu fin da piccolo, ci racconta, “un egiziano italianizzato”.

Aveva studiato in scuole gestite da religiosi italiani. Era stato assistito con amore da una magnifica famiglia italiana del Cairo: i Caccia. Tra i suoi insegnanti vi erano stati due italiani d’altri tempi, che gli instillarono amore e rispetto per l’Italia. E fu così ch’egli ambì fin da piccolo a quella patria oltre il mare, patria d’elezione, così vicina al suo cuore perché interiorizzata fin dalla sua più tenera infanzia.

Dolci, nel libro, i suoi richiami all’Italia trapiantata in Egitto, oggi scomparsa, che conobbe nell’infanzia. Nell’Egitto d’allora vivevano diversi italiani, ed egli conobbe da vicino la loro umanità, serietà, industriosità. Paradossalmente è proprio il suo sentimento d’amore per l’Italia a suscitare ampie riserve tra gli abitanti della penisola. Il che non deve stupire, data la scarsezza di sentimento nazionale esistente presso la maggioranza degli abitanti della penisola, classi intellettuali e politiche in testa.

Secondo me, la passione italiana di Magdi Allam deve molto soprattutto al fatto ch’egli fu educato in Egitto da insegnanti italiani della “vecchia scuola”, veri patrioti, che avevano mantenuto, nonostante la tremenda sconfitta dell’Italia, un’idea alta e nobile della loro patria. Oso aggiungere che se Allam fosse nato in Italia, avrebbe acquisito, crescendo, gli elementi divisivi dell’identità italiana: campanilismo, sciovinismo calcistico, settarismo politico... Sarebbe insomma come la gran massa degli italiani. Da lontano invece egli imparò ad amare un’Italia “una”. È risaputo che si ama molto ciò che non si possiede, ciò che si fa sognare...

E nell’animo di Magdi Allam bambino e adolescente si sovrappose sull’Italia reale il paese ideale: della cultura, dei classici, del passato... Dati questi presupposti: la lontananza, il sogno, la conquista del paese amato, non dovrebbe stupire che il patriottismo italiano di Magdi Allam somigli in maniera così evidente al patriottismo di molti giuliano-dalmati, popolo di frontiera, che per anni ed anni attesero la “redenzione”; che infine giunse con il crollo dell’impero asburgico. Anche per loro l’Italia era un paese ideale, approdo dei desideri più intensi ed elemento inscindibile della propria identità. Un’identità non pacifica e scontata ma combattiva, in mezzo ai gorghi etnici di quelle terre di confine così lontane da Roma...

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Allam è profondamente riconoscente all’Italia, sua patria adottiva, nella quale è riuscito a diventare un personaggio mediatico, issandosi ai vertici del giornalismo. Egli ci racconta che da immigrato fu bene accolto nell’Italia d’allora. In diversi lo aiutarono, ed egli li ricorda tutti con affetto. I suoi figli sono nati in Italia. Di qui anche il suo militantismo contro le involuzioni di un islamismo basato sul culto dell’odio, così attivo in Europa e nella stessa Italia.

“Io amo l’Italia” è una dichiarazione d’amor patrio italiano. E la cosa non può che sorprendere e disorientare chi in Italia saliva di piacere soprattutto sull’ideologia, sul campanilismo, sul calcio, sul cibo...

Lo sguardo che Magdi Allam rivolge all’Italia e agli italiani è penetrante. Benché alieno dal gusto della provocazione per la provocazione, e poco propenso alla polemica ad ogni costo, Allam fa valere con schiettezza le sue idee e scoperchia gli altarini denunciando pigrizie e vigliaccherie. La sua diagnosi dei politici italiani è impietosa: “Una classe politica ammalata e incapace di prendersi cura adeguatamente delle sorti del paese. Ripiegata su se stessa, attenta solo a perpetuare la propria sopravvivenza attraverso una cultura politica dove il senso dello Stato, l’interesse supremo della nazione sono totalmente assenti.”

