The Italian Connection

Dear Readers, A May mix of Italian connections: Aldo Colombini (1951-2014) left us recently and the world of magic lost one of its greatest contributors. Aldo was my husband’s favorite magician and when we celebrated fifty years of matrimonial magic …

Dear Readers, Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678-1741) violinist extraordinaire and one of the most prolific well-known Italian composers who composed over 500 concertos, 12 operas, numerous oratorios, lyrics and cantatas and I, have something in common, i.e., both our “nonnos” were …

Dear Readers, Bits from my bookcase. Here are a few Italian connections I recently found amidst my light-hearted summer reading: They All Laughed… (Ira Flatow) is a book about inventions that changed our lives and the stories behind them. We …

Dear Readers, California, we didn’t discover it we just enriched it, this is what I wrote during the Columbian Quintcentennial when descendants of “Indigenous Peoples” and kindred spirits began hurling slings and arrows at our Italian Heritage and with the …

Dear Readers, Festa della Repubblica, simply stated, commemorates June 2, 1946, the date the Italian people were asked to VOTE in a referendum and choose between a Republican form of government or a return to the Monarchy.  Here is a …

Dear Readers, Looking back “Anniversario numero 36” coming up for the Museo ItaloAmericano in San Francisco, reminds me that actor Charlton Heston and his wife Lydia Heston were Charter Members of the Museo ItaloAmericano when it first opened its doors …

Dear Readers, In June many saintly celestial superstars are venerated and celebrated. In Italy and in Italian American homes the “onomastico” or Name Day, is often cause for a party and celebration. Many of the favorite people in my life …

Dear Readers, An August assortment of Italian connections for you:   Swiss Guards have been protecting the Pope for centuries. When I first visited Italy in the 1950’s, I wondered aloud why, with all those Italians around, the Vatican was …

Dear Readers, As the July 4th celebrations begin, let me refresh your memory and mine on the Declaration of Independence which began “When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands …

Dear Readers, June jottings with an Italian connection:   Benevento (meaning Good Winds), a city of some 65,000 “abitanti” always triggers memories of  my father, Vincenzo, in his happy host role on Sunday afternoons offering “liquore” to his  visiting “paesani”. …