Maria Gloria Rando

Dear readers,  Deported is a word we associate with “ordered to leave the US” but it turns out deporting boats float both ways… Italy did not exist as a nation in the early 1800s, and the Italian exiles who arrived …

Dear Readers,  A June “minestrone” of Italian connections for you! “Grazie” to Tony Ghezzo, who has been a font of information on all things Italian for over thirty years.  ** La Festa della Repubblica commemorates the day of June 2, 1946, when the people of Italy, in …

Dear Readers,  more July jottings with an Italian connection.  Atlas, the mythological Titan condemned by Zeus to stand and bear the weight of the Heavens and Earth on his shoulders, after he had led the Titans in a war against the gods of …

Dear Readers,  May jottings with an Italian Connection:  Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 14th, calls for a toast. Here is one shared with me by the late Frank Befera of Duluth, Minnesota: “Here’s to the happiest hours of my life, spent in …

Dear readers,  in July, let me refresh your memory and mine on the Declaration of Independence, signed July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia. Although the colonists declared themselves independent of England and set up the United States of America, a long war …

Dear Readers,  April (Aprile) comes from the Latin word aperire, which means to open.  *** St. Francis of Paola was born in Paola, Calabria, Italy, in April 1416. He cured the sick, prophesized the future, and was a major influence on five kings …

Dear Readers,  April showers bring May flowers and an abbondanza of Italian connections. *** President Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865. If not for the assassination of President Lincoln, there would not be a Pullman Company. In 1865, Mr. George Mortimer Pullman was building railroad …

Dear readers,  The Italian-American-US internment was a quasi-secret. In 1993, at a conference sponsored by the American-Italian Historical Association’s Western Regional Chapter, Una Storia Segreta had its inception. During that half a day, a panel of speakers for the first time bore public witness …

Dear Readers,  May, we said, keeps on having many Italian connections, but for those of us who were fans, this is the month we had to say goodbye to Frank Sinatra: learning he had died, on the 14th of May 1998, was …

Dear readers, The many Italian connections in March continue:  Judge John J. Sirica was born on March 23, 1904, in Waterbury, Connecticut. He was the US district court judge whose search for the truth about the 1972 Watergate break-in was the first step leading …