VINCENT PHILIP D’ONOFRIO DONE

 

D’Onofrio is an American actor, producer and singer of Italian descent with ancestors from Sicily. He was born in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, on June 30, 1959.

His father Gennaro D’Onofrio, an assistant theater-production and interior designer, met his mother Phyllis Minicola, a restaurant server and manager in Hawaii during his military assignment in 1956.  After having two daughters, Antoinette in 1956, and Elizabeth in 1957, they had Vincent.

D’Onofrio’s parents divorced when he was young. He spent most of his youth with his mother and his step-father George Meyer and his son and daughter.  His step-father operated a number of community theaters; consequently, introducing him to the field of acting. His first interest was in sleight of hand and magic that he learned from Cuban entertainers.  During his teenage years he worked backstage in set- buildings and sound production.

After graduating from Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School he began appearing front stage. Following high school he enrolled for eighteen months at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he engaged in small community-theater productions. Subsequent to that, he studied method-acting at the American Stanislavsky Theater and the Actors Studio under acting-coaches. This experience helped him acquire his first paid role in off Broadway’s, This Property Is Condemned. He went on and appeared in a number of productions—Of Mice and Men, and Sexual Perversity in Chicago. He continued his career by performing in many New York University productions. During this time he worked as a bouncer at the Hard Rock Café and other city clubs. Standing at six foot three he apparently had a physique to go with it. In an interview, he related, “It was pretty crazy. There was a lot of violence. Some of it was really tough to be around.”

In 1984, he had his Broadway debut as Nick Rizzoli in Open Admissions. Two years later he applied for a role as Pvt. Leonard Lawrence, in Full Metal Jacket, which he considers his defining moment in acting. He sent audition tapes to director Stanley Kubrick. Four tapes later he got the role. The original Pvt. Lawrence was a skinny red neck; however, Kubrick thought otherwise, believing the role would have a greater impact if he was big and clumsy. Bizarrely, the production required that D’Onofrio gain seventy pounds to fulfill the role. He did and brought his weight to 280 pounds. He holds the record for the most weight gained by an actor for a movie. He surpassed Robert De Niro’s sixty pounds gain to play Jake La Motta in the Raging Bull (1980).

In 1998, D’Onofrio, his father and sister Elizabeth founded the RiverRun International Film Festival in Brevard, North Carolina. A few years later, Dale Pollock, former film producer and dean at the School of Filmmaking at the University of North Carolina’s School of the Arts, took control and moved the festival to Winston-Salem

After his defining moment in film D’Onofrio continued to play as a supporting actor for many pictures, by 1997, he went into television and received an Emmy nomination for his appearance as John Lange, the doomed victim in Homicide: Life on the Street episode of “Subway”. Two years later he turned down a role in the Sopranos. By 2001, he accepted his best-known role as Det. Robert Goren on the television show Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

In November of 2005, D’Onofrio won best actor at the Stockholm International Film Festival, for his role as Mike Cobb in the film, Thumbsucker.  D’Onofrio spread his wings into teaching, acting, directing, and producing many films in concert with many others. He made a debut in music on October 27, 2009, as country singer character, George Geronimo Gerkle at Joe’s Pub in New York City. 

In 2008, he and his sister Toni, started hosting events to raise money for the Utah Meth Cops Project. He served as the project’s spokesperson from 2009 to 2012.  He is a supporter of law enforcement, and since 2010, he has been the spokesperson for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and Museum. He narrates the documentary, Heroes Behind The Badge, 2012, a story of four fallen officers and the impact their deaths have on their families, coworkers, and communities. In 2013, a follow up of the documentary—Sacrifice and Survival was released. D’Onofrio continues to be involved in many activities.

D’Onofrio has three children, one a daughter from a long standing relationship with Greta Scacchi with whom he starred in a number of films. On March 22, 1997 D’Onofrio married Dutch model Carin van der Donk, they had a son born in 1999. Soon after his birth they separated, only to reconcile and have a second son born in 2008.

Many refer to D’Onofrio as “an actor’s actor.” The wide variety of roles he has played and the quality of his work, and the diversity of engagements—teacher, director and producer have earned him a reputation as a resourceful talent. He is the Kingpin of Daredevil, a 2017 Netflix series.

Photographs are from Wikipedia, and the last one is of Vincent and his second wife Carin.

PIETRO CESARE ALBERTI

 

Italian American writers consider Alberti as the first Italian immigrant to settle in New York. He was a Venetian and the supposed son of Andrea Alberti, the Secretary of the Ducal Treasury, and Lady Veronica Cremona. Nevertheless he bore the same name of the powerful Venetian branch of the Florentine Alberti Family. He was born on June 20, 1608.

The city of Venice, at the time of his birth, was a republic and at its zenith in economic power and influence.  When he was twenty-seven, the Bubonic plague scourged the city killing over 40,000 residents. Alberti, presumably, to escape contracting the disease, decided to venture to the new world. On his first leg of his journey he traveled to New Amsterdam arriving there in the second of June, of 1635. He acquired a position as a sailor on the De Connick David that was preparing to sail to the new world. The ship sailed down the west coast of Africa, passing the mouth of the Congo River and then at some point south of it headed west towards Brazil.

The captain and Alberti didn’t get along and the captain threatened to land him in Cayenne, Guiana. They resolved their problems and Alberti remained on board. The ship continued on to the West Indies and Virginia. When it finally reached the final destination, New Amsterdam, (New York City) Alberti disembarked and allegedly sued the captain for unpaid wages and won his case.

