Warren Wilhelm Jr. This person is of Italian descent and the 109th mayor of New York City. Yes, he is none other than William de Blasio. On May 8, 1961 the Mayor was born and named Warren Wilhelm Jr. His mother was Maria Angela de Blasio and his father was Warren Wilhelm. De Blasio has two older brothers, Steven and Donald still carry the name of Wilhelm. William changed his name in 2001 to Bill de Blasio. The literature implies he did this to honor his mother’s family with whom he identified. His maternal grandfather came from Sant’Agata de’Goti, Italy and his grandmother from Grassano, Matera, Italy. His paternal grandfather Donald Wilhelm was from Ohio, and his grandmother Nina Warren was from Iowa. They were of German, French, English, and Scotch-Irish descent. His mother and father were well educated. She attended Smith College and he was a Yale graduate. She served in the Office of War Information during World War II and in 1988 published a book, The Other Italy: The Italian Resistance in World War II. His father served in the War. In 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and fought in the Pacific theater and lost his left foot, and later the leg from the knee down. He returned home married Maria, and fathered the three children, however; they broke up during De Blasio’s early formative years. The four moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts close to the De Blasio family. His mother reared him and his brothers in concert with her extended family. In De Blasio’s eighteenth year his father committed suicide. He was battling incurable lung cancer. De Blasio graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in 1979 where he served in student government and received the name “Senator Provolone.” He went on to college acquiring a bachelor’s degree in metropolitan studies and a master’s degree in international affairs. In 1981 he received the honor of being a Harry S. Truman Scholar. During his later college years, he worked for the Urban Fellows Program in the New York City Department of Juvenile Justice. Afterward in 1987, he was hired as a political organizer. In this position, he traveled to Nicaragua for ten days to help distribute food. A revolution was occurring and De Blasio, in opposition to President Reagan’s policies, supported the Sandanistas. He continued his work with a non-profit organization aimed at improving health care in Central America. During David Dinkins successful 1989 bid for Mayor of New York City (1990-1994), de Blasio worked as a volunteer and became an aide in New York City Hall. In 1994 he ran Charles Rangel’s successful 1971 campaign for a U.S. Representative for districts in New York. In 1997 President Clinton’ Administration appointed him as the regional director for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for New York and New Jersey. In 1999 the Brooklyn School District 15 elected him as a board member. The next year he managed Hillary Clinton’s successful campaign for the U.S. Senate. In 2001 de Blasio ran for the New York City Council’s 39th district and won. He maintained that position until 2009. During his tenure de Blasio’s sought to improve public schools and help many less-fortunate New Yorkers with food stamps, housing, and children’s health. In 2009 he became a candidate for the New York City Public Advocate seat and won. In this position, he fought the good fight for affordable housing, education, and campaign financing. In 2013 de Blasio announced his candidacy for mayor of New York City and won and won again in 2017. The position comes up for election in 2021. DeBlasio met Chirlane McCray in 1991 while both were working for Mayor Dinkins, by 1994 the tied the knot (married) in 1994 holding their wedding in Prospect Park. They have two children, a daughter, Chiara, and a son, Dante. McCray has been and is very politically active many issues. She is a speechwriter having written speeches for Mayor Dinkins, for Herman McCall, (state cabinet officer) and William Coleridge Thompson Jr. a former comptroller of NYC, besides editing her husband’s speeches. She publically claimed herself in 1979, as a Lesbian and published an article on that subject in Essence, a popular African American magazine. De Blasio, after becoming mayor, appointed her as the chairman of the Mayor’s Fund to Advance NYC.

Just published a new E-book on Amazon “A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO INVESTING,” ASIN: B08L3Q4JG4, Laurence Amuso, author. It is a short easy to read guide covering the opening of a trading and/or a retirement account in a financial institution, manipulating the account by investing money into it, buying and selling stocks and bonds. I wrote it for both the young and those who have retirement looming in the near future, and those already retired.

LUIGI ROCCO ANTONINI

 

Luigi Antonini was a garment industry leader in the early part of the 20^th century in New York City. He was born in Vallata Irpina, in the province of Avellino in 1883. His father, Pietro Valeriano Antonini was a school teacher. His mother, Maria Francesca Netta was a poetess and of noble birth. Antonini received an education equivalent to that of an American high school. Upon completing his education, he served in the Italian army and became an expert fencer. In 1908 he immigrated to the U.S. landing in New York, and established it as his new home.

During his first few years after immigrating he held various jobs and eventually acquired a position in the garment industry. He became a member of the newly formed ILGWU, The International Ladies Garment Workers Union. As a result he became a distinguished orator and dynamic leader for the working class. He made his debut as a public figure by his involvement in the Waistmakers’ general strike of 1914.

In 1916, he became the editor of the Italian periodical, “L’Operaia,” (The Worker). It was through these efforts that he founded the Italian Dress and Waistmakers’ Union Local 39. This local had twenty-thousand members, the largest under the ILGWU. The total membership of it was four-hundred and fifty-thousand.

Since the Italian local was the single largest unit, Antonini became the Vice-President of the larger union. This position pressed him into influential political circles. As a result he became a leader for Italian Americans in more issues than in labor. In 1935 he represented the American Labor movement in Brussels, Belgium, and in 1939 attended the Pan-American Congress for Democracy in Montevideo, Paraguay.

