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Save the Beauty Save the Saint
Donate now! A crowdfunding initiative launched in New York to help preserve Mother Cabrini’s spire on the Duomo of Milan.
Events Dining Out & In Ideas Tourism Italy in New York: SD26’s 5th anniversary. Living Italian in New Cilento National Park: Culture, Art, and Prova: Neapolitan with a York: Fashion, Design, Gateway to the True Special Events modern twist. And more... Books & Music Mezzogiorno
Contents staff&info
Free Issue
All Things Italian in New York Year 3, Issue 3-4, March-April 2015 $ 3.50 ➜ Watch us on i-Italy | TV 18 NYC LIFE - Channel 25: Saturdays 11:30PM & Sundays 1:00PM in the NYC metropolitan area on all cable operators and on the air WEB TV: go to www.i-ItalyTV.com APPLE TV: download our iPhone app and connect to your TV Interview with F. Murray Abrahams Italy Is My Second Home, Save the It’s That Simple! Beauty Save the Focus ■ Saint by Francine Segan
Donate now! A crowfunding initiative launched in New York to help preserve Mother Cabrini’s gargoyle on the Duomo of Milan. ➜20
Events Dining Out & In Ideas Tourism Italy in New York: Eating a Real Pizza in NY. Living Italian in New Cilento National Park: The Scuola d’Italia leaps forward Culture, Art, and Plus: Italian Passions— York: Fashion, Design, Gateway to the True ➜ Special Events Gelato, Caffè, and Pasta Books & Music Mezzogiorno. 05 cover02.indd 3 2/26/15 2:41 PM Editorial Building the Future Today ■ by Letizia Airos ■ by Letizia Airos i~Italy NY Dining Out www.i-ItalyNY.com ➜06 ➜22 A crowdfunding initiative in NYC Feeding the Planet, A magazine about all things Italian Save the Beauty, Save the Connecting the World in New York City Saint Flying Alitalia to Milan in Year 3 - Issue 3-4 the Expo Year 2015 ➜37 The FifthAnniversary of Tony and March-April 2015 ➜08 Mother Cabrini, the Saint of Marisa May’s Flatiron Gem Editor in Chief Italians in America SD26: The Rigor of Creativity Letizia Airos ■ by Anthony Tamburri ■ by L. A. [email protected] Project Manager ➜09 ➜39-41 Ottorino Cappelli Immigration: Is it Really Dining Out Special [email protected] Not Our Business? Where Pasta Is the Queen ■ by Gennaro Matino ■ by N. L. Staff & Contributors Natasha Lardera, Bianca Soria, Mila ➜ ➜ Tenaglia (editorial coordination); 10 42 A conversation with the author of Neighborhood by Neighborhood Michele Scicolone and Charles Scicolone (food & wine editors); Italian Americans Neapolitan, with a Modern Rosanna Di Michele (chef); Mila History Beyond Stereotypes Twist Tenaglia (events); Lucrezia Russo ■ by Fred Gardaphe and ■ by M. T. (fashion); Judith Harris, Maria Rita Maria Laurino Latto (Italy correspondents); Stefano Albertini, Dino Borri, Enzo Capua, Fred Gardaphe, Jerry Krase, Gennaro Events Dining In Matino, Fred Plotkin, Francine Segan, Anthony Julian Tamburri (columnists & contributors); Matteo Banfo, Giacomo Lampariello, Mattia Minasi, (TV & multimedia team); Emma Bryant, ➜25 ➜40 Cristina Esmiol, Emily Hayes (interns); At the Morgan Library Conversation with Lou DiPalo Will Schutt (translation); Robert Being Leonardo Da Vinci: Everything Italians Know Oppedisano (editorial supervision); The Real Life of an Italian About Their Food Alberto Sepe (web & mobile); Darrell Genius ■ by Natasha Lardera Fusaro (cartoonist); Lilith Mazzocchi ■ by Massimiliano Finazzer Flory (layout); Andrée Brick (design). ➜12 ➜42 For advertising contact: Remembering Mario Cuomo ➜27 At the basis of the Mediterranean diet Advertising Team The Importance of Being Interview with Laura Mattioli and Olives and Olive Oil: Italian Media Corporation [email protected] Italian American Danila Marsule Rosso A How-To ■ by Jerry Krase Medardo Rosso, ■ by Dino Borri Main Offices New York Sculptor of Light Continued 28 W 44th Street ■ by Mila Tenaglia ➜ New York, NY, 10036 ➜14 Tel. (917) 521-2035 My Mentors / 1. Matilda Cuomo Rome A Most Inspiring Woman ➜ Via Montebello 37 30 00185 Roma ■ by Lucia Pasqualini The first Italian bookstore in the US Tel. (366) 747.8348 reopens in New York ➜16 Vanni: Germinating From An unlikely hate-love story Old Roots The Irish-Italian Divide ■ by Alessandro Cassin Copies printed this month: 50,000. & How Enemies Make Peace ➜31-35 ■ by Paul Moses Events Calendar www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 3 i-Italy|NY ➜ Contents
➜43 ➜56-57 How to Prepare Our Picks Nonna Lina’s Eggplants ■ by Rosanna Di Michele ➜57 Italian Jazz ➜44 The Primacy of the Voice A favorite dish... ■ by Enzo Capua Tuscan Farro A Perfect Vegetable Soup ■ by Michele Scicolone ➜61 ... Paired with the right wine Tourism Home to the Mediterranean Diet Tuscany’s Hidden Gem It’s been that way for Morellino di Scansano centuries... ■ by Charles Scicolone The Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park ➜61 The New Slow Food “Presidia” ➜59 Casalbuono Beans Ideas A UNESCO World Heritage Site Gateway to the True ➜62 Mezzogiorno Tips Style: Fashion, Design & More ■ by Virginia Di Falco Where to Stay (and Eat) ➜47 Coreterno: Provocative style Bookshelf: Italian Reads Fashion that Unnerves and Listens ■ by Mila Tenaglia ➜53 ➜48 A study by Gerald R. Gems Personal Shopper Italian Signs in American Italian Dreams of Spring Sports ■ by Lucrezia Russo ■ by Fred Gardaphe ➜51 ➜54 At the Reinsten/Ross Gallery The last book by Giuseppe Di Piazza “For Her.” Gaetano Pesce’s Living (and Loving) in Women Palermo in the Seventies ■ by Letizia Airos ■ by L. A. Where To Find Us Government and Educational Institutions: Consulate General of Italy (690 Park Ave) ● Italian Cultural Insti- tute (686 Park Ave) ● Italian Trade Commission (33 E 67th St) ● Italian Government Tourist Board (630 5th Ave) ● Scuola d’Italia G. Marconi (12 E 96th St) ● John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, CUNY (25 W 43rd St) ● Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò, NYU (24 W 12th St) ● Inserra Chair, Montclair State University (1 Normal Ave Montclair, NJ) ● Italian American Committee on Education (18 E 41st St) ● Collina Italiana (1556 3rd Ave) ●
Bookstores, Showrooms & Galleries: Rizzoli Bookstore (1133 Broadway St.) ● Poltrona Frau (141 Wooster St) ● Cassina (151 Wooster St) ● Cappellini (152 Wooster St) ● Alessi (130 Greene St) ● Casa del Bianco (866 Lexington Ave) ● Pratesi (892 Madison Ave) ● Monnalisa (1088 Madison Ave) ● Scavolini (429 W Broadway), Guzzini (60 Madison Ave) ● Bosi Contemporary (48 Orchard St) ● Boffi Soho (31 ½ Greene St) ● CIMA - Center for Italian Modern Art (421 Broome St) ●
Gourmet Stores: Eataly New York (200 5th Ave) ● Di Palo (200 Grand St) ● Citarella (2135 Broadway; 1313 Third Ave; 424 Avenue of the Americas) ● Agata & Valentina (1505 1st Ave; 64 University Pl.) ● Morton Williams Supermarkets (908 2nd Ave; 311 E 23rd St; 1565 1st Ave) ● A.L.C. Italian Grocery (8613 3rd Ave, Brooklyn) ● Arthur Avenue Market (2344 Arthur Ave, Bronx) ● Jerry’s Gourmet (410 South Dean St, Englewood, NJ) ● Giovanni Rana Pastificio e Cucina (75 9th Ave) ● La Panineria (1 W 8th St)
Restaurants, Pizzerias & Wine Bars: Acqua Santa (556 Griggs Ave, Brooklyn) ● Addeo & Sons (2372 Hughes Ave, Bronx) ● Alloro (307 E 77th St) ● Azalea (224 W 51 St) ● Ballarò Café (77 2nd Ave) ● Borgatti’s (632 E 187th St, Bronx) ● Bruno Bakery (506 LaGuardia Place) ● Cacio e Vino (80 2nd Ave) ● Crave It (545 6th Ave) ● Epistrophi Cafe (200 Mott St) ● Fabbrica (40 N 6th St, Brooklyn) ● Felice 83 (1593 1st Ave) ● Felice 64 (1166 1st Ave) ● Forcella (485 Lorimer St, Brooklyn) ● In Vino Veritas (1375 1st Ave) ● Kestè (271 Bleecker St) ● L’Arte del Gelato (Chelsea Market, 75 9th Ave) ● Le Cirque (151 E 58th St) ● The Leopard at des Artistes (1 W 67th St) ● Madonia Brothers (2348 Arthur Ave, Bronx) ● Osteria del Principe (27 E 23rd St) ● Obikà (590 Madison Ave) ● Osteria del Circo (120 W 55th St) ● Piccolo Fiore (230 E 44th St) ● Pizzetteria Brunetti (626 Hudson St)● Paola’s Restaurant (1295 Madison Ave) ● Pizzeria Rossopomodoro (118 Greenwich Ave) ● Prova (184 8th Ave) ● Quartino bottega organica (11 Bleecker St) ● Raffaello Kosher Pizza (37 W 46th St) ● Ribalta (48 E 12th St) ● Risotteria Melotti (309 E 5th St) ● Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto (283 Amsterdam Ave) ● San Matteo (1739 2nd Ave) ● SD26 (19 E 26th St) ● Sirio (795 5th Ave) ● Stella 34 Trattoria at Macy’s (151 W 34th) ● Tarallucci e Vino (163 1st Ave; 475 Columbus Ave; 15 E 18th St) ● Club Tiro a Segno (77 MacDougal St) ● Tramonti (364 W 46th St) ● Trattoria Cinque (363 Greenwich St) ● Trattoria L’incontro (21-76 31st St, Astoria) ● Via Quadronno (25 E 73rd St) ● Villabate Alba (7001 18th Ave, Brooklyn) ● Vivoli Gelateria at Macy’s ● (151 W 34th St) ● Zero Otto Nove (15 W 21 St) ● Zibetto (1385 6th Ave & 501 5th Ave) ● Zio (17 W 19th St). To be added to our distribution network write to [email protected]
4 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org i-Italy|NY ➜ Editorial
Editorial Milan to New York, New York to Milan
➔ Letizia Airos recently aired on PBS. And Paul Moses recounts how the (equal but different) “Glorious. More satisfactory to me Irish and Italian communities than St. Peters. A wonderful grandure. managed to “make peace.” The theme Ascended,—Far below people in of diversity makes an appearance in the turrets of open tracery look like the art world too, as Gaetano Pesce flies caught in cobweb.—The groups talks about what sets women apart in of angels on points of pinnacles & anticipation of his jewelry exhibit “For everywhere...Might well [illegible] host of Her.” Finally, it’s springtime. The last heaven upon top of Milan Cathedral.” few months’ images of an ice-shagged — Herman Melville New York are fading from view, and the city seems to be coming back to As always, I’m leading off with a life. In i-ItalyNY you’ll find a long list writer and poet. This time the writer, of events, stories, and tips on how to though not Italian, is writing about spend your free time and where to go what has been a symbol of Italy for in Italy. In our back matter we take Interviewing Dario Franceschini, Italy’s centuries. And what a description of Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities you to one of the most stupendous the Milan Cathedral the author of at the Italian Cultural Institute. and least know corners of Italy: the mythic Moby Dick has given us! Cilento. The year was 1857. But even today, ● ● ● ● those who have been there know: ● ● ● ● Old and new media, I-ItalyNY’s unique assortment of this grand, magisterial impression What you hold in your hands may stories brought to you on television still dwells in the Duomo. And yet seem like a vast mishmash of online and print, (you’ve seen our weekly show, our cover story is an invitation to articles, but there are tangible links haven’t you?), the web, social media get to know not only Milan and its that bind its Italian and American television and smart and in our print magazine is a real cathedral during the six months of contents. Alongside Mother Cabrini, gamble given the challenges facing the city’s Expo, but a little something you’ll find stories peopled with other phones – each has the publishing industry these days. more. High up among the spires, important Italian Americans, from But it’s a gamble that’s paying off there is a dearly beloved statue that Mario and Matilda Cuomo in the its own role to play thanks to you. Please continue to has strong ties to the United States political arena to Tony & Marisa May follow us, give us heart and write and New York more specifically. and Lou Di Paolo in the world of fine in an integrated to us! We always want to hear your The statue is dedicated to Mother dining. And Fred Gardaphe digs into comments. Francesca Cabrini, the Milanese- the history of Italian Americans in communication Alla prossima! born American citizen. To find out his interview with Maria Laurino more about her, be sure to check out about her companion book to the hit project like i-Italy. the cover story. documentary “Italian Americans” that ([email protected])
Like on Facebook www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 5 ● ● A CROWFUNDING CAMPAIGN IN NEW YORK Save the Beauty Save the Saint
The Duomo of Milan has been a mecca for centuries and continues to draw around 6 million visitors annually. But maintaining this timeless Cathedral’s original beauty requires many intense, costly restoration jobs. The goal of the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo, also thanks to the help of International Patrons of Duomo di Milano, is to collect 13,5 million Euros, so as to end the more urgent restoration activities. Today significant results have been reached and about 5 million Euros have been collected, over 500,000 Euros coming from small donations. In 2015 it will be revamped again, and, thanks to the construction efforts of the Veneranda Fabbrica, the Cathedral will be looking its best for the Universal Exposition opening in Milan this spring. This will be a unique occasion to participate in a great restoration project and to leave a mark in the history of the Cathedral. By adopting a spire, you will allow future generations to keep enjoying the Italian artistic and cultural heritage. That’s why we’re bringing you this story, in the hope that you too will want to participate in safeguarding the Duomo and its treasures, starting with the restoration of the statue dedicated to Mother Cabrini, the Milan-born saint, popular New York missionary and patron saint of emigrants around the world.
●● The fifth largest church in the world citizens, but also by entrepreneurs and and the largest in Italy, Milan’s Duomo is patrons from United States of America and a special, magisterial site. Built in several China. phases over six centuries, beginning at Thanks to International Patrons of Duomo the end of the 1300s, the church has long di Milano and the crowdfunding platform fascinated believers and non-believers of “For Italy,” which is dedicated to preserving all denominations. Its 3,400 statues and 135 Italian heritage, it’s possible to contribute to spires make it the largest outdoor sculpture the maintenance of the spires and statues gallery in the world. No visitor could ever by donating just $50. And even small donors forget the profile of the Duomo in the can have their names inscribed on a plaque distance, soaring over Milan, thanks in large nearby the spire. You don’t even have to part to its original spires. No other church be from Milan or Italy. As highlighted by has so many. Federica Olivares, Italian art publisher: “the But the spires, typical components of challenge of this platform answers a real Gothic architecture, are also very fragile. need: it creates a virtual place where all the They require constant care and complex lovers of Italy and its excellences, wherever maintenance work to ensure their safety. The mobilization to find sufficient funds for the job has led to a new crowdfunding initiative in New York by International Patrons of Duomo di Milano (www. duomopatrons.org) on the crowdfunding platform For Italy (www.foritaly.org).
Save the Saint People have always helped financing the construction and maintenance of the Duomo with donations of goods and money over the centuries, thus participating to a great challenge towards the future that now has evolved internationally. The Mother Cabrini spire A call to responsibility expanding rapidly all on the Duomo of Milan around the world and which has recorded significant adhesion not only by Milan
6 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org How to Donate on ‘For Italy’
A concert on the rooftop of the Duomo of Milan. If you love Italian art, culture and lifestyle, now you can be part of it all: “For Italy” is the commu- in the world, can take part in tangible Mother Cabrini nity where people from all over the world can projects to bring into the future of mankind The campaign Save the Saint has special show their love towards Italy, interact with each the Italian artistic and cultural heritage”. resonance in New York, given the city’s other and – mainly – contribute to the protection The Duomo is not only part of our religious history of Italian immigration and the of Italian art and culture, heritage of the whole heritage, it’s an architectural asset for all fact that one of the statues towering world. Take an active art in crowdfunding cam- mankind. But why would you have to make over the spires of Milan’s Duomo depicts paigns, do not miss the chance to carve your a contribution from the United States, in Francesca Xavier Cabrini, known in the name into the history of Italian art. Help the particular from New York? What makes United States as Mother Cabrini. Born in Duomo di Milano shine for generations to come! i-ItalyNY so interested? Here’s something 1850 in a small town near Milan, at 27 Your generosity will be compensated! that only a select few know. years old Mother Cabrini, founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Make a gift to International Patrons of Duomo di Jesus, sought to obtain the approval of the Milano Inc., and ensure that the spire dedicated papacy to establish a mission in China. to St. Francesca Xavier Cabrini (Mother Cabrini) is safeguarded and restored. All donations to In- One of the statues The Pope suggested she go “not east but ternational patrons of Duomo di Milano are tax west,” to the United States, to help Italian towering over the deductible. immigrants then arriving in the US in spires of Milan’s Duomo droves and facing extreme poverty. Cabrini For Italy is comprised of two passionate Italian depicts Francesca listened, and 126 years ago, in 1889, she entities dedicated to preserving culture: AR- herself landed in New York. For almost PANet and Arts Council. ARPANet studies and Xavier Cabrin (1850 30 years, she and her Missionary Sisters promotes the adoption of technological and tirelessly supported immigrants and the communicative instruments. Arts Council is a -1917), the Milan-born poor, establishing dozens of orphanages, leader in relations between cultural institutions missionary sister who hospitals and schools, from New York and enterprises, working to enhance synergies to Philadelphia, Chicago to Los Angeles, and give economic support to the immeasur- was the first naturali- Denver to New Orleans, and eventually able artistic and monumental landscape of zed American citizen to in South America. New York’s Cabrini Italian heritage. Boulevard is named in her honor, as is http://foritaly.org/donate.asp be made a saint. Cabrini Street in Chicago, where Mother Cabrini died in 1917. Cabrini was beatified www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 7 in 1938, and in 1946 she became the first Save the Cabrini Spire naturalized citizen of the United States to Francesca Cabrini seems to be saying from be made a saint. Her popularity extends on high: “Miracles do happen, but we need beyond the Italian-American community, your help.” Today the spire and the statue and her method is recognized as being need continuous restorations to shine for the extraordinarily prescient in today’s world; future generations—and that means funding. her initiatives are still a point of reference The nonprofit organization International for social service workers. Patrons of the Duomo di Milano, established But how did Mother Cabrini wind up on on October 2014 has begun collecting the Duomo? During World War II, one of funds in New York to restore the statue. the cathedral’s statues was irrecoverably “This crowdfunding campaign,” says Chief damaged. Its subject’s identity was Development Officer of International Patrons unknown. In the ensuing years, while Alessandra Pellegrini, “was started to promote people were trying to figure out how and develop fund-collecting operations to replace it, Cabrini was made a saint. for the Duomo di Milano in the U.S:. Those Shortly thereafter, the decision was made who make donations will receive a little to dedicate the statue to her—and by something in return. In the case of Mother association to all the world’s emigrants. Cabrini, perhaps the most exciting deal is that Its realization was entrusted to sculptor with 50 dollars people can have their name Michele Boninsegna and the new statue inscribed on a large plaque right underneath was installed in 1956. Since then, Cabrini the spire.” The sum for restoring the spire has has looked down upon the city of Milan been set at $150,000, and contributors can from up high, bridging the gap between make donations on the “For Italy” website. We past and future, Italy and America, and at i-ItalyNY have joined the call. “Miracles do Milan and New York. happen, but we need your help.”. ●●
having succeeded in overcoming great obstacles of the time and demonstrating how Mother Cabrini, the all things were possible. In this sense, then, she was also an example Saint of Italians in of how one can get things done and, more important, how we can still today — and let us say should — open doors for all people who are America in need of such assistance. Her legacy clearly lives on both within and beyond the Italian/ by Anthony Julian Tamburri* American community. Italian Americans continue to serve and donate to many Catholic and social institutions today, at times even Frances Xavier Cabrini, born in the province communities. Actions supported by the beyond. If there is one thing to bemoan, it is of Lodi in Lombardy, eventually came to the Church, for sure, but actions also emblematic that her medical institutions of New York — United States toward the end of the nineteenth of what Italians can do in order Columbus Hospital and the Italian Hospital, century. It was due to total serendipity that to help other Italians in need. which eventually she became the saint for Italian immigrants in In all, they founded close to became the Cabrini this country. It is also a sweet paradox that she, 70 institutions of all types in Medical Center — could from the north, arrived during the great wave of numerous cities throughout not be sustained and southern Italian emigration to the United States. the United States — Chicago consequently closed in Having taken her vows in 1877, three years later and New York the two 2008. she and six other nuns founded the religious principal cities associated Nonetheless, Mother institute Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart with Mother Cabrini today, Cabrini remains that of Jesus. As we read erlier, wanting to provide as well as Cabrini College in shining light not only for help to immigrants beginning in the U.S., Pope Pennsylvania. all those whom she helped, Leo XIII suggested instead that she go west, Undoubtedly, Mother but, to be sure, that exemplar where, according to him, the already thousands Cabrini was an exemplar par excellence that we, of Italian immigrants in the U.S. were in great of all things possible and today, should emulate for the need of assistance. thus a symbol of hope dedication so necessary to Mother Cabrini and six others arrived in for all. She herself had get things done for the better the United States in 1889 and hit the ground crossed the ocean in 1889 good. running, so to speak. As they did in Italy, here, and, in so doing, had followed the same route too, Mother Cabrini and her team founded that thousands of other immigrants had and the requisite housing, a series of schools and were taking. Privileged as she was in her role as * Anthony Julian Tamburri is the Dean of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute (Queens College, orphanages, and the necessary hospitals nun — and let us underscore at this juncture her CUNY) and Distinguished Professor of European that chiefly served the Italian immigrant gender — she was a woman of great acumen, Languages and Literatures.