Alberti settled for a permanent stay in New Amsterdam. Since he was an Italian amongst the Dutch, the residents knew him by many different names―Peter the Italian, Cicero Alberto, Caesar Albertus, Peter Mallenmook and more. In 1639 Alberti contracted with Pieter Montfoort, a tobacco planter to buy part of his plantation. In the sixth year of his settlement he married a local Dutch woman, Judith Manje. They domiciled on Broad Street in Manhattan. After four years he secured the deed of ownership for the land from the Director General and Council of New Amsterdam. By 1646 he and his wife left their home on Broad Street and moved to their new property located on Long Island’s Brooklyn section.

 The Alberti’s had seven children with only one dying in infancy. Unfortunately, while the children were still at an age requiring supervision, the Indians, in 1655, raided the plantation and slew Pietro and Judith. The Dutch authorities appointed a guardian and leased the plantation. All the children married and in 1695 two of the sons, Jan and Willem, sold the business. Through the following generations the surname became Albertus, Burtus, Burtis, and finally anglicized to Albertis.

The Alberti family and descendant ares one of the earliest of millions of Italian Americans who today are a major part of the American social fabric. In New York City’s Battery Park is a small stone near the bronze statue of Giovanni da Verrazzano, which commemorates Alberti’s arrival.

For more information see http//www.italianhistorical.org/  

Luisa Tetrazzini

Tetrazzini was an Italian opera singer of old and was a coloratura soprano of wide fame. She was born on June 29, 1871, in Florence, Italy. She had a phenomenal voice containing unique talents and was an international star performing in Europe, South America, and the United States.

She was the daughter of a military tailor and the youngest of three siblings. Her sister, Eva, also a successful singer, was fourteen years older, and her voice teacher. Folklore indicates that she began singing at the age of three. The middle sister of the three was Elvira and she too was an opera singer.

Tetrazzini later studied at the Instituto Musicale in Florence. She also made he debut as Inez in Giacomo Meyerbeer’s opera L’Africaine, at the Teatro Pagliano in 1890 in her hometown. She was married at the time to Giuseppe Scalaberni who managed the building in that contained the theater. Luisa would attend the rehearsals, listening for hours, and one day fortune smiled on her. The person to sing Inez became ill. Luisa substituted and her stunning career commenced. For the next eight years she sang at various opera houses throughout Italy and Europe. She then went to South America, Mexico, and the United States where she made her debut in San Francisco in 1905. She followed that with a debut in 1908, in New York. However, her appearance was not at the Metropolitan, but at Oscar Hammerstein’s Manhattan Opera Company. She played the role of Violetta in La Traviata with as great a success as she had at Covent Garden in London the previous year. The Garden appearance was the advent of a star studded career, since at the time she was an unknown. Her performance and talent were so impressive that she became an overnight operatic superstar.  Her career skyrocketed to where her appearances commanded the highest fees, selling out opera houses and concert halls where ever she performed. She also appeared at the Metropolitan for the 1911season giving eight performances. She followed that with a three year stint singing for the Boston Opera and the Chicago Gran Opera Companies.

Ellis Island records show she arrived there six times beginning in 1903. One of her most notable trips was in 1908, when in 1910, in San Francisco on Christmas Eve, she gave a free concert singing in the street at the corner of Market and Kearney near Lotta’s Fountain for a city she said she loved. Her gift to the city many considered an epitaph to the losses from the 1906 earthquake. The literature states something close to 250,000 people attended.  At about this time, many believe Ernest Arbogast, a chef at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco created the dish later named Chicken Tetrazzini. Tetrazzini was a long time resident of the hotel and was an apparent savorer of the dish.  However, Louis Paquet, a chef at the Historic Hotel McAlpin, at Herald Square, in New York many credit with popularizing the dish.  Nevertheless, many New Yorkers argue the point saying it was created in their city.

Tetrazzini was petite and as she grew older she became quite stout; nevertheless, her stage appearances were unaffected by her physique. She was an excellent musician who was a sociable, energetic and passionate person. Other singers, Enrico Caruso, Adelina Patti, Freida Hempel, all talented and highly regarded personalities, admired and applauded her talents.

After World War I, she left the opera stage for the concert platform. She married three times and her last husband was a spender and quickly squandered her fortune. One of her husbands, M. Vernati was twenty-years her junior, she 56 and he 26. During her later years she would often say, “I am old, I am fat, but I am still Tetrazzini.” Consequently, she had to continue concerts despite the deterioration of her voice. She retired in 1932, and died in Milan on April 28, 1940. The state paid for her funeral. The following photographs are from Allmusic.com and Pinterest.

JOSEPH STELLA

An Italian born American Futurist painter.

 

Giuseppe Michele Stella was born on June 13, 1877, in Muro Lucano, Potenza, Basilicata, Italy.  He was the fourth of five brothers. He was a chubby and introspective child and somewhat of a loner. His father and grandfather were lawyers and the family was affluent. Stella had no interest in pursuing the vocations dominant in the family. From a young age he demonstrated talent for drawing and a passion for art. Since his family was prosperous education was available to him that was not for the masses. He enjoyed school and learned both English and French.

When he was nineteen years old, he moved to New York City to study medicine and pharmacology. Upon leaving Ellis Island, he anglicized his name to Joseph. Many immigrant descendants believe the officials at Ellis Island changed their ancestor’s names. Such was not the case; the agents screening the persons arriving received manifests from the ships written by agents in the country of origin. Thus, many changed their names after leaving Ellis Island.

