Italian Historical Society

of America Newsletter

DECEMBER 2018 BY JANICE THERESE MANCUSO VOLUME 14, NUMBER 1 Tutto Italiano Benvenuto a Tutto Italiano

In 1899, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, , was founded by Giovanni and a group of other investors. Agnelli’s vision for the company made him the guiding force behind the company’s success. The first car produced, the 3½ HP (also known as the 3½ CV or 4 HP), was from a design by the Ceirano brothers, a family well known during the early years of the automotive industry in .

Through the early 1900s, FIAT flourished, due in part to the industrial revolution in northern Italy and in part to Agnelli’s friendly relationship with government officials. In 1908, FIAT opened a branch in America, selling its car as a “luxury item … costing thousands more than the average domestic car of the period.” During World War I, FIAT received numerous contracts from the Italian government to produce military vehicles, aircraft, and weapons.

While in the United States, Agnelli had studied Ford’s Detroit factories and brought mass production assembly to FIAT’s factory being built outside of in Lingotto. Completed in the early 1920s, the five-story building included a test track on its roof. FIAT produced new car models and commercial transportation vehicles, and worked toward developing an international market; but when Mussolini became Prime Minister, FIAT concentrated on producing vehicles for the Italian market.

After Mussolini joined with Germany, FIAT produced military vehicles and equipment for World War II. When the war ended, because of his association with Mussolini, was forced to leave FIAT.

In 1966, when Giovanni Agnelli’s grandson, Gianni took over as CEO of Fiat, it was one of the top largest car manufacturers in the world. Like his grandfather, Gianni was an innovator, and under his leadership, Fiat expanded its operations, building production plants worldwide and purchasing other Italian car manufacturers. Gianni also modified the corporate structure of Fiat, but differences between old and new management, along with union conflicts, caused production problems. With a worldwide increase in the price of oil and high inflation in Italy, Fiat’s financial foundation was also in peril.

By the mid-seventies, with economic and political disruption, known as the Years of Lead, Italy and Fiat were in turmoil. A cash infusion from helped alleviate Fiat’s bottom line, and automated production and the labor union’s diminishing power gave Fiat more control over cost and productivity. As Fiat began to grow, became a guiding force in and for Italy; and in his efforts to do business with the United States, he bought back the stock in Fiat owned by Libya.

Throughout the years, Fiat had expanded its operations to include ownership of newspapers, food and insurance companies, and even a soccer team. Gianni Agnelli, often called “l’avvocato” (the lawyer) because he had studied law, was widely loved in Italy. Considered royalty, he established a fashion style – and a way of life – that personified the “ideal of the bella figura.”

Gianni retired as CEO of Fiat in 1996, becoming Honorary Chairman. His death in January 2003 was “a national day of mourning” with over 150,000 Italians paying respect by viewing his coffin at the Lingotto factory, and eulogies by the pope and prime minister of Italy.

An HBO Documentary, “Agnelli,” presents a look into the life of Gianni. Videos, photographs, and interviews provide historical details about the politics and economy of Italy, and the aristocrats and celebrities who shared their life with Gianni Agnelli.

Fiat History

Ceirano Fabbrica Automobili (The Italian Tribune, May 2016)

FIAT: Documentary on the Italian Automakers Fiat and the (YouTube Video)

Fiat: la storia dei modelli dal 1899 a oggi (Fiat: the history of models from 1899 to today, Slide Show; Text in Italian)

A Visit to Fiat’s Remarkable Lingotto

Fabulous Life Lessons From Gianni Agnelli (The New York Times, 12/6/17)

Obituary - Charismatic Italian industrialist with “'extraordinary power”

Italian Cars

A Nobel Laureate Of the six Italian recipients awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature, Grazia Deledda is the only woman. She may not be a well known name in American households; but her works are studied in colleges and universities in Europe and America. She received the award in 1927 (for 1926), after being nominated 18 times starting in 1913.

Born in Nuoro, Sardegna, Deledda was in her teens when her first story was published in a magazine. She wrote every day, creating over 400 short stories and more than 30 novels. Other works include poems, plays, and an opera libretto. Deledda was inspired by the landscape and the people of her early years in Nuoro. She received the Nobel Peace Prize “for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general.”

Translating Italian Books into English In 2017 a publishing house opened specializing “in bringing great literary works from all over the world to English language readers.” Kazabo Publishing translates best selling books from other countries into English.

The Director of Kazabo Publishing, Chiara Giacobbe, has a great interest in Italian authors. When asked what inspired her to create the concept and start Kazabo Publishing, she wrote: “Kazabo Publishing grew out of the realization that traditional publishers were not bringing lots of great books to English language readers. I have a degree (Laurea) in Classics from Italy and a Master's Degree in Comparative Literature from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and I spent all my life reading, writing, and translating. So Italian literature is really my main focus, but not the only one. It is a lot of fun and very gratifying to help bring these works into English. I studied these authors in school and I never imagined that I would actually be responsible for introducing some of their works to the English-speaking world!”

