The Italian Connection

Dear readers, I know that for L’Italo-Americano readers, October will always be Italian Heritage Month, however, due to the “Indigenous People” politically correct nomenclature currently in use in many California School Districts, any positive, beneficial and enduring history of Italian …

Dear Readers, September dates with Italian American connections for you: World War II began on Sep. 1, 1939, when Germany attacked Poland. The Treasury Department of the United States was established Sep. 2, 1789. Mike Piazza, an Italian-American baseball player …

Dear Readers, Opera Season, after a long shutdown, opened recently in San Francisco with Puccini’s Tosca, to a fully vaccinated and masked audience of two thousand. This was the S.F. Opera’s 99th season, but without my friend Joe Brucia’s father …

Dear Readers, August is a good month to remind you that St. Rocco and his dog, always pictured together on religious picture cards distributed on his feast day, August 16, was heaven’s first animal rights activist, if the stories we believe, in a …

Dear Readers, A minestrone of Italian connections for you: Topolino (little mouse) rolled off the Fiat assembly lines back in 1934, thereby introducing the first subcompact car to the world. For a mere $250 for a basic model, Italian drivers …

Dear Readers, July jottings with an Italian connection: Giuseppe Garibaldi was born on July 4th, 1807. Many people know that California’s State flower is the golden poppy and the State bird is the quail. But few know that the State fish is the “Garibaldi.” …

Dear Readers,  July jottings with an Italian Connection: Army General Peter Chiarelli said, ” I dropped the d word.” The general, when  explaining why the military prefers to use the term post traumatic stress rather than post traumatic stress disorder, arguing that disorder unnecessarily stigmatizes soldiers’ natural response to the emotional …

Dear Readers, An August assortment of Italian connections for you: *** August was named to honor the first Roman emperor (and grandnephew of Julius Caesar), Augustus Caesar (63BC-AD14). *** August is the month of figs. The first plant mentioned in the Bible is the …

Dear Readers, As November Veterans Day approaches I am reminded that on November 11, 1918, the Armistice agreement was signed, and fighting on all battlefields ceased at 11 a.m., when the guns of World War I fell silent after 4 …

Dear Readers, Labor Day will be celebrated in  the US on Monday, September 6th 2021. In Italy, on August 8, Italy celebrated the Giornata Nazionale del Sacrificio del Lavoro Italiano nel Mondo, a national day to remember the sacrifices of …