L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 www.italoamericano.org 14 L'Italo-Americano Dear Readers, an April assortment of Italian connections for you: Alessandro Malaspina, who led the expedition of scientific exploration and geographic drawings of Southern California, Vancouver Island and Alaska, died in April 1810 at age fifty-six. *** Buon Onomastico (Name Day) to my "Bambina" Caterina and to all my Readers named Catherine after St. Catherine. Catherine was born in Siena, Italy, in 1347 to a wealthy dyer Giacomo Benincasa and his wife, Lapa. As a young girl of six, while walking home one day, she had a remarkable vision of Jesus. Seated in glory with St. Peter, Paul and John, he smiled upon her. From that time on, Catherine wished to give herself to prayer and the service of God. Catherine became a Dominican tertiary at the age of sixteen, She began to nurse the sick in the Siena hospital, preferring cancer patients and lepers whom others found too difficult to care for. Gradually, her reputation for holiness and wisdom spread from Siena to neighboring cities of Pisa, Lucca and Florence. Families and rival political parties called on her to mediate their disputes and reconcile their differences. On a trip to Pisa in 1375, Catherine received the stigmata. She died in Rome honored for her sanctity on April 29,1380 at the age of thirty- three. *** Umbrellas ideal for protection during April showers, have been recorded as having been in use in Italy, as early as 1578. Its first mention in England occurs in 1616, in a comedy written by Ben Johnson. *** Rome was founded in 753 B.C. Legend tell us of the founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Rhea Silvia by Mars. They were thrown into the Tiber by their great-uncle Amulius, usurper of the throne of their grand-father Numitor. They were saved from death and suckled by a she-wolf and then reared by Faustulus, a kind shepherd as his own children. When old enough, they attacked and killed Amulius and restored Numitor. Later, Romulus began to build his city of Rome and then Remus cast scorn upon his walls by leaping over the foundation, he killed his brother and finished the city by himself. *** Turandot, the opera by Giacomo Puccini, was first performed in April 1926 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy. Turandot, due to many painstaking revisions became Puccini's most fussed over opera and he in fact did not receive a libretto (for final duet from Adamiand Simoni) that suited him until mid 1924 thereby explaining Puccini's inability to complete the score before his death late 1924 and it was completed by Franco Alfano. "Madame Butterfly" and "La fanciulla del West" are other popular Puccini's operas. *** Coins with the words "In God We Trust" have been imprinted on pennies, nickels and dimes ever since the motto was approved for American coins by Congress, April 22, 1864. *** Dictators Mussolini and Hitler both departed from this world in April of 1945. Mussolini was captured by the 52nd Garibaldi Brigade in Dongo on April 27, 1945 as he tried to escape to Switzerland disguised as a German soldier in a German motorized column. They were stopped by partisans who insisted on searching all the vehicles before allowing the Germans to proceed. The resistance leaders ordered Mussolini to be shot together with his long time lover Claretta Petacci. The exact events that followed remain unclear, but his bullet-ridden body was later found, together with that of Petacci, about a mile down the road at the gate of the lakeside Villa Belmonte, just outside the village of Giulino di Mezzagra. It was April 28, 1945. Benito Mussolini had lived not quite sixty-two years. The next day, the two bodies were taken by truck to the Piazzale Loreto in Milan, where they were strung up by their ankles on a steel girder at a filling station. Beneath them were piled the bodies of Pavolini, Storace and other Fascist leaders. Piazza Loreto was the same Milan Square where the Germans had exposed the bodies of 15 political prisoners executed the precious summer. Note, Adolph Hitler with mistress Eva Braun also died in April 1945, in Germany by his own hand. *** Elected our 32nd president, during the darkest days of our depression Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-45) plunged into action and found work for the jobless and food for the hungry via programs approved by congress April 8, 1935. Among the programs were the Conservation Crops and the W.P.A. short for the Works Progress Administration. Many Fine roads and public buildings were built under the W.P.A. *** Garbage to Gorgeous was the reaction of Visitors to the New York World's Fair which opened April 30, 1939 on the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of our first president George Washington, at Federal Hall on New York City. The site chosen for the fair, Flushing (Queens), N.Y. on marsh lands and former garbage dump became the largest land reclamation project in the Eastern United States, Fiorello LaGuardia, was New York mayor, Frank D. Roosevelt was U.S. President and Grover Alyosium Whalen was president of the N.Y. World's Fair. One of Whalen's most remarkable contributions was in rounding up foreign exhibitors in a period of financial stress and gathering war clouds. Sixty nations and international organizations took part in the fair. Italy paid circa 15 million for its beautiful Italian pavilion designed by architect Michele Busiri-Vici, which had a statue of Rome on top. Down its facade cascaded a waterfall, at the foot of which was a monument to Marconi. *** The Italian Pavilion was a three-storied beauty that made visitors with an Italian connection proud. Italian immigrants called "W.O.P.S." were eager to visit the Italian Pavilion with their American born children, who disbelieved any positive accomplishments they heard about Italy of Italians because, beyond Columbus, they never were mentioned in their U.S. schools books. Following are a few excerpts from the guide, "A Century of Progress" visitors received upon entering the Italian Pavilion: *** The Italian Pavilion is an ingenious synthesis of the architecture of classical Rome and modern Italy. Rising above its colonnaded front, a huge tower forms a pedestal for a replica of the statue of the goddess Roma. From a point 200 feet high on the tower itself, a cascade of water foams down a flight of steps, gushing into a pool at the base of a monument to Marconi. On the ground floor of the Pavilion are arranged beautiful exhibits on the Italian handicraft and a demonstration of the manufacture of a fleecy wool derived from skimmed milk. Other exhibits of the first floor are devoted to tourism and to the portrayal of Italy's industrial advancements - displays of mechanical industries, naval, aeronautical and electro-technical exhibits, together with perfumes, toiletries and products of wool, silk, cotton and rayon. In the Transportation Hall, the various systems of Italian transportation are reproduced. The growth of Rome from the time of the Caesars to the present day is depicted through a series of dioramas. Another exhibit portrays the progress made in the last 17 years in the fields of social welfare, sport and recreation and reclamation of land. The drama of Italy's far-flung colonies is pictured on the second floor as well as stories of Italian explorers, scientists and inventors, Climaxing this exhibit is the Guglielmo Marconi niche. Under the supervision of the Italian Line and its famous maitres d'hotel and chefs, the Restaurant and Night Club on the second floor with their terraces, fountains, flowers and music by famous orchestras reflect the gaiety and lyrical spirit which annually attracts thousand of visitors to Italy. In the Hall of Nations, the Salone d'Onore contains a statue of the Duce and huge maps of black marble and copper outlining the Italian Empire. *** As the visitor leaves the exhibit he glances up, and reading the panels on the end wall, is impressed with the appropriateness of the quotations. One is a quotation by Mussolini, "To leave out the pages of Roman history would be a terrible mutilation of universal history and would render the great part of the contemporary world incomprehensible. Rome is a source of life without which it would not be worth while to live". The other Nicholas Murray Butler's high tribute to Italy's greatness, "The place of Italy in civilization is best shown by trying to subtract that place from world history. Take away her scientific accomplishment, her statesmanship, her leadership of the world for many years and what have you left? The world looks badly decapitated. You can subtract Italian culture from civilization only by destroying that civilization." *** LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE

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