Founded 1994 Il Piccolo Giornale May, 2020

Il Piccolo Giornale is the official newsletter of Club ItaloAmericano of Green Bay, Wi.

Website: http://clubitaloamericano.org/ Facebook: Club Italaloamericano of Green Bay Board of Directors Send contributions/comments to: [email protected] Officers: President

L. V. Teofilo Vice President

Richard Daley Treasurer Vicky Sobeck

Secretary Mary Prisco Past President

Richard Gollnick

Directors

Ron Cattelan

Dom DelBianco

Marlene Feira Janice Galt FYI - CLUB ITALOAMERI- A column from Ostia in On June 30, 1933 25 sea-planes left Italy, under the command of Italo Margene Mar- cantonio CANO CANCELLATIONS Balbo, Mussolini's air marshal, who Susan Milewski AND POSTPONEMENTS Submitted by Marlene Feira used mass flights as a propaganda Darrell Sobeck tool. The planes left from Orbetello Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Raissa Calza, in her 1959-book about and flew via Amsterdam, Ireland, Judy Sulzmann the following activities will be can- Ostia, writes about a rectangular Iceland, Labrador and Montreal. Lynn Thompson celled for the month of May: square or portico, c. 200 meters out- They arrived in Chicago on July 15,

* Pizza night at the Glass Nickle - side Porta Marina, originally over- and were welcomed by a huge Ambassador at looking the sea. It had eight columns crowd. The return flight began on Large Monday, May 4 "in grigio". One is missing, because July 25. The planes landed at Lido di Riccardo Paterni * Conversation Club at Nardi’s it was transported to the US in the Ostia on August 12. Affogato Bar - Saturday, May 9 early 1930's. It was a gift from Italy

Editor * Live at the Metropolitan Opera at to the city of Chicago in remem- Paul Marino Bay Park Cinema- Saturday, May 9 - brance of the first transatlantic the opera “Maria Stuarda” by Doni- crossing of the Italian airforce. Sev-

zetti was scheduled to be shown eral members of the IGO gathered more information about this event. The arrival of Balbo in Lido di Ostia,

Here is what they found. August 12, 1933 The column formed part of the so-called named Balbo Drive (until that time called DELLA SQUADRA ATLANTICA GUIDATA "prospetto a mare" outside Porta Marina, 7th St.). DA BALBO in front of the Edificio con Opus Sectile. In CHE CON ROMANO ARDIMENTO the periodical "Le vie d'Italia - rivista TRASVOLO L'OCEANO mensile del Touring club Italiano" (anno XXXIX, n. 9, settembre 1933, anno XI era NELL' ANNO XI fascista, is a photo of the column in its DEL LITTORIO original setting. The caption says "Il segno THIS COLUMN dell'amicizia fra l'Italia e la repubblica stellata", and below the photo can be TWENTY CENTURIES OLD read: "La colonna degli scavi di Ostia che ERECTED ON THE SHORES OF OSTIA il Duce ha offerto alla cittˆ di Chicago e che verrˆ inalzata sulla riva del Michigan, PORT OF IMPERIAL a ricordo della trasvolata atlantica del TO SAFEGUARD THE FORTUNES AND VIC- decennale". Later Guglielmo Marconi, TORIES president of the "comitato Italiano" in Chicago, wrote a letter to Calza, thanking OF THE ROMAN TRIREMES him for his collaboration in selecting the FASCIST ITALY BY COMMAND OF BENITO column. The unveiling of the column MUSSOLINI

The column was set up on a travertine PRESENTS TO CHICAGO base, with an inscription in Italian, describ- EXALTATION SYMBOL MEMORIAL ing it as a gift to Chicago from the people OF THE ATLANTIC SQUADRON LED BY "dell'Italia fascista". BALBO

THAT WITH ROMAN DARING FLEW ACROSS THE OCEAN

IN THE ELEVENTH YEAR

OF THE FASCIST ERA

The photograph from "Le vie d'Italia"

