I-Italyny” on NYC Life Matthew White, Author and Interior Designer, Think I Must Belong in Italy

free! All Things Italian in the U.S. Year 5 — Issue 1 — Winter 2017-2018 — $5.00

5th Birthday Special Issue. The Best of i-Itay In this Issue: F. Murray Abraham Steve Acunto Stefano Albertini Samuel www.i-Italy.org A. Alito Carmen C. Bambach Piero Bassetti Roberto Bolle Dino Borri Roberto Caporuscio Enzo Capua Amanda Cole Pasquale Cozzolino Matilda R. Cuomo Erri De Luca Claudio Del Vecchio Stefano Dominella Dominique Fernandez Fred Gardaphe Giulia Iani Lorenzo Jovanotti Jerry Follow us on the web and on social networks Krase Jhumpa Lahiri Maria Laurino Flavio Manzoni Dacia Maraini Renato If you are in NYC watch us every Sunday at 1:00 pm Miracco Goffredo Palmerini Lucia Pasqualini Gaetano Pesce Carlo Petrini Renzo Piano on NYC Life (Channel 25 - HD 525) Luciano Pignataro Alessandro Piol Fred Plotkin Stanislao Pugliese Rosario Procino Amy Riolo Charles Scicolone Michele Scicolone Francine Segan Gino Sorbillo Anthony J. Tamburri Massimo Vignelli 5

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free! All Things Italian in the U.S. Year 5 — Issue 1 — Winter 2017-2018 — $5.00 05 Editorial 5th Birthday Special Issue. The Best of i-Itay Magazine In this Issue: f. Murray Abraham Steve Acunto Stefano Albertini Samuel A. www.i-Italy.org Alito Carmen C. Bambach Roberto Bolle Dino Borri Roberto Caporuscio Giorgia Caporuscio Enzo Capua Amanda Cole Pasquale Cozzolino Matilda r. Cuomo Erri De Luca Claudio Del Vecchio Stefano Dominella Dominique fernandez Fred Gardaphe Giulia Iani Lorenzo Jovanotti Jerry Follow us on the web and on social networks Krase Jhumpa Lahiri Maria Laurino Flavio Manzoni Dacia Maraini Renato If you are in NYC watch us every Sunday at 1:00 pm Miracco Goffredo Palmerini Lucia Pasqualini Gaetano Pesce Carlo Petrini renzo Piano on NYC Life (Channel 25 - HD 525) Luciano Pignataro Alessandro Piol Fred Plotkin Stanislao Pugliese Rosario Procino Amy riolo Charles Scicolone Michele Scicolone Francine Segan Gino Sorbillo Anthony J. Tamburri Massimo Vignelli

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5 08 Michelangelo the Divine

ww Focus ww Style ww Bookshelf ww Cuisine ww Travel ww Italy in the City Five Years! Our Best Italian Designers in Jhumpa’s Choice. The Language of Made Sicilian Baroque. Where To Go and Interviewsm=, our America. The History Remembreing Eco. in Italy. Slowing It Down. Naples, the Secret What To Do Italian Renato Miracco interviews Special Projects. of Italian Fashion. Dacia’s Struggle. Pizzamania in the States. City. Art of Rome. from Coast to Coast. Carmen C. Bambach i-Italy 12 Meet Roberto Bolle and his www.i-italy.org Friend, the Boxer A magazine about by Giulia Madron everything Italian in the US i-ItalyTV made its first scoop in 2013 with this exclusive interview at the MET. year 5 issue 1-2 Winter 2017-2018 — 14 Jovanotti Hits New York City Editor in Chief by Otylia Coppola Letizia Airos The cover story of our launching issue, Winter 2012-13 [email protected] Project Manager Ottorino Cappelli 16 “Italy is my Second Home” [email protected] Francine Segan interviews F. Murray Abrahams Staff & Contributors Tommaso Cartia, Natasha Lardera, From our TV series “Americans In Love with Italy” — editorial coordination Michele Scicolone and Charles Scicolone — food & wine editors 18 Welcome Back to the Future Camilla Sentinelli — fashion editor by Steven Acunto Rosanna Di Michele — chef Judith Harris, Maria Rita Latto, 20 “Forget Silicon Valley, Come to Virginia di Falco — Italy correspondents Stefano Albertini, Dino Borri, Enzo New York!” Capua, Fred Gardaphe, Jerry Krase, Letizia Airos interviews Anna Lawton, Gennaro Matino, Lucia Alessandro Piol Pasqualini, Fred Plotkin, Stanislao Pugliese, Amy Riolo, Francine Segan — columnists & contributors 22 The Power of Modesty Matteo Banfo, Ennio Serafini, by Lucia Pasqualini Mattia Minasi — TV & multimedia team Iwona Adamczyk — photographer Alexandra Fanelli, Nicole 24 The Italic Way Campisano, Sara Krevoi — interns with Fred Plotkin and Piero Bassetti Darrell Fusaro — cartoonist Will Schutt — translations 25 Blockchain for Energy Robert Oppedisano — editorial supervision Alberto Sepe — web & mobile by Luca Longo Lilith Mazzocchi — layout Andrée Brick — design 26 The Italian Side of the Story — Ottorino Cappelli interviews U.S. Office Justice Samuel A. Alito 140 Cabrini Blvd, Suite 108 From our TV series “Italian Leadership in America” New York, NY, 10033 Tel. +1 (917) 521-2035 [email protected] 29 A Tale of Two Women Conversation between Matilda R. Italy Office Cuomo and Amanda Cole Via Montebello 37 From our TV series “Grandparents and Roma, 00185 Grandchildren in Italian America” Tel. + 39 (366) 747-8348

www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 3 style cuisine

32 Massimo Vignelli, Design Is One 52 Made in Italy: The Good, the by Letizia Airos Erotic, and the Bad Our first interview with the late icon of Italian design by Giulia Iani 35 The Italian who is Reshaping 55 Changing the Food Industry New York Dino Borri interviews Carlo Petrini Stefano Albertini interviews Renzo Piano 57 The Italian Wine Revolution An exclusive conversation for i-ItalyTV on the day of by Rosemary D’Avernia the inauguration of the new Whitney Museum 58 The Wines from Southern Italy 37 Synergic Design Thinking by Charles Scicolone Letizia Airos interviews 59 Making Pizza as a Way of Life Flavio Manzoni Letizia Airos interviews 39 Gaetano Pesce. Time, Diversity, Gino Sorbillo and Provocation 61 Father & Daughter Teaching by ALS and MT Pizza 41 When Rome was Italy’s Film and by Tommaso Cartia Fashion Capital 62 Eating Pizza, Losing Weight, by Stefano Dominella Becoming a Celebrity A doyen of the fashion world leads us through by Tommaso Cartia a multipart trip to the heart of Made in Italy

travel bookshelf

64 Palermo’s Baroque Corners 44 A Love Story with Italian by Dominique Fernandez Stefano Albertini interviews Jhumpa Lahiri 67 Wines to Enjoy in Sicily by Charles Scicolone 46 “Da Donna a Donna” Letizia Airos interviews 68 Modica, a Unique City Dacia Maraini by Goffredo Palmerini 47 Reflections on An Italian Icon by Anthony Julian Tamburri 70 Naples. Heaven and Earth Letizia Airos interviews Erri De Luca 49 Our History Beyond Stereotypes 72 To Each their Own Rome by Dominique Fernandez Fred Gardaphe interviews Maria Laurino w 51 ‘Summertime, and the The Italy I Love Livin’ is Easy...’ 74 The Unique Gift of Sociability by Enzo Capua by Fred Plotkin

4 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org ww editorial by Letizia airos In English Our Message in the Bottle. It Takes a Network!

he magazine you’re holding in your hands is a special Is a consumer public missing? I don’t think so. In the US edition that celebrates our first five years, with a selec- there is a “market niche” of at least 50 million people who love tion of the best of our articles, interviews, and reporting. Italy for emotional, family, professional, or cultural reasons—or The pieces you see here, are almost all print versions of just for pleasure. Almost 20 million of them have Italian roots; our television stories shown on our “i-Italy TV” program, they may no longer speak the language, but they have Italy in now also five years old, which airs every Sunday on NYC their hearts. Then there are the millions of food and wine lovers Life. And our web portal, i-Italy.org, turns 10 in May. who fill Italian restaurants and pizzerias coast to coast; those who adore Italian fashion and design; and those who appreciate An Italy for all Italian art, cinema, literature and music. The audience is there. In my first editorial I wrote that this was “a magazine It can be done! with a heart.” And this is indeed the spirit with which we are still And the resources essential for reaching this audience are stubbornly around today. But why didn’t we just stay online? also there. On the Italian-American side, there are influential TStill, because of the heart, I guess. associations and foundations with thousands of members in- We were born online: the Internet is our home. But because cluding entrepreneurs, managers, professionals, artists, and ce- keeping physical contact with the people and the world around lebrities. On the Italian side there are special institutions for the us remains fundamental.,our challenge has been integrating dif- promotion of culture, commerce, and tourism, and they’re often ferent media, online and offline. Our Italy is everywhere, and very active. As for the business world, there are thousands of speaks to everyone. You can find it on the web and on social Italian and Italian-American companies, small and large, many networks, every day. wherever you are, in your in-box every Fri- of them very successful. And many others are poised to connect day. If you live in the New York City area, you can sit on your to this market. The resources are there. And they can be tapped. sofa and watch us on TV, every Sunday at 1pm. And look for us, on glossy paper, every two months for more in-depth, relaxed Stronger Together? reading—you can find us in New York , Boston, Washington, DC, So why so little and so poorly is done in this field? The usual Los Angeles, San Francisco, and soon in Miami and Chicago. answer is that Italians share no common vision of how things But today we face the typical birthday question: What will get done. They do not work as a team, and individualism is an The first issue of we do when we grow up? We don’t have the answer yet, but we old, persistent part of the Italian character, which doesn’t know i-Italy featured do know that the biggest challenge so far lies in front of us. And how to collaborate. Italian individualism is a great wellspring for Jovanotti. that we cannot meet it by ourselves alone. The time has come creativity, but also a big barrier to competitiveness and success in Back then, the to rally all those who truly believe in the importance of com- today’s global world! This kind of fragmentation affects both the magazine was municating Italicity in this country with a message that goes world of Italian-American associations and Italian companies available only in beyond the existence and experience of i-Italy. abroad. And it affects the media, too. New York City All of us in the profession of communication—Italians, The real challenge: an “Italic Network” Italian-Americans, and American “italophiles” with a passion The real challenge we face is to reshape an editorial land- for journalism and the mission of “Italian storytelling”—are scape that, despite ours and others’ efforts, has yet to yield its scattered in dozens of little corners: websites, blogs, Facebook full potential. Why, we wonder, having in our hands a powerful pages and, locally, a few newspapers and a handful of television tool like “Brand Italy,” so little is done, and so poorly, even today, programs. Some are media of excellent quality with a significant even in America? following. But we haven’t even tried to unite and collaborate to Why isn’t there yet a major “Italic” television network in Amer- a larger, national-level information and communication net- ica? An “Italian_Food + Travel + Lifestyle_Channel” to tell us ev- work capable of making connections—to the public, and to the eryday in English (please!) about the thousands of stories and marketplace. And to those looking to invest but without ways people, places and recipes, cultural events and quality products to effectively reach the vast “Italic niche” in the US. that are in fact the Italian experience in this country? And why Why not try? Our experience shows there is room to grow, don’t we have a national magazine that does the same, in synergy but we must do it together if we want to make a difference. We with other media? And finally a digital platform (or a “federation are ready to go beyond i-Italy with those who want to join us of digital platforms”) to connect all of this to social networks? in building a culturally and economically sustainable project. This is our model. We conceived it, and we started it. But real- If we do that, in five years we’ll be discovering America (one izing its rich potential nationwide takes many more resources. more time). Where are these resources to be found? Happy Birthday! ww www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 5 They said about us Hanno detto di noi...

Follow Us on Facebook www.facebook.com/iitaly 6 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org ww editorialE di Letizia airos In Italiano Il nostro messaggio nella bottiglia. Facciamo rete!

ra la mani avete un’edizione speciale per festeggiare i Manca il pubblico? Non credo proprio. Negli USA c’è una primi cinque anni di i-Italy Magazine, con una selezi- “nicchia di mercato” di almeno 50 milioni di persone che per one dei nostri migliori servizi, le interviste, i reportage motivi affettivi, genetici, professionali, culturali o semplicemente pubblicati. Inoltre, quasi tutti sono il racconto cartaceo di gusto, amano l’Italia. Quasi 20 milioni di loro hanno un’origine di servizi televisivi. Compie infatti 5 anni anche il nostro italiana; non parlano più la lingua, ma hanno l’Italia nel cuore. programma “i-ItalyTV” in onda ogni domenica alle 13 Poi ci sono i milioni di americani che riempiono i ristoranti e le su NYC Life. Il portale web i-Italy.org, invece, ne farà 10 pizzerie italiane; quelli che adorano il gourmet, la moda e il design tra qualche mese, essendo stato varato nel maggio 2008! italiani; e poi gli amanti dell’arte e del cinema, della letteratura e della musica. Il pubblico c’è, si può fare. Un’Italia per tutti Mancano le risorse? Mi sembra difficile. Sul lato italo-amer- Nel mio primo editoriale scrissi che questo era “un magazine con icano, ci sono influenti associazioni e fondazioni con migliaia di il cuore”. Ed è questo infatti lo spirito con cui siamo ancora oggi aderenti tra cui imprenditori, managers, professionisti, artisti e Ttestardamente in giro. Ma perchè non ce ne siamo rimasti solo celebrities. Sul lato italiano ci sono apposite istituzioni di pro- online? Sempre il cuore... mozione culturale e commerciale, spesso attivissime. Quanto al Su Internet ci siamo nati, è casa nostra. Ma il contatto fisico mondo economico, ci sono migliaia di aziende italiane e italo- con il territorio e con la gente rimane fondamentale, e integrare americane, piccole e grandi, molte delle quali di alto prestigio. E media diversi è stata la nostra sfida: un’Italia per tutti, dapper- tante altre sono pronte a sbarcare su questo mercato. Le risorse tutto. Online e sui social ogni giorno ovunque sei; nella tua in- ci sono, si può fare. box il venerdì; nella TV davanti al tuo divano, la domenica. E in carta ogni due mesi per una lettura più approfondita, rilassata; Stronger Together? e non più solo a New York, ma anche a Boston, Washington, Los E allora perchè si fa ancora tanto poco e tanto male sul piano Angeles, San Francisco, e presto a Miami e Chicago. della comunicazione? La risposta più diffusa è che manca una Ma oggi, giunti dove siamo, c’è la domanda che si fa nel gior- visione comune. Gli italiani non fanno squadra quasi mai. La no del compleanno: cosa faremo da grandi? La risposta non frammentazione è una costante del carattere italiano, che non l’abbiamo, ma sappiamo che la vera sfida ci sta difronte. E che sa (e spesso non vuole) collaborare. L’individualismo italiano— non possiamo vincerla fino in fondo da soli. E’ venuto il momen- grande ricchezza di creatività, ma grande limite all’affermazione Il primo numero di to di lanciare un messaggio a chi crede davvero nell’importanza competitiva nel mondo globale di oggi! i-Italy dedicava la di comunicare l’italianità fuori dall’Italia. Un messaggio che va Questo è certamente vero e si applica a tutti, dal mondo copertina a Jovanotti. al di là dell’esistenza e dell’esperienza di i-Italy. dell’associazionismo italo-americano a quello delle imprese ital- Al tempo il magazine iane all’estero. Ma mentre lancio questo messaggio nella bottiglia era disponibile solo a La vera sfida: un “Network Italico” che invita a fare squadra, voglio anche fare un mea culpa come New York La vera sfida che abbiamo davanti è quella della comunica- operatore della comunicazione. zione professionale dell’Italia negli USA. Dare una scossa ad un Noi professionisti della comunicazione, italiani, italo-amer- panorama editoriale che, nonostante gli sforzi nostri e di altri, icani, e americani “italofili”, con la passione per il giornalismo rimane deludente. Perchè, ci chiediamo, avendo in mano un e la missione del “raccontare italiano” ci siamo sparpagliati in gioiello come il “Brand Italia” si fa così poco e così male, ancora decine di piccole esperienze: siti web, blog, pagine facebook e, oggi, perfino in America? localmente, qualche giornale in carta e qualche programma Perchè non c’è ancora un vero grande network televisivo “ital- televisivo. Alcune di queste esperienza sono di ottima qualità ico” in America? Un “Italian_Food+Travel+Lifestyle_Channel” e hanno un seguito non indifferente. Ma non abbiamo saputo che racconti ogni giorno—ma in inglese, per carità!—le migliaia unirci in un network, creare una rete capace di proporsi innanzi- di storie e di persone, di luoghi e di ricette, di eventi culturali e tutto al pubblico, e poi al mercato: a chi ha risorse da investire, di prodotti di qualità che fanno l’esperienza italiana in questo ma non ha un mezzo di comunicazione adeguato a raggiungere paese? E perchè non c’è un magazine a distribuzione nazionale efficacemente la vastissima “nicchia Italica” negli USA. che faccia lo stesso, magari in sinergia con il video? E poi una Vogliamo provarci insieme? La nostra esperienza dimostra piattaforma digitale (o una “federazione di piattaforme digitali”) che è possibile crescere, ma dobbiamo farlo insieme se vogliamo che rimandi tutto questo online, sui social? fare la differenza. Noi siamo pronti ad andare oltre i-Italy con chi E’ vero, questo è il modello i-Itay. Ma per realizzarlo davvero vorrà unirsi a noi in un progetto comune culturalmente valido su scala nazionale negli USA, ci vuole qualcosa di molto più ed economicamente sostenibile. grande. Perchè non c’è? Buon compleanno!. ww www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 7 focus focus

ww ITALIAN ART IN THE USA (WINTER 2017) Michelangelo the Divine. A Monument Comes Alive

The Michelangelo exhibition at the by Renato Miracco

MET was the cultural event of the When we talk about Italy, whether as a child always made people talking a lot about himself. season. The New York Review of wwin an elementary school or a as a tourist, Painter, sculptor, architect, and poet, Michel- there are always these three words: Michelangelo, angelo, one of the most famous artists of the Ital- Books defined it “the finest show on Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museums. Even those ian Renaissance, was born in Tuscany on March the artist any of us will ever see”. To of a certain age like me remember with particu- 6, 1475, in Caprese, a little village close to Arezzo. lar anguish, which later on became absolute joy, Michelangelo’s father, Lodovico, was serving as a explore in depth the idea behind the the modern restoration that began in 1979 of the magistrate there when he recorded the birth of his exhibit, art critic and curator Renato lunettes of the Sistine Chapel ceiling and that con- second of five sons to his wife, Francesca Neri. As tinued until the restoration of the entire work. On critic Holland Cotter correctly noted in his article Miracco, Cultural Attaché of the December 11, 1989, the process was documented by in the New York Times, the exhibit “Michelangelo Italian Embassy in Washington, DC, the Japanese photographer Takashi Okamura as Divine Draftsman and Designer” at the Metropoli- it brought back the ancient splendor and colors to tan Museum of Art is a monument to a monument. talks to Carmen C. Bambach, curator a work that had lost its original power. As Cotter said, ‘’It is a one-stop event with a nonex- of the MET’s Department of Drawing Do you remember all the controversies at the tendable three-month run, which is the maximum time? And the people who identified Michelangelo exposure to light, even at dusk-level, that the draw- and Prints. with a faded painting rather than a vivid incarna- ings can safely stand‘’. tion? We can definitely say that Michelangelo has To explore more fully the idea of the exhibition,

8 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Clockwise: The reproduction of the Sistine Chapel’ceiling on the ceiling of the Met gallery; Michelangelo, “The Torment of Saint Anthony,” Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth Courtesy of the Met Carmen C Bambach; Renato Miracco.

I asked questions to Carmen C. Bambach, a good friend of mine, curator of the exhibition, as well as curator at the Museum’s Department of Drawing and Prints. I wanted to know more about the work, the commitment and the torment behind this and every other major exhibition.

Is the exhibition about Michelangelo a sign of devotion to an artist you’ve always loved? Is it your life’s commitment?

“Michelangelo Divine Draftsman and De- signer” is the result of a life-long commitment to study this great artist and is in many ways a professional dream come true. I was born and raised in Chile until I was a young teenager, when my family emigrated to the United States, where my inclination during my early life was to become an artist. At that young age, I was very focused on ww A Life with Reinassance Art drawing copies after photographs of Michelan- gelo’s frescoes and sculptures to train my eye and Carmen C. Bambach, PhD, Curator of Italian and hand. Michelangelo was my love throughout my Spanish drawings and fellow of the American Acad- college years and graduate studies in art history at emy of Arts and Sciences, is a specialist in Italian Yale University, but the concentrated efforts, re- Renaissance art. She is the author of Drawing and search, and serious planning for the exhibition at Painting in the Italian Renaissance Workshop: Theo- the Met have occurred during the last eight years. ry and Practice, 1300–1600 (Cambridge University Our focus in the show is primarily on the origi- Press, 1999) and Una eredità difficile: i disegni ed i nality of the artist. At a time when much of our manoscritti di Leonardo tra mito e documento (Flor- visual experience -- as students, scholars, or the ence, 2009), Ms Bambach has written more than 70 general public -- is inundated by digital images, it scholarly articles and 10 exhibition catalogues, in- is a rare privilege to see so many original works by cluding among othes, Michelangelo: Divine Drafts- Michelangelo gathered together in an event de- man and Designer (2017). www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 9 Michelangelo, “Three Labours of Hercules,” HM Queen Elizabeth II, Windsor (UK). Opposite page: “Unfinished cartoon for a Madonna and Child,” Casa Buonarroti, Florence Courtesy of The Met focus signed for close looking, contemplation, and even reverie. The Met’s exhibition explores the concept of Michelangelo the Divin’ disegnatore, the divine draftsman and designer, with a selection of more than 200 extremely rare works, selected from almost 50 museums and private collections in Eu- rope and the United States.

What did you find out about Michelangelo that you did not know before? Do you see him in a different way now?

In preparing the Met’s exhibition and making the selection of the over 200 works, it became especially important to focus the attention on Michel- angelo’s disegno, its meanings and implications in the widest possible sense. Michelangelo’s energy and imagination—his “fantasia”—were uncontain- able up until his death at 88 years of age, and the exhibition attempts to illustrate his enormous ver- satility as an artist in the selection of works. The exhibition showcases the 133 drawings by Michel- angelo, which is a very large representation of his work. There are also three of his sculptures and a wood architectural model from the Fabbrica di San ww exist as one, and are inseparable dimensions of Pietro in order to illustrate the continuities in his The Met’s show has been creativity. Disegno unified Michelangelo’s activ- artistic process and the monumentality of scale in ity as sculptor, painter, and architect. It was very his conception of the human figure and architec- eight years in the making. important to demonstrate to the viewer this in- ture. The exhibition also includes drawings, paint- effable, continuous connection of mind, eye, and ings, and sculptures by other artists that represent From the very beginning, hand in the sequences of drawings we presented. Michelangelo in the art world of his time. Many of the sequences of drawings reveal that for our colleagues in the Michelangelo drawing was a very rich and func- The audience visiting museums is sometimes tional language of expression, as well as an act of a distracted audience. What should those peo- museums of Europe and love. His gift drawings to his friends are the jewels ple absolutely not miss about this exhibition? of Michelangelo’s disegno, and those given to Tom- the United States rallied to maso de’ Cavalieri, for instance, are all reunited in The design of the exhibition includes many the exhibition. Michelangelo’s art also emphasizes monumental works which create vistas as points support this project. the monumental, the permanent (even wishfully, of attraction for the public, as enticements to keep the eternal), and the very execution of the work “by going from one room of the exhibition to another. and October 1984 and the vault was completed in his hand” -- “di sua mano,” as so many documents The vistas are of Michelangelo’s marble sculptures 1989. The final stage was the restoration of the wall and letters by his contemporaries confirm. The au- and of his largest compositions all seen in dramatic frescoes, approved in 1994 and open to the public thenticity of Michelangelo’s hand in drawing and lighting. Of course, the visitor should not miss the on December 11, 1999. design is a leading theme in the exhibition. room at the midpoint in the exhibition that contains an enormous reproduction of the Sistine Holland Cotter also wrote that “this exhibi- Michelangelo’s lover Tommaso dei Caval- Chapel Ceiling, the scaffolding, and Michelangelo’s tion has made you revisit the original Renais- ieri(1509–1587), was an exceptionally handsome original studies for the Sistine. The reproduction sance concept of design, disegno, as a theo- nobleman whose appearance seemed to have fit of the Sistine Ceiling can be seen floating above retical category, an aesthetic and ethical end in the artist’s notions of ideal masculine beauty. almost at the entrance of the exhibition so that the itself?” True? Cavalieri was 23 years old when Michelangelo visitor begins the show with that as a destination. met him in 1532, at the age of 57 and he was the Yes, in commenting in detail about Michelan- object of the greatest expression of Michelangelo’s Back to the Sistine restoration, I want to under- gelo’s ‘disegno’ Holland got to the very pulse of the love. He dedicated approximately 30 of his total line that the preliminary experimentation began Met’s exhibition in his thoughtful review. Michel- 300 poems to Cavalieri, which made them the in 1979. The restoration team included Gianluigi angelo’s conception of “disegno” (in the sense of de- artist’s largest sequence of poems. The homoerotic Colalucci, Maurizio Rossi, Piergiorgio Bonetti, and sign and drawing) provided the very foundation of nature was recognized in his own time, so that Bruno Baratti, who took as guidelines the rules for his art, and he understood it in a profoundly meta- a decorous veil was drawn across them by his the restoration of works of art established in 1978 physical sense. In Michelangelo’s creative process grandnephew, Michelangelo the Younger, who by Carlo Pietrangeli, director of the Vatican Labo- the work of the mind, the eye, and the hand of the published an edition of the poetry in 1623 with ratory for the Restoration of Paintings. The first artist are interconnected in a continuum in which the gender of pronouns changed. John Addington stage of the work took place between June 1980 the intellectual and the manual production of art Symonds, the British poet, critic, and gay activ-

10 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org ist, undid this change by translating the original sonnets into English and by writing a two-volume biography, published in 1893. Michelangelo also had a strong relationship with Vittoria Colonna, who influenced Michelangelo’s life the most. He met her in Rome, where he spent the last 30 years of his life. Their friendship came late, when he was 61, lasted until Colonna’s death in 1547. It seems to have seriously changed by encouraging his move in a contemplative direction and bringing a new, soft grace to his work.

What does Michelangelo’s art teach a contemporary artist?

Michelangelo’s philosophy of disegno seems to me to provide very important avenues for new ways of thinking about our contemporary art world. The example of Michelangelo can help us refocus our attention on the work by the artist’s hand, di sua mano, which can and should be seen as intrinsic to the creation of art. In our contemporary art world, it seems to me a very productive exercise to rethink how we approach the relationships of the conceptual and the technical execution of art. Today, artists, collectors, and the art public have often felt a certain anxiety about admiring or even valuing the technical virtuosity of a work of art. Instead, the importance and value go mostly into conceptual aspects and ideas behind the work. Many contemporary artists have especially dimin- ished the value of the execution of a work of art so that a basic sketch can be given to studio assistants from which to paint or to create a series of images. A sculptor in Carrara, for example, can create an entire monumental sculpture in marble based on a small conceptual sketch by an artist. Similarly, we have often tended to emphasize the ephemeral in art and give little thought to the permanent.

