L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS BARBARA MINAFRA D omenico Di Salvo a r r i v e d o n E l l i s Island on Septem- ber 5, 1907. He had left on the 23 rd of August on the Koenig Albert steamer, which had been used only for a few years on the prof- itable Genoa-Naples-New York route. When fully loaded, the fast transatlantic liner built in the shipyards of Szczecin, today in Poland, could carry 2175 pas- sengers, 1800 of them in third class. In November 1906, just 8 months before its courageous journey to the future, there had b e e n a p r o t e s t a g a i n s t o v e r - crowding. Ten years later, it was to become a hospital ship of the Royal Italian Navy, after being requisitioned following Italy's entry into the First World War. Domenico Di Salvo was born 17 years earlier, on February 3rd, in the tiny hamlet of Pietra- bbondante, a small and orderly place, where everyone knew everyone, and that today lies beneath a rocky ridge against the blue sky, right on top of a hill surrounded by green, gentle val- l e y s . L e s s t h a n t e n h o u s e s remain of that hamlet, a hundred metres away from a ghost square where everything has been aban- doned or collapsed. When, in 1962, a landslide damaged the first houses, inhab- itants moved to the village or emigrated. No one wanted to make any more sacrifices to operate a mill where flour dust made it hard to breathe, nor did they want to keep on repairing, i m m e r s e d i n t h e i c y w i n t e r waters, the river banks regularly destroyed by flooding. Of Di Salvo's home, only an ivy cov- ered walls remains, surrounded by olive and peach trees, upon a lush meadow where wild flow- ers and orchids grow in spring and which, in the right season, is rich in precious truffles, for those able to find them. D o m e n i c o l e f t , l e a v i n g everything behind and saying goodbye to his family forever. Just like many others, he never returned. Who knows how many times he must have thought of that star-filled sky, of that fresh, fragrant nighttime air, of the endless fields and of all those t r e e s i m m e r s e d i n a s i l e n c e punctuated only by the buzz of insects, of a familiar yards filled with geese, hens and goats. And who knows how menacing he must have found New York, with the confusion of the port and the noise of the city rum- bling around, along all those incomprehensible words in Eng- lish. There were migrants, con- trol inspectors, documents to fill in without being able to write nor to understand anything. With time, everything took off. There was labour, many jobs and many towns within that enormous country that, for a while, saw Italians as "enemy aliens." His own ended up being a typical Italian American fami- ly: a Piedmontese wife, a com- munity made of "paesani," a son that speaks English perfectly, three grandchildren who can go t o c o l l e g e . O n e o f t h e m , Alexander, is a born and bred third generation Italian Ameri- can. The generation that goes back home to seek its roots, that wants to discover where their grandparents came from. And so, he goes back there, to that small village, he who bears the name of that great grandfather left in Molise all those years ago, that last hug at the door being the last time he was to see his son. It happened 111 years ago. A l e x a n d e r g o e s b a c k a n d finds Antonio's, Domenico's b r o t h e r , g r a n d c h i l d r e n . T h e third, fourth and fifth genera- tion. He finds that lonely wall, the only still standing of his great grandparents' house, and photo albums showing faces so similar to those he had met in America. He learns about the rustic flavor or tacconelle, a fresh handmade pasta his own grandfather had made for him more than 50 years earlier, gift- ing him with the most precious of all memories, a domestic and emotion-filled token of a world left behind. In Pietrabbondante, Alexander finds his family, he happily breathes in air of home. 5.642 miles away from his own house. In a parallel manner, during the same years, began the histo- ry of L'Italo Americano, that this year celebrates its 110th birthday. An important achieve- ment, realized only thanks to the support of the Italian American community. It was founded at the begin- ning of 1908 by Gabriello Spini. He has Florentine origins and he wants, with his newspaper to " i n f o r m , e d u c a t e a n d b r i n g t o g e t h e r " a g r o w i n g I t a l i a n A m e r i c a n c o m m u n i t y . H i s nephew, who was to join him from Italy aged 18, will become Mr Italian Community. Cleto Baroni, leader of the newspaper for 50 years, made of the Italian community the centre of his own life: he would spend time within it, tell its stories, make its voice heard. His efforts were recognized when he was given the medaglia di Grande Uffi- ciale della Repubblica Italiana. The history of our newspaper is that of millions of Italian A m e r i c a n s w h o c r o s s e d t h e Atlantic filled with dreams and tales to tell, of expectations and delusions, of conquests and seg- regation. Of the community of "paesani" in Little Italy who tried to find courage only to see their world disappear during the Gentrification. The history of L'Italo Americano is also mirror to the way Los Angeles changed, to the disappearance of the Ital- ian Hall and of the Società di Mutuo Soccorso into the Mexi- can Pueblo, or of the Italian Church area into the fiery jaws of Chinatown's dragons. A Los A n g e l e s h o m e t o a n I t a l i a n colony today spread out over a city that measures, from an end to the other, more than the dis- tance between Italy's two coasts. It is the history of the difficult times during the two wars, Fas- cism, the confinement of the "enemy aliens," the Vietnam war, when naturalized Italians enlisted and died to protect their new home. It is also a tale about modern well being and about a new type of immigration made of graduates and professionals, of mass intercontinental tourism and of the internet, which keeps in touch Italian American com- munities from a side to the other of the US. L ' I t a l o A m e r i c a n o s a i l e d through different time periods, societies and revolutions. It told of people, stories and communi- t i e s . I t c h a n g e d f o r m a t s a n d graphics, it adapted to social media. It changed its skin many times, but never its soul: it keeps on working for its own commu- nity, to protect its identity and promote its rich cultural and lin- guistic heritage. Alexander uses some Italian words here and there, he patient- ly puts together sentences he never spoke at home and never really learned on a book. The Italian he knows, he's learning today, at more than 60 years of age, thanks to the bilingual edi- t i o n o f L ' I t a l o A m e r i c a n o . Before leaving for his special trip into memory and towards the past of his family, he packed a copy of our newspaper in his suitcase. Telling us his story was the best present he could do to us. Because it shows how a paper l i k e o u r s i s i m p o r t a n t , e v e n today, as it wants to keep alive a strong and trustful relationship with its readers, a relationship created with pride by L'Italo Americano 110 years ago. L'Italo Americano and its 110 years of history serving Italian heritage 110 years of history and heritage, through the pages of our newspaper

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