L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2015 www.italoamericano.com 10 Dear Readers, March - Marzo has many d a t e s w i t h a n " I t a l i a n Connection": 1 . J u l i u s C a e s a r , 1 0 0 - 4 4 B.C., greatest of all Caesars, Roman statesman and general, it's said, laughed at a soothsay- er's warning to "Beware the Ides of March". A successful plot for his assassination took p l a c e o n M a r c h 1 5 , 4 4 B . C . done by the hand of his trusted adoptive son and is considered the most famous of classical betrayals. 2. D.H. Lawrence, 1885- 1930, the controversial English n o v e l i s t a n d p o e t , " L a d y Chatterley's Lover", "Women in Love", died of tuberculosis in Italy, March 2, 1930. 3 . T h e S t a r - S p a n g l e d B a n n e r , o f f i c i a l l y b e c a m e America's National Anthem on M a r c h 3 , 1 9 3 1 . I t a l i a n - A m e r i c a n s s t o o d p r o u d l y t o sing it, especially in 1936 while watching Joe DiMaggio, newly hired rookie, playing for the N e w Y o r k Y a n k e e s a t t h e i r namesake stadium. 4. Antonio Meucci, born in Florence, applied for a patent for what was to be the telephone i n 1 8 7 1 . A l e x a n d e r G r a h a m Bell applied for a patent in 1876 and Edison's carbon refinement is dated 1877. Italians in Italy and Italian Americans felt they were "robbed" after Bell pre- vailed in American Supreme C o u r t l i t i g a t i o n ( b e c a u s e M e u c c i ' s p r o v i s i o n a l p a t e n t expired in 1873) there they will not be celebrating Bell's March 4, 1847 birthday anniversary. 5 . P i e r P a o l o P a s o l i n i , I t a l i a n f i l m d i r e c t o r , " D e c a m e r o n " , " A r a b i a n Nights", poet, novelist "Ragazzi d i v i t a " , w a s b o r n M a r c h 5 , 1922 in Bologna. 6. Michelangelo Buonarroti, b o r n M a r c h 6 , 1 4 7 5 n e a r Florence, was an artist, sculptor, architect and poet. He painted " T h e C r e a t i o n o f M a n " a n d s o m e o f t h e m o s t b e a u t i f u l paintings in the world, on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. His statues of David and Moses are masterpieces in mar- ble and his dome of St. Peter's established him as one of Italy's foremost architects. He died in 1564, and was almost ninety years old, an exceptional age for the time. 7. Anna Magnani, interna- tionally celebrated Italian film star was born March 7, 1908, to moderately prosperous Italian i m m i g r a n t s i n A l e x a n d r i a , Egypt, but since her early char- acterizations had made her the e m o t i o n a l s y m b o l o f I t a l i a n peasantry and proletariat, her middle-class beginnings were de-emphasized. Divorced from Italian film director Goffredo A l e s s a n d r i n i i n 1 9 4 3 , s h e worked as a bit actress in films and on stage in order to pay the enormous medical expenses for her polio stricken son Luca, until her break in 1946, when A n n a M a g n a n i b u r s t u p o n A m e r i c a n a u d i e n c e s , a s t h e pregnant fiancée of an Italian r e s i s t a n c e l e a d e r i n " R o m e Open City" directed by Roberto Rossellini. In 1955 she won Academy Awards for her first H o l l y w o o d p o r t r a y a l i n Tennessee Williams' "The Rose Tattoo". 8. International Women's Day honors the world's women. Women's Day was first pro- claimed March 8, 1910 to com- memorate a protest by female garment workers in New York City in 1857, and is a holiday born out of women's struggles for suffrage, decent working c o n d i t i o n s a n d o t h e r h u m a n rights. Many Italian females entered the garment industry as l o w p a i d w o r k e r s a n d w e r e exploited by factory owners in the Eastern states.. 9. Lorenzo Da Ponte was b o r n i n M a r c h 1 7 4 9 . T h e esteemed librettist who had pro- v i d e d v e r s e s t o t h e o p e r a t i c scores of such great composers a s M o z a r t a n d S a l i e r i a l s o became the first and foremost purveyor of Italian culture in the United States. 10. Mt. Etna in Sicily erupt- ed March 10, 1985 and a stream of lava more than 2,950 feet p o u r e d f r o m t h e s o u t h w e s t crater of the volcano. 1 1 . A n t o n S c a l i a , U . S . S u p r e m e C o u r t J u s t i c e , w a s born March 11, 1936. Justice S c a l i a w a s b o r n i n T r e n t o n , New Jersey. Appointed to the Supreme Court in 1986 by Pres. Ronald Reagan. 12. Gabriele D'Annunzio, I t a l i a n n o v e l i s t , p l a y w r i g h t , poet, "The Flame of Love", avi- ator and political leader was born March 12, 1863. He died in 1938. 1 3 . M a r c e l l o M a l p i g h i , Italian 17th century naturalist, w a s b o r n i n M a r c h , i n C r e v a l c o r e , I t a l y . I n 1 6 7 1 Malpighi founded plant anato- my. He was the first to observe the stomata of plants. His trea- tise on silkworms was the first monograph on an invertebrate. The microscopic anatomist also made several important medical discoveries on the kidney and spleen. 