Prior to the beginning of the WWII, he was vociferous against fascism, and his local ILGWU union fully supported the war against Italy. Throughout the hostilities he served on the appeals board of the selective service in Westchester County, New York.

In 1944 the American Federation of Labor (AFL), chose him to go to Italy as a member of the Anglo-American Trade Union Committee to advise Italians in rebuilding bona fide labor unions. While there, he served to help rebuild Italy and during this service he founded an orphanage in Palermo, Sicily and named it after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

His activities put him in contact with Italian Presidents such as De Nicola, Gronchi, and Einaudi, along with many other political figures of Italy. In 1951 he led a good will tour of Italy and Israel. In Haifa, a major port city in Israel, the community held him in such high regard they named a recently built sports stadium after him. While he was abroad, the Republic of Italy, the City of Trieste, the province of Sicily and the country of San Marino recognized him by awarding him medals for his achievements.

When he returned home he became the chairman of the AFL-CIO Committee of Greater New York. Antonini founded the Four Freedoms Awards, issued by the Italian American’s Labor Council. He created this citation to honor meritorious services rendered by individuals to the cause of liberty throughout the world. In 1943 United States Attorney General Francis Biddle was the first recipient. Biddle was important to the Italian Americans and Italian aliens for he declared on October 12, 1942 that restrictions against “enemy aliens” would no longer pertain to “Italian aliens.” Other honorees for the award included Presidents Roosevelt and Truman.

On his eightieth birthday, in 1963 Mayor Robert Wagner presented Luigi with the key to the city of New York. Antonini continued to be involved in many labor activities throughout the 50s and 60s, continuing as Vice-President of the Union, until 1967. He died the following year.

POPE FRANCIS

Juan Bergoglio – Rosa Vasallo begat Mario Jose Bergoglio

Francisco Sivori Sturla – Maria Gogna Di Sivori begat Regina Gogna

Mario Jose Bergoglio and Regina Gogna Di Sivori begat Jorge Mario (Pope Francis)

Pope Francis’ father Mario Giuseppe Francesco, was born in the Province of Asti, in Italy and immigrated in 1929 to Argentina. In 1935 he married Regina Savori of Buenos Aires, whose family emigrated from Alessandria, Italy. They produced five children, Maria Elena, Marta Regina, Jorge Mario (Pope Francis), Alberto Horacio and Oscar Adrian.

Jorge was born on 17 of December, in 1936 in Flores, one of the largest neighborhoods, (barrio) in the city of Buenos Aires.

In 1969 at the age of thirty-three he became a priest. He relates that his mother, a devout catholic, did not initially support his clerical decision. However, she assented to his choice and asked for his blessing at the end of the ceremony.

Prior to his ordination, for the years 1964 and 1965, he taught literature and psychology at Immaculate Conception College in Santa Fé and during the following year he taught at the Colegio del Salvatore in Buenos Aires. The next three years he studied theology at the Colegio of San José receiving his degree in 1970. In 1973 he made his final vows in the Jesuit order, and subsequently, became the superior of the Jesuit Province of Argentina, a post he held until 1979. His term was concurrent with the military coup led by Lieutenant General Jorge Rafael Videla which led to the “Dirty War,” of 1976—1983, a deadly effort to remove leftist and suspected subversives. Ten to thirty thousand people disappeared. Begoglio claimed he hid several people from the military. Two Jesuit priests disappeared for five months and were later found in a field in a drugged state. Critics faulted Bergoglio for not doing enough and even accused him of complicity. In a law suit alleging this, the court dismissed it.    

 In the 1980s, he was a seminary teacher and rector in Freiburg. He also pursued theological studies at the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt am Main.  

In 1992 he received the appointment as auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires. In 1998 he became archbishop of Buenos Aires, the post he kept until he became pope. In February of 2001, Pope John Paul II appointed him to the College of Cardinals naming him the cardinal-priest of Saint Robert Bellarmino.  In 2005, he became president of the Bishops’ Conference of Argentina, at which he served until 2011.

The College of Cardinals elected him the 266^th pope of the Roman Catholic Church in March 2013. He is the first pope from the Americas. He took the name of St. Francis of Assisi. Time magazine named him person of the year. He is the first Jesuit Pope, the first from the Americas, and the second Pope not from Europe. The first was Gregory III from Syria in the 8^th century. The Pope is also the bishop of Rome. The bishopric’s seat is at the archbasilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, (Saint John’s within the walls of the city).  

Pope Francis has characterized his tenure with humility and outspoken support of the world’s poor and other marginalized people.

 

 

John Anthony Volpe

Volpe was one of the three Italian American governor of Massachusetts. He was the son of Italian immigrants and was born on December 8, 1908 in Wakefield, Massachusetts. His father Vito and his mother Filomena née Benedetto came from Pescosansonesco, Aburzzo. Volpe was a self-made businessman. He attended Wentwort Institute of Technology in Boston where he majored in architectural construction and built his own construction firm by 1930. He was so successful that by the onset of the 2^nd World War, his company was one of the nation’s leading business in that field.  Subsequently, his term of military service was a lieutenant commander training United States Navy Seabees who were builders, engineers, equipment operators, and steelworkers.

Volpe’s political life began in 1951 when he became the deputy chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party. The governor in 1953, appointed him as Commissioner of Public works. President Dwight D. Eisenhower followed this by appointing him as the first administrator of the Federal Highway Administration. This was in the early stages of the development of the United States Interstate Highway System—a defense system of which he was an important figure.