In this field I remember that Jackson Pollock, one of the leading painters of the twentieth century, one who undermined the rules of western figurative art and dissolved the last bastions of Renais- sance perspective, was influenced by Michelangelo. The young Pollock, still undecided whether he wanted to become a painter or a sculptor, studied The Met’s show has been eight years in the has made a magnificent contribution to the show. and reflected upon Michelangelo’s work: there are making, including the research and the many loan Of the nearly 50 lenders of works of art to the Met’s drawings by Pollock that reproduce the ‘naked’ in negotiations. From the very beginning, our col- show, I would like to single out especially the Royal the Sistine Chapel, the Cumaean Sibyl, and The leagues in the museums of Europe and the United Collection of Windsor Castle (Her Majesty Queen Prophet Jonah, certain figures in the Flood, Adam States rallied to support this project with loans, Elizabeth II); the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford; in his famous position, and studies of positions and once we had secured a core group of works, the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence; the and drapery in the Judgement. A small exhibition more institutions began to collaborate. Both Eu- Casa Buonarroti in Florence; the Museo Nazionale of Michelangelo’s influence was held in Florence ropean and American museums and private col- di Capodimonte in Naples; the Galleria degli Uffizi in 2014. lectors have been beyond extraordinary in their in Florence, the Musée du Louvre in Paris and the generosity with loans, and they often performed British Museum in London. ww An ambitious project with a prestigious in- miracles to get these loans approved in time for stitution can create some competition in the art the Met’s exhibition. Very importantly, Italy has world. What was the reaction of international lent a total of 57 works,, most of them by Michel- * Author, art critic and curator, Renato Miracco is the lenders and, in particular, of Italian colleagues? angelo’s hand. This large group of impressive loans Cultural Attachè of the Italian Embassy in Washington, DC. www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 11 Roberto Bolle photographed at the Met during our special televised interview with ‘The Boxer’ focus Photo Iwona Adamczyk

ww A special encounter at the metropolitan museum (Fall 2013) Roberto Bolle and His Friend, the Boxer

An exclusive interview shot for by Giulia Madron Jaharis Gallery. This is how a centuries-old statue came to interview a great Italian dancer i-ItalyTV at the Metropolitan Our interview involved two timeless in New York City. Museum around The Boxer at Rest, ww symbols, Roberto Bolle and The Boxer Roberto Bolle too is on stage under the ae- at Rest, an ancient statue on display at MET gis of the Year of Italian Culture in the U.S. the world-famous ancient for the first time ever—thanks to the Italian Indeed he is bringing here for the first time his masterpiece on loan from the Embassy in Washington and the financial sup- world-famous performance “Bolle and Friends” port of ENI, Italy’s biggest oil company and (New York City Center, September 17). Here is National Museum of Rome. Corporate Ambassador of the Year of Italian a sneak peek of the interview, which can be Culture in the U.S. On loan from the National watched in full on i-ItalyTV—online, on air Museum of Rome for a brief exhibition, the and on cable. captivating bronze masterpiece, discovered on the Quirinal Hill of Rome in 1885, has liter- Launched by Nureyev ally bewitched its U.S. visitors, whose numbers Roberto Bolle’s passion for classical ballet be- reached 90 thousand over two months. For the gan when he was just a child. At the age of 11 purposes of this special feature, the MET gave he joined the Ballet Academy at La Scala in us exclusive access to the Mary and Michael Milan. His career took a turning point when

12 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Bolle & The Boxer on i-ItalyTV

ww was the first Italian to become Principal Dancer he will stage “Bolle and Friends” for the first For the purposes of this at the American Ballet Theatre when he was time in New York thanks to the sponsor Acqua appointed in 2007. di Parma. A production he created 10 years special feature, the MET “La Scala is where I built myself, where I grew ago and for which he also acts as artistic di- up, a reference point that always has been and rector, it is already a great success in Europe. gave us exclusive access to always will be very important to me,” explains The performance is a succession of “classical Bolle. He was La Scala’s Principal Dancer until and modern pieces with a little bit of Italian the Mary and Michael the age of 21. flavor.” “There is a great pride and a great re- sponsibility at the same time,” affirms Bolle, Jaharis Gallery. This is how A courageous choice who is very happy to bring Italian culture to At 23 he decided to become Etoile, continuing New York, a city that loves him and where he a centuries-old statue came his career as guest artist. “I was taking a risk,” feels very comfortable. Roberto Bolle will use he said. “ I didn’t have the security of a contract, renowned dancers from the best companies in to interview a great Italian a salary, a job.” But he has no regrets. Shortly the world for the production. following his decision, his international career This is a unique opportunity to admire—in dancer in New York City to took wing, leading to performances in the most the same evening and on the same stage—to- important theaters of the world alongside other day’s most famous ballet stars in a friendly perform his new show ‘Bolle classical ballet stars. Among his life’s landmark face-off of technique, schools and styles. The moments are 1999, when he became a Goodwill program is designed differently for each the- and Friends.’ Ambassador for UNICEF; and 2007, when he ater and performance, but it remains fast- danced at the Metropolitan Opera House for paced and thrilling, with an exciting parade he was first noticed by Rudolf Nureyev at the Alessandra Ferri’s farewell to the stage. of pas de deux and solos from the most beloved age of 15 during the mise-en-scène of “Death in classical repertoire of the 1800’s and the most Venice”. He then went on to become one of the Bringing Italian Culture to the U.S. celebrated titles of the 1900’s. (Go to www.ro- most successful Italian dancers in the world. He Now, to celebrate this Year of Italian Culture, bertobolle.com for more details). ww www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 13 focus ww The cover story of our first issue (Winter 2012-2013) The Energy of Jovanotti Hits New York City

Pop, hip-hop, funk, electric, and rap that’s what I really love. I feel very proud and all together: a unique Italian artist honored to work with these people.” shares his feelings about music, social A blend of music His songs contain elements of pop, hip-hop, funk, engagement, and his love for electronic, and rap mixed together in a way that America. conquers the entire Italian peninsula. But this combination is also an interesting blend of music by i-Italy Network from his childhood to classic Italian tunes right through to his primary musical influence: hip- “An Italian guy who discovered hip-hop hop. This is the genre that opened his mind to w w when he was thirteen years old.” This is how new sounds, rhythms, and words. Lorenzo Cherubini, a.k.a. Jovanotti, describes But it was never about the music in and of himself during a video interview with i-Italy. itself. Throughout his career, he has taken part Born in Rome, but a native of Cortona (a small in some of the most relevant social initiatives, town near Arezzo in Tuscany), Jovanotti has pro- partnering with Amnesty International, Making duced 19 albums, selling millions of copies over Poverty History, etc. “I’m a social being before his 25-year career. Raised in a typical Italian fam- I’m an artist – a man with a microphone to com- ily, he wanted to be a painter or a cartoonist until municate my ideas. The difference between me he discovered music. Starting out as a deejay, he and politicians is that I use emotions rather than went on to become a singer, at first performing solo numbers for something I think is right. Music in small clubs and then in the biggest stadiums can make the difference; often because one song all over Italy. In 2009, he performed for the first can give you the right words at the right time.” time in the United States, participating in several international music festivals on both the East and Being part of something different West Coasts. That experience brought him back “I’ve lived between two worlds,” Jovanotti ex- to New York City again this year. For Jovanotti, “if plained. His life, spent between the rush of Rome you want to do movies, you go to Hollywood. But if and the timelessness of Cortona, gave him two you want to do music, New York is the place to be.” contrasting experiences. As a result, he was able to better confront the reality of a complex and Upstairs at the Birreria cosmopolitan city like New York. But what hap- In Eataly’s charming Birreria, surrounded by pens to your everyday routine when you move to imported and craft beers, wines, and well-worn a place so far away from home? This doesn’t seem wooden tables, Jovanotti talks about his moti- to be an issue for him. “When I went to Rio, after vation, future projects, and a new life. In fact, three days I started acting like a ‘carioca’ [a native his new album Italia 1988–2012 was released of Rio]. This is part of my nature. I really like the in the United States on August 7 and it includes feeling of fitting in where I am.” And this is what 12 songs from his two-decade long career plus a he wants to do—to be part of something different, song entitled, “New York for Life,” dedicated to to be part of the fabric of New York City. ww the Big Apple. “The tracks were chosen by ATO records, using them as a kind of window into my career,” Jovanotti reflected. Talking about ww I’m a social being before his experience with the label itself, he admitted that “ATO is a very professional label, which is I’m an artist – a man with very focused on the love of music. Music comes first for them, before business, and before any- a microphone to communi- thing else. When you’re in a room with them, you talk about music, beauty, and energy—and cate my ideas

14 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Lorenzo Jonanotti during our televised interview at Etaly’s Birreria Photo Iwona Adamczyk Below: The Metropolitan Theater in Manhattan

ww At the Metropolitan Theater Opera Finally Gets Italian Subtitles by Fred Plotkin

Sotto means under. Titolo means title. Together, it means “subtitles.” I’m bringing up this word because there’s been a wonderful development at the Metropolitan Opera thanks to interested people in New York City’s Italian community. Now, when you go to an Italian opera at the Met this season, you can read the subtitles in Italian as you listen to the music. I’m a believer that the message in the music is primarily the message of the opera. In other words, if you read the words you get a little bit of what’s going on, but you have to listen to really understand Lorenzo Jovanotti what’s going on. If you have subtitles, then you can learn Italian while listening to the singers. Anyone on i-ItalyTV who wants to know more about art, music, history, culture, food, wine, and anything else that relates to pleasure, needs to speak Italian. And this is a very good way to start. ww Music can make the differ- Sottotitoli don’t really exist in Italian movies ence, a song can give you the When you go to Italy, and you see a foreign film, it’s terrible. I know Italians disagree with me on this, but right words at the right time I know I’m right. Italians dub their movies because after World War II many Italians were illiterate, and therefore, the only way they would understand a film is if it were dubbed into Italian from French, English, etc. Today, the literacy rate in Italy is higher than it is in the United States. So, obviously, Italians who go to films can read subtitles. And as with music, the voice communicates what an actor wants to say. When an actor acts in Italy, it’s said that he is recitando, reciting. If you hear Woody Allen or Al Pacino dubbed in Italian, you cannot understand what the sound is, or what the spirit of the actor is. The bottom line My proposal is this: sottotitoli in Italian at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and sottotitoli in Italian at movie theaters in Italy. Then we would all understand each other much better.

www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 15 F. Murray Abraham with Francine Segan during their iterview for i-ItalyTV Photo Iwona Adamczyk focus ww the first episode of OUR tv series ‘“americans in love with italy” (spring 2015) Italy is my Second Home. It’s that Simple!

Born to a Syrian-Italian immigrant Grand Budapest Hotel. He’s also made dozens of and Leonardo and Caravaggio. They forget that films in Italy, where he recently starred in the they are some of the greatest artists who ever family in Pittsburg, PA, he was best Mystery of Dante, directed by acclaimed Italian lived. known for playing alongside Al Pacino filmmaker Louis Nero. In 2004, F. Murray was given the “Premio per gli Italiani nel mondo,” an Tell me a little bit more about your mother. in Serpico and Scarface, before award from the Italian government. F. Murray What was it like when you were little in her winning the Academy Award for Best is also renowned for his theater and television home? What Italian things did she add? work, and is a regular on the award-winning se- Actor for his role as composer ries Homeland. I’m thrilled he’s accepted to chat My mother was from a family of fourteen. My Antonio Salieri in Amadeus. Here he with us about his connection to Italy. grandfather, Bruno, was a coal miner, on his hands and knees six days a week for 24 dollars talks with us about his love for a Let’s start with your ties to the bel paese. a week. He raised fourteen children. My mother country where he “never feels What does Italy mean to you? was the world to me. I’m a real Italian son; I worshipped her. When I wanted to become an uncomfortable or unsafe.” Italy is very important to me – for a couple of actor, everyone was against it except my mother. reasons. First of all, my mother is from Italy: by Francine Segan* Giuseppina. Because she was so proud to be Ital- Can you tell us a little about your recent por- ian, she made sure that her three sons were very trayal as Dante? Murray Abraham may be best known for aware of the country. I have also made a lot of wwhis Academy Award-winning performance movies in Italy with very good people. It’s my I can tell you that that is one of the most impor- as Antonio Salieri, the famous Italian composer, second home. I’m very offended that people have tant films I made – a very little film, but very in the film Amadeus, but he has also starred in a stereotype of what Italy and Italians mean. important. Nero was responsible for it. I think such fine films as All the President’s Men, Scar- They seem to forget the Italian Renaissance; Nero is one of the most important filmmakers in face, The Name of the Rose, and the 2014 hit, The they seem to forget Galileo and Michelangelo Italy today. He’s a very smart man and we based

16 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Abraham as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus. Below: interpreting Dante Alighieri in Francine Segan and F. Murray The Mistery of Dante. Abraham on i-ItalyTV ww Italy is my second home. If for some reason I had to leave America, my first love, I would move to Italy immediately. When I’m in Italy, I feel like I am at home. It’s that simple. a lot of what we did on the classic mystics in history. There are still important, very indepen- dent filmmakers like Nero. There aren’t enough of them, but I think they’re coming up.

You have performed with some of the great female Italian actresses, including first and foremost Sophia Loren… Do you have any good stories to tell?

Let me tell you something about Sophia. We were working with Lina Wertmüller, and my mother, at the time, God rest her soul, was very sick in America. I asked Sophia if she would mind calling her to say hello, because all Italians love Sophia. She called my mother and spoke to her for about 25 or 30 minutes. That’s just the kind of woman she is. It meant everything to me.

You’re still in love with Italy, aren’t you?

Well, if for some reason I had to leave America, my first love, I would move to Italy immediately. When I’m in Italy, I feel like I am at home. It’s that simple. I think most people feel the same way. I teach once a year at Cinecittá. I teach Shakespeare and I have a translator for people who don’t speak English because my Italian is terrible. Last year, for example, I taught The Merchant of Venice and I had everyone per- ww Who in America is(n’t) in love with Italy? form certain scenes. It was such a good experience that I have been invited back every year. Artists, Actors, Film Critcs, Food Writers, and More... I just feel like I could live there very easily. It’s as though I had another life at one time and I Hosted by Francine Segan Oseland, Food writer, former editor-in-chief of lived in Italy. No matter where I go there – the and produced by i-ItalyTV, award-winning Saveur food magazine w Richard north, the south – because I’ve worked all over, the series Americans in Pena, Columbia University Film Studies Professor w I’m always welcome there. I never feel uncom- Love With Italy was Joseph Forte, Historian w Peter Vallone, former fortable or unsafe. People talk about Italy like broadcasted in 2015-2016 chairman of the New York City council w John you have to be careful, but that’s not true. That’s as part of the TV show Patrick Shanley, Oscar-winning screenwriter w a lie. I love good wine and I love good food, so I “i-ItalyNY” on NYC Life Matthew White, author and interior designer, think I must belong in Italy. ww (Channel 25), the public chairman of the board of Save Venice w Cici Li, television station of the producer and director of several food, travel and * Noted public speaker and food historian, City of New York The series featured, among others: lifestyle television shows. Francine Segan hosts the series “Americans F. Murray Abraham, Academy Award-winning actor The series is now available on demand at in Love With Italy” on i-ItalyTV. w Eric Asimov, New York Times wine critic w James www.i-ItalyTV.com and on Youtube. www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 17 focus

ww FUTURISM EXHIBIT AT THE GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM (Summer 2014) Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome Back to the Future

Italian Futurists managed to swim in es, the palpable friction of steel running on rails, the persistent smoke puffing from a chimney 75 the unexplored current, not drowning, feet tall, or the thrill of commanding a horseless but paddling toward the new shore of carriage at 25 miles per hour with a foot pedal. You could accept it and embrace it, let it permeate your the real. The art hanging on the walls new 20th century sensibility as you rode off with a of the museums seemed “lifeless” to bang, not a whimper. You could open your soul and make it one with them, vague and sentimental relics. the new mechanistic order of things. You could see They would find this article boring a future for expression that matched the future of life in the new interdependent, fast, steely, two- because it contains no noise, no lanes-ahead world. surprise blasts, no color, no violence. A revaluation of all values Into this milieu came a movement that declared by Steven Acunto itself a revaluation of values. In the 1880s no less a figure than Nietzsche, living between Italy, Swit- What was the future like in 1909? zerland and Germany, called for exactly that: a re- w wThe world had changed as never before, or valuation of all values. Other philosophers, poets so it seemed. There were no precedents. Imagine, and artists followed suit, as the antique drum faded if you can, the way the future looked to the best and a new sound emerged. And the Italians were, minds in turn-of-the-century Europe. Imagine, if as usual, among the first to champion a new order you can, the sudden impact of the Industrial Revo- in art, a “now” movement that wholly embraced lution of the 1880s. Imagine the heart-stopping, the shimmering body of the industrial revolution. world-changing mechanical inventions at the time, Marinetti and his followers cried, Make war! Ex- just like our world-changing inventions today. ult in bombs. Turn the impersonality of this world What did the future look like to Filippo Tom- into a structure for art, architecture, music, food maso Marinetti in 1909 Paris? What did it look like and every part of life. They looked ahead to the for the Italian artists, poets, architects, cooks and inevitable remaking of society and its worldview. expats in Paris, Milan and Turin? Yes, the world Futurism was born as a modus vivendi, a way had changed as never before, or so it seemed. of living and seeing and hearing. The art hang- There were no precedents, no paradigms to study. ing on the walls of the museums seemed “lifeless” The past was slow and teary-eyed; the present, an to them, vague and sentimental relics. Futurists electric jolt. found master works self-indulgent, decadent, un- ww To Futurists, the They were troubling and confusing times. You responsive to the evolving new order—the same could look backward and embrace the sweet and way, I suppose, a young person today might see present does not simply melancholy 1800s, the 1879 of Vienna, or the Ro- newspapers or printed books or sea voyaging in mantic world of the early and mid 19th century. the age of the Concorde. reject the past. It You could be swayed by the rhyme of sentimental poetry, swept up in the insistently rich orchestra- Industry and conflict, war and speed embraces the inevitable tions of Brahms or return to relive Beethoven’s Think of it. In 1909 an art of speed, beautiful ma- peasants dancing in a ring far from the city as a chinery, the combustion and friction of life in cit- future, the technology storm approaches. Or you could return to the in- ies, endless smoke and unprecedented noise was evitably tragic view of love embodied by Goethe’s engulfing artists looking at their easels or blank that they believed would Werther or the plight of Byron’s prisoner of Chillon. pages trying to divine a form or message. Italian Or, you could accept the noise, the sound, the Futurists managed to swim in the unexplored cur- transform the world. friction and the dynamism of a new century, of a rent, not drowning, but paddling toward the new post-industrial revolution world, screeching nois- shore of the real. And has.

18 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Counter-clockwise: Ivo Pannaggi, Treno in corsa, 1922 Courtesy Fondazione Cassa di risparmio della Provincia di Macerata. Carlo Carrà, Manifestazione Interventista, 1914 Courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York. Fortunato Depero, Diavoletti neri e bianchi, Danza di diavoli, 1922–23 MART, Archivio fotografico. Tullio Crali, Prima che si apra il paracadute, 1939 Claudio Marcon. Installation view Kris McKay © SRGF. Below: Steve Acunto at the Futurism exhibit at the Guggenheim Photo i-Italy Network.

sounds of the days and nights of the new age, with instruments made from cans or pipes, or played in unusual ways to simulate the squeaking of wheels on a railroad track or the painful whirr of a factory machine. Unlike sentimental artists or academ- ics, the Futurists would have relished it, if, in the middle of an interview, one’s cell phone went off loudly or if a play were interrupted by shouts of protest or praise. They didn’t see such things as in- terruptions, but as complements to an experience. The present of Futurism The movement hasn’t quite ended. Today, even graffiti takes its iconoclastic place in a Futurist world. It is highly self-expressive. It is full of bold colors. It is not the stuff of museums. It is fresh to some and irritating to others. We find hints of futurism in architecture, music, industrial design, art, film and even cooking. Futurists loved demonstrations. They would find this article boring because it contains no noise, no surprise blasts, no color, no violence. Please don’t tear up this page! But do think about it! Ah, there are cars passing outside, but I can only refer to them. Planes pass overhead and a bus stops and resumes on its way. Maybe I should end this trifling essay with a whoosh, erk, erk, thump, and whaaaaaa!!!!! To Futurists, the present does not simply reject the past. It embraces the inevitable future, the technology that they believed would transform the world. And has.

Zoom. ww

They reviled critics, labeling them embalmers whose “corpses” glorified the old world of manners and refinements, of sentimental love and idleness. They wanted the world to be infected with the germs of industry and conflict, war and speed, violence and danger, and they worked to spread a new sense of dis-ease borne by machine energy and power. Their paintings would defy the confines of the canvas with blaring onomato- poeia. They wanted the scope and dimension of their paintings and sculptures to issue sound and energy. They glorified social disturbance, light rays emitted from a street lamp, the swish of a dog on Steve Acunto at the its leash, the forward surge of a train. In the music of Pratella, which would have been pure cacopho- Guggenheim for i-ItalyTV ny to Liszt or Mozart, they played for audiences the www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 19 An image of Alessandro Piol’s face behind Intel’s first microprocessor, the 4004, designed by Federico Faggin in 1971. It was, Faggin said, “a work of art.” focus

ww “A DIFFERENT ITALY” SERIES. SCIENCE, HI-TECH, STARTUPS (WINTER 2016) Forget Silicon Valley, Come to New York!

When we sat down with Alessandro by Letizia Airos coming one of the first corporate venture capital groups in the world. Having left Olivetti in the ‘90s, Piol, the Italian venture capitalist Alessandro Piol’s table/desk is inviting. Be- Piol Sr. continued to work in venture capitalism based in New York who has 30 years wwhind him, windows with views of skyscrap- as an advisor for 4C Ventures and later became ers jutting into the Manhattan skyline. Piol greets Chairman and Partner of Pino Venture. Again, the of experience in the field of me, as does a colleague seated next to his desk, whole time he kept up relations with the US. technology, he opened up about how intently working on a MacBook Air. The atmo- Technology, venture capitalism, America: sphere suddenly turns extremely pleasant. While those are the three passions Alessandro inherited his father—in Italy, a pioneer in the sipping a coffee I converse with the cofounder from his father, which are ostensibly one thing, sector—taught him to love his work. and partner of Vedanta Capital and AlphaPrime given that investing risk capital in tech is a typi- Ventures, dubbed “the smart money behind cally American phenomenon. He also explained how he chooses smart software,” a major player in the scene of “I have lived in a world that revolves around projects to finance and why New York East Coast startups. business and technology since I was little,” he tells Technology is in his DNA. His father, Elserino me. “Back then, Olivetti was transforming from presents even greater prospects than Piol, was known as the “Italian hi-tech guru” and electro-mechanics to information technology. At Silicon Valley. And he concluded with the founder of venture capitalism in Italy. Some home we talked about major changes and about suggest that in the U.S. “Piol would be a cross be- technology.” Those discussions would have a de- a little “message in a bottle” for tween Warren Buffett and Steve Jobs.” The stra- cisive influence on him, so that, after he finished young Italians looking to come to the tegic mastermind at Olivetti for forty years, Piol high school in the United States, his choice of Sr. attended Harvard and maintained a lifelong what to pursue in college came almost naturally: City to develop an idea. connection with the U.S. He used to come here “I liked math, physics and electronics. I immedi- frequently, for example when Olivetti was looking ately chose to enroll in computer engineering at for young companies to invest in, consequently be- Columbia University.”

20 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Alessandro Piol addressing the students ad staff at the “Startup Weekend,” Politecnico di Torino, April 2015. Below, his book Tech and the City, co-authored with Maria Teresa Cometto (to his right in the picture).

Next came business. As Piol tells it, “I attended college in New York. My father would often meet entrepreneurs and venture capitalists at the Carlyle Hotel (it’s not there anymore), and I would listen to what they said. I was developing a passion for it and beginning to understand that that was what I wanted to do. The idea of working with young people on new technology projects excited me. I wanted to facilitate them and follow the evolution.” Piol would go on to earn an MBA from Harvard Business. The young man was now ready to launch. Or rather, he was ready because deep down he had absorbed his father’s real lesson: work hard and with passion. “My father was always traveling and working on weekends. He set an important example of work ethic combined with great passion for what he was doing. You have to be passionate and take an interest in what you do. Nothing good will come if you don’t immerse yourself in the field in which you operate.” But, I hazard, ultimately his work consists of making and making others make investments. You have to know how to manage capital. Does passion really count in that kind of work? “Of course!” he says, smiling. “Because in order to understand what’s happening in the tech world and where you should invest, you have to get inside that world. You have to understand the trends. You have to intuit what will happen in the future. If you don’t love it, it becomes trying and ww Silicon Valley lives off of a system that difficult. In a certain sense, you have to have fun.” It’s not enough to just be grew up around Stanford, thanks to the governor Indeed, his passion for work and deep knowl- who focused on technology investments. There was edge of that world shine through in a book that he technological today. You nothing but farmland and fields. It grew from noth- co-wrote a few years ago with the journalist Maria ing. Then there were the great visionaries; they cer- Teresa Cometto, Tech and the City: The Making need to be very creative. tainly helped a lot. And finally technology became of New York’s Startup Community, a small bible the main industry. However, because of that history, of New York’s entrepreneurial ecosystem with a Remember Steve Jobs. He Silicon Valley is a mono-cultural area; all they talk preface by Olivetti’s patron, Carlo De Benedetti. about is technology. Which is fine. But in my opin- The book is full of useful advice for young busi- aspired to bring technology ion, in the long run it ends up limiting creativity. nessmen culled from the stories of 50 key figures in the field of technology. and art together. That’s true Does that mean that to create a successful tech company you need to have a multidisciplinary What is it about a project that piques your in- innovation. Apple in ambience? terest in financing it? America—like Olivetti in Yes. And that’s what you find in New York, which That depends on how developed the company guarantees that nexus of different levels of knowl- is. If we’re talking about startups, the numbers Italy—realized important edge: in manufacturing, finance, media, advertis- don’t count; often they show you the wrong num- ing, the financial industry, fashion… This city is bers. What’s more important is figuring out what changes by focusing on international. There’s a lot of movement. It’s the kind of person is the entrepreneur showing you center of traffic between Europe and America, them. If you’re betting on the right person. People design. open to influences from all over the world. This count even more than the idea they submit to you. allows for the circulation of knowledge needed Meaning, it’s one thing to have a good idea and a have to do with the people. With management. to realize projects that hang in that whitespace whole other thing to put it into practice, succeed Of course the problem may be with the market; between various disciplines. in growing a company based on that idea, raising it may not even be ready. Niche markets in early it up from nothing and successfully driving it for- stages, for example, often aren’t a good idea. An ode to creativity that comes from a high ward. You have to be confident you’re dealing with tech businessman… people who know what they’re doing, who under- What distinguishes New York as a home for stand what they’re trying to do. In fact, when a startups from the wildly popular Silicon It’s not enough to just be technological today. You financed project fails, 80% of the time the reasons Valley? need to be very creative. Remember what Steve www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 21 focus

Jobs said and did. He aspired to bring technology ww MY mentor series (WINTER 2015) and art together. He was very attentive to detail. That’s true innovation…Apple in America—like Olivetti in Italy—realized important changes by focusing on design. And that brings us back to New York, since this city gives you the opportu- The Power of Modesty nity to bring together ideas from different worlds, with people who understand other disciplines. People who aren’t just into tech, but who look for solutions using technology. New York is a real melting pot of ideas. And the same goes for Lon- don and Berlin, I think. Cities with a very strong cultural foundation, international cities where innovative ideas are more easily born.

