L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D ear Readers, Father's Day, coming up (June 16th) reminds me that back in 1939, many Italian born Fathers and Grandfathers on the East Coast, were eagerly awaiting the Public Schools closing for Sum- mer Vacation so they could bring their children to the big Fair which had opened in New York a few months earlier and had a spectacu- lar Italian Pavilion. The New York World Fair opened April 30, 1939, on the 150th anniversary of the inaugura- tion of our first president George Washington, at Federal Hall in New York City. The site chosen for the fair, Flushing (Queens), NY, on marsh lands and former garbage dump, became the largest land reclamation project in the Eastern United States. Fiorello LaGuardia was New York's mayor, Frank D. Roosevelt was US President and Grover Aloysius Whalen was pres- ident of the NY World's Fair. One of Whalen's most remarkable con- tributions was in rounding up for- eign exhibitors in a period of fi- nancial stress and gathering war clouds. Sixty nations and international organizations took part in the fair. Italy paid circa 15 million for its beautiful pavilion designed by ar- chitect Michele Busisi-Vici, which had a statue of Rome on top. Down its façade cascaded a waterfall, at the foot of which was a monument to Marconi. To his credit, Mussolini spared not a lira to make the exhibits and the Italian pavilion outstanding. This in turn gave many recently off the boat parents and their paesani a chance to show their American born bambini that they had a rich cultural heritage. Of course their American born offspring, while im- pressed, were a bit doubtful, since they had never read anything in their schoolbooks about it. *** I recently found a copy of a booklet, Ten Years of Italian Progress, that was handed out to Italian Pavilion visitors and pub- lished by the Italian Tourist Infor- mation Office, then located at 745 Fifth Ave in New York City. While it is true that Ten Years of Italian Progress was a puff piece for Italy's then Fascist government, it is in- teresting to note that Mussolini did more for pre-war Italy than just make the trains run on time, as you can see from these excerpts: It is perfectly obvious to all that then years of Italian progress can- not be condensed into the space of a few pages. An exhaustive survey to every- thing that Fascist Italy has accom- plished would require a volume of many pages, while a detailed ac- count of the work carried out in every branch of national activity would require far more. These dif- ficulties have not, however, pre- vented us from preparing, in sum- marized form, an account of the most essential things that have been accomplished in Italy, for the ben- efit of visitors. The Co-ordinated Land Recla- mation Scheme is one of the great accomplishments of the Fascist Government. Whole districts, which had been abandoned for cen- turies to malaria and squalor, have been redeemed for ever by excep- tionally imposing methods. By draining marshy land, bank- ing up torrents and making new canals, vast stretches of ground have been rendered fit for cultiva- tion and have been immediately farmed: whilst in place of the un- healthy marshes new houses have sprung up with remarkable rapidity, and even entire new towns. Among the latter, mention should be made of Mussolini in Sardinia, and Lit- toria in the Pontine Marshes, not far from Rome. The few details given below will serve to show the vastness of the measures adopted and of the results obtained. Land reclamation work is at present being carried out over an area of more than 11.000 square miles. During the then years of Fas- cist rule, 3.180 millions lire have been spent on reclamation work, whereas from 1870 to 1922 only 1.799 millions lire were spent. The Fascist Government granted subsidies amounting to 1.122 mil- lions lire for private land reclama- tion work, while 50.000 workmen are occupied for 250 days of the year. The production of wheat has risen from 43.992.000 quintals in 1922 to 75.150.000 quintals in 1932. *** Thanks to Benito Mussolini's enthusiasm for Rome, the city is reacquiring the aspect described by historians during the most glorious period of Roman history. New quarters have arisen and are devel- oping rapidly, new and magnificent public buildings are being put up, great modern urban undertakings are decided upon and carried out with remarkable rapidity. The Capitoline Hill, formerly smothered by humble houses which had been huddled there for cen- turies, has now been completely isolated, and views that are the em- bodiment of the beauty and eternity of Rome are now commanded from its summit. At the foot of the his- torical hill, a wide road has recently been opened - the Via dell'Impero. It runs between Piazza Venezia and the Colosseum and it is bor- dered by the most impressive ex- amples o the power of Ancient Rome. It is more than a road - it is an ideal and vital bond between the Colosseum (the symbol of the eter- nity of Rome) and the Vittoriano, the Altar of the Mother land and the symbol of the New Italy. *** Italian Railways have made enormous progress not only as re- gards the length of track, which was increased by about 1.250 miles, but also owing to numbers improve- ments of an administrative nature. Briefly speaking, the railway policy of the Fascist Government has been, and still is, to develop and improve services, taking into con- sideration the modern requirements of the nation; to enforce only mod- erate passenger fares and freight rates; and to ensure perfectly regular services which, as everyone knows, now run absolutely to the minute. One particular alone is sufficient to prove the strict discipline observed in connection with the Italian rail- ways, and that is that to-day the ef- ficiency of the staff has increased by 50%. ***

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