Un suo giudizio su Berlusconi: “Non condivido la sua concezione dell’‘azienda Italia’ e l’approccio imprenditoriale nella gestione del potere. Anche perché, oltretutto, ha finito con il monopolizzare il potere politico così come monopolizza il potere delle sue aziende.” (p. 247) Ma gli attribuisce “calore umano”; dote, a suo dire, pressoché sconosciuta alla totalità dei leader politici italiani. (p. 243) Sull’identità Allam scrive cose molto giuste (dopo tutto egli è un sociologo), che riusciranno però nuove alla maggioranza degli italiani per i quali l’identità nazionale è una nozione da spiriti arcaici e reazionari. Non confondiamo l’evoluzione del nostro essere, all’identità di ognuno di noi, ci dice. È vero sì che l’identità di una persona “è un processo che coniuga l’essere al divenire”. Chi emigra per esempio si apre ad una nuova cultura.

E questo è il divenire. Ma basta ciò per parlare di un’identità “plurima” per costui? Allam, ci fornisce l’esempio della propria identità. Egli nel passato ha “convissuto con un’identità egiziana”. Domani forse egli potrebbe “acquisire un’identità universale in virtù della condivisione dei valori di una comune civiltà umana”, però al momento attuale “non ho alcun dubbio sul fatto che io ho un’unica e inequivocabile identità italiana al 100 per cento.” Da notare quell’“identità universale” che Allam prospetta come possibilità futura, ma alla quale non sembra credere molto, al contrario di tanti italiani sempre pronti a dichiararsi cittadini del mondo. “Errore in cui incorrono i relativisti e i nichilisti è di confondere la dimensione del divenire e quella dell’essere, fino a negare l’esistenza stessa dell’identità”. (p. 234) Nel libro Magdi Allam riferisce un episodio che lo ha lasciato di stucco, e che ha lasciato di stucco anche me pur confermando esperienze simili vissute da noi espatriati al contatto con connazionali posseduti da un forte sentimento antinazionale. Nel corso di un convegno tenuto a Milano il 22 novembre 2005 su “Immigrati, scuola pubblica, diritto alla scuola confessionale”, consacrato agli immigrati, Allam perorò a favore dell’identità culturale italiana contro il trapianto nella penisola di sistemi totalmente opposti ai valori nazionali. Evocò il pericolo di una “schizofrenia identitaria”. Gli altri conferenzieri, che erano invece su posizioni opposte alle sue, parlarono a favore della concessioni da parte dello stato italiano di scuole confessionali. Ciò che in pratica equivale a una ghettizzazione degli islamici. Al termine quasi del convegno, prese di nuovo la parola Susanna Mantovani, preside della facoltà di scienze all’Università di Milano Bicocca. La Mantovani, che metteva sullo stesso piano i valori dell’integralismo islamico e quelli della civiltà italiana, disse di non capire cosa fosse questa presunta identità culturale italiana fatta valere da Magdi Allam. Lo disse con tono sarcastico e senso di grande meraviglia perché l’“identità italiana” era una nozione che lei considerava assurda. Alle parole della Mantovani, il pubblico, fino allora sonnolento, esplose in un “boato di entusiastica approvazione”. Anche i “docenti e responsabili del ministro dell’Istruzione, dell’università e della ricerca scientifica applaudirono in delirio, d’accordo nel negare un’identità nazionale italiana.” I presenti, italiani genuini, proruppero insomma in un applauso di sostegno alla studiosa che aveva tacitava con virulenza il “nazionalista italiano”, nato in Egitto. Basterebbe questo episodio per renderci cara la figura di questo immigrato egiziano divenuto un italiano raro, di quelli veri.

“Se gli italiani sono i primi a disconoscere i valori fondanti della loro civiltà, a irridere e negare l’esistenza di un’identità nazionale, come è immaginabile che gli immigrati rispettino questi valori e aderiscano a questa identità?” si chiede Magdi Allam. Ed ancora: “Solo quando si riuscirà a elaborare un islam italiano ed europeo che sancisca la separazione tra la sfera secolare e spirituale, tra la politica e la religione, che veda la fede coniugarsi con i diritti fondamentali della persona e i principi della Costituzione laica dello Stato, si verificheranno le condizioni per una piena integrazione dei musulmani.”

Non è difficile capire il senso di incongruità, di sorpresa, di perplessità che la lettura “Io amo l’Italia - ma gli italiani la amano?” susciterà in molti italiani, appassionati di calcio, di discussioni al bar, dottrinari, e sempre pronti a proclamarsi “cittadini del mondo” in nome di un provincialismo esterofilo. Magdi invece è un cittadino italiano, fiero e riconoscente.