Soon after his arrival Stella ditched his pursuit in medicine and went into art. He enrolled at the Art Students League and the New York School of Art. His mentor was William Merritt Chase, who at the time was a popular American painter and a champion of Impressionism and a teacher. Other students of his were Georgia O’Keefe, Edward Hopper and George Bellows—all American Art Masters.

Stella in his early days worked as an illustrator, publishing realist drawings in magazines. He was an expert draftsman and made drawings throughout his career. Stella started as an academic realist, which changed, as he matured, to a modernist. He was known for his sweeping and dynamic lines. He had a strong interest in immigrant and ethnic living. He would roam the streets with his sketch-pad drawing particular poses of city life. However, Stella was unhappy and tired of America, even though the industrial aspects of the New York City impressed him and at the same time weighed on his psyche. One can easily imagine the impact a bustling, dynamic, rapidly growing metropolis could have on a young mind coming from a small idyllic community. He returned to Italy in 1909. He felt, “an enforced stay among enemies, in a black funereal land over which weighted…the curse of a merciless climate” (industrialism).

His move back home was propitious; his return led to contact with Modernism, which casted his characteristic style. After two years he relocated to Paris where Fauvism, Cubism, and Futurism flourished. His response, in his writings, was, “There was in the air the glamor of a battle.” He couldn’t have selected a better time to be there. After two years of associating with many notables in the field of art he ventured to give America another try.

On his return to New York he fused back into the local art social circles and as a results he painted the Battle of Lights and Coney Island, his earliest and greatest American Futurist works. In 1914-16 Armory show (The International Exhibition of Modern Art) Stella became a much talked about figure, both good and bad. Conservative critics found Modernism incomprehensible; therefore, threatening.

(See: http://www.npr.org/2013/02/17/172002686/armory-show-that-shocked-america-in-1913-celebrates-100.)

During the 1920s he painted his famous Brooklyn Bridge. Another well-known painting  of his is New York Interpreted (The Voice of the City) 1922, in this one he painted a twenty-three feet long and eight feet high depiction of bridges and skyscrapers. Many looked upon this work as an altar piece indicating that industrialism was displacing religion as the center of modern life. 

Stella did not maintain a strong position as a painter of a any particular style, since as his career continued, he continually changed, going from one to another and not staying with what was in vogue. He became a puzzling painter.  Below are a number of quotes, which clearly explain his wonderment of the world around him.

Quotes

“I was thrilled to find America so rich with so many new motives to be translated into a new art. Steel and electricity had created a new world.”

“I have seen the future and it is good. We will wipe away the religions of old and start anew.”

“At my arrival (in Paris), Fauvism, Cubism, and Futurism were in full swing. There was in the air the glamour of a battle, the holy battle raging for the assertion of a new truth. My youth plunged full in it.”

“During the last years of the war I went to live in Brooklyn in the most forlorn region of the oceanic tragic city, in Williamsburg, near the bridge. Brooklyn gave me a sense of liberation. The vast view of her sky, in opposition to the narrow one of New York, was a relief and at night, in her solitude, I used to find, intact, the green freedom of my own self.”

“I had witnessed the growth and expansion of New York proceeding parallel to the development of my own life…and therefore I was feeling entitled to interpret the titanic efforts, the conquests already obtained by the imperial city in order to become what now She is, the center of the world.”

Stella died on November 5, 1946 in New York City.

Below in following order are, The Battle of Lights, Luna Park, The Virgin, Joseph Stella, and The Brooklyn Bridge.

 

ITALIAN FUNERALS

 

On my first trip to Italy, one of the first thing I wanted to do was to see a Roman structure of any sort. Thus, on the second day I was there I asked locals if there were any Roman ruins nearby. We, my wife and I, were directed to a Roman out-look defensive tower located in Velate, a frazione, of Varese, Lombardia where we were lodging for a few days. The residents of the area built it in the eleventh century.  Consequently, it was not a Roman fortification but a local defensive work. Nevertheless, it still was impressive standing at 450 feet with excellent construction. It is partially ruined, but what remains provides significant insight into the painstaking efforts to make it last and withstand any attack. The literature refers to it as “La Torre di Velate.”  Our visit to Italy was prior to a national movement called Restauro, restoration, thus I took my photograph before. The latter one is after. When we visited it, it was unkempt with a small sign explaining its history.

After viewing and fulfilling my visual hunger, I noticed that nearby was a walled-in cemetery. I was able to see some of the tops of the mausoleum. This really piqued my curiosity, more so because there was a funeral in procession. Many mourners were walking behind a casket carted by men. By the time we walked into the graveyard the men were inserting the coffin into a tiered mausoleum. My wife and I stood off to the side and a man walking by us looked at me with teary eyes and uttered, “He was so young. What a misfortune.” I nodded my head in reverence. Nevertheless, I was astounded at what my eyes beheld as they scanned the two or three acres of the cemetery.

The mausoleums were in various sizes and built from beautiful different colored marble. The builders constructed them in classical architecture with such precision that they appear as if they are entrances to homes of wealthy Ancient Romans. We see the same in cemeteries here in America, especially where there is a large population of people of Italian heritage. However, because of the varied ethnic groups buried in many of the cemeteries the mausoleums tend to stand alone. In Italy they stand close together. Below are two photographs I took. One of the tower and one of a part of the cemetery. The other two are from www.tripadvisor.co.nz and www.tripadvisor.co.uk. Thus, we see how many Italians honor their dead.