8 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org Italy on the go: on cable, Immigration: on the air & on your iphone. Is it Really Not Our Business?
by Mons. Gennaro Matino *
“Millions of families today experience the dramatic condition of refugees,” writes Pope Frances. “And Jesus and his family faced the same difficult reality . . .” The problem of borders, of major waves of immigration affecting every corner of the world, of masses of people driven out by That’s right. You can catch us Saturdays at 11:30 hunger, desperation, political terrorism, war and ecological devastation— pm & Sundays at 1 pm on NYCTV Channel 25 the product of historical colonialism and present-day corruption—is a (Time Warner – Verizon FiOS – RCN – Comcast problem that concerns us and, more significantly, anyone hungry for – DirecTV & on air) or Channel 22 (Cablevision). justice. “Refugees and immigrants,” adds the Pope, “aren’t always really And if you miss an episode, you can still welcomed, respected, or appreciated for the values they bring.” Like prisoners trapped in a mine, people from the Southern Hemisphere download our free iphone app from iTunes and arrive on our shores hoping for a better future, for a bit of air. Our shores connect to HD television with your Apple TV in Italy have become a theater of adventure, a dream of redemption and device. Got it? Buona visione! defeat, where men, women and children, fleeing totalitarian regimes, arrive clinging to masts and makeshift boats. Too many people look the other way, the Pope seems to be saying, when faced with injustice and war. They have no compassion for their struggling neighbors. Instead they secure their own borders and hoard provisions, fearing a hypothetical worldwide disaster. If pressed to welcome someone into our country, we do it out of self-necessity, not in the spirit of fraternity. When the poor immigrant comes to work here, neither her rights nor her dignity is always respected. Nor is her right to an honest contract. We offer immigrants underpaid work, work we won’t do anymore. The movement of immigrants from one part of the world to another would seem to be determined by the individual freedom that the global world has accepted. Opening borders to allow for free trade should, of necessity, allow people—more than goods—to cross borders. In reality, more often than not, what looks like free will is instead an obligation, a necessity dictated by survival instinct: relocation is not born out of the freedom to travel elsewhere, but rather out of the impossibility to do otherwise, since it’s the economy that, by guaranteeing free borders, causes forced deportations, investing and disinvesting from one part of the planet to another, as it pleases. “Justice sees not,” writes Euripides in Medea, “with the eyes of those who hate unwronged at sight their fellow, ere they learn his character. The stranger needs must carefully conform himself to his adopted home; nor have I thought of praising the citizen who with his airs is rude unto his fellow, through ill-breeding.” Although he wasn’t quoting Euripides, Pope Francis was certainly thinking of the Gospel when he reminded us that the culture of affluence makes us “insensitive to the screams of others,” placing us “in a soap bubble,” in a situation “that leads to indifference.” Moreover, today there exists “globalized indifference.” “We have grown accustomed to the suffering of others, it doesn’t concern us, it doesn’t interest us, it isn’t our business!” But is it really not our business?
Every monday a new episode is posted online too. Check us out: www.i-Italy.org | www.i-ItalyTV.com www.youtube.com/iItaly | www.facebook.com/iItaly * Gennaro Matino teaches Theology and History of Christianity in Naples, where he runs the parish of SS. Trinità. He has written several books and essays, and collaborates extensively with both traditional and new media.
www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 9 Fred Gardaphe and Maria Laurino during our televised interview. Watch it now on i-ItalyTV on your smarthphone.
● ● A CONVERSATION WITH THE AUTHOR OF ‘THE ITALIAN AMERICANS’ History Beyond Stereotypes
John Maggio’s landmark documentary, The much. It was interesting to write a history A book that sees Italian- Italian Americans, is a sweeping portrait of book and then to learn so much more about American culture as a people whose contributions to America are your family and yourself through that. indistinguishable from the country itself and part of American his- its myths. Impeccably researched and deeply F.G.: You’ve been a professional ghostwriter, tory. “It’s not enough to moving, Maria Laurino’s book, like the PBS series, you’ve written speeches for people like is essential for anyone interested in the history Dinkins and Cuomo… You’re used to writing learn about Italian- of immigration to the United States.” Piquing the whatever needs to be written, but although interest of people outside the Italian-American many people have tried to write this kind of American culture, you community is exactly what we need, and Laurino’s story, none equals the power of yours. How need to learn about book is a great step in that direction, helping Italian did you feel going into the project? Americans gain a sense of self, history, and the African-American cul- value of their contributions to American culture. I M.L.: Well, it was daunting. But John ture and Jewish-Ameri- discussed these topics with the author in the course Maggio, who wrote the documentary, of a televised interview for i-ItalyTV. wanted this to be a companion piece and can culture. The more follow his story, so he basically gave me the Fred Gardaphe: Prior to this book, you wrote scaffolding for the book. What John asked you know about them, Were You Always Italian? and Old World me to do was go deeper into the project, the more you see these Daughter, New World Mother, a book I found because there’s only so much history you absolutely fascinating even though I’m not a can tell in a four-hour PBS series. But I had cultures interacting.” daughter or a mother. How different is this two primary goals: I didn’t want it to be book from what your previous work? nostalgic, the way many such projects can be, and I really wanted to strip away at the Maria Laurino: It was interesting for me stereotypes that have haunted us for so Fred Gardaphe and Maria Laurino because I did this backwards. I mean, this is a many years. John shared these goals and history of Italian-Americans and usually you’d that made things much easier. ●● Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the chair of African- write that first, but I had already written two American studies at Harvard, wrote a very personal essay memoir projects… The Italian F.G.: My biggest complaint about Italian- appreciative blurb about Maria Laurino’s latest Americans: A History is a companion book to American studies is that we don’t have a book The Italian Americans: A History (W.W. a PBS documentary and I was asked to write history book. Now we have something to Norton). He writes: “The companion book to it. It was just a great project and I learned so work with, and the next time I teach a course,
10 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org immigrants have been welcomed into this country—wearily at best—the more you want to learn their stories. We know the story of American history but we don’t have these separate immigrant stories. I agree with you: there is a sort of universality in this, to see how each group has struggled against the prejudices of the larger group and tried to find its way.
F.G.: If there were going to be a follow-up book, what would you include?
M.L.: Good question. I think I’d like to have done more on race and race relations, and more on immigration. I think it would be interesting to reflect on Italy today and its own immigration problems, how it almost mirrors the Italian-American experience.
F.G.: Have you promoted the documentary and book in Italy?
M.L.: Yes, we set that up with the American embassy, which was really lovely, though the book was not out yet. What I always find The cover of Maria Laurino’s book and the poster of John DiMaggio’s four-part PBS documentary. interesting is, I would think that Italians would want to know more about Italian- American history. I know from personal I’m certainly going to use your book. The knowledge of the phenomenon, so I began to experience that whenever I go to Italy, friends same with the documentary. To me this do research, and it occurred to me that my always say to me, “Why do you think you are is as important as the 1970s documentary grandmother (who was illiterate, she signed Italian? You are not Italian.” They don’t see any “Eyes on the Prize.” When I was in school her name with an “X”) must have been an connection between Italians and Americans. I learned about African-American culture “enemy alien”! I called her and asked. She through that 13-part series. This is only a four was a little over 90 at the time. She said, F.G.: Right. When I was a kid, I thought I part series, but my hope is that it will do the “Wow, that’s so interesting that you asked was Italian. When I went to Italy, I realized same for Italian-American culture. And if it me that because it was really scary for our I was American. I came back to America doesn’t, people will have your book to go to, family during the war.” She remembered and said: “Wait, I’m not American!” So because in part you mirror the structure of the my brother one day saying, “Mamma, we this is how I forged my Italian-American documentary and in part you fill in the blanks may have to go back to Italy…” “We were identity. But when I spoke about it in Italy that John DiMaggio wasn’t able to get at, right? terrified,” she told me. That’s a piece of thirty years ago, on RAI Television, they history I had no clue about. kind of laughed at me. “Italian American? M.L.: Yes, I’ve done a little bit of both. Most What’s that? You’re American or you’re chapters mirror the documentary, just with a F.G.: My hope is that the documentary will Italian. You can’t be both!” Up until recent little more detail. But I also added a chapter help make this book a household name generations, even though almost every on the Italian-American counter-culture in Italian-American homes. When I was family in Italy has some connection to a because there were figures who were just a kid, we didn’t have books at home. If story of emigration to the United States, so interesting, like Mario Savio, who started you brought a book in the house, it was a Italians couldn’t care less about Italian the free-speech movement at Berkeley, and library book and you had to bring it back. Americans, because they are the people the poet Gregory Corso. There’s a chapter We didn’t even have a Bible. We didn’t who left. But over the last ten or fifteen on Italian-American crooners and Italian- need one; the priest told us what was in the years, I have found things are changing. It’s American songs, which I extended to include Bible, you know. This idea of learning about not the professors or the journalists or the Madonna and Lady Gaga. But there also your culture from books is totally alien to people who control publishing industries, were wonderful interviews from the footage us, so when Italian Americans read about it’s the young students who want to know that could not be used, with Dion and The other cultures in books, they don’t see their about their uncle who went to America and Belmonts, for example… Dion talks about his own culture validated. One of the values of never came back, that guy nobody ever talks grandmother feeding him slices of provolone your approach to the material is that you about. And we are building joint programs in and oranges and him going, “Oh God it was haven’t looked at Italian-American culture Italian-American studies in Italy today. Our good, it was good…” separately. You basically see it as part of summer schools are packed with students. American history. It’s not enough to learn And a book like this needs to be done in F.G.: You said you started out writing about about Italian-American culture, you need to Italian, because this is the information your own experiences and now you’re writing learn about African-American culture and Italians need to know in order to say, “I am a about the broader experience. What was it like Jewish-American culture. The more you literate Italian who understands the history moving from the personal to the public? know about them, the more you see these of Italian immigration in America.” And cultures interacting. you’re right. If Italians do not understand M.L.: Well, one example that comes to mind that, they will never be able to understand is the “enemy alien” story. I had very little M.L.: Sure. Also, the more you see how all immigration in Italy today. ●● www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 11 ● ● REMEMBERING MARIO CUOMO (1932-2015) The Importance of Being Italian American
One thing is certain: Mario Puzo’s The Godfather and Don Vito Corleone explained how Italian Americans Mario Cuomo made were “making it.” It is no wonder to me why Mario waited until 2013 before viewing it. As Italian Americans Sam Roberts of The New York Times wrote, proud to be Italian “For four decades, he refused even to see any of the movies or, presumably, to read American. Mario Puzo’s book. He all but denied that the Mafia existed. And who could forget — in his view, because he was an Italian that unfortunate slip of the tongue during American. One legal colleague advised him the 1992 presidential campaign, when Bill to change his name to Mark Conrad.” Thusly, by Jerry Krase* Clinton suggested that Mr. Cuomo, then the he became a Brooklyn “Court Street Lawyer” governor of New York, acted like a Mafioso?” until his appointment to Secretary of State ●● With the passing of Mario Cuomo on of New York in 1975. the day of the second inauguration of Most people know that I am “only” half his son Andrew as Governor of New York Italian. With all this positive attention we’re In the 1970s I was active in organizations State, very important people (VIP), and not getting lately it is difficult to believe that fighting against real estate and development so important people (NSIP), like myself, there was a time when being half was more projects, which exacerbated racial tensions. commented on his legacy. Most “Odes than enough; when many Italian Americans People today have forgotten the 1964, to Mario” were treacly gushes. Like all were not only not interested in their 1967, and 1977 riots in Big Apple’s African American ethnic icons, his many parallel heritage but didn’t understand why any American neighborhoods. Cuomo had a lives were complex and require time to Italian Americans would be. For example, well-deserved reputation for fairness and appreciate. One thing is certain; Mario my wife Suzanne’s totally Italian American honesty and in 1972, was appointed by Cuomo made Italian Americans proud family found it amusing that I was an Italian Mayor John Lindsay to mediate a crisis over to be Italian American. He came to the American activist, willing to volunteer a low-income housing development for the attention of most Americans when he gave my semi-ethnic background. They were upper-middle-class (white) neighborhood the electrifying keynote address at the totally American and some even anglicized of Forest Hills, Queens. Cuomo wrote about 1984 Democratic National Convention in their names and, like occasionally racist it his Forest Hills Diary. Soon after Governor San Francisco after which his name was talk show host Bob (Gigante) Grant, never Hugh Carey appointed him Secretary of often raised as a potential, but reluctant, thought to rectify the mistake. Grant often State, he was approached by neighborhood Presidential candidate. My own Cuomistory referred to Mario Cuomo as “the sfaccimm;” groups, including my own, to prohibit begins in the 1970s when being Italian was a a crude Italian dialectic term that matched real estate agency solicitations that were different story. his own persona. Some admitted their destabilizing neighborhoods. This “block Italian-sounding names were a detriment in busting” involved telling white homeowners Last February public televisions stations professional circles. to sell quickly because blacks were moving aired two “specials” trumpeting the into the neighborhood. relatively unknown accomplishments of one Like me, Mario had deep Brooklyn of America’s—at one-time—most maligned “connections” even though he was from As Governor Cuomo (I) appointed me to ethnic groups. The most comprehensive Queens. According to Raanan Geberer in the the New York Council for the Humanities was John Maggio’s The Italian Americans, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, “Those who remember in 1983, some people assume I am a friend, a four-hour documentary series, narrated Cuomo from his Brooklyn days recall a neighbor, or remote non-Italian relative by Stanley Tucci that “… explores the dedicated, consummate professional.” He of the governor. Honestly, if you had evolution of Italian Americans from the late completed his undergraduate studies and mentioned my name to him he’d have had nineteenth century to today, from ‘outsiders’ law at St. John’s University when it was no idea who I was. As I learned in politics, once viewed with suspicion and mistrust located in Bedford-Stuyvesant and “after it is not “who you know” that matters but to some of the most prominent leaders of he graduated law school in 1956, even “who knows you.” The first time we met business, politics and the arts today” (see though he was at the top of his class, he was in 1977, when he came to Brooklyn article on page 10 in this issue). In the 1970s, was rejected by one law firm after another College while unsuccessfully running in
12 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org the Democratic Primary for Mayor of New were eternally grateful to Mario Cuomo for Churcher my good friend Andy was among York City. There, some full-Italian American his support. But in those days “reputed” 700 names in the “Report on Organized colleagues offered our “expert” advice about crime family boss Joe Colombo and the Crime in New York City.” While she noted the City University of New York—a major Italian American Civil Rights League he the Organized Crime Control Board and campaign issue. Brimming with ethnic created when his son was arrested was the F.B.I. dropped him from the list after a pride, our Mediterranean egos were quickly thought to best represent the interests closer look, the damage was done: “Asked to deflated when he made it clear that he knew of the rest of us. Consequently, our good explain how AMICO could get city money at more about CUNY then we did. The second works were carefully scrutinized by law the same time that its chairman was being and happier time was at the election night enforcement agencies, and journalists, for identified as a mobster, Koch spokesman celebration after he won the governorship of organized crime connections. One, final, Tom Kelly said AMICO, like any organization the State of New York, chanting “Ma-Re-O!” example, I think is sufficient to understand with city contracts, had been routinely with a group of ecstatic Italian American the reluctance of Italian Americans to enter investigated. It came away with a clean bill campaign workers. In Brooklyn I was the onto the public stage, and why Mario Cuomo of health, he said.” It must be noted that liaison with the bruising Congressional played an important role generating pride in Andy’s Torregrossa Funeral Parlor buried race of Major Owens. In effect, I was trying my (albeit half) Italian heritage. several Gambino crime family members, to convince both African, and Italian- as well as my mother and father. No one Americans that “Cuomo was the One.” Only six years after AMICO was founded looked into my mob connections because Cuomo’s victory was Phoenix-like, rising Andrew Torregrossa and I co-chaired a of the name, I assume. Over the past half from the ashes of the 1977 mayoral loss to benefit at the Rainbow Room at which we century Italian Americans have come a long Ed “I” Koch. gave Matilda Cuomo our Humanitarian way, a good part of that journey was led by Award. Sharon Churcher wrote about it Mario Cuomo. I helped found the American Italian in New York Magazine as “A Mob Rubout Grazie Tante! ●● Coalition of Organizations (AMICO) in 1977 Done with an Eraser.” Although Mario was during a crisis over social services for the not there Mayor Ed Koch and City Council * Jerry Krase is Emeritus and Murray Koppelman neglected Italian American population. We President Carol Bellamy were. According to Professor at Brooklyn College, CUNY.
‘A Tale of Two Cities’ The Speech That Made Him Famous
We wish to remember Mario Cuomo by offering they need, and middle-class you a an excerpt from his hyper-famous “A Tale of parents watch the dreams Two Cities” speech (to watch the full video use the they hold for their children QR code to the right or search for it on YouTube). evaporate. It was the keynote address by which Mario Cuomo, In this part of the city there then Governor of the State of New York, opened are more poor than ever, the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San more families in trouble, Francisco. At the time Cuomo was on the rise as more and more people who a figure of presidential stature in the Democratic need help but can’t find Party. It was the Reagan era, and Cuomo was it. Even worse: There are considered one of the best anti-Reagan orators in elderly people who tremble town, a Great (Democratic) Communicator. in the basements of the houses there. And there are to speak the language, who taught me all I needed In that speech, he attacked President Reagan people who sleep in the city streets, in the gutter, to know about faith and hard work by the simple for saying that he didn’t understand the fear of where the glitter doesn’t show. There are ghettos eloquence of his example. I learned about our kind many Americans who were “unhappy, even where thousands of young people, without a job or of democracy from my father. And I learned about worried, about themselves, their families, and an education, give their lives away to drug dealers our obligation to each other from him and from their futures.” “Why?” Cuomo reported Reagan as every day. There is despair, Mr. President, in the my mother. They asked only for a chance to work asking, rhetorically, his audience, “This country is faces that you don’t see, in the places that you don’t and to make the world better for their children, and a shining city on a hill!” visit in your shining city.” they -- they asked to be protected in those moments And here came the lunge: “Mr. President—Cuomo when they would not be able to protect themselves. erupted—you ought to know that this nation is It’s not by chance that such speech came from This nation and this nation’s government did that more a “Tale of Two Cities” than it is just a “Shining an American of Italian origin. For Mario Cuomo, for them. City on a Hill.” Then he elaborated: in fact, the “Two Cities” argument was strictly And that they were able to build a family and live connected to a “Tale of Immigration.” Here is how in dignity and see one of their children go from “A shining city is perhaps all the President sees from he elaborated it, turning the story of his Italian behind their little grocery store in South Jamaica the portico of the White House and the veranda of immigrant family into a universal symbol: on the other side of the tracks where he was born, his ranch, where everyone seems to be doing well. to occupy the highest seat, in the greatest State, in the But there’s another city; there’s another part to the “I watched a small man with thick calluses on both greatest nation, in the only world we would know, shining the city; the part where some people can’t his hands work 15 and 16 hours a day. I saw him is an ineffably beautiful tribute to the democratic pay their mortgages, and most young people can’t once literally bleed from the bottoms of his feet, a process.” afford one; where students can’t afford the education man who came here uneducated, alone, unable The i-Italy Team
www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 13 ● ● MY MENTORS / 1. MATILDA CUOMO A Most Inspiring Woman
Lucia Pasqualini. Photo by Iwona Adamczyck.
Matilda was the first person who made me understand how im- portant mentors are. She knows it very well and has dedicated her life to mentoring as a social responsibility. Matilda and Mario Cuomo with Consul General of Italy Natalia Quintavalle. By Lucia Pasqualini Photo by Riccardo Chioni.