Kazabo Publishing currently has two books by best-selling Italian authors – Grazia Deledda and Luigi Capuana – both part of the verismo (realism) movement started during the late 1800s. Chiara notes, “Kazabo is working to bring books to English from many other languages as well. We have already published a really fun one, The Adventures of Dagobert Trostler, that was originally written in German. Dagobert Trostler is the Viennese Sherlock Holmes and these stories were written at about the same time. Not only are they a lot of fun, but they give you a fascinating glimpse of life in Vienna at the height of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. We know lots about Victorian and Edwardian England but turn-of-the-century Vienna is almost a lost world.”

As for Italian authors, Chiara wrote, “We are about to publish a collection of short stories by Italo Svevo. By the end of January we should also have a very amusing collection of love stories by Matilde Serao (just in time for Saint Valentine's Day!) and a book of stories by another big name in the Italian literary world, the author that I like to call the Italian Byron: Ugo Iginio Tarchetti. We are also in the process of translating two detective novels by a very respected mystery author, Augusto De Angelis. All of these works, again, are appearing for the first time in English.”

Kazabo Publishing plans “to publish a new book every two weeks, [and] eventually … a new book every week. The books are not just available on our website. They are also available on Amazon and we will be adding Kobo, iTunes and other outlets as well. We are also coming out with print versions of every book for those who really need to feel the paper in their hands! Print versions of our Mind Games (Capuana), The Demon Deer and Other Animal Stories (Deledda) and The Adventures of Dagobert Trostler will be available by the end of the month.”

A Special Offer One of the e-books you’ll find at Kazabo Publishing is A Touch of Classics, a collection of entertaining and thought-provoking short stories. The book features the works of Italian authors Luigi Capuana, Grazia Deledda, Matilde Serao, and Italo Svevo; Balduin Groller (pen name for Hungarian author of the Dagobert Trostler series); and Saki (pen name for Hector Hugh Monro, a British writer compared to O. Henry.)

To introduce you to Kazabo Publishing and these authors’ works, readers of Tutto Italiano can receive a free download copy of A Touch of Classics. (Kazabo Publishing is also offering a grand opening special of 20 percent off its other books.)

Follow the instructions below to obtain your complimentary copy of A Touch of Classics. Important: You must have a digital reader installed on your computer or device before downloading e-book. If you do not have one, Adobe Digital Editions is easy to install and use.

The Coupon Code to collect the free book is: ht389vk The offers expires February 6th, 2018.

1) Go to http://www.kazabo.com/tutto-italiano 2) Click on Add to cart 3) Click on View Cart (which appears right below Add to cart) 4) Enter your coupon code and click Apply coupon (Under Cart totals it will now show that $5.99 has been deducted from the price and that the total is zero.) 5) Click Proceed to checkout 6) Enter your name and email address. There is no need to re-enter the coupon code or to create an account or to create a password. 7) Check I've read and accept the terms and conditions. 8) Click Place order 9) You will now see a confirmation page. Under Downloads click on the black box and download your book. You will also receive an e-mail with a download link that will also allow you to download your book if you didn't already download it from the confirmation page.

Note: The download link expires 30 days after the order has been placed. This expiration date does not refer to the coupon; it means you have 30 days to download the book after you place the order. For example, someone places an order on January 11th, the link would expire on February 10th.

News About Italy A Woman Now Leads the Vatican Museums. And She’s Shaking Things Up. (The New York Times, 12/24/17)

Did Rome Kill Its Christmas Tree? (The New York Times, 12/22/17)

Unearthed in Rome’s New Subway: Extinct Elephants and Persian Peach Pits (The New York Times, 12/18/17)

Bars on the Windows, Laughter Between the Lines (The New York Times, 12/15/17)

It’s Official: Naples Pizza Is One of Civilization’s Glories (The New York Times, 12/13/17)

‘Taxi Therapy’ for Young Cancer Patients in Italy (The New York Times, 12/7/17)

The Hard-Working Italian Origins of the Christmas Tree (The New York Times, 12/1/15)

Italy's 60-year-old astronaut Paolo Nespoli comes back to Earth (Euronews, 12/14/17)

Watch: Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli shares a pizza home with ISS crew (Euronews, 12/03/17)

Buon anno, buon tutto, buona vita, Janice Therese Mancuso Author of Con Amore The Italian American Press Thirty-One Days of Italians *~<>~*~<>~*~<>~*~<>~*~<>~*~<>~*~<>~*~<>~*~<>~*~<>~*~<>~*~<>~*~<>~*~<>~ *~<>~* Please Note: On the date of publication, the links in this newsletter were current. In older newsletters, some links may be inactive if the URL has changed or is no longer available.

January 2018: Volume 15, Issue 1 ©2018 by Janice Therese Mancuso. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission except when quoted for promotional purposes. Publish with this credit: Excerpted from Tutto Italiano ©2018 by Janice Therese Mancuso. www.jtmancuso.com