Most Italian funerals follow the rituals of the Catholic Church, since most of the people are of that religion. The Italians of America follow the same; however, in regard to customs beyond the church, much of Italian American funerals have become watered down. In small towns in Italy next of kin give notice of a death by placing posters in various parts of the town. On it are the details of the passing and of the funeral arrangements. The American counterpart is the obituaries appearing in the newspaper. At the funeral, small religious cards with information about the deceased are available. They usually contain a prayer on one side and information about the deceased on the other. Neighbors and friends upon learning of the death bring food, which seems also to be a widespread practice in America. Solemnity and respect for the dead is important. In America with so much cultural diversity many Italians are awed with “celebrations” that some groups engage in, in the passing of individuals.

  Italy allows cremation; however, there are laws prescribing the process. One has to join an association of cremation, if they so desire to receive that service. If, upon the individual’s death, family members want to do otherwise, it still takes place. If one does not belong to the association, family members can apply for permission. Generally, the families may keep the ashes at home in an urn or if they desire, to scatter them. Laws permit it in special areas within cemeteries or on private land with the owner’s consent. The laws governing funerals vary from region to region.

Cemeteries are municipal, and usually whatever route one enters a city, there is a sign indicating the way to it. They do not belong to any church or organization and any one has the right to entombment burial. I use that word since it is extremely rare for in-ground burial, given the limited amount of land; thus, in the cemeteries are family mausoleums and tiered crypts. Since Italy is a small country with a large population, the laws of the regions require the gathering of the bones of the deceased after a period of 5 to 30 years. They place the bones in a common ossario (bone depository). Some of these date back hundreds of years. Many of them, are tourist attractions such as catacombs; however, those of modern time are religious places, such as the Tempio Ossario ai Caduti d’Italia (Bone Temple of the Fallen) in the piazzale XXVI Luglio, in Udine, Italy, containing the bones of 25,000 Italian soldiers who died during the First World War. It is a church and a holy and solemn place in respect of the dead. The following photographs in order of appearance are the cemetery near the tower, the tower before restauro and after, one of the embrasures, and the Tempio Ossario.

DR. T. S VERDI, Physician                                                                                      

 

Verdi, is not person who stands out amongst his fellow men for any significant achievement in terms of a great discovery or action beyond the call of duty. His renown happens from being in the right place at the right time. However, his assistances are commendable as they are for any good serving medical professional.

Dr. Tullio S. Verdi was an immigrant from Italy, who immigrated to the United States some time before 1860. It appears that a brother Ciro S. did also. The Washington, D.C., census of that decade indicates Verdi as a thirty-one year old physician living with his wife Rebecca A. 21, of Pennsylvania, and his brother Ciro, 26, then a student.

Verdi became the physician of Secretary of State William H. Seward and his family after an incident involving a run-away-horse carriage in which Seward and other members of his family were riding. Seward was the most seriously injured, suffering from a fracture of his face and a broken arm. The family sought the services of Verdi to tend to the injured at Seward’s home. Frederick Seward, a brother, was also treated. Dr. Verdi visited his patients several times over the following weeks; however, during the late evening hours of Friday April, 14, 1865, Verdi was at the Seward home tending to his patients. Family members, including Fanny Seward the sister and servants were present. Upon completing his visit, he left at 9:00 p.m., only to return an hour and a half later to a horrible scene of a violent attack. Secretary Seward had been stabbed a number of times as he lay in bed recuperating from his previous injuries. The assailant, Lewis Payne was a member of the conspirator group that assassinated President Lincoln at 10:15 p.m. that same evening. Verdi in  his testimony at the trial of the attempted assassinator Payne, stated, “I saw the Hon. William H. Seward, Mr. Frederick Seward, Major Augustus H. Seward, Mr. Robinson and Mr. Hansell, all wounded and their wounds bleeding.” Robinson and Hansell were servants. “I had left Mr. Seward… very comfortable in his room, and when I saw him next he was in his bed, covered with blood, with blood all around him, blood under the bed, and blood on the handles of the doors.”

  Verdi after his initial examination assured his family, his wounds were not fatal. Verdi had prescribed a neck brace for the Secretary to wear and it, investigators believe, prevented the stab from being fatal. However, Verdi disagreed testifying, “It was not my opinion that the wounds received by Mr. Seward tended to aid his recovery from his former accident.”

After tending to the Secretary he then attended Frederick Seward, who was in another room. He found him lying on a couch with blood issuing from his face and from several stab wounds about his body.  He treated him and upon finishing, an uninjured individual requested him to tend to August Seward. Shocked that there was another wounded individual, he hurried to him in another room and treated him. His wounds were comparatively slight. Once again someone alerted him to another victim, Seward’s mannurse, a soldier in attendance of Mr. Seward. He suffered four stab wounds. After tending to him, again someone alerted him to another injured person. Following this he received another request to treat another victim, who suffered a stab wound in his back. Apparently, the assassin didn’t attack any of the women. The men, other than the Secretary received their wounds in their struggles with the assailant. In total there were five victims, none expiring from their wounds.

The 1870 census shows that Verdi and his wife, Rebecca, had a daughter, Sophia, age 4. Verdi’s brother Ciro, also became a doctor and was living in Mount Vernon, Ohio, with his wife Fanny. The following census of 1880 shows Verdi living with Sophia, 13 and another daughter Denny, age 7. They were still living in Washington, D.C., with three servants. There was no listing for Rebecca, presumably she passed away after childbirth.  Ciro, who apparently lost his wife Fanny the same decade, later married again (Caroline), and moved to New Brunswick, NJ, where he continued practicing medicine.