●● When Governor Mario Cuomo sadly not know much about the Italian-American born. She spoke with such enthusiasm and passed away in January of this year, I community or its numerous organizations. passion about the importance of mentors suddenly started thinking about his wife But I vividly remember all the meetings that for disadvantaged young people. Mentoring Matilda and all that she has taught me. I had during my first few months in New has always been her mission, and, above Every New Yorker knows the great Governor York. all, her vision. Through Mentoring USA, she Mario Cuomo, but not everyone knows how has assisted thousands of young people, lucky a man he was to have Matilda next to Mentoring USA proving to be a distinguished advocate of him. It is often said that behind every great Everything was new to me; I was fascinated women, children and families. man there is always a great woman. Indeed by the spontaneity of those who lived Matilda was the first person who made Matilda is a woman who did not give up and worked in New York. Although I me think of mentors in a way far different her career as she followed her husband’s: knew Matilda Cuomo by name, I was from what I had been accustomed to in my instead, she embraced her husband’s immediately struck by her presence, her upbringing in Italy. During my four years in career and found her own way to express welcoming smile, and her humble way New York I learned on my own the meaning herself through the projects that she of interacting with people. Throughout and importance of having mentors in your created and supported. Together they have our first meeting, she talked passionately life for your personal and professional built a wonderful family and made great about Mentoring USA, the project that she growth. I was very lucky to have met some contributions to society. She played a very chaired in 1987 when her husband Mario special ones. I did not look for them: they important role in her husband’s life and in Cuomo was Governor of the State of New came to me, and they embraced and guided many other lives, including mine. York, and that she continued to nurture me throughout my tenure in America. I I had the privilege to get to know Matilda, and support over the years. The program have never experienced anything similar and remember very well the first time we was developed in response to New York’s in Italy. Yet I would have loved to have met. It happened a few months after my alarming school dropout rates and increase had someone who could have guided me arrival in New York in September 2010. She in teenage pregnancy. Volunteer mentors in my choices. Someone who could have came to visit the Consul General together were trained, screened, and matched with encouraged my aspirations. Someone with Aileen Sirey Riotto, the President of the children in New York Schools. She wanted who could have understood and guided National Organization of Italian American to expand the project to Italy, in Campania, my inclinations. I am very grateful to Women (NOIAW). Having just arrived, I did the region where her husband’s father was my parents who allowed me to dream
14 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org Every New Yorker knows the great Governor Mario Cuomo, but not everyone knows how lucky a man he was to have Matilda next to him. It is often said that behind every great man there is always a great woman. Indeed Matilda is a woman who did not give up her career as she followed her husband’s: instead,
Above: Matilda Cuono introducing Mentoring USA to PS 59 students at she embraced her Bloomingdale’s (Photo: MatthewCarasella/SocialShutterbug.com). Left: Ms. Cuomo’s noted book on prominent people’s mentors. husband’s career and found her own way to
and to make wonderful and accomplished children. Over express herself my choices the years, I had the opportunity to meet her without any several times, to get to know her better, and through the projects conditioning, to watch her play an important role in the that she created and despite the Italian-American community. She leads by fact that my example: I watched her move within the supported. Together expectations various worlds she created for the Italian- were American community in New York. In her they have built a overwhelming role in Mentoring USA, Cuomo continues for them. to be a teacher to many people. She was a wonderful family and Thanks to my mentors, I now know founding member of NOIAW. She created made great that my dreams can be even bigger. They a special project for the State of New York, taught me that dreams have no ceiling, and “Due case, una tradizione,” an exchange contributions to that life can offer different paths thanks program between New York State and to the guidance of wiser persons who Italy for high school and college students. society. She played a assist you in your choices. Matilda knows She has always been a great promoter of it very well and has dedicated her life to the Italian language and a supporter for very important role in this objective. In American culture, people the reintroduction of the Italian Language her husband’s life and strongly believe in mentoring younger in the high school Advanced Placement generations: it is a social responsibility. It Program. She still works very hard to keep in many other lives, is part of the principle of giving something alive her Italian heritage. back to society. We should also do the same including mine. in Italy. I feel so grateful to all my mentors. The importance of humility They helped me to look more closely at Through her extraordinary example and myself, to believe in myself and to boost commitment, I have learned many things. my self-confidence. Little by little, always She taught me that everyone defines herself a disarming, sincere smile, making you feel hearing their voices as I make my choices, I and her role in society through concrete part of her world immediately. This is a became more self-aware and able to decide action. She taught me that you must work very special and precious gift. who I want to be. hard: and she continues to do just that both Cara Matilda, thank you for mentoring and graciously and brilliantly. She taught me inspiring me. ●● Leading by example that balance is the secret to having it all Matilda Cuomo will always be one of my without renouncing a woman’s role as a * Former deputy-consul in New York Lucia mentors, a very special one and not just to great mother. But, first of all, she taught me Pasqualini begins her collaboration with i-Italy me. She proved to be an excellent mentor, the importance and strength of humility. with a series of portraits of people who have first and foremost to her family with her Matilda always welcomes everybody with taught her important lessons. www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 15 ● ● WHEN TWO PEOPLES MINGLE, BARRIERS CAN GIVE WAY TO COLLABORATION The Irish-Italian Divide & How Enemies Make Peace
Inter-ethnic peace- making is the ongoing challenge of today’s global societies—in the U.S., in Italy, and elsewhere. We asked Paul Moses, author of the forthcoming An Unlikely Union: The Love-Hate Story of New York’s Irish and Italians, to explain what he learned by writing this book.
An anti-immigrant, and specifically anti-Irish cartoon by Joseph Ferdinand Keppler (1882). (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division) by Paul Moses*
●● The idea for my book An Unlikely Peacemaking A deep, bitter conflict Union was spun from the yarn of I became intrigued by this Irish-Italian Through research in archived letters and everyday life: my wife Maureen’s peace while working on another book newspapers, I found that the Irish-Italian ancestry is Irish, while mine is half about peacemaking, The Saint and the conflict was deeper and more bitter than I Italian. It’s not remarkable, of course, Sultan: The Crusades, Islam and Francis of had realized. For example, fights between but that’s the point. Assisi’s Mission of Peace, published in 2009. Irish and Italian laborers were so common Not so very long ago, the prospect of an At the time, I had so immersed myself that the Brooklyn Eagle ran an editorial in Irish-Italian union such as ours might in Francis’s encounter with the sultan of 1894 asking “Can’t They Be Separated?” The have stirred anger in our respective Egypt during the Crusades that I would paper urged contractors to “keep their gangs tribes, or at least gossip among the frequently dream at night that I was in of workmen distinct—the Irish in one street relatives. But by the time we walked the Middle Ages. As many authors will and the Italians in another.” down the aisle at St. Vincent de Paul attest, a book project can produce an Having arrived sooner than the Italians, Roman Catholic Church in Elmont, Long altered state of consciousness in which the Irish were well established by the Island in 1976, that was no longer the only the book seems to exist, much to time the Italians began to migrate to the usual case. And yet, beginning in the the detriment of the writer’s relationship United States in large numbers in 1880. In nineteenth century and for decades into with his or her spouse. Basically, I wasn’t the big picture, the Irish were moving up the twentieth, the Irish and Italians in there for Maureen, even when I was to better jobs as the Italians came in as New York and other major American sitting right in front of her. underlings. But there were still plenty of cities were rivals in the Catholic Church, While this caused some friction, the Irish bootblacks, laborers, dockworkers and in the streets, on waterfront and Irish-Italian peace in our household held their union leaders who hated the Italians construction job sites, in crime, the civil up. Buried as I was in research about a for their willingness to work longer hours for service and in politics. Then they fell in Christian saint who reached out to Muslims, less pay. That often led to violence. love with each other and married on a I began to see the arc of a historical story of The Irish-Italian relationship was also large scale in the years after World War peacemaking right in my own home—the complicated by the fact that they were II. What changed? That became a story I journey of New York’s Irish and Italians from two peoples divided by membership in the wanted to tell. rumbles to romance. same church. Starting with churches such
16 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org I found that the Irish-Italian conflict was deeper and more bitter than I had realized. Beginning in the nineteenth century and for decades into the twentieth, the Irish and Italians in New York and other major American cities were rivals in the Catholic Church, in the streets, on waterfront and construction job sites, in crime, the civil service and in politics. Then they fell in love with each other and married on a large scale in the years after World War II. What changed? Images from Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and Columbus Day Parade in New York City. as Transfiguration on Mott Street in what is leaders came to realize that they needed of science that Italians were racially inferior. today Chinatown, parishes in New York and to unionize Italian workers, if only to The only grandparents I knew were my other major cities in the East and Midwest present a united front against management. father’s parents, a Jewish physician and his became battlegrounds for Irish-Italian Archbishop Corrigan gave the Italians their wife who fled from Hitler’s Germany. My conflict. own churches. Through the influence of its mother’s parents, immigrants from Calabria Angry disputes between Irish and Italian schools, the Catholic Church brought future and Basilicata, had died before I was born. priests reached all the way to the Vatican generations of the Irish and Italians together Like Maureen’s Irish ancestors, they had as the Italians complained to Rome that and to the altar in marriage. come from extreme rural poverty to forge a they were only permitted to hold services The Irish played the role of gatekeeper new life. They lived in separate worlds: Little in church basements. “Why only the for the Italian immigrants, and were by Italy and Brooklyn’s Irishtown. basement? Forgive me, Excellency, if I tell turns mentor and tormentor. Eventually, But when two peoples mingle in their you frankly that these poor devils are not the playing field leveled socially and houses of worship, schools, neighborhoods, very clean, so that the others do not want economically. Love, marriage, babies and and workplaces, barriers can give way to to have them in the upstairs church,” New Italian Sunday dinners followed. collaboration and even love. That’s the story York’s Archbishop Michael Corrigan wrote Working on the book was a humbling behind An Unlikely Union, which NYU Press indelicately to a Vatican office that was experience. I knew that Italians had will publish in June. ●● reviewing the plight of Italian emigrants. occupied a low social rung, but saw through “Otherwise the others move out, and then my research how routinely they were * Paul Moses is a professor of journalism at Brooklyn College/CUNY. Previously he worked for good-bye the income.” degraded and yet maintained their dignity 23 years as a journalist in New York. In 1991 he and pride. Irish foremen may have been won the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Reporting. Seeds for better times tough on Italian workers, but they were His book The Saint and the Sultan (Doubleday, But even in the midst of conflict, there were nowhere near as demeaning as the Anglo- 2009) won the 2010 Catholic Press Association always seeds for better times. Irish labor Saxon intellectuals who claimed as a matter award for best history book. www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 17 ● ● FROM OUR TV SERIES ON NYC LIFE (CHANNEL 25, SATURDAYS 11:30 PM; SUNDAYS 1PM)
As seen on i-ItalyTV
Francine Segan meets F. Murray Abraham at her home for our televised interview. Watch it now on i-ItalyTV with your smarthphone. Italy Is My Second Home. It’s That Simple!
Born to a Syrian-Italian by Francine Segan * to be Italian, she made sure that her three sons were very aware of the country. I have immigrant family in ●● Murray Abraham may be best known for also made a lot of movies in Italy with very Pittsburg, PA, he was his Academy Award-winning performance as good people. It’s my second home. I’m very Antonio Salieri, the famous Italian composer, offended that people have a stereotype of best known for playing in the film Amadeus, but he has also starred what Italy and Italians mean. They seem to in such fine films as All the President’s Men, forget the Italian Renaissance; they seem to alongside Al Pacino in Scarface, The Name of the Rose, and last year’s forget Galileo and Michelangelo and Leonardo Serpico and Scarface, hit, The Grand Budapest Hotel. He’s also made and Caravaggio. They forget that they are dozens of films in Italy. This year, he starred some of the greatest artists who ever lived. before winning the in the Mystery of Dante, directed by acclaimed Academy Award for Italian filmmaker Louis Nero. In 2004, F. Tell me a little bit more about your mother. Murray was given the “Premio per gli Italiani What was it like when you were little in her Best Actor for his role nel mondo,” an award from the Italian home? What Italian things did she add? government. F. Murray is also renowned as composer Antonio for his theater and television work, and My mother was from a family of fourteen. Salieri in Amadeus. is a regular on the award-winning series My grandfather, Bruno, was a coal miner, on Homeland. I’m thrilled he’s accepted to chat his hands and knees six days a week for 24 Here he talks with us with us about his connection to Italy. dollars a week. He raised fourteen children. about his love for a My mother was the world to me. I’m a real Let’s start with your ties to the bel paese. Italian son; I worshipped her. When I wanted country where he “nev- What does Italy mean to you? to become an actor, everyone was against it except my mother. er feels uncomfortable Italy is very important to me – for a couple or unsafe.” of reasons. First of all, my mother is from Can you tell us a little about your recent Italy: Giuseppina. Because she was so proud portrayal as Dante?
18 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org F. Murray Abraham as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus. Below: with Al Pacino at a Scarface event. Bottom: interpreting Dante Alighieri in The Mistery of Dante.
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.
I can tell you that that is one of the most invited back every year. I just feel like I important films I made – a very little film, could live there very easily. It’s as though but very important. Nero was responsible for I had another life at one time and I lived it. I think Nero is one of the most important in Italy. No matter where I go there – the filmmakers in Italy today. He’s a very smart north, the south – because I ‘ve worked all man and we based a lot of what we did on over, I’m always welcome there. I never feel the classic mystics in history. There are still uncomfortable or unsafe. People talk about important, very independent filmmakers Italy like you have to be careful, but that’s like Nero. There aren’t enough of them, but I not true. That’s a lie. I love good wine and I * Noted public speaker and food historian, think they’re coming up. love good food, so I think I must belong in Francine Segan hosts the series “Americans in Italy. ●● Love with Italy” produced by i-ItalyTV. You have performed with some of the great female Italian actresses—Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale… 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. 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 perform certain scenes. It was such a good experience that I have been www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 19 ● ● THE SCUOLA D’ITALIA “GUGLIELMO MARCONI” LEAPs FORWARD Building the Future Today
An interview with Francesca Verga, alumna and board member of the Scuola d’Italia. To Left: Francesca Verga. Right: At the Consulate General of Italy in New York: Ms. Verga with Italy’s remain competitive, the important institution Minister of Heritage and Cultural Activities Dario has recently launched a bid for a new building. Franceschini (top) and Consul General Natalia Quintavalle (bottom).
by Letizia Airos multitudes of different worlds exist. Discovering a tiny little school I find this preamble necessary for explaining But first a little about Dr. Verga. “I never ●● You notice it immediately upon why I’ve decided to take a look at New York’s thought I would live in New York,” she says. “I entering the building, upon standing in the Scuola d’Italia “Guglielmo Marconi” through was raised in Rome. I really wanted to become halls of the only bilingual Italian school the eyes of one of its former students and a doctor. I met my husband, a French-Italian, in New York. This is a place that fosters current board members. Despite significant when he was a medical student. He wanted to collaboration and participation, a place obstacles, the school board has decided to take specialize in plastic surgery in the US. At the where friendly interactions and mutual another leap toward improving the institution. time, that possibility didn’t exist in Europe, so support between students, parents, teachers As President Steve Acunto announced in he came here and I went with him.” and staff are paramount. The school that an official statement, Scuola d’Italia “has In 1976, the young wife faced many obstacles provides a real sense of community raises undertaken steps toward the purchase of a on the road to becoming a doctor. As an the potential for an appreciation of the property in Manhattan that will give [them] Italian, she couldn’t obtain a loan to study collective, of us—too often overwhelmed 100,000 plus square feet. The area of the in the US. In order to study medicine in in today’s world by individualism and facility is 3-4 times as large as [their] present Italy, she had to have a high school degree hyper-productivity—without sacrificing the total square footage and will be built to offer from a scientific institute. That’s when she power of me. It promotes an almost familial a greatly improved, far more advanced school discovered a small Italian school in New York, sense of belonging, a characteristic feature facility to accommodate the top competitive where, in 1978, she obtained her degree. The of Italian cultural heritage. Such a feeling prep school that [they] envision.” If all goes as doors swung open. Verga entered a school helps students view the future with realistic planned, the deal will be closed this summer. of medicine in Italy, which she successfully optimism and prepares them for a life that Dr. Francesca Verga, a surgeon in New York, completed while traveling back and forth starts here, at school, without isolating sat down with us to talk about the past, from Rome to New York. themselves and others. School, family and present and future of an institution that is “The school was tiny! It was impossible to local community are not separate entities. vital to keeping Italian culture alive—a school imagine the headway it would make. We Understanding their linkage is fundamental, that stands to become a leading light in global have to thank the foresight of Ambassador even more so in New York, where education. Alessandro Cortese de Bosis. I’d get to school
20 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org in the morning and it was like being greeted by improvements and scholarships. “Capital other schools with the same educational a real family. There were students of all ages, campaigning” requires finding funds to model will open, satellite schools that will Italian Americans facing the same issue: how acquire larger spaces to make a school truly also disseminate Italian culture. “I was to obtain a degree that allowed them to study competitive by expanding its educational struck by the fact,” she concludes, “that in Italy.” program and enrolling more students. Today the French President spent three hours in the school has 300 students, but the number New York’s French school. My dream is The first steps of applicants continues to rise. “We have to that when the President of the Republic or Slowly but surely, the school began to grow. go forward with a new building for today’s the Prime Minister of Italy is abroad, he will First located between Park and Madison, it students and tomorrow’s. If we stop now, make use of the School’s facilities. Italians later moved into the Church of Our Lady of we’ll be taking a step backward…Instead,” living abroad are an asset to our country and Pompeii. When Verga’s 14-year-old brother continues Verga. “We have to aim high. We are valued throughout the world.” ●● came to New York, he too enrolled in the have to keep sending students to the best school. “That’s how I stayed in touch with universities in the world. We face global what had become my second family. I was challenges today and a school like ours can there through all of its problems, especially be extremely important for facing them.” its financial problems. It wasn’t in a position The recent developments augur an to compete with other schools back then, important step forward not only for even though its student body kept growing.” the school, but also for Italy’s image. Scuola d’Italia made its first major Once the Scuola d’Italia in New York breakthrough when it purchased a has been consolidated, says Verga, building on 96th Street. But the turning point, according to Verga, occurred when Maria Bianca Padolecchia took over as headmistress. “The school was on equal standing with Italian state schools, but it had yet to meet the standards of independent schools in America. Maria Bianca understood that second step was crucial. Scuola d’Italia needed recognition from the Board of Regents of the State of New York. And she succeeded in getting it. For those who come to study at Scuola d’Italia today, it’s as if they were studying at an American school. At the same time, they have the real privilege of attending a bilingual and bicultural school.”
Providing a global education For years now, Verga has been an effective and fervent participant in the life of the school. “I’m grateful to the school for helping me maintain contact with Italy. When I was a student, there was no telephone, no Internet, and Italy was far away. Thanks to the school, I not only succeeded in becoming a doctor. I also remained close to my country.” Meanwhile the school continues to grow, and as it grows, it changes. No longer exclusive to the children of Italian diplomats and professionals temporarily living in New York, the school boasts an important international presence now. “It’s a school for everyone,” says Verga. “It promises and provides a global education. It’s not a school for the future, but a school for building the future today.” Hence the board’s efforts to increase the school’s standing on a European level. There will be a third language, and the NSERC BBA International must be obtained to allow the students to gain access to the best universities around the world.”
“We have to aim high” Besides being a member of the board, Verga has long overseen the school’s annual gala, promoted its image, and helped with fundraising. Nowadays fundraising is not only about raising money for technological www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 21 ● ● FEEDING THE PLANET, CONNECTING THE WORLD Flying Alitalia to Milan in the Expo Year 2015
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22 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org BE A PART OF THIS WORLD CHAN GING EVENT!
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www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 23 www.eatalyny.com
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24 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org Events This is only a selection of the forthcoming Italian events in New York. For the full calendar point and shoot with your smartphone, or go to www.i-italy.org
Conferences Book Arts & Cinema Music & Food Fashion
legend & Seminars presentation Exhibits & Theatre Concerts & Wine & Design
● ● DEBUT PERFORMANCE ON APRIL 21, AT THE MORGAN LIBRARY Being Leonardo Da Vinci: The Real Life of an Italian Genius
In a challenging real life of the Italian genius by performance that has never bringing art history, science and before been attempted, I contemporary dance to the stage. The show takes the form of an physically become “impossible” interview, in which Leonardo, wearing period I physically become Leonardo, costumes and wearing period costumes and reconstructive makeup to reconstructive makeup to render render a true likeness of the a true likeness of the genius, and reconstruct his Renaissance genius. “My” Leonardo idiom; the text is culled answers 52 questions in the from Leonardo’s own works, guise of philosopher, including his famous Treatise scientist, painter, inventor, on Painting. Such a challenging architect, geologist, performance has never before been attempted. “My” Leonardo botanist and doctor. The answers 52 questions in the text is culled from guise of philosopher, scientist, Leonardo’s own works so painter, inventor, architect, that this imaginary geologist, botanist and doctor. interview recreates his real Leonardo, after all, encompasses everything, and to answer the Renaissance idiom. question “Who is Leonardo?” we may concentrate on the painter, but we have to understand that by Massimiliano Finazzer without Leonardo the scientist, Flory there is no Leonardo the man. The 52 questions touch on ●● “We urgently need a science his childhood, his dreams, his that honors and respects the civic and military work, how unity of all life, recognizes the one becomes a “good painter,” fundamental interdependence and the relationship between of all natural phenomena, and science and painting, sculpture reconnects us with the living and painting, and music and Earth. What we need today painting. Leonardo holds forth on is exactly the kind of science anatomy, experience and nature. Leonardo da Vinci anticipated He comments on the apostles in and outlined 500 years ago, at the The Last Supper, discusses his end of the Renaissance and the passion for and obsession with dawn of modern science.” So said water, argues for the primacy one of my dear friends, Berkeley of sight as the most important physicist Fritjof Capra, and it’s a of our senses, alludes to the statement I can get behind. fashion of his day, responds to Finazzer Flory reconstructed as Leonardo My performance, “Being (Photo by Giovanni Gastel) his enemies’ attacks, explains the Leonardo da Vinci,” depicts the motions of the soul, prophesies www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 25 Events
When, Where & What: New York’s Morgan Library, April 21, debut performance plus a look at Leonardo’s works currently held at the library. Acqua di Parma is the main sponsor of the April 21st perfor- mance in New York. For more information, please visit: www.finazzerflory.com human flight and, finally, can capture the relationship underscores the revolutionary Capra has written about dispenses aphorisms and advice between memory and the cast of Leonardo’s mind. him well, yet there remain on how to live in this day and imagination. Only an interview And the contemporary dance, few books about Leonardo’s age… allows Leonardo to address the choreographed by Michela science. To appreciate the Years ago Mario Pomilio wrote: pressing questions of our day Lucenti and performed by two range of his genius, we must “I always believed deeply in the and age, turning the theater dancers, is inspired by one of understand the evolution of his artist who talks about himself; into a place in which we can Leonardo’s most celebrated thought and how it is linked and that, indeed, the best re- experience his way of thinking, drawings, The Vitruvian to various disciplines. Art readings of a text occur each his notion of a universal culture. Man, drawn around 1490 and helped Leonardo advance his time we succeed in revisiting Because the theater is the place currently kept in the Gallerie persistent explorations of life’s the world the author intended. where truth is overheard. We’ve dell’Accademia in Venice. In secrets. Leonardian synthesis is The more I must believe in all seen the works of Leonardo, an extraordinarily harmonious a synthesis of art, science and Leonardo, who proved so aware but none of us has stopped to blend of space and movement, design, and in each area he sees [of his own intended world] as listen to him speak. the two dancers bring to life a nature as a guide and model. to leave us not the first treatise His real features, the gestures rich and highly technical dance, Yet Leonardo understood of painting, but rather the first, and gazes that have been almost scientifically replicating perfectly well that in the end, in a modern sense, ‘poetry’ carefully studied so as to give Leonardo’s anthropomorphic nature and the origins of life that no artist had hitherto us a familiar image of Leonardo, model. would remain a mystery. As art attempted to conceive.” These help recreate a profile shrouded Da Vinci, the great genius of historian Kenneth Clark writes, words led me to believe that an in mystery. The stark, deliberate the Renaissance, has been the “Mystery for Leonardo was a imaginary interview is the one contrast with a contemporary subject of hundreds of books, shadow, a smile, and a finger appropriate mise-en-scène that image of the interviewer both popular and academic. pointing into darkness.” ●●
APRIL 10. FILM SCREENING AT THE CENTER FOR ITALIAN MODERN ART Massimiliano Finazzer Flory’s Marinetti in New York. The Movie
This special movie co-produced by i-ItalyTV portrays the founder of the Futurist movement as he journeys in New York City, the perfect embodiment of Marinetti’s project. Created, directed and starring Massimiliano Finazzer Flory. Co-directed by Matteo Banfo and Mattia Minasi. The film was screened earlier this year in Rome and Los Angeles, and a TV adaptation aired as a special i-ItalyNY episode on NYCTV. Now New Yorkers can see it during a special event at CIMA. Massimiliano Finazzer Flory will moderate the event..