The column must have reached the US by boat. It was erected during the 1933-1934 QUESTA COLONNA World Exhibition, called "A ". It was unveiled in front of the DI VENTI SECOLI ANTICA Italian pavillion, in 1934, after Balbo had ERETTA SUL LIDO DI OSTIA left. The column still stands, on its original PORTO DI ROMA IMPERIALE site, but today in meaningless isolation. It Note the on either side of the in- is at a distance of a few meters from the A VIGILARE LE FORTUNE E LE VITTORIE scription. The inscription itself is a won- shore of in an area that is DELLE TIREMI ROMANE derful example of Mussolini's attempts to relatively unfrequented. It can be found in use ancient Rome as an impressive fore- Burnham Park, at 1600 South Lake Shore L'ITALIA FASCISTA SUSPICE BENITO MUS- runner of his own regime. Here we get Drive, just east of . It is gen- SOLINI the impression that the Atlantic Ocean erally called the "Balbo Monument". A DONA A CHICAGO has become part of the mare nostrum. It midsized highway at a distance of some is interesting that the monument was not ESALTAZIONE SIMBOLO RICORDO 600 meters from the column was in 1934 removed during World War II. The Following article submitted by He is dapper, beaming with the confi- pictures of Rosalia made during van dence of youth; he does not have the tem- Dyck’s days in quarantine. It was, in fact, Chris Wagner perament for sheltering in place. It’s one of the Met’s very first acquisitions, CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK springtime, the year is 1624, and the 25- bought a year after the museum’s found- year-old is sailing ing in 1870. You ought to have seen van The Saint Who Stopped an south, to , where he has been invited Dyck’s plague picture in the first gallery of Epidemic Is on Lockdown at to paint the island’s Spanish viceroy. the exhibition “Making the Met: 1870- 2020,” the centerpiece of the museum’s Van Dyck is establishing his international the Met 150th birthday celebrations, which was career as a portraitist to the rich and fa- scheduled to open. Now, of course, Rosa- Quarantined in Sicily, van Dyck painted a mous, and he has already had some suc- lia is quarantined herself as the corona- daughter of who saved the city cess in Genoa, London and his virus pandemic intensifies. The Met does from an outbreak. Our critic went to see hometown, Antwerp. Now, in Palermo, not expect to reopen before July. her in an empty museum. he feels on the cusp of a breakthrough.

He gets the portrait done that spring, but then: disaster. On May 7, 1624, Palermo reports the first cases of a plague that will soon kill more than 10,000, some 10 percent of the city’s population. On June 25, the viceroy whom van Dyck painted declares a state of emergency; five weeks later, he’s dead. Quarantined in a foreign city, the young Fleming watches in horror as the port closes, the city gates slam The empty lobby of the Met on March shut, the hospital overflows, the afflicted 18th, without a public, without its fresh groan in the street. flowers .Credit...Vincent Tullo for The New York Times As the emergency wears on, a gang of Franciscans starts digging up the earth on I had the chance to enter the museum last a hill facing the harbor. In a cave they un- week, ascending through the service en- earth a pile of bones, which, the archbish- trance to meet Max Hollein, the Met’s op’s commission determines, belongs to director, and Quincy Houghton, its depu- Saint Rosalia, a noblewoman of centuries ty director for exhibitions. It was a joyless past. Rosalia’s relics are paraded through visit. In the Great Hall, the large urns sit the city as the epidemic abates, and the bereft of their usual immense sprays of grateful citizens worship her as the san- fresh flowers. A skeleton crew of guards tuzza, the “little saint,” who saved the was stationed at tables, accompanied by city. industrial-size jugs of hand sanitizer. The “Saint Rosalie Interceding for the Plague- lights in many galleries were off, the gates stricken of Palermo,” by Anthony van Rosalia is proclaimed, and remains today, around the gift shop drawn. Sometimes Dyck, made during the artist’s time in the patron saint of Palermo. Van Dyck - being in an empty museum gives me a quarantine, is itself quarantined, in its meeting the new demand, and not a little thrill, but this locked-down Met, without a assigned place for “Making the Met.” The grateful himself - takes a half-finished self- public, left me miserable. commemoration of the museum’s 150th portrait, slathers it with primer and paints birthday, was due to open at the end of the new protectress, floating gloriously Rosalia, though, is already in her assigned March. over the illness-ravaged port town. spot for “Making the Met,” which had been nearly installed before work halted By Jason Farago “Saint Rosalie Interceding for the Plague- in mid-March. She seems, at first glance, Published March 26, 2020 Updated stricken of Palermo,” painted almost 400 to be ascending to heaven with the help of March 28, 2020 years ago and now in the Metropolitan nearly a dozen cherubim, and a shaft of Museum of Art, is one of five surviving light beams onto her ruddy face through dark clouds at the top of the painting. I legrino, the hill where her relics were spent a while examining its light coloring, found. its Titianesque brushwork; this is one of The artist gave one of the putti bearing the Flemish artist’s most Italian-looking her forward a wreath of pink and white paintings. roses, a reference to her name. Another, It is a deceptive painting. Look fast and at bottom left, is pawing a human skull: you might easily confuse this for an As- the skull of Rosalia herself, which was sumption of the Virgin, and indeed the paraded through the quarantined city al- saint was incorrectly identified when the most as soon as she came out of the Met bought the picture during its first ground. It seems certain that van Dyck year in business. (“Making the Met” also would have seen the first of these proces- includes an 1881 painting of the muse- sions in locked-down Palermo, which still um’s second location, on 14th Street, with takes place every July, and which are as the mislabeled Rosalia clearly visible.) The Baroque as one of the artist’s altarpieces. confusion was understandable outside The Festino di Santa Rosalia remains one Detail of putti holding a human skull in Sicily. Unlike Peter with his keys or Cathe- of the largest festivals in Italy, a mix of van Dyck’s “Saint Rosalie Interceding for rine with her wheel, this little-known saint sacred and secular, with rock concerts and the Plague-stricken of Palermo. “ Cred- did not have a set of standard attributes pasta sampling mixed in with prayer. it...via The Metropolitan Museum of Art until the plague struck. For New Yorkers barracked in our houses and apartments, or doctors and nurses scrambling for face masks, beseeching a saint to end an epidemic may not sound sufficient. Yet the curator Xavier F. Salo- mon, who organized a 2012 exhibition on van Dyck’s Sicilian sojourn (and who is now chief curator of the Frick Collection), has shown that the rulers of plague-hit Palermo relied on both medical and reli- gious interventions to stem the contagion. Palermitans could pray to Rosalia’s re- mains in the city’s cathedral, but only while observing strict social distancing: You could visit on just one day a week, determined by your address.