1 4 . T h e N e w O r l e a n s E l e v e n w e r e m u r d e r e d b y a mob on March 14, 1891. Eleven Italian Americans were mur- dered although they were found innocent in a court of law, the mob considered them Mafiosi w h o a s s a s s i n a t e d t h e c i t y ' s crooked sheriff. 15. Enrico Caruso (1873- 1921) had just turned twenty- two when he made his profes- s i o n a l d e b u t i n N a p l e s , i n Domenico Morelli's new opera "L'amico Francesco" on March 15, 1895. During the engage- ments that followed mostly in provincial Italian theaters, he learned 16 major roles in two years. 16. Bernardo Bertolucci, born March 16, 1940 in Parma, Italy. He is best known as an e p i c f i l m d i r e c t o r " T h e L a s t Emperor" (Oscar award winner in 1990). 1 7 . S t . P a t r i c k w a s "Italian". The son of Roman cit- izens, Patrick's father was a high Roman diplomat stationed in England. The Romans ruled England at that time. Patrick was born in England circa 385 A.D. He died on March 17, 461 A.D. and is buried on church g r o u n d s i n D o w n p a t r i c k , Ireland. 18. John Pastore shared an anniversary with St. Patrick as he was born March 17, 1907. The son of a tailor, he was born in Providence R.I. He went to L a w S c h o o l a n d b e c a m e Assistant Attorney General, Lt. G o v e r n o r a n d S e n a t o r f r o m Rhode Island in 1950. He was t h e k e y n o t e s p e a k e r t o t h e D e m o c r a t i c N a t i o n a l Convention in 1964 and chaired the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy since his first senate days. He married Elaine Caito in 1941 and had 3 children. 19. St. Joseph, husband of Mary, was proclaimed patron of the universal church by Pope Pius IX in 1870, but the faithful have been praying worldwide to San Giuseppe for centuries and he is greatly revered throughout Italy and especially in Sicily where he is the patron saint of the whole island. 2 0 . S p r i n g - P r i m a v e r a begins. It's the time of the year for the "vernal equinox", when the day is as long as the night. 21. Beniamino Gigli, born in Recanati, Italy, March 12, 1890 was the foremost Italian operat- ic tenor in the 1920's, 1930's and 40's. He appeared primarily in concert after World War II and in seventeen films. His final tour of North America was in 1955. He died in 1957 in Rome. 22. Lt. Joseph Petrosino, the New York police detective hero and head of the famous "Italian Squad. Himself an immigrant born near Naples, Petrosino had come to America at the age of eight. In 1909, in order to investigate its home ground, he boarded a ship and crossed the Atlantic to Palermo. But word of his mission preced- ed him, and on a morning in M a r c h , a s h e w a l k e d i n t o M a r i n a S q u a r e i n P a l e r m o , Petrosino was gunned down in the discharge of his duty. 23. Judge John J. Sirica, born March 1904 in Waterbury, Connecticut. U.S. District Court Judge whose search for the truth about the 1972 Watergate break- in was the first step leading to t h e r e s i g n a t i o n o f P r e s i d e n t Richard M. Nixon. 24. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, w a s b o r n i n Y o n k e r s , N e w Y ork on M arch 24, 1919. In 1953 he co-founded City Light Bookshop in San Francisco and published his Pocket Poet Series i n 1 9 5 5 . I n t h e 1 9 9 0 ' s Ferlinghetti served as the offi- c i a l S a n F r a n c i s c o P o e t Laureate. 25. Arturo Toscanini, born M a r c h 2 5 , 1 8 6 7 i n P a r m a , became New York chief con- d u c t o r o f t h e M e t r o p o l i t a n Opera House in 1909. He died in 1957. 2 6 . F r . J u a n C r e s p i , a S p a n i s h m i s s i o n a r y , b o r n o f Italian parents, put his foot on the soil of the San Francisco Bay area, together with a party l e d b y e x p l o r e r G a s p e r DePortola in March 1722. 27. Fr. Marco de Niza died in March 1558. He had led an expedition with Coronado into N e w M e x i c o , T e x a s a n d Arizona and helped build small schools there. 28. Silvio Berlusconi, right- wing media tycoon, won the general election in Italy, March 28, 1994. But the honeymoon did not last very long. 2 9 . I t a l i a n A r m y d e f e a t , M a r c h 1 8 9 6 i n A d o w a , Ethiopia, left 7,000 dead. Under elderly General Barateri, the Italian advance was chaotic, o r d e r s m i s u n d e r s t o o d , a n d b r i g a d e s s e p a r a t e d . I t a l i a n Prime Minister Crispi gambled on a quick foreign conquest and lost. 30. Frankie Laine was born Frank Paul LoVecchio March 30, 1913 in Chicago. His was a song called That's My Desire which he sang one night when a record executive was present, who suggested that he record it for Mercury Records. He did and his fortune was made. 31. Joe Di Maggio, Italian American baseball legend died in March 1999, at the age of 84. He was born in November 1914. His father, a fisherman was born o n I s o l a d e l l e F e m m i n e i n S i c i l y , N o r t h e r n C o a s t . J o e joined the New York Yankees i n 1 9 3 6 . H e w a s b o r n i n Martinez, California. A chil- d r e n ' s h o s p i t a l w i n g i n Hollywood, Florida, carries his name. Julius Caesar Enrico Caruso

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