The Italian Connection

Mazzini would not have been surprised at revelations that the N.S.A. (National Security Agency) had been monitoring our telephone, email and Internet use, had he been able to read the front pages of our newspapers lately.   The A.C.L.U. has …

Dear Readers, Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was a 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 …

Dear Readers, In memory of Vincenzo, my September-born father, the “Sheik of Brook Ave.” (Bronx, N.Y.) and gents of a certain age who were once “Sheik wannabes” on the streets of Little Italys throughout the world, I thought I would …

Dear Readers, August-Agosto has many dates with an Italian connection:   Caruso, the world famous tenor was born in Naples in 1873 and died there at age 48 on August 2, 1921. Enrico Caruso had just turned twenty-two when he …

Dear Readers, On July 4th let me refresh your memory and mine on the Declaration of Independence, signed July 4, 1776 (in Philadelphia) and learn about Italian and Italian American contributions to the American Revolutionary War.   Although the colonists …

Dear Readers, An August “abbondanza” of admiration for those arrivals who reached our shores in the early 1900’s… ***   America, where “noses fun and feet smell”, is a land loaded with linguistic lumps in the road for new arrivals …

Dear Readers, A September selection of Italian Connections for you: United States Postage Stamps with an Italian connection, are the focus of Gerardo Perrotta’s newly published book Phila-Italy Americana, Italian Themes on United States Postage Stamps, in hardcover, softcover, E-book …

Dear Readers, August, the month we celebrate the feast of St. Rocco, always pictured with his dog, is a good time to review the history of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (S.P.C.A.) in a city named …

Dear Readers, October, the month we traditionally celebrate our Italian Heritage, has unfortunately become the month when mean-spirited slings, arrows and Columbus bashers come out in full force. But be vigilant, those who wish to discredit us are busy throughout …

Dear Readers, June jottings with an Italian Connection: Domenico Ghirlandaio (c. 1449-1494) was a Florentine painter of the early Renaissance, whose birth name was Domenico di Tommaso Bigordi. His father was a silk merchant and goldsmith – which likely gave …