The last listing Dr. T. S. Verdi was in the 1890 Washington, DC, city directory as a physician. Neither he or his brother appeared in the 1900 census

 

See, for more detailed information, The Assault Upon Mr. Seward,:Interesting Details—Letter from Dr. Verdi, Mr. Seward’s Family Physician, of May 18, 1865, from the Western (St. Louis) Homeopathic Observer, https://www.nytimes.com/1865/05/18/archives/the-assault-upon-mr-seward-interesting-detailsletter-from-dr-verdi.html. And https://www.fold3.com/page/420-dr-t-s-verdi-sewards-physician.

 

BADIA – CORTINA D’AMPEZZO AND TRENTINO-ALTO-ADIGE 

 

In looking for the ingredients in some products of the Badia Company (founded in 1967 by Cuban refugee Jose Badia, in Doral, Florida). I happened upon the Comune di Badia in Italy. This aroused my interest, as many things do, so I present the following. Badia is the Italian word for abbey. In Tuscany there is the Badia di Coltibuono, Gaiole in Chianti; a thousand year old abbey that today is a resort and winery. 

Badia is a town in the geographic South Tyrol region of Italy. It sits high in the Dolomite Mountains, at 4,315 feet. It is one of five Ladin speaking communes in the valley.  Its major industry is lodging for tourists mainly interested in skiing. Nearby is Alta Badia, the higher Badia, where the slopes and ski lifts are located. 

In the surrounding area is the well-known skiing resort area of Cortina D’Ampezzo. Both of these communes, plus many more, are in the province of Belluno, the capital of the region of Veneto. It has the most severe weather of the country. The area, geographically, in Italy, is the South Tyrol, the northern part lies in Austria by that name as a province with the capital of Innsbruck, another famous skiing mecca.

The name South Tyrol also refers to the modern area of Trentino-Alto-Adige, where there has been a secessionist movement to reunify with Austria—some groups seek a free state of South Tyrol.

During the Middle-Ages the whole region was under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Aquileia, an ancient Roman city at the north end of the Adriatic Sea, and of the Holy Roman Empire. In the 1420s, the Republic of Venice conquered it. After the decline of the Republic it came under Austrian rule, and then went through a number of territorial changes in the period of the Napoleon régime, after which Austria once again ruled. The area, finally, by the Treaty of Versailles of 1918, it became part of Italy.

When Benito Mussolini came into power he sought to Italianize the area of Trentino-Alto-Adige—the modern political South Tyrol. The government established Italian settlements, opened schools and required the German and Ladin minorities there to learn Italian.

At the 1946 Treaty of Paris, the De Gasperi-Gruber agreement provided the right of the German and Ladin ethnics of Trentino-Alto-Adige to maintain their language and customs on par with those of Italian heritage. Nevertheless, over the years secessionist movements developed, with some using violence, such as in the Night of Fire, on June 12, 1961 when the electric supply unit was bombed. Prior to that during the 1950s separatist bombed many relics, statues, and buildings that were part of the previous infrastructure.

In 1972, Italy granted the area a measure of autonomy by negotiations between the Italian government and local officials. The provisions were also of a heated debate between Austria and Italy. The final agreement between these governments culminated in 1992, which granted an abundance of privileges to the political South Tyrol.   As an exemplifying result is―of the taxes paid in Tyrol, only ten percent go to the central government in Rome.

Ladin (Romanic-Rhaetian) language is also of significant interest. It developed after the Romans annexed the area. The original peoples, the Rhaetians, adopted the Vulgar Latin from the Roman magistrates and soldiers and have maintained it. At present, approximately, 70,000 people speak it. These people extend from Trentino-Alto-Adige to Cortina D’Ampezzo which includes Badia and Alta Badia and in parts of Friuli. In the political South Tyrol it is recognized as one of the three official languages—Italian, German, and Ladin. Ladin speaking also extends into Switzerland.

CONCRETO

CONCRETO

Concrete

 

The Romans used concrete from the earliest days of the republic. In Latin it is opus caementicium, from which we derive our modern word for cement, an ingredient in concrete. Cement is a paste consisting of water hydraulic ingredients, that is, a mix of minerals such as lime-ash with water and other dry ingredients which when it sets become very hard. Once mixed it can be poured under water and it still hardens. Concrete is the mixing of gravel or crushed stone, to the cement. The Romans invented hydraulic cement-based concrete, concretus, which is similar to modern day Portland cement. After mixing the ingredients with water, the laborers poured the mixture into wooden forms and allowed time for hardening or setting. The time varies based on the accuracy of the mixture, and the type of lime used. But once set they remove the forms from a now stone-hard object that can last for ages.

The way of making this material was lost during the middle-ages, and remained so up until the late 1700s when James Parker of England developed what he called Roman Cement. Following that a British brick layer, Joseph Aspdin applied for and received a patent for a product he named Portland cement. His was similar to Parker’s but, his contained artificial hydraulic lime. The Ancient Romans made cement from quick lime, pozzolanic ash (which has hydraulic properties), and an aggregate of pumice. Its consistency was very similar to Portland cement of today. Both of these cements set under water too. This was a boon to the Romans; it allowed them to build many seaports serving provincial coastal towns around the Mediterranean seas.