And Italy? It’s a country that produces really state of the art technology. Why is that so little known in the world?

We’re to blame, in large part. We have had a lot of success in fashion because our entrepreneurs had the intelligence to go global before anyone else. They had an international vision. We barely even tried to do the same with technology. It should be said, however, that there’s a lot of competition with different market dynamics and real giants to face. But it should also be said that it may have led to a danger- ous attitude among Italians. Ultimately, you need to know how to celebrate certain things. In America, for example, celebrating success works great. It creates a sense of optimism that permeates the whole society, which has, with respect to Europe, a positive way of thinking. It’s a virtuous cycle that helps. If we celebrate someone’s success in Italy, people immediately suspect that it was achieved by sketchy means. And if you say that the success was thieved…

If you could send a message in a bottle to those in Italy who want to come to New York with a Through Claudio Del Vecchio I learned I had met Claudio Del Vecchio several times on dream in their back pocket, what would you say? official and formal occasions. He was always ex- a very important lesson about tremely polite and kept a low profile. We never First of all, to really believe in yourself. That’s entrepreneurship, vision, courage, had a real conversation at these events, one of not a cliché; it’s important to believe that your many for both of us. Yet, I remember one event project can be realized. Next you have to know humility and love. particularly well. On July 2012, the Group of Ital- what has been achieved in your field. I know it ian Representatives (GEI) presented him with can be difficult to find that out sometimes, but the friendship award. I remember very vividly the it’s important. Check out the competition and see by Lucia Pasqualini* speech that Claudio gave on that occasion. He if there are similar things out there. If you can humbly approached the podium and very mod- introduce something that is definitely better into During my years in New York, I discovered I estly talked about his story and his beloved job. your field, there’s no doubt you’ll be successful. wwhave a great passion for people’s stories; ev- Yet there are young people who will come and ery story possesses its own intrinsic lessons. The His father’s legacy present you ideas based on things they’ve already variety and the richness of these stories make the I was very touched by Claudio’s words. He re- seen. That’s not okay! If you want to compete on United States a unique place. Some of my most counted the story of Luxottica, a company the global technological market, you really have precious memories of those years are linked to the founded by his father Leonardo in 1961 in Ago- to be innovative. Then you have to identify impor- people I have met. You never really know whom rdo, a small town near Belluno. He spoke of his tant trends. The VCs watch certain macro trends you will meet in New York or how an event will father’s childhood, spent in an orphanage, and and if you fit into that framework, it’s easier to turn out. This is a lesson that I learned quickly. of his early years working on a factory floor. He raise funds. And finally, you need to assess not That is how I became more attentive and curi- recalled when his father worked unflagging- only if you risk arriving too late but if, paradoxi- ous. There are some stories that shaped both my ly in the evenings on a drum made with skin cally, your project could come out too soon! ww personal and professional growth. and filled with sand, inlaying aluminum parts

22 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Claudio Del Vecchio being interviewed by i-ItalyTV. The project was commissioned by laFondazioneNY, then presided by late Massimo Vignelli, on the occasion of its 2013 gala that honored, besides Del Vecchio, John Elkann, Alberto Cribiore and Richard Meier. to make glasses. In a very simple way, Claudio managed to effectively convey how his father’s sincere passion for his job led him to start a great business. The continuous search for better solutions led Luxottica to industrialize eyewear production, and turned eyeglasses from a solely medical device into a glamorous and fashionable object. The turning point for the company came in the eighties when Luxottica acquired Lens Crafters and SunGlass Hut. Thanks to this strategic decision, Luxottica has become one of the few international Italian companies and a worldwide leader in the eyewear industry. This happened precisely when Claudio was in charge of Luxottica’s US market. Together with Lens Crafters, Luxottica also acquired Casual Corner, a women’s-apparel chain in serious financial dif- ficulties. Claudio took over the company and after some years managed to turn things around. After this experience, he decided to run a business on his own and become an entrepreneur himself, acquiring the iconic American brand Brooks Brothers in 2011. ww I barely knew the story of Luxottica, but what Claudio always keeps a Claudio Del Vecchio struck me most while listening to Claudio was the simplicity of this powerful story and his vis- low profile. He may be the on i-ItalyTV ible and incredible respect for his father, as well as his loyalty to the company. Claudio moved CEO and President of to the United States in 1982 and undoubtedly matters, and Claudio knows what matters to him. played a very important role in the internation- Brooks Brothers, but he That is the essence of Claudio Del Vecchio: a very alization of the company. Nevertheless, he never successful businessman and a modest person. mentioned himself. He never personally ap- behaves as though he were peared in his tale. He always used the pronoun All the power that lies in modesty ‘we.’ That day, I learned a very important lesson just another company His incredible commitment and strong work eth- about entrepreneurship, vision, courage, humil- ic made him the ideal candidate for the Cavaliere ity and love—love as a secret to true success. eployee. He simply loves del Lavoro, the most prestigious Italian honor, bestowed upon those who have distinguished Inspirational leadership what he does. He leads by themselves through their commitment as entre- I was so inspired by his speech that the next time preneurs. I am very glad that the Consulate pro- I saw Claudio, I asked him if he would be willing example. He showed me posed his name to the President of the Republic to speak to the students at La Scuola d’Italia. I and made the dream of any Italian entrepreneur have always been very committed to the Scuola how much power lies in come true for him. Over the years, he has proved d’Italia in New York and I had already invited to be an exceptional businessman, silently con- other luminaries to speak to the students. I know modesty. tributing to the international expansion of Luxot- from personal experience how much one person tica first, then saving Brooks Brothers (a company can influence and change a young person’s life, Claudio has lived in the US for many years, and almost on the verge of bankruptcy) and turning and Claudio’s words were so inspirational to me, although he has adopted the core values of Ameri- it into the flourishing company we know today. that I wanted the students to share in my expe- can culture, he has not forgotten his origins and He really deserved this recognition! rience. He immediately accepted my offer and feels very much part of the Italian community. He I feel very fortunate to have had the opportu- even changed his schedule in order to talk to the is deeply aware of the importance of being part nity to get to know Claudio. He showed me how students. When I think about that day, I like to of the community and giving back to society. Yet much power lies in modesty. He leads by example, imagine that at least one student was captivated he always keeps a low profile, never mentioning an extraordinary, modest and powerful example. by that illuminating conversation and managed his contributions to numerous philanthropic or- Grazie Claudio! ww to find his own vocation and inner passion, and ganizations; he is one of the most humble people I just maybe he/she will follow a path to become have ever met. He is very down-to-earth and never a wise entrepreneur. As Claudio said that day, assumes everybody knows who he is. He may be * Luicia Pasqualini, former Vice-Consul of Italy in “the true secret of real success lies in following the CEO and President of Brooks Brothers, but he New York, now works at the Direzione Generale your own passions. Don’t set money as a goal in behaves as though he were just another company Sistema Paese of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, your life. If you follow your passions and work employee. He simply loves what he does. The se- where she heads the Ufficio VII, dealing with the hard, money will follow.” cret to true happiness is being aware of what really promotion of Italian language in the world. www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 23 Piero Bassetti with Fred Plotkin at the i-Italy headquarters in Manhattan

focus ww TWO SPECIAL “ITALICI” JOINED US AT LA CASA DI I-ITALY (FALL 2017) Italy Beyond Italy: The Italic Way We sat down in our home with an old friend of i-Italy, industrialist Piero Bassetti, during his recent tour in New York to promote his latest book , Let’s Wake Up, Italics! Interviewing Piero Bassetti was another old friend of ours, writer and critic Fred Plotkin, a quintessential “Italic” who was famously defined by the New York Times’ Frank Bruni as “the most Italian of all New Yorkers.” with Fred Plotkin and Piero Bassetti Piero Bassetti and Fred Fred Plotkin: Mr Bassetti, first of all, I would Plotkin on i-ItalyTV w wlike to define some words so that we are clear about the meaning of everything. What makes an Italian, and an Italic? world—it’s the richness and diversity of the Ital- Italics comes from contact with the whole world. Piero Bassetti: An Italian is an Italic who lives on ian cuisine that we must sell instead. This is the With the “Glocal” concept the central idea is that the peninsula, and is a citizen of the Italian state, difficult point about Italicità, or Italicity. The true everyone locally is part of the global society, but the which is a territory that has been defined as such Italic is a bastard: they must be, because bastardy global permeates all local environments in differ- for little more than 150 years. For example, Dante is better than purity. This idea that purity is worth ent ways. This means that the problem of Italic- was an Italic; he was not an Italian because during less than bastardy goes against the grain, and it ità, of Italicity, is not a problem regarding Italy’s his lifetime, the “Italian” dimension only existed isn’t easy to put it as the foundation of a political relationship with different countries like France through linguistics and culture, but not politically. discourse. This is the purpose of my book and of and the United States. We need ways of cultural An Italic is a person who has chosen to adopt “the my battle: let’s wake the Italics up to their values education that emphasize hybridization. You don’t Italian way of life,” as an expression of one of the based on integrating the values of others. grow just by talking, but you do grow by becom- greatest civilizations in the world. Just how a civi- ing equal through a common experience. All these lization can become a subject of history, is a topic FP: I completely agree. When I teach the history problems need to be studied deeply. open to debate after the crisis of the nation states. of Italian cuisine, this is bastardization, because of its use of ingredients from around the world. FP: I’m just afraid that in some cases, identity may FP: When I read Let’s Wake Up, Italics! something Truth is, the Italians knew how to make the best become diluted rather than enriched … immediately came to mind. Tell me if you don’t use of these products! But is the Italian mindset agree with me. To be an Anglo-Saxon, a Hispanic, itself something that can be called Italicity? That PB: If you say that communication between 7 bil- or an Italic, one must know the language of the is, something that can be learned, absorbed, and lion people is, in a certain sense, entropic in that it country that this culture comes from. used to make beautiful things. reduces differences, this is true. But the challenge is being able to extract the best qualities from PB: Yes, but the language of the culture is not re- PB: Yes, certainly. I’m personally convinced that inside an organic global system. We shouldn’t be ally the language of the country. Some say that if it’s not true that all anthropology comes from afraid to increase communication. We should be the language dies, the culture dies. That’s not true genes. It also comes from learning. I’m convinced afraid of also not doing anything in order to extract because the Italian culture is made of more than that in a world of such great mobility, this hybrid- the best from each culture. just the official language. It’s made up of different ization isn’t genetic, but rather operative, and al- dialects and even cultures. This is a delicate sub- ready being seen. Just look at fashion produced FP: ...and to study and learn more from them. And ject. If you wish to understand Italy you must grasp in New York. By now it’s organically soaked with to love being Italian, Italic, or… Italian by osmosis. its internal diversity. A uniform italianità does not contributions from Italian fashion, and French, of We could go on for hours, but we have to stop here. exist. We shouldn’t sell just risotto and pizza to the course. That’s why I say that the awakening of the Thank you! ww

24 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org ww ENERGY EDUCATION Blockchain for Energy The mechanism behind Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies will revolutionize the distribution and access to energy. Eni was one of the first energy companies to bet on innovation in this sector as well. by Luca Longo

We were the first to explain in a simple w wway what cryptocurrencies are and how blockchain, the technology behind it, works. We ed global network quantities to petabytes needed for large transac- tried to predict the future by imagining how the in which large and tions among the world’s largest companies. In ad- Bitcoin bubble will burst. We did not look at a small photovoltaic dition, unlike Bitcoins, transactions can remain crystal ball but at the mechanisms and statistics, panel systems, wind confidential and only be available to those who showing that the phenomenon behind crypto- turbine, solar ther- need to see and verify them. Lastly, the technol- currencies is set to step back soon. mal concentrators, ogy is easily accessible to developers: all applica- There is no question that the blockchain pro- electricity storage tions can be written with JavaScript, the system tocols, on which crypto-assessment are based, and retention sys- used to make web pages. will have a bright future in all the applications tems, industrial and The experiment was so successful that at the – including non-financial ones – where it will be home appliances, will end of 2017 companies like Gazprom, Total, Mer- necessary to guarantee the reliability of several represent millions of interconnected nodes of all curia, Vattenfall, Petroineos and Freepoint also partners without being able to rely on a central sizes able to interact directly, buy and sell electric- joined. The goal now is to extend the scope of authority recognised by all the stakeholders ity through intrinsically secure exchanges across OneOffice – the dedicated application based on involved. all borders, including the world’s hottest ones. Interbit technology – to the entire energy trading It is quite likely that the future of these tech- And all this will be possible without the need process and to open new transactions in record nologies lies above all here. And the world energy for intermediaries and guarantors. time: already by 2018. market is one of the most suitable for their ap- For this reason, blockchain technologies could But the commitment of Eni as the pioneer of plication. Blockchains will be able to transform not be bypassed by Eni which was one of the first new technologies is not limited to this. The six- electricity and fossil fuel distribution systems into energy companies to bet on innovation in this legged dog company – together with 35 other giant, decentralized yet integrated networks. sector as well. European companies – is part of the Enerchain Think about a worldwide gas network where At the beginning of 2017 – together with BP consortium developed by the German company extraction wells, pipelines, refineries, stockpiles, and Wien Energy – Eni launched a first pilot proj- Ponton with the aim of creating a platform for liquefaction facilities, LNG carriers, regasifica- ect to develop a blockchain dedicated technology energy trading and optimisation of the network tion plants, distribution networks and individual to managing energy exchanges between different management. users will be able to interact directly through se- actors. In just three months, thanks to the “Inter- Once again, Eni is the first to break new cure, transparent and intermediary-free trading. bit” blockchain platform developed by Canadian ground, with the same pioneering spirit that Beside the gas one, a network of liquid fuels could BTL, the first intrinsically safe and self-guaran- guides geologists in the search for new oil fields be created by linking oil wells, oil pipelines and teed electronic energy trading system was set. with HPC4 and researchers who invent new tech- tankers, refineries, distribution and retail chains. Interbit solves some of the problems that make nologies for the exploitation of renewable ener- Up to the distributors’ doorstep. some first technologies such as Bitcoin extremely gies and for the environmental protection. ww But the most revolutionary application for vulnerable: its architecture enables thousands of blockchains could be in the electrical market. blockchains per server to be activated and con- This in fact, is by its nature, much more distrib- nected to each other; thus hundreds of thousands Reprinted with permission from the energy webzine uted and will be even more so with the growth of transactions per second can be handled. This Eniday.com, a communication project of the Italian of domestic photovoltaics. Imagine an integrat- solution allows exchanges of all sizes: from small Oil and Gas company ENI www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 25 focus ww “ITALIAN LEADERSHIP IN AMERICA”: A SPECIAL VIDEO PROJECT CO-PRODUCED BY I-ITALY AND NIAF

ww Shot in Washington, D.C.

The project features a series of in-depth conversations with prominent leaders of Italian extraction in Washington, DC. It shows how much the Italian-American community has achieved, in so many different halls of power, in the nations’ capital. It also highlights that even the most accomplished Italian Americans are willing to share their Italian stories and acknowledge that their heritage is at the core of who they are. Featured in the first series: w Samuel Anthony Alito Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States w Patricia de Stacy Harrison President and chief executive officer of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Vice Chair of the NIAF Board of Directors. w Anthony Stephen Fauci Medical scientist and immunologist. Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. w Anita Bevacqua McBride Justice Samuel A. Alito. Executive-in-Residence at the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies in the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, DC. The Italian Side of the Story w Luigi Diotaiuti Award-winning chef-restaurateur. Founder of Al Tiramisu Restaurant in Washington, DC. Member Nominated to the Supreme Court of by Ottorino Cappelli of the State Department’s American Chef Corps. w Mario W. Cardullo the United States in October 2005, Your grandparents came to the US from Engineer, inventor and entrepreneur. Received the Justice Samuel Anthony Alito is the wwtwo small towns in Southern Italy, Roccella first patent for a passive, read-write Radio- Ionica, near Reggio Calabria; and Palazzo San frequency identification tag. highest-ranking Italian American in Gervasio, not far from Potenza in Basilicata. the US institutional establishment. In Have you ever visited your ancestral towns? to the parish church in Roccella Ionica, and the this interview lasting almost an hour, Not until I was an adult. My parents didn’t have pastor was very nice to us. He took out the books Justice Alito unveiled to us the a lot of money and didn’t do a lot of traveling; of the registries of birth where we found my fa- our vacations meant going to the beach in New ther’s birth record and my grandparents’ and my multifaceted aspects of his Italian Jersey. That’s about it. But my sister and I have great-grandparents’… experience, from his family roots to since gone, and I found it to be a very moving Palazzo San Gervasio, my mother’s town, made experience. My sister first went to the town where a striking impression on me. It was very beautiful; his life in college, from his first job my father’s family came from. At the time we you could look down and see the ocean. It’s up on a interview to visits to his ancestral had some very elderly cousins still living in the hill. It rises up out of the Mediterranean. Again, it area, so they took her to this house that was still was very steep and very dry and rocky. I don’t know towns to his feelings as he walks the standing out in the country. The house was made how they ever made it. … It’s a place where no tour- corridors of the Court alone at night. of stones. I think it was maybe two rooms. Beau- ist ever goes, so while we were walking around ev- tiful setting. Olive trees. But very dry, very rocky. eryone would look at us, you know, thinking, “Who Then I went back with my whole family to the two are these people walking around?” We attended towns, and it was very moving to me. We went mass at a church located on a hill right near the

26 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Justice Alito during our interview at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., in Spring 2016.

the furniture out on the sidewalk. And because he was the oldest child and spoke English, he was responsible for going around the neighborhood to find a new place for them to live. Despite these hardships, he was a very good student. He graduated near the top of his high school class. His family had no money to send him to college, so he took a job in a factory and that’s the course I guess his life would have taken had he not received a very small scholarship—I think it was $50—from someone in the community. That was enough to enroll in a local college, a three-year school to train teachers. The $50 was enough for him to pay the tuition and buy the used suit and shirt and tie that he needed to wear to class. That turned his life around.

Your father eventually taught English. But after he graduated from college he found out that, for an Italian American, teaching jobs were not easy to get.

No, they were not. Again, he was a very good student. He was one of the top students in his college and editor of the college newspaper, but it was not easy for him to be in college. I’ll tell you one little story. He had a course that required him to purchase a short book. He didn’t have the money, so he borrowed the book from the library and copied it all by hand. The professor saw this and took him aside after class and said, “Look, if you don’t have enough money to buy a short book like this, you really don’t belong in college.” Not what you’d call sympathetic!

You had a similar experience, didn’t you, during one of your first job interviews—

Well, by then things had changed. I haven’t experienced the kind of discrimination my parents experienced. But I once had an interview for a summer job with a law firm in Philadelphia, and this lawyer said to me—this was after I had graduated from Princeton and was at Yale law school— “Do you think you would really feel comfortable Justice Samuel A. working at our law firm? Because it is a very blue blood law firm…” That’s a very antiquated thing Alito on i-ItalyTV to say! So I didn’t take the job. Later on I became a Federal Court of Appeals judge in Philadelphia, and lawyers from this law firm were constantly ap- pearing before me. I thought that was an interest- remains of a Norman castle from, I think, the 12th Would it be reasonable to say they were, like ing turnaround. century. Doors were open during mass and there most Italian immigrants, poor? were dogs from town that came in. They attended Yet when you were nominated to the Supreme part of mass, then left! But it was very pleasant, My father did grow up in poverty, yes. His father Court in 2006 some of your opponents alluded really a very pleasant place. worked for the railroad, but he was out of work pe- to the “Italian factor” in a not-so-positive fash- riodically. His mother died when he was a teenager, ion. I remember NIAF and then president Ci- Both your parents’ families settled in Trenton, so the family was in a difficult position at the time ongoli coming out in your support. New Jersey, which is where you were born. of the Great Depression. There were a number of You grew up in a very Italian-American neigh- occasions when they were evicted from their home. Yes, it was a strange thing. It popped up and NIAF borhood in the nearby township of Hamilton. My father would come home from school and find was very helpful … I was opposed for lots of other www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 27 focus

Both of my parents are of Italian ancestry, but my ww Italian Americans have children are of half Italian ancestry, and if I have grandchildren there’s a fair chance that they could achieved success in every be 1/4 Italian and my great-grandchildren will be 1/8… This is a measure of the way in which Italians walk of life in the U.S. What have been integrated into broader American society. And there’s nothing bad about that. It’s a good concerns me is that their thing. What I’m concerned about is that the cultural history and hard experiences of Italians who cultural history and hard came to the US will be forgotten. It’s important to people as individuals because it is their heritage, experiences will be forgotten. but it’s also very important for the history of the United States, and I think it’s relevant to the issues It’s important to people as that we are grappling with right now.

individuals because it is There is yet another Italian connection in your story. In college you wrote your senior thesis on their heritage, but it’s also the Italian Constitutional Court. Some people say that even back then you expected to sit on very important for the the Court some day…

history of the United States. Well, I never really expected to get here! When I was in college I was very interested in the Supreme reasons, and that turned out not be one of the major lives their parents lived. That their parents had sold Court, yes, and I actually did get a little scholar- factors. Here’s the thing. Before I became a judge out, that they had become affluent by taking advan- ship during the summer to go to Italy to study the I was a federal prosecutor in New Jersey, and we tage of other people, that they were very material- Italian Constitutional Court, which is what I wrote handled, among other cases, a very big case involv- istic and status conscious … I didn’t feel that way my senior thesis on. So when I came back I was ing an Italian-American organized crime family. at all about my parents or about my family. They trying to write something humorous for my entry The case did not go well, and that’s what this was weren’t privileged. By that point they were solidly in the yearbook, and I wrote, “I dream of warming about, that somehow my office had not done what it middle class, but everything they had achieved they a seat on the Supreme Court.” But I never thought should have done, and people were trying to make had achieved on their own through hard work and it would happen until the moment when I received something of it. But such connections to the mafia self-sacrifice. So I thought that whole view of the the phone call saying that the President was go- have always haunted Italian Americans, this suspi- generation to which my parents belonged was false. ing to nominate me. It’s a wonderful privilege to cion that every Italian American must have some Perhaps it was true of some people in that genera- be here. connection to organized crime. It’s a hard thing tion, but certainly it wasn’t true of the people I knew. to shake. I think that was the primary thing. The other had to This enormous building is an impressive piece do with views of the United States. My parents were of neo-classic architecture. Don’t you feel it’s a Does it bother you? quite patriotic. My father had served for five years bit intimidating when you find yourself walking in the army during WWII, and this was the time these corridors, at night on your way home? It does bother me, because I think it’s very unfair of the Vietnam War, and most of the students were and influences the way people think. When they see opposed to the war, which I could understand. But Well, that’s exactly right. On a daily basis, when I’m someone with an Italian last name, the thought still to me that was a political disagreement with the coming to work, I don’t think about it. This is the crosses their minds. civilian leadership of the country, and to transfer place where I work; it’s my office. But sometimes, that to an antipathy toward the United States—or if I stay late, if the building is pretty much empty, You were also opposed for your conservative to blame the soldiers, ordinary soldiers who had and I walk through these corridors, it actually hits leanings, which seem to be related, if not to gone there, most of whom had been drafted—I me. “You are now a justice on the Supreme Court. your ethnic origin, to some broader values of thought that was very wrong. How did that ever happen…” But let me tell you one the community you grew up in. In the late 60s other thing about the building. It is a marble build- and early 70s, when you were a student at Princ- After the late Justice Scalia, you were the sec- ing, finished in 1935. We have a curator who keeps eton and Yale, you became rather critical of your ond Italian American to be nominated to the track of everything about the history of the court. fellow students “acting irresponsibly.” And this Supreme Court. Have you ever thought—as I asked her once if she had any information about contrasted, you later said, with the “good sense Mario Cuomo reportedly did upon becoming the men who built this building, because obviously and the decency of the people” back in your own Governor of New York—that the Italians had many of them were stonemasons, and at that time community. Would you elaborate a little on this “finally made it”? a high percentage of the stonemasons in the U.S. subject? were Italian—it was a craft that they had in Italy Italian Americans have achieved success in every and brought here. Unfortunately, she had no record At that time there was a feeling among a lot of col- walk of life in the United States, and I think that whatsoever of the men who built this building lege students who came from much more privileged everything is open to people of Italian ancestry now. during the Depression, but I imagine lots of backgrounds than I did that there was something What concerns me is that Italian Americans and Italian immigrants were involved in building wrong with their parents’ values and the kind of their descendants are going to forget their past. this structure. ww

28 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Matilda Raffa Cuomo and Amanda Cole during the their televised conversation for i-ItalyTV

ww OUR SPECIAL TV SERIES “Grandparents and Grandchildren in Italian America” (2016-2017) Matilda and Amanda, A Tale of Two Women

Matilda R. Cuomo and Amanda Cole on i-ItalyTV

In the first conversation of our series, Matilda and Amanda touched upon who, in the 1980s, was known as the great communicator of his party, believed by many to be everything from immigration to religion, from language to cooking and the only real man of presidential stature in the traveling in Italy. Their extraordinary talk culminated in an emotional and Democratic Party back then. At the same time all of his humanity was reflected in the faces of unscripted moment when grandmother and granddaughter decided to read a his wife and granddaughter, as well as in their letter written in 1999 by Governor Mario Cuomo, a kind of spiritual last will words. Like a real Italian grandfather. Below are a few brief excerpts, the full video can be seen at and testament for his thirteen granddaughters. www.iItaly.org. with Matilda Raffa Cuomo and Amanda Cole with her husband, Mario – was also special: the Immigrant stories two women seated on a sofa, behind them a cre- Amanda: I remember you telling me the story Despite the encumbrances of a TV crew, it denza topped with Italian mementos, a figurine of our two great grandmothers, who both came wwwas a rare treat to hear Matilda and Aman- of Pulcinella peeking out from behind a shelf. In here very young… da retrace their history, its ties to Italy and their the opposite room was Mario’s study, full of ob- Matilda: They were in their 20s … they both emotional memories. The place where the conver- jects, books, photographs. You couldn’t not sense had a very terrible trip, on the steerage in the bot- sation was shot – the house where Matilda lived the charismatic presence of the great politician tom of the ship. It was terrible. www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 29 focus

Amanda: That’s what blows me away, thinking saying “after 100 years, we finally did it” when he about how they physically got here. And then in became governor. But I remember you both tell- school learning about the conditions in the ships ing me the stories about how much Italians were that people did come across in, and the length of discriminated against … It’s just not the same to- that journey and how scary it must have been not day … and there are definitely other marginalized knowing where they were going or if you could groups. But did you feel it? … Did you personally even get in once you got here. feel growing up with Italian parents that you were Matilda: That’s right. And they both went to discriminated against? Ellis Island and they were completely examined Matilda: No. Because I lived in an Italian com- … And my mother would tell me the story of two munity, we were insulated. That was a good thing. young girls, two sisters… because they had a rash But then when they say that they didn’t treat the on their face, they made them go back. That’s Italian immigrants so well, it’s true. Also because how strict the rules were at that time… But you of the lack of language. know, they both had their first-born son here and they came to make a new life. They had an uncle. The Pope There’s always somebody who’s going to give them Amanda: You met the Pope… a little help in the family. So the family—like the Matilda: Yes, Pope Francis. [It was] the very Pope says, “la famiglia”—is very important. first time I have met a pope. I was in Naples on a The women of course … could not get a job at conference for Mentoring USA Italia and I heard that time. It was unheard of, you know, so they that there was to be a yearly celebration where would stay home and take care of the children. But was very difficult, there’s no doubt about it. … But the Pope had to come and speak to the people in the men [had] to get a job, and to speak English when my father came to this country … he loved Naples. And I mean there were 3,000 people, at as well as they could—and they couldn’t at first the freedom. … That you could do anything you least, if not more. And the Pope came and spoke. but they did, gradually. My father told me that wanted. “If you work hard, nobody will stop you,” It was something like a miracle to see him. He is they’d pick up some words to make themselves he said. “And if you have good ideas, use them, and the most humanitarian pope I could ever think understood, and they were lucky if they were nobody would stop you.” And you could reach for to meet. working with some Italian people so they could the stars… Amanda: What does the pope mean for Ital- at least understand each other. It wasn’t easy. It Amanda: I know that grandpa was quoted as ians? Because I know here—I had some friends ww Mario Cuomo “Spiritual Testament” A Letter to My Granddaughters

What follows are a few excerpts from a long letter in the first place. Others get past the struggle Mario Cuomo wrote for his granddaughters in then wander aimlessly as they approach the end, November 1999. As read by Cuomo’s grand- satisfying whatever appetites are left until there daughter Amanda Cole during her televised are no more appetites or no strength to feed conversation with grandma Matilda. them. They look for answers in the world around them, in the words of wiser people and the “I’m writing this letter to you, and all our other leadership of some heroic figure. But the answers granddaughters […] prove elusive. No Moses comes to them, and they At some point you will probably find that filling die without ever having an answer. Don’t let it your own basket with goodies, satisfying your happen to you. You don’t need another Moses… own winsome desires for personal comfort will not God knows how grand the world is and how small be enough to make you truly happy. we are. He’s not going to expect any miracles Chances are you will discover that to be fulfilled from you, all he asks is that you do what you can. you will have to lean on some fundamental belief If you rise to great power and are able to end a some basic purpose in life that gives you a sense war - or be a governor - or find a cure for cancer, of meaningfulness and significance, and that wonderful. But if the best you can do is comfort a answers the question: “Why were we born in the single soul in need of simple friendship, that’s first place?” Without an answer, all the wonderful too…If one does what one can to make accumulating of material goods can become things better, it’s all God will ask. It’s a job that nothing more than a frantic attempt to fill the you can work at every minute that you live, and space between birth and eternity. it’s a job that can make your life worth living, no […] matter what else happens. So live, learn, love. It happens to a lot of people who spend their And have a happy new millennium.” whole life so involved with the challenge of just staying alive in some decent condition that they don’t get to think much about why they were born — Grandpa Mario.