One edict proclaimed that, while the city One of the putti bears roses in tribute to should pray for “the intercession of glori- Van Dyck had to invent an iconography the woman who stopped a plague. Cred- ous Saint Rosalia,” nevertheless “the hu- for the little-known Rosalia, creating her it...via The Metropolitan Museum of Art man instruments and industry should not as an incarnation of beneficence in chaos. be set aside.” That included strict limits Our Flemish upstart therefore had to in- on movement, and regular recording of vent an iconography for the woman who the ill and the dead. The sick had to isolate Palermitans could pray to her remains in stopped the epidemic. Van Dyck decided themselves on pain of excommunication, the cathedral, but only while observing to picture Rosalia as a young woman with and worse; the archbishop warned that strict social distancing. Credit...via The long, blond, kinky hair, cheeks blushing, “they will be cursed with Lucifer, and Metropolitan Museum of Art eyes wide with ecstasy. Beneath her, en- Judas and all the Devils in hell.” ergetically sketched in a washy palette of ocher and green, lies the harbor of Paler- Young van Dyck, who could have relied on

mo, and in the background is Monte Pel- his royal connections to get out, stayed through it all. He found, amid pestilence, a crafted parades through the capital, amid Bay and Thumb Knuckle Brewing in Lux- subject more urgent than the courtly por- a crush of bodies —in streets or muse- emburg. traits that would eventually make his ums— that I usually find claustrophobic Whenever you visit these businesses, name. but now find myself desperate to redis- please mention that you are a member of cover. We just have to wait. What could a painter, and a foreign one at Club ItaloAmericano as a support of their that, offer this city? So much more than a business and membership. picture to pray before. Having endured a quarantine which shut down his interna- As we tire of taking the precau- CLUB BUSINESS WEB SITES tional career, having survived an epidemic tions of staying home and social Nardi’s Affogato Bar in DePere, https:// that could have cost him his life, van Dyck distancing you need to consider gelato920.com/ crafted in Palermo an incarnation of be- the following : Luigi’s Italian Bistro in Green Bay, neficence in chaos. Plagues are random. https:// They are merciless. They are, I’m now www.luigisitalianbistrogreenbay.com/ learning, most terrifying for their uncer- tain duration. Yet Rosalia, floating over Sammy’s Pizza Garden in Green Bay, Sicily like a hot-air balloon, promises that https:// the horror of epidemic will lift eventually, www.sammyspizzagreenbay.com/ and beauty will return. Tarlton Theatre in Green Bay, https:// I could hardly appreciate the privilege of thetarlton.com/, https:// seeing her all alone at the Met last week, www.facebook.com/thetarlton/ so furious was I that this new plague had Titletown Brewery in Green Bay, deprived us of the balm of art in common. https://www.titletownbrewing.com/ New York’s imported guardian must re- main in seclusion, as must van Dyck’s four Thumb Knuckle Brewing in Lux-emburg. other Rosalias, two in Europe (at the Pra- https://www.thumbknuckle.beer/ do in Madrid and Apsley House in Lon- don), and two in the United States: one in https://www.facebook.com/pg/ the Menil Collection in Houston, another ThumbKnuckleBrewingCo/events/ ARTICLES FOR OUR NEWSLETTER at then Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto *Need to Log into Facebook to View Rico. Please feel free to submit articles or pic- Events tures for our newsletter. Information for As for Sicily, where images of the saint are each upcoming month needs to be sub- 2020 ACTIVITIES ubiquitous, the infection rate today is far mitted to me by the 25th. (think Christ- lower than in Italy’s richer northern prov- Janary (gennaio)……. Felice Anno Nuovo mas) of the month. You should email inces, but the island’s tourist economy is articles as an attachment in Microsoft MONTHLY ACTIVITIES: getting hosed. In grim times you have to Word and pictures in a jpeg format. believe — if not in saints, then at least in January -December (gennaio-dicembre) art. All it can offer, in good times or bad, is My email address is: pao- First Monday of each month @ Glass a view of the world we want to live in ra- [email protected] Nickel, 416 Dousman St., $5.00 Pizza @ ther than the world at hand. It can affirm 5:00 pm Questions— call me at 612-360-8246 the human capacity for invention even January - December (gennaio-dicembre) when death is stalking your studio door. CLUB MEMBERS IN BUSINESS Second Saturday of each month Conver- sation Club @ Nardi’s Affogato Bar, 109 Rosalia will be there for us when “Making We have several club members that are in N.Broadway, De Pere @10:00 -11:30 am the Met” eventually opens, and in July, the restaurant business: we have to hope, she will remind us of a January-December (gennaio-dicembre Nardi’s Affogato Bar in DePere, Luigi’s Palermo that is finished with lockdowns. Second Tuesday of each month-Scopa (an Italian Bistro in Green Bay, Sammy’s Pizza “Viva Palermo e Santa Rosalia!” they Italian Card Game) @ GB Yacht Club, Garden in Green Bay, Tarlton Theatre in shout every year as the image van Dyck 5:30pm Green Bay, Titletown Brewery in Green May - September (maggio-settembre) FROM ONE FRIEND TO AN- I've learned...That under everyone's hard Every Sunday (weather permitting)- Boc- shell is someone who wants to be appreci- ce Ball @ Colburn Park @ 4:00 pm OTHER ated and loved.

