L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2015 www.italoamericano.com L'Italo-Americano 11 Dear Readers, F e b r u a r y d a t e s w i t h a n Italian connection: Amerigo Vespucci (1452- 1512) was born in February. He is the Florentine sailor, mer- chant and map maker who gave h i s n a m e , A m e r i g o , t o America. He entered the ser- vice of the Medici and lived u n t i l 1 4 9 6 a s t h e i r a g e n t i n Spain at Seville and Cadiz. In 1497, he charted the North and S o u t h e r n c o n t i n e n t s n a m i n g them Mundus Novus. He made a voyage from Cadiz, on which according to his description, he sailed up the Pacific Coast of America, as far as what is now k n o w n a s B r i t i s h C o l u m b i a , Canada. In 1499, he claimed to have crossed the Atlantic again and completed two other voy- ages to America in 1501 and 1503. By word of mouth adver- tising, Amerigo managed to get lots of publicity and his "New World" (Mundus Novus) was described in navigational circles as "Amerigo's Land". Centuries l a t e r , w e b e c a m e k n o w n a s Americans and not Columbians after Christopher Columbus. *** A t t i l i o P i c c i r i l l i , a Neapolitan immigrant and his five brothers, all gifted sculp- t o r s d e s e r v e m e n t i o n i n February, the month we cele- brate Presidents' Day (Feb. 16 this year). The head sculptors of the Lincoln Memorial, a monu- ment to our sixteenth president Abraham Lincoln, erected in Potomac Park, at Washington D.C. and built between 1914- 1 9 2 2 , w e r e t h e P i c c i r i l l i Brothers. Designed with a peri- s t y l e o f 3 6 G r e e k c l a s s i c c o l u m n s , i t c o n t a i n s a l a r g e seated statue of Lincoln and in front of it, a long reflecting pool which creates a superb impres- sion from a distance. This tal- e n t e d s c u l p t u r a l s e x t e t a l s o carved the famous Lions on the steps of the New York Public L i b r a r y , t h e f a ç a d e o f t h e Brooklyn Museum and many other works in New York and across America. *** B r u m i d i , o u r C a p i t o l ' s Italian immigrant artist, began p a i n t i n g i n t h e C a p i t o l o n February 19, 1855, and spent the next 25 years beautifying its R o t u n d a , c o r r i d o r s , a n d i t s c o m m i t t e e a n d c e r e m o n i a l rooms. C o s t a n t i n o B r u m i d i w a s born in Rome in 1850 and was trained as an artist. He was a master of fresco painting and p a i n t e d i n t h e s t y l e s o f t h e Italian High Renaissance and the Italian Baroque. He arrived in New York City in 1852, as a p o l i t i c a l r e f u g e e , a n d h e became a citizen in 1857. He was known for his exceptional love for his adopted country. "My one ambition and my daily prayer is that I may live long enough to make beautiful the Capitol of the one country on Earth in which there is lib- erty", he said. Brumidi's paintings and dec- o r a t i o n s d e p i c t t h e h i s t o r y , inventions, values and ideals of the United States. He also creat- ed portraits of national leaders that for more than 150 years have enhanced the dignity and beauty of the Capitol. In 1865 Brumidi painted his masterpiece, "The Apotheosis of Washington", in the eye of the Capitol dome, and in 1871 he painted a tribute to African A m e r i c a n C r i s p u s A t t u c k s , when he placed him at the cen- ter of his painting of the Boston Massacre. At age 74, in 1879, an ailing B r u m i d i b e g a n w o r k o n t h e f r i e z e o f A m e r i c a n h i s t o r y t h a t c i r c l e s t h e R o t u n d a . Although he nearly fell from the scaffolding, he returned to paint the next day. But a few months later, on February 19, 1880- 25 years to the day after he began work in the Capitol, Brumidi d i e d . H e i s b u r i e d i n t h e District's Glenwood Cemetery, and in 1950 Congress autho- rized and paid for a marker for h i s g r a v e . O n t h e 2 0 0 t h a n n i v e r s a r y o f h i s b i r t h , i n 2005, Congress also authorized a Congressional Gold Medal honoring Costantino Brumidi. *** Catholic Church and Royal Italian Government relations, after decades of open hostility were normalized on February 11, 1929, with the signing of the Lateran Treaty, by Vatican S e c r e t a r y o f S t a t e , C a r d i n a l Pietro Gasparri and Italian Prim Minister, Benito Mussolini. T h o u g h r i c h i n h i s t o r y , t h e Vatican did not exist as a dis- tinct, independent entity until February 1929. *** Chaplain John Gano, bap- t i z e d t h e n G e n e r a l G e o r g e Washington, in New York City f o l l o w i n g t h e A m e r i c a n R e v o l u t i o n a r y W a r ( 1 7 7 5 - 1783). Divinity records of the First Baptist Church of New York City indicate that Gano, the first pastor of the church, h a d s e r v e d a s a c h a p l a i n through the war period. When t h e w a r w a s o v e r , G e n e r a l W a s h i n g t o n a n d h i s t r o o p s encamped at Newburg on the Hudson River. Chaplain Gano p r e a c h e d t h e G o s p e l a n d e x p o u n d e d t h e B i b l e t o t h e troops. General Washington heard him and, though a mem- ber of the Episcopal Church, having been sprinkled in infan- cy, began to search the scrip- tures. He became convinced that he had never been baptized. He approached Chaplain Gano a n d r e q u e s t e d b a p t i s m " a s t a u g h t a n d p r a c t i c e d i n t h e scriptures". He was baptized in the Hudson River in the pres- ence of 42 witnesses. He, who w a s t o b e c o m e t h e f i r s t President of the United States, was baptized upon his profes- sion of faith by the first pastor of the First Baptist Church of N e w Y o r k . H o w e v e r , Washington never severed his relationship with the Episcopal Church. *** Vittorio Emanuele II was proclaimed the first king of Italy on February 18, 1861, as the northern and southern por- tions of the boot-shaped penin- sula were politically reunited for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire. King Victor E m m a n u e l I I o f P i e m o n t e - S a r d i n i a w a s p r o c l a i m e d a s "king of Italy" following the c a p t u r e o f G a e t a b y Piedmontese troops four days before. V i t t o r i o E m a n u e l e I I h a d been a popular monarch, but his position as King of all Italy was due to the diplomatic and politi- cal skills of his Prime Minister Count Camillo di Cavour and the strong desire on the part of Giuseppe Garibaldi to have a united Italy. *** European "border adjust- ments" on February 10, 1947, following World War II, result- ed in well over 2,500 square miles of the Venezia-Giulia r eg io n , in clu d in g Tr ies te, in northeastern Italy being trans- ferred to the People's Republic of Yugoslavia. *** G i o a c c h i n o R o s s i n i , t h e Italian operatic composer who wrote over 30 operas, among them The Barber of Seville and L'Italiana in Algeria was born i n P e s c a r a ( A b r u z z o ) o n February 29, 1792. Rossini's career took him from Bologna, where he studied, to major the- atres in Venice and Northern Italy, then to Naples and finally to Paris. A l t h o u g h h e c o m p o s e d dozens of overtures and operas, Rossini's most famous overture i s " T h e W i l l i a m T e l l Overture". Non opera buffs m a y n o t k n o w c o m p o s e r Rossini's name, but most peo- ple can identify the overture from his last opera, Guillaume Tell, 1829. They just know it as the "Lone Ranger Theme". *** Gioacchino Rossini

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