Il momento più bello di questo libro è quando egli ci racconta il più grande complimento da lui ricevuto in Italia, la “massima onorificenza” come egli la definisce. Fu una donna di mezz’età a tributargliela. Guardandolo dritto negli occhi gli disse: “Sono orgogliosa di lei. Lei è il migliore degli italiani”. Quanti italiani, finti “cittadini del mondo”, leggendo questa frase tratteranno a stento un riso sarcastico. Da perfetti italiani, insomma. v TO OUR READERS, PLEASE ADVISE US OF ANY CHANGE OF ADDRESS. THIS IS CRUCIAL IN KEEPING OUR MAILING LISTS UP TO DATE AND ELIMINATES UNNECESSARY EXPENSES. THANK YOU.

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SPORT

sport

Sports

The magnificent seven

by Joey Franco

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rior to facing AEK Athens FC at the OACA Spyro Louis Stadium last November, AC Milan fans (who were in 16th place in Seria A at the time) knew their team’s chances of winning the competition were slim to none.

After losing the game one nil to AEK, slim decided to skip town.

Within a matter of six months, Carlo Ancelotti’s men were back in Athens to dispute one of the greatest rem atches in U E FA C ha m p i o n s L e a gu e h i st o r y, Milan-Liverpool.

In the 2005 UEFA CL final, after closing the first half with a score of 3-0, Milan were well on their way to winning their 7th European Cup. In the second half, The Reds tied the game in what is known as the six minutes of madness. Milan watched Liverpool lift the trophy to the sky of Istanbul after being defeated in an emotional penalty shoot-out.

Fast-forward two seasons; the two teams meet again, this time in Athens. Filippo Inzaghi’s deflection off of an Andrea Pirlo free kick gave the Rossoneri a 1-0 lead at the end of the first half. Eight minutes from the end Superpippo Inzaghi struck again beating Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina with an Inzaghi-style predatory finish.

English clubs are notorious for making miraculous comebacks in Champions League finals; Manchester did it in Barcelona against Bayern München in 1999 and Liverpool did it, well, you know how that one goes. As Dirk Kuyt pulled a goal back one minute from the end, it seemed that another astonishing comeback was on its way.

This was not the case this time around; AC Milan won its 7th European Cup. The game was not by any stretch of the imagination a Champions League classic, some would even say it was boring (and by some I mean myself). Although what truly matters is that Milan scored more goals than they received and managed to bring the Cup home by doing so. “It wasn’t a beautiful game but we had to win and I feel it was a fair result,” said AC Milan defender Alessandro Nesta.

Inzaghi saw his side lose to Liverpool in 2005 from the bench. Milan president Silvio Berlusconi suggested to Coach Ancelotti that Gilardino should be the man to occupy the lone striker position in Milan’s 4-3-2-1 formation in Athens. Thanks to Coach Carlo Ancelotti’s decision to start Inzaghi over Alberto Gilardino, the ex-Juventus striker was able to score, as Derby Sports put it, one and a half goals and give Milan the win. “Gilardino was in good shape and his strength might have been useful, but I decided to go for Inzaghi’s experience instead,” said Ancelotti. “I wore this shirt as a player, and winning major trophies for this club makes my feelings and relationship with Milan even stronger,” added Ancelotti.

AC Milan captain Paolo Maldini has won the European Cup five times, twice as captain (2003, 2007).

“We’ve been the best team in Italy, Europe and the world over the past 20 years. And the cycle hasn’t ended yet. We’ve got something different. For some time we’ve had this special mentality. Sometimes we have unsuccessful seasons but we always bounce back the next year, even when people dismiss our chances,” said Maldini following the final.

AC Milan’s Brazilian sensation Kaká has been named the Vodafone Player of the Season by uefa.com. The 25-year-old Brazilian international finished the 2006/2007 UEFA Champions League campaign as top scorer with ten goals to his name. Kaká set up Filippo Inzaghi’s second goal in the May 23rd final against Liverpool.

AC Milan, along with Argentina’s Boca Juniors, are now the most successful club in the world with 16 international trophies. Italian clubs are now tied with Spanish clubs in terms of greatest number of European cups won, with 11 each (Juventus and Inter each have two).

Milan will soon face UEFA Cup winners Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup final to be held August 31st at the Stade Louis II in Monaco.

