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# 84 OCTOBER 17 , 2016
# 84 October 17
in a very small ship called "The Dauphine" and came over to the coast of what
is now the United States from Cape Fear,
North Carolina, travelling all the way up
north to New York where he stopped
and then returned back to Italy. But he
did navigate the shores of the state of
Delaware, which he called "The Garden
of Eden" for he thought it was so beautiful.
There is now a monument we erected to
honor Verrazzano, in Rehoboth Beach,
Delaware. It is right on the boardwalk, facing the ocean where Verrazzano came
past in 1524, and we’ve now established
a Sisters City relationship with the town
where he was born and where his castle
still remains: Greve in Chianti in Italy. We
Still nowadays, every Summer around have made trade missions to Greve; stuSaint Anthony's church during the mon- dents, government officers and teachers
th of June the beautiful Festa Italia takes from there have come to Delaware and
place and brings thousands of people to
the State of Delaware and the city of Wilmington to celebrate the Italian Culture
and Heritage.
Besides Father Balducelli, are there other
personalities, or places, or facts that have
had or still have a particular importance
in describing Italy in Delaware, other
than Wilmington’s Little Italy?
I think we should focus on the fact that
an Italian actually was one of the first to
navigate the shores of Delaware and that
was Giovanni Da Verrazzano from Greve
in Chianti, Italy.
In 1524 Giovanni Da Verrazzano set sail
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2016
learned more about our State. We're scovering America. Our organization, as
very proud of the relationship between well as the NIAF National Italian American Foundation, has continued to celeGreve in Chianti and Rehoboth Beach.
brate Columbus and has continued to
We also have a Sisters City relation- maintain that Columbus Day should be
ship between Wilmington, our largest an official holiday in the United States to
city, and Olevano sul Tusciano. Besides, honor his spirit of discovery.
every fall in Wilmington we do the Vendemmia, the wine harvest, and we invite What’s the story of the Italian emigration
our friends from Greve and Olevano to to Delaware?
come and experience the Vendemmia
Many people arrived at Ellis Island in
Festival.
New York City, when they emigrated to
We also have established a garden in the United States. Many of them then
Rehoboth Beach in honor of Verrazzano moved to Delaware because it was only
and Amerigo Vespucci called "The Gar- a short distance, about 2 hours, from
den of the Navigators" to celebrate the New York City. Delaware is the midpoint
spirit of exploration of those two Italian between New York City and Washington
explorers and their help in establishing DC.
the discovery of America.
When they came to Delaware, some of
them came to work in agriculture; others
came to work in mills, in the factories;
others came because they had relatives:
their family had already settled here.
Between them, many settled in Wilmington, in the Little Italy where we now see
a large Italian population.
What’s your opinion about what’s happening against Christopher Columbus?
We only have three counties: New Castle
County, Kent County and Sussex County.
We have a very active UNICO Chapter
in Sussex County and those Italian immigrants yearly continue to honor students of Italian American descent who
have overcome great adversity and have
achieved good grades with an award
called the "Brian Piccolo Award".
We hold Columbus very dear in Delaware, we still have very honored celebrations for Columbus every October and
we think that Columbus is a great Italian
Hero and also an American Hero for di- Please, tell us more about him
10 | WE THE ITALIANS
WE THE ITALIANS | 11
www.wetheitalians.com
www.wetheitalians.com