L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2014 L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2014 www.italoamericano.com 10 Dear Readers, A May mix of Italian connec- tions: Aldo Colombini (1951-2014) left us recently and the world of magic lost one of its greatest contributors. Aldo was my hus- band's favorite magician and when we celebrated fifty years of matrimonial magic at the Verdi Club in San Francisco (site of our original wedding reception), Aldo and his wife Rachel entertained all our guests with their marvelous magical commedia act. At Aldo Colombini's Celebration of Life gathering, the Broken Wand Ceremony was performed by magician Rick Del Vecchio who also read tributes regarding Aldo's life from friends and magicians all over the world. Aldo Colombini was born in Maranello, a suburb of Modena, Italy, on "La Festa di San Giuseppe" 1951. When Aldo was fourteen, he went to work for the Ferrari racing car factory and for seven long years did repetitive assembly work. It drove him crazy, so he looked for a way out. One day, he was given a book on magic. He instantly became hooked and Aldo's new career was born. Early on, he took the stage name Fabian, but after his move to America in 1993, Aldo used his real name. Despite not know- ing any English when he first arrived in the U.S., he quickly became known for his clever techniques and powerful magic. Over the next twenty years, he was booked regularly for magic conventions and in Los Angeles, all the showrooms at the Magic Castle. One little known fact about Aldo is that he was a con- summate children's magician and even had a long-running television spot on a children's TV show in Italy. Aldo was a prolific writer and teacher of magic. He marketed hundreds of magic tricks, along with numerous books and instructional videos on the topic. He read, spoke and wrote in Italian, English, Spanish and French; played guitar; illustrated some of his own magic books; and performed in over 61 coun- tries and almost every state. Magic Castle's Parlour Magician of the Year, he wrote a long-running column for The Linking Ring magazine, titled "As Always, Aldo". He also con- tributed to the British Magigram magazine for over twenty years, and provided many tricks to Harry Lorayne's Apocalypse. He will probably be best remem- bered for being a simplifier of magic. He could take a trick with fifteen moves and do it ten min- utes later with just five moves. Aldo was a big Italian teddy bear and a caring man who spread joy, laughter and magic wherever he went. Unfortunately, on February 9, 2014, Aldo suffered a cata- strophic stroke and passed away quietly three days later. Readers with an interest in "parlor magic" can visit the www.wildcolombini.com web- site updated by his wife Rachel and browse the May products featured at only $10 each. *** Brothers Honored for Aiding Italian Culture read a headline in the New York Herald Tribune, back in May 1933, when the Italian Consul General in New York pinned gold medals on Dr. Charles Paterno, Michael Paterno and Joseph Paterno, members of the firm of Paterno Bros. Inc. Builders of New York. The ceremony took place at the Casa Italiana, Columbia University cultural center. Fast forwarding to 2014, I will share a letter from John Mancini, Executive Director of the Italic Institute of America (tel. 516- 488-2400, email ItalicOne@ital- ic.org). The Italic Institute of America has been working with the Paterno Family to restore the mission of La Casa Italiana at Columbia University. This blatant disregard for the wishes of the Paterno family is just another example of re-writing history. Following is an excerpt from Italic Institute's Executive Director John Mancini's letter: As you know, our Institute has been working with the Paterno family to restore the mission of La Casa Italiana at Columbia University. Dr. Paterno and his brothers literally created La Casa in 1927 and donated it to Columbia as the first Italian cultural center in the nation. This property was valued at $17 million in 1990. Perhaps you can help us make your Readers aware of how Dr. Paterno's dream went awry and his 20,000-volume library was unceremoniously removed from La Casa and rele- gated to the stacks of another library on campus. La Casa, which fulfilled its mission as the epicenter of Italian American culture for 63 years, now func- tions as a European research center. The Italian Language Dept. was forced out in 1990, the Paterno Collection carte off, and Columbia students locked out. Moreover, Italian Americans are nowhere to be found on the staff, on the gov- erning board, or among the senior fellows who are subsi- dized there. A biography of Dr. Charles Paterno was recently published and author Renato Cantore, was refused a Book Reception at La Casa by the director David Freedberg. Your Readers should also know that this reversal of fortune was con- doned by the Italian government, which bought the building in 1990 and granted Columbia free- reign to operate it as the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies. The irony is that while the Italian government has fund- ed half of the Italian Language Advanced Placement tests in the U.S. and wishes to spur the study of Italian, it has taken out of circulation this very bastion of italianità and turned it over to non-Italians. This is contrary to the legacy of Dr. Charles Paterno and his family and a sad com- mentary on Italic unity in America. *** Santa Gemma Galgani Aldo Colombini (1878-1903) was born near Lucca, a walled town precari- ously perched on top of a cliff overlooking its green farmland. Lucca was the first city in Tuscany to accept Christianity and was a political powerhouse through the 14th century. Thanks to Napoleon's sister, and art fanatic who took up resi- dence there, Lucca developed both culturally (as apparent it its many elaborate churches) and financially. Saint Gemma was canonized May 2, 1940 and her Feast Day is May 16th. Although Santa Gemma is beloved in "La Toscana" she is not well known in many Italo- American U.S. Communities. "Grazie" to Rachel Boschetti, who shared her May 2014 copy of Lucca Mia, the monthly "Lucchesi Nel Mondo" Newsletter and attended the Mass, I can enlighten you on Santa Gemma and her annual Italian Mass at St. Peter and Paul Church (with five priests at the altar this year), followed by a luncheon at the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club which is always filled to capacity and sellout each year. St. Gemma, the daughter of Aurelia Landi and Enrico Galgani, was born on the 12th of March, 1878, at Camigliano, a small village near Lucca, Italy. A very happy childhood ended at the age of seven with the death of her mother. Thereafter, she suffered every kind of family grief and domestic misfortune. In the midst of dire poverty Gemma endured a long and terrible ill- ness from which she was mirac- ulously delivered through the intercession of the Passionist, St. Gabriel. On the occasion of the publication of the decree con- cerning Gemma's sanctity and miracles, the Holy Father emphasized certain lessons of her life. A life lived in such humble conditions, he said, in poverty, obscurity and suffering, and yet achieving such sublime heights of holiness is a proof that no age, no condition, no state of life or stage of society can be a bar to the divine command: "Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy". The Passion of our Lord was the secret of Gemma's sanctity. The inspira- tion of her life of suffering and sacrifice. It appeared outwardly in her virginal body when she bore the Wounds of the Lord Jesus in her hands, feet and side. In this union with Jesus Crucified she was a victim of love and sorrow tormented with a burning zeal for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of souls. She died on Holy Saturday, the 11th of April 1903. For more info: Monastero-Santuario "Santa Gemma", Claustrali Passioniste- Fuori Porta Elisa, 55100 LUCCA, Tel. +39 0583/91724 or Associazione Lucchesi Nel Mondo, PO Box 12602, San Francisco, CA 94112, President Emmett Givriani, Vice President Romano Della Santina, Sunshine- Anna Lundari, tel. 415-239-9159.

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