From the Editor & A Message from the Publisher
From the Desk of
Paul Sciria
Civil war and conflict have
resulted in millions of refugees
searching for a better life. Today in
the U.S., the ongoing immigration
issue
keeps
politicians
busy.
In Italy during the late 1800s,
Italians were abandoning their
homeland at a phenomenal rate.
This emigration reduced Italy’s
population by one third. The basic
impetus was not civil war; it was
economic survival. In the beginning,
the immigrants crossed to other
European countries until Latin
America appeared more congenial.
Then, the immigrants chose the
ocean route to North America where
cheap labor was in demand in the
U.S. First to come were the northern
Italians
and
then
southerners
appeared in droves. This was, at that
time, a legal immigration process.
By 1930, 4.5 million Italians filed
through Ellis Island. There would
have been more but, the U.S. passed
immigration laws setting a quota on
immigrants from southern Europe.
Others were prohibited leaving Italy
because of the Fascist Blackshirts.
The largest numbers came from
IN THIS ISSUE
FROM LA GAZZETTA
03 From the Desk of Paul Sciria
03 A Message from the Publisher
NEWS
04 News from Italy
05 News from the Consulate
POTM
06 Roslyn Torella
FEATURE
07 War & Art:
The Preservation of Italian Treasures
08 Finding Lost Jewish Roots
08 Italian Stereotypes
08 Discovering your Family History
09 Discovering your Italian Ancestor's
Voyage to America
09 The Columbus Day That Nearly Wasn't
09 The Italian American Heritage
Preservation Fund
12 My Immigrant Story!
12 Benjamin Nicola
14 The Centro Culturale Leonardo
14 Assisi's Glorious Day
15 The Italian American Identity
15 A Letter from Mayor Jackson
EVENTS IN ITALY
12 Current Events
2
October 2015
Local Gazzetta
LOCAL NEWS
25 Dedication to the Italian Cultural Garden
recognized at 2015 One World Day
25 Oct.7 Event Planned
25 Italian Heritage Month
26 Evelyn D. Francioli
Notizie Dall'Italia 16
Piazza Navona 16
HISTORY & CULTURE
YOUNGSTOWN
Botticelli 17
PEOPLE
27 The Pride of Youngstown
COLUMBUS
28 CIC Scholarship Donors
November PREVIEW
Italy's Best Kept Travel Secret 23
Oggi Cucino Veggetariano 23
The November issue is all about Italian
Education. We will be exploring different cultural
classes, language opportunities and much more.
Our newspaper would not be possible
without our loyal readers, which is why we
would love to hear from you. Please submit
all Letters to the Editor to Angie Spitalieri
at
[email protected].
If your company is interested in being
a part of our upcoming issue by placing an
advertisement, please contact Paul Sciria at
(440) 461-9836. All advertisements must be
submitted by Oct. 15. For more information
on becoming a distributor please contact our
Publisher, Angie Spitalieri, at aspitalieri@
lagazzettaitaliana.com or at 216-229-1346.
La Gazzetta Print 48
La Gazzetta Italiana, 2026 Murray Hill Rd,
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
TRAVEL
Local Group Honored 20
Piazza Navona 20
Decor, Salento Style 20
Mysterious Reflections 21
Ten Things You Never Knew 21
ENTERTAINMENT
Tazenda 22
FOOD & WINE
WHERE TO BUY
Paul Sciria,
Managing Editor
of ice for the “ice-a-box.” Of course,
it helped that my uncles, her five
sons, and her daughter, my mom,
not only knew English but, they
communicated in Italian; make
that, Sicilian dialect. As for me, I
helped nonno with English on the
peddler route. He helped me with
Italian and drove the truck. For both
of us it was a win-win situation.
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LINGUA ITALIANA
Rocco Scotti 18
Philip Mazzei 18
Dardis, 100 & Counting! 18
The Capitol's Michelangelo - Brumidi 19
Dick Contino 19
Luigi Palma di Cesnola 19
Luciano Pavarotti 19
the Abruzzo, Molise,
Campania, Basilicata,
Calabria, and Sicily
regions. My family came
from Sicily: Palermo,
Sant’ Agata and Licata.
These
immigrants
registered legally and
it was not uncommon
for them to spend their
entire lives in the U.S.
without speaking English
or, at best, broken English.
Many created enclaves
of “Little Italys” or lived
in slum areas abandoned
by established immigrant groups.
My nonno learned English in
business as a fruit peddler. He had
customers on his route who spoke
English or Polish. His only problem
was counting change and his five
sons, my uncles, worked with him
on the route. Later it was my turn.
My nonna learned English “in
baby steps.” There were the 25 cent
payments to the insurance man with
her keeping record in a tiny black
book. She learned also to tell the
ice man when she needed a block
LA GAZZETTA ITALIANA | OCTOBER 2015
CLUB NEWSLETTERS
29 Little Italy Redevelopment Club
30 Americans of Italian Heritage
31 Le Radici
32 Club Molisani
33 Casa Italia Foundation
34 Italian American Cultural Foundation
35 Home Family Club
38 Baranello Lodge
39 Order Italian Sons & Daughters of America
40 Nothern Ohio Italian American Foundation
41 Rionero Sannitico Recreational Club
42 Solon Italian Club
43 Southwest Italian American Club
44 Wickliffe Italian-American Club
45 The Patrons of the Arts
46 The Italian American Brotherhood Club
Take out a subscription to La Gazzetta Italiana! It's a great gift idea... Sign
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SUPPORT YOUR ONLY ITALIAN NEWSPAPER!
A Message from
the Publisher
came from. Whether we are Sicilian
or Calabrese, we are all Italians
and this is our month to shine.
This issue is fu ll of wonderful
articles, all celebrating our heritage.
From how to trace your ancestors’
voyage from Italy to local ancestors
who contributed to our wonderful
alieri, cities, from the history of Venice’s
Angela SpPitublisher famous gondolas to current
local events celebrating Italy,
our
Italian pride shines through.
H a p p y
I
hope everyone takes the time
Italian Heritage Month! It is the
to
head
down to the Columbus
perfect time to celebrate all of the
Day
parade
on Monday, Oct.
accomplishments of the Italian
12
in
Little
Italy.
This is a great
American community, not only
representation
of
what
we Italians
today, but in years past; and there are
can
do
when
we
put
our
minds to
many! From the great traditions of
something.
The
parade
kicks
off
food to the beautiful architecture that
surrounds us, we have much to be at noon. You won’t want to miss it!
As I wrote in my last few
proud of. Times have changed, and it
is important to never forget where we columns, we are looking to expand
our writing staff. If you have a passion
for writing and are looking to help
support our newspaper, please contact
me at aspitalieri@lagazzettaitaliana.
com. We are especially looking for
writers in the Akron, Youngstown,
Columbus, and Pittsburgh areas. We
know many of our readers would love
to see more localized news, so please
consider contributing your thoughts!
We are also seeking commissionbased sales representatives in the
above-mentioned areas. La Gazzetta
continues to grow and we know that
would not be possible without all
of our loyal readers and advertisers.
As always, we would love
your input, so please reach out to
us with your feedback. We are
working on our plans for 2016
and we welcome your ideas.
PHOTO EXHIBIT
36 ITALY
KIDS CORNER
47 Homework / Nonna
LA GAZZETTA ITALIANA | OCTOBER 2015
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