30 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org ww The First Two Seasons Grandparents & Grandchildren in Italian America This project explores the relationship between different generations of Italians in America and is narrated firsthand by the protagonists. Grandparents and grandchildren tell their stories in a conversation that touches on central issues concerning Italian identity.

First season (2016)

w Matilda Raffa Cuomo with Amanda Cole w Joseph Tusiani with Paola Tusiani who didn’t totally understand why we were mak- “Because the birth certificate says so.” w Aileen Riotto Sirey ing such a big deal, and I think that’s because reli- “Well, how do you know that they didn’t make a with Emma Bankier gion is not as popular among my generation, statis- mistake on the birth certificate?” w Rosaria Liuzzo tically. But when you were growing up, you know And that was it — to really shake an 8 year old with Mara Sparacino … What did the pope mean to you growing up? to truly understand that you don’t know what you w John P. Calvelli Matilda: Well, the pope is like the pinnacle don’t know! The lesson of that story to me is that with John D Calvelli of our religion. I mean, he is the speaking voice you have to always be open-minded and never feel from God to all of us, to give us lessons and the as if you know the right answer. For having the Second season (2017) beliefs that we should continue to hold… And we right answer isn’t the way to win an argument, isn’t happen to have one now who is a great humani- the way forward. w Joseph M. Mattone tarian and he understands that the basic unit of Matilda: All the time. That’s right. And to think with Michael all societies is the family. If you don’t take care of about it and come to your own solution. Mattone jr. your family, everybody suffers within that scope Amanda: Right, and he could argue any side and Lena Volpe of humanity. of an issue. And we are so unbelievably lucky to w Margaret Ricciardi actually have a moral compass, a grandpa who has with Laura Nonno Mario set our sense of what is right and what is wrong. Erikson Amanda: I’m sitting in his seat right now. And it’s so simple. He does so in a way that enables w Dino Clemente And this is the seat he would sit in every time any person, from any religion, or from no religion, with Saverio, you came into the house and I know that when anyone who’s just a human, to understand… A hu- Donato and I’d call him he’d be sitting in this seat — we just manist is what I like to refer to him as. Francesca have so many memories of sitting right here, the Matilda: He would be very happy to hear you Capolupo hours going by. say all this if he were here. w Louis R. Aidala Matilda: And you could ask him any question with Nicholas and he knew the answer. Never forget your heritage! and Julianna Amanda: Oh yes, of course. Or what I think Amanda: What is your lesson to your grand- Bambina was so amazing about him is that, when I was daughters today, your Italian American grand- w Fred Gardaphe younger, grandpa asked me how old I was, and daughters? What is one of the pieces of wisdom with Michelangelo I said “Eight.” And he said, “How do you know?” that you want to tell us? and Anthony And I: “Because it was just my birthday.” Matilda: Well, I think you should never Lomuto And he said, “But how do you know you were forget your heritage. I think that’s what you’ve turning 8?” learned since you were a little girl and I think “Because I was born 8 years ago.” that stays; as a grandparent I’m thrilled that Grandparents & Grandchildren in Italian America is co-produced by i-ItalyTV and ANFE and is sponsored by the “How do you know that?” all of you get that, you understand and you’re Ministerodegli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione “Because my parents told me.” faithful to your own heritage but you are open Internazionale, Direzione generale per gli italiani all’estero e le “How do you know your parents weren’t lying?” to the heritage of others. ww politiche migratorie. www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 31 Massimo Vignelli style on i-ItalyTV

ww Italian Design IN America. THE ICON (FALL 2013) Massimo Vignelli: ‘Design Is One’

This is the first of a series of by Letizia Airos That day I began by asking why Design vs. Vulgarity conversations with Massimo he’d left Milan. “Good design is responsible design. The first time I interviewed “It was too small,” he replied It expresses intellectual elegance Vignelli, which came to an wwhim, I entered his home gin- quickly and without hesitating, as rather than the contrary, vulgarity,” abrupt end with his passing gerly, almost afraid, having imag- if he had thought about it so many Massimo Vignelli used to say, with- ined the house would be a temple of times, “too provincial. The ceiling out a trace of aloofness or snobbery. in May 2014. A friend, and a design. Turns out, it was a temple. was too low. I came to New York He was punctilious, yes, but great designer, Massimo The light poured through a huge thinking that the ceiling would be never boring. He believed in dis- window and extended into an elon- higher here, only to discover that cipline but not in dogma; he was worked in a wide range of gated living room. here the ceiling doesn’t exist at all!” disciplined and dynamic, flexible fields, including interior I will never forget it. The silence His answer marked the begin- and coherent, even if he spoke his was profound but it was as if music ning of our friendship. Now I know. own language. design, environmental had just been playing in the back- In a few incisive words Massimo He championed the cleanest, design, package design, ground, maybe Mozart… At the end helped me understand my own de- simplest approach to design. of the room, on the left, was a big cision to live in New York. I vividly remember talking to graphic design, furniture black desk. There was a metal sheet, It was a short (regrettably) but him about a change he made to design, and product design. the kind used to cover roadwork intense relationship. I spent a lot his own house. I find analyzing the in New York… only he could have of time with him as his friend – an personal choices of a designer is He left behind traces of thought of using it to draw on. Seat- honor for me – and as a journalist. the best way to fully investigate his Italy in New York and ed around his desk, we taped our That’s how I had the good fortune thinking. first interview. It was there – though to realize some of the conversations Books covered his living room throughout the world. I didn’t know it yet – that we would that appeared periodically, frag- table. Lots of books. I was stunned have other long, timeless chats… ments of which here follow. to discover that Vignelli had fig-

32 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org The famous “Intervista” armchair was designed by Massimo and Lella Vignelli in the late 1980s for TG2, a new television news program of RAI (produced by Poltrona Frau) ured out how to restore order to ww that space “with a beautiful hidden I love my work bookcase” he’d seen at Ikea! No high-end designers? I asked. because ‘design is Just a piece of furniture from Ikea that anyone can afford? one.’ It’s one profes- “Yes,” he answered. “You can find excellent design pieces there! sion, one attitude. Good, clean designs made with a minimum amount of labor and As Italians, we have great modularity. That’s how you do design.” a long history of ‘My style is minimalist’ codifying design in Here I am, remembering – a little nostalgically – the time I stood in this way. front of his hidden bookcases, in a space where every contour had been thought out, including the tables; I designed the books I often profile of its owner and architect. read. I live in a space almost com- “Beautiful, huh?” said Massimo. pletely designed by me, with few “My style is minimalist. Every lan- exceptions.” guage has its own rules; everyone has his own style and rules. That’s From Europe to America why every house is different. My “I love my work because ‘design is style is more minimalist. You need one,’” he used to say with an unmis- to keep subtracting until you’re left takable smile. “It’s one profession, with something.” The bookcases one attitude. As Italians, we have a from Ikea were a case in point. long history of codifying design in this way. It has existed for centu- Design Is One ries. It was the same for Leonardo Everything about the house of Mas- da Vinci. In Italy, after the war, we simo and Lella Vignelli suggested had to do everything ... architects a life devoted to design, an intel- like myself did everything... The lectual journey culminating in his discipline was the same. The way famous slogan: “Design is one.” of thinking, coming up with solu- What does that mean in lay- tions, was always the same. The man’s terms? I asked. mental process was the same and “Design Is One was the title of the mental process was discipline. my lecture,” said Vignelli. “The idea This didn’t exist in American goes back to the Viennese [Adolf] culture. American culture is a cul- Loos, who believed that an archi- ture of specialization. Ours, on the ww In defense of female architects tect must know how to make every- other hand, is a culture of general- thing, from a spoon to a city. Loos ists. Specialists didn’t arrive in Eu- “Designed by Lella” was against specialization because rope till later. So in 1977 America, specialization led to entropy and architecture faced a crisis. In Italy “Female architects have often been entropy led to the end of creativity. we thought, ‘But in Europe archi- relegated —by assumptions, by the media, Indeed, you must be able to design tects do everything! Not just houses by ignorance or arrogance—to supporting everything—furniture, graphics, but furniture!’ That’s how I got my roles, even when they shared the position packaging, agendas, books, even start in America, doing the same of partner,” writes Vignelli in the book he the clothes I’m wearing.” thing we did in Europe.” edited and dedicated to his wife and Vignelli shared that belief with life-long professional parte, Designed by: his lifelong companion, designer Educating Clients Lella Vignelli. Lella Vignelli, whose masterpieces And did that notion give rise to the “The supporting role of the woman architect has often been created by the have yet to be properly recognized. concept of coordinated images, on macho attitudes of her male partner” he writes. “Most of the glory went to “Lella has designed amazing which you based your relationship the men (not accidentally) while the women, as partner architects, found that jewelry,” said Vignelli. “We designed with clients? their role was dismissed or totally ignored.” Massimo has always wanted to what I’m wearing. I designed the “Yes, the total coordination of an create a brand that presented the couple together. But it wasn’t always easy: watch too. We’ve designed every- image is essential. One image for “For years our office sent our work to magazines properly credited. For years thing in our house, the chairs, the everything, from the logo of a mu- they only gave me the credit.” www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 33 Massimo Vignelli designing a tri-color Fiat 500 for i-Italy. Massimo worked hours pro bono on this project turning our little company car into “something nobody has designed yet.” A sign of friendship and appreciation we will never forget. Below: FIAT President John Elkann at the inauguration of our car. Giovanni Colavita, style sponsor of the i-Italy 500 project, shakes hands with Massimo Vignelli seum to its catalogues to the exhibi- ww tions. Or for a company. You begin Still today, a with the logo to get to the product, the letterhead, the packaging, the fashion video is shot store, the displays.” In Vignelli’s opinion, a system of in Piazza di visual identity allows something to differentiate itself and become un- Spagna—yet it is mistakably recognizable. Not many clients caught on screened at a trade when Vignelli first explained this notion to them. Today it has be- show in Milan come common wisdom. Designers, Not Artists I once asked him what the differ- in the late ‘80s by TG2, then a ence was between an artist and a budding news show on Italian TV, designer. whose first set Vignelli designed. As “[Artists] are the opposite of he himself tells it: designers. Design is always bound “It became the famous Studio by its relationship to others. Self- 10: pearl-grey with a zinc floor, 32 expression is the job of artists. The monitors and two red armchairs artist answers to no one. The de- in the foreground. This was a new signer always answers to someone. invention, a new way to broadcast A client, the public. If you want to the news (and a departure from the make a fork, you have to make a anchorman format). The armchair fork someone can eat with, not one was called “Intervista”; an evolu- that makes it impossible to eat. You tion of the bucket-style chair, it was can’t make a knife that’s just a blade carefully designed for maximum or just a handle, because striking comfort and a posture that does the right balance of blade and han- not alter the tone of voice. dle is essential to using it. The first It is an example of how a project part involves the object itself, the can morph into a communicative, next involves who is making the ob- not to mention political, tool.” ject. That doesn’t mean that there’s no room for invention, of course, Designers, not Stylists but there are restrictions.” I’m pleased to conclude with this brief (too brief!) remembrance of Traces in New York Vignelli with another answer that New York speaks Massimo Vignel- struck me deeply when I first heard li’s language. Many will remember him tell it and speaks volumes the famous subway map he de- about his rigor. signed for the MTA in the 1970s, When asked about the differ- whose rigorous features could not ence between designers and styl- be superimposed on a map of the ists, he replied: city because its stops didn’t corre- “Everything depends upon spond. (It was replaced by a more method. For example, when a realistic if less elegant drawing fashion designer creates a style, he years later.) doesn’t follow a designer’s meth- But there are plenty of other od. He follows a stylist’s. Styling places in New York – not to men- is futile, disposable. Design is not. tion museums – that speak Vi- Design is timeless. And that’s why gnelli’s language, including spaces, it’s facing a crisis, not design itself, objects, posters, furniture. but the mechanism behind it... A One important trace can be lot of young people think they’re found in Soho’s Italian design dis- doing design when they’re really trict. Poltrona Frau’s showroom stylists. They don’t understand produced many works, including the mental process of design. They the very famous and still modern think the answer to a situation is “Intervista” chair, commissioned to restyle it.” ww

34 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Stefano Albertini interviews Renzo Piano at his office in Manhattan, just steps away from the new Withney Museum (below)

ww Italian Design. THE LEADER (SUMMER 2015) The Italian Who Is Reshaping New York Renzo Piano is probably the most prominent and popular architect in the world, even if I hesitate to call him an architect tout court; that would limit the scope of what he does. He is actually reshaping New York City more than any other architect alive today. His buildings include the New York Times office, the renovated Morgan Library, the Whitney, and a very important project currently underway for Columbia University. We met him just after the inauguration of the new Whitney Museum, Stefano Abertini and right across the street from his studio here in New York… Renzo Piano on i-ItalyTV by Stefano Albertini* and coexistence. But when you’re constructing a building, you have Let’s start with the Whitney. to be careful not to put the building wwIt was just inaugurated this right there, on the ground. If you set morning with a much anticipated, it on the ground then there’s no place very crowded event. How do you left. This building flies. Well, it doesn’t feel now that it’s over? actually fly – especially not a building that weighs 28,000 tons. But it goes This morning was, as usual, difficult. “boing,” it levitates. The reasoning be- When you finish a job as an architect, hind that isn’t aesthetic; we wanted to it’s very nice but it’s also sad, because make the building accessible. Socially you feel a little like a father or a moth- speaking, you need to give the city its er when your child goes away. Until space. The building isn’t intimidat- this morning that building belonged ing. It welcomes everybody, just like to the people making the building: ar- a piazza. chitects, engineers, builders. And now it belongs to the rest of the world. The What about having terraces on the building is really a new space for the different floors of the building? Are people. I don’t even call the lobby a they part of the same concept? lobby; I call it a piazza. It’s like a piazza, a largo, the Italian word for a broad The building actually stretches east street. A piazza is a nice concept be- toward the city. I wanted the build- cause that’s where everything begins. ing to flirt with New York. The terraces are really a place to enjoy life, It’s a concept lacking in American to loiter, to take your time as you cities. wander up and down the building. So the terraces were placed on the east I don’t know if it’s lacking here, but it’s side, where the sun comes up, where certainly a very strong Italian, Euro- the city is. The other side is the op- pean idea. It’s a part of Europe’s his- posite. The building is talking to the tory and it’s a place where diversity is highway. That’s good; the city is mov- valued. The piazza is about tolerance ing. And then you have the river, the www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 35 The terraces of Renzo Piano’s new Withney Museum style ww An architect can’t experience a city as a tourist would. You have to know the city, you have to be what you are doing. In New York you have to be a New Yorker. Not pretend to be a New Yorker but be one. You have to listen to the spirit of the City.

Far West, New Jersey, the rest of the ww The new Whitney way, its success may be a bit too much Los Angeles, you must become a Cali- world. Way out in the distance is Los to handle, so we have to be careful. Yet fornian. In New York you have to be a Angeles, and if you look carefully, you is a building that New York has a tough character, so I New Yorker. Not pretend to be a New can even see the Far East. That’s the think it will be fine. The High Line is Yorker but be one. You have to listen idea: one side of the building talks to welcomes every- a very popular place, the park on the to the spirit of the City. the city and the other side talks to the Hudson is fundamental, and soon the I love working here. And of course rest of the world. body, just like a buildings in front of the Whitney will working on the Whitney was great, come down and this will become a but we are also working on the ex- One of the most innovative things piazza. It’s a very park. But the museum is a very im- tension of Columbia University on about the museum is the way in portant element. The Whitney houses Broadway and 125th. And that’s a very which the light comes in. You sort Italian concept. the history of American art. All art is big commitment. We’re inventing an of direct the light. free, but American art is particularly urban campus for the 21st Century. free, a bit wild, a bit impolite. It’s all An urban campus is a completely dif- Architecture is all about light, espe- into a workshop in which you had about freedom and strength. I am ferent story; it’s not about putting a cially when you’re designing a mu- about 30 architects working on the slightly worried about this place be- fence around a college. It’s more open, seum, because museums are about theme of peripheries: how to make coming too fashionable, too much more accessible, while still defending viewing works of art. Of course the top them better, how to make them liv- about the ephemeral—yet I imagine the dignity of a campus. We are also floor is naturally lit from above and on able. Would you say they’re the real it will be fine. building a school of art that’s nearly the other floors the light comes from frontier of architecture? complete, a conference center and the sides. Light is probably the most What’s your relationship to New many other buildings. The idea is to immaterial yet most important mate- Defining the relationship between the York? Do you like working here? invent an urban campus that mixes rial in architecture. center and the periphery is a constant How do you reshape a city while at academic life with city life, so that preoccupation. Peripheries are not the same time remaining faithful to the campus doesn’t become a kind of Absolutely. This area used to be suburbs. A suburb is a kind of white, its original character? “happyland.” the outskirts of New York, the drab place. But the real problem with Architecturally speaking, you can’t meatpacking district. Now it’s a peripheries is that they desire to be- Well, you don’t work in a city to rely on making Roman or Gothic or new center of the City. This theme come urban, and they should. They change the city. Honestly, that’s going Greek-style buildings anymore; you is very dear to you, finding ways must become real urban spaces. But a bit too far. An architect can’t expe- have to speak our language, you have to change the outskirts. I under- at the same time, you must be care- rience a city as a tourist would. You to be contemporary. ww stand that when you were made a ful not to transform city centers into have to know the city, you have to be “life senator” by the President of shopping centers. This is one of the what you are doing. When you work * Associate Professor of Italian and the Republic in Italy, you trans- problems that exists in transforma- in Berlin, you must become a Berliner. Director of Casa Italiana Zerilli- formed your study in the senate tion, particularly in West Chelsea. In a When you work in San Francisco or Marimò of the New York University.

36 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org ww Italian Design. THE DREAM MAKER (SPRING 2016) Flavio Manzoni: Synergic Design Thinking

How is a new Ferrari born? by Letizia Airos honor of working with legendary You direct the Ferrari Style Center, We asked Ferrari Design brand, cherished the world over? which was created in 2010 as an Geneva. Motor Show. Inside Or is it the challenge of working operating branch within the Ma- head Flavio Manzoni. wwthe “salon of salons” of Eu- on such a sophisticated and effi- ranello factory. What does it do? Synergy between rope’s automobile industry, the at- cient “technological body?” mosphere is electrifying. The occa- We work on the development, designers, engineers, and sion is not to be missed by those em- I think the prestige that comes style, and construction of models technicians, he says, is at ployed in the industry as well as car with designing a Ferrari depends and prototypes. We’re “in-house” lovers who are happy just to dream on both. First of all, there’s the very and work closely with the various the heart of the famous in the passenger seat. This year the powerful and deep-seated symbolic engineering departments. We also Maranello automaker’s dream of dreams, as far as Italy is value that the Ferrari brand repre- have a “modeling” department and concerned, is once more linked to sents in the collective imagination, an area dedicated to visualizing vir- continued success. At Ferrari. The legendary manufac- which is reinforced by the leader- tual models. Ferrari Design they have turer’s new design miracle marries ship role Ferrari has long played [Founding the Center] is a sig- innovation and technique. in the world of automobiles. Sec- nificant chapter in Ferrari’s recent adopted a special method Yet again ushering this new crea- ond, and just as important, are the history, which has now united the that allows designers to ture—the Ferrari GTC4 Lusso—is technical and performance require- ascribable competencies in the cre- Flavio Manzoni, the Sardinian- ments of these cars, which lead to ative-design field with an important step outside their purely born designer and Ferrari’s Senior a series of particularly limiting operating function that is always stylistic roles and have a Vice President of Design. We sat restrictions. That’s the real chal- growing. The goals of the new de- down to talk to our old friend whom lenge for architects and designers. partment include responding to the say in selecting projects, we’ve had occasion to see several Every new car emerges from an diversification of production models the common goal being the times in New York. We couldn’t let awareness of which technical ele- in series and limited-edition series; him speed off without finding out ments will meld with a design. We fostering tailor made automobiles; manufacture of excellence. how the latest Italian design came are constantly working on highly contributing to the development of to be and where it will take us. complex subjects, but that’s key to an innovative language and rock-sol- designing a Ferrari: it originates id brand identity that is in step with Designing a Ferrari is the finish from the configuration of all the the importance assigned to aesthetic line every car designer dreams components and technological as- beauty as one of the determining fac- of crossing. Why is that? Is it the pects that come into play. tors of Ferrari’s DNA. www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 37 Flavio Manzoni. Previous page: Manzoni’s sketches for the F150 style

You mean synergic design. The de- Technology, sportsmanship, inno- signers at the Ferrari Style Center vation, research, aesthetics, beauty, do more than just “stylize”… memory, passion: they’re recurring terms, distinct yet complementary Exactly. Ferrari Design’s proximity categories. What is it that holds to the company’s other departments, them all together? What is the in particular the Development Cen- “Ferrari mood” (to use a particu- ter, facilitates sharing tasks and ex- larly trendy expression)? What is changing information. That inter- the mood behind every automobile, action allows my team of designers enclosed with each new product? to step outside their purely stylistic roles, which could be reductive, and The elements on your list can’t have a say in selecting projects, with a be divorced from each other. They common goal being to make an excel- form part of the path the company lent product. has embarked on and continues One of the peculiar things about to advance with new stimuli and Ferrari Design’s modus operandi goals. Every Ferrari can be seen in is that very synergy established be- three different ways. The first is con- tween designers, engineers, and nected to context, to Maranello and technicians. That dialogue often the surrounding area, to the spaces complements the proposals of spe- we live and work in, to the people cialists in different fields. Therefore, we meet. Some means of still invok- the job of the designer is to connect ing the charismatic personality and technical requirements with formal presence of its founder, Enzo Fer- requirements, and simultaneously rari. Then there’s the creative aspect, develop a digital 3-D model and “a the kind that turns the blueprint of real” one, in a fruitful commingling a car into a truly artistic and techni- of state-of-the-art technology and cal experience, actual and industrial. manual labor. It’s a fascinating mod- Last but not least, there’s its design, el for work based on an idea you’ve which, broadly speaking, consists in expressed before: the visual arts and a designer’s depth of thinking as well design—taken at their fullest mean- as sensibility and attitude. ing—are closely related and share the same roots. So, tradition meets innovation. That typical Italian combo – charac- In your professional experience, teristic of a country with such a long how have you combined creative roles to our advantage. That flexibil- himself faced with. It’s a roundabout history and a creative bent recognized invention and technical planning? ity enriches everyone involved, from path. Not infrequently, technological around the world – lies at the heart of a professional and human standpoint. and regulatory aspects, or production the Ferrari legend. That explains why Tackling complicated technical A new Ferrari design is sparked by an needs, generate creative solutions that Ferrari remains at the top of the de- questions and interacting with engi- awareness and understanding of tech- are important not just aesthetically, but sign world, the leader of the evolution neers and aerodynamics specialists is nical restrictions that the designer finds also on a functional level. of the automobile in the 21st century, all in a day’s work for the Ferrari De- with one eye on the past and one eye sign team. Our Style Center was built aimed at the future. ww to be flexible and foster exchanging

38 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Gaetano Pesce interviewed and filmed in his atelier-studio in Soho by the i-Italy crew ww Italian Design. THE PROVOCATEUR (SPRING 2014)

Provocation, for example. Gaetano Pesce: Time, Diversity, About “Italy on the Cross,” his ir- reverent installation that sparked arguments and set off polemics in and out of his home country, and Provocation Pesce notes: “It’s a response to everything that is happening in Italy in the public realm… It’s Maestro of Italian design about an Italy that is struggling Gaetano Pesce invites us and should be looking at the enormous potential of the modern and into his atelier-studio in contemporary world. Look at what Soho. Our conversation Apple did. It ushered the future into the present and injected the touches upon the work world with something that helps that has earned him inter- us communicate.” Pesce also talked about the national renown, and the formative time of his life. “I was fine line between art, a student of architecture and already part of the world of art… architecture, and design. I hung out with designer Milena Vettore. She was at the school of industrial design in Venice and by ALS and MT she opened up my mind… through her I met Cesare Cassina, a busi- Born in 1939, Gaetano Pesce nessman with whom I founded wwsports oval glasses and a se- the Bracciodiferro design team. rious smile. He glides with ease He invited us to do research and in his hotbed of colors and ideas, experiment in his factory.” “Cas- a large space where the floor- sina had foresight,” continues boards creak and the windows Pesce. “He did a lot for Italian de- face Broadway. The old building sign. I learned a lot from him. For in Soho was once home to artists example, that culture in our day and their studios. The designer and age is ‘short’; it doesn’t try to sits on “Notturno a New York,” span long historical periods and one of his emblematic objects, a its values don’t last very long. Our crescent moon for a backrest and age is composed of contradictions. polyurethane skyscrapers for arm- Its contents emerge and vanish rests that form a New York City quickly.” nightscape. The city is dear to “Generally speaking, we’re at him, yet “even if it’s the capital of an impasse in history because the world, [he] can’t stay here for things get repeated, more or less, more than two weeks. It gets too and there’s not much innovation. repetitive,” he explains. “I’m lucky I think that the way to rejuvenate enough to have a job that permits the world might be to pass the me to travel a lot. And that gives torch to women. They are more me the right balance of this city.” dedicated, committed, and ac- The objects in his studio look tive. Their psychological dexterity like fragments of history, little tes- comes very close to the dexterity of serae tracing Pesce’s past, present, our age. Men made extraordinary and future. Time, diversity, error, things in the past. Today they’ve the female figure—these are just exhausted their energy and devote some of the subjects that stoke our Gaetano Pesce their time to trifles…There are ex- conversation in a studio that is lit- ceptions, naturally.” erally swallowed up by his paint- on i-ItalyTV On the subject of the transi- ings and sculptures. tion from old to new, Pesce talked www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 39 Bottom, right: Gaetano Pesce, Portait. Left, clockwise: “Sunset in New York” Photo Paul Barbera “Italy on the Cross” Model, 2011 Photo Sebastian Piras (courtesy of Gaetano Pesce’s Office). Maestro Pesce’s atelier-studio in Soho.. style about his project at the MAXXI be greeted by about 40 screens four months course of the exhibi- ww Museum in Rome. The exhibit— showing still images. Every screen tion, it will melt and dissolve. But Error is a big part a major retrospective that will will ask a question. One might ask the drops will fall in a bucket and run from June 20 to October 26 which country doesn’t allow wom- create a sound since there will be of being human. Men [2014] and represents an impor- en to drive cars alone. Visitors, if sensors that multiply the sound tant step towards recognizing his they want, will get the chance to and make us feel time differently.” and women are work in Italy—is called “Il tempo answer a whole slew of questions. Another provocation? “Yes, della diversità” (The Time of It’s a kind of provocation aimed that’s what art is—provocation. meant to be different Diversity). at thinking about a very vital, rel- But provocation isn’t an end in “I think that once we have evant problem.” itself. It should push people to from machines, not to become diverse we want to com- Besides diversity, the other evolve…” municate. And it’s right to do so. subject that comes up again and Before we leave his New York be perfect. People are That’s what the name of the ex- again in Pesce’s art is time. The studio brimming with ideas, the hibit means.” The subject of di- subject has always fascinated him. artist shows us some of his resin wrong to try to do versity, explains Pesce, leads us “Another work shown in the retro- sculptures, The Jewels of Gaeta- directly to the subject of men and spective will, I hope, elicit strong no Pesce. “Despite the fact that things perfectly. They women. “I’ve been working on this feelings,” says the designer. “The it’s relatively poor material,” he idea for 45 years and I wanted last part of the exhibit is an instal- explains, “resin can be decora- say that error is vile to celebrate it by showing how lation about time. A 25’ x 25’ room tive. These aren’t jewels that look things have changed in the inter- with 20’ ceilings, like a walk-in re- back to the past. They say that a and evil, but I don’t im. Women still suffer from male frigerator, will be set at a tempera- jewel can be made out of humble prejudice. The exhibit will mostly ture of 33 degrees. You can enter materials…” Bracelets, necklaces see it that way. speak to that problem. There will inside and look around. It looks and brooches, soft and sinous to be a 26-foot tall armchair outside like a sun or an enormous clock the touch, capture the light. Their What’s evil is the museum, in the piazza. People of ice suspended, forming drops shimmer enchants anyone with will be able to enter it and they’ll of water. The point is that, in the eyes to look. ww repeating one’s errors.