For further information concerning the UEFA Sup er Cup fi nal AC Mi lan VS Sev i lla F C v i s i t : www.uefa.com/competitions/supercup/ v

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An All-Around Fight by: Laura Casella

n March 31st, 2007 Santa Cabrini hospital, the east-end circular landscape serving the Italian community for From left to right: Honorary Co-president Giuseppe Borsellino, 45 years, celebrated the Honorary Co-president Micheline Martin and fourth edition of Le Bal de President Tommaso Nanci. la Rotonde, a gala that supports and raises funds for the betterment of this historic hospital. The ball, which welcomed over 750 distinguished guests, was not only a success, but a record-breaking achievement.

“It was a night like no other,” says Tommaso Nanci, founder of the event and President of the Organization Committee. The evening was also organized under the presidency of Mr. Giuseppe Borsellino, President, Group Petra-Limité, and Mrs. Micheline Martin, President, Quebec Division of RBC Royal Bank. Of the two, Nanci says, “I cannot thank them enough.”

An impressive guest list included the General Director of the Santa Cabrini Hospital Irene Giannetti, Consul General of Italy Francesco Paolo Venier, mayor of SaintLeonard and chairman of the executive committee for the City of Montreal Frank Zampino, and Lieutenant-governor of Quebec, Lise Thibault. Other guests, as Nanci states, “are also distinguished members of the community.” The Honorable Michel Bissonette, Mr. Tony Tommasi, and Lino Saputo Senior and Junior.

Besides a full-course meal, great entertainment, and a large sum of money raised, organizers of the gala had something very important in mind. “I am pleased to say that all the money raised, and I mean all the money, will go towards the creation of a center to fight cancer,” says Nanci proudly. A place within the Santa Cabrini hospital where patients will be able to receive high-quality care. “Cancer is the outstanding drama of the community,” adds Nanci, “and that’s why all the money raised will go towards fighting this dreadful disease.”

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Nanci also says he is amazed at how this event has grown each year. “The first year we raised $300,000, the second and third $500,000 and now the fourth year, an astonishing $725,000, the largest amount ever collected. It just goes to show that everyone is concerned about health, the root cause of this event, because without it, we have nothing.”

But supporting Santa Cabrini, which according to Nanci is the only hospital in Quebec of Italian origin, is a constant commitment, and that is why he encourages everyone to continue to support the hospital all year long. “My message to everyone is to please help sustain, maintain, and improve Santa Cabrini all the time. It’s amazing what we can achieve when we all come together as a community.” . v

Committee Members - from left to right: Dr. Frank Giuristante, Marc Leclerc, Tony Loffreda, Irène Gianneti, Tommaso Nanci, Pat Romanelli and John Di Genova.

The Vita Children’s Foundation n February 10, 2007, The Vita Children’s Foundation held its 3rd annual Valentine benefit gala, “A Night for life”. Over 400 guests flocked to the elegant Club de golf Metropolitain Anjou, showing their support for an organization that helps many young people who suffer from cancer. Daniela De Santis and Danny Adornato have seen the effects of the illness up close as their son Gianluca was diagnosed (Founders of the Danny Adornato Adornato and w i t h acut e lymp h oblas t i c nd sba hu d an s Daniela De Santi dation), and children Francesco leukemia at the age of two. He is Foun Vita Children's ato now doing well but after having Gianluca Adorn seen their own son suffer, De Santis and Adornato wanted to help other youngsters going through the same pain. They therefore established The Vita Children’s Foundation in 2002, a non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to helping children and adolescents with cancer receive the highest quality of pediatric oncology care. The evening began with a spectacular cocktail followed by a mouth- watering, five-course gourmet dinner in a beautifully refined dining room. It featured the first- rate entertainment of the exceptional Orchestra Esclusiva and a magic show called “Art & Champagne” performed by the very talented Roger Benoit. The proceedings (emceed by Stephane Banfi, who is Communications Director for the Montreal Impact) included a silent auction featuring unique memorabilia from the world of sports and entertainment, an art auction showcasing the work of local artist Gino Sauro, door prizes, and a raffle. Among those in attendance were of course the Co-Founders and Event Co-Chairs Daniela De Santis and Danny Adornato, Event Co-Presidents Nick De Santis and Mauro Biello and Major Contributors to the event, Rosanna and Roberto Pietrovito. Notable, also, was the presence of several special guests including Saint-LeonardSt-Michel MP Massimo Pacetti, Impact players and coaching staff and most special of all,

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By: Mario Di Flavio

Vassili Cremandizdis, a 17 year-old cance r su r vivor and The Vita Children’s Foundation 2007 Honoree.