Watch the trailer on your smartphone
26 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org Events
● ● AT THE CENTER FOR ITALIAN MODERN ART IN SOHO, UNTIL JUNE 27 Medardo Rosso, Sculptor of Light
A conversation about the Left:Bookmaker , 1894. and his innovative style won him life of Medardo Rosso © Private collection. many imitators. And that meant Below: Enfant malade (Turin, 1858 - Milan, 1928), people were interested in him. (Sick Child), 1889. © We organized exhibits in Europe: Raymond and Patsy and his relationship to New of his photography in Berlin in Nasher Collection, York. i-Italy talks to Laura Dallas, Texas. 2006, in Venice in 2007, and at the Mattioli, Founder and Boijmans Museum in Rotterdam in February 2014. (Smiling) Now President of the Center for we have finally reached his Italian Modern Art, and beloved New York, and CIMA Danila Marsule Rosso, seemed to me to be the best President of the Museo space in which to introduce Americans to Medardo Rosso. Medardo Rosso and the sculptor’s great- Ms. Mattioli, what is the granddaughter. connection between the artist and New York? by Mila Tenaglia Besides being known in Europe in the 1950s and 1960s, ●● Medardo Rosso is the star Medardo Rosso was also known of the second annual show at in New York. He had a show CIMA, the Center for Italian at MOMA, and for him it was Modern Art. On display in this like his consecration. Margaret comprehensive and carefully Scolari Barri, the art historian curated retrospective are and founding director of MOMA, not only his bronze, marble wrote exceptional essays on and wax sculptures but also Medardo Rosso. But the attention original photographs, prints and he aroused in the U.S. drawings. dwindled over time. “The hope of the show is to There were few public encourage studies of the artist rebel, but he was talented exhibits after that period, by raising questions and ideas too. He was very good at and critical studies have that will spark discussion and drawing and won awards at short, he’s someone the family changed a lot since then. They flesh out his themes with a new, school for penmanship, given his holds at arm’s length. have focused on other subjects, fresh eye,” says Laura Mattioli, great technical skill. like photography. Medardo welcoming us into the kitchen of Then he left the family to go to You are the proprietor of the Rosso was aware that he was CIMA’s luminous Soho loft for an Paris, having understood that Medardo Rosso Museum in doing work that no one in his espresso. She and Danila stroll if he stayed in Milan he would Barzio and the family archive. lifetime could understand. He among sculptures that seem to never evolve and achieve the When did you begin this was doing experimental work, be watching us and photographs success he desired. He had a lot business? re-photographing the same of Medardo Rosso redolent of a of problems when he arrived in prints again and again, changing bygone era. France. He had no money and In the 1990s, when my the exposure, increasing the Danila Marsule Rosso, Medardo even wound up in the hospital grandmother died. I began contrasts to make them more Rosso’s great-granddaughter, because he was dying of hunger taking a personal interest in the evanescent. We have curated explains his “uncomfortable” and cold. He lived in a basement Medardo Rosso archive, studying an exhibit that fully reflects role in the family and his unique apartment…until he managed to the documents, reestablishing his artistic and thematic personality, re-telling stories she get his own studio after his work contacts, and creating order transformations via the lens heard from her grandparents. began to garner recognition and out of the chaos that had been of photography, sculpture and admiration. created. The result was to drawing. For those who have yet Ms. Rosso, would you tell us As my grandmother tells it, give logical and philological to see the retrospective, the show how are your great-granfather Medardo was a very difficult, sense to Medardo’s body of will be up until June 27. ●● and his work remembered in peculiar personality: he kept odd work—the letters, writings and your family? hours and came back home at all photographs. The Museo Rosso hours. He’d give my grandmother then helped sponsor the 2009 Watch this Medardo Rosso began his artistic dolls then take them away. publication of Medardo Rosso. interview on career in Milan and undertook Francesco, the youngest son, was Catalogo Ragionato della scultura, the bohemian life at the end put to work immediately to make published by Skira Editore. i-ItalyTV of the 1800s. He was always a up for his father’s absence…in Rosso achieved great success www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 27 Events
● ● THE FIRST ITALIAN BOOKSTORE IN THE UNITED STATES REOPENS IN NEW YORK Vanni: Germinating From Old Roots
In 1884 S F Vanni opened the first Italian bookstore (at 548 West Broadway); bookseller and publisher Andrea Ragusa brought it into the 20th century on Bleecker Street and then to its present address, at 30 W 12th Street. It was closed in 2004 and now reopens thanks to Centro Primo Levi, which has established itself a platform providing access to resources on Italian Jewish Studies and current affairs. by Alessandro Cassin
●● Reopening the landmark bookstore S F Vanni has been Sante Fortunato Vanni in Italy with socialist journalist Claudio Treves and publisher Calogero Tumminelli. a longtime dream for us at Centro Primo Levi. We are finally lectures, and film screenings. The first Italian bookstore (at 548 Milano, the literary critic who about to realize this dream, second room —with the original West Broadway); bookseller arrived in New York as a refugee in an updated, 21st-century books published by S F Vanni— and publisher Andrea Ragusa from the Racial Laws in the late incarnation. will be preserved as ‘urban brought it into the 20th century ‘30s. His Portable Dante single- The shop, in business from archeology’. As one proceeds on Bleecker Street and then to handedly sparked fresh interest 1884 to 2004, reopens as a pop- inside, it becomes a journey back its present address, at 30 W 12th in Italian literature throughout up bookstore, cultural space, in time, as it were, from color to Street. American academia. and headquarters for our own black and white. What strikes me about this For the past fifteen years, publishing imprint, CPL Editions. The importation of Italian books lineage—one that we are speared by Natalia Indrimi’s In a city in constant to New York began with Lorenzo proud to take part in— is that unwavering commitment, Centro transformation, we believe in the Da Ponte (Mozart’s librettist), it was carried out not by big Primo Levi has established itself symbolic value of the places that who brought his library to corporations, but by a handful of as a platform providing access embody its cultural memory.The Columbia University in 1805. visionary individuals. Another to resources on Italian Jewish Amato Opera Theater was forced In 1884 S F Vanni opened the powerful example is Paolo Studies and current affairs. CPL to shut its doors for good in 2009, Editions, our new publishing the last of several downtown Alessandro Cassin venture, is a natural extension independent Italian institutions. Director Of Publishing of Centro Primo Levi’s online We feel strongly that we need to CPL Editions presence and its role in bridging go against the current by reviving the linguistic gap between Italy and preserving the ancient and the English-speaking world. Italian tradition of independent Our publications, produced in publishers and booksellers and partnership with OR Books, will attempt to redefine this role in be available as e-books and in the age of Amazon. print-on-demand through the The new VANNI space has been free CPL Editions app, available reimagined with help from at iTunes. architect Bonnie Roche and We are deeply grateful to designer Jonathan Wajskol. The Professor Olga Ragusa for giving first room of the two-room store us the opportunity to link our has become a multifunctional new adventure to this history- space for book presentations, laden location. ●●
28 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org Events ➜ Calendar
and Andrea Magnani, produced by Pilgrim Film with the support of the daily Embassy of Italy in the US. Duration: 35 minutes. Through a collection of calendar interviews and archival footage, Our ITALIAN CULTURE AT HOME American Days tells the story of life in IN NEW YORK Trieste under the Allied Military Gov- LA CULTURA ITALIANA A NEW YORK ernment (1945-1954). ITALIAN CULTURE AT HOME IN NEW YORK Mar 5 LA CULTURA ITALIANA A NEW YORK Mar 11 Lecture: Deconstructing Mivos Quartet with Rome composer/soprano 6:00 pm Kate Soper Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò 7:00 pm ITALIAN CULTURE AT HOME (NYU), 24 West 12th Street, The Italian Academy (Columbia IN NEW YORK Manhattan University), 1161 Amsterdam LA CULTURA ITALIANA A NEW YORK ◗ casaitaliananyu.org Avenue, Manhattan ◗ ● A lecture by Federica Pedriali italianacademy.columbia.edu (University of Edinburgh). This pre- ● Highlighting works for soprano sentation uses Paolo Sorrentino’s La and string quartet, the Mivos Quar- grande bellezza (2013) and Gianfranco tet will present a program featur- Rosi’s Sacro Gra (2013) to frame a se- ing the world premiere of “Nadja,” lective deconstruction of the Eter- a large-scale composition for string nal City. Topics include the Genius quartet and voice by composer/so- of Rome, Grand Narratives (focusing prano Kate Soper, alongside works on an evolving Roman mythology by Clara Iannotta and Carlo Gesu- The largest university-wide research institute driven by polarized qualifiers and aldo, and Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite. tags), Individual Trajectories (look- The largestin the Americasuniversity-wide dedicated research to the institute study of the ing at the impact Rome has made 24 West 12th Street in the Italian www.casaitalianaNYU.orgAmericas American dedicated experience to the study of the on travellers in different eras) and Mar 12
06-13_SERVIZI.indd 11 1/22/13 1:58 AM Hope in Rome. 24 West 12th Street, New York, NY,Italian 10011 - www.CasaItalianaNYU.org American experience Il Dolce Suono – Ki Kolech Arev - Jewish Mar 9 and Christian Music from Late Medieval Italy Aria di Commedia: 7:00 pm The largest university-wide research institute An Evening of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue 30 The largest university-wide research institute Italian Renaissance West 68th Street in the Americas dedicated to the study of the Theater and Music ◗ http://salonsanctuary.org Italian American experiencein the Americas dedicated to the study of the 6:00 pm ● Italian polyphonic music in the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò fourteenth century has been likened (NYU), 24 West 12th Street, to a “dazzling meteor” that flared up Italian American experience Manhattan quickly and abruptly fizzled out. One ◗ casaitaliananyu.org of the most important towns in me- ● What do you get when you put dieval Italy was the Republic of Flor- together a hungry servant, a know- ence, which rose to prominence in it-all Latin-speaking doctor and a the middle of the 14th century and Queens College string of sausages? You get Pazzi La- was home to polyphonic music. City University zzi in Aria di Commedia! You’ll giggle of New York at Dottore’s “little problem” and the beautiful Flaminia’s long list of hap- Mar 13 less suitors. Enjoy classic Comme- dia dell’Arte tricks and double en- Magic Books - The 25 West 43rd Street tendres with a few modern twists! Secret Art of Book New York, NY, 10036 Hacking http://qcpages.qc.edu/calandra 6:00 pm Mar 10 Italian Cultural Institute, 686 Park Avenue, Manhattan Our American Days ◗ iicnewyork.esteri.it/IIC_Newyork 6:00 pm ● To improve their performance, we Italian Cultural tune up engines and hack comput- The Institute publishes three books series and a scholarly journal, Italian American Review. The largest university-wideThe Historical research Monograph institute Series rescues from oblivion texts that have fallen out of print. Institute, ers. But what if we tuned up a book? The Institute publishes three books series and a scholarly journal, Italian American Review. 686 Park Avenue, Manhattan in the Americas dedicatedTransactions to the publishes study of studiesthe that are longer than the usual journal article but shorter than By altering its structure and content, The Historical Monograph Series rescues from oblivion texts that have fallen out of print. ◗ iicnewyork.esteri.it/IIC_Newyork Italian American experiencea monograph. Studies in Italian Americana publishes full-length books, be they single- magical things may happen: volumes Transactions publishes studies that are longer than the usual journal article but shorter than authored or collections of essays. ● A Documentary by Chiara Barbo with movable parts, pages offer- a monograph. Studies in Italian Americana publishes full-length books, be they single- authored or collections of essays. www.i-Italy.org 24 Westwww.i-Italy 12th StreetNY .com | March-April 2015 | i- Italy ny | 29 www.casaitalianaNYU.org The Institute publishes three books series and a scholarly journal, Italian American Review. The Historical Monograph Series rescues from oblivion texts that have fallen out of print. Transactions publishes studies that are longer than the usual journal article but shorter than qcpages.qc.edu/calandra a monograph.06-13_SERVIZI.indd Studies in 11 Italian Americana publishes full-length books, be they single- 1/22/13 1:58 AM 24 West 12th Street authored or collections of essays. www.casaitalianaNYU.org qcpages.qc.edu/calandra
06-13_SERVIZI.indd 11 1/22/13 1:58 AM
42-45_Bookshelf.indd 42 1/22/13 2:18 AM qcpages.qc.edu/calandra
42-45_Bookshelf.indd 42 1/22/13 2:18 AM
42-45_Bookshelf.indd 42 1/22/13 2:18 AM The Institute publishes three books series and a scholarly journal, Italian American Review. The Historical Monograph Series rescues from oblivion texts that have fallen out of print. Transactions publishes studies that are longer than the usual journal article but shorter than a monograph. Studies in Italian AmericanaThe Institute publishes full-length publishes books, be they single- three books series and a scholarly journal, Italian American Review. authored or collections of essays. The Historical Monograph Series rescues from oblivion texts that have fallen out of print. Transactions publishes studies that are longer than the usual journal article but shorter than a monograph.qcpages.qc.edu/calandra Studies in Italian Americana publishes full-length books, be they single- authored or collections of essays.