40 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Ingrid Bergman in Roberto Rossellini’s Europa ‘51. Costume design by Fernanda Gattinoni Below: Stefano Dominella. ww THE Italian FASHION SERIES (Spring 2016) When Rome Was Italy’s Film and Fashion Capital

From Florence on down, two cities is regularly rekindled craftsmanship reigns. Up in the media, in talk show polemics, and even among politicians. north is the reign of But what was Italy like before the finance, industry, and industrial revolution altered the country’s makeup? And why does media, with Milan at the the image of Rome as the country’s helm. And at the center capital still reign supreme in the international imagination long presides Rome, like a classy after its propulsive force has been patrician, the ancient exhausted? We’ll begin here. capital of Italian couture. The Movie Industry Myth of Leading us on this first Rome and Haute Couture Our story begins at the end ww Meet Stefano Dominella installment of a multipart of World War II, after the allied trip to the heart of Made in troops disembarked in Sicily and Guiding, Marketing and the partisan groups mobilized in Italy is a doyen of the the center-north to liberate the Managing Haute Couture fashion world. country from the fascist regime. Italy exits the global conflict rav- Stefano Dominella is the President of Maison aged by bombs and reduced to Gattinoni Couture; President of the Textiles, Attire, shambles. But one of the indus- Fashion and Accessories Department at Unindustria; by Stefano Dominella tries to land on its feet was the Member of the Scientific & Organizational citadel of cinema, Cinecittà, which Committee for the Archives of 20th c. Fashion Once upon a time, Rome was was built by the fascists on the Project sponsored by ANAI, the State Cultural wwthe capital of Italian fashion. outskirts of Rome in the 1930s. Heritage Authority; Technical Director of the Istituto Modartech di Pontedera; In a certain sense it still is. Rome is (The regime was conscious of the Media Lecturer in “Fashion and Costume Design Studies” in the Literature the capital of haute couture. Even importance of mass media, then- Department at Rome’s Sapienza University; Media Lecturer at the Italian today, if you had to shoot a fashion dominated by radio and film.) Academy of Rome and Florence; Media, Fashion Styling and Marketing video, you’d shoot it in Piazza di After the war, Cinecittà managed Strategy Lecturer at the Maria Maiani Academy of Rome; Media and Marketing Spagna, because the global imagi- to attract major international pro- Strategy Lecturer at the Accademia del Lusso campuses in Rome and Milan; nation links couture to the Eternal ducers who helped the world dis- Director of the Master’s Program in Luxury and Fashion Management at the City. However, that video would cover the city, and Italy. University of Rome’s Link Campus; and Lecturer of Marketing and Media be screened at a gala in Milan. A key feature of Cinecittà was, Strategy at the IED (European Design Institute) in Rome. Since 2011, he has That’s where major international on the one hand, its avant-garde hosted the feature “Moda di moda” every Wednesday as part of the program prêt-à-porter buyers gather. That’s facilities, and on the other, its “I Fatti Vostri” airing on RAI 2. Stefano Dominella was President of Alta Roma where the major ventures ruling ability to employ craftsmen who from 2002 to 2007. With director of Vogue Italia Franca Sozzani, he co-created the fashion industry reside. That’s had honed their skills in tradi- “Who’s on next?” an international competition for young designers. He has also where luxury Made in Italy brands tional artisanal workshops. An designed and directed several exhibitions, including Elegenza del Cibo: Tales are broadcasted. So is Milan the entire production fleet assembled about Food and Fashion for Expo 2015, which debuted in Rome and was later new capital of Italy? Many believe around Cinecittà, from set design- presented in Milan, Hanoi and New York. so. And the rivalry between the ers to editors, which cost far less [For more information visit: www.stefanodominella.com] www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 41 style than Hollywood. International di- ww rectors and producers recognized Still today, a the convenience, Cinecittà earned the nickname “Hollywood on the fashion video is Tiber,” and Rome became an international beacon of the entertain- shot in Piazza di ment world. Over the next two decades, Spagna—yet it is roughly forty American films were shot in Cinecittà, including his- screened at a trade toric works with huge budgets and thousands of extras, like King Vi- show in Milan. dor’s War and Peace (1955), Rob- ert Wise’s Helen of Troy (1956) and William Wyler’s Ben Hur (1959). But productions often left the citadel to infiltrate the city and manufacture Italian style dreams, like Wyler’s Roman Holiday (1953), which launched the cinemato that would be cemented by Fellini in his multi-award winning film La Dolce Vita (1960). As major production companies and international stars poured into Rome, followed by VIPs and paparazzi, the fashion ateliers grew larger and more sophisticated. The famous Sorelle Fontana atelier provided the designs for Luciano Emmer’s film In the 1950s and 1960s, large Three Girls from Rome. Fernanda American retailers like Saks, Nei- Gattinoni, who dressed the major man Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, stars on the sets and in private— and Bloomingdales discovered Italy such as Anna Magnani, Ingrid the same way we have discovered Bergman, Audrey Hepburn, Lana China today: as a supplier of good Turner, and Kim Novak—was Os- raw materials and quality crafts- car nominated for Best Costume manship at bargain prices. These Design for War and Peace. Fashion retailers would purchase a design and film were born and developed in Paris and have it reproduced together. And all that, could only in places like Carpi, in Emilia Ro- have happened in Rome. magna, and other small Italian cities from Umbria to Piedmont. Out The Chinese Origins of Italian of these rural areas with a long his- Fashion tory of craftsmanship, small family But Cinecittà and haute couture businesses were born; while the have something else in common: head of the family worked for the they promoted not industrial but railroad or in the fields, his wife and craft-based systems of produc- daughters would buy a loom and set families would offer them their own prêt-à-porter was born. Paradox- tion. They are rooted in small to work for foreign fashion brands. collections! Those families that ically, the relationship with cou- workshops and individual creativ- Several Italian clothing com- succeeded in launching their prod- ture fashion, and therefore with ity, and combine artistic intuition panies were created as a result of ucts would go on to create brands Rome, was still crucial, even if the with skilled labor. That is reflective this travail à façon. Craft work- now famous around the world, like process developed in such a way as of Italy in general, historically and shops were first transformed into Ferretti, Iceberg, and MaxMara in to rob Rome of its standing as the culturally speaking. In the two de- small family-owned producers to Emilia Romagna, and Loropiana capital of Italian fashion. cades after the war, the country’s avoid foreign job costs. Then the and Zegna in Piedmont. The opening of the first bou- industrial failings, especially in know-how they acquired was used tiques was the harbinger of this the South, became, in a sense, the to produce their own collections. The first Italian prêt-à-porter shift. Before then, clothes were engine of development. Including And when retailers came to pick up is born. But then… hand-stitched and tailor-made. in the field of fashion. the goods they had ordered, these That is how the first Italian The rich shopped in the big ate-

42 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Photo spread: Campidoglio, Rome: An ad for Gattinoni Couture Photo: Paolo Belletti. Opposite page (left to right): Ingrid Bergman attends a fashion show; Audrey Hepburn and Anita Ekberg on the set of War and Peace. Below: An ad for Giorgio Armani featuring Rome. Photo: Paolo Belletti Below (clockwise): Scenes from cult films shot in Rome: War and Peace; Roman Holiday; La Dolce Vita; Three Girls from Rome.

lier for the factory. It was Albini clothing industry in general—to who, in the early 1970s, had the make a splash not only on movie intuition to bring together various screens and in the villas of VIPs, specialized craftsmen to work on but on the foreign mass market. a single stylistic project and cre- If Rome was the aristocratic capi- ate a unique collection with “two tal of high fashion that inspired lines”: the first a limited edition the dreams of the masses, Milan cutting-edge design, and the sec- was now the democratic capital ond, more affordable, destined for of prêt-à-porter that dressed the wider distribution. No less impor- masses. tant, Albini presented some of his It was a major marketing and first collections not in Rome or advertising operation, a modern Florence but in Milan, the heart of science that therefore spoke the industrial Italy. language of the north, of business, of, in short, Milan. While From Rome to Milan: The Rome—where the ateliers were Industrialization of Fashion closing, overwhelmed by mass In fact, back then Milan was production—remained the lead- liers and everyone else resorted But the real father of prêt-à- the only place in Italy with the er of haute couture and spoke to their local tailor or the super- porter was Walter Albini, a tragic financing, production, and com- the language of art and crafts- intendent’s wife or their grand- figure who died very young, though mercial capabilities needed to run manship—a warm, southern, and mother. Boutiques changed all not before making an indelible a wide-scale operation. And it was slightly traditional language. And that. Now you could find very mark on the history of Italian fash- in Milan where new talents like that is why today, as I said at the elegant, readymade clothes at a ion. Albini, who studied at the In- Armani, Versace, and Kizia began beginning, a fashion video is shot much lower price. Luisa Spagnoli stitute of Art, Design and Fashion to concentrate. They were the in- in Piazza di Spagna yet screened would buy from big couture labels in Turin, and began publishing his dustrial stylists who, in the 1970s at a gala for international buyers like Sorelle Fontana, Gattinoni, sketches for couture fashion shows and 80s, would use prêt-à-porter in Milan. and Schubert, and then produce in Rome and Paris at the age of 17, to launch the myth of Made in It- The next stop on our trip will two or three hundred articles of was the first Italian “stylist.” As a aly worldwide. They were the ones therefore pick up in Milan, today’s clothing for the boutiques. stylist, he would abandon the ate- who led Italian fashion—and the industrial capital of Italy. ww www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 43 Jhumpa Lahiri in Rome. Opposite page: with Stefano Albertini at Casa bookshelf Italiana Zerilli-Marimò (NYU)during their televised conversation for i-ItalyTV

ww PROMOTING ITALIAN LANGUAGE IN THE WORLD (FALL 2016 ) Jhumpa Lahiri’s Love Story with Italian

Jhumpa Lahiri’s acclaimed by Stefano Albertini No. But for me there’s no such thing as needing a new language, a different In Other Words is an a mother tongue, and that’s the crux language, a language of my own You were born in London of it. My search for a language to call choosing. autobiographical work w wto Bengali parents, yet you my own, the draw of Italian, stems written in Italian where she write in English and Italian. What from that. That’s my theory. Even if Tabucchi has an analogous story. language did you speak growing Italian isn’t, for obvious reasons, my As an Italian, he embraced Por- investigates the process of up? language. But it’s something I desire. tuguese, which was so integral to learning to express oneself And the reason the book opens with him that he became a Portuguese- I always spoke Bengali at home and a quote from Antonio Tabucchi about language writer. Latin is also partly in another language and English out of the house. I grew up responsible for your choice to take describes the journey of a straddling two languages without ww For me there’s no up Italian. knowing either perfectly well, and writer seeking a new voice. I never felt American. For various such thing as a Having a background in Latin helped reasons, English remains a foreign me understand what I was hearing. language, a language I learned, a mother tongue and For years, however, I had studied language I picked up when I was Italian—with a lot of difficulty—in four. that’s the crux of it. America. The first time I came to Italy I visited Florence. I came most Not your mother tongue then… That’s my theory. of all to get to know its people.

44 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Stefano Abertini and Jhumpa Lahiri on i-ItalyTV

And when did you become deter- ww mined to take your Italian to the When you start next level, to make it your language, even professionally, even as out writing in a writer? another language, When I realized how happy I was studying Italian with my teacher in everyone turns Brooklyn. around to pass What was her name? We should say her name, given what a great judgment on you. teacher she was… But my attachment Paola Pasirico. She taught at NYU. I’d ride the subway almost as far as the to Italian has bridge. It turned into this marvelous activity, my favorite commitment. At reminded me what it some point, I began reading in Ital- ian. And that was a turning point. truly means to be an

You talk about your relationship artist. You need to with Italian as if it were a love story. You call it “an occasionally unre- follow your own path quited love story.” And, while your relationship with the language of and stop for no one. Dante was growing, you also happened to write four significant to him in Bengali. The words didn’t books and win – at a very young age come to me in English. Now they do. – the Pulitzer Prize. From a literary standpoint, that’s quite an achieve- You’ve said before that you didn’t ment. What made you pick up and feel that Bengali was completely say, “OK, I’m off to Rome to write ww In Other Words your language either… a book in Italian”? Jhumpa Lahiri Vintage (reprint edition, 2017) Reading is fundamental to me, and When I left New York four years ago, w Pages 256 w $ 6.99 I can’t read in Bengali. Because I’m a I was looking for something else, an- reader, that’s my identity. I lack a clear other approach, another language. I’ve made is such an odd one. A lot of path and stop for no one, whether in identity, and I have always sought a Not necessarily another tongue. An- people told me, still tell me, “Don’t do Italian or in English. In part this is clear identity. But I have an identity other language for my writing, an- it. You’re making a misstep. You’re an a matter of identity, a theme I took as a reader and therefore I have a very other style. I thought I had reached English writer.” up in my first four books. In Italian, I strong relationship with English, giv- an impasse. I wanted to open an- have made a radical leap, a linguistic en that I learned how to read in Eng- other door, and my arrival in Rome And you say it’s been very satisfy- leap, which means I find myself on lish. Not being able to read in Bengali was quite fortuitous. Having studied ing, despite the anguish… the other side of that barrier. is a source of great frustration. It’s a Italian for a long time, I felt, OK, I But there’s also a dizzying amount shame. But that’s how things stand. already have a footing. That’s when I On the one hand, I feel very comfort- of freedom to borrowing another lan- Every once in a while my mother will began reading exclusively in Italian. able and at home in Italian—strange guage. I proceed differently… Part of read me a poem or a story in Ben- I didn’t have any Italian friends. But as that sounds. But I’m always made the anguish stems from not really gali, and although I can follow along, strangely, in Rome, without meaning aware of the barrier between the belonging deep down. I don’t belong I don’t have that direct contact that to, I began keeping a diary in Italian. language and me… Every time I to English from an emotional stand- I love, that contact for which I live, find myself speaking in Italian and point, since it’s not the language of practically. In Italian, on the other A diary you began in English and especially when writing in Italian, I my family, and it’s not the language hand, I do have that relationship. And at some point switched to Italian… find myself having to overcome that in which I first found love. Now I that relationship is deeper because I barrier… When you start out writing have. I’m married, I speak English can shut myself up in a room for ten A horrible Italian, an Italian full of er- in another language, everyone turns with my children, for whom English years and root through books. For me rors, yet my Italian. It’s a language I around to pass judgment on you. But has become the language of affection, that’s the definition of pure joy. ww learned as an adult and I have always my attachment to Italian has remind- of home, of family, etc. … But early on had difficulty with it. I lack a facility ed me what it truly means to be an English wasn’t that for me. Which is * Associate Professor of Italian and with it. I lack that thing so fundamen- artist. You cannot listen to those other why, for example, when my son was Director of Casa Italiana Zerilli-Ma- tal to a writer. … [Indeed] the choice voices. You need to follow your own born almost 14 years ago, I first spoke rimò of the New York University. www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 45 Dacia Maraini at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò (NYU) Photo Alex Fiszbein

Bookshelf ww DACIA MARAINI PRESENTING HER BOOK ‘CHIARA’ IN NEW YORK (SPRING 2014 ) Talking To Dacia “Da Donna a Donna” Maraini’s new novel is rife with messages for today’s society, especially for Dacia Maraini women. Like Francis, Saint on i-ItalyTV Clare of Assisi wanted to be disobedient and innovative, but still remain inside the Church. “Her disobedience is not selfish, it’s ethical.” by Letizia Airos

At Casa Italiana Zerilli-Ma- wwrimò , I listen to one of the greatest contemporary writers, Dacia Maraini presenting her latest book, Chiara from Assisi: Praise of Disobedience (published in Italian by Rizzoli). Maraini’s new novel is rife with messages for today’s society, especially for Maraini is one of the most widely if you don’t possess things, you’re women. After the launch, I got a translated Italian writers. Never apparently worth nothing.” ww chance to interview her for our one to cower, she has devoted her Chiara di Assisi. Elogio della television program, to dig deeper time and energy to social causes A novel of lay spiritual fervor disobbedienza into some of the book’s themes. for decades now, continuously The novel follows its own fasci- Dacia Maraini Maraini retains her simplicity un- fighting for women’s rights. In nating path, rich with human and Rizzoli like many women of her stature. Chiara of Assisi: Praise of Dis- historic curiosities. Its approach w Pages 115 w $ 6.99 Her eyes convey her intelligence, obedience, Maraini tells the story is intellectual, but warm. From composure, and deep curiosity as of one woman’s journey towards one woman to another, Maraini’s known that are unfortunately closed she gently scrutinizes her inter- sanctity, as she follows barefoot lay spiritual fervor is apparent. behind monastery doors. Through locutors. The generous way Mara- Saint Francis of Assisi to live Her descriptions and introspec- literature I reached the actual peo- ini embraces any and all has never a life of poverty. But over the tions stir in us a need to transcend ple.” One of them is Chiara, a strong, ceased to amaze me. Her easygo- course of the novel, you begin to ourselves, to find our own way to- energetic, and intelligent woman, ing spirit comes across even when realize that this girl is stepping wards religious meaning, whether but above all a model of idealism. she commands a stage. Her enor- into our own world, where she we believe or not. “[Chiara] has great dignity,” con- mous gift for storytelling, both exists to this day. “We can look “We cannot help calling our- tinues Maraini. “She was the first as an author and an academic, is at her choice to live in poverty selves Christians,” says Maraini, woman to write a monastic rule. leavened by her remarkable gen- with modern eyes,” says Maraini. quoting Benedetto Croce. Indeed, She opposed the hierarchical struc- uineness. One more thing about “What she used to call the ‘privi- Maraini’s interest in Christianity and ture of the convent, which was not her has always impressed me: her lege of poverty’ is a very impor- the Medieval Church has led her to unlike the society around her. She intense and eternal femininity. tant step. Owning nothing, it’s a respect the institution. “I have been fought against hierarchies to ensure profound way of seeing posses- studying mystics for many years,” all sisters were treated the same. She A passion for social causes sion as limitation. A person with she tells me, “and I gained access performed the most humble jobs. Author, critic, playwright, and nothing is free. She sets a good to them through their literature. The Church back then was rich and newspaper columnist, Dacia example for today’s world, where There are extraordinary facts to be powerful, a real empire.”

46 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Umberto Eco in front of the bookshelf in his library which contains books he has written and translations (Milano, May 9th, 2011) Photo Martin Grüner Larsen

In praise of disobedience ww IN MEMORY OF UMBERTO ECO (SPRING 2016) Thus Chiara’s disobedience should be seen as a journey toward consciousness. “Chiara evokes an Italy we know little about,” says Maraini, “self-reli- Reflections on an Italian Icon ant and mysterious, respectful of the religious order.” Like Francis, Chiara wanted to be disobedient and innovative, but still remain inside the Church. “Her disobedience is not selfish, it’s ethical. Remember Anti- gone: ‘Disobey human law to respect a higher law, the law of our own conscience.’” For the saint, poverty becomes the means to acquire freedom. So why this book? And how much does Maraini relate to the democratic saint committed to her ideals till the end? Says Maraini: “… I believe that people who have pursued their ideals unconditionally should be better acknowledged.” The conversation at Casa Zeril- li-Marimò ranges from mysticism to Chiara to Dacia Maraini’s own life, including her internment in a concentration camp when she was a young girl. She also commented on Italy, a country full of resources, despite its problems. And, of course, the new Pope came up. “I have found a lot of Pope Francis in this story. The new Pontiff recon- nects with the tradition of the true word of Christ. It’s not about war, hate, or violence. It’s about love and dialogue. I believe this Pontiff is doing it the right way. And this is an important message for ev- Eco never made you feel by Anthony Julian Tamburri* I met Umberto Eco in the mid eryone, including non-believers.” uncomfortable in his 1970s, first in New York at the 1974 And thanks to my intense (I Umberto Eco passed away MLA (Modern Languages Asso- admit nocturnal) reading of the company. He was one of wwFriday, February 19 [2016]. ciation) convention. He was part novel, I can add a couple more the few, the very few most With his death, Italy has lost one of a session dedicated to Italian observations. Women still have of its best representatives of all that semiotics; an anomaly, to be sure, to strive harder than men to be approachable “famous” is Italian: he was smart (an under- especially for Italian studies, then taken seriously. The legacy of the Italians I have met thus far statement, to be sure), amiable, and now to some degree. It was a tenacious Saint from Assisi is flexible in thought and manner, glancing moment, to say hello, but beneficial. Only by fighting deter- in my four-plus decades of and someone who wore his fame it was an indelible experience over- minedly yet not aggressively can interaction with the haute very well and, further still, never all. A year and one-half later, I met we enact real change. Only by be- made you feel uncomfortable in his Eco for a second time, in Berkeley, ing ourselves, without resorting to monde of Italy. company. Indeed, he was one of the California. He had been invited by violence or self-exploitation, can few, the very few most approach- a couple of departments, Italian, we ensure that no one will take able “famous” Italians I have met Rhetoric, and the like. I had al- advantage of us. This, too, I read thus far in my four-plus decades of ready come to know Umberto Eco between the lines of Maraini’s lat- interaction with the haute monde the semiotician, both as a speaker est work. ww of Italy. and on paper; this was, in fact, the www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 47 Bookshelf period of his English edition of his ww From our archives A Theory of Semiotics, a book that went on to influence generations of At the Italian students/scholars of interpretation theory; a few years before the debut Cultural Institute of Eco the novelist. But we didn’t really talk that of New York much about semiotics; initially, though, that is how the conversation i-Italy had the pleasure of meeting began. I mentioned to him that my Umberto Eco in November 2011 introduction to semiotics came via when we were asked by the Italian semiology, having first read Roland Cultural Insititute to film the Barthes’s Elementi di semiologia entire proceedings of the years earlier; he smiled as we dis- international conference “On the cussed what we — he, I should say Ashes of Post-Modernism: A New — thought the main difference was Realism?” The eight-hour long between semiotics and semiology. Umberto Eco philosophical marathon featured some of the best known Italian and For me, I must say, it sent me in American thinkers in the field. It was part of the Framework Program another interpretive direction, one on i-ItalyTV “Slowness and Quality” promoted by La Fondazione NYC. that has, ever since, made me look at a text (written, visual, or figurative) in its many signifying possibilities. ters and speak to the more general of asking the question is, taking to the intentio operis (the make-up As I stated above, we didn’t public: hence, his weekly column, from our own John Ciardi, “How of the text), since any reader’s in- speak much more about semiotics “La bustina di Minerva,” for Italy’s does a text mean?” What Eco did tertextual arsenal must always, to during that second meeting. We best-selling magazine L’Espresso; was reconcile, for the most part, the a certain degree, be context sensi- spoke, instead, about Liguria and his topics varied from popular cul- various theories of interpretation tive; in some way or another, that nineteenth-century literature. More ture to the most serious of political and bring forward a theory that is, the reader’s decodification must specifically, about Bordighera and issues. They constituted, I would is most generous to all involved, jibe in some way with the text: as Giovanni Ruffini. When Eco heard underscore, the articulations of one author/artist and reader/specta- he said, “to privilege the initiative of that Bordighera was, at that time of Italy’s truly public intellectuals. tor alike. His A Theory of Semiotics the reader does not … guarantee the in my life, a regular haunt of mine My favorite four books of his are, and The Role of the Reader, together infinity of readings” (155). In so the- during the summers, he asked me if by now, classics. A Theory of Semiot- with The Open Work (1962/1989), orizing, Eco saves us from the vortex I had read Giovanni Ruffini’s novel ics (1975/1976) and The Role of the might very well constitute a set of of interpretative chaos that has its Dottor Antonio. Of course, I thought Reader (1979) constitute my own three works in which Eco devel- origins in the many unintended mis- he was pulling my leg. But, alas, I analytical base of interpretation; oped his notion and concept of tex- readings of the various in-vogue in- learned about a new nineteenth- and I pass on those thoughts with tual interpretation and its myriad terpretation theories that have come century writer that evening, and delight to my students when I teach possibilities. down the pike over the past century indeed went on to read the above- both literature and interpretation Nonetheless, Eco was also a and one-half especially. mentioned novel, but in its original theory. My favorite two novels, in pragmatist (no pun intended), real- English, Doctor Antonio. Yes, Ruffini turn, are The Name of the Rose and izing that while a text/work of art Farewell wrote that novel in the 1850s while The Island of the Day Before, two might possess a very wide range I last saw Umberto Eco at the Unit- exiled in England after the failed different worlds of centuries ago of interpretations after its encoun- ed Nations a bit over two years ago, 1848 attempt of Italian unification. that, through his narrative skills, ter with its reader/viewer, Eco was where he delivered a lecture entitled And I learned this at a cocktail party, Eco has rendered contemporary in also wary of the free-flowing, all- “Against The Loss of Memory.” He from Umberto Eco, and not in the many ways. encompassing act of interpretation was vintage Eco. People have and regular graduate seminars offered and postulated, instead, that, in will refer to Umberto Eco as any and on Italian fiction. How does a text mean? the literary, for example, while the all of the following: writer, linguist, Perhaps one of our greatest gifts encounter between text and reader philosopher, novelist, semiotician, A public intellectual from Umberto Eco is his untan- may very well engender a plethora journalist, etc. He was all of that, as This was vintage Eco, I came to un- gling of a plethora of interpretation of interpretations, it does, in the he was also the academy’s intellectu- derstand over the years. The expert theories that abounded, in mod- end, have its limitations. A short al rock star! One thing is guaranteed in what some see as an exceedingly ern times especially, from Charles cut, so to speak, to Eco’s notion of for sure, Eco shall not be lost in our esoteric field that is semiotics, Eco Sanders Peirce to Jacques Derrida the production of meaning is readily memory! ww could talk to you about the most and all those who populated the accessible in his lesser known essay, seemingly banal to the most os- worlds of semiotics, structuralism, “Intentio Lectoris: The State of the tensibly inscrutable, and he did so deconstruction, post-structuralism, Art” (Differentia, review of italian in a most satisfactorily accessible and the like—and let us not forget thought 2, Spring 1988: 147-68). * Dean of the John D. Calandra Italian manner. He was, as well, a popu- the postmodern, as well. The ma- What Eco basically tells us is that American Institute of Queens College, lar voice, an academic intellectual jor questions being, “Where exactly one’s reading strategy (intentio lec- CUNY and Distinguished Professor of who was willing to change regis- does meaning lie?” or, another way toris) must be in ample conciliation European Languages and Literatures.