Aspdin named the cement Portland because, after curing and hardening, it is very similar in appearance to the quarried limestone on the Isle of Portland, in Dorset County, England―thus, the name―Portland Stone. Some buildings using this stone are: St. Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace in London, England and the United Nations Building in New York City.  

The ancient Romans built many buildings with poured concrete, the Pantheon, a fully intact temple, is one example. Others are the Baths of Caracalla, and the aqueducts. The ancient buildings constructed by layering of stones, as in the Coliseum, the people were able to dismantle them and reuse them to build other structures. Those made of cement they could not disassemble. Thus, because of the lasting nature of the cement, many stand fully intact today. An interesting point to reveal is that after the fall of Rome in the West, the people also lost the know-how to mine lead. The buildings the Romans made from stones contain lead between the blocks as a binder. The holes one sees in the walls of some of the existing ruins are from people chopping into the seams of the stones to procure the lead within. They used the lead to make bullets.

The major introduction of poured concrete with Portland cement in the U.S. was two-fold. It was introduced to America at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. However, during the building of the Erie Canal, engineer Canvass White, who worked on the canal, went to England to observe how they built them. He saw them using cement and that it was hardening underwater.  Nevertheless, it was very expensive to ship home, so he instead, on his return in home 1818, created cement from local resources.  Since it hardened under water, people did not think of using it other than for building canals and underwater projects.

Franklin Smith, a philanthropist, a founder of the Y.M.C.A, and an amateur architect, traveled to Spain and visited the Alhambra, a famous Moorish castle. He became enamored with the art of the structure. Subsequently, he went to Switzerland and there he saw laborers pouring concrete made with Portland cement. He brought these two observances home and built himself a house, based on the architecture of the Alhambra. It is located on King Street in downtown St. Augustine, Florida. Today the building is a museum, The Zorayda Castle. It is open to the public. Nearby, there are three buildings made of poured concrete, two built in Spanish architecture by Henry Flagler and the third in Moorish Style by Franklin Smith. The construction of these building was between 1885 and 1888. They are: the Flagler College, formerly the Ponce de Leon Hotel, The Lightener Museum and City Hall, formerly the Alcazar Hotel, and the Hotel Casa Monica, designed by Franklin Smith. He named the hotel after the mother of St. Augustine. The photographs as the appear are: La Casa Monica, La Villa Zorayda, 1836 painting of the Pantheon, The Alacazar containing the Leightner Museum, and Flagler College.

UNITED STATE’S CONGRESS APOLOGIZES FOR MISTREATMENT OF ITALIAN RESIDENTS DURING WWII

 

On the seventh of December, 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor was a wake-up call to the realization that the two large oceans between the United States, Europe and Asia, were not insurmountable walls of defense. Shortly after the attack against Pearl Harbor, Germany and Italy on the eleventh of that December, declared war on the United States. The United States went into a state of fear, as we did after the attack on The World Trade Center on the eleventh September, 2001. There was a scramble to protect the nation and it took many forms, some rightly so and some not.

Out of fear and concern for the safety of our country, the U.S. Government made decisions that were quite questionable regarding aliens and natural born citizens (Japanese Americans) residing in the United States. To protect our country the United States government interned many Italians as well as others in camps or placed them under significant restriction. Some even had their property confiscated, with never receiving reparations.

 Most Italian Americans are only aware of the internment of Japanese Americans and Japanese aliens and of the restrictions placed on their movement and location of residence. The same occurred to Italian and German Americans and aliens. At the beginning of World War II, there were 600,000 Italian aliens in the United States. All of them at the time of the declaration of war, by Benito Mussolini, became enemy aliens. Unlike the Japanese, the population of Italians was overwhelming. Government officials were in a dilemma asking; what are we going to do? We can’t intern them all. That was out of the question, so they developed a criterion of elimination to seek out those who were a threat to the U.S. and intern them. This was an awesome task, and injustices were going to occur.

All Italian aliens had to register within four months of the declaration of war at identified registration locations. Thousands of Italians came under various restrictions, if their livelihood involved using a boat they had to leave it, sell it or have it impounded by the government. If they lived near any oceanic coast, they were required to move inland.  They had to hand over to the local police such things as radios, telephones and flashlights, and were subject to surprise house visits and searches by federal agents. These usually occurred at night after 11:00 p.m. Many had lived in the United States for thirty or more years and had children that were born in America, who were fighting against our enemies on both fronts. Yet, the government interned or restricted their parents in their movements. One individual account tells of an Italian women having to relocate on the same day she received news of her son’s death while fighting in the war, (see: http://www.amazon.com/Internment-History-Relocation-Italian-Americans/ by Stephen C. Fox,).

In their unannounced searches of residences, if they found anything they thought were prohibited items, they confiscated them, along with any reading material that was suspect. The violator then faced a hearing before a civilian tribunal. These tribunals had the power to intern. Many brought before the panels had curfews imposed on them and had to be at home by 8:00 p.m. These things were done even if their children were Americans and/or a spouse was American. The parents of the baseball fame DiMaggio brothers could no longer work their fishing boat and had to move five miles inland from the coast. The government officials seized and impounded their father’s boat for the duration of the war. Mr. and Mrs. DiMaggio could not visit one of their sons’ restaurants on one of the San Francisco wharves.