His caring physician, staff oncologist at The Montreal Children’s Hospital, Dr. David Mitchell, gave a wonderful speech along with the presentation of a moving video about 17 year-old Vassili. Among the sponsors for the event were Abott and Saputo (event partners); Healthcomm and Mercer Committee Members - back row from left to right: Human Resource Consulting; RBC Mauro Biello, Pina De Santis, Nick De Santis, Anna Tsouluhas, Daniela De Santis, Danny Adornato, Royal Bank; BDO Dunwoody; Maria Pergantis, Anne-Marie Polletta & Elena Di Raddo; Montreal impact First Touch Clinics; front row from left to right: Gianluca Adornato and HSBC Bank Canada; Pavages Nick & Francesco Adornato Associes. A big thank you to everyone who participated and ultimately helped raise $90 000. The money will go to the Hemotology / Oncology Department of The Montreal Children’s Hospital, the adolescent and young adult Oncology Programme at the Jewish General Hospital’s Segal Cancer Centre and the Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada. For further information about The Vita Children’s Foundation go to: www.vitachildrensfoundation.com. v

Massimo Pacetti (MP Saint-Leonard - Saint-Michel) with his wife Danielle, Vassili Cremanzidis (The Vita Children's Foundation 2007 Honoree and Cancer Survivor) with his family Chris, Maria & Costantina, Dr. David Mitchell, staff oncologist at the Montreal Children's Hospital, Daniela De Santis and Danny Adornato, Founders of The Vita Children's Foundation.

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1947-2007 60 Years of Glory Joey Franco

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ow can 60 years of passion and victories be summed up in a single statement? They cannot, so I will not even try.

That being said, on January 18th Ferrari began a relay to celebrate its 60th anniversary as a road car manufacturer.

Ferrari’s objective, visit fifty countries in 80 days, with the grand finale in Maranello. On March 29th, the relay came to Montreal at Marché Bonsecours near the Old Port. Ferrari Quebec president, Joey Spineti, received the ceremonial relay baton, a symbol of the scuderia’s triumphant history. Adorned with 60 badges symbolizing the most outstanding events in the Marque’s history, the baton will circle the globe before reaching its home in Italy. Private collectors provided their guests with a taste of 10 vintage Ferraris at Marché Bonsecours.

Shown above from left to right: Umberto Bonfa Director of Sales, Ferrari Maserati Quebec.

Joey Spineti, President, Ferrari Maserati Quebec.

His Excellence, Gabriele Sardo, Ambassador of Italy in Canada.

Sabrina D’Amico, event manager, Ferrari Maserati Quebec.

1967 Ferrari P4

1990 Ferrari F40

The P4 is the rarest car in this collection. Only three of these gems were ever built and this one is the only Ferrari P4 in the world in its original configuration that can reach a top speed of 338 kilometers per hour. This car’s 450-hp, 4.4L V12 engine earned Ferrari a triple victory at the 1967 24 Hours of Daytona.

The F40, successor of the 288 GTO, remains one of the most high performance street legal vehicles ever produced. Its F1-like aerodynamics and 2.9L twin-turbo V8, 471 horsepower engine was unmatched at the time.

The F40 was the first road legal production car to break the 200mph (322kph) barrier. This was the last car commissioned by Enzo Ferrari before his death.

1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa 250 The name Testa Rossa is derived from the redcolored cylinder head covers. This redhead is no stranger to victory, Le Mans in 1958 and the FIA World Championship in the same year. Only 19 of this specific model were produced.

1979 Ferrari 512 BBLM Ch. Pozzi

1962 Ferrari 250 GTO

1995 Ferrari F50

It wasn’t hard for guests to realize why this Gran Turismo Omologato is dubbed “the most beautiful car in the world”. Only 39 of these rare gems were certified by the FIA. This GTO’s Colombo V12 engine produces 302 horsepower. The last 250 GTO to be sold went for $18 million USD!

The F50 accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.7 seconds. Ferrari produced 349 units, one less than they estimated they could sell. According to a Ferrari spokesperson, “Ferraris are something cultural, a monument. They must be hard to find, so we will produce one less car than the market.”

2006 Ferrari FXX

1972 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 « Daytona »

The FXX is part of a development program.

Only 29 units have been produced. Owners of the FXX, including Michael Shumacher, are only allowed to drive the car on special track days approved by Ferrari. The pricetag for the FXX; $2 million euros.