In 1960 he ran for governor of Massachusetts and won the election he served for two years 1961-1963. He ran again but lost. In 1965 he reentered the race and this time it was for the first four year term for the office. He won, consequently, serving until 1969. Foster Furcolo preceded him. Massachusetts initially had a one year term for governor, then to a two year term in 1918 and in 1965 it moved to a four year term.

During his tenure Volpe signed in to legislation a ban to racial imbalances in education, liberalized birth control, and increased public housing. He also served as the president of the National Governors Association from 1967 – 1968. In 1968 he was candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, however, he lost his bid to Nelson A. Rockefeller, the governor of New York. In Nixon’s election he came into consideration as a running mate along with Spiro Agnew; however, Nixon selected the latter.  Nixon, as a reward for his support appointed him as Secretary of Transportation. He resigned as governor to accept this cabinet post. He remained until 1973, when he accepted the nomination from Nixon as Ambassador to Italy. He had a significant interest in his parent’s homeland, and visited Italy often. He remained until 1977. In 1969 the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic awarded him the Knight of the Grand Cross. His tenure included some difficulty, the Italian elite did not hold him in high regard due to his southern Italian roots. He also upset the leftist elements for his negative statements against inclusion of the Communist Party in the Italian government. Volpe died in Nahant, Massachusetts on November 11, 1994 at the age of eighty-five. His family interred him at Forest Glade Cemetery in Wakefield. In honor of his service a number of building in Massachusetts bear his name, the National Transportation System Center in Cambridge, the Library at Wakefield High School, and Terminal E. at the Logan International Airport.

In 1934, Volpe married Giovannina Benedetto and the couple had two children, John Anthony, Jr. and Loretta Jean Volpe Rotondi.

John Foster Furcolo

Furcolo was an Italian American lawyer, politician, a democrat, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the sixtieth governor of the state of Massachusetts. He was the first Italian American governor of that state. Two other Italian Americans followed him, John Volpe 1961-1963, 1965-1969, and Paul Cellucci, 1997-2001.

Furcolo was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on July 29, 1911. His father was Charles Furcolo an immigrant and a physician, who attended Yale. His mother, Alberta Marie Foster was an Irish immigrant. He was their second child. The eldest was Charles Lawrence Furcolowe, Jr. Charles and Alberta divorced and she changed her name to Furcolowe. The name which John used at college. After graduating high school he went to Yale and graduated in 1933, he followed that with attending Yale College of Law graduating with an LL.B. in 1936.  During World War II, Furcolo served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy. After the war he ran for a seat in the 2^nd Congressional district, but lost to the incumbent.  He ran again in 1948 and won by a significant margin. In the next election a Polish American Republican, challenged him with the hopes of capturing the large number of Polish American constituent’s votes in the district.  Furcolo won by a noteworthy margin. He continued to serve until he resigned in 1952 to accept an appointment as the Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Furcolo received notoriety when he was the first freshman representative invited to the Whitehouse under President Truman to discuss legislation. Furcolo was innovative in developing the idea of a people’s council, i.e. a group of individual from across the district to gauge proposed legislation. Congress John W. McCormack appointed him to the House Appropriations Committee along with John F. Kennedy, of which Kennedy was not happy. The two were at odds on a number of issues.

Before leaving the legislative office, Furcolo was on the committee to investigate the mass killings at the Katyn Forest of eastern Poland. From this experience Furcolo later wrote a novel concerning the killings, Rendezvous at Katyn.

In 1954 Furcolo ran for the U.S. Senate and lost. Kennedy refused to endorse him. In 1956 Furcolo ran in a bitter campaign against republican Lt. Governor Sumner Whittier of which Furcolo won and received endorsement from Senator Kennedy.  He held the office from 1957-1961, during his tenure he accomplished much. His most noted achievement was the establishment of community colleges throughout the state, thereby providing educational and training opportunities to the population at large. In 2008 in commemoration of Furcolo, Massachusetts amended its General Laws were to designate fifteen community colleges as the Governor Foster Furcolo Community Colleges. UMass also named its school of education the John Foster Furcolo School of Education

Furcolo fought for an increase in state worker’s wages, unemployment benefits, income tax, broad based sales tax, and influenced a number of local projects. When his terms as Governor were over he later ran for the Senate again. However, due to inherited corruption under his administration, which he failed to root out, his opponent capitalized on it and won.  

Furcolo decided to retire from politics and returned to private practice. However, political endeavors reemerged and in 1966 he ran for the nomination for Massachusetts attorney general but lost to Francis X. Bellotti. He then went into teaching law, and stayed active in supporting higher education. Furcolo died of a heart attack at the age of 83, on July 5^th, 1995. He is buried in Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts. Furcolo was married three times, his first wife, Kathryn Foran, with whom he had five children, died in 1964, three years later he married Lucy Carra and separated from her in 1972, she later died in 1979. He married Constance Gleason in 1980.

Free Book: In Search of Family: Why Ellis Island Said No to Francesco Amuso & Family-ASIN B0131BC4H4

By Laurence Amuso

To all the Amusos out there (and other interested parties). Many of you probably heard of a relative that officials at Ellis Island forced to return to Italy. That relative was my grandfather’s brother. In short, he had come to America two times, built a successful business, paid income tax, and was a productive legal immigrant. He went home in January of 1924 and months later returned with wife and two children. When they arrived at the Island the officials refused them entry into the United States.  He had two brothers and a sister living here. Nevertheless, I was able to meet the descendants of the family and write a book about the whole incident. Thanks to the National Archives, who still had the records of his hearings at the Island. I have put the book on promotion at Amazon where you can down load it for free.

