L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 14 L'Italo-Americano LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D ear Readers, m o r e J u l y jottings with a n I t a l i a n c o n n e c t i o n . A t l a s , t h e m y t h o l o g i c a l Titan condemned by Zeus to stand and bear the weight of the Heavens and Earth on his shoulders, after he had l e d t h e T i t a n s i n a w a r against the gods of Olympus and lost, was the inspiration for the name Angelo Sicil- iano selected for his then- f l e d g i n g b o d y b u i l d i n g course and professional per- s o n a , C h a r l e s A t l a s . "Atlas" was born in Calabria in 1893, and came to Ameri- ca with his mother to stay w i t h a " z i o " w h o l i v e d i n "Bruculino," near the water- f r o n t . T h e " n i n e t y - s e v e n - pound weakling" was an easy t a r g e t f o r n e i g h b o r h o o d t o u g h s a n d i n 1 9 0 8 l e f t school and began working 1 0 h o u r s a d a y , m a k i n g women's pocketbooks. The t r a n s f o r m a t i o n o f y o u n g A n g e l o S i c i l i a n o i n t o Charles Atlas occurred the following year on the beach at Coney Island. As Angelo r e c a l l e d : " I w e n t o u t t o Coney Island, and I had a pretty girl with me. We were sitting on the sand. A big, husky lifeguard kicked sand i n m y f a c e . I c o u l d n ' t d o anything, and the girl felt funny. I told her 'Someday if I meet this guy, I will kick him.'" Angelo soon discov- ered "dynamic tension" - the p i t t i n g o f o n e m u s c l e against the other - and fun- damental isometric exercis- e s a t t h e N e w Y o r k Z o o w h i l e w a t c h i n g t h e l i o n s stretching. When home, he worked on exercising his body and eventually turned i t i n t o a l i v i n g p i e c e o f Roman sculpture. In 1928 he met "ad man" Charles Roman. B y t h e 1 9 5 0 s , u n d e r Roman's management, Atlas had nearly 1 million pupils all over the world. By then, the Atlas course had been translated into seven lan- g u a g e s a n d b r a i l l e . M a i l came from Africa, India, the Philippines, Australia, and everywhere. He died in 1972 in Brooklyn. *** Brindisi , some 55 km east of Taranto, was once a bridging point for crusading knights. The natural harbor there, the safest on the Adri- atic coast, made Brindisi an ideal choice for early set- tlers. In Roman times, the port became the main cross- ing point between Eastern and Western empires, and later, under the Normans, came a steady stream of pil- grims heading east towards the Holy Land. The route is still open and now Brindisi is where tourists come when h e a d i n g f o r G r e e c e f r o m Italy. There are many restau- rants down Corso Garibaldi, but the Old Town is pretty compact and, although not brimming with ancient mon- uments, it has a pleasant fla- vor about it and things to see t u c k e d i n t o i t s n a r r o w streets. I mention Brindisi because, for a brief time dur- ing World War II, it was the capital of Italy. I knew that the King and his entourage had hastily headed south a f t e r l i v i n g R o m e , b u t I didn't know quite how far. B r i n d i s i , f o r n e a r l y 6 months, became the Italian c a p i t a l w h e n K i n g V i c t o r Emmanuel III and his gov- ernment took refuge there in S e p t e m b e r 1 9 4 3 , b e f o r e moving to Salerno the fol- lowing February. After the war, the port was kept busy by ferry services to Corfu a n d t o m a i n l a n d G r e e c e , besides exporting farm pro- duce from the Salento. *** C a r l o P e t r i n i , t h e f o u n d e r o f t h e S l o w F o o d m o v e m e n t b a c k i n 1 9 8 6 , w a s i n v i t e d t o t h e White House by First Lady Michelle Obama, who was determined to fight against obesity almost since the day h e r h u s b a n d t o o k o f f i c e . Petrini urged a change in lifestyle as the way to save o u r h e a l t h . N u t r i t i o n i s closely connected to good h e a l t h a n d , a s w e h a v e learned from Hippocrates, the best medicine is good food. Petrini's philosophy of 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. good eating has given rise to clubs in all 50 states. The weekend's "farmers mar- kets" are now found every- where. *** A l i a , a s m a l l t o w n i n Sicily west of Palermo, is where "scouts" for planta- tion owners in Louisiana often found replacements for labor freed after the Civil W a r . M a n y o f t h e i m m i - g r a n t s a r r i v i n g h e r e , replaced the slaves cutting sugar cane. Last month on J u n e 1 9 , w h e n I d i d n o t receive my mail, I realized that Juneteenth was rec- ognized as a federal holiday in 2021. June 19 commemo- rates when word of Presi- d e n t A b r a h a m Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation spread to slaves in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, after the e n d o f t h e C i v i l W a r a n d more than two years after Lincoln issued it. *** Clare Boothe Luce, as readers who traveled to Italy during the 1950s "Dolce Vita days" will recall, was the first woman appointed US ambassador to Italy (1953- 1957). In those pre-terrorist days, we innocents abroad always felt welcome walking i n t o t h e U S E m b a s s y i n Rome, believing it was our h o m e a w a y f r o m h o m e . Clare Boothe Luce, after her marriage to Henry Luce - publisher and editor of Time and Life magazines - was the fourth "most admired w o m a n i n t h e w o r l d , " according to a Gallup poll, only behind Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, Queen Elizabeth II, and Mrs. Eisenhower.

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