42-45_Bookshelf.indd 42 1/22/13 2:18 AM
qcpages.qc.edu/calandra
42-45_Bookshelf.indd 42 1/22/13 2:18 AM Events ➜ Calendar
ing cinematic experiences, images ● For Italian immigrants and their collaborates with /nu/thing, a col- other composers. In addition to appearing with a blow, non-linear descendants, moving from “the lective of Italian composers (Marco her singing, Scotto also is one of structures to predict the future, city” to Long Island was more than Momi, Eric Maestri, Andrea Sarto, the finest actresses in opera and pop-up magic shows… Magic Books a change of address. It signaled that Andrea Agostini, Raffaele Grimal- has recently turned her attention is an interactive exhibition retrac- the family had achieved the Ameri- di, Daniele Ghisi). Program: Fausto to stage direction. ing the story of the secret art of book can dream, and in turn, elements of Romitelli: Natura morta con fiamme; hacking from Medieval times to our Italian values and culture are visible Andrea Agostini: Legno sabbia vetro days: an unprecedented collection all over the island. Join author Dr. cenere; Ryan Carter: String Quartet Apr 8 of design principles through which Salvatore J. LaGumina as he offers a No. 4 (World Premiere); Steve Reich: authors and publishers have ex- specially prepared power point pre- Triple Quartet. Italian Scientific tracted magical powers from plain sentation on the remarkable contri- Migration to the paper. Created by wonder-injector butions and vibrant culture of Long United States after Mariano Tomatis, the exhibition Island Italian Americans. Book sign- Mar 27 the 1938 Racial Laws, by will open on Friday March 13th with ing will follow. Alessandra Gissi, a lecture and slideshow focused on Dante as a Political University of Naples the Italian influence of the art of Theorist: “L’Orientale” book hacking - from 17th century Mar 25 Historicizing 6:00 pm Venetian mind-reading books to Theology and John D. Calandra Italian American Bruno Munari’s magic shows on Marie-Helene Theologizing Power Institute, Queens College/CUNY, 25 West 43rd Street, Manhattan paper. Spectators will be experi- Bertino reads from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm ◗ qc.edu/calandra ence awe at the magical effects pro- 2 A.M. at the Cat’s Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò duced by the books on display and Pajamas (NYU), 24 West 12th St ● The Fascist government’s 1938 the Cartesian pleasure of discover- 6:00 pm 2:30am to 6:30pm anti-Semitic Racial Laws prompted ing the ingenious mechanisms be- John D. Calandra Italian American The Italian Academy (Columbia a major migration of Italian intel- University), 1161 Amsterdam Ave hind the curtains. If you love Books Institute, Queens College/CUNY, lectuals to the United States. While 25 West 43rd Street, Manhattan ◗ casaitaliananyu.org and Magic, you’ll be amazed by this historiography has devoted consid- ◗ qc.edu/calandra ◗ italianacademy.columbia.edu crossover exhibit! erable attention to the issue of sci- ● Madeleine Altimari is a sassy as- ● Presented by New York Univer- entific migration during the 1930s, piring jazz singer—who just hap- sity’s Department of Italian Stud- scholars have mostly overlooked Mar 13 pens to be nine years old. As she ies, Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò the Italian case. Drawing on individ- mourns the recent death of her and the Medieval and Renaissance ual biographies, institutional histo- Art Spiegelman & mother and takes care of her griev- Center. An International Sympo- ries, and theoretical contributions, Phillip Johnston: ing, hermetic father, she doesn’t sium on Monarchia to launch the Alessandra Gissi provides a new an- Wordless! realize that on Christmas Eve she Global Dante Project of New York. alytic approach to the topic. Using 7:00 pm is about to have the most extraor- Directors Maria Luisa Ardizzone, a wide range of sources, principally The Italian Academy (Columbia dinary day—and night—of her life. NYU & Teodolinda Barolini, Co- the records of the Emergency Com- University), 1161 Amsterdam On the same day, her fifth-grade lumbia. mittee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Avenue, Manhattan teacher Sarina Greene nervously Scholars, Gissi challenges the idea ◗ italianacademy.columbia.edu anticipates a dinner party that will that the Italian scientific wave of ● Art Spiegelman, noted as a his- reunite her with an old love and Mar 31 immigration to the United States torian and theorist of comics as old friends. And across town at The was simply an exile or an escape. well as an artist, collaborates with Cat’s Pajamas nightclub, the club’s Adventures in Rather, it presented traits typical of Phillip Johnston, the critically ac- owner, Lorca, discovers that his Italian Opera with migration, such as the placement of claimed jazz composer who wrote beloved haunt may have to close Fred Plotkin: A scholars via a system of migration all-new scores performed live with forever, unless someone can find a Conversation with Renata networks. his sextet. Johnston’s music ac- way to save it. 2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pa- Scotto companies the cartoonist’s per- jamas (Crown Publishers, 2014) tells 6:30 pm Talea Ensemble: sonal tour of the first legitimate the lively and engaging tale of an Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò Music of Pierluigi “graphic novels”— silent picture unlikely cast of characters thrown (NYU), 24 West 12th Street, Billone! stories made by early 20th century together over the course of one im- Manhattan 7:00 pm ◗ masters like Frans Masereel, Lynd portant night. As the stories race to casaitaliananyu.org The Italian Academy (Columbia Ward, and Milt Gross—and their the late-night climax, the paths of ● The fifth Adventure in Italian Op- University), 1161 Amsterdam influence on him. these searching souls bend and skirt era with Fred Plotkin this season will Avenue, Manhattan ◗ around one another, only to collide feature legendary soprano Renata italianacademy.columbia.edu at the fateful hour. Scotto, one of the greatest artists ● “A crucial part of the New York Mar 23 to grace the Met stage, who has cultural ecosphere” (says The New Quartetto Maurice given unforgettable and inimitable York Times), the Talea Ensemble Long Island Italian 7:00 pm e performances spanning the entire is the Recipient of the 2013 CMA/ Americans: History, The Italian Academy Italian repertory as well as memo- ASCAP Award for Adventurous Pro- Heritage and (Columbia University), 1161 rable interpretations of works by gramming. It has given premiere Tradition, by Salvatore Amsterdam Avenue, Manhattan performances of many important ◗ LaGumina italianacademy.columbia.edu world and US works by composers 6:00 pm ● The Maurice Quartet was founded See the full including Pierre Boulez, Tristan John D. Calandra Italian American in 2002 in Turin. In 2009 its members Murail, Olga Neuwirth, John Zorn, calendar Institute, Queens College/CUNY, graduated from the Special Quartet Unsuk Chin, Rand Steiger, Beat Fur- 25 West 43rd Street, Manhattan online Course in the Music School of Fie- rer, and Fausto Romitelli. Program: ◗ qc.edu/calandra sole (Florence, Italy). The Quartet Legno.Edre III.Ini (2003) World Pre-
30 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org Events ➜ Calendar
miere Mani.Matta (2008) Ebe und An- Festival will begin their series at ders (2014) US Premiere. the Morgan with a performance featuring their Chamber and Vocal In the Name of Ensembles performing Monteverdi Collina Italiana Father and Son: madrigals. Italian Migrations in ITALIAN LANGUAGE AND CULTURAL CENTER the Art of Joseph and William Papaleo Apr 20 7:00 pm Westchester Italian Cultural Adventures in Center, One Generoso Pope Place, Italian Opera with Tuckahoe, NY Fred Plotkin: A ◗ wiccny.org Conversation with Piotr WinterSpring Session ● Joseph Papaleo (1925 - 2004) was Beczala considered the grandfather of Italian 6:30 pm starts JanuaryMarch 16th 5th American writing. He was a best- Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò selling author who won the Guggen- (NYU), 24 West 12th Street, heim and American Book Award, and Manhattan ◗ was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize casaitaliananyu.org Award for his short stories collection, ● The sixth and final Adventure in Italian Stories. Joseph Papaleo re- Italian Opera with Fred Plotkin of this tained a profound sense of inferiority season will feature tenor Piotr Bec- about his Italian identity throughout zala, who has sung opening nights his career. From a reading of some at the Met, La Scala and many lead- Girotondo (circle (circle of fun)of fun) Ages Ages 2-8 2-8 of Joseph Papaleo’s writing, Profes- ing opera houses. He is admired for sor Fred Gardaphe will analyze not his beautiful voice, sensitive artist- An ItalianItalian languagelanguage program program which which improves improves fluency only the inner conflict between the ry and noble stage presence. He will through songs, stories, games and arts & crafts success and inferiority, but also the be appearing in a new production of fluency through songs, stories, games and arts influence the Italian American iden- Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta at the Met and & crafts tity has had in the development of then sing Gustavo III in Un Ballo in Il Giardino Dei Bambini Ages 2-5 the art and life of William Papaleo. Maschera for his first performances of the role in New York. AIl drop-off Giardino playgroup. Dei ChildrenBambini may Agesjoin in 2-5on the Apr 9 fun every Mon., Tues. & Thurs. from 9-12 on an as Apr 22 neededA drop-off basis. playgroup. Children may join in on the fun every Tues. & Thurs. from 9-12 on an as Book presentation: Making a Film, by Brain Science Now: neededNew! Survivalbasis. Kit Expo Milano 2015! Federico Fellini Treatment and 6:30 pm Discoveries from PaintCreate, with Act, Italian Draw Ages 3-5 & 7-12 Italian Cultural Institute, Italian Scientists at the 686 Park Avenue, Manhattan Academy Learn to express your artistic side in an innovative ◗ iicnewyork.esteri.it/IIC_Newyork 6:00 pm ● Federico Fellini’s Fare un film (1980) The Italian Academy (Columbia environmentTutoring that Services fosters enhanced learning Italian is the most comprehensive collection University), 1161 Amsterdam for all ages. Classes for Children and Adults. of the idiosyncratic Italian director’s Avenue, Manhattan ◗ italianacademy.columbia.edu writings available in any language. Tutoring Services The contents were culled from a va- ● The Academy devotes serious Inquire About Adult Classes riety of sources long out of print, in- resources to neuroscience, spon- cluding interviews, autobiographical soring multiple fellowships each Inquire About Adult Classes pieces, and materials that initially year in the field and presenting an- Registration and prep course for appeared as supplements to pub- nual public symposia with leading Registration and prep course for CELI- lished screenplays. Panelists: Anto- researchers from across the globe. CELI -Certificate of Knowledge of nio Monda (NYU), Wendy Keys (Film To spotlight the promising younger Certificate of Knowledge of Italian Society Lincoln Center), Christopher researchers who come from Italy to Italian Language Burton-White (translator). Followed Columbia, the Academy has orga- Language by the screening of the film Toby Dam- nized this panel with former Italian mitt (1968). Academy Fellows Tiziano Colibazzi, Francesca Bartolini, Luana Fioriti, Music of Handel, Franco Pestilli, and Francesca Zan- 1556 Third Avenue Steffani, and derigo. Moderator Stefano Fusi. Monteverdi @ 87th, Suite 603 7:0 pm 212.427.7770 The Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue, Manhattan Watch i-ItalyTV www.collinaitaliana.com ◗ themorgan.org on your [email protected] ● In celebration of their twenty-fifth smartphone concert season, Boston Early Music www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 31 Events ➜ Calendar
Apr 22
How Italian Are You? ongoing The New Italian American Identity events 6:30 pm Westchester Italian Cultural Center, One Generoso Pope Place, Till Mar 22 Tuckahoe, NY ◗ wiccny.org Maryland to ● Through the understanding of fac- Murano. Neckpieces tors that influence Italian American and Sculptures by identity, and the ways in which they Joyce J. Scott affect individuals’ daily lives, Dr. Ilaria MAD, Museum of Art and Design Serra analyzes the self-representation 2 Columbus Circle of Italian Americans and the self- per- ◗ http://madmuseum.org ception of representations suggested ● In Joyce J. Scott’s hands, human Liuzzo & Associates is dedicated to securing by others of the Italian American adornment becomes a vehicle for community. She will also reflect on social commentary and a means for nonimmigrant working visas and status, U.S. the meaning that Italian heritage has confronting contentious issues af- permanent residence, corporate compliance in the daily lives of younger genera- fecting contemporary society. The programs, citizenship, naturalization, and tions and how it affects their values, exhibition, organized by MAD’s expatriation matters for its clients. As a firm behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and im- Chief Curator Lowery Stokes Sims age of Italy and the Italian. and curatorial assistant Sophia whose practice is exclusively focused on U.S. Merkin, examines the relationship Immigration and Naturalization law, we between Joyce J. Scott’s beaded and successfully represent all foreign individuals Apr 24 constructed jewelry and her more recent figural work executed at the and corporate entities. From artists to Music of Serge Berengo Studio in Murano, Italy. multinational corporate executives, Liuzzo & Prokofiev Associates assists its clients in determining 7:30 pm The Italian Academy (Columbia Till Jun 14 the most appropriate and efficient strategy to University), 1161 Amsterdam meet their objectives. Avenue, Manhattan Sculpture in the Age ◗ Given the prominence of immigration issues italianacademy.columbia.edu of Donatello ● MOBIA - Museum of in today’s political climate, recent arrivals to A recital of popular and rare works by Sergei Prokofiev, featuring sopra- Biblical Art, 1865 Broadway at 61st the U.S. are in need of reliable and no Erika Baikoff and pianists Sergei Street ◗ comprehensive advice upon which to base Dreznin and Barbara Nissman, to http://mobia.org their future plans. Liuzzo & Associates is celebrate the opening of the Prokofiev ● Twenty-three masterpieces of early Archive at Columbia’s Rare Book and Florentine Renaissance sculpture— ideally positioned at the forefront of Manuscripts Library. most never seen outside Italy—will be immigration regulatory changes, keeping pace exhibited at MOBIA as the centerpiece with evolving laws as well as our clients’ of the museum’s tenth anniversary Apr 25 season. These works—by Donatello, expectations. Brunelleschi, Nanni di Banco, Luca The Met: Live in HD: della Robbia and others—were made Cavalleria in the first decades of the fifteenth Rusticana/Pagliacci century for the Florence Cathedral 11:30 am; 12:30 pm (“Il Duomo”), which was then in the BAM, Brooklyn Academy of Music, last phase of its construction, and are 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn figural complements to Brunelleschi’s ◗ http://www.bam.org soaring dome, conveying a sense of ● Opera’s most enduring tragic double courage and human potential. bill returns in an evocative new produc- tion from Sir David McVicar, who sets the action across two time periods in Mar 20-29 the same Sicilian village. Marcelo Ál- varez rises to the challenge of playing Malastrana Film One Penn Plaza, Suite 2016 • New York, NY 10119 Tel: 212.736.2100 • Fax: 212.736.2159 the dual tenor roles of Turiddu in Caval- Series Presents: [email protected] • www.liuzzolaw.com leria Rusticana and Canio in Pagliacci. Rae “The Killer Must Kill Smith (War Horse) designs Cavalleria’s Again! Giallo Fever, Part 2” moody, atmospheric setting of a village Anthology Film Archives square in 1900, which is then trans- 32 Second Avenue formed into a 1948 truck stop for the ◗ http://anthologyfilmarchives.org doomed vaudeville troupe of Pagliacci. ● They are back in town! Armed with
32 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org Events ➜ Calendar
sharper knives, shinier leather gloves of Stuttgart, Germany, during a series and even more deranged motives, of international painting workshops The Italian Catholic “The Killer Must Kill Again!: Giallo for European college students. He has Fever Part 2” picks up where the first taught painting at the University of Community in New York series left off, bringing 12 classic and California in Naples, Italy, and at the under-screened Italian gialli (noir) to Castle Hill Center for the Arts in Truro, INVITES YOU the Big Apple in rare 35mm prints. The Massachusetts. He studied with Rob- term giallo, literally “yellow” in Italian, ert Beverly Hale at the Art Students Santa Messa in Italiano originally referred to a series of crime League in New York City and Henry novels with trademark yellow covers. Hensche at the Cape School of Art in Holy Mass in Italian Massachusetts. In Italy he studied at the Accademia delle Belle Arti in OGNI SABATO alle 6:30pm Mar 25-Apr 25 Naples and worked on church fresco animata dal Coro SOL TELEMATER technique with Antonio Montagna in Come to Bed! Piemonte. e DOMENICA alle 11:00am Curated by Roya nella Chiesa di Our Lady of Pompeii Sachs BOSI Contemporary Gallery, Mar 31 - Apr 15 25 Carmine Street, NYC 48 Orchard Street ◗ www.bosicontemporary.com Italian string ● Come To Bed! explores themes of instruments communication in the bedroom, the Italian Cultural setting where we spend a third of our Institute, 686 Park Avenue ◗ lives. The all-female show will focus iicnewyork.esteri.it/IIC_Newyork on three forms of bedroom communi- ● The exhibition will present Italian cation: pillow talk, self-reflection, and string instruments coming from four technology. different cities, and made from the 17th to the 20th century. In particu- lar, the only surviving violin made by Mar 27-May 22 Giovanni Pietro Caspani in 1657 will be shown. The instruments, property Identity - Horizons of the luthier and violin dealer Chris- & Colors. Salerno & tophe Landon, will be played in an Welcome TeleMATER The Amalfi Coast opening event by the Italian violinist The brand new TELEVISION for the Westchester Italian Cultural Emanuele De Biase ITALIAN CATHOLICS IN AMERICA Center, One Generoso Pope Place, Tuckahoe, NY BROADCASTING IN ITALIAN 24/7 ◗ wiccny.org Apr24-25 ● William Papaleo is an American art- Every day: News, Daily Prayers, Messages ist who lived and worked in Italy for Bambini, Ragazzi, from Pope Francis, Live Holy Masses from over 20 years. His artwork was influ- Giovani: Children OLP Church in NYC, Spiritual & Faith based enced by the art philosophy of Robert and Youth in Italy Talks, and more! Henri as an expression of contempo- and the Italian Diaspora rary social realities, rooted in the hu- John D. Calandra Italian American manistic, figurative tradition. Many Institute, Queens College (CUNY), years ago he relocated to Italy and 25 West 43rd Street FOR FREE SUBSCRIPTION ◗ qc.edu/calandra chose to live and paint in the south, until August 25, 2015 specifically in Naples and the Amalfi ● The Italian family has been a quint- Coast. He wanted to paint life and not essential subject for scholarly re- SUBSCRIBE ONLINE: just study the past grandeurs of the search and creative work in Italy and www.telemater.org artistic tradition. Naples and south- among various diasporic communi- and enter promo ern Italy offered him the possibility to ties, with matters relating to children do both. On display are a series of oils, and youth receiving significant explo- code at checkout: pastels, watercolors, and ceramics ration. Working from interdisciplinary 6MONTHSPROMO that were inspired by his many years and transnational and perspectives, living in the region. Papaleo’s paint- this conference seeks to expand and ings have been on exhibit in muse- update knowledge concerning histori- ums and galleries across Europe and cal and contemporary childhood and the United States, and he has received youth in Italy and among the diaspora various international awards in Italy and former colonial sites. and America. Presently he is being represented by Ethan Coen at ECFA in www.telemater.org New York, and The Wohlfarth Galler- Download our ies in Washington D.C., and in Cape E' bello essere Cattolici Italiani in America: Cod, MA. In the past few years, he has iPhone app collaborated with the Royal College of facciamo comunita': è piu' bello insieme! Art in London and the University HDM www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 33 Dining Out RESTAURANTS+PIZZERIAS+WINE BARS
● ● THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF TONY AND MARISA MAY’S FLATIRON GEM SD26: The Rigor of Creativity
What’s Tony May’s secret? How does he manage to keep riding high on the wave of modern Italian haute cuisine? Originally from Torre del Greco (Naples) at twenty-six he set out to conquer America. And he did, founding half a dozen restaurants in New York. His last creation, SD26 recently turned five years old. Here Tony is flanked by his daughter Marisa, one of a handful of It’s been five years since we opened New York women to have the doors to SD26 and now we feel it’s successfully thrown important to to ensure that the legacy of themselves into the fine Italian cuisine lives on. restaurant industry.
by L. A. knit team, as creative as they are as the center of modern Italian Flanking Tony is his daughter scrupulous and determined. cuisine, this unforgettable Marisa, who, in recent years, has ●● For over four decades May, Five years ago, May embarked spot on 9 East 26th Street, with helped her father manage SD26 the paladin of fine dining, has on a new venture: SD26, a triple- views of the Flatiron Building, with style and expertise. Marisa worked to introduce diners level restaurant on Madison represents one of the greatest is one of a handful of New York to quality Italian cuisine. May Square Park North. Besides legacies in the Italian food women to have successfully surrounds himself with a close- winning immediate recognition industry outside of Italy. thrown themselves into the
NYC Life - Channel 25 Tony & Marisa on i-Italy | TV Saturdays, 11:30 PM Sundays, 1 :00 PM
An exciting event took place at SD26 with the launching of a brand new scholarship, in partnership with the James Beard Foundation: the “Tony May Scholarship for Italian Culinary Studies.” Our TV crew participated to the event and you can watch the report of the evening here, including Francine Segan’s interview with Tony and Marisa May.
34 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org Dining Out ➜ Restaurants+Pizzerias+Wine Bars restaurant industry. To her Hundreds of Wines father’s elegance, organization As for the wine list? Another and skill, she adds a feminine fine blend of past and present, touch, making her the perfect, the wines are listed on a table attentive padrona di casa. with a touchscreen, so you can In this boldly designed, explore the various reds, whites, extraordinarily warm locale roses, sparkling wines and sweet
designed by the late architect Adamczyck Iwona by Photo wines. There are hundreds of Massimo Vignelli and adorned labels on the wine list, which with artwork by Sheila Hicks, is continuously updated and Marisa welcomes guests with the includes recommendations perfect mix of warmth and tact. based on the season and the I’ll ask again. What’s Tony May’s menu. secret? The Tony May Scholarship Tradition and Innovation And the Mays have another A felicitous and rare combination feather in their cap to be proud of integrity. May has always had a of: this year the James Beard knack for choosing the right team Foundation launched the “Tony to create innovative food without May Scholarship for Italian slighting tradition. Moreover, as Culinary Studies.” attested to by his partnership So much has come to pass since with his daughter, he knows how Tony May, the first of eight to parcel out his knowledge so children (his father was a sea that younger generations can captain), departed Torre del carry on the torch. where he works happily with pasta alla “Chitarra” (homemade Greco, his birthplace abutting Continuity is key for May. It’s the other cooks. His tender, pasta with fresh tomato sauce & Naples. He was 26 years old exactly what he has done over welcoming smile makes you fino verde basil), or the soft egg- when he set out to conquer the years in all his restaurants, feel at home, even in this large yolk filled raviolo with truffle America. And his knowledge of where imagination, authenticity restaurant. And his artfully butter. But all the dishes are Italian hospitality, via the cucina, and freshness—hallmarks of artless dishes are new twists unforgettable. has clearly helped him conquer regional Italian cooking—have on old staples from across the American palates while also long reigned. entire boot of Italy, showing off Made in House bringing honor to Italy, even in the country’s range of cuisines. One curious feature of SD26 hard times. It certainly gives the A Special Chef We admit we’re at a loss when it is that everything is made in- lie to the old yarn—it’s hard not So who’s the chef of SD26? comes to recommending specific house, even the bread. We were to stifle a laugh writing this— Another of May’s secret dishes; they’re all special. If especially impressed by the about Neapolitans being creative weapons: Matteo Bergamini. The we were pressed to pick one, it rosette, rose-shaped rolls that to the point of genius yet lacking 35-year-old chef’s charm is on might be the eggplant caponata require a special machine to be rigor and exactness. That’s full display in the open kitchen, with pine nuts & raisins, or the made—a real find in New York! certainly not the case here. ●●
Letizia Airos e Francine Segan with Marisa May and chef Matteo Bergamini www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 35 Dining Out ➜ Restaurants+Pizzerias+Wine Bars
DiningDining OutOut SpecialSpecial Where Pasta Is the Queen
Pasta, the undisputed queen of Italian cuisine, is generally a simple dish, but also comes in all shapes and varieties. The restaurants listed below show us some of the wonderful things that can be done with pasta and its many sauces vary in taste, color and texture. As a general rule when choosing which type of pasta and sauce to serve together, simple sauces like pesto are ideal for long and thin strands like linguine or trenette while tomato-based and meat sauces combine well with thicker pastas like penne and rigatoni. But pasta leaves room for creativity in taste, texture, and color.