The Promotion starts April 1 to April 5. After reading please send me some comments. State Bene.

Anthony Stephen Fauci

Fauci is an Italian American immunologist who has been the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the National Institute of Health, (NIH) and recently a member of the Coronavirus Task Force appointed by the President of the United States. Fauci is a physician and has been directly involved in public health for over fifty years. Prior to his recognition of working in this recent pandemic, he has been involved in the on- going research in the cure for HIV/AIDs, which has made significant advances in its treatment. In 2018 he presented a report on those advances stating a classic cure is underway. At present the HIV/AID patient needs to take medicine (called ART) on a daily basis to keep the virus at bay. In a major national newspaper company recognized Fauci as the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases. He has turned down several offers over the years to become the director of the NIH.

Since, joining the NIH, in 1968 as a clinical associate in the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation and National institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, he has held three different position. The last since 1984 as Director of NIAID.  His responsibility in this role is for an extensive research portfolio of the basic study on infectious and immune-mediated illnesses. He has also lead the NIH if the United States efforts to contend with viral diseases like HIV, SARS, the 2009 Swine influenza pandemic, MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), Ebola, and this new Coronavirus, another acute respiratory syndrome, i.e., coronavirus 2.

Fauci has made a number of other scientific observations and contribution to the treatment and cure of many diseases. He developed therapies for formerly fatal diseases such polyarthritis nodosa, granulomatosis with ployangiitis and lymphomatoid granulomatosis.

The Institute for Scientific Information, reported that of those who published articles in scientific journals, Fauci was the 13^th most-cited scientist among the 2.5 to 3 million authors in all disciplines throughout the world.  Fauci is a member of a number of professional scientific organizations and since 1979 has received over eleven awards in recognition of his achievements and contributions to the science of health. In 2008 President Obama bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom to him on June 19, 2008.

Fauci was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 24, 1940. His parent were Stephen A. Fauci and Eugenia A. Fauci.  His grandparents, Antonino Fauci and Calogera Guardino were from Sciacca, Sicily and Raffaella Trematerra was from Naples and her husband Givoanni Abys was from Switzerland. He was a commercial artist.  Fauci’s parents operated a pharmacy. His father was the pharmacist; his sister and mother ran the cash register and Fauci delivered prescriptions. 

Fauci attended the College of the Holy Cross where he achieved a Bachelor of Science Degree and at Cornell University for his Medical Degree. He married Christine Grady in 1985 and has three daughters. Since becoming the director of NAID in 1984 he has served under six presidents, four republicans and two democrats.

CARNEVALE

The Carnevale festival derives from an ancient Latin feast called Lupercalia, a festival held around 15th of February before the coming of Christianity. The feast was in honor of Lupa, the she-wolf who suckled Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of ancient Rome.

The priests, luperci (brothers of the wolf) conducted a ceremony dressed in goatskins. The feast began with the sacrifice of a dog and two goats. After the sacrificial rite, two priests approached an altar where another priest took the knife used to kill the dog and goats, and anointed their foreheads with the bloody knife.

The anointer then took a wool cloth, dipped in milk, and wiped their foreheads and the knife. After cleaning the forehead, the continuing ritual required the two priests to smile and laugh. Following that, the priests cut thongs of skin (called februa) of the animals slain and ran along the city walls waving them. Spectators would position themselves close enough for the flailing februa to strike them. This ritual, many believed, would drive away evil spirits, ensure fertility in young girls and women, prevent sterility and relieve the pains of child-birthing.

It is interesting to note, at this point, that the month of February received its name from februa, and the Italian word carnevale (pronounced car–nay- vah-lay) comes from the Latin carnelevarum, meaning, to remove the flesh. The English word is carnival.

This ritual continued until 494 AD, when Pope Gelasius did away with the februa rite and replaced it with a Christian ceremony of purification and sacrifice (lent). The festivities that occurred prior to lent, spread throughout the Roman Catholic world. Lent is a time of sacrifice and many interpreted the Latin word to remove the flesh, also as meat free.

Carnevale was mainly a Roman feast; however, over time Venice became a city renowned for its celebrations. There a unique cultural phenomenon developed where the well-to-do residents of the city randomly throughout the year wore masks while engaging in questionable behavior.

The Signoria, the city council, frowned upon these behaviors and passed laws restricting the times of the year for the wearing of disguises. They allowed them between the twenty-sixth of December, St. Stephen’s Day, and on up to and including the day before the beginning of lent, Shrove Tuesday. Consequently, that day became a greater day of merriment and indulgence than those leading up to it.

 That Tuesday goes by many names, Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Martedí Grasso, in Italian, and Mardi Gras, in French. Both Italian and French terms mean Fat Tuesday. Fat and meat, two major foods used before lent become taboo during the Lenten period. Shrove is an old English word meaning to obtain absolution. Among many English-speaking countries, it is also known as Pancake Day, the last day to cook pancakes since pancakes are cooked using fat.

Members of the poorer classes also wore masks, allowing them to mix freely with aristocrats. The mask was a great equalizer for revelry. Today many consider Venice a leader in celebrating Carnevale; however, two other cities are renowned for their celebrations, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and New Orleans, Louisiana.

