L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D e a r r e a d e r s , April comes from t h e L a t i n w o r d a p e r t u r e w h i c h means to open. 1. April Fool's Day is a day people play silly pranks. So be alert. The United States orbited the first weather satellite April 1, 1960. 2 . S t . F r a n c i s o f P a o l a w a s b o r n i n P a o l a (Calabria), Italy, circa 1416. He cured the sick, prophe- sied the future and was a major influence on five kings and seven popes. He was educated by the Franciscans at San Marco and at the age of 15 went to live as a hermit in a cave. He eventually founded nearly 500 monasteries and was canonized just twelve years after his death at age ninety- one. 3. Herb Caen, long time c o l u m n i s t f o r t h e S a n F r a n c i s c o C h r o n i c l e ( h e began in 1935), was born on April 3, 1916. He wrote thou- sands of words weekly. 4 . E a s t e r S u n d a y . BUONA PASQUA! 5. Palmiro Togliatti was born in Genoa, Italy on Palm Sunday 1893 accounting for his Christian name, but he began in 1944, leading the Italian Communist Party for nearly two decades from la C a m e r a d e i D e p u t a t i , a t P a l a z z o M o n t e c i t o r i o i n Rome. 6. Umberto Nobile, pio- neer in Arctic aviation born at Lauro (near Salerno), with Amundsen of Norway and Ellsworth of USA was, in 1926, first to fly over the North Pole in the dirigible "Norge" from the North of N o r w a y ( S p i t z b e r g e n ) t o Alaska. 7. St. John Baptist de la Salle (1651-1719) founder of the Christian Brothers. Over three hundred years ago, this priest had a lot of "new ideas" about teaching o n e c h i l d a t a t i m e . H e thought it would be a good idea to put several students together in a classroom and his methods revolutionized the education system of the time. The Christian Brothers h a v e b e c o m e o n e o f t h e largest teaching orders in the Church. 8 . C h a r l e s J . Margiotti was born in April 1891. One of America's lead- ing criminal lawyers, he was attorney general for the State o f P e n n s y l v a n i a , s e r v i n g three different governors, until his death in 1956. 9 . A l e s s a n d r o M a l a s p i n a , who led the e x p e d i t i o n o f s c i e n t i f i c exploration and geographic d r a w i n g s o f S o u t h e r n California, Vancouver Island and Alaska, died April 9, 1810 at the age fifty-six. 10. Arbor Day celebra- t i o n a r e m a r k e d b y t r e e planting, to foster general i n t e r e s t i n r e f o r e s t a t i o n . Many states set Arbor Day days according to their sev- eral climates, but others with m i l d c l i m a t e s c e l e b r a t e Arbor Day today. 1 1 . A n g e l o J o s e p h Rossi, former Mayor and p r i d e o f S a n Francisco's Italian communi- ty in years prior to WWII d i e d i n S a n F r a n c i s c o i n April 1948. 12. Topo Gigio made his debut in America on the Ed Sullivan Show in April 1963 and literally lit up the switch- boards. Topo Gigio made 17 a p p e a r a n c e s i n o n l y 1 2 months. He never appeared anywhere else in this country except on the Sullivan pro- gram which signed him to an exclusive contract. 13. Sicily declares itself independent of Naples April 13, 1848, but in May 1849, N e a p o l i t a n t r o o p s e n t e r Palermo completing their reconquest of Sicily. 14. President Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865. If not for the assassina- tion of President Lincoln in 1865, there would not be a Pullman Company. I n 1 8 6 5 , M r . G e o r g e Mortimer Pullman was b u i l d i n g r a i l r o a d c a r s i n Detroit, but his business was n o t s u c c e s s f u l . W h e n P r e s i d e n t L i n c o l n ' s b o d y arrived in Chicago, Colonel James Bowen, a personal friend of Mr. Pullman, was put in charge of the funeral a r r a n g e m e n t s . C o l o n e l Bowen wanted a railroad car worthy of carrying the body of President Lincoln to his Advancing our Legacy: Italian Community Services CASA FUGAZI If you know of any senior of Italian descent in San Francisco needing assistance, please contact: ItalianCS.org | (415) 362-6423 | info@italiancs.com Italian Community Services continues to assist Bay Area Italian-American seniors and their families navigate and manage the resources needed to live healthy, independent and productive lives. Since Shelter-in-Place began in San Francisco, Italian Community Services has delivered over 240 meals, over 900 care packages and made over 2000 phone wellness checks for our seniors. f i n a l r e s t i n g p l a c e , Springfield. He could not find a car suitable to be part of the funeral train. Then he remembered that George M. Pullman had a car in Chicago named the Pioneer. He asked Mr. Pullman if he could use h i s c a r f o r P r e s i d e n t Lincoln's funeral train. Mr. Pullman said yes and on May 2, 1865, the funeral train left C h i c a g o f o r S p r i n g f i e l d , Illinois only 200 miles away. The train took two days to reach Springfield because it stopped at every small town b e t w e e n C h i c a g o a n d Springfield to permit people to pay their final homage to the late president. All the publicity began to make Pullman famous as a train car manufacturer. Mr. P u l l m a n a l s o r e c e i v e d a w a r d s f r o m t h e U S a n d Italian governments for pro- v i d i n g e m p l o y m e n t t o I t a l i a n s a n d I t a l i a n - Americans on both sides of the Atlantic. 1 5 . S . S . T i t a n i c s i n k s April 14, 1912. The Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic and cost 1,517 passengers their l i v e s . G u g l i e l m o Marconi's invention ship- to-shore radio helped save lives after the supposedly "unsinkable" luxury liner sank after hitting an iceberg More April dates soon... *** ITALIAN TELEVISION KSCI CANALE 18. Presentano: Maria Cristina Heller e Franco Brescia Teleitalia in onda tutte le Domeniche alle ore 13 o 1:00pm Siamo collegati con i satelliti DISHNET e DIRECTV, SPECTRUM E TUTTI I CAVI DEL SUD CALIFORNIA Per Informazioni e Pubblicita` telefonate a (818) 260-9318 Cell: (818) 288-2518

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