Bolognese version uses very finely chopped meat, while the Neapolitan version uses larger chunks of meat to be eaten separately. East Village Giano 126 E 7th Street % (212) 673-7200 ◗ www.gianonyc.com
cuisine authentic atmosphere casual price $S
● Giano is one of the few places in town where you can find a pasta dish served with colatura di alici.Ton- narelli con Colatura di Alici is dressed with the rare colatura (juice produced Iconic actor Alberto Sordi tackling an immense dish of spaghetti inAn American in Rome (1954). Sordi plays an Italian “Guido” who during the process of salting and cur- loves behaving like an American... Note the bottle of milk in place of wine: a stereotypical “American” habit. ing anchovies). Like it is in Italy, cola- tura is added to a sauce of extra virgin olive oil, parsley, breadcrumbs, and Upper Midtown Union garlic to dress homemade spaghetti. East Side West Square Simply delicious. If you’re not a fish lover try Tagliatelle Tirolesi served Brio Felidia Ribalta with speck, mushrooms, cream, and 137 E 61st Street 243 E 58th Street 48 E 12th Street Parmigiano. It will transport you to % (212) 980-2300 % (212) 758-1479 % (212) 777-7781 Tyrol. ◗ www.brionyc.com ◗ www.felidia-nyc.com ◗ www.ribaltapizzarestaurant.com cuisine classic cuisine creative cuisine neapolitan Cacio e Pepe atmosphere casually elegant atmosphere upscale atmosphere hip 182 2nd Avenue price $$ price $$$$ price $$ % (212) 505-5931 ◗ www.cacioepepe.com
● If the long, thin, flat noodles called ● For something different and ● Known as one of the best Neapoli- cuisine roman linguine (little tongues) in Italian is unique go to Felidia, and try Bian- tan pizzerias in town, Ribalta is also atmosphere casual your pasta of choice, Brio is your coneri alla Trapanese, black and an amazing restaurant whose pasta price $S destination. Founded in 1990 by white bavette (or ribbon) pasta with dishes prove our point. Something Massimo Scoditti, this Upper East calamari Trapanese pesto. ‘Pesto you cannot find anywhere: Penne al ● Named after the Roman special- Side culinary institution is known alla trapanese’ is a variation of the Ragù Napoletano, penne pasta with ty, this East Village eatery features for its high quality ingredients and pesto from Liguria introduced by the slowly cooked tomato ragù with pork all the Roman classics. First and unique ambiance with a touch of Genoese sailors stopping in the Sicil- and beef. Neapolitan ragu’ and Bo- foremost Tonnarelli Cacio e Pepe, Italianità. Customers favor Linguine ian port of Trapani. Traditional pesto, lognese sauce are both well-known homemade tonnarelli pasta tossed Nere Smeraldino, black ink linguine made with garlic and walnuts, is meat sauces. The main ingredients of in pecorino cheese and whole black served with bell peppers and shrimp enriched with local ingredients like Neapolitan ragu’ are soffritto (a mix- pepper. The ingredients are very in a tomato sauce and Linguine Inte- tomatoes and almonds, resulting in ture of finely chopped onions, garlic, simple yet nutritious—the dish was grali con Verdure, whole- wheat lin- a southern version also known as and celery) meat and tomato sauce. once a staple for the ancient Roman guine with assorted fresh vegetables, Pesto Siciliano or ‘pesto rosso’ (red A major difference between the two legionaries. The menu also features roasted garlic, olive oil, and sauce! pesto). ragus is how the meat is used: the Bucatini all’Amatriciana, thick, hol-
36 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org Dining Out ➜ Restaurants+Pizzerias+Wine Bars
low spaghetti with slowly cooked on- sprouts and Fresno chili, while veg- ions and guanciale (cured pork cheek) etarians should enjoy goat cheese in tomato sauce and Spaghetti alla ravioli with roasted beets and pis- Carbonara, spaghetti with guanciale, tachio. eggs, and black pepper. Amatriciana originates from the more basic reci- pe named gricia, prepared only with Tribeca cured pork cheek and grated pecorino Locanda Verde cheese. The invention of the first to- 377 Greenwich Street mato sauces transformed the dish %(212) 925-3797 into Amatriciana. As with many reci- ◗ www.locandaverdenyc.com pes, the origins of Carbonara and its cuisine creative name are obscure, but since the name atmosphere comfortable is derived from carbonaro (charcoal price $$$ burner), some believe the dish was first made as a hearty meal for Ital- ● “The Greenwich,” Robert DeNiro’s ian charcoal workers. TriBeCa hotel, houses the informal and cool Locanda Verde. Known for serving delicious food by award- Flatiron winning chef Andrew Carmellini I Trulli who is inspired by urban Italian cooking, at the locanda you can 122 E 27th Street %(212) 481-7372 find a pasta dish for every prefer- ◗ www.itrulli.com ence you might have. Those who enjoy the classics are going to love cuisine pugliese Pumpkin Tortelli with brown butter, atmosphere homey sage and amaretti cookies. This is a price $$$ recipe for a traditional filled pasta ● Trulli are rural buildings typical of Emilia-Romagna that varies lo- of the region of Puglia, made with cally as one travels the towns and stones (no mortar) and characterized cities along the Po River. Those by a conical roof . In 1994, the Mar- who prefer to try something differ- zovillas, inspired by these beautiful ent are bound to enjoy farro (spelt) constructions, opened ‘I Trulli Eno- spaghetti with mixed mushrooms teca and Ristorante’, which became and poached egg, which is simply an important reference point for fine creamy heaven! southern Italian dining in New York City. Dora Marzovilla still makes almost all pastas by hand, and the NoHo menu is a real tribute to the food of Quartino Bottega the region. The pasta section features Organica delicious orecchiette, ear-shaped 11 Bleecker Street pasta, served with a rabbit ragù and %(212) 529-5133 a specialty from Lecce, Ceci e Tria, nature dish of chef Valentino Marcat- ● Hail to the king of stuffed pasta! ◗ www.quartino.com fresh & fried pasta with chickpeas, tilii. Each big raviolo, which is about After working in his brothers’ bak- cuisine vegetarian fresh tomato and pecorino. the size of a tennis ball, welcomes a ery in San Giovanni Lupatoto, near atmosphere hip whole, soft egg yolk set inside a ricot- Verona, Giovanni started making price $$ SD26 ta-spinach filling. As you cut it open, tortellini by hand and personally 19 East 26th Street the yolk oozes out to mix with a pool making home deliveries. In 1962, as ● Quartino Bottega Organica is cu- %(212) 265-5959 of browned truffle butter and Parmi- the demand for freshly made pasta linary heaven for vegetarians in ◗ www.sd26ny.com giano. It’s nearly impossible to have a increased, he opened his own ‘pas- the city who love Italian specialties cuisine authentic more decadent pasta dish. The dish is tificio ‘ and soon devised machinery - good food, great atmosphere and atmosphere classy so amazing that Tony and Marisa May capable of making filled pasta . By nice service. The place is small, the price $$ put it on the menu of every restau- the 1980’s his products had crossed food is good, simple and their pasta rant they open, but the menu features regional boundaries and were be- is simply amazing. Something ev- ● “Uovo in Raviolo,” soft egg-filled many other delicious pastas. ing sold all over Italy. Currently, erybody is invited to try is Lasagne raviolo with truffled butter... that’s all not only is Giovanni Rana an “un- al pesto: whole-wheat lasagna with we have to say. Yes, this is the birth- challenged leader in the European potatoes in a pesto sauce. Although place of this inimitable pasta dish, Chelsea fresh pasta market,” but he has also lasagne are typically accompanied it was first brought to Tony May’s Giovanni Rana expanded his operations by open- with ragù, there are many alterna- legendary San Domenico as the sig- ing a factory in the United States. tive ways to experience the good- 75 9th Avenue %(212) 370-0975 Rana is growing and his Chelsea ness of this classic Italian dish... ◗ www.rananyc.com location in New York offers fresh and this one hails from Liguria. Download our pasta made daily with love. Among Lasagne al pesto make use of great iPhone app cuisine authentic the numerous choices offered here, fresh basil and can be eaten as a atmosphere rustic all mouthwatering, of notice are side dish to grilled meats or a main price $$$ pork sausage ravioli with Brussels dish.
www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 37 Dining Out ➜ Restaurants+Pizzerias+Wine Bars
like little canoes; the back of each di bufala, tomatoes and pesto make Brooklyn piece has very pronounced grooves both meat lovers and vegetarians Queens Williamsburg that catch all that sauce. equally happy. Middle Village PT Restaurant La Nonna Baci e Abbracci Uva Rara 331 Bedford Avenue 184 Kent Avenue 204 Grand Street 79-28 Metropolitan Avenue %(718) 388-7438 %(718) 302-1100 %(718) 599-6599 %(718) 894-0052 ◗ www.ptbrooklyn.com ◗ www.lanonnabk.com ◗ www.baciny.com ◗ www.uvararany.com cuisine contemporary cuisine classic cuisine southern cuisine authentic atmosphere friendly atmosphere homey atmosphere casual atmosphere rustic price $$ price $$ price $$ price $$
● For contemporary Italian cuisine, ● Isn’t it common knowledge that ● Rated high by Zagat for its”jovial” ser- ● A true gem for Middle Village, this a fresh, modern menu of homemade Italian grandmothers make the best vice and “spacious garden” as well as family run wine bar serves mouthwa- pastas and chef-inspired specials cooks? So for amazing, homey food for its inventive fare with a Neapolitan tering food. A specialty that attracts featuring an all-Italian wine list, run to La Nonna and it would be like twist, Baci e Abbracci is also famous for foodies from all boroughs is Gnocchi take the L train to Williamsburg eating in a grandmother’s kitchen. its Violette di Parma, a pasta dish that alla Romana. The traditional Roman and visit PT. The owners hail from Chef and owner Cono Morena has been featured on TV and in maga- recipe for gnocchi replaces the pota- Sardinia, so there are some Sardin- named his restaurant in honor of his zines for years now. Violette di Parma toes with semolina flour; milk, butter, ian specialties on the menu--notably grandma, a woman he had a strong are red beet and goat cheese gnocchi egg yolks and Parmigiano Reggiano among the pastas are Malloreddus 4 connection with and who taught with cheese sauce and wild arugula. complete the list of ingredients. The sapori, a shape that resembles gnoc- him all he knows. Since Cono hails The dish is visually ravishing and an disks of dough are then placed in a chetti, with tomato sauce and home- from the Naples, Neapolitan pastas explosion of flavor. In order to make pan and baked in the oven.Originally made sausages. Malloreddus look are the real specialty. Fusilli Napo- violette beets are pureed, then flour eaten primarily in Rome, where it re- letani alla Pescatora feature clams, is added and everything is mixed by mains a standard of family kitchens, shrimp, calamari, mussels, lobster, hand. The gnocchi dough is then cut, gnocchi alla Romana is now a dish Download our tomatoes and shaved bottarga, rolled out and sliced into half-inch piec- that is cherished throughout Italy iPhone app which seafood lovers will go crazy es that are quickly boiled. Once they are that can be served as either the first for, while Paccheroni alla Napole- done, they’re added to a sauce made of or second course of a meal, or, in large tana, featuring eggplant, mozzarella cream, goat cheese and arugula. quantities, as the main course.
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●● EATING ITALIAN NEIGHBORHOOD BY NEIGHBORHOOD Neapolitan, with a Modern Twist
Watch this interview “Gragnano is a sparkling red on i-ItalyTV wine and is really suitable for pizza for three reasons,” says Maurizio. “First of all, it’s a red wine, and as we know, pizza can be quite bold, especially when it’s topped with tomato and mozzarella. The second reason is the piedirosso grape used in Gragnano, which has very high levels of acidity that make a wine that is very refreshing. Then, a special refermentation makes for a wine that is quite brilliant, quite exuberant, quite vivacious. Pizza really needs something to pick it up because we are talking about grain and flour. I prefer these beverages with pizza rather than beer, which is the predominant Left to right: Maurizio de Rosa, Pasquale Cozzolino, Donatella Arpaia and Rosario Procino tradition, both in Italy and in America today.”” Bring Neapolitan pizza to a in New York and I was one of became popular in Naples different level. This is the those who started it. Today after World War II, thanks to Unique ingredients vocation behind Prova. the idea for Prova is, if you put the presence of American GIs, As for the pizza itself, the first crazy ingredients on pasta, why everyone used to drink wine ingredient is… the plate! Chef can’t you put them on pizza? with pizza. So the partners Pasquale Cozzolino explains: by M. T. We have developed our own decided to make another bold “See, I decided to create these dough, it’s fantastic, very light, choice: to go back to the old new dishes, but instead of plates, ●● This old pizzeria was going very digestible. We mix different wine-only tradition. I use the shell—the crust of the to be sold, but most of the kinds of flour, including a stone- And, as Maurizio de Rosa pizza. Then, I import everything people who were offering to mill flour from Italy, and we also reveals, the wine list is going from Italy, the best food on the purchase it had no interest in use bottled mineral water from to be entirely from Campania. market: cheese from small farms pizza nor for the oven built Italy to make it. And that’s the “It’s a very focused list, closely around Naples, microproducts on site and from scratch by base for all our experiments.” connected to the region’s from Mount Vesuvius including master oven-builder Stefano viticulture. We have the light pomodorini a piennolo, which are Ferrara from Naples. So a A wine only pizzeria white wine Asprinio, which grown in a very small quantity bold team assembled to try to Prova will also be the first has been made since the 1500s. and picked by hand and air- save it, including restaurateur Neapolitan pizzeria where wine And we also have the sparkling dried for at least six months. But and TV personality Donatella is a big component. Before the wines made in Campania, first we have special pizzas too, like Arpaia, Ribalta’s co-founders combination of beer and pizza of all the very popular Gragnano. sea urchin pizza, in which we Rosario Procino and Pasquale use the best sea urchins from Cozzolino, and Maurizio de Maine. I think it’s one of the Rosa. signature pizzas we have at this restaurant.” Pizza as masterpiece So what they are experimenting The logic behind Prova (Italian with at Prova is a next-level for test, experiment) is to use the pizza – a five-star pizza. “Yes we dough as the canvas on which are,” says Pasquale. “And to do the artist-pizzaiolo can draw all of this, of course, I needed a true masterpiece, using both a team. And my team leader is traditional and unheard-of pizza Giuseppe Manco, who is here ingredients. with me always. He was named As Rosario Procino explains to a champion pizza maker at the i-ItayTV crew: “We wanted the 2014 International Pizza to do something different, to Challenge in Las Vegas. My goal elevate the profile of pizza. A is to try to have a star for the best few years ago there was a huge service, the best food, the best explosion of Neapolitan pizza ingredients, and the best staff. ●●
www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 39 Dining In taking italy to your family table
● ● A CONVERSATION WITH LOU DIPALO ABOUT HIS NEW BOOK Everything Italians Know About Their Food
A book about the foods of passion with American in a neighborhood that Italy, and about how food consumers and at the same was changing, while not brings people together. It is time shares the story of the Di letting those changes Palo family, and their 100 years affect him or his Italian also a book that tries to in New York’s Little Italy. spirit. teach Americans the Italian After World War II, Lou approach to food: “In Family and neighborhood and his father decided The Di Palo family is one of it was time to increase America we always ate to the oldest in the neighborhood. the product line: from live, while Italians live to eat. In the 1970s and 1980s Little just simple cheese and They appreciate every facet of Italy underwent drastic other dairy products they their food, they want to know changes, and by 1990 Di Palo’s started to carry pasta, salami discovered how much he was almost the last Italian and soppressata. In the sixties didn’t know about Italian everything about it…” store left. Over the years it they bought an ‘affettatrice’ and foods. He soon made it his evolved from an immigrant started to slice cured meat the mission to learn everything he ‘latteria’ to a full Italian Italian style. Little by little the could about what they sold: “to by Bianca Soria store, from a traditional store begun to cater for the bring the right product to the Italian-American store, to an Italian Americans and became people, the way it’s supposed ●● Italian food has become ambitious Italian-Italian store. an anchor in the area. to taste”. part of the American diet. Lou Di Palo strived to make Then, when 40 years ago Lou He felt the need to know and The book shares this Italian his store ”a shining jewel” started travelling to Italy, he understand the foods better in order to be true to his customers, so that spending a lot of time in Italy, ‘breaking bread with the Italians’, became an essential step in the process. A life spent in its entirety surrounded by the foods of Italy: “When people ask me how many years I have been behind the counter, I usually tell them one year more than my age, because my mother was behind the counter from before I was born.”
Educating America A passion for food was what Di Palo wanted to share: “In America we always ate to live, while Italians live to eat, appreciating every facet of their food, wanting to know where the cheese was made, what milk was used, and about the soil and the grass the cows, sheep or goats fed off; they want to know about the type Lou DiPalo in his store at 200 Grand Street. of olives used for their olive oil
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Sam DiPalo in front of his Italian goods store The i-ItalyTV team meets Lou for this interview at Enoteca DiPalo. at the original location at 206 Grand Street. and why Prosciutto di Parma Palo’s food” and after reading between Grana Padano and finest example of the fusion of has this aroma and is different the book, di Palo says, Scorsese Parmigiano Reggiano; and the two cultures in the region. from San Daniele. “enjoyed it so much that suggests how to select good But what makes this book I know now, when I sell you a he was proud to give it as a olive oil. stand out are not just the piece of Gorgonzola, how it is Christmas present.” If Scorsese There is a whole chapter fine products presented, the supposed to taste; when you writing the forward was a dedicated to coffee, and Lou invaluable tips on how to slice the prosciutto you’re not honor, the biggest honor was learned about it from one of the select and store them, the just going to taste but you’ll that he wanted to give it as a best, Ernesto Illy. He unveils all family recipes and the mouth- smell if it’s Prosciutto di Parma gift. the secrets to identifying good watering photographs… It’s or San Daniele. When I sell you After introducing Little coffee beans and using them to the stories that come to life a piece of Parmigiano, you’d Italy and the history of the make a rich and intense cup of through them, the people and better believe you’re getting worlds we are introduced to the best, you won’t find better during the narration. People in Italy. Because I go there, I What makes this book stand out are whom Lou met along the way knock on the doors and I taste not just the fine products presented, and developed relationships the foods myself. I’m not in with: it’s that very Italianità the class of any big store. I’m a the invaluable tips on how to select and that adds that unique and simple family operated business store them, the family recipes and the unmistakable flavor to the that has the dedication for the mouth-watering photographs….It’s the already phenomenal food. foods of Italy.” And we can’t help but notice stories that come to life through them, the The future that almost every time we people and worlds we are introduced to Lou is certainly proud of what visit, Lou is working behind the during the narration. People that Lou met his family brought to this counter, and he tells us that country and he took it to the this is where he belongs. He along the way and developed relationships best level he could. Each Di loves it and is proud of it. He with: it’s that very Italianità that adds that Palo generation also took it to a wants the customers to have a unique and unmistakable flavor to the different level: they went from good shopping experience and his great-grandfather’s store does his best to achieve it. already phenomenal food. of 400 square ft to the current one of over 2000. But if you ask The book him about his future plans, Lou The book is informative and Di Palo family, the book coffee. has a clear-cut answer: “How an easy read. It’s about the highlights the diversity of The last chapter is about the much more can I grow in my products, but also about the Italian regions. It then region of Trentino-Alto Adige, lifetime? If our children want relationships, about how food presents, one by one, the and Lou presents it through to make it bigger or want to brings people together: it’s the Italian essentials: mozzarella, speck, the cured prosciutto expand, I’ll be supportive. But essence of Italian food. pecorino, ricotta, sea salt (sale that is air dried and salted in I’ve done enough. Just like my In his foreword to Di Palo’s marino), anchovies, pasta the southern Mediterranean father said when he handed me Guide to the Essential Foods of and prosciutto, “one of the fashion, but then also smoked the keys: I won’t do anymore.” Italy, Martin Scorsese notes gifts of God”. It delves into the following the Germanic The next step is up to the new that he “grew up eating Di similarities and differences tradition of the area. It’s the generation. ●● www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 41 Dining In ➜ Taking Italy to your family table
●● AT THE BASIS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET Olives and Olive Oil: A How-to
The centuries-old plant produce about 85% of the total. originating in the High-quality oil production Mediterranean has been is subject to fluctuations, and harvests are classified by succesfully exported to other non-fruiting years and fruit- parts of the world, but 90% of bearing years. 2014-2015 was a olive oil is still produced on non-fruiting year, especially for its home turf. Second only to Spain and Italy, due to weather conditions. That means that Spain in production is Italy. worldwide production of oil will 2014-2015 was a bad harvest drop to 17%. This could cause an year for both countries, due to increase in prices, a diffusion of “cut” oils on the market, and the weather conditions, causing a sale of oils falsely labeled 100% collapse in olive oil Italian. Therefore, consumers production worldwide. must be careful and know how Consumers should therefore to recognize real quality oil. be careful and learn how to Virgin vs. Extravirgin recognize quality oil. In the next issue of i-ItalyNY we will examine in greater detail the differences between by Dino Borri types of oil and production methods. For now, we’ll just ●● Originating in the Western explain the crucial difference Mediterranean, for millenia between virgin olive oil and the olive plant has been a part export olive cultivation to The Olive Plant extravirgin olive oil. Very often of this area’s human history France and Spain, as well The olive as we know it is people tend to consider oil and its great civilizations and as methods for producing Olea Europea. Although its obtained by squeezing olives religions. In the Bible the olive olive oil that have remained growth is generally linked to as good-quality oil, forgetting branch is the symbol of peace unchanged for centuries. The the temperature and humidity that there’s a difference between God and men after weather conditions there of the Mediterranean, it was between virgin and extravirgin the Flood, and for Christians helped smoothly integrate the succesfully exported to the oil. From the standpoint of today, it remains a symbol of olive tree into the landscape, Americas (especially in California production methods, the two peace, especially at Easter. The and olive oil found a variety and Argentina) and Oceania oils are indistinguishable. Koran calls the olive a “blessed of uses: not only for cooking (Australia and New Zealand). Even if the different harvesting tree” and oil a “combustible” and dressing food, but also However, 90% of oil is produced and extracting methods that provides fuel for lamps for cosmetic and medicinal on native soil, including Italy, contribute to determining the that give off “the light of God.” purposes, as a combustible, which is a national olive-growing quality of production, what In ancient Greek mythology, and as an essence burned hub. Only two out of twenty (greatly) distinguishes them is Athena and Poseidon compete during religious rites. Italian regions (Piedmont and a combination of chemical and to become the patron deity of Valle d’Aosta) do not produce organoleptic features. Athens. The goddess produces olives, while the majority of In order to earn the label “extra,” an olive tree out of a rock Italian oil comes, naturally, a virgin olive oil must have as a gift to the Athenians, from the South: Puglia, Calabria, a maximum acidity level of while Poseidon brings them a Basilicata, Sicily and Sardinia 0.8% (produced by oleic acid, new animal from the forest: not esterified by glycerol); the horse. Because to the non-extra virgin oil can have Athenians the horse represents an acidity level as high as 2%. war, they choose the olive tree, Furthermore, it is fundamental a new plant that would provide that the “extra” product passes them with oil, wood and light, organoleptic tests conducted and therefore abundance and by competent testing centers; peace. the most important, defining As the Greeks expanded their features are the fruity aroma domain, they brought the (produced by the olive’s olive plant to Southern Italy, volatility) and a spicy, slightly then Magna Grecia, where bitter taste (produced by the Romans would go on to polyphenols). ●●
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Where to find THEM Olives and Oil Production in the World and in Italy Eataly OLIVES IN THE WORLD OLIVES IN ITALY 200 5th Avenue ◗ www.eatalny.com Country n. Olives REGION Area of cultivation Oil production (hectares) Spain 180,000,000 Puglia 32% 38% Italy 150,000,000 Calabria 15% 19%
Greece 130,000,000 Sicily 13% 10%
Turkey 100,000,000 Campania 6% 8% DiPalo’s Tunisia 70,000,000 Others 34% 25% 200 Grand St. (at Mott St.) ◗ Portugal 50,000,000 www.dipaloselects.com
Morocco 35,000,000
Citarella 2135 Broadway 1313 Third Avenue 424 Ave of the Americas ◗ www.citarella.com
How to Prepare
Nonna Lina’s Eggplants in Oil Agata & Valentina 1505 First Avenue by Rosanna Di Michele 64 University Place ◗www.agatavalentina.com INGREDIENTS
10 small eggplants n 8 cups of white wine vinegar n 2 cups of water
n 3 garlic cloves n 3 carrots n 1 celery stalk n 1 red pepper n www.rosannacooking.it Coarse salt n 1 tablespoon of oregano n Approx. 2 cups of olive oil
INSTRUCTIONS
● Wash and dry 10 Italian eggplants, remove the green stem, and cut into half- Morton Williams inch slices. ● Sprinkle a baking dish with 908 2nd Avenue coarse salt, top with a slice of eggplant, 311 East 23rd Street and repeat this procedure until you have 1565 1st Avenue ◗www.mortonwilliams.com used all of the eggplants. Cover the dish evenly and set it down on a slight incline so that the water from the eggplants drains. ● Let it sit for a day. ● In a pot, bring the white wine
vinegar and water to a boil. ● Dunk in the eggplants and scald them for 2-3 minutes. ● Mince the garlic, cut the carrots and celery stalk into rounds, and Jerry’sGourmet finely chop the red pepper. ● Place all 410 South Dean Street of the veggies into a container. ● Add a Englewood, NJ ◗www.jerryshomemade.com tablespoon of oregano and extra virgin olive oil, stir, and let the veggies soak up the flavor for at least an hour. ● Place into glass jars and top with oil. ● Seal the jar. ● The product will keep for up to 2 years.