In Venice the main festivities take place in St. Mark’s square. The activities are parades with floats, people marching in costumes, people dancing, orators spouting their ideas, individuals performing acrobatics, people engaging in varied antics, and there is dining, and music. The major theme of the music for the festival is Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

The origins of Mardi Gras in the United States lie in Mobile, Alabama, dating back to 1703, making it the oldest annual Carnival celebration in America. Nicholas Langlois, a Frenchman, initiated it in Mobile, the year after it became the capital of French Louisiana. It was a traditional French Catholic activity. Over the years it evolved across the many different cultural, religious, and governmental aspects of the city to become what it is today. In recognition of the popularity of the event, the Monday and Tuesday of the week of Mardi Gras, are system wide school holidays. Below is a 1900, poster parade float of King Felix and entourage. And Venetian revelers.

Felix is the Latin word for joy. 

FRANCO HARRIS

 

Harris, a notable former American football player, is an Afro-Italian American, his father, Cadillac (Cad) Harris, was an American Negro and his mother, Gina Parenti, an Italian war bride from Lucca, Italy. Harris is one of nine children. Harris was born at Fort Dix, New Jersey on March 7, 1950. He grew up in Burlington County, New Jersey where he graduated from Roncocas Valley Regional High School in Mount Holly Township in 1968. After graduation he attended Penn State University and played for their football team, the Nittany Lions. At the time he weighed 230 pounds and was six foot two in height. On offense, he served as a full back and on defense as a blocker for Lydell Mitchell. Both were later to become celebrated professional football players. As a blocker he gathered almost 1400 yards on the board and fourteen touchdowns. He was the leading scorer of his team.

After graduation, in 1972, the Pittsburg Steelers selected him from the NFL draft. Many felt that they should have drafted Mitchell instead. Nevertheless, The Baltimore Colts selected Mitchell in the same draft.

Any of the doubts of those that opposed his draft were soon changed because Harris’ first year was one of outstanding performance. He began his first season by carrying the ball 188 times, running the ball for ten touchdowns and caught three touchdown passes. Because of this Sporting News and United Press International named him as NFL’s, “Rookie of the Year.” After his first season Pittsburgh’s Italian American community fans became “Franco’s Italian Army. Many wore helmets with his number “32” on them.

Harris played for thirteen more seasons. Twelve of these were with the Pittsburgh Steelers. His last season was preceded by a financial disagreement with the Rooney family who were the owners and managers of the team. He resigned and played one season for the Seattle Seahawks in 1984, he then retired.

During his tenure with the Steelers he helped them win four Super Bowls, in 1975, 1976, 1979, and 1980.  In the Bowl of 1975, Steelers defeated the Minnesota Viking 16-6, he played so well he received the MVP award. He was the first African American as well as first Italian American to receive the award.

Many remember Harris for his catch called, “the Immaculate Reception,” labeled as such by a sports news reporter. In a 1972, playoff game, the Steelers were behind the Oakland Raiders 7-6 with twenty-two seconds left on the clock. Terry Bradshaw threw a pass to Steelers receiver, John Fuqua, but Oakland’s Jack Tatum deflected it as he was tackling Fuqua. While the ball was in the air, Harris caught it just before it was about to hit the ground. He scooped it up and ran sixty yards for a touchdown. The referees discussed whether it was a legitimate catch, and decided it stood. The crowd was ecstatic. Harris’ success gave the Steelers their first ever playoff win.

In 1990, the Pro Foootball Hall of Fame inducted Harris, and in 2011, the New Jersey Hall of Fame recognized him for his service and contributions to the sport.

Harris has a son Franco Dokmanvich Harris Jr. born 1979, birthed by his longtime companion Dana Dokmnovich. In 2009, “Dok” ran for the Mayor of Pittsburg, but lost. He received twenty-five point three percent of a three way election. The incumbent ran away with fifty-five percent.

Harris came from a large family, his siblings are Piero, Luana, Alvara, Daniela, Mario, Marisa, and Giuseppe. His brother Piero (Pete) Harris, who also was a collegiate football player, died from a heart attack on August 15, 2006, at the age of forty-nine.

Currently, Harris owns, along with Lydell Mitchell, a bakery and sausage factory in the Pittsburgh area. He is involved in and provides funding to Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship and serves as part of the advisory board at Penn State’s Center for Food Innovation. His Super Bakery, produces nutrition-oriented foods for school children. In 2006, The Heinz History Center, home of the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum, installed a life-size statue of Harris at the Pittsburgh International Airport’s grand concourse. His jersey number “32” Officially has not been retired; nevertheless, it has not been issued to any other player. For photograph display one can go to Amazon.com or easily surf the web for a multitude of pictures. Enjoy!

Val Camonica

VAL CAMONICA CITY AND VALLEY    

In the eastern province of Lombardia, Italy, one of the largest valleys in the central Alps, is the valley of Val Camonica. It extends from Tonale Pass to Corna Trentapssi in Pisogne, one of the fifteen communes around Lago d’Iseo. Pisgone sits at the northern end where the Oglio River flows through the valley before entering the Iseo. The local residents call the lake, Sebino from the original Latin name Sebinus.