The amount of Italian aliens interned was 228.  On the East coast they sent them to Ellis Island for processing and then every three or four months moved them from military base to military base throughout the U.S. They most often ended at Fort Missoula, Montana.  Here the government maintained one thousand Italian citizens and six hundred and fifty Japanese citizens. For complete procedures of moving and interning the Italians see: (http://www.amazon.com/Road-Missoula-Laurence-Amuso-ebook/)

On the Monday the twelfth of October, 1942, Attorney General Biddle during a Columbus Day speech at Carnegie Hall issued a proclamation ending wartime restrictions against Italians. He stated, “Italians will not be considered enemy aliens after October 19, 1942. We have carefully checked the 600,000 Italian aliens and there has been cause to intern only 228 of them.” He further announced on the radio, “I will recommend a bill to Congress that will grant to any alien, who is eligible for citizenship without taking the literacy test, provided he or she is fifty years old or older and came to the United States before July 1, 1942, and has been living in the country continuously since then.”  The Germans and the Japanese did not fare so well for those two countries remained at war with the U.S. until conquered in 1945.

The mistakes that occurred during the war, have not been forgotten, they may have lain in secret for many years and finally came to light such that from 1980 to 2000, attempts have been made to rectify those errors of judgment through compensation and/or apology. As a result in 1999, under the strong leadership of Congressman Eliot Engel along with Congressman Rick Lazio, House Rule.2442, The War Time Violation of Italian Civil Liberty the House passed the act and on the seventh of November, 2000, Congress passed Public Law 106-451. Please see https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/106/hr2442. The act begins with the findings, “The freedom of more than 600,000Italian born immigrants in the United States and their families were restricted during WWII, by government measures that branded them enemy aliens, and included carrying an identifications, travel restrictions, and seizure of personal property. It continues, reporting the removal of people from their homes, prohibitions of where they could live, imposition of curfews, arrests and internment, in military camps.”

In light of the above, Mike Maiorana a boy during WW II clearly remembered when officials came to his house in Monterey, Ca. and searched, more than once, for guns, flashlights, cameras, shortwave radios and anything else that could be used to signal the enemy.  His father was a naturalized citizen, and yet forced to move from Monterey to Salinas and lose his livelihood by having his fishing boat confiscated.

Chet Campanella, who experienced similar disenfranchisement, entered an annual, “There ought to be law,” contest and cited, “The treatment of Italians in California was horrible and there wasn’t one tiny bit of evidence to indicate that any Italians were responsible for any type of spying or sabotage.”

Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) sponsored bill.  Senate Resolution SCR95 2009-10 Apology to Italian Americans. Consequently, the California legislature passed the resolution expressing “deepest regret” for the wartime internment, curfews, confiscations and other indignities that thousands of Italian and Italian American families faced.  The Grand Council of Fascism deposed Benito Mussolini on July 25, 1943 and on September 3, 1943 Italy became an ally of the U.S.  For historical novel of these events please see http://www.amazon.com/Road-Missoula-Laurence-Amuso-ebook/.

Below are photographs of Italian internees at Ft. Missoula, Montana.

 

 

THE CITY OF MILANO

 

Milan, in English, is as of 2014, the largest city in population in Italy with Naples being the second, and is the capital of the region of Lombardy. The city has a long history as the other communities of the Peninsula.

Milan is the main industrial, commercial, and financial center of the country. It hosts the Borsa Italiana (the equivalent of Wall Street). It has the third largest economy after London and Paris. It is also a capital of fashion. Some of its land marks are: the Milan Cathedral—Il Duomo di Santa Maria Nascente, simply known as Il Duomo, which is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and the fifth largest cathedral worldwide. Its construction began in 1386, of which many say is yet incomplete.  The fifteenth century Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie containing the paintings of Da Vinci, such as the Last Supper; La Scala Opera House, the Sforza Castle, the famous glass roofed shopping arcade―The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, and the Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio. These are only a few of the sites of the city which began as a community sometime in 400 BC. Two hundred years later the Romans conquered the area and gave it the name of Mediolanum, from which the name Milan derived.

When Caesar Augustus (Gaius Octavius), Julius Caesar’s grandnephew came into power, he made Milan a capital, and named the region Transpadana. In the third century AD it became the capital of the western empire. By this time Christianity had spread throughout the Mediterranean area and became imbedded in Milan. Many of the churches today trace their origins of beginning to this period. The city’s first bishop, by popular acclaim, was Aurelius Ambrosius, St. Ambrose, in 340 AD. He became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the fourth century. He is the patron saint of the city.

When the Roman Empire went into decline, a large Germanic tribe, the Lombards, invaded and took control of the city and much of Italy. Today, as mentioned, the region of which Milan is the capital is Lombardia, named after the Lombards. The Italians, called them  Longobardi, meaning, long beards. Below are pictures of exterior and interior of Il Duomo.
 

THE CITY OF PAESTUM

 

Eighty miles south of Pompeii is a place of which many tourists are unaware, and that is the ancient city of Paestum. The Greeks settled there in seventh century BC and many of the temples they built are still intact. It is an ancient town dating back to 700 BC.  It later became a part of Magna Graecia. The Greeks founded a community there around 600 BC.  The original inhabitants were the Oscans and archeology reveals that the two, the Greeks and Oscans, lived together harmoniously.  When the Greeks arrived they called it Poseidonia after their sea god Poseidon. The name is equal to the Roman god Neptune. Sometime around 400 BC, the Lucans, an Italic people, conquered and ruled until 273 BC, after which it became a Roman colony. They renamed it Paestum. In Italian Poseidnonia translates into Positano, which is a nearby famous resort town on the Amalfi Peninsula.

