Dear Readers,
Another August assortment of Italian Connections for you:
Avanti con Allegria: an elderly “Signore” had serious hearing problems for many years. Finalmente he visited a “dottore” who fitted him with a set of hearing aids that allowed him to hear 100%. When he went back for a check-up, his “dottore” said “Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again.” “Oh, I haven’t told my family yet”, said the elderly Signore. I just sit around and listen to the family conversations. And, I have already changed my will three times…
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Ancona province, in the farming town of Chiaravalle, in the Marche region of Italy, is where Dottoressa Maria Montessori was born, on August 31, 1870 (she died in May 1952). Her father, Alessandro had been relocated to Chiaravalle by the Ministry of Finance to manage the Manifattura Tabacchi, the tobacco manufacturing facility in Chiaravalle. In 1866 he married the 32-year old Renilde Stoppani. She was the niece of Abbot Antonio Stoppani, a geologist, patriot and author. Maria was their only child and her father discouraged Maria’s interest in a professional career, but with her mother’s encouragement, Maria began to attend a boys’ technical school. There she developed an interest in biology and went on to pursue a medical degree. She was the first woman to graduate from the University of Rome La Sapienza Medical School becoming the first female doctor in Italy.
Maria’s first job was at the University of Rome psychiatric clinic. There she developed an interest in the treatment of special needs children. Maria was put in charge of a state-supported slum school in the San Lorenzo quarter of Rome. Her work in this Casa dei Bambini (House of Children) was exceptional. She was featured in journals and newspaper articles and soon physicians and child specialists from all over the world came to Rome to see her work. In the United States she set up a classroom at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. Visitors were allowed to watch children learn the Montessori Method, developed in Rome. The program was an adaptation by her of the traditional teacher-taught subjects in the arts and sciences. Children used materials to guide their open-minded research and to follow individual interests, working toward a much higher level than was previously thought possible for children of this age. Maria lived in many European countries before returning to Italy at the end of World War II. Today there are over 7,000 Montessori schools all over the world.
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Banana (and pineapple) markets have been dominated by Chiquita and Del Monte for decades, making it all but impossible for competitors to carve out a slice of their own. Now, an Italian family has launched a challenge to the multi-nationals’ near-monopoly in the European market. Under the Fratelli Orsero label, the Orsero family from Liguria recently invested of 5 million euro in Italy and Spain and have set their sites on Portugal, Greece and France as well. The company recently broke away from Del Monte, for which it served as a distributor for more than 35 years. The Orseros are looking to capitalize on the 10 to 20 percent share of the distribution market that they currently command…without slipping on the proverbial peel.
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Discovering the Friends of Italy Society in Honolulu via the pages of L’Italo-Americano (June 14, 2012 issue), “grazie” to contributor F.J. De Santis Jr., had me mining my files for a few more Hawaiian Italian Connections, but first let me urge you to note this information in case you are planning to visit Oahu in the near or distant future. The Friends of Italy Society has been in Honolulu for 21 years. They have an annual Christmas party and their own newsletter “Il Gazzettino”, as well as Italian Cinema, dinner and musical events. Find the Friends of Italy Society at www.friendsofItalyhawaii.org, http://facebook.com/FriendsofItaly, or www.cinemaitalianoinhawaii.org.
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Frank Fasi served as Mayor of Honolulu for 22 years and was a good friend of our late long time L’Italo-Americano Bay Area representative and columnist Roger Boschetti. At the time, Roger was the Pacific Coast Business Agent for the Marine Cooks and Stewarts Union.
A true legend in Island politics, Mr. Fasi , a Democrat most of his career, also ran as a Republican and as an Independent when it suited his purposes. Mr. Fasi was mayor from 1968 until 1980 and then again in 1984-94. His last run for statewide office came in 1998, when he lost the Republican gubernatorial primary. He died in Honolulu in January 2010.
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Hawaii Italian Connections are not plentiful, but among the first Italians to visit Hawaii was Paolo Emilio Botta, who came in 1828 aboard the French ship Heros for a two month stay. The son of Carlo Botta, an Italian author, Paolo Botta’s observations of sympathetic interest regarding Hawaii were included by his father in the 1841 Italian edition of a book recounting his voyage to and his experiences in Hawaii.
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Captain John Dominis, an American of Italian ancestry, sailed into Honolulu with his New England wife and small son. An affluent sea captain, he built the finest residence in Honolulu, but on a voyage to China in 1846 to obtain furniture for his home, he disappeared at sea.
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John Owen Dominis, his son, grew up in the elegant home his father had built and took his bride, Princess Lili’uokalani, there to live. It was her personal home for the rest of her life. After her death it was purchased by the Territory of Hawaii as the governor’s mansion. Located on Beretania Street near the Capitol and ‘Iolani Palace, it bears the name of Washington Place.
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John Owen Dominis, a businessman, received King Kalakaua’s appointment as governor of the island of O’ahu. Upon his wife’s ascension to the throne, he became Prince Consort of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He is one of the few non Hawaiians to be buried in the Royal Mausoleum in Nu’uanu Valley.
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The pineapple industry, a fledgling business in Hawaii in 1913, was affected by the Italian genius of Henry Ginaca. Ginaca, company engineer for The Hawaiian Pineapple Company, invented a machine for peeling and coring pineapples thus facilitating the canning process, and making that delicious fruit a wonderful source of trade and revenue for the Hawaiian people and a gift to the world in general.
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The special Italian touch of Hospitality offered to tourists arrived when Arthur Benaoa, brought to Hawaii from Milan in 1927, became managing director of the Territorial Hotels Co., in charge of the Royal Hawaiian, the Moana, the Seaside Hotels, and the Wai’alae Golf Club.
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Domenico Moro, born in Sicily, was the leader of the Royal Hawaiian Band from 1941-1955, gladdening the hearts and ears of music lovers in Hawaii.
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Discerning folks who search beneath the surface will discover other Italian influences that enrich all strata of the Hawaiian lifestyle.
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