L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2020 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 2 T his past 4th of July, the US Embassy in Rome c e l e b r a t e d t h e 2 4 4 t h Independence Day anni- v e r s a r y u n u s u a l l y . I t didn't only move all celebrations onli- ne — because of the pandemic and the consequent ban on gatherings — but it also decided to share them. In a short video, Robert De Niro c h a n g e d p e r s p e c t i v e a n d l o o k e d towards Italy, greeting his "dear Ita- lian friends" and explaining that, without Italy, his career wouldn't have been the same. For this reason, he said "Grazie, Italia." His Italian Connection — as the title of a historic and beloved column of our paper recites — are his great grandpa- rents Giovanni De Niro and Angelina Mercurio, migrants from Ferrazzano, a small village in the Campobasso province of Molise, who had left Italy in 1890. Or that was, at least, his starting point. His roots. Because the man who, with his 2 Oscars, 8 nominations and a plethora of other awards, was to become one of Hollywood's greatest icons, never strayed from his Italian heritage. On the contrary, he fed on those How to preserve and valorize the Italian-American "resource" From the director roots, sprouting and blooming thanks to them. He never severed those ties, even if he was born and bred in the US and always lived fully as an American; rather, he nurtured them in time, even professionally: "My career wouldn't have been the same — he declared in the short video where he speaks only in Italian — if I didn't work with great Italians and Ita- lian-American directors, such a s Scorsese, Coppola, Berto- lucci, De Palma, Leone." His Oscars, too, are about Italy and Italian-Americans: the first, for best supporting actor, came in 1975 thanks to his portrayal of Italian(Sicilian)-American Vito Corleone in Cop- pola's The Godfather II. The second, won 6 years later for best actor, was for his interpretation of Jack La Motta in the timeless classic Raging Bull. We're in October, the Italian Heritage Month. It's an important month to speak about us. Here, we used De Niro to speak about Italy, italianità, italo-americanità. In our cover story, we focused on Alberto Sordi because we wanted to honor not only a great Italian actor, but also reflect with you all on an artist who, through a career that lasted more than half a century and a long series of movies, became a national folk symbol, the embodiment of the average Italian. His Ita- lians are magnetic, seductive, charming and not because of their looks or friendliness (often they've got the exact opposi- te characteristics), but because of their extraordinary power of attraction. They work as a magnet, they stimulate our thinking. Cinema, as shown also by De Niro's own iconic charac- ters, helps because its language communicates more than a picture: it has psychological, folkloristic and social values able to deliver sub-meanings that transcend sheer appearan- ce. It's able to show and pass on bits of culture. It materializes every day characters, who are the embodiment of common attitudes, habits and behaviors. This is why, to start our reflection on how we conceive and view Italians, we chose an actor as immense as Alberto Sordi: to understand how we imagine them, but, above all, to bring our the "Italian" within us through a high level term of comparison: his movies. In other words, we want these archetypal characters and their stories — essence of the popular soul of Italian cinema — to help us discover what our italianità really is. Of course, there aren't answers inherently right or wrong, partial or complete. There are "our" free interpretations. October is a month when, among thousands of things to do, we should think a tad about us, about how we feel and how we see Italy. It's a month when, perhaps, we should make that phone call "back home" we continuously postpone, or trace back, out of curiosity, our family tree and look up on a map the village our ancestors came from. L'Italo-Americano, of course, celebrates Italian Herita- ge Month, but we don't want to treat is as a recurrence. It isn't some sort of lengthy birthday, but an adventurous disco- very that happens within ourselves, day after day. Since 1908, we promote our language and culture. We are voice of and an extended hand towards the Italian-American community. And just like Italians and Italian-Americans left their Little Italys, so is our newspaper open to the wider American com- munity: we are a piece of American culture. A layer, a contri- bution, a townhouse, an accent when one talks. This is the strenuous work that, for the past 112 years, L'Italo-Ameri- cano has been doing: it preserves and valorizes the Italian- American "resource." May this be a month of enthusiastic rediscovery of your being an extraordinary resource for the whole community! Simone Schiavinato, Director NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS P.O.BOX 6528, ALTADENA, CA 91003 P.O.BOX 6528, ALTADENA, CA 91003 Member of FUSIE (Federazione Unitaria Stampa Italiana all'Estero), COGITO L'Italo-Americano 610 West Foothill Blvd. Unit D, Monrovia, CA 91016 - Tel.: (626) 359-7715 PLEASE SEND CORRESPONDENCE TO P.O. BOX 6528, ALTADENA, CA 91003 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano Newspaper (a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization), www.italoamericano.org, is the largest and longest-running Italian newspaper in America, not to mention the cultural and news resource for all things Italian in the US. A bilingual newspaper which represents an historical landmark for the Italian American Communities in the West Coast and throughout the US. L'Italo-Americano benefits from subsidies by the Italian Government, Memberships and Donations intended to support and not interrupt a mission that began in 1908 to preserve and promote the Italian language and culture in the USA Periodicals postage paid at Monrovia, California 91016, and additional mailing offices. PUBLISHER Robert Barbera Grande Ufficiale DIRECTOR/EDITOR IN CHIEF Simone Schiavinato ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER Patrick Abbate EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Barbara Minafra COPY EDITOR Francesca Bezzone LOS ANGELES CONTRIBUTOR Silvia Giudici SAN FRANCISCO CONTRIBUTORS Catherine Accardi Serena Perfetto SEATTLE CONTRIBUTOR Rita Cipalla CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Mariella Radaelli, Francesca Bezzone, Luca Ferrari, Stefano Carnevali, Joel Mack, Paula Reynolds, Nicoletta Curradi, GenerosoD'Agnese, Fabrizio Del Bimbo, Maria Gloria, Alfonso Guerriero Jr., Anthony Di Renzo Serena Perfetto, Kenneth Scambray, Chiara D'Alessio © 2020 L'Italo-Americano Membership: One year $59 - Single copy $2.25 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to L'Italo Americano PO Box 6528 Altadena, CA 91003

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