Since the Greeks mostly settled in southern Italy they gave the names to many communities. These names later became Italian. For example, Napoli was Neapolis, meaning new city, Siracusa, Sirako, (swamp), Brindisi, Brentension, (Deer head), Cefalú  cephalic or khefale meaning head…

When Hannibal was raising havoc in the peninsula the people of Paestum kept their allegiance to Rome. After the defeat of Hannibal, it received special recognition and was able to mint its own coinage. It stayed under the dominion of Rome until the end of the Empire in the West.

During the Middle Age, the town declined into complete abandon.  It wasn’t until 1840, when an interest in things ancient became popular, that the city was uncovered. To the amazement of everyone a number of temples the Greeks built were still standing. Unlike Pompeii and Herculaneum that the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius covered in volcanic debris; weeds, trees and vines overgrew whatever was in Paestum. It is because of that, much of the city remained intact.

 Paestum was originally a coastal city, but due to siltation it now sits one mile from the seashore. The temples yet standing have many different missing parts, mainly the roofs and the statues of the gods that sat in them. The base of the temples are huge, easily the size of a football field or larger. The main temples standing today are those of Hera, Apollo, and Athena. All these temples are in the Doric style of architecture. These gems of Greek construction, many consider second to those of Athens in architecture, in general, many historians ascribe them as the best-preserved Doric temples in the world.

When they were uncovered in the eighteenth century archeologist misidentified two of them as the temples of Neptune and Ceres, and that they were basilicas, which for the Romans, were administrative buildings, not temples. The city had a forty-nine foot in height wall around it, with a number of redoubts. A moat protected the wall. The area, in and immediately outside of the city proper, covers some twenty-five hectares―each being ten-thousand square feet. 

On the grounds is a museum with many artifacts. An imposing one is of Zeus, the chief of all gods.  He lived on Mount Olympus and played games with the people and the other gods. This statue portrays very clearly the view the Greeks had of their god. They considered their gods human like themselves, they had all the wants, weaknesses and strengths that they have, but the gods were one step above them. The statue of Zeus or Poseidon shows him with a smirk on his face and a twinkle in his eye as if to say, “Gotcha!”  Wall paintings show him wearing a hat that looks like the ten-gallon type worn in the American West. He appears to be quite the character.

Also see, https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Paestum+museum. 

 

FOGLIO DA LAURO

The Laurel Leaf

 

Bay leaf is a flavoring used in cooking, the Italian name is Foglio da Lauro―the Laurel Leaf. This leaf has an interesting history besides its use as a flavoring agent in cooking. In ancient Greece and Rome winners in the Olympic Games, and other forms of competition received as an award—the privilege of wearing a crown of laurel leaves. Many statues of Roman Emperors wear such crowns and on some ancient Roman coins appear the laureate crowned heads of emperors. Our English word baccalaureate meaning the conferring of a bachelor’s degree at college graduation ceremonies derives from the ancient practices.

The Italian word for receiving a degree is laurare. In regard to the baccalaureate exercises, Bacca may refer to Bacchus the god of grape growing, wine and celebration. In ancient depictions of him, he wears a laurel leaf crown. The conferring of a baccalaureate degree is a time for celebration. Dante Alighieri the renowned poet of the renaissance received the award poet laureate, indicating he was a poet worthy to wear a crown of laurel leaves.

The origins of the use of a laurel wreath lie in Greek Mythology; Apollo, the handsome Olympian God and son of Zeus, fell in love with a beautiful nymph named Daphne. Cupid, in revenge for Apollo’s arrogance, struck him with a love arrow and Daphne with one of odium. As the story goes, Daphne, could not reciprocate the feelings of love Apollo had for her and fled from him. In her flight she asked the river god Peneus for help. When Apollo caught up to her and extended his arms to embrace her, Peneus turned her into a laurel tree. Apollo in his despair from his loss of such a love, cut off a branch to wear as a wreath and declared the plant sacred. This myth initiated the presentation of the laurel wreaths to the victors in the Olympic Games to honor Apollo. One would think the opposite since he lost her love rather than to have won it.

Many statues and frescoes of the mythological Apollo exist. Often the title of these statues bear the name Apollo Belvedere, meaning he is pretty to see, bel—pretty and vedere—to see.

The laurel-leaf as a cooking spice is most frequently available in the dried form. One must be careful in using the leaf in recipes, since too much will embitter the dish. Fresh laurel is difficult to come by unless you have a tree in the yard. It is a pretty tree with long straight branches reaching upward with dark green leaves. The fresh leaf when picked and crushed emits a strong pleasing odor and adds a delicious flavor to many dishes. 

The dried leaf is readily available in the grocery store under the name Bay Leaf. But bay leaf becomes confused with Red Bay Leaf. Both have aromatic leaves and are used in cooking. Red bay leaf is Persea Borbonia and different from the common laurel, Laurus Nobilis, which is the one available at the grocery store. Both, are members of the laurel family (Lauraceae). Red Bay Leaf, a bush common to the south, is slowly fading from American forests due to a wilt disease passed on by a non-native insect, the Red Bay Ambrosia Beetle. Fortunately, Laurus Nobilis is not affected.

The following are a painting of Dante wearing a laurel wreath by Sandro Botticelli, a fresco of him in the chapel of San Brizio in Orvieto by Luca Signorelli, and a statue of Apollo Belvedere in the Vatican Museum.