48 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Maria Laurino and Fred Gardaphe on i-ItalyTV

ww ITALIAN CULTURE IN AMERICAN HISTORY (SPRING 2015) Our History Beyond Stereotypes

Talking to Maria Laurino, interested in the history of immigra- The Italian Americans: A History is a there’s only so much history you can author of a book that sees tion to the United States.” Piquing the companion book to a PBS documen- tell in a four-hour PBS series. But I interest of people outside the Italian- tary and I was asked to write it. It was had two primary goals: I didn’t want Italian-American culture American community is exactly what just a great project and I learned so it to be nostalgic, the way many such as part of American we need, and Laurino’s book is a great much. It was interesting to write projects can be, and I really wanted to step in that direction, helping Italian a history book and then to learn so strip away at the stereotypes that have history. Americans gain a sense of self, history, much more about your family and haunted us for so many years. John and the value of their contributions to yourself through that. shared these goals and that made American culture. I discussed these things much easier. by Fred Gardaphe* topics with the author in the course FG: You’ve been a professional ghost- of a televised interview for i-ItalyTV. writer, you’ve written speeches for FG: My biggest complaint about Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the chair people like Dinkins and Cuomo… Italian-American studies is that we wwof African-American studies at Fred Gardaphe: Prior to this book, You’re used to writing whatever don’t have a history book. Now we Harvard, wrote a very appreciative you wrote Were You Always Italian? needs to be written, but although have something to work with, and blurb about Maria Laurino’s latest and Old World Daughter, New World many people have tried to write this the next time I teach a course, I’m book The Italian Americans: A His- Mother, a book I found absolutely fas- kind of story, none equals the power certainly going to use your book. tory (W.W. Norton). He writes: “The cinating even though I’m not a daugh- of yours. How did you feel going into The same with the documentary. To companion book to John Maggio’s ter or a mother. How different is this the project? me this is as important as the 1970s landmark documentary, The Italian book from what your previous work? documentary “Eyes on the Prize.” Americans, is a sweeping portrait ML: Well, it was daunting. But John When I was in school I learned about of a people whose contributions to Maria Laurino: It was interesting Maggio, who wrote the documentary, African-American culture through America are indistinguishable from for me because I did this backwards. wanted this to be a companion piece that 13-part series. This is only a four the country itself and its myths. Im- I mean, this is a history of Italian- and follow his story, so he basically part series, but my hope is that it will peccably researched and deeply mov- Americans and usually you’d write gave me the scaffolding for the book. do the same for Italian-American ing, Maria Laurino’s book, like the that first, but I had already written What John asked me to do was go culture. And if it doesn’t, people will PBS series, is essential for anyone two personal essay memoir projects… deeper into the project, because have your book to go to, because in www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 49 Bookshelf part you mirror the structure of the ww It’s not enough to documentary and in part you fill in the blanks that John DiMaggio learn about Italian- wasn’t able to get at, right? American culture, ML: Yes, I’ve done a little bit of both. Most chapters mirror the documen- you need to learn tary, just with a little more detail. But I also added a chapter on the Italian- about African- American counter-culture because there were figures who were just so American culture interesting, like Mario Savio, who started the free-speech movement at and Jewish- Berkeley, and the poet Gregory Corso. There’s a chapter on Italian-Ameri- American culture. can crooners and Italian-American songs, which I extended to include The more you know Madonna and Lady Gaga. But there also were wonderful interviews from about them, the the footage that could not be used, ww The Italian Americans: A ww The Italian Americans with Dion and The Belmonts, for ex- History Writer: John Maggio more you see these ample… Dion talks about his grand- Maria Laurino PBS mother feeding him slices of provo- W. W. Norton & Company w Length 240 minutes on 2 Discs ' cultures lone and oranges and him going, “Oh w Pages 320 w $ 23.96 (hardcover) w $ 24.99 God it was good, it was good…” interacting.

FG: You said you started out writing about your culture from books relations, and more on immigration. I be both!” Up until recent generations, ing about your own experiences and is totally alien to us, so when Italian think it would be interesting to reflect even though almost every family in now you’re writing about the broader Americans read about other cultures on Italy today and its own immigra- Italy has some connection to a story experience. What was it like moving in books, they don’t see their own tion problems, how it almost mirrors of emigration to the United States, from the personal to the public? culture validated. One of the values of the Italian-American experience. Italians couldn’t care less about Ital- your approach to the material is that ian Americans, because they are the ML: Well, one example that comes to you haven’t looked at Italian-Ameri- FG: Have you promoted the docu- people who left. But over the last ten mind is the “enemy alien” story. I had can culture separately. You basically mentary and book in Italy? or fifteen years, I have found things very little knowledge of the phenom- see it as part of American history. It’s are changing. It’s not the profes- enon, so I began to do research, and it not enough to learn about Italian- ML: Yes, we set that up with the sors or the journalists or the people occurred to me that my grandmother American culture, you need to learn American embassy, which was really who control publishing industries, (who was illiterate, she signed her about African-American culture and lovely, though the book was not out it’s the young students who want to name with an “X”) must have been an Jewish-American culture. The more yet. What I always find interesting know about their uncle who went to “enemy alien”! I called her and asked. you know about them, the more you is, I would think that Italians would America and never came back, that She was a little over 90 at the time. see these cultures interacting. want to know more about Italian- guy nobody ever talks about. And we She said, “Wow, that’s so interesting American history. I know from per- are building joint programs in Ital- that you asked me that because it was ML: Sure. Also, the more you see sonal experience that whenever I ian-American studies in Italy today. really scary for our family during the how all immigrants have been wel- go to Italy, friends always say to me, Our summer schools are packed with war.” She remembered my brother comed into this country—wearily at “Why do you think you are Italian? students. And a book like this needs one day saying, “Mamma, we may best—the more you want to learn You are not Italian.” They don’t see to be done in Italian, because this have to go back to Italy…” “We were their stories. We know the story of any connection between Italians and is the information Italians need to terrified,” she told me. That’s a piece American history but we don’t have Americans. know in order to say, “I am a literate of history I had no clue about. these separate immigrant stories. Italian who understands the history I agree with you: there is a sort of FG: Right. When I was a kid, I of Italian immigration in America.” FG: My hope is that the documentary universality in this, to see how each thought I was Italian. When I went And you’re right. If Italians do not will help make this book a household group has struggled against the prej- to Italy, I realized I was American. understand that, they will never be name in Italian-American homes. udices of the larger group and tried I came back to America and said: able to understand immigration in When I was a kid, we didn’t have to find its way. “Wait, I’m not American!” So this is Italy today. ww books at home. If you brought a book how I forged my Italian-American in the house, it was a library book and FG: If there were going to be a follow- identity. But when I spoke about it in you had to bring it back. We didn’t up book, what would you include? Italy thirty years ago, on RAI Televi- * Distinguished Professor of English even have a Bible. We didn’t need sion, they kind of laughed at me. “Ital- and Italian American Studies at one; the priest told us what was in the ML: Good question. I think I’d like ian American? What’s that? You’re Queens College, CUNY and the John D. Bible, you know. This idea of learn- to have done more on race and race American or you’re Italian. You can’t Calandra Italian American Institute.

50 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Italian jazz icon Paolo Fresu

ww JAZZ & ITALY (FALL 2017) ‘Summertime, and the Livin’ is Easy...’

This time I want to talk to sweet melody, sung by a mellow you about a very famous voice on a summer evening on Charleston’s Catfish Row, creat- song. It’s one of those ing a highly poetic image that songs that will exist forever shines in sharp contrast to its impoverished setting. The song, and that nobody will ever with a style similar to the blues, forget–not even after a has always lent itself to great interpretations by jazz musicians. thousand years. The song is Among some of the most called “Summertime,” with memorable versions are those of Ella Fitzgerald (with Louis Arm- music by George Gershwin, strong in the recording of the lyrics by DuBose Heyward, complete Porgy and Bess) and of Cleo Laine (with Ray Charles). and a contribution by Ira Among the instrumental ver- Gershwin. sions, that of Miles Davis with ar- rangements and direction by Gil Evans is essential. Many Italian jazz musicians challenged them- by Enzo Capua selves with the beautiful song. On this front, we remember two ver- I believe sions: one is a duo with pianist wwthat even Stefano Bollani and percussion- those who are ist Roberto Gatto in an album not so passion- dedicated to Gershwin’s music ate about jazz (Gershwin & More Live!), and or even about the other is by trumpet player music know this beautiful mel- Paolo Fresu ,who wanted to fol- ody. Perhaps some will even low in Miles Davis’ footsteps. know how to whistle it. How- Fresu’s splendid interpreta- ever, not everyone knows the tion is a reworked version of Gil story of “Summertime,” a story Evans’s arrangement that will that has become very fitting for forever be a part of jazz history. our time. The song was composed Fresu recorded it in at least two by George Gershwin in 1934 for completely different settings: his opera Porgy and Bess, and the one with the Orchestra Jazz della lyrics written by Heyward, author Sardegna (Porgy and Bess, 2001) of the 1925 novel Porgy, on which racism and of a superficial vision ww and another in 2002 (Kind of the opera was based. of black people’s lives alternated ‘Summertime’ Porgy and Bess) with an Italian- This magnificent musi- with complaints about an exces- has a style that’s French big band. They’re all ex- cal came to Broadway in 1935, sive indulgence toward blacks. traordinary interpretations that and its resounding success still Beyond these fruitless contro- similar to blues, Italian jazz can be proud of. It’s echoes today in the story of versies, Porgy and Bess was, and too bad that the great Gershwin, American music and theater. It’s still is, one of the great master- and therefore, it who died in 1937 at the age of 38, important to know that the play pieces of all American art. The was only able to see the Broadway deals with a tragic story set in the music’s beauty and its various has always lent version. He surely would have ap- south, in the old city of Charles- interpretations over the decades preciated the Italians’ versions of ton, South Carolina. The opera constantly serve to confirm to the itself to great his opera, and “Summertime” in involves the life of Charleston’s genius of its creators. In the first particular, which we will never black community and it created act, “Summertime” is sung by a interpretations by grow tired of listening to–even in quite an uproar among the pub- woman, Clara, and it’s a lullaby this heat and this distance from lic and the critics: accusations of she whispers to her baby. It’s a jazz musicians. those times. ww www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 51 cuisine ww THE LANGUAGE OF MADE IN ITALY (SUMMER 2016) The Good, the Erotic, and the Bad

Buying an Italian product sumers dreaming they’re in Italy. has come to symbolize That dream is made possible by resorting to stereotypes traditionally immersing oneself in the associated with the Bel Paese. What Italian way of life. An stereotypes, you ask? analysis of the industry’s The Good (and Tasty) overseas advertising lingo Italian identity is characterized by a stock set of visual and verbal cues: can help us understand the Tricolor, pastoral backdrops, and how foreign consumers monument-and-sculpture-dotted cities with an artistic heritage—the perceive the country itself. preferred tourist destination. Ameri- cans in particular don’t travel to Italy for the seaside or landscape alone; by Giulia Iani there’s plenty of that back home. In- stead they tend to visit Renaissance The ships carrying our Italian cities, archaeological sites, museums, wwpaesani to the four corners of and galleries—all while tasting good the world also bore a nostalgic whiff food and fine Italian wine, naturally. of “pummarola.” It’s an epic story The classic visual aides include immortalized in films like Scorsese’s Venice and Florence, Vesuvius and masterpiece Goodfellas, in which a the Tower of Pisa, La Gioconda and band of cutthroat Italian-American Michelangelo’s David, as well as mafiosi are moved to tears by a hunk the rolling hills of Chianti, tomato of bread lathered with tomato sauce. patches, mozzarella, extra-virgin Italian food has won hearts the world olive oil, sparkling mineral water, And then there are the Italians. sailboat outings, and lovemaking, over ever since. But what image of Parma ham, and grana padano. The You would assume that they would naturally, in all its forms. While pro- Italy and Italians did it convey? images are paired with just as clas- be the best representatives of their moting orange soda, San Pellegrino Food and wine are among the sic taglines, like, “original aroma,” land, culture, and, therefore, their confines Italians to a set of clichés main pillars of the Italian export in- “authentic Italian flavor,” “all natural products. But what does an Italian about the “delicious” Italian life. At dustry and a major asset of Made in ingredients,” and “the taste of tradi- do with an Italian? What about their the heart of it all is a clear appeal to Italy. Buying an Italian product has tion.” Such cues are fundamental behavior can be translated into an the erotic: a macho stud straddling come to symbolize immersing oneself to making people feel they have in advertising campaign and immedi- a Vespa winks at a few ditzy-looking, in the Italian way of life. So it stands hand a genuine Made In Italy prod- ately understood abroad? trendily-clad girls snapping a selfie, to reason that an analysis of the in- uct, which is to say, a quality product, while nearby a young couple is ten- dustry’s overseas advertising lingo made according to recipes handed The Erotic (and Seductive) derly necking. The scene is staged in can help us understand how foreign down from generation to generation Italy is synonymous with la dolce a typical Italian piazza, with the pe- consumers perceive (and are told in one of the oldest civilizations in vita, “le bonheur à l’italianne,” which rennial café in the background and, how to perceive) the country itself. the world. So they happen to come can take the form of a classic Sunday not far off, a street vendor hawking Overseas advertising follows a boxed? Their authenticity remains family gathering around a table lad- oranges, which we assume must be different template than that used in unadulterated, guaranteed by sheer en with food, as it does in Carapelli Sicilian. Italy. The objective is the same, but dint of being Italian. oil’s ad campaign in France. Note the In love with the good life, beautiful the means of accomplishing that That’s how Italy is perceived over- men gesticulating—an international women, and delicious food, Italians objective change. Whereas Italians seas, and Italian food products have, topos of Italianness. are often depicted as classic Latin don’t need to be lured by the Italian over time, become readily recogniz- But living like an Italian, San lovers. That stereotype is so deeply storyline, Italian advertisers abroad able thanks to being associated with Pellegrino reminds us, also involves entrenched that it is regurgitated, cook up a story ad hoc to set con- such concepts. pleasant dinners with friends, posh sometimes in dubious taste, by for-

52 | i-Italy | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Left page: Italian ads for the Top to bottom: Publicizing San Pellegrino’s mineral water foreign market by Rana pasta and orange soda. Ads for the Italian-sounding products and Carapelli olive oil Pasta Villa (Istambul) and Zesty Kraft (Los Angeles)

eign brands across the globe. Take for example the Los Angeles-based agency BEING, whose slogan for Zesty Kraft Italian dressing is “Once You Go Italian, You’ll Never Go Back.” In their ad, an Italian beefcake in a vaguely neoclassical setting straight out of La Grande Bellezza sucks on a noodle while lying half-naked on a table full of fresh vegetables. Far more sophistzicated is an ad by a Turkish agency for PastaVilla, a brand of pasta and pre-made sauces headquartered in Istanbul. Their slogan is “Seductive Italian Taste,” and the clever visual aide makes bits of vegetables spread out on a table look like clothes strewn about a bedroom ww Good life, beautiful floor (high heels, underwear, bras, men’s pants) by an invisible couple women, and delicious on their way to the marriage bed (represented by a plate of pasta salad food—Italians are in the background). Tasteful or not, such stereotypes often depicted as understandably tend to flatter Ital- ians. Yet the fact is, it’s a short step classic Latin lovers. between lovers of the good life and tireless good-for-nothings. This Even foreign brands portrayal of Italians may explain the recent gaffe on the part of the Dutch use this stereotype to Finance Minister and President of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem. promote Italian- Criticizing southern European countries, Dijsselbloem huffed, “You can’t sounding products.

www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy | 53 Clockwise: Using The Godfather to sell Peroni beer in Sweden. Mafia-based ads for the “Italian” restaurants Cosa Nostra (Mérida, Mexico) and Polpettas (Curtiba, Brazil). cuisine

spend all your money on alcohol and ww Identifying women and then ask for help.” His remark provoked outrage in Greece, Italians with the Italy and Spain. That too is under- standable. But if the minister’s mind mafia is such a is saturated with advertising clichés, his gaffe should come as no surprise. powerful stereotype The Bad (and Ugly) that it is often Equally damaging is the Italian organized crime stereotype. The stock exploited to image of Italian mobsters promul- gated by the movies has strangely advertise anything become a powerful and controver- sial selling point for Italianness. that sounds The foil for the Italian family is the Famiglia Corleone. And advertisers remotely Italian. like the Swedish agency John Doe have jumped on the bandwagon. In ary sophistication, the advertisement a desire to possess the advertised sarily violent. The reinforcement a spot for Peroni beer, the agency for the restaurant Cosa Nostra in product by immersing them in a of an image long perpetuated by pays homage to the famous Godfa- Mérida, Mexico, shows a mob boss universalized and de-regionalized movies ends up deeply changing— ther horse scene: “It’s an offer you sharpening a knife in front of a raw Italy: a drink that smacks of Tus- and damaging—the reality. That, can’t refuse.” I.e., “Buy our beer or mackerel. The tagline reads (in Ital- cany, a tomato sauce cultivated in on the other hand, is the seduc- wake up with a decapitated horse.” ian) “Cooking that doesn’t forgive.” Campania, cold cuts and dairy prod- tive power of marketing: it builds As if you didn’t get the point, the ad Evidently, that’s a guarantor of qual- ucts made by “old hands.” utopias. But utopia is not always a continues: “The Godfather of Italian ity; what, after all, could be more As for the idea of the Italian good thing. ww Beer has now arrived in Sweden.” authentically Italian than a Mafioso? man that they convey, the ap- Identifying Italians with the mafia In these cases we are clearly con- proach is both simpleminded and is so powerful that it is often exploit- fronted with a cliché that, despite be- contradictory. The idealization of * Giulia Ianni is a recent MA graduate ed to advertise anything that sounds ing commercially effective, does the Italian identity is, by and large, of the Università degli Studi Roma Tre. remotely Italian. In Curtiba, Brazil, a Italian image no favors. comic and superficial. It paints This article expands upon the subject picture of a group of gangsters seated a picture of a mindless, fun and of her thesis, “Made In Italy Abroad: around a table and offering a slice of Conclusions games world where people are Language and Media Strategies pizza to a hostage tied up like a sa- The idea of Italy agribusiness adver- perpetually rolling in the hay. At for Branding the Tricolor Identity.” lami is a credible incitement to call tisers convey to the world is positive the same time, the concept of the The thesis was researched and written the pizza delivery company Polpet- not only in terms of economic ben- great lover gives way to that of the under the tutorship of Maria Catricalà, tas: Pizzas e Cozinha Italiana. “Place efit, but also in terms of the image mobster. Both extremes are closely professor of Languages, Media your order,” reads the advertisement, itself. Its message promotes com- connected to the figure of the Lat- and Advertising, and Anna Giunta, “Even if it’s your last.” With custom- mon stereotypes to instill in people in lover: macho, erotic, and neces- professor of Media.Economy.

54 | i-Italy | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Dino Borri interviews Carlo Petrini for i-ItayTV at Etalay’s Birreria in New York

Carlo Petrini and Dino Borri on i-ItalyTV

ww explaining the SLOW FOOD movement (SUMMER 2015) Changing the Food Industry. Now!

Carlo Petrini, founder of Would you tell us how Slow Food It’s a series of interviews with a to say that element is wrong, actu- the International Slow came about? range of people I love and greatly ally it’s fine, but it can’t be just that. admire. There are iconic figures We’re in a dramatic situation: it’s like Food Movement and It began as an association involved such as Wendell Berry, Joseph Sti- we’re onboard the Titanic grinding author of Loving the Earth, in food culture and over the years glitz and Alice Waters – also vice toward an iceberg that could drown it grew into an international move- president of Slow Food – people the ship. Our message isn’t negative. is extremely passionate ment in 170 countries, thanks in who have contributed to changing On the contrary, if we understand about changing the food part to Slow Food’s partner net- the food culture. These are discus- how to receive the message, we can work, Terra Madre. It’s a network sions that have developed alongside change the situation and divert the industry, taking action of farmers, fishermen, wanderers Terra Madre and Slow Food. ship’s course. We need a lot of assis- now, before it’s too late. and cultivators from every corner tance, political activism, a paradigm of the world working to defend bio- Many of the people in the book shift. In some places we’ve seen this diversity. Slow Food in the United have gone on to become instruc- paradigm shift. But it’s not enough, States is a beautiful organization tors at the University of Gastro- and that’s why we need to reinforce by Dino Borri* that includes over 150 divisions and nomic Sciences, which you start- it. There are people dying of hun- 50,000 members. But we’ve still got ed in Pollenzo, Piedmont. Tell us ger and there’s also an incredible We caught up with Carlo a lot of ground to cover. about it. amount of waste: over 40% of food wwPetrini at Eataly New York, is thrown away. There are wars fu- where he was presenting his lat- You just published a new book The idea behind the University of eled by bellicose industries that get est book, to know more about his Loving the Earth. It is subtitled Gastronomic Sciences is to unteth- us nowhere. That’s the side that preoccupations, his dreams, and “Dialogues on the Future of Our er gastronomy from the spectacular makes the fake food industry seem his activity. Planet.” What’s it about? and consumerist element. That’s not ridiculous. www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy | 55 Carlo Petrini. The cover of his book Loving the Earth. cuisine

Can you tell us about Slow Food ww educating children, by recreating Slow Food movement has its and Terra Madre’s “Ten Thou- Our idea is to intergenerational cohesion. own exhibit space there. But at sand Gardens in Africa” project? the same time, you raised some untether gastro- I hear you have a new project concerns. Why? For 10 years, Africa has been the cooking: the Slow Food Planet victim of “land grabbing.” That nomy from the project. Can you fill us in? Yes, I was among the first to believe means that millions of acres are in the potential of the Expo. One of being acquired for ridiculous spectacular and We have to embrace those who are the major issues today is that peo- prices to produce food not for Af- doing honest work. That’s exactly ple are choosing to ignore the fact ricans but for countries like China consumerist why Slow Food Planet was created. that our current practices are not and the Arab Emirates. They’re In the next three years, by 2018, the sustainable, that we are heading to- expropriating the lifeblood of mil- element. That’s not app will provide information for ward disaster. Unfortunately how- lions of Africans. This situation— travelers across the world. We rec- ever, you see this attitude reflected alongside war and poverty—has to say that element ommend restaurants that partner even at Expo Milan. In order to sell sparked a major exodus of young with farmers and purchase local tickets and satisfy international people who have not only been is wrong, actually foods, indicate farmer’s markets, expectations, the organizers of the robbed of their future but are in and put people in direct contact event are focusing too much on the life-threatening situations. This is it’s fine, but it can’t with producers. It will be a guide touristic aspect and on turning food a distinguishing feature of neo-co- for honest travel, providing infor- into a spectacle. lonialist politics. It’s more violent be just that. mation that gives people the oppor- Betting on widespread appre- than the colonialism of the past, tunity to pass through cities with ciation for stereotypical Italian and we have to respond. Slow Food a trusted friend. Because we want food is not enough. We need to use launched the “Ten Thousand Gar- everyone to get that chance, the app the Expo as an opportunity to truly dens in Africa” campaign, but it’s Educating children must be very is free and simple. make a change. This opportunity a drop in the bucket. The gardens important in this endeavor. should not be missed. ww are run by young African farmers. Let’s conclude with this year’s Such organizations constitute a They’re the citizens of the future. If Expo, which just opened in Mi- * Dino Borri is VP of new African leadership. I’m hop- we want to get beyond the current lan. The theme of the Expo is Purchasing ing it will really come to fruition. food industry, we have to begin by “Feeding the Planet,” and the for Eataly USA. ww Petrini’s tireless world activity Slowing Down at Full Speed

An extraordinary collage of Started by Carlo Petrini in 1989, the Slow Food conversations with a gallery movement has been growing ever since, attracting of influential people to mark attention and support worldwide. It is active in 170 the tenth anniversary of Terra countries and is particularly successful in the US, Madre, the global network of where it has over 50,000 members. The associa- food communities that meets tion’s goal is to work toward ensuring that everyone every two years in Turin. everywhere has access to good, clean and fair food, and shifting international focus toward food ww Loving the Earth: sourcing and sustainable food production, eventu- Dialogues on the future ally changing the way the food industry operates. of our planet Slow Food’s methods of operating vary, though Carlo Petrini there is a great focus on educating younger Slow Food Editions generations and campaigning for international w Pages 184 w $ 9.99 collaboration (kindle edition)

