L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 14 L'Italo-Americano LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D e a r R e a d - e r s , M a y j o t - t i n g s w i t h a n I t a l i a n C o n n e c - tion: Mother's Day, Sun- day, May 14th, calls for a toast. Here is one shared with me by the late Frank Befera of Duluth, Minneso- ta: "Here's to the happiest hours of my life, spent in the arms of another man's wife: my mother!" *** Mother's Day is a mod- ern American invention, cre- a t e d b y a W e s t V i r g i n i a schoolteacher whose devo- tion to her own mother was augmented by what she saw as the ill-treatment of many e l d e r s b y t h e i r c h i l d r e n . When Anna Jarvis' mother died in 1905, she petitioned ministers, businessmen, and Congressmen to support a n a t i o n a l d a y h o n o r i n g mothers. Three years later, West Virginia became the f i r s t s t a t e t o p r o c l a i m a national day of observance, and within a year, the rest of the nation followed suit. I n 1 9 1 4 , P r e s i d e n t Woodrow Wilson officially established the second Sun- d a y o f M a y a s M o t h e r ' s Day. *** A n t o n i o M e u c c i was f i n a l l y r e c o g n i z e d a s t h e first inventor of the tele- phone (1849) by the United States Congress in its reso- lution numero 269, present- e d b y C o n g r e s s m a n V i t o Fosella in 2002. Unfortu- nately, many of the fathers and grandfathers who told u s d i s b e l i e v i n g I t a l i a n - American bambini this fac- tual bit of history, are no longer around to revel in this belated recognition and proudly say: "I told you so." Meucci was born in 1808 in San Frediano, near Flo- rence, Italy. He was a highly inquisitive individual and, w i t h t w o l i f e l o n g f r i e n d s ( L o r e n z o S a l v i , a d i s t i n - g u i s h e d t e n o r , a n d E s t e r Mochi, a skilled dressmaker w h o b e c a m e h i s w i f e ) h e decided to sail to Cuba to f u r t h e r t h e i r c a r e e r s i n opera, as this form of art was rapidly advancing on the island. On October 5, 1835, they boarded the Coc- c o d r i l l o , a f o r m e r p i r a t e ship, joined by eighty-one passengers, and arrived in Havana, Cuba, on December 16. Meucci's first job was to w o r k o n t h e n e w o p e r a house, including improve- m e n t s t o t h e p r o p o s e d acoustics. His life in Cuba w a s a h a p p y o n e a n d h e s t a y e d t h e r e f o r o v e r 1 3 years. In 1848, a historic event occurred: the human voice instigated by Meucci was transmitted through wires. For his invention, Meucci was inspired by necessity. His wife suffered severely f r o m a r t h r i t i s a n d s p e n t most of her time in her bed- room. His initial telephone, crude as it may have been, allowed Meucci to commu- nicate with his wife, from her bedroom to his office. By 1850, Meucci had decided to move to New York City to devote more time to advanc- ing his telephone designs r a t h e r t h a n f o l l o w i n g h i s technical opera expertise. C i r c a 1 8 7 6 , A n t o n i o learned that Alexander Gra- ham Bell had been awarded a telephone patent and real- ized that Bell had stolen his t e l e p h o n e d e s i g n . A f t e r years of debate, the US Cir- cuit Court in New York City decided, in 1887, in favor of B e l l . M e u c c i h a d f i l e d a patent caveat for a telephone in 1871, but patent caveats w e r e s u p p o s e d t o b e renewed annually. He did not do so, allowing Bell to o b t a i n a p a t e n t i n M a r c h 1887. W e l i t t l e I t a l i a n - A m e r i c a n b a m b i n i n e v e r heard or read a word about Meucci in school. Thanks to the Italian press, though, the old-timers knew that Meucci was robbed. Antonio Meucci's home on Staten Island has been p r e s e r v e d a n d i s c a l l e d Garibaldi-Meucci Museum. G a r i b a l d i , t h e u n i f i e r o f Italy, was a guest at Meucci's 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. home for a time. *** K i n g V i t t o r i o Emanuele III ascended to the Royal Italian throne in 1900, abdicated on May 9, 1 9 4 6 , a n d w a s e x i l e d i n 1948. A quiet, unimaginative f a m i l y m a n , V i t t o r i o Emanuele was notoriously i n d e c i s i v e o n m a t t e r s o f state and proved only too willing to let Benito Mussoli- ni, his aggressive, strong- willed Prime Minister, run things. *** F l o r e n c e N i g h t i n - gale was born on May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy. She was called "the lady with the lamp," because at night this English nurse carried a lamp through a hospital filled with wounded soldiers during the Crimean War (1854). She w a s t h e s u b j e c t o f S a n t a F i l o m e n a , a p o e m b y Longfellow. The founder of scientific nursing, she died in 1910. *** Ignazio Silone, author of Fontamara, wrote most of h i s b o o k s a f t e r h i s b r e a k with communism. They are bitter, tragicomic stories of the life of Italian peasants a t t e m p t i n g t o r e s i s t t h e inroads on their lives by the corrupt officialdom of the Fascist era. He is venerated first of all as a political fight- er who defied the Fascists first and then the Commu- nists. He weathered conspir- a c y a n d e x i l e a n d n e v e r f a i l e d t o c r y o u t a g a i n s t oppression.

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