The Italian Connection

Dear Readers, American History is being rewritten. Positive contributions made by our forefathers will soon disappear from our US.History Books. Before every shred of positive print is wiped out, I thought I would refresh your memory and mine by reprinting “I …

Dear Readers, An April assortment of Italian connections for you: Pietro Di Donato was born in West Hoboken, New Jersey on April 3, 1911, to Abruzzese emigrants and died at the age of 80. He took up writing during a …

Dear Readers, A July assortment of Italian connections for you: Mauro Battocchi, Consul General of Italy for North Western U.S.A., and recent guest speaker at the Italian American Heritage Foundation in San Jose, California, encouraged the audience to learn more …

Dear Readers, February is named after Februs, Roman god of purification.  February was his sacred month and the Latin Februa means “feast of purification”.  February is the shortest month of the year, only 28 days this year, but Febbraio is …

Dear Readers, 1. June – Giugno usually is a happy month with weddings, birthdays, graduations and Father’s Day (June 21), but due to the corona virus, it may NOT be so happy this year. Let’s not forget the feast days of …

Dear Readers, Merry Christmas or Buon Natale is fine but Season’s Greetings sounds too one size fits all seasons. It seems that with merchants putting up their Christmas decorations (now holiday decorations) a nanosecond after clearing shelves of candy corn …

Dear Readers, “A man does not have to be an angel to be a saint,” said Albert Schweitzer.  The same holds true for Fr. Angelo D’Agostino, founder of Nyubani (Swahili for “home”) and the subject of a new book, DAG …

Francis Albert Sinatra was the only child of two Italian immigrants. His father was Anthony Sinatra, a New York fireman of Sicilian origin, and his mother was Natalie Garavanta, called by her middle name, Dolly and was well known for …

Genoa, Italy, as we little Italo-American kids learned in school, was the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, the “man who discovered America”.   Most Italo-Americans who claim Genovese “roots” are not descendants of people born in the city of Genoa, but …

Dear Readers, June jottings with an Italian connection: Italy’s “Festa Della Repubblica” (Italian Republic Day) celebrates the date, June 2, 1946, when Italians went to the polls to express their preference between a Republic and a Monarchy form of government. …