56 | i-Italy | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Luciano Pignataro. The cover of one of his many books on Italian wine and food

ww CELEBRATING ITALIAN WINE (FALL 2016) The Italian Wine Revolution and Why it’s not Stopping Acclaimed wine critic Luciano Pignataro has spent the last 20 years writing about enogastron- omy. In 2004 he began a blog (www.lucianopigna- taro.it), now one of the most frequented in Italy, with millions of hits every year. The blog features reviews of wine, restaurants, pizzerias, pastry shops and cheeses. by Rosemary D’Avernia media outlets became interested in grapes yes or no? in 1986, the industry react- the subject, bringing it to the atten- The answer to ed by investing in quality, As one of the first Italian wine tion of the general public. The emerg- such questions media and marketing. wwcritics, can you tell us about ing approach of Slow Food and the depends on In a market in constant this odd job and how it has evolved Italian Sommelier Association served whose ideo- decline and in the midst in Italy? an extremely important purpose. The logical team of a balance of pay- paradox in Italy is that the less wine you’re on. ment crisis, producers The job of a critic in Italy begins with was being consumed (numbers fell focused their attention Gino Veronelli. His dreamy, philo- from 100 liters a person in the 1970s You often overseas. In a few years sophical writing remains unsurpassed to 38 liters today), the more aficiona- hear talk exportation exceeded to this day. At the end of the 1980s, dos and entrepreneurs there were. In of a wine 50 percent. the Italian wine guide Gambero a few years, wine turned into a cult revolution in This movement affect- Rosso was established, as was Slow object, and criticism followed suit; the Italy in which ed both the North and Food, which played an extremely number of pundits multiplied. After southern wines the South, if to different important role in a country where the financial crisis caused by the fall are leading lights degrees, but the most in- wine had essentially been seen as a of the Twin Towers, people reevalu- of major import. teresting thing is the Mezzo- form of nutrition. Over a few years ated the style popularized in the 1990s What has changed in giorno itself, which became the an incredible development took place (high alcohol content, jammy, dark, the world of Italian wine new frontier thanks to the autoch- with investments made in vineyards full-bodied) while the birth of the In- and what still needs to be thonous grape varieties that spare and wineries, reclassifying Italian ternet allowed for a kind of democra- done? consumers from losing patience with wine and making it competitive at an tization of criticism and word spread. a world divided between Cabernet international level, especially thanks As with food, the fight in Italy today The wine industry may serve Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Pinot to major red wines (Barolo, Brunello is ‘ideological’ in nature and centers as a model for how to react to Nero. di Montalcino, Amarone, Aglianico, on arguments that are important yet a crisis by investing instead of Our huge wealth of autochthonous Nero d’Avola). poorly understood by the public, in cutting. After the collapse due grapes is a strength no other country Starting in the second half of the general: barrique barrels yes or no? to the so-called methanol cri- can boast. There are a hundred dif- 1990s, newspapers and traditional Sulfites yes or no? Autochthonous sis, which led to a lot of deaths ferent types of grapes in Calabria and www.i-Italy.org Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy | 57 cuisine

Campania alone. There are almost a ww CELEBRATING ITALIAN WINE (FALL 2016) thousand in the whole country. Com- pare that with France, which does not count more than two hundred and sells fewer than 50. Naturally, the French system is much more or- Introducing the Extraordinary ganized and linked to the promotion of certain territories, whereas in Italy we often fumble in the dark. But you can’t deny the success of Italian wine Wines from Southern Italy propelled by the locomotive that is Veneto, with Prosecco, Amarone and Bardolino. Wine expert Charles The South may be a gigantic pro- Scicolone explains why ducer too, thanks especially to Puglia and Sicily, but it has yet to be com- Sourhern Italian wines have pletely unearthed. And that’s what’s long been undervalued and happening in part, thanks to the in- comparable ratio of price to quality. not well known in the US. Of course many things need to be im- The situation, however is proved. They need to learn to play the long-term game and wait for wines to changing as more and more age properly, whites included, and not customers are coming to rush to sell. They should also take the characteristics of regions more seri- realize that these are high ously. Sometimes producers change quality wines—and they go their wares or varietals to conform to the latest fad. Instead they should very well with food! employ autochthonous varietals that traditionally belong to a territory, and not bother with international varietals by Charles Scicolone * that will only have the effect of making all wines the same. Every year the Italian Trade wwCommission sponsors Italian Why should a consumer pick a wine Wine Week in New York City. For made in Italy rather than a wine this year [2016], the spotlight will made elsewhere with an Italian be on the regions of Calabria, Cam- varietal? pania, Puglia and Sicily. The reason Volpe, and Gaglioppo, for example, customer in order to get them to try a is that Southern wines are still some- are not the kinds of grapes that most bottle or two. But they are high qual- Buying a wine made in Italy means how undervalued in the US, and this consumers are familiar with, so they ity wines, which reflect the grapes buying a piece of wine history from should be redressed. are reluctant to try the wines that are they are made from and the terroir a country that has made wine for a I was delighted to be asked to made from them. where the grapes are grown—and thousand years. Today we assist in moderate a panel on “Extraordinary Second, most American tourists they go very well with food! Custom- exporting Italian varietals abroad. Wines Values from Southern Italy.” still do not visit Southern Italy. ers are starting to realize this today. Australia, for example, has a lot of This topic is very interesting to me Another reason the wines are not When a customer in the restau- Fiano. Maybe we should not have fol- because I drink these wines often, well known to American consumers rant asked for my recommendation, lowed the Anglo-Saxon model, which have Southern Italian roots, and is that most tourists visited Northern I would suggest a wine from South- stresses the importance of the grape enjoy traveling in the region. As a and Central Italy. But as interest in ern Italy. When they saw the “low” variety, but rather the French which former retailer and wine director for Southern Italian food and travel con- price, they often seemed surprised. emphasizes the terroir that nurtures an Italian restaurant in NYC which tinues to expand, many consumers But I always felt a lot of satisfac- it. The French clearly understand had a large collection of Southern will have the chance to sample these tion in knowing that I had made that grapes travel well but the terrain Italian wines, I know firsthand that wines in the places they are made many of them into more educated involved doesn’t. In Italy we have yet these wines are undervalued and not and bring their new-found interest wine drinkers and loyal fans of these to be really resolute about that. Even well known. Here is why. back home with them. wines. As they left the restaurant, major wines like Prosecco and Pinot First, they are unfamiliar to most Third, Southern Italian wines are they would thank me for my sugges- Grigio are too often seen as a com- American customers. a “hand sell.” tion and would ask where to buy the modity rather than an expression of Part of the reason for this is that These wines are what we in the wine at retail. a place, and thus something that can they are made from unusual grape business call a “hand sell,” meaning So the situation is changing and I potentially be stolen and transplanted varieties that are not recognized by that it often takes talking about these have reasons to be optimistic about in any other part of the world. ww most consumers. Pallagrello, Coda di wines and explaining them to the Southern wines in America. ww

58 | i-Italy | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Clockwise: Roberto and Giorgia Caporuscio; Students getting their certificates at PAF; Speciale pizza Teaching kids how to make pizza. “PIZZA SPECIAL” NEW YORK CITY ww PIZZAMANIA COMES TO THE STATES (FALL 2017) Making Pizza-Making Your Way of Life Talking to Gino Sorbillo, the world-famous Neapolitan pizza maker who recently opened a new pizzeria in New York. Sorbillo tells us about Naples and New York, and we touch upon many different topics, including his dreams, Mayor de Blasio visiting his pizzeria, iconic singer Pino Daniele, his father’s family of 20 pizza makers, young people leaving Naples, his stubbornness, and communication. by Letizia Airos

Gino Sorbillo had just returned wwto Italy following the inauguration of his second location in New York. It was an event that had the whole city talking, especially thanks to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s appearance at the opening. “Sorbillo Pizzeria” now takes its place next to the very successful “Zia Esterina.” We reached him by phone for this interview. He spoke to us with all the his trips to Italy, he left his security Naples. He promised if I were ever You created a very friendly en- candor and spontaneity that has perplexed when he wanted to stop to open a pizzeria here in New York, vironment in your pizzeria, just made him not only a great pizzaiolo, along the boardwalk in Naples. Stop he would come visit again. like in the one you have in Na- but also a great communicator. And where exactly? At my pizzeria!” ples. How is it working in New it’s impossible not to talk right away And he was a man of his word! York? What’s different in re- about Mayor Bill de Blasio’s visit… I Naples I heard stories about your spect to Italy? reaction when he was reelected to It was like seeing a friend. We “He’s always been very nice to me,” his second term. What was it? hugged each other; it wasn’t a If you give a lot, New York gives says Sorbillo. “I immediately felt a formal greeting… We went in the you a lot in return. I’m trying not to strong esteem towards him.” It’s very As soon as I found out, I gave away back. He wanted to go behind the change my work. I’m just trying to important to him that the mayor a lot of pizze a portafoglio [folded counter, and we put the pizza in the carry it out as I have always done. of such an important city can be pizzas that resemble wallets]. It oven together. Then he ate it while friends with a simple pizzamaker... was the same type that Mayor de sitting on a stool, just as any friend Is it difficult to make pizza in New And Sorbillo recalls, “During one of Blasio had when he visited me in would. York? Authentic pizza, I mean. www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy | 59 New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio visits Sorbillo’s Pizzeria. Below: crowd waiting in line for a table at Pizzeria Sorbillo in Naples. cuisine

It’s hard to find the raw materials. ww I really enjoy Sorbillo Pizzeria I mainly worry about being able to w 334 Bowery, Manhattan make the pizza the way I’ve always discovering new ww www.sorbillonyc.com made it. I really enjoy discovering new things and exploring the mar- things and exploring ket, but the most important thing to In fact you’ve become a point of me is not to Americanize my pizza. the market, but the reference for many young people. Imagine you were personally deliv- I imagine that’s a real challenge. most important ering your pizza to someone. Who You’re known as the “pizza artist.” would you like to deliver it to? How important is your creativity? thing to me is not to How do you combine creativity My dream would be to give it to Ma- and tradition? Americanize my donna. I would do anything for that.

If you really know where the pizza pizza! Your life shows that dreams may comes from and you really know tra- come true. dition, you can be creative, and you tions, but if you know how to tune I think he could have been saved. I can think about ways to reinterpret out the bad, and if you have good miss him a lot and we are all singing Let’s say that I knew how to dream. it. It can be done. People make mis- intentions, Naples can be a true his songs every day in Naples. He told But if you want to make your dreams takes sometimes because they rein- inspiration. the world about Naples in a way that come true, you must be a bit crazy vent their products from scratch. I’m few people knew how to do. too. There comes a moment in your of the school of thought that there’s A true inspiration, we know it here life, when you know it’s time “to do it,” nothing to reinvent. If we know how too. Communicating Naples to Let’s turn back to pizza. When did even if it’s risky. You shouldn’t just let to look back, we can add to the past. others is an art. Indeed there used it first come into your life? your dreams sit in a drawer forever. to be an artist, a wonderful man It happened in a silent, natural way, as It’s as if pizza were a living thing, who we both met personally and if it were life itself. It was never forced Is there any pizza that you like in a true means of creation for you. we both loved... upon me to be pizza maker. It’s a re- particular? sult of what my life has been. In my Yes, pizza is an edible work of art that Pino! He sung of this city in the most family, my father had 20 siblings who I really like the calzone… It’s a clas- changes with the times. We certainly genuine, and at the same time bril- all became pizza makers. Because of sic Neapolitan pizza that’s stuffed don’t make the same pizza from 30 liant, way possible! this, we grew up in a certain way. and closed. Inside, you put ricotta or 50 years ago... Evolution is in- and provola, fiordilatte. Then you volved even when it comes to pizza. Yes, Pino Daniele. I was told that A lot of your family has left Naples add tomatoes and salami. Then The important thing is to not under- when mayor Bill de Blasio came though… you close it with a bit of oil, pep- value the tradition that evolves… It into your pizzeria, one of Dan- per, and a basil leaf. It’s cooked at should never stray too far from the iele’s songs was playing in the Yes, my father thought that even I the stokehole of the oven in order path. background. Right away the May- was going to leave Naples someday to ensure it’s cooked deeply and not or said, “I know Pino Daniele.” to find a job. My siblings did so be- superficially…” You bring pizza to the world, but What’s Pino for you? cause of the mob, but that wasn’t a also to you own city, Naples. good reason for me. I consider myself The tone of voice Gino uses to de- I grew up with his songs! I always get a good person. If something happens scribe it... you can almost taste it in Naples is a land of many contradic- upset about the way he died, because I denounce it. your mouth! ww

60 | i-Italy | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Clockwise: Roberto and Giorgia Caporuscio; Students getting their certificates at PAF; Speciale pizza Teaching kids how to make pizza. “PIZZA SPECIAL” NEW YORK CITY ww PIZZAMANIA COMES TO THE STATES (FALL 2017) Father & Daughter Teaching Pizza

Master pizza maker Kestè Pizza e Vino Roberto Caporuscio shares w 271 Bleecker Street, Manhattan w 77 Fulton Street, Manhattan the secrets of true w 232 N 12th Street, Brooklyn

Neapolitan pizza as the Don Antonio U.S. president of the Pizza w 309 W 50th Street, Manhattan

Academy Foundation ww http://kestepizzeria.com (PAF)–the Neapolitan pizza school headquartered in his Kesté Wall Street. But there is another secret in the family: Giorgia, his daughter and a talented pizzaiola, is also a fantastic teacher. by Tommaso Cartia

Roberto Caporuscio’s story is wwfascinating and adventurous. It’s a story of passion, love, and de- Little by little, the master pizza termination that guided him from maker began teaching students, his Roman roots to Neapolitan cul- like Mark Dym in Denver, who to- ture, becoming a kind of adopted day has four pizzerias there. Soon Neapolitan, and rising to success after the opening of Don Antonio in the United States. All of this was and Kestè, Roberto’s teaching and lead by his passion for pizza and advising was concentrated in New Neapolitan culture, and one of its York, and he taught almost 200 most distinctive gifts: pizza. students. The students received certifications and are now success- An American Adventure ful pizza makers. After working in Naples with master Recently, Roberto’s daughter, pizza makers such as Don Gennaro Giorgia, a young and extremely Capatosta, Antonio Starita and Enzo talented pizza maker, joined in Coccia, Roberto arrived in the Unit- Moving to New York, Roberto is PAF, The Pizza Academy and began teaching. And her fa- ed States in 1999 and began working now the owner of some of the most The idea of sharing the secrets of ther proudly confesses, “She’s even as a pizza maker in Pittsburgh, mak- popular Neapolitan pizzerias in the Neapolitan pizza was always on better than me at teaching!” ing authentic Neapolitan pizza. It city: Don Antonio and Kesté Pizza Roberto’s mind. “The idea for the Roberto and Giorgia’s dream was a gamble at a time when Ameri- & Vino, which has three locations: school has existed for 10 years,” he was to find a physical space that cans were used to the taste of their West Village, Wall Street, and Wil- tells us. “We had our first student was equipped to host a real school. own and Italian-American pizza liamsburg. He has also received in 2007 in Madison, Wisconsin. They found such a space down- and cuisine. However, Caporuscio wide recognition for his work: “#1 From there, the Associazione Piz- town, in which they opened Kesté won his personal gamble that the Pizza in New York” by New York zaiuoli Napoletani (Neapolitan Piz- Wall Street. The largest room in the taste of true Neapolitan pizza could Magazine, “Best Pizza” in New York za Makers Association) asked me to restaurant lent itself perfectly to win over Americans , and, from that State by Food Network Magazine, educate people here in America and hosting the school—inside of a real point forward, he has seen resound- and top 25 “Best Pizza Places in the to show Americans what true Nea- pizzeria. Students could then have ing success. US” by Food and Wine. politan pizza is.” the opportunity not only to learn www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy | 61 cuisine how to prepare a Neapolitan pizza Francesco De Bourcard. It describes but also how to work with the right a traditional Neapolitan pizzeria, ovens and in a professional kitch- and gave Roberto his inspiration. en, a chance to understand how a “I recreated that atmosphere here pizzeria works and how it should thanks to the Neapolitan architect be run. As Roberto emphasizes, Roberto Iuliano. I photocopied the “This school is dedicated both to pages and gave them to him. This teaching amateurs and to training is how he decided to recreate that chefs, but companies also come for rustic environment.” team building. We also teach how Roberto adds, “Something im- to make pizza to children who are portant that we always explain looking to have fun.” during the lessons is that a restaurant’s environment needs to What the school does match the product that you sell. It The opening of the Pizza Academy needs to respect the food that you Foundation saw the collaboration of serve and its traditions. Neapolitan various sponsors like Caputo, Ciao, pizza can’t be presented in a mod- Belgioioso, and Urbani Truffles. ern place, especially in the eyes of Inside, there’s also a beautiful bar, Americans.” which may be used to teach how to prepare true Italian cocktails. Neapolitan pizza secrets Seaside Communication, which “First of all, Neapolitan pizza re- collaborated on the project, advised quires an artisan who knows how Roberto to livestream the lessons to make it, the pizza maker,” Capo- from Kesté Wall Street. “This al- ruscio says. “It’s an art that must lows us to conduct lessons online, be learned, from the dough to the streaming through our website, and oven, the temperatures, the cook- it allows us to be present outside ing times, and the ingredients. ww PIZZAMANIA COMES TO THE STATES (FALL 2017) the United States... We’ve already Neapolitan pizza can be prepared been able to reach Australia, South only with Caputo flour, either 0 or Africa, Berlin, Nicaragua, Colom- 1. The dough needs to be made with bia, and Santo Domingo,” he says a small amount of yeast, fermented enthusiastically . for a long time, and with the right Eating Pizza, Losing Caporuscio feels it’s important to amount of salt. After this, the most teach not only how to cook a perfect important part is the kneading. It Neapolitan pizza, but also what a needs to be soft and fluffy but also true Neapolitan pizzeria should look elastic. It must be able to be eaten Weight, Becoming a like, beginning with decor and inte- with your hands, and the ingredi- rior design. For Kesté Wall Street, ents must not slide off. Mozzarella, Roberto was inspired by a classic tomato, and extra virgin olive oil book about the Neapolitan lifestyle are obviously the main ingredi- Celebrity in the 1800s, Usi e costumi di Na- ents. It should be made in a wood- poli e contorni descritti e dipinti by burning oven and cook for approximately 90 seconds.” Eat pizza and lose weight? It can be done! When Ribalta’s The school also teaches how to Executive Chef Pasquale Cozzolino discovered his pizza ww Our school is make Roman pan pizza and Ameri- can pizza with a class run by Mi- diet, the news became viral both in the US and in Italy. dedicated both to chele Ameglio, a world-champion Newspapers and TV shows wanted to know, and Pasquale of pizza. Still, while Roberto is open teaching amateurs to various interpretations of pizza, finally decided to share his secrets in a book. he argues that “Neapolitan pizza is and to training either Neapolitan or it’s not. If not, we risk it becoming like spaghetti by T. C. diet is one of the healthiest, but not chefs. We even teach and meatballs, which is the big everybody, especially outside of Italy, problem that Italian gastronomy It might seem like a dream to be knows how to cook it or serve it to how to make pizza had in America. This is why it’s wwable to lose weight by eating, es- draw out its maximum benefit. important to educate and teach pecially by eating your favorite meal. Chef Pasquale Cozzolino grew up to children who are the timeless tradition of true Nea- In reality, it all depends on what you with the traditions of Mediterranean politan pizza. This a fundamental eat, how you eat, and when you eat. cooking, and he knows them well. looking to have fun. mission of my work.” ww It’s known that the Mediterranean His passion for pizza was born in

62 | i-Italy | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Left: Pasquale Cozzolino with Andrea Boehlke of People. Below: Pasquale with his partner Rosario Speciale pizza Procino during an interview with i-Italy when they “PIZZA SPECIAL” opened Ribalta Pizzeria Photo Iwona Adamczyk NEW YORK CITY protein, particularly lean protein, preferably with a salad or greens. Use Only Neapolitan Pizza The pizza of choice is classic Neapoli- tan pizza prepared with 220 grams (about a half pound) of dough (made from flour, water, salt, and yeast), un- cooked tomatoes, and a bit of mozzarella and basil, without added fats and sugar. It’s the typical Margherita pizza and, if cooked correctly, it’s a complete, nutritious meal of 570 calories. The secret to making this pizza light is to not overdo it with condiments and oil. The ingredients need to be balanced. Still, it’s not possible to eat just any type of pizza every day, especially those prepared in American fast food restaurants, which are almost always unhealthy and high in calories. “Piz- za is often considered junk food in America,” the chef said. “The message for Americans is not to ‘eat whatever Ribalta Pizza Restaurant ww I grew up with the pizza you want,’ but rather to eat this w 48 E 12th St, Manhattan pizza, which is prepared according to ww www.ribaltapizzarestaurant.com idea of eating well. the criteria of the Mediterranean diet.” Traditional Neapolitan pizza is arti- Naples, the homeland of pizza. As a My mother passed it sanal, and it needs to maintain its spe- boy, he would anxiously wait for the cific characteristics. “If you overdo it day when his mother would bring him down to me. My with condiments, you lose the sense of to eat his favorite meal: “When I was the pizza,” the chef affirmed. “It then little, my mother brought me to eat missionvis to educate becomes almost like a dish that sup- pizza once a week,” he told us. “I was ports what’s on it. fascinated watching the pizza makers people to eat well. Instead, the important thing with actually make the pizza. I wanted to pizza is the dough. My research on eat it every day even though I wasn’t pizza as a chef is focused on always allowed. I always dreamed of being the chef a book contract—and his finding new processes of leavening. a pizza maker, so I could eat a pizza story, told in The Pizza Diet–How I This is what makes a pizza dish mod- every day!” a consultant and dietitian for soccer Lost 100 Pounds and You Can Too! ern. However, it’s a dish that needs to Pasquale made his dream come true. teams. He told me about how the hu- (Penguin-Random House) became a stay true to itself.” Today, he’s an accomplished pizzaiolo man body works and how to benefit great success. Behind the pizza diet is a concept that and the Executive Chef of one of the from the so called ’super burn‘ mo- stems from biosophy, a humanist idea most important Italian restaurants in ments. You intake a large number Pizza Diet 101 that balances all aspects of a healthy New York, Ribalta. He also achieved of calories during those parts of the During the first part of the day, the life. Once you lose weight, it’s impor- his dream of eating a pizza every day day, but the body burns them quickly. diet allows eating foods with a higher tant that this diet becomes a a life- thanks to his special diet. “The pizza Then he asked me what my favorite calorie count and which take time long practice, because you don’t lose diet began from a personal need,” the dish is. This is how pizza was included to digest, such as complex carbohy- weight by being on a diet, and losing chef told us. “I put on some weight, as the ‘happy item’ in my diet.” drates. The pizza diet’s breakfast is weight is not an end in itself. The ob- and I needed to lose it. I am the kind Cozzolino was able to lose 100 pounds very generous but should only pre- jective is changing your attitude and of person who eats often, and I al- (50 Kg) in nine months, and after an pared with products of an excellent embracing a more healthy lifestyle . ways have food around me since I’m interview with the New York Post quality--cereal, fruit, almond milk, For Pasquale, pizza is not only good a chef. The usual diets made me feel about his experience, the news of his and possibly an egg. food, but it’s also a symbol of convivi- as if I were in some type of cage. So I pizza diet spread, and now everybody Lunch, around 12pm, is when it’s time ality: “Pizza is the food of the gods. Its consulted a friend, Doctor Giuseppe is talking about it. In 2016 it was the for pizza, and a salad. At that point, shape–the circle–represents brother- Moscarella, who is a biologist and third-most-researched diet online. 70% of the daily caloric requirement ship, the embrace. It’s a food that sym- nutritionist from Naples. He’s also The diet’s growing popularity landed is consumed. Dinner at 6 pm means bolizes sociability.” ww www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy | 63 travel travel

ww “ITALY THROUGH ART” SERIES (SUMMER 2017) Four Baroque Corners in Palermo

Known throughout the by Dominique Fernandez* Chiesa del Gesù is laden with mar- world for its millennia of ble inlays of every color, numerous The first corner of baroque putti, scantily clad figures, angels, history, stunning mountains wwPalermo, marmi mischi (col- peacocks, winged dogs and griffins in the backdrop, and ored or inlaid marble) is a sump- clinging to pillars in an lively blend tuous local specialty that bears of realism and fantasy. Behind the rowdy vitality, Palermo is witness to the wealth and politics altar, in the recesses of the choir, the also renowned for its of eighteenth-century churches. sculptor Vitagliano recreated scenes The most luxurious of these poly- from the Old Testament taken from marvelous baroque chrome churches, the Chiesa di the story of David. The statues are architecture. Let’s focus on Santa Caterina, is overlaid with set against a backdrop of yellow and ornate flutes, arabesques, and pre- blue inlay and depict three workaday its “four corners,” all of cious stone cabochons. However, it’s commoners – a miller, a vintner and which will surely take your almost never open. Fortunately, the a man delivering bread – who stand Chiesa di San Giuseppe dei Teatini in sharp contrast to the church’s the- breath away. and Chiesa del Gesù are, and they atrical pomp, naturalist motifs in a never cease to amaze. Set in the heart lyrical setting. of a working class neighborhood, the Palazzo Gangi, our second ba-

64 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org roque corner, was made famous by room without a care for how much Palermo: Fontana della Vergogna. Visconti in his movie Il Gattopardo ww Sicilians, you it once cost – or will cost in the future. Above: the Church of Immacolata (The Leopard). A remnant of Paler- The ballroom and adjoining hall of Concezione mo’s old aristocracy, Palazzo Gangi is might say, prefer to mirrors are among the most beauti- the only family house of its kind in ful antique remnants of a class that such good condition, thanks to the stay in the shadows, has all but disappeared. What im- ingenious work of the current owner, peccable taste! What unpretentious a woman from Lyons who married where their talents beauty! Prince Gangi. The French princess Another noble residence, the offers private tours of the adjoining may remain intact, Palazzo Mirto, was donated to the halls she has restored bit by bit, wall government and opened to the pub- hanging by wall hanging, trinket by intangible, sacred, lic. Though not as spectacular as the trinket – repairing, gluing, scrub- Palazzo Gangi, you will find a few bing and polishing with admirable like a diamond in interesting paintings there. earnestness and self-sacrifice. Rare On the third corner we find the cabinets, chandeliers teeming with the depths of a three oratories decorated by Gia- branches, armchairs with gnarled como Serpotta, a stucco worker feet and intricate lace adorn every mine. about whom little is known. In fact, www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 65 travel his talents never made it off the is- three oratories was virtually impos- land. Besides his work on the Santo sible, unless you could somehow Spirito Monastery in Agrigento, charm the fickle guards by, say, pet- Serpotta exclusively operated in Pal- ting their cat. Now the oratories have ermo, where he was born in 1656 and regular opening hours; all you need died in 1732. His body, buried in the to do is buy a ticket to enter. Inside, basement of the Chiesa di San Mat- you will discover the work of a sculp- teo, disappeared when the cemetery tor of striking imagination and skill, was removed. Until recently, there whose medium was not marble or had been no mention of his work. bronze but stucco. The artist’s spe- For two and a half centuries, he was cialty was a snake or lizard (serpiotta) forgotten, confirming how little Sicil- that he would sometimes carve into ians care to boast of their reputation. the corner of his statues. Or should their silence be attributed Serpotta’s world is entirely white, to indifference? Contempt? Why, for and you’re not immediately aware instance, did the Prince of Lampe- of it, given that the first oratory he dusa wait so long before writing worked on, the Rosario in San Do- his book, so that Il Gattopardo only menico, houses massive paintings by became famous posthumously? Ac- van Dyck, Pietro Novelli and other cording to his cousin the great and famous artists, which are embedded utterly unknown poet Lucio Piccolo, in the walls and above the altar. In “We don’t want to be judged by the the next chapel Serpotta decorated, mainland.” By the mainland, Pic- Santa Zita, a flurry of white shapes colo means Italy, and that powerful fills the space. You see nothing but word both expresses the inferiority- white – life-size female Virtues and superiority complex of Sicilians and playful putti frolicking about like explains their distaste for attention. acrobats, skipping, swaying, play- Sicilians, you might say, prefer to stay ing with their mouths and genitals, in the shadows, where their talents among garlands of roses, bunches panel above the entrance and be- the mysteries of the Rosary. These may remain intact, intangible, sa- of fruit, and war trophies. But this tween two older boys—one, holding miniature theaters were fashioned cred, like a diamond in the depths child-like space can’t muffle the noise his head high and staring insolently, with exquisite precision and poetry. of a mine. of war: the Battle of Lepanto is ren- symbolizes the victor; the other, in Serpotta may have never set foot off Until recently, visiting Serpotta’s dered in admirable detail in a large a turban, the defeated Turks. The the island, but his deep understand- twelve alcoves along the walls reveal ing of perspective makes you wonder if his bas-reliefs were borrowed from ww With Serpotta you Donatello. Shapes gradually recede, creating a sense of depth. see nothing but The last oratory is in San Lorenzo, adjacent to the church of San Fran- white–life-size female cesco d’Assisi, and introduces a new kind of human next to the serious Virtues and playful Virtues and whimsical babies, several naked adolescents stretched out putti frolicking or prone in poses redolent of Michel- angelo’s Ignudi or those by Carracci about like acrobats, in the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. The total absence of adult men among skipping, swaying, dozens of figures is novel and mysterious; it’s a world of white with only playing with their women and children. When Serpotta was fourteen years old, his father was mouths and genitals, sent to the galleys and died a slave. Does the color white, combined with among garlands of the absence of virile characters, suggest a boy who has erased his father roses, bunches of from his mind? Or is it a post-mor- tem homage to the idealized crimi- fruit, and war nal according to the Sicilian code of omertà? A large painting by Caravag- trophies. gio (The Adoration) once hung above

66 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Left: a view of Palermo’s Quattro Canti and, at the bottom, the Oratory of Santa Cita, Stucco of Giacomo Serpotta. Below: The grotesque statues of Villa Patagonia, Bagheria.

ww The “mad” Prince of Palagonia topped the wall surrounding his villa with extravagant “monsters” that would startle Goethe. If you attribute them to the wild imaginings of the mentally insane, then you fail to grasp the Mediterranean mindset. the altar. It was stolen in 1969 and its ing his villa with extravagant “mon- wild imaginings of the mentally in- of restraint and reason. Bagheria’s whereabouts are still unknown. sters” that would startle Goethe, sane, then you fail to grasp the Medi- brand of baroque is merely an exag- The fourth corner lies at the other one of the first visitors to see them. terranean mindset. Like a Pirandello geration of a quintessential island extreme of this relatively muted ba- Dwarfs riding lions, hunchbacks character, the “mad” prince was fully trait: a tendency to defy Greek clichés roque building, in over-the-top Ba- donning large wigs, dragons with aware of what he was doing. Chances and impatiently dispel the myth that gheria, a small town about ten miles donkey ears, bird-women, fish-men, are he commissioned these statues had reduced the island to a college from Palermo. Here, the Prince of and oversized heads on contorted to tarnish the image of Sicily, which campus. On the contrary, what has Palagonia topped the wall surround- bodies – if you attribute them to the he believed worshipped at the altar best represented Sicily since the ww Wine Tour Three Sicilian Wines That I Enjoy by Charles Scicolone

I am often asked to recommend my favorite Sicilian wines. There are many, but these three are among those I have been enjoying lately.