Val Camonica’s name derives from the Latin Vallis Camunnorum, meaning the “Valley of the Camunni,” a people who were living there at the time of Roman conquest. Where these original people came from is unknown; nevertheless, they left a significant legacy. Most impressive is the rock art. There are some 300,000 petroglyphs, making it the largest center of rock art in Europe. The chronology of these rock carvings pass through four ages, beginning with: the Palaeolithic-post Palaeolithic carved figures of game, elk and deer. Next is the Neolithic or onset of the copper age, these appear to be maps.  The Copper Age (2800 to 2200 BC), consists of carved figures of people and cattle plowing fields, of pigs, game, trees, and weapons. The Bronze Age art figures (2200-800 BC) consists of weapons, daggers and axes, and people praying. The Iron Age, (800-16 BC), there was an upsurge in the rock art, constituting, approximately 80% of all extant figures. These are scenes of duels, horse riding warriors, hunters, field plowing, dogs, birds, houses, Etruscan inscriptions, swords, snakes, and spears. There is a large concentration of these at the Naquane National Park of Engraved Rock located in the valley.

Another legacy left by residents of Val Cammonica, from the Renaissance Period, were two witch trials. These are included in the list of the biggest ones occurring in Italy. These occurred in the years from 1505 to 1510 and again from 1518 to1521. These trials brought about the death of sixty persons in each trial. The major source of information about them is from a Venetian Marin Sanudo, who was the chronicler to the Council of Ten, the governing body of the Republic of Venice during the trials. However, the Bishop of Brescia, Giacinto Gaggia, had the court’s recorded documentary evidence of the trials destroyed to prevent use by anticlerical opposition.

Christianity spread into the area around the 5^th century. Despite a three hundred year establishment the area was still suspect as being pagan into the 8^th century. Apparently, that suspicion continued into the next millennia causing the trials.

Prior to the occurrences in Val Camonica, the inquisition burned witches in South Tirol and in Valtellina. An inquisitor, Antonio da Brescia complained about the heresy and witch craft happening in Val Camonica. Subsequently, on June 23, 1505, the inquisition burned seven women and one man in the commune of Cemmo. In 1510 sixty men and women confessed to having injured people, animals, and land with their spells and that Satan helped them to cause fires. The literature indicates the trials put sixty-four persons to death and imposed other forms of punishment upon those not condemned to the pillory.  

The second trial occurred from 1518-1521. During the first few months of 1518, the judicial process led by Bishop Peter Durante, who presided at the court of inquisition, stationed investigators at the various parishes of the valley. The investigators reported that some women, in the towns confessed to having spread a “powder” from Satan in the air, causing sicknesses and the death of some two-hundred people. The inquisitors accused some of spreading the plague by magic and some of causing thunder and lightning. The court burned sixty men and women at the stake. One-hundred and seventy-one years later, the witch trials began in Salem Massachusetts, the hearings and prosecutions of individuals accused of witchcraft occurred from February 1692-May 1693. Of the two-hundred people accused of witchcraft, nineteen (14 women and 5 men) were found guilty and hanged. See attached photographs. If you would like to leave a comment simply click on comment and a form will appear for you to do so.

 

 ROY CAMPANELLA

Campanella, known, in his prime as Campy, was an Italian–African American baseball player of fame. His father, John, was of Sicilian descent and his mother, Ida, of Negro heritage. He was born on November 19, 1921 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and passed away on June 26, 1993 at the age of 71 in Woodland Hills, California.  Campanella had two older sisters, Gladys, and Doris and an older brother Lawrence. When he was born the family lived in Germantown section of the city and when he was seven years old they moved to an area of the city known as Nicetown. This community was a mix of races thus he attended schools with members reflecting the same. Due to his light-complexion many fellow students called him “half-breed.” Some writers conjecture that this experience toughened him to life leading him to fight as a Golden Glove Boxer.

Campanella’s teenage years occurred during the great depression. His father made a living by selling vegetable and fish from a truck. He later opened and operated a grocery store. Campanella did his share for the family by working with his father, and shining shoes, selling newspapers. He, at some point, had a milk route.

In high school he played foot, basket, and baseball, and quite often the team mates chose him as captain in whatever team sport he engaged. However, his passion was for baseball.

As a high school student, word of his baseball abilities spread and the Phillies allegedly offered him a chance to work out with them, but upon learning he was black, they rescinded the invite. Nevertheless, at the age of 16 he dropped out of high school and in that year, 1937, he began his professional baseball career with the semipro team, the Bacharach Washington Elite Giants of the Negro League.  His mother was not so keen on the idea of him working with adult men, but when she learned he would make more money in one weekend than her husband made in a week she consented. His career developed quickly; by 1939, as a 17 year old, he took over the regular catching chores and helped lead the giants to playoff victories over the Newark Eagles and Homestead Grays. The team later moved to Baltimore and Campanella became a star player. By 1941 he won the MVP honors as the star of the 1941 Negro League East-West All-Star Game. He was a versatile talented ballplayer, but catching was his primary role. Many considered him as the greatest catcher in the history of baseball.

In 1942 and 1943, Campanella played in the Mexican League with the Monterrey Sultans. Following that he went on a South American tour. By 1946, Campanella moved into the Brooklyn Dodger’s minor league system, which was preparing to break the MLB color barrier with the positioning of Jackie Robinson, whom they assigned to the Montreal Royals, an affiliate in the Class AAA International League. Meanwhile, the team sought to assign Campanella to a Class B League. But, the general manager of the Danville Dodgers of the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League believed the organization was not ready for racial integration. Thus they sent Campanella   to the Nashua Dodgers Class B New England League. The first American League to present a professional baseball integrated line up.