www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 43 Dining In ➜ Taking Italy to your family table
A favorite dish...... Paired with the right wine by Michele Scicolone by Charles Scicolone Tuscan Farro Tuscany’s Hidden Gem A Perfect Vegetable Soup Morellino di Scansano
● Tuscans are masters of l find it in NYC soup cookery and every town Heights Chateau 123 Atlantic Follow Michele Follow Charles throughout the region has its Ave, Brooklyn (718) 330-0963 n favorite recipe. Perfect for this at i-Italy.org Beacon Wine & Spirits 2120 at i-Italy.org time of year, this hearty soup Broadway (212) 877-0028 n is made with a variety of veg- etables and farro, an ancient form of wheat stirring often, that has been eat- l Serves 4 until the onion en in Tuscany for n 1 medium onion, chopped n is golden. Stir in centuries. Farro 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil the garlic. Cook can be purchased n 1 garlic clove, minced n 1 minute more. at most Italian 2 medium potatoes, peeled Add the pota- groceries, but if and chopped n 1 carrot, toes and farro to you can’t find it, peeled and chopped n 1 cup the pot and cook substitute barley, pearled farro (about 6 for 10 minutes. wheat berries or ounces) n 6 cups water n Stir in 6 cups spelt. Salt n 8 ounces kale or water and salt to These grains Tuscan kale, cut into 1/2 inch taste. Stir in the are very similar strips n 1 cup canned kale, tomatoes indeed and their tomatoes, chopped n Pinch of and crushed red use reflects slight crushed red pepper n 1/3 cup pepper. Bring regional differ- freshly grated pecorino the soup to a ences in Europe cheese simmer and ● Morellino di Scansano is minimum alcohol must be as to what is cook for 30 min- a red wine that does not get 12% for both. grown locally and eaten as utes or until the soup is thick the recognition it deserves. Vinification, aging and bottling farro. and the farro is tender. Taste Often overlooked because of must take place within the Served with good bread, a glass for seasoning. the popularity of other wines production zone. Because of of red wine and aged pecorino Sprinkle with the cheese and based on the Sangiovese grape the terroir and the location cheese from Tuscany, this serve hot. from Tuscany, Morellino di of the vineyards, the wine is meatless soup is ideal for a Scansano is a much better softer and rounder than wine chilly spring day. Recipe adapted from The Italian value for the money. from other parts of Tuscany. In a large pot, cook the onion in Vegetable Cookbook by Michele The production zone for this The characteristics of the the olive oil over medium heat, Scicolone. wine is the predominantly wine’s basic type are a ruby hilly area around the village red color with fruity notes of Scansano in the Maremma and light tannins. The regular region of coastal Tuscany is a “fresh” wine that can be between the Ombrone and released on the market in the Albegna Rivers. Altitude spring following its harvest. ranges from just a few The Riserva must be aged meters above sea level near for at least two years, one of Grosetto, to 550 meters in the which must be in wooden Collecchio zone. The Morellino barrels. di Scansano zone covers The Morellino di Scansano approximately 65,000 hectares Riserva has a deep red color of land in the southwest of tending towards garnet as the the province of Grosseto, the wine ages, a fruity aroma with southernmost area of Tuscany. hints of cherry, red fruit and There are about 1,500 hectares plums and a touch of spice of vineyards. and vanilla. The taste is dry Morellino di Scansano DOCG, and full-bodied. including the regular and the . Riserva, must be at least 85% For more about wine, go to For more information about cooking, go to www.MicheleScicolone.com Sangiovese and the natural charlesscicolone.wordpress.com.
44 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org From Italy with love!
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www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | June-July 2013 | i-Italy NY | 59
05_TOURISM-Torino?.indd 59 3/5/15 6:11 PM Ideas ❱❱ Style FASHION, DESIGN & MORE
The word is the most powerful instrument man ever invented to achieve happiness, and the images are our voice, our effort to make them more tangible.
Italian actress and director. She wanted us to make her outfit for the red carpet at Cannes,” the pair tells us, beaming. Next came their line of home décor products—their “Healing Candles” being the highlight— and accessories (their handbags ● ● Coreterno: PROVOCATIVE STILE FROM ROME TO NEW YORK come out next season). The candles are carefully crafted by hand using organic wax. They have a timeworn, vintage Fashion that Unnerves charm, with black-and-white labels bearing phrases about moods and frames of mind, A new urban wear and home The name, Coreterno, also calls refer to themselves as “animals because the couple “believes in décor brand attracting to mind the city of unequalled on stage.” They have always the immense beauty and salvific high-caliber artists like Asia beauty, and is the result of worked in fashion and art. They power of the word. There’s a merging together two words. believe in change, in rebirth, subtle magic in the latter, since Argento and Alessandro “Core” means heart in Roman which is exactly why Coreterno they have the power to change Cattelan, Coreterno’s dialect and fulcrum or nucleus is the creative product of their people’s moods.” The candles innovative line of “Dis. in English. “Eterno” is homage encounter. Their work should are sold by tons of retailers in to the proprietors’ Roman be looked at closely, grasped, Rome, although the couple has order” t-shirts, “Home character. “For us it stands held in one’s hands. They a website (www.coreterno.com) Décor” candles and for creativity and full-blooded combine an eighteenth-century where you can purchase items household accessories passion—the driving forces, Victorian heart with elements from all of their product lines: emerged from the minds of the linchpin behind the Italian of teenage slang, Rock symbols t-shirts, candles, pillows. spirit, which is limitless; in fact, and Punk icons. Francilla and Michelangelo Brancato and we want to export it out of our Michelangelo have long aspired Getting to New York Francilla Ronchi. country.” to create fashion that unnerves, You’re probably wondering Provocative style for a “to carve an aesthetic cliff where you can find them in New Starting in Rome against the sea of uniformity, York. For now they have made timeless brand. Their studio is located in an to make accessories, rock star appearances at flea markets eighteenth-century castle houses, philosophers’ closets, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, hidden among the modern serial killers’ sock drawers, to where the public ate them up; by Mila Tenaglia buildings of Rome that have make the world [their] stage.” they might just suit American sprung up around it. Here, the And that’s just what they’ve tastes even more. “For us, the ●● Francilla and Michelangelo young pair concocts its line of done. results were very positive. We thought up Coreterno while accessories. From the start their were pleased with the reviews touring the streets of Lower East passion was suckled by the Bringing Dis.Order of our products in the New York Side Manhattan a few years city’s legendary history, political The first step was to offer the Post. And on February 1-4, we ago. “It was a dream, an omen, squabbles and the beauty of its public a line of “Dis.Order” were at the Javits Center for now it’s a reality,” they say. ancient palazzos. Living in Rome t-shirts, which became an NYNOW, where we presented And yet Coreterno is Roman to “constantly reminds us that we instant social phenomenon, our complete collection of the core—refined and precious are the product of the work and sported by V.I.P.s from the music Healing Candles to the American as Italy’s capital city. It is, in dreams of all those who came and film industry, including J-Ax, market.” Well, we at i-Italy wish fact, headquartered in Rome, before us. We want to bring a Fedez, Emma Marrone, Arisa, this gutsy couple the best of on a marvelous old backstreet piece of that spirit to the frenetic Alessandro Cattelan and many luck and hope they’ll continue forgotten by time, an enclave of and, at times, too speedy New others. “One day we got a phone to thrive on their magical and creative and magical secrets. York.” The young couple love to call. It was Asia Argento, the dreamlike trip abroad. ●● www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 47 Ideas ➜ Style
Personal Shopper Italian Dreams of Spring
by Lucrezia Russo
For a comfortable, romantic, softly lit, playful and wry spring. The watchword is vintage. Italian stylists have come to us bearing gifts inspired by the world of dance and the splendors of childhood. Our recommendations for intimate apparel, on the other hand, lean toward the sexy and (obviously) vintage. For your own personal downtime, only trust designs wedded to fashion. As for your wrist, go romantic—without a shadow of a doubt. And for you first jog across the grass left behind by the snow? Below you’ll find some decidedly different shoes….
pop-culture with simple designs. And ❝1❞ you’ve got to admit it. In these clothes, ❝2❞ Vintage with a little it doesn’t matter what the weather is Wearing your heart on imagination your sleeve Lazzari like outside. So what if it’s raining? For you, the sun is always shining. Lazzari Bottega Veneta ◗ www.lazzarionline.com ◗ www.bottegaveneta.com has a long tradition of producing hand- ● Dark eyelash decorations, animal made, 100% Italian manufactured wear. and plant motifs, landscapes, exotic And its style may rest on volume, retro ● Bottega Veneta presents a collection fruit and tulle flamingos—how can cuts and vintage reminiscences, but its inspired by the body in motion, clothes you resist Lazzari’s imagination? The product hangs in the closets of real girls that you can easily slip on and off for designer joyfully blends youth and who wear their femininity lightly. a natural and relaxed look. Impressive
2
1 for their subtle colors and fluid & so- phisticated designs, all of the clothes are made with exquisite, body-hug- ging materials. The casual, laidback appearance bears infinite details, the imprint of their expert craftsmanship. “I was thinking of dance. Not of dance performances so much as of a dancer on her way to an audition,” explains Creative Director Tomas Maier. “The woman who has good posture, grace- ful moves and a dancer’s gait – that’s where I found my inspiration.” ❝3❞ Sophia’s Hour Dolce & Gabbana ◗ www.dolcegabbana.com
● A watch that looks like spring but works all year. Geometrical design and
48 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org Ideas ➜ Style
romantic nuance are the secret behind Dolce e Gabbana’s Sofia Watches. An evocative name for a new and elegant Designed for Living style: made with 18 karat gold and sap- phire glass with geometrical and sym- META, with Frau & Bottega Veneta metrical facets, the watch looks like a precious stone, suggestively reflecting natural light, and is available in five Bottega Veneta ● Born out of the collaboration colors (pink, sky blue, brown, black and ◗ www.bottegaveneta.com between Bottega Veneta and gray) with silk satin bracelets. Poltrona Frau, META Brisée is a contemporary interpretation of the 18th-century duchesse brisée. An armchair and stool to kick back in. Who wouldn’t be ❝4❞ tempted by a design as elegant as it is easy-going? Simple and Sexy An enormous amount of technical expertise goes into the La Perla manufacturing of these soft, full-grain leather items, which ◗ www.laperla.com bear no signs of stitching or screws. Drawn from organic lines and graceful curves, the items are designed for living – reading, ● Once again La Perla offers a collec- lounging around, hanging out – and represent a joint effort of tion of glamorously seductive wom- two companies whose philosophies complement each other en’s intimate apparel. Their garments seamlessly. are simple, sexy, a tad devilish and classy as ever. The inimitable brand is the most beloved by Italian women (and men), and a gift from La Perla is like the gift of a precious jewel: it lasts forever. To get an idea of what La Perla sees as vintage-inspired with a hint of modernity, check out their simple, white, sexy and chic intimate apparel. ❝5❞ Corsa con le stelle Miu Miu ◗ www.miumiu.com
● Tradition meets contemporary in this new essential accessory. The new Astro Running sneakers, designed by Miu Miu with all the experience of Prada, are known for their perfor- mance, sparkle, and craftsmanship. soft and flexible as is humanly pos- vation. The satin vamp is embroidered Detail and freshness combine to form sible. The rubber sole recycles some of by hand with sequins and crystals, and an innovative kind of shoe that is as Miu Miu’s details with a dash of inno- the collar is made of neoprene.
3 4 5
www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 49 Ideas ➜ Style
50 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org Ideas ➜ Style
● ● AT THE REINSTEN/ROSS GALLERY IN CHELSEA “For Her.” Gaetano Pesce’s Women
Meeting Gaetano Pesce at the and brooches are colorful, close to being reduced to mere obstacles and take joy in life.” opening of “For Her,” an innocent, and sensual, all at numbers. In some parts of the exhibit showcasing his the same time. Made with world that’s still the case. We As for his jewels, that felicitous urethane resin, the jewels must, as we go about our lives marriage of innocence and custom design jewelry. Jewels have a colored transparency every day, discover merits, sensuality, Pesce derives his crafted from urethane resin and fit the body like a work tastes, new traditions and inspiration from a special that speak to femininity and of art. “By its nature, resin is different cultures. I say that as source. “My daughter is the flexible and elastic,” he told us, an Italian born in an extremely test for me. If she – at eight diversity. Surrounded by “and it adapts to the body like heterogonous country that has years old – loves this type of women of all ages and a second layer of skin.” You given the world a vast plurality thing, then I have reached my ethnicities, the artist talks have to resist the urge to touch of high quality differences: in goal. Children love my work. them. the culinary arts, in design, The material recalls the feel about women, art, and its in fashion, to offer just some of a mother’s body, which is capacity of social critique. But who is “HER”? examples…” soft, warm, smooth to touch…” “Her is the star of our everyday Elsewhere he calls it “liquid.” lives. Her is half the world’s The argument for the merit population that is frequently of diversity burns brightly in “I use liquid materials, because by Letizia Airos made to suffer. This work him. Pesce also teaches at our day and age is liquid. is dedicated to the beauty the school of architecture in Its values rise and fall like of women, which is also an Paris, and he was there the day the waves. We have to use ●● For world famous materials that aren’t rigid, personality Gaetano Pesce, art because rigidity has just one has had and continues to have HER is the star of our everyday dimension, whereas elasticity a social, even political, calling. lives. Her is half the world’s has many, depending on how Not infrequently his art is a population that is frequently made to we manipulate the materials. means to comment on current Elasticity is close to liquidity.” events, call awareness to what suffer. This work is dedicated to the Listening to Pesce talk, you is happening in the world, beauty of women, which is also an can grasp why his works and convey a message. He interior beauty. To women, who are emote sensuality. “Femininity frequently uses it to provoke a is liquid; man is rigid, more response, to shake things up, ‘different’ where diversity is a resource; static, still. I have the feeling and his polemical creations and who are ‘liquid’ and sensual, yet that today, in the 21st century, mince no words—without also effective. Women preside over the the presence of man in history saying peep. Last year we spoke denotes weakness. If I think of with him in his Soho studio; future. the governments in the world this time around we met him run by what we still call the at the Reinsten/Ross Gallery “stronger sex,” I think of worn in Chelsea, at the opening interior beauty. Working for Islamic extremists tragically out, frequently ineffective and of “For Her,” a new exhibit them amazes me. They need attacked the satiric newspaper dishonest governments. With showcasing his custom design our attention and loyalty.” Charlie Hebdo. “I was being women it wouldn’t be that jewelry, where the artist was Pesce subtly infuses with his interviewed on the street…at way. There would be more surrounded by women of all politics even something as a certain point, the city was altruism, a greater sense of ages and ethnicities. You didn’t seemingly fatuous as a jewel. in turmoil. It was atrocious. service.” need X-ray vision to notice the In fact, his work has always It was an attack not only on artist’s healthy empathy with made daring social critiques. freedom of expression and So are these jewels homage to the fairer sex. His 1997 Chador lamp, for diversity, but on culture as today’s women? example, is modeled after a we understand it today, that “Yes, to women, who are Seated in an armchair of his woman “shamefully covered which advances the individual: ‘different’ where diversity is a own design, tellingly called up” by a veil, hence the lamp’s medicine, communication, resource; and who are ‘liquid’ “Nobody Is Perfect,” Pesce name. Each tapered and flared travels…” And yet Pesce’s art and sensual, yet also effective. answered our questions. On leg of the lamp rests on a base is somehow animated by a Women preside over the the walls around us hung his in the shape of a woman’s desire for redemption, a sign future.” ●● jewels. Despite its no-frills body. of his indomitable optimism. design, the exhibit packed “One of our functions as a wallop. In fact, the artist Does covering up women creators is to change the Watch this designed cardboard hands suggest fear of diversity? situation, situations which can and necks to give his jewels a “Diversity must be looked at often be difficult. The message interview on three-dimensional effect. His as a great quality. Especially in I try to get across is positive. i-ItalyTV bracelets, necklaces, rings, this day and age, when we are We have to overcome the www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 51 THE MOST INNOVATIVE ITALIAN SCHOOL IN NEW YORK CITY Learn to speak Italian! Parliamo Italiano offers: • Small class sizes • Original materials • Native Italian teachers • 30 years of experience • 5 week workshops • Private lessons
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● ● A STUDY REVEALS THE ROLE OF SPORT IN THE MAKING OF ITALIAN AMERICA Italian Signs in American Sports
Sport and the Shaping of Italian American Identity Gerald R. Gem Syracuse University Press ➤ pages 312 ➤ $ 29.23
provides a wealth of positive representations of Americans of Italian descent, just imagine what an in-depth study can do. Gems, a professor of Health and Physical Education at North Central College in Naperville, IL, digs deep into American sociological and cultural history to help us understand the role that ethnicity plays in the Through participation and development of an individual’s excellence in American success in sports. Through thorough readings of the many sports, Italian immigrants studies that preceded his, Gems maintained ethnic identity gleans pertinent information and enabled it to change as that provides rich insights into the Italian American presence in they moved from Italians to American sports—something he Italian immigration to the United Americans. In the process sees both as ways of maintaining States, and then a sociological they fashioned new ethnic identity and enabling it explanation of the movement to change as immigrants move of working class Italians from American identities while from Italians to Americans. sports, fashioned new American urban and rural centers of initial preserving older, useful Beginning with what he sees as identities while preserving older, settlement to the suburban aspects of Italianitá. a lack of national identity, due to useful aspects of Italianitá. This middle class. His work on race the timing of mass emigration is the key to understanding the tackles the difficult questions from Italy, Gems builds a evolution of Italian America. of the role whiteness plays in by Fred Gardaphe strong case for explaining how Gems uses many sources from a shaping American identities. Italians, through participation variety of scholarly disciplines to There are no pictures, as one ●● Quite often we take our and excellence in American present first, a cultural study of would expect in a book that sports heroes to be individuals, at best, symbolically connected to the racial and ethnic groups The first generation of immigrants held primary allegiance they come from. But in Gerald to family and Paesani rather than to any national state. R. Gems’ new study, Sport and Racialized as nonwhites, exploited and oppressed, they had to the Shaping of Italian American Identity, the impact of ethnic overcome negative stereotypes and nativist attitudes. They had culture helps us to see just what to contend with a new language, divergent values, and labor helped to produce thousands of sports heroes from the Italian within an industrial economy. Their children, greatly influenced American Community. From Joe by Americanization processes and with no memories of an an - DiMaggio to Joe Montana, Donna cestral homeland, adopted and adapted new lifestyles and new Caponi to Marylou Retton, the efforts of Italian immigrants identities of liminal existence, living within two cultures as and their descendants have Italian Americans. Their leisure lives and their sporting prac - shaped the history of American sport. If a casual glance at sports tices moved them toward a new ideology as well as different history in the United States concepts of masculinity and femininity. (Gerald R. Gems) www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 53 Ideas ➜ Bookshelf deals with some of America’s ● ● Four stories of a city at a time when the mafia was boss most iconic figures. Everything is presented in words that explain the various ways that sports shaped Italian Americans and how they, in turn, reshaped Living (and Loving) in America. “Italian successes not only developed an ethnic pride and a great national Palermo in the Seventies identity,” he writes, “but head- to-head competition offered the opportunity to dispel notions of physical inferiority and gain a measure of retribution for ethnic slurs and insults that accompanied the stereotypes of Italians.” Finally, we have, in one place, the source of a great deal of ethnic pride. Gems balances the highs and the lows of sports history by not avoiding the shame that accompanied some aspects of assimilation that often appear through reverse racism, created in part by historical amnesia and ignorance of the immigrant past. The same Italians who were discriminated against on the The Four Corners playing field, sometimes turned of Palermo into racists themselves. Whether Giuseppe Di Piazza it was the individuals who (trans. by Antony Shugaar) expressed their racism as a way Other Press of belonging to the mainstream ➤ pages 240 ➤ $ 11.99 majority, or the African-American and Italian-American groups that fought over figures such by Letizia Airos as Franco Harris, the Italian American presence in sports and ●● Giuseppe di Piazza, our fanatic spectatorship has become author, is a journalist for a microcosm of what’s gone right Corriere della Sera. He lives in and wrong in the United States. Milano but remains a son of Taking on the world of sports Palermo: he was born, raised, as a whole, Gems’ study adds schooled and started his Above: Giuseppe di Piazza. depth to previous books such as career in the city to which he’s Rigt: the Italian edition of the Lawrence Baldassaro’s “Beyond dedicated his novel. To read this book I quattro canti di Palermo. DiMaggio: Italian Americans book is to feel his almost all- in Baseball,” and the Wikipedia consuming love for the place. compilation of Italian Americans The city he describes is the one and sex. Even amid the terrible in boxing, and transcends Nick he has lived in during the 1980s, cruelty surrounding him. Manzello’s biographical study, when a kind of undeclared war Di Piazza’s book is clearly in “Legacy of the Gladiators: Italian in the streets claimed the lives part autobiographical, telling as Americans in Sports,” to present of many and touched the lives it does the story of a generation a rich and detailed study worthy of all Palermitani, day after day. that grew up in the violent of attention by scholars and The book is made of four stories streets of Palermo, while still everyday sports fans alike. ●● that unfold against a backdrop fighting to dream of something years. This was the start of my of all things “mafiose.” At the better—against all odds. career, at the end of the 70’s and Gerald R. Gems has previously published heart of them all is a young, beginning of the 80’s. But it’s The Athletic Crusade: Sport and deeply dedicated investigative The four corners of Palermo … also fiction because all of this American Cultural Imperialism; For reporter working through the a novel that crosses public and becomes imaginative narration, Pride, Profit, and Patriarchy: Football dangers of mafia wars that for private, I would say… a novel of adventure, love, and and the Incorporation of American more than ten years would be It’s a novel that I have also death. Cultural Values; Windy City Wars: Labor, Leisure, and Sport in the not just Sicily’s only story—but defined as ‘faction’, a mixture Making of Chicago; and is editor and would also be Italy’s. And the of fact and fiction. Fact because Can we outline this Palermo in compiler of Sports in North America: A only means of defense at the it recounts many details of my a few words? Documentary History, Volume 5, 1880- protagonist’s disposal are those personal life: I was a journalist This novel is set in a very 1900. that come with youth: love who covered the mafia for many dramatic Palermo, which at
54 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org Ideas ➜ Bookshelf the time saw horrible wars being fought within the mafia In those itself and between the mafia and the State. The Corleonesi, years, along headed by Toto’ Riina, took with other col- control of the international drug leagues I was in trafficking from older mafia families. This war ended up charge of covering crushing the State, culminating the mafia massa- in the infamous assassination cres in Palermo. of General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa that shook the Our days were conscience of all Italians. filled with dead The main character is a young reporter, quite autobiographical bodies, so at night indeed. For young people in we would take Palermo, it was difficult then refuge in a private to strike a balance. Along with other colleagues I was in charge world that had to of covering the mafia massacres. compensate for Our days were filled with dead these tragedies. bodies, so at night we would take refuge in a private world that had to compensate for these tragedies.