Benanti Etna Bianco Biancodicaselle 2014 DOC Benanti made from 100% countryside of Caselle on the minerals, with subacid reaction. The The wine matures for a certain Carricante, vines grown as eastern slope of Etna in the consulting enologist is Michele Bean. period of time in tanks before being freestanding bushes (alberello). This commune of Milo and the The grapes are late ripening and are bottled. After two months in bottle indigenous vine is cultivated only on countryside of Cavaliere on the picked in the third week of October; the wine is released. The color is Mt. Etna. The vines are 35 to 50 southern side of the mountain, in the they are intact and softly pressed. pale yellow with greenish hints; it is years old and at 800 to 1,000 commune of Santa Maria di Licodia. Temperature controlled aromatic, fruity with hints of apple, meters. The area of production is the The soil is sandy, volcanic, and rich in fermentation in stainless steel vats. and nice acidity. www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 67 A view of Modica. Below: the famous Saints of Modica.

travel end of antiquity are not the col- ww DISCOVERING ITALY’S GEMS (Fall 2017) umns you see on the temples, the tiered seats in the theaters or the grandeur of the ruins, but rather art that express a lust for life, the The Most Unique direct result of a tragic and turbu- lent history and the constant threat of violence from the earth and below the earth – the island’s erratic City Outside Venice earthquakes and volcanic erup- tions. “Sicilitude” is a permanent state of anxiety. Founded in 1360 BC, for Mount Etna beckons. Lava, ba- centuries Modica and its salt, blackened prisms, black lava flows, heaps of carbonized ash, County made up the clouds of black smoke, random cra- largest, richest and most ters formed by ice melt: the world as it was, a telluric jumble. It’s not powerful feudal state on uncommon to emerge from the slag the island. Destroyed by an heaps and see a shrub suddenly burst into flames, reclaimed by the earthquake in 1693, the fire underneath the surface. How area was rebuilt by the can you maintain your composure or your bourgeois lifestyle when you greatest Sicilian architects can’t even trust the earth your house and artists of the time. stands on? The notions of saving for the future, making plans, keeping obligations and career building don’t exist in Sicily. What’s the point by Goffredo Palmerini* get a better glimpse of the land- ternates green vegetable patches when at any minute it could all go scape in this part of Sicily, as we with golden wheat ready for har- up in smoke? ww There’s a pleasant sense of an- cross the Hyblaean Mountains, vesting. The series of fields are ticipation en route to Modica, es- an expansive rocky tableland. fenced off by orderly stonewalls, * Dominique Fernandez is a French writer, a pecially when the highway ends The fields show off the variety of made with stones that have been renown expert on Italian art and literature, abruptly in Rosolini and merges the island’s agronomy: vineyards, gathered from the earth and care- and a member of the Académie française. with a minor arterial road. No orchards, olive groves and leafy fully assembled by generations of problem. Actually, it allows us to carob trees fleck the earth that al- farmers, as their colors attest. The

Planeta Cometa 2014 100% Fiano Palm Bay $40.99. Production area Menfi from the Gurra vineyard planted in 1998 and the Dispensa vineyard planted in 1996. There are 4,500 vines/hectare. The grapes are destemmed and crushed; the juice is clarified by cold settling overnight and then inoculated with selected yeast. Fermentation takes place at a controlled temperature in stainless steel tanks for 20 days. The wine is bottled in the second half of February following the year of harvest. Firriato south-east exposure and they are at temperature controlled steel tanks This is an elegant, full-bodied wine Harmonium Sicily DOC Sicily 2013 300 meters. The soil is calcareous- according to tradition. The wine is with a wide range of aromas and 100% Nero d’Avola from the Borgo slime, there are 5,000/5,500 vines per aged for 12 months in French and flavors. It has hints of pineapple, Guarini Estate. This is a “cru” from 3 hectare and the vines are cordon American durmast barriques. This is a mandarin, thyme and chamomile with vineyards: Ferla cru with a north-east trained and spur pruned. Grapes are well-structured wine with hints of a long finish and very pleasing exposure, Beccaccia cru with a south hand-picked the third week of cherry, blueberries, prunes and a hint aftertaste. exposure and the Lepre cru with a September. Vinification in of pepper and nutmeg.

68 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org ww Modica’s special urban design, with its intricate network of stairs and narrow alleys that snake up the four surrounding hills, explains its designation as “the most unique city outside Venice” and UNESCO World Heritage Site.

stunning panoramic stonewalls ing water for millennia. Dense the four surrounding hills. cities emerged more beautiful than form a dense labyrinth of property brush gives it a wild look. The The urban design is utterly af- before. In fact, the greatest Sicil- lines, a harmonious mix of work- deep grooves in the rock are fecting, quilted as it is by a hun- ian architects – Rosario Gagliardi, ing farmland where cows, sheep called “cave.” The cliff walls often dred or so late baroque churches, Paolo Labisi, Vincenzo Sinatra and and goats graze. The air is clean. face grottoes. Prehistoric people noble family palazzos, monaster- others – were operating at that The clear sky is an intense blue. emerged from these caverns, as ies, and various convents, which time. These sophisticated artists Near Ispica, the limestone has was revealed by the necropolises have impacted the cultural life of and expert artisans breathed new been deeply scored by cours- in Pantalica and Cava d’Ispica, the city for centuries. Modica has life into Sicilian baroque. Their which date back 2200 years before been recognized by UNESCO for best works have been recognized Christ. Important ruins and rock its architectural value. Founded by UNESCO, as have the cities of paintings have been discovered in 1360 BC, the city experienced Caltagirone, Catania, Militello, here, while a third century bronze a golden age around 1296, when Modica, Noto, Palazzolo Acreide, statue of Hercules, now housed in King Frederick II of Aragon ap- Ragusa and Scicli. A stupendous the civic museum, was found on pointed Manfredi Chiaramonte example of baroque Sicily, Modica the outskirts of Modica. Speaking Count of Modica. For centuries the is now a beautiful city with 55,000 of Modica, we’ve almost arrived. County of Modica was the largest, inhabitants. Nobel laureate Salva- After a series of windy curves, the richest and most powerful feudal tore Quasimodo was born here in profile of the “città alta” emerges, state on the island. In Sicily, the 1901, and it is the city of chocolate. dominated by the Church of Saint figure of the Count of Modica also Beloved the world over, Modica John above and a little farther happened to be the King’s Viceroy. chocolate is specially prepared. down by the majestic facade of the And the Chiaramonte family en- There are many manufacturers, Cathedral of Saint George. joyed uncontested prestige, partly but there is one in particular worth The city is really something, jut- because the family descended from singling out: Casa don Puglisi. The ting from either side of two can- Charlemagne. manufacturer uses proceeds from yons that were hollowed out over But on January 11, 1693, trag- its chocolate and candy production millennia by a pair of streams that edy struck. The entire county was to help support its namesake shel- merged below, in today’s “città bas- hit by a devastating earthquake ter and community center. ww sa.” Modica’s special urban design that reverberated over a wide explains its designation as “the swath of southwestern Sicily, as far * Writer and journalist most unique city outside Venice” north as Catania, destroying cities Goffredo Palmerini continues for its intricate network of stairs and castles. 100,000 died. Yet the his fascinating journey through and narrow alleys that snake up area was quickly rebuilt and the the beauty of Italy. www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 69 Fishing nets stacked on the floor at the Mergellina harbor on the Neapolitan riviera travel Photo Ruggero Lionetti

ww WRITERS TELL THEIR CITY (SUMMER 2013) Naples: Neither in Heaven nor on Earth

His grandmother was by L.A.S. ples. That place is my center; it’s It was an education that took raised in Birmingham, the center of my nervous system. place through listening, especially Poetry lives in his daily life. He My nervous system was formed in dialect. “Voices, cries, prayers, Alabama. His father came wwhas experienced it, especially there, as well the education of my lamentations of my mother. All in to New York. Erri grew up during the most difficult times. emotions. I don’t mean walking Neapolitan. Italian is my second Erri De Luca – writer, screenwriter, arm-in-arm with a young lady. For language. It’s difficult to explain in Naples, but left at 18 to translator, essayst, poet – is origi- me, it’s about fundamental feelings to non-Italians, because in their join the America that was nally from Naples and has lived of compassion, anger, and even experience dialects don’t really ex- a very intense life. He has been a shame. They’re feelings that crop ist – only the inflections of pronun- all around him. But Erri, laborer, truck driver, warehouse up every time I think of Naples. I ciations that distinguish one place considered today “a worker, bricklayer. He has worked hear them inside my head when I from another. It’s rarely found in politics and for humanitarian react to news coming from the city, outside of Italy, this radical differ- master of the Italian causes. These experiences provided every time they call me to comment ences in vocabulary and phonetics language of the past two him with important life lessons and on some distasteful piece of news among our dialects. We come from have inspired his poetry. from Naples.” a country of ‘multiple languages.’ decades,” carries Naples Carrying Naples inside of him, As he describes his childhood, the In Naples, we speak one of these inside of him. Forever. as do many Neapolitans who no story emerges of a city to hear as well languages.” longer live there, he lives in con- as see. “I grew up in a very narrow trasts. He left Naples at 18. He alley. There was not much of a view, Leaving Naples returns, physically, every now and but the sounds worked miracles. You So what does Erri recall of his then. Even when he is far away, his could hear everything that was going departure from Naples? He was mind and heart remain there. on beyond the walls and the streets. young, he left suddenly, and never “My senses were created in Na- The city was very acoustic.” went back there to live. “I had built

70 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Erri De Luca during an interview with i-Italy at Rizzoli USA in New Erri De Luca York. Rigth: Artisan workshop in an on i-ItalyTV ally in the heart of the city Photo Ruggero Lionetti ww Naples is not a touristic city in the classic sense, like Rome or Florence. It must be visited alongside a Neapoli- tan, someone who will take you by the hand. Because only a Neapolitan can open up the city to you. Otherwise, you won’t see anything. It’s a secret city. up a lot of drive to get out, and were aircraft carriers and whole to see New York through his eyes, this city is its impenetrability and its the drive at a certain point mate- squadrons. Entire neighborhoods looking for what he had seen him in religiosity. “It’s a religious city, even rialized. I opened the door to my in Naples were inhabited by Ameri- the 1950s. Of course I made it up; superstitious. In particular, there house…and I closed it slowly be- can soldiers and officers. America I completely imagined the stories is an intimate worship of the dead, hind me, not letting it slam. I dis- was all around me.” hidden inside of my father’s diary. who are never erased or excluded, appeared. I went down the stairs, This “Neapolitan” America I followed him as he went to Ellis but continue to be with us. There is I went to the station and I took a joined the America that was al- Island, the terminus of the journey great adoration of the relics. Neapol- train. I separated myself from the ready inside him. He looked very for emigrants, and I went to the top itans have entrusted themselves to future that had been set for me. much like those young Americans, of the Empire State building, again the intercession of the patron saint I immediately threw myself into those soldiers who descended because he had been there….” Gennaro who saved them from the the fray. I remember precisely the from ships and were seen wander- plague, the lava from Vesuvius, and emptiness of the descent; it was a ing around Naples while on leave. A city that is unique earthquakes. The city has its own deep void. For me, those stairs were “My body resembled theirs. Once I Our conversation seemed to be a re- ‘holiness’ which is neither in heaven an abyss, and I would never go up was even taken in by the American lay between Naples and New York. nor on earth.” them again.” police since they had mistaken me We went back to Naples and asked For Erri De Luca, New York City, for one of their soldiers. Physically, Erri for some tips to tourists who An earthquake within America, and Naples are linked by America fit me; it was my calling want to visit. “Naples is not a tour- As in so many of Erri De Luca’s a personal red thread. The United card. I was an American in Naples.” istic city in the classic sense. It’s not books, there lives and seethes a States entered his life even be- like Rome or Florence. Naples must tension that feeds his research and fore he visited. His grandmother At last — New York be visited alongside a Neapolitan, transforms it into poetry. In this was Ruby Hammond and she was But Erri visited New York City for someone who will take you by the way, he exorcises the interior earth- raised in Birmingham, Alabama. the first time just two years ago, hand, not because you need to be quake that is so often within us. His name, Erri, comes from Harry, and did so as a famous writer on protected but because only a Nea- And he allows something sacred to even though he dropped the “H.” tour to present his book. We asked politan can open up the city to you. grow in its place, something which him to describe some of feelings Otherwise, you won’t see anything. takes us back to Naples, where his “Neapolitan America” upon his first “return” to America. You need a friend in Naples. It’s a senses were constructed. But America didn’t just exist in “I had just read a travelogue secret city. For however beautiful family stories. He had lived it and written by my father, who had been it is, for as much as it seems com- * Erri De Luca has published more than seen it while he was still a boy in in New York after the war. He had pletely open with its wonderful bay, 60 books, short stories and poems. Some of Naples. “The U.S. Sixth Fleet is longed for America and had read a it’s actually impenetrable.” them are available in English, including The headquartered in Naples. There lot of American literature. So I tried Perhaps an intrinsic aspect of Day Before Happiness, and Three Horses. www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 71 travel ww “ITALY THROUGH ART” SERIES (WINTER 2015) To Each their own Rome

Here I counter the cliché of you are in the temple that Marcus the “Eternal City,” timeless Agrippa, general and advisor of Augustus, dedicated to planetary and disdainful of human gods. The Pantheon was trans- vicissitudes, with the Rome formed into a church in the seventh century by Pope Boniface IV who that moves, suffers, lives, named it “Saint Mary of the Mar- gets its hands dirty, bounc- tyrs.” Similarly, the so-called “Cas- tel Sant’Angelo” along the Tiber is ing from one crisis to none other than the mausoleum another and resounding built by Emperor Hadrian, which popes over the centuries turned with tragedies. into a citadel to serve as a fortified outpost of Saint Peter’s Basilica. There are countless ruses like this by Dominique Fernandez* in Rome: the Catholic city appropriated the pagan monuments, so Once upon a time, when Eu- that the transition from one Rome wwrope read and studied Latin, to another, from one era to anoth- the main attraction was the presence er, is seamless. Here the Coliseum, of Antiquity, palpable on every street there the Theatre of Marcellus, far- corner. It is indeed a peculiarity of this ther away the Baths of Caracalla: they city, as the ruins are incorporated into are integrated into the modern city, the very fabric of modern urban life. like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Certainly there are places that are specifically “ancient,” and as such are en- Modern, Baroque Rome closed by fences: primarily the Forum, Now that the study of Latin is no lon- the political center of the Urbs during ger part of the traveler’s education, gels, cherubs, putti, deliberately made the rigidity of marble by impressing the reign of Virgil, Cicero, Caesar, Au- the expectation and the taste for it to reignite a passion for the religion blocks of material with intoxicating gustus; the Forum, with its temples, have changed. It remains sensitive preached by the Vatican. Soon, how- movements. Bernini the architect basilicas, triumphal arches, porticos, to the ruin’s prestige, of course, but ever, what had been conceived as a built the Colonnade of Saint Peter, the small round temple of the Vestal our époque, so distanced from this commercial art became an aesthetic the vast semicircle of columns sur- Virgins, and many other ruins, some- ancient serenity, is drawn first to- choice, the pleasure of discovering rounding the square outside the Ba- times simple columns left standing wards Baroque Rome, whose fantasy, novel ways of expression. silica, symbolizing the open arms with while the building collapsed, and so overflowing, excesses and ornamen- which the Holy Seat welcomes the many other traces of this glorious past tal luxuriance immediately seduce Bernini and beyond faithful: Barberini Palace, built with whose eloquence continues to touch him. No more solitude or silence here The rise of the Baroque as an original stones torn from the Coliseum; and us. But most of the vestiges in Rome but rather expansion, convulsions, art form is above all credited to one especially those fountains that are the are on the same level, so to speak, an uninterrupted din. The stone man, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. He was glory of Rome: The Fountain of the with everyday life. You don’t have to itself seems to twist and scream. an architect, sculptor, painter, set de- Bees at the entrance of via Veneto; the check the opening times or purchase Remember, the Baroque was born signer, and one-man band who filled Triton Fountain in Piazza Barberini, a ticket; they are there at arm’s reach, in Rome, initially as propaganda to the seventeenth century with his cre- composed of four dolphins whose tails collapsed or standing, ready to be re- fight against the reformed religions ative vitality and gave Rome the face lift a conch shell from which a triton garded and admired. of Luther and Calvin, who called for she wears today. Of Bernini the sculp- launches a powerful water jet; and of bare, white and austere churches. tor one admires the marvelous stat- course, first and foremost, the famous Pagan and Catholic The Catholic Church’s response was ues housed in the Borghese Gallery: Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza You enter, for example, this ro- to do the opposite: images, more and The Rape of Persephone, Apollo and Navona. The latter epitomizes the tunda-shaped church, to gather in more images that strike the imagina- Daphne, Aeneas and Anchise, David Baroque grammar and spirit. Blocks front of Raphael’s tomb: In reality tion, an overabundance of saints, an- and the Slingshot, works that defy of rough-hewn rock associate nature

72 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org Clockwise: A view of Rome from the Fori Imperiali. A detail of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s The Rape of Proserpina. Pope Francis says mass in Piazza San Pietro. The Bernini fountain in Piazza Navona. Caravaggio, David and Goliath. A view of Piazza di Spagna and the “Barcaccia” fountain by Gian Lorenzo’s father Pietro Bernini.

ww There are many the law until he washed up on a beach in Tuscany and abruptly died under different Romes, mysterious circumstances, likely an assassination. His violent life and his from early pagan, work reflect the convulsions of a tor- tured soul. where Antiquity is More than half of his paintings can be found in Rome: The Stories of palpable on every Saint Matthew in San Luigi dei Fran- cesi, The Martyrdom of St Peter and corner; to Catholic The Conversion of St Paul in Santa Maria del Popolo, and The Virgin of Rome, which the Pilgrims in Sant’Agostino, where for the first time the fingernails of appropriated the the peasants that came from afar to worship the Virgin are shown as pagan monuments blackened by the dirt roads. Others are housed in the Capital, Vatican, for its own use; to Corsini and Barberini museums, where Judith Beheading Holofernes Renaissance and depicts the blood flowing from the Baroque taste for movement, illusion is the painter Caravaggio. No doubt large boils of a severed head, the first Baroque Rome, the and metamorphosis; finally, at the we should hurry to the Vatican to see appearance of modern horror in art. top, an Egyptian obelisk points like a Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel and the Finally, at the Borghese Gallery, you city of Michelangelo, finger toward the sky. Raphael rooms. But the Renaissance can recognize Caravaggio’s own fea- We find this finger in another, no painters, isolated as they are in the tures in the severed head of Goliath, Raphael, Bernini less illustrious, part of Rome, dated formal perfection and distant nobil- held at arm’s length by a beautiful and the following century: the Spanish ity of their idealized characters, speak young David, as if the painter had had and Caravaggio. Steps. 137 steps, a real ascension for to us less than this wild, self-taught, a premonition of his own death. the pilgrims going up to the Trinità dei innovative and prodigious inventor To each his/her own Rome. Here, with art; exotic plants and animals Monti church, in front of which Pope of “chiaroscuro” from Milan who I wanted to counter the cliché of the (palm, agave, crocodile, snake, Ameri- Pius VI, completing the program of burst onto the scene around 1590; for “Eternal City,” timeless and disdain- can horse, lion, Indian tattoo) recall spiritual elevation, erected an obelisk searching the streets for his models, ful of human vicissitudes, with the the universal vocation of the church; in 1789 that points the way forward to having prostitutes pose for the Virgin Rome that moves, suffers, lives, gets giant statues of the four biggest rivers escape the fate of sinful humanity—a and thugs for his saints and angels; for its hands dirty, the Rome in which we in the world, one per continent—the destiny represented at the bottom of painting them as they are, with their can recognize our century, bouncing Danube, the Nile, the Ganges and the the stairs by a fountain in the shape of worn, sinister faces; and, more im- from one crisis to another and re- Rio de la Plata—are there for the same a boat about to sink. portantly, for his muddled manners, sounding with tragedies. ww reason and also represent a love of the angry and ardent, prosecuted and im- colossal; the water that flows onto this Caravaggio’s hell prisoned several times for fights, and tumult of shapes and transforms the Along with Bernini, the artist who finally suspected of murder, forced to * Dominique Fernandez is a French writer, a mineral into a spectacle that changes has left the greatest mark on the Ro- flee Rome and take refuge in Naples, renown expert on Italian art and literature, from minute to minute displays the man landscape (at least for us today), then Malta, then Sicily, hounded by and a member of the Académie française. www.i-Italy.org Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 | i-Italy Magazine | 73 Fred Plotkin LABuStINA Below: Illustration by Darrell Fusaro ww The Italy I Love The Unique Gift of Sociability I know, I know—Italians are not perfect. But who is? Yet it is the full expression of their humanity that makes being with Italians so pleasurable. by Fred Plotkin

I am asked several times a ww Pleasure Activist wwday—at least—what it is I love about Italy. I find that the way the Fred Plotkin is one of America’s question is posed says more about foremost experts on opera and has the person asking it than how I distinguished himself in many fields as might answer. The questioner of- a writer, speaker, consultant. He has ten seeks confirmation for his or written for the New York Times, Los her perception of what Italy might Angeles Times, Opera News, and be. And that, to me, makes little other publications. He lectures sense. The Italy the person is ask- frequently at the Smithsonian ing about represents a mere slice of Institution, the Juilliard School, and what Italy is. Columbia University. He is the author For people who love food and of nine books, many of them on Italian wine, that is what they want to topics. He lives in New York and Italy. know about. And, yes, I think Ital- “I am known as a pleasure activist, ian food is the best in the world and which does not connote mindless the wine is distinctive because it is hedonism, but a deep and passionate made to pair with all manner of pursuit of ideas and knowledge, with dishes that emanate from kitchens emphasis on using one’s senses and in all 20 regions of Italy. intuition to the fullest,” Fred says. There is so much more that we In June 2016, Frank Bruni wrote in The might call the Excellence That Is New York Times: “Fred Plotkin [is] an Italy: Agriculture, Architecture, American who might as well be Italian, Automobiles, Cinema, Dance, De- given how extensively he has studied sign, Fashion, Gardens, History, and worked in Italy, the subject of Literature, Mountains, Music, Nat- many of the books he’s written.” ural Beauty, Opera, Painting, Reli- gion, Romance, Scientific research, Sculpture, the Sea, Theater, Urban every delight the nation offers so Studies, and many other things you much more savory. can surely think of. Which brings me to the answer One of the things I love about It- as to what it is I love about Italy: aly—I have not yet reached the mo- This nation is an extraordinary ment to disclose the thing—is the teacher for anyone who is open to Italian people in all of their beauty it and eager to learn. Its civilization and imperfections. They are more When an Italian is your friend, generosity or humor—that makes and its seemingly natural vocation connected to their humanity than he or she becomes devoted to you being with Italians so pleasurable. for creativity means that everything in many other countries and live life and your inclination is to do the They are the inheritors of one of one sees, tastes, touches, hears or so that everything can be savored. same. All over the country I have the great civilizations the world smells in Italy is part of a magnifi- While in other countries people people about whom I think and has known and they often feel its cent whole. see social media as a tool of friend- care and they feel the same about weight and the demands it makes. Italy is a compliant muse whose ship, in Italy they are a tool of com- me. Such a burden—and the bureau- only requirement is that anyone munication. But nothing beats the I know, I know—Italians are not cratic and structural challenge it who claims to love her be willing to sense of intimacy when you and perfect. But who is? Yet it is the can impose—means that life can learn and have one’s assumptions your Italian friends are together. full expression of their humanity— seem less beautiful than it could be. challenged and upended rather than This gift of sociability is something whether it is based on compassion, But in Italy, it is the juxtaposition merely confirmed. Italy teaches us very treasurable about Italians. frustration, irascibility, curiosity, of beauty and burden that makes what it means to be human. ww

74 | i-Italy Magazine | Special Issue | Winter 2017-2018 www.i-Italy.org PEA SALAD WITH WHITE BEANS, SHRIMP AND FRESH HERBS

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