Soon after his acceptance, during a game the manager Walter Alston was ejected and Campanella took over and became the first African American to manage Caucasian players of organized professional baseball. Jackie Robinson’s first year in the major league was in 1947, and the following year Campanella began his MLB career with the Brooklyn Dodgers.  He played with them until 1957. During his tenure he played in the All-Star-Game every year from 1949 on. He hit home runs in five straight games in 1950. He received the MVP award in the National League three times: in 1951, 1953, and 1955. Campanella’s career ended after suffering injuries from a vehicle accident in which it paralyzed him from the neck down. However, with therapy he was eventually able to regain use of his arms and hands. He remained involved in baseball as a scouting supervisor and coach. In 1969, the Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Campanella, the second African American after Jackie Robinson, so honored. Campanella died on June 26, 1993 at the age of 71 in Woodland Hills, California. His MLB batting average was: 276, home runs 242, and runs batted in 856. Below are photographs of him, one in his younger playing days and one from 1961. For more detailed information see Society For American Baseball Research https://sabr.olrg/bioproj/plerson/a52ccbb5, and Wikipedia.

 

Frank Charles Carlucci III GCIH

GCIH – The Grand Cross Order of Prince Henry. (Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique)

Carlucci was a politician and diplomat who was the United States Secretary of Defense from 1987 until 1989. He served under President Ronald Reagan. Carlucci was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on October 18, 1930 and was the son of Roxanne Bacon Carlucci and Frank Charles Carlucci. His father was of Swiss-Italian descent. Carlucci attended the Wyoming Seminary, a Methodist college preparatory school located in the Wyoming Valley of Northeastern Pennsylvania. He graduated in 1948 and in 1952 attended Princeton University where he achieved an AB (Artium Baccalaureatus). Here he roomed with Donald Rumsfeld. Note of interest an AB and a BA Baccalureate of Arts. Baccalaureate evolved into Bachelor, of which we have of the Arts or of the Sciences. The English word Bachelor originally referred to the person.

In 1954 -55 he went to Harvard Business School for an MBA (Master of Business Administration).  Prior to that he served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy from 1952-1954.  He followed that joining the Foreign Service, working for the State Department. In 1961, Carlucci was the second secretary of the United States Embassy in the Congo and a covert CIA agent. While there political rivals executed Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the independent Congo. Later released documents demonstrated that President D. Eisenhower, ordered his execution; however, others accomplished the deed instead.  Nevertheless, a fictionalized film about the incident, depicted Carlucci as involved in the assassination. Carlucci adamantly denied the claims of his involvement and succeeded through court processes to have his name removed before the public release of the film.

Governmental positions held by Carlucci over the years, beyond his initial military service, his primary embassy position, and CIA operative positions were: 4^th Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity 1971-1972, United States Ambassador to Portugal 1975-1978, 13^th Deputy Director of the Central, Intelligence Agency 1978-1981, 18^th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense 1981-1982, 15^th United States National Security Advisor 1986-1987 and 16^th United States Secretary of Defense 1987-1989.

During his term as Ambassador to Portugal, the people remembered him as among the winners of the November 25th Coup d’Etat. For his role, in maintaining good relations and playing a prominent role after the Carnation Revolution officials changed the name of the American International School of Lisbon, to “The Carlucci American International School of Lisbon” in his honor. It is the oldest American school in the Iberian Peninsula.

Carlucci was married twice, his first wife was Jean Anthony 1954-1974, and his second was Marcia Myers 1976.  He had three children, two with his first wife and one with his second. His political affiliation was republican. He died on June 3, 2018 at the age of 87.

LA CATTOLICA DI STILO

La Cattolica is off the beaten path of touristy places to visit in Italy. It is not a town but a church and sits in the mountains of Calabria overlooking the Adriatic Sea. It is in the commune of the city of Stilo which is the town of origin for the ancestors of former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.

The surprise one will receive when they visit La Cattolica is its size. Pictures on the internet cause it to seem as if it is a large building, of which it is not. The Byzantines built the church in the 9^th century (800 AD), when Calabria was part of that Empire.

The word Cattolica derives from the Greek word katholiki which referred to churches built with baptisteries. La Cattolica is one of the most important examples of Byzantine architecture; it follows the inscribed cross plan as you can see by the structures on the roof. There are five-barrel like short round towers with windows and with the roofing tiles on the towers laid in a circular pattern. Inside the church are four large columns holding up the ceiling, which also divides the interior into nine similar spaces, and three apses. The construction is of brick and the interior walls were, at one time, full of frescoes; a few of them remain. The apse looking out on the valley had a bell installed in 1577 in accordance with the change of rites from the Greek to the Latin.

In the interior are some Arabic inscriptions, indicating the Arabs might have used it as a Moslem religious shrine. The Saracens occupied the region starting in 847 AD for twenty five years.

The chapel inside may be able to hold seventy people comfortably. The building is still in use as a church for special occasions such as marriages and baptisms. It is a national monument and well visited by Italian tourists.

Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi

Pelosi was born on March 26, 1940. Her father, Thomas J. D’Alesandro, became a House Representative the year before she was born. He remained in office until 1947, after which he became the 39^th Mayor of Baltimore. The first Italian American to hold that post. His parents immigrated to the United States. Her mother Annunciata M. Lombardi immigrated from Compobasso, Campania, Italy. Pelosi’s father claimed mainly northern Italian roots, and of course his wife was a southern Italian. Pelosi was one of six children—the last and only girl. Since her father was the mayor during her late childhood and teenage years many affectionately called her—the Mayor’s Daughter.

Pelosi came from a religious Roman Catholic family. She attended catholic high school and followed that with Trinity Woman’s College in Washington, D.C., from which she graduated in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. Her initial experience at college was one of cultural shock. Since she lived, played, and attended school in Little Italy going to college away from the family and community took an adjustment. After college she worked as a congressional intern for a for a Maryland senator. Since her father was involved in politics the children were active in his campaign activities. Pelosi, when she was twelve years old attended the 1952 Democratic National Convention.   Consequently, politics were a natural to her.

After graduation, she married Paul Pelosi a Georgetown, graduate from San Francisco on September 7, 1963. After marriage they settle in New York, where he worked as a banker. By 1969, and after having five children they moved to San Francisco. There Nancy was active in politics as a supporter. She had no expressed intentions on running for any offices and eventually became the Chair of the California Democratic Party from 1981 until 1983. An incumbent, Phillip Burton, in the U. S. House of Representatives died (1983) and his wife, Sala Galante Burton, ran for his seat and won, however, after winning the second term she died two months after the election. Before her death, she recommended that Pelosi compete in the upcoming special election. She did and won not only won the special election, but the following 1988 regular election and continued to do so till this day. She has consistently garnered up to 80% of the votes. 

In October of 2001 the House elected her as minority whip. Her job was to ensure that democratic members would vote with specific pieces of legislation that the party supported and Republicans who may swing their way. She became the first woman to hold this post.  The following year she won another post as Minority Speaker of the House. The first woman to hold that post too. On January 3, 2019 on the opening day of the 116^th United States Congress, Pelosi received 220 votes to become, a first woman once again to hold the post of Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Dean of the House, Don Young swore her in along with the rest that took the oath of office.  The Speaker is second in the United States presidential line of succession, after the Vice President and ahead of the President pro tempore of the Senate.

 Pelosi, has been a very active individual seeking many forms of legislation. Many have recognized her for her endeavors and accomplishments. Some honors she received are: The Knight Grand Cross of the Order Merit of the Italian Republic, The Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun from Japan and in 2006, in Barbara Walters’ list of Most Fascinating Person of the Year, Pelosi was one. In the list of Forbes world’s most powerful women of 2014 she was ranked 26^th.

 RITA LEVI-MONTALCINI

 

Rita was born on the twenty-second of April, 1909, in Turin, Italy. She was one of four children, three girls and a boy, she being a twin of one of the girls. Her mother was Adele Montalcini. The family was wealthy and of Sephardic Jewish faith. The family was Victorian in their values, and her father Adamo Levi, an electrical engineer, believed women should not attend higher education as it would interfere in their role as future mothers. The family, as a whole engaged in intellectual pursuits; thus, it didn’t take much effort for the daughters to change his mind.

She studied medicine at the University of Turin and in 1936, she graduated from medical school with a summa cum laude degree in medicine and surgery.  After which she enrolled in a three year specialization program in neurology and psychiatry. She did research on the effects peripheral tissues have on nerve cell growth. But, because of her Jewish ancestry, Mussolini’s “Manifesto per la Defesa della Razza,” (Manifest for the defense of the Race), caused her to lose her job. When things became worse in Turin, the family escaped to the country side, and had to follow that with going to Florence where the family remained in hiding during the German occupation of Italy (1943-45). By 1944, the Americans cleared Florence of the Nazis and she was able to surface and became actively involved in nursing and caring for refugees suffering with infectious diseases. When the war ended in 1945, she was able to resume her research at Turin.

In 1947, she accepted an invitation to a post at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri by zoologist Viktor Hamburger. Here she was to repeat the research performed before the war in the study of the growth of nerve tissue in chick embryos.

In 1948, they discovered that a variety of mouse tumors spurred nerve growth when implanted into chick embryos. The two traced the effect to a substance in the tumor that they named nerve-growth factor NGF. Levi-Montalcini further showed that the tumor caused similar cell growth in a nerve-tissue cultures kept alive in the laboratory. Stanley Cohen, another interested scientist, joined her at Washington University, and he was able to isolate the nerve-growth factor from the tumor.

Levi-Montalcini planned to remain only twelve months, but the excellent results of their work impressed her to continue. In 1956, the University offered her the position as an associate professor and two years later that of full professorship. In 1962, she developed a research unit in Rome. She remained active both here and abroad. She also held the position of Director of the Institute of Cell Biology of the Italian National Council of Research in Rome.

NGF was the first of many cell-growth factors found in the bodies of animals. In 1986, Dr. Levi-Montalcini received due recognition when she, along with her colleague, Dr. Stanley Cohen, earned the Nobel Prize in medicine for the discoveries of NGF and of EGF, epidermal growth factor, which is used in the treatment of severe burns.

She published an autobiographical work, In Praise of Imperfection, in 1988. At the following internet address she provides a short interesting autobiographical sketch telling of her parents, sisters, and brother and war experiences. Levi-Montalcini held dual citizenship of Italy and of the United States. She passed away on the thirtieth of December 2012, at the age of 102.

http://www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1986/levi-montalcini-autobio.html

 

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/