The “Daytona”, was to be named after the P4’s 1967 victory in the 24 hours of Daytona but due to a media leak of the name, Enzo Ferrari never officially baptized the car, although it has always been known as the Daytona. This Spider is one of the last Ferraris with a front engine.

Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano This Gran Turismo Berlinetta’s 6.3 L, 620 horsepower engine is Ferrari’s most powerful production engine ever to come out of Maranello. The 599, successor of the 575M Maranello, recently completed a 32,000-km marathon from Brazil to New York. The 599 features an Enzo engine.

The 512 Berlinetta Boxer Le Mans was once owned by Charles Pozzi, Ferrari’s French distributor. This car competed in the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans but was not able to beat the 700 horsepower Porsche 935 K3.

1967 Ferrari P4

1985 Ferrari 288 GTO This mid-engined coupe was Built to compete in the 1984 World Rally Championship. The 288, which was never sold in North America, was one of the first to use composite materials such as kevlar, nomex and fiberglass. v

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2006 Ferrari FXX

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Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano

1979 Ferrari 512 BBLM Ch. Pozzi

1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa 250

1995 Ferrari F50

1962 Ferrari 250 GTO

1972 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 « Daytona »

1990 Ferrari F40

1985 Ferrari 288 GTO

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Massimo Di Ioia

by Aicha Cissé

or mos t of us , bei ng 19 means still pondering about our future career endeavors or eagerly anticipating the big 2-0. For St-Leonard’s 19-year-old Massimo Di Ioia, these simple endeavors can be magnified. At 18, this avid soccer player saw his wildest dream come true when he was recruited by his favorite team: The Montreal Impact. In his rookie season last year, he sc o red a goal and added an assist in 15 games and 516 minutes played. Now, the star athlete will see another dream materialize as he will take part i n t h e 2007 F I FA World Youth Championship this summer. The young forward is looking forward to competing among the world’s best while sporting red and white for the men’s Under-20 team.

“I used to always watch the Impact and I even had autographed shirts and Photos Pépé now, to be able to just play with these inspiring athletes and with Nick as a coach is just mind-blowing,” explained a very humble Di Ioia.

Di Ioia has been playing soccer since the tender age of 5. His parents always encouraged him to first and foremost enjoy himself and provided unabated support when it became clear their youngest son had found his vocation in the game.

“I always kicked the ball with my older brother Fabio and soon enough, it became a passion. I’m very thankful that my family was always behind me,” remembers Di Ioia.

For the Montreal Native, making it all the way to the Impact’s roster was not easy.

Before joining the Impact, he played with the Montreal-Concordia AAA Soccer Elite Club from U14 to U18 and with the National Training Centre. Besides determination and assiduous preparation, Di Ioia had to face his own strengths and weaknesses. His drive and will to always set himself apart in the field won him the attention of recruiters.

At 18, he was the youngest player on the Impact. He quickly learned to check his ego at the door for he was now with ‘the big boys’.

“I was used to being the star player and getting attention all the time before I joined the Impact. But now I was with much more experienced players. I was with athletes I looked up to.”

It didn’t hurt that his role model is Francesco Totti as well.

“I look up to him because he’s not only a great player, but also a great role model for the kids. He is very disciplined and that is exactly what inspires me in a world class player.”

Discipline is something Di Ioia knows about. Between rigorous trainings with the National Team and striving to be a good role model for the younger generations, he remains humble and grateful. Unlike many famous athletes who have sadly strayed from the love of the game to give in to ads and endorsements, he has vowed to always play from the heart.

“I would never let fame get in my head or make me arrogant. It’s easy to fall in that trap and just play to make lots of money. In the end, you may be richer, but you are not representing what you got into the game for in the first place.”

Besides the cultural enrichment he gains by travelling around the world, Di Ioia’s career has been marked with many experiences, good ones and bad ones. The young forward will always remember what he deems ‘every player’s nightmare’. During the semifinals last year, he had a chance to score on a breakaway but missed, hitting the post instead.

“I spent so much time re-playing that miss. It’s not healthy to dwell on these things, but it’s hard not to. Thankfully, I took it as an experience. I’m young and still learning so hopefully, it won’t happen again,” laughed Di Ioia.

With a Junior World Cup to look forward to and a new three-year contract with the Impact, Di Ioia will probably be one of the busiest 19-year-olds in our city. v

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PHOTO: GERALDO PACE