L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 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 , F l a g D a y , June 14, 2023, is the anniver- s a r y o f t h e adoption of our American flag, June 14, 1777. First des- ignated for US observance in 1895, it is not a legal holiday b u t i s w i d e l y c e l e b r a t e d , especially in schools and by a general display of flags in homes, stores, and public buildings, since the World Wars. *** Italy's Tricolore Flag is red, white and green. Those colors represent the three c a r d i n a l v i r t u e s : h o p e (green), faith (white) and c h a r i t y ( r e d ) , a s D a n t e e x p l a i n e d i n t h e D i v i n e Comedy. The green is next to the pole, the white is in the middle, and the red at the end. Like many other Euro- pean flags, its design was inspired by the flag of the French Revolution, which was red, white and blue. In 1796, when Italy was s t i l l d i v i d e d , N a p o l e o n authorized its official use in parts of Northern Italy. The following year, it was offi- cially adopted as the flag of t h e s m a l l c i t y - s t a t e s o f Bologna, Ferrara, Modena and Reggio-Emilia. Later, it was adopted by many of the other city-states Italy was composed of prior to its uni- fication. During the revolu- tionary period of 1821-1831, when young Italians fought to unify the country, the Tri- colore was adopted as the emblem of reunification by the Giovine Italia (Young I t a l y ) m o v e m e n t . W h e n I t a l y w a s f i n a l l y u n i t e d under the Royal House of Savoy in 1861, the King's coat of arms was added to the flag on the white por- tion. About 85 years later, in 1946, the Savoy coat of arms w a s r e m o v e d a f t e r I t a l y b e c a m e a r e p u b l i c . T h e national flag of the Italian republic must be honored at a l l p u b l i c e v e n t s . W h e n other flags - such as the city banner or othr local stan- d a r d s - a r e d i s p l a y e d , the Tricolore must occupy the place of honor: above the others or to the right. *** G a r i b a l d i ' s R e d Shirts were purchased in South America during his exile from Italy. Giuseppe Garibaldi was involved in m i l i t a r y a c t i o n i n S o u t h America and, while he was fighting in Uruguay, his men needed a uniform. The best t h e y c o u l d c o m e u p w i t h w a s a r e d s h i r t b e c a u s e while thinking of a suitable uniform, they came upon a slaughterhouse where the workers wore red shirts so t h a t t h e s t a i n s f r o m t h e blood of the animals would not be too conspicuous on their clothes. So in 1843 in U r u g u a y , h i s m e n f i r s t sported the red shirts associ- ated with Garibaldi, which w e r e s a i d t o h a v e b e e n obtained from a factory in Montevideo that had intend- e d t o e x p o r t t h e m t o Argentina. The Redshirts inspired Benito Mussolini when he formed the Italian fascist u n i t s o f t h e B l a c k s h i r t s . That, in turn, inspired Adolf Hitler's Brownshirts. T h e t e r m s R e d s h i r t and Garibaldino were also used to describe Italian vol- unteers in subsequent inter- national conflicts, including i n P o l a n d , G r e e c e , t h e Balkans, Spain and the Ital- ian anti-fascist partisans in World War Two. The Red- shirts were very popular and i n f l u e n c e d m a n y a r m i e s w o r d l w i d e , i n c l u d i n g i n America. For examples, dur- ing the American Civil War, the Union's Garibaldi'Gu- ards wore red shirts as part of their uniform. *** G i u s e p p e G a r i b a l - di (1807-1882) died on June 2, 1882. The Italian patriot was involved in Mazzini's movement to liberate Italy. He then fled from Italy and went to South America and there, he took part in several revolutions between 1834 a n d 1 8 4 8 . G a r i b a l d i returned to Italy to raise a v o l u n t e e r a r m y f o r K i n g Charles Albert of Sardinia. D e f e a t e d b y A u s t r i a , h e 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. j o i n e d t h e r e v o l u t i o n a r y party in Rome and made mil- itary history. He then embarked for the U S a n d l i v e d o n S t a t e n Island and returned to Italy in 1854 to organize 1,000 Red Shirts to aid his con- quests in Italy. He landed in Sicily on May 11, 1860 and, 26 days later, made himself master of Palermo, wresting it from Francis II, King of Sicily. Garibaldi wanted a unified Italy under one king. I n 1 8 6 0 , h e p r e s e n t e d t o King Victor Emmanuel all t h e c o n q u e r e d t e r r i t o r y , resigned his dictatorship and r e t u r n e d t o C a p r e r a . S t i l l c h e r i s h i n g h i s d r e a m o f a u n i t e d I t a l y , h e m a d e a n a l l i a n c e w i t h V i c t o r Emmanuel against Francis II and defeated him. Thus Vic- tor Emmanuel became King of Italy in 1861. *** F i n a n c i e r B e r n a r d Baruch once said about the stockmarket crash of 1929: "I got out of the market when m y s h o e s h i n e b o y s t a r t e d t a l k i n g a b o u t s t o c k s . " H e added that when shoeshine boys, barbers and beauti - cians can tell you how to get rich, it's time to remind your- s e l f t h a t t h e r e i s n o m o r e dangerous illusion than the belief one can get something f o r n o t h i n g . B a r u c h w a s referring to his own experi- ence with Patrick Bologna, w h o i n t h e 1 9 2 0 s w a s t h e self-appointed "Bootblack to Wall Street." Bologna was known for dispensing tips and inside information he h a d b e e n t o l d b y h i s c u s - tomers.

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