May (maggio) Thurs….Meet & Greet, Written by Andy Rooney, a man who had I've learned...That to ignore the facts does New Perspective Senior Living the gift of so much with so few words. not change the facts. Chair: Marlene Feira, Co-Chairs: Shirley Rooney has passed away but used to be I've learned...That when you plan to get Maloney & V. Sobeck on CBS's 60 Minutes: even with someone, you are only letting June (giugno)…………...a Prima Pas- I've learned...That the best classroom in that person continue to hurt you. seggiata the world is at the feet of an elderly per- I've learned...That love, not time, heals all July (luglio)……………..Seconda Pas- son. wounds. seggiata I've learned....That when you're in love, it I've learned...That the easiest way for me August (agosto)...... La Terza Pas- shows. to grow as a person is to surround myself seggiata I've learned ...That just one person saying with people smarter than I am. October (ottobre)………....Musicale XIII, to me, 'You've made my day!' makes my I've learned...That everyone you meet Universalist Fellowship Church, day. deserves to be greeted with a smile.

Chair: John Contratto I've learned....That having a child fall I've learned...That no one is perfect until asleep in your arms is one of the most you fall in love with them. November ( novembre)……….TBD Dinner peaceful feelings in the world. (4:45 pm) & “Italian movie” at NevilleMu- I've learned...That life is tough, but I'm seum (7:00 pm) I've learned...That being kind is more im- tougher. portant than being right. December 12, (12 dicembre) Satur- I've learned...That opportunities are never day….Cena di Natale I've learned....That you should never say lost; someone will take the ones you miss. no to a gift from a child. Chair: Marlene (Sparapani) Feira I've learned...That when you harbour I've learned....That I can always pray for bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere. someone when I don't have the strength I've learned...That I wish I could have told to help him in any other way. my Mom that I love her one more time I've learned...That no matter how serious before passed away. OPEN FORUM Calling all your life requires you to be, everyone I've learned...That one should keep his needs a friend to act goofy with Members words both soft and tender, because to- I've learned...That sometimes all a person morrow he may have to eat them. We extend an invitation for all club mem- needs is a hand to hold and a heart to I've learned...That a smile is an inexpen- bers to attend our monthly Board of Di- understand. sive way to improve your looks. rectors meetings. Our plan is to create I've learned...That simple walks with my on open forum at the beginning of each I've learned...That when your newly born father around the block on summer nights meeting where members can share their grandchild holds your little finger in his when I was a child did wonders for me an ideas, suggestions and/or concerns. little fist, you're hooked for life. adult. If you have an item or topic that you feel I've learned...That everyone wants to live I've learned...That life is like a roll of toilet needs extra time, please contact Presi- on top of the mountain, but all the happi- paper. The closer it gets to the end, the dent Teofilo ([email protected] or 432- ness and growth occurs while you're faster it goes. 6513) by the Monday before the board climbing it. meeting so it can be added to the agen- I've learned...That money doesn't buy I've learned...That the less time I have to da. class. work with, the more things I get done. The meetings are held on the third Thurs- I've learned...That it's those small daily day of every month. happenings that make life so spectacular.

Take Care Of Youselves —Stay Safe