This is a novel with one main character but divided in four stories. And behind each story there’s a woman... Why? many of whom lost their lives Yes. The title “The four corners during that time, and I decided of Palermo,” refers to the main to do it by mixing, as mentioned intersection of the old Arab city, earlier, fact and fiction. A mix of but it also means four songs reality and imagination, but with of sorrow (the word used for a solid kernel of truth. ‘corners’ in the original title, is ‘canti’, which in Italian means My last question: why are the both corners and songs). My two book covers so different in protagonist goes through these the Italian and the American four stories with the naiveté versions? of a twenty year-old who puts The first one, for the Italian heart and soul into his job as a edition, I designed myself. The reporter. And in these stories image is by Ferdinando Scianna, four women play the leading one of the greatest Italian characters, quite different from photographers. It portrays the each other… one older, one marvelous model Marpessa, in younger, a young girlfriend… 1984 I think… I wanted to give Women play a salvific role here, the novel a very romantic and because that’s the role they’ve feminine feel. For the American always had in my life. Women version, my publisher Judith are the cornerstones of my Gurewich engaged a fantastic thoughts and in my book they graphic artist from New York, always reflect the truth, each of Kathleen DiGrado (she’s half them in her own way. Sicilian and half Japanese!) who came up with this synthesis, How important do you think it which I find very appealing. It’s is to illustrate this period, from an emotional novel, because it your specific point of view, to talks about crime and the sacred, younger generations? both of which reflect the core of When I talk to those born in that Sicily. ●● period, the beginning of the 80’s, they have no idea what Italy, and more specifically Sicily, was Watch this like at the time. How terrible it interview on was. I wanted to pay tribute to In this page: unconventional images of Palermo, by Giorgio Di Fede. a whole generation of friends, i-ItalyTV Courtesy of the photographer. colleagues, and honest people, www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 55 Ideas ➜ Bookshelf
Tweeting Da Vinci The Last Man Standing Ann Pizzorusso Davide Longo Da Vinci Press MacLehose Press ➤ pages 244 ➤ $ 36.98 Italy’s New Art Generation ➤ pages 352 ➤ $ 20.54 An Atlas of Contemporary Art BOOK ● Ann Piz- BOOK ● This zorusso’s collec- novel follows tion of essays in- Terrazza: Artists, ● The outcome of two years of work Leonardo, who, cludes an Stories, Places in Italy commissioned by the Quadriennale after his life falls abundance of illus- in the 2000s di Roma, the Italian state institution apart from an il- trations that fol- Laura Barreca, Andrea entrusted with the promotion of Ital- licit affair, a nas- lows Italy’s chang- Lissoni, Luca Lo Pinto e ian contemporary art, this timely ty divorce, and ing geology from Costanza Paissan. book has no equals. It presents the new surprising Pangaea to modern Marsilio most popular contemporary art in It- responsibilities, ➤ pages 464 ➤ $ 40.00 times, affecting history, art, religion, aly from 2000 to 2012, examining the is thrown into a literature, medicine and overall Italian major developments that influenced post-apocalyptic world set in Italy. culture. Throughout,Pizzorusso in- Italian artists in the past decade. A Already labeled by GQ as “the most sightfully interweaves the most im- broad range of questions are tack- talented and intense Italian novelist portant aspects of Italian cultural his- led with: Which spaces generated of his generation,” Longo manages tory, using geology as her guide, the most creative energy from 2000 to create a realistic alternate world quoting central figures from Pliny the onward? How have artists’ train- where his main character is forced Elder to contemporary astrophysicists. ing and recognition changed in to face his past and pave a way for The result is an information-packed recent years? Who is the audience a future. The book was presented at adventure through Italian history, for contemporary Italian art? What the Austrian Culture Forum in New from Leonardo to today. production formulas have proven to York in December 2014, as a part of a be most effective for Italian artists? greater series, “New Literature from Una nave in una foresta Which group shows have succeeded Europe 2014 – Crossing Borders: Eu- Subsonica in putting forward the most interest- rope Through The Lens of Time.” Universal Music ing and innovative positions? How ➤ $ 10.99 has information and communication Writing Fashion in Early- changed when it comes to talking and writing about contemporary art Modern Italy From MUSIC ● The new in Italy? Sprezzatura to Satire offering from a Through images, the first part of the book (“Histories, places”) follows Eugenia Paulicelli band that for fif- the artistic culture in Italy, depicting more than 150 institutions, spaces, Ashgate Publishing ➤ ➤ teen years has and associations that affect contemporary visual culture in Italy. The pages 261 $ 104.45 succeeded in cap- second part (“Artists”) then analyzes sixty artists and their works that tivating a growing have been a major contribution or reflection of this artistic development. BOOK ● Eugenia fan base with its musical experi- The first atlas of contemporary art in Italy after the year 2000,Terrazza Paulicelli exam- ments. This latest album is, as al- includes texts by four new-generation curators: Laura Barreca, an art ines the clothing ways, a unique and original blend critic and curator for the MAXXI (Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI and fashion of of electronic, club, dance, and rock. secolo, in Rome); Andrea Lissoni, International Art Curator at Tate Mod- the 16th and 17th ern in London and Curator at HangarBicocca in Milan; Luca Lo Pinto, a centuries, specifi- Alla fine del giorno curator in Rome; and Costanza Paissan, a Contemporary Art Curator for cally through the Zero Assoluto lens of Italian lit- Universal Music erature. The book ➤ $ 31.59 explains how fashions affected per- sonal and political style in the larger MUSIC ● Mat- Italian culture, looks into the major teo Maffucci and effects literature had on the history of Thomas De Gas- Italian style, and reveals how this his- peri have made tory leaks into Italian style today. a thoroughly modern that also L’abitudine di tornare showcases the acoustic and elec- Carmen Consoli tronic touches that, across fifteen Universal Music ➤ years, have marked Zero Assoluto’s $ 31.99 immediately recognizable sound. It’s an album that draws creatively music ● The Sicil- on the past while moving ahead to ian singer-song- the future. writer is back from Above: Roberto Cuoghi, maternity leave Belinda, 2013 with her first al- bum in five years. Download our Right: Anna Franceschini, It’s a return to her musical roots, but iPhone app A Siberian Girl, 2012 it’s also an album filled with finely- crafted songs that are at once wise, fresh, and tinged with irony.
56 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org Ideas ➜ Bookshelf
My Mother-in-Law Drinks dience is. It’s hard to believe that Diego De Silva this very real, very talented nun was Europa Editions once dismissed as a kind of public- ➤ pages 368 ➤ $ 17.00 ITALIAN JAZZ ity stunt. No more. The charismatic Sicilian-born singer is a storm of The Primacy of the Voice Book ● This sequel musical artistry. Her new album is to I Hadn’t Under- highlighted by a very personal ver- stood again presents sion of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin.” Vincenzio Malinco- . nico, the Neapoli- Ardo tan lawyer whose Roberto Calasso midlife crisis paral- Farrar, Straus and Giroux ➤ ➤ lels no other. In this pages 432 $ 25.37 novel, a computer engineer kidnaps a Neapolitan mafia boss whom he Book ● This book blames for the accidental death of explores the ancient his son. This computer engineer con- texts referred to as ducts a tragicomic reality television the ”Vedas.“The show in which he conducts a trial, Vedic people lived Tony Bennett listing the many crimes committed over three thou- by the accused, sentencing him and sand years ago in executing him before a nationwide northern India but t by Enzo Capua audience. Here, it is Malinconcico’s left behind few objects or even ruins. job to reconcile the conflict before it Their only artifacts are these texts, ● Apparently the first form of verbal communication between human be- is too late. filled with verses and formulas, which ings closely approximated what we might define as a “song,” i.e., the verbal suggest a deeper and more daring utterance of sounds bound together by a communicative, or emotional, Stone Walls understanding of life. Calasso writes structure. In short, our ancestors talked to one another by using sounds Gil Fagiani in his book, “If the Vedic people had formed by a logic dictated by their feelings or needs at a given time. It’s Bordighera Press been asked why they did not build no coincidence that our voice is known as the “first instrument,” the first ➤ ➤ pages 126 $ 13.30 cities, they could have replied: we did means of emitting sounds that were elaborate and pleasing (or displeasing, not seek power, but rapture.” With at- depending on the case). BOOK ● Fagiani’s s tention to detail, Calasso manages In jazz, the primacy of vocals has come in waves, such as the ’20s and ’30s, collection of poetry to write this volume from a modern the period commonly known as “The Jazz Age,” when the genre reached is a glimpse at ad- perspective but with acute insight its popular peak and so many songs that we now call standards, or ever- olescence through into the ancient world. greens, were born—songs so beautiful that they’ll last forever. The strong the perception of appeal to use the voice as an instrument in jazz music has enjoyed a re- an Italian Ameri- Vino, I Love You cent revival, ever since the ’90s, roughly. Even singers who previously had can boy growing Oscar Farinetti and Shigeru nothing to do with jazz, from Rod Stewart to Lady Gaga, are now looking up in a 1950s Con- Hayashi to build upon that repertoire. The fact is, if it has a pleasant timber, if it’s necticut suburb in Rizzoli beautiful and persuasive, if it’s capable of touching the most intimate cords ➤ ➤ the first generation after the war. pages 240 $ 22.76 of our souls, the voice wields a power unlike any other instrument. Why? These tragic and bitter poems, such It’s simple: there is no intermediary between the song and us; no physical as “Class Struggle in the Connecticut BOOK ● One of object is needed. Not a trumpet nor a piano nor a set of drums. There’s Countryside” and “Kiddie Rides,” por- Italy’s greatest only the air that transmits vibrations, and vibrations translate into inner tray the voice of a child, whose youth entrepreneurs, Os- feelings. Immediately. How many times, listening to a singer, have we sud- was stained with vehement memo- car Farinetti visits denly shouted, “That’s Frank Sinatra! That’s Barbara Streisand! That’s Ella ries, creating a powerful collection twelve of the most Fitzgerald!” The tone of their voices is so expressive and recognizable that of poetry that perfectly captures the important wine it becomes as familiar to us as the voice of our parents or friends. Indeed, paradox of childhood and family. producers in Italy. we hunt them down when we need them, when, deep down in our soul, Written with exceptional tenderness, Traveling from we need someone who can reconcile us to life when we’re depressed or this book of poetry captures this Ital- north to south, he raise our spirits even further when we’re happy. Singing is a part of us; we ian American’s life growing up in a stops to experience the most pres- can’t live without it. And thank God! world of violence he was forced to tigious of Italian wineries. Accom- However, unlike the grand tradition of opera, Italian jazz has produced next understand. panying him on this journey is one to no major singers. Often there have been pale imitators of American sing- of the world’s most widely respect- ers, but rarely have there been any stars. It may be a language barrier; jazz Sister Cristina ed sommeliers, Shigeru Hayashi. is Anglo-Saxon at heart, and therefore differs vastly from the scansion of Sister Cristina Throughout their wine voyage, Latinate languages. Or maybe it’s something else. Whatever the case, today Universal Music they attempt to find the most sus- we can count ourselves lucky to have a major Italian jazz singer in America, ➤ $ 20.47 tainable winery, one which is both Roberta Gambarini, who has earned her just deserts. And we have at least economically sustainable but en- one other extraordinarily talented singer residing in Italy: Maria Pia De Vito. music ● Anyone vironmentally sound and ethically As for the men? Unfortunately, there haven’t been many. We must content who’s seen hjr correct as well. Among the produc- ourselves with Frank Sinatra, who came from Italian stock, and Anthony perform on Ital- ers encountered in the volume are Dominick Benedetto, who continues to send a shiver down our spines at the ian TV knows how Gaja, Antinori, Incisa della Roc- ripe old age of 88. The son of Italian immigrants, he also goes by the name wildly popular chetta, Gravner, Charrere, Rinaldi, Tony Bennett. Whatever the case may be, song is in our blood! Sister Cristina Massa, Allegrini, Lungarotti, Bucci, is—and how adoring her large au- Planeta, and Rallo. www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 57 orologio 2014_I-Italy.indd 1 19/09/14 17:46 Tourism ❱❱ Cilento Are you going to Italy SOON?
●● tHE CILENTO AND VALLO DI DIANO NATIONAL PARK, A UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE Gateway to the True Mezzogiorno
United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization
Padula - Certosa of San Lorenzo
Rivers, mountains, beaches Palinuro Strand - Marinella and a sea teeming with fish. This UNESCO World Heritage Site starts at the temples and ancient Greek ruins of Paestum and comprises eighty towns and villages, sixty miles of coast, the tallest mountains and densest forests in the region, as well as dozens of vineyards, wine cellars and farming businesses that Felitto - Gole del Calore produce exquisite food. byVirginia Di Falco *
●● Cilento is a marvelous region, much of it still wild, covering roughly 1000 square miles south of Salerno. A large swatch of the territory is protected by the National Park, which extends from Monte Cervato (1900 m) to the caves of Palinuro and from the Velia acropoli—home of the Eleatic school—to the Sapri coast. This is the gateway to the true mezzogiorno. No wonder the Romans, who knew a thing * Noted Italian food and travel blogger Virginia Di Falco is a regular contributor of i-Italy. Follow her at www.lucianopignataro.it www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 59 Tourism ➜ Cilento
or two about administrative A Greek temple in Paestum subdivisions, drew the border between Campania and Lucania at the Sele River. The sensation of crossing an ancient border remains vivid and palpable even to first time visitors. Leaving behind the congestion of Naples, you face the great wide open: olive mills, rivers, mountains, beaches and a sea teeming with fish. The temples of Paestum and ancient Greek ruins have become the entrance to the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Comprising eighty comuni, a hundred kilometers of coast, the tallest mountains and densest forests in the region, the park is one of the largest protected areas in Italy. Not only does it contain hiking trails and greenery, but also many miles mozzarella, Bufala yogurt and of archaeological excavations; gelato, Paestum artichokes, thousand-year old churches sheep’s-milk cheese, white with perfectly preserved bell figs and extra virgin olive oil. towers, crypts and frescoes; Indeed, this is one of the liveliest dozens of historic towns dating areas of agricultural production back to the Middle Ages; and in Southern Italy. Besides ancient monasteries and castles. successful wines, olive oils, In recent years, people have mozzarella di bufala and figs, flocked to Cilento to visit its the area boasts about 200 eco- vineyards, wine cellars and friendly agriturismi dedicated farming businesses that produce to preserving the biodiversity of exquisite food, including Cilento. ● ●
San Marco di Castellabate
60 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org Tourism ➜ Cilento
The kitchen of the Certosa Home to the Mediterranean Diet di San Lorenzo in Padula. Founded in 1306 this It’s been that way for centuries... monastery is the biggest in Italy. ● ● Inspired by the nutritional people, ages 40 to 59, in seven values and cuisine of countries countries around the world. To around the Mediterranean pursue his study and prove the Sea, the Mediterranean Diet, longevity of people who keep recently named a World a Mediterranean Diet, Keys Intangible Cultural Heritage by settled in Cilento, where he UNESCO, was born in Cilento. lived for over 40 years. A diet Yet it was the American Ancel of extra-virgin olive oil, pasta, Keys (1904-2004), scientist and bread made with different author of the book Eat Well and kinds of flour, tomatoes, olives Stay Well, the Mediterranean and vegetables is exactly what Way, who first noticed the you will find in the homes extremely low level of coronary of Cilento. It’s been that way disease among the inhabitants for centuries. Vegetarians of Crete, despite the high rate have nothing to fear from the of consumption of vegetable trattorias or small countryside fats from olive oil. Keys restaurants there. Traditional hypothesized that his findings recipes, like eggplant with could be attributed to the type sheep’s-milk cheese, peppers of nutrition in that geographic stuffed with breadcrumbs, leafy locale. Keys’ observation greens cooked with potatoes, paved the way for the famous and fried zucchini blossoms, “Seven Countries Study,” which are nearly all made with they are served throughout culture is simple—because compared the diets of 12,000 vegetarian ingredients. And Cilento, whose gastronomic “poor.” ● ●
The New Slow Food “Presidia” Casalbuono Beans
For almost 20 years, Slow Food has sought to protect food products threatened with extinction. Casalbuono beans are the latest product in Cilento to be safeguarded. Originally an alluvial plain, the small village’s terrain is lapped by the crystal waters of the Calore River. The terrain has, in fact, always been a great site for cultivating this extraordinary product. Today it is known as the place for bean production. Another aspect that contributes to the quality of farming is the town’s hilly locale (660 meters above sea level), which rarely gets warmer than 90 degrees during the summer. Nowadays Casalbuono cultivates seven varieties of beans (some bush, others pole). Among the most interesting are the “Cannellino,” the most common and widely known; the “Tabaccante,” which has a round shape, small size and white hue; and the “Sant’Antere,” a pole bean that has a slightly curved pod with reddish purple streaks. There is also a bean named after Saint Pasquale, with kidney-shaped seeds and a beige color with dark, blackish spots. Finally, there is “Munaciedd,” a climbing plant that can grow considerably tall. It has a large heart-shaped leaf and a white flower. The bean has been the primary source of protein for whole generations, seeing as, for many years, most people only ate meat on Sundays. That’s why the bean was rechristened “the poor man’s meat.” Casalbuono
www.i-Italy.org www.i-ItalyNY.com | March-April 2015 | i-Italy ny | 61 Tourism ➜ Cilento
Tips: Where to Stay (and Eat) in Cilento and Vallo di Diano Choose small family-run agriturismi that produce their own specialties
hanks to its long history and ample size, Cilento’s Tculinary tradition is vast. It ranges from the sea to the summit, from anchovies to bean soups, en- compassing the entire repertoire of classic Southern Apennine cuisine. For almost twenty years in Cilento, a tourism industry has been growing, allowing visi- tors to tour agricultural holdings—or farming busi- nesses—to learn about farming practices and taste the goods.
Agriturismo Corbella his agriturismo is immersed Località Viscigline Val Corbella, Tin the proud Mediterranean Cicerale (Salerno) wilderness known as Cicerale, % +39 0974 834511 an ancient medieval town situ- ◗ agriturismocorbella.it ated atop a small hill facing the valley of the Alento River. The cook, Giovanna Voria, prepares dozens of dishes passed down to her from her grandmother. She also bakes pies and biscotti for breakfast. Corbella has six guest rooms.
I Moresani Moresani is a family-run or- Località I Moresani, Casal Velino I ganic farming business lo- (Salerno) cated just a few miles from the +39 0974 902086 % sea in Casal Velino. Get in touch ◗ agriturismoimoresani.com with nature—and the animal kingdom—for an unforgettable and relaxing vacation in the heart of Cilento. The agriturismo or- ganizes splendid horseback riding, hiking and mountain biking excursions, as well as cooking classes. They produce their own extra-virgin olive oil, sheep’s-milk cheese, vegetable preserves, cured meat, and jam.
Fattoria Alvaneta small farm right in the mid- Contrada Pantagnoni, Padula A dle of Vallo di Diano, Alva- (Salerno) neta has five very comfortable +39 0975 77139 % bedrooms and a small restau- ◗ fattoriaalvaneta.it rant where they prepare goods made on the farm. Educational lessons are held for children and adults, and include various activities, from making mar- malades, bread, cured meats and cheeses, to taking nature tours and harvesting fruits and vegetables. Children and young adults can discover many new things, or things they had only read about before, and experi- ence firsthand the intense and stimulating pleasure of the nat- ural world. lvaneta is located near the Abeatiful Certosa di Padula— so if you stay here, you don’t want to miss a visit to this an- cient, world-renown monastery.
62 | i-Italy ny | March-April 2015 | www.i-ItalyNY.com www.i-Italy.org Arte Italiana innovative undersea robot technology with 4d mapping
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Q_0352_220x280_ItalianMedia_Inno_ING.indd 1 17/02/15 11.56