L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2015 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 9 Part I of my Conversations w i t h L a w r e n c e F e r l i n g h e t t i appeared in the last, June 25 th , 2 0 1 5 , i s s u e o f L ' I t a l o Americano. Below we continue with the man and his lasting legacy. Mr. Ferlinghetti was born in Yonkers, N.Y. in 1919, son of C a r l o F e r l i n g h e t t i , f r o m t h e p r o v i n c e o f B r e s c i a , a n d Clemence Albertine Mendes- Monsanto. After the passing of his father and his mother's ill- ness, he was raised in France by h i s F r e n c h a u n t , s p e a k i n g French as his first language. It was on a trip to the U.S. that his father changed their last name to "Ferlin"and Lawrence believed his last name to be such until he was 23. He learned the correct s p e l l i n g w a s " F e r l i n g h e t t i " when he submitted his birth cer- tificate to join the U.S. Navy in 1943. Following his undergraduate years at the University of North C a r o l i n a a t C h a p e l H i l l , h e served in the Navy in World War II as a ship's commander. He received a Master's degree from Columbia University in 1 9 4 7 a n d a D o c t o r a t e d e l'Université de Paris (Sorbonne) in 1950. Awards and prizes bestowed on Lawrence have been many, among them the Los Angeles Times' Robert Kirsch Award a n d S a n F r a n c i s c o ' s P o e t L a u r e a t e i n A u g u s t 1 9 9 8 . Ferlinghetti's paintings have been shown at galleries around the world. His art work can be viewed on the George Krevsky G a l l e r y w e b s i t e a t http://georgekrevskygallery.com Lawrence recounted why he set- tled in San Francisco, arriving on January 1, 1951. "I'd lived in New York and there was not much opportunity there for a 21- year-old. Everything was still wide open in San Francisco in the 1950s and 1960s. It was just a provincial capital so you could do anything there." In 1953, a l o n g w i t h P e t e r M a r i n , h e founded City Lights Bookstore, the first all-paperbound book- shop in the country. By 1955 he had launched the City Lights p u b l i s h i n g h o u s e w h i c h h a s served for half-a-century as a meeting place for writers, artists, and intellectuals. The Italian Connection One of Ferlinghetti's many lasting legacies will of course be his newest book, Writing Across the Landscape: Travel Journals 1950-2013. He refers to his travels as "voyaging", viaggi della vita, voyages of life and Europe as "going back, finding r o o t s . " " I c a m e l a t e t o m y father's Italy, first as a student of Italian, la bella lingua, and later to track down my father's birthplace. So much came from that. I kept going back to Italy many times. I traced down my f a t h e r ' s b i r t h p l a c e i n Brescia. Finding my father's birthplace was very important. I f o u n d t h e w h o l e f a m i l y i n Chiari." Chiari is a commune in t h e p r o v i n c e o f B r e s c i a , i n Lombardy, northern Italy. A particularly humorous jour- nal entry recounts the events that transpired when Ferlinghetti travelled to Brescia to find the actual house where his father was born. Accompanied by a videographer documenting the excursion, the duo arrived in a r u n d o w n n e i g h b o r h o o d . Ferlinghetti rang the bell at the door of an apartment building that now stood at the site of his father's residence. After some time passed, a man opened a door and began hollering in the local dialect to go away, which they did, but on the way back to their vehicle the police arrived a n d h a d L a w r e n c e a n d t h e videographer stand against a wall while their papers were checked. After a few phone calls and further investigation, identities were verified and the misunderstanding clarified but n o t b e f o r e a r e c o r d o f t h e goings-on was sent to the news- papers, La Repubblica and Il Manifesto, making for quite a headline. O n a n o t h e r o c c a s i o n , Venetian art collector and pub- l i s h e r , F r a n c e s c o C o n z , arranged a trip for Lawrence to visit Chiari. They arrived in a limousine in front of city hall where the mayor had arranged a reception in his honor and a high school band in medieval c o s t u m e s g r e e t e d h i m . H e explained, "The Ferlinghetti clan came. I saw the resem- b l a n c e . T h e y l o o k e d l i k e me. They gave me some photos and one of my relatives looked j u s t l i k e m y s o n Lorenzo". When asked if he felt his new book was a life's jour- ney documented he replied "Oh, it certainly is. My whole life was a walkabout. That's what I've been doing my whole life." Italian was frequently spoken during our conversations. When asked about speaking Italian he smiled and explained "When I started going to Italian classes it was just natural. It came to me naturally". His Italian is perfect a n d e v e n t h e a c c e n t i s splendid. Lawrence's life has been a great adventure and con- versations with the man are time spent with a legend. Hai fatto bene, Lorenzo. 2015 appears to be a land- mark year, one of many land- mark years, for Mr. Ferlinghetti. W i t h h i s n e w b o o k t o b e released in October, the year will also mark the realization of another visionary project, the Piazza St. Francis, The Poet's Plaza, a project he first envi- sioned back in 1998 and is now scheduled for ground breaking on October 2, 2015. Look for more on Ferlinghetti's vision a n d S a n F r a n c i s c o ' s n e w e s t plaza in my next article. Make certain to mark your calendars for the book release event on O c t o b e r 2 0 t h a t C i t y L i g h t s Bookstore. Writing Across the Landscape (book cover) Courtesy of Lawrence Ferlinghetti Conversations with Lawrence Ferlinghetti Part II - The Man and His Lasting Legacy CATHERINE ACCARDI 650.400.4747 AdeleDS@aol.com www.AdeleDS.com BRE# 00911740 Certied Trust, Probate and Estate Specialist Expert in preparation, promotion, and negotiation! SELLING HOMES THROUGHOUT THE BAY AREA Adele Della Santina "e Right Realtor makes all the difference."

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