ITALIAN NEWS - Issue # 7, July 2008

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Italian Companies

Lancia

Lancia Automobiles S.p.A.

Type: Private
Founded: November 29 1906
by Vincenzo Lancia
Headquarters: Turin, Italy
Luca di Montezemolo - President
Olivier François - CEO
Industry: Automotive
Products: Automobiles
Parent: Fiat S.p.A. (since 1969)
Official Website: www.l ancia.com

Lancia is an Italian automobile manufacturer founded in 1906 by Vincenzo Lancia and which became part of the Fiat Group
in 1969. The company has a long history of producing distinctive cars and also has a strong rally heritage. Modern Lancias
are seen as presenting a more luxurious alternative to the models in the Fiat range upon which they are based. One of the
firm's trademarks is the use of letters of the Greek alphabet as the names of its models. The firm was also known for
persisting with right-hand drive until 1956. The Lancia CEO is Olivier François.

History

Foundation and Early Years

Lancia Beta Torpedo (1909)

Lancia was founded on 29 November 1906 in Turin by Vincenzo Lancia and his friend Claudio Fogolin, both being Fiat
racing drivers, as Lancia & C. The first Lancia automobile the "tipo 51" or 12 HP (later called Alfa) was made in 1907 and
produced from 1908. This car has a small four cylinder engine with a power of 58 bhp.

Lancia is famous for many automotive innovations. These include in 1913 the Theta was the first production car in Europe
to feature a complete electrical system as standard equipment, the first with a monocoque-type body - the Lambda,
produced from 1922 to 1931 which also featured 'Sliding Pillar' independent front suspension that incorporated the spring
and hydraulic damper into a single unit (and featured on most production Lancias until the Appia was replaced in 1963). In
1948 saw the first 5 speed gearbox to be fitted to a production car (Series 3 Ardea), the first full-production V6 engine, in
the 1950 Aurelia, and earlier experiments with V8 and V12 engine configurations. It was also the first company to produce
a V4 engine. Also, Lancia pioneered the use of independent suspension in production cars, in an era where live axles
were common practice for both the front and rear axles of a car as well as rear transaxles which were fitted to the Aurelia
and Flaminia ranges.

Logo
The original Lancia logo was designed by Count Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia. The logo shows a lance and shield with flag. The
Turin automobile museum is named after him as Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile “Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia”. The logo
was redesigned in 2007.

Association with Other Automakers
Lancia was not closely associated with any other manufacturer until the late 1960s. By this time, the company's
expensive, high standards of production had become unsustainable. In aiming to produce a product of the highest quality,
company bosses had sacrificed cost-effectiveness and when Fiat launched a take-over bid in 1969, they accepted. This
was not the end of the distinctive Lancia brand, and exciting new models in the 1970s such as the Stratos, Gamma and
Beta served to prove that Fiat wished to preserve the image of the brand it had acquired.

During the 1980s, the company cooperated with Saab Automobile, with the Lancia Delta being sold as the Saab 600 in
Sweden. The 1985 Lancia Thema also shared a platform with the Saab 9000, Fiat Croma and the Alfa Romeo 164.

Automotive

Current Models

Lancia Ypsilon

The Ypsilon is a luxury supermini car produced from 2003, evolved in 2007 and is Lancia's best selling model as of 2006.
Available with small (1.2- and 1.4-litre) petrol and JTD diesel engines, is also signed by MOMO design in one version: The
Ypsilon Sport Momo Design.

Lancia Musa

A small MPV produced since 2004, the Musa is largely based on the Fiat Idea and available with rich image and
equipments as high quality.

Lancia Thesis

The Thesis is a four-door executive sedan produced since 2002. It is the successor of the Lancia Kappa.

Lancia Phedra

The Phedra is a prestigious MPV made by Sevel, a joint-venture of PSA and Fiat Group. It is manufactured at the Sevel
Nord factory near Valenciennes in France, and has been in production since 2002.

Lancia in the United Kingdom

Lancia Beta Spider

Lancia Gamma Coupé

In the late 1970s and 1980s, Lancia suffered an increasing image problem in the United Kingdom, centred around a
perception that Lancia cars were prone to rusting, due to the Lancia Beta rust scandal; poor rust prevention techniques
(typical of most automobile manufacturers in the 1970s) and inadequate water drainage channels led to the Beta gaining a
reputation for being rust-prone, particularly the 1st Series vehicles, which were built from 1972–75. The corrosion
problems could be structural; for instance where the subframe carrying the engine and gearbox was bolted to the
underside of the car. The box section to which the rear of the subframe was mounted could corrode badly causing the
subframe to become loose. Although tales of subframes dropping out of vehicles were simply not true, a vehicle with a
loose subframe would fail a technical inspection. In actuality, the problem affected almost exclusively 1st Series saloon
models and not the Coupé, HPE, Spider or Montecarlo versions.

In the UK (Lancia's largest export market at the time) the company listened to the complaints from its dealers and
customers and commenced a campaign to buy back vehicles affected by the subframe problem. Some of these vehicles
were 6 years old or older and belonged to 2nd or 3rd owners. Customers were invited to present their cars to a Lancia
dealer for an inspection. If their vehicle was affected by the subframe problem, the customer was offered a part exchange
deal to buy another Lancia or Fiat car. The cars that failed the inspection were scrapped.

However, on 9 April 1980 the Daily Mirror and certain TV programmes such as That's Life! got wind of what Lancia was
already doing to help its customers and embarked on a campaign to exaggerate the issue and humiliate the manufacturer.
There were false claims that the problem persisted in later cars by showing photographs of scrapped 1st Series saloons,
referring to them as being newer than five and six years old. Other contemporary manufacturers (British, French, Japanese
and German) whose cars also suffered from corrosion were not treated as harshly. This was possibly because Lancia was
seen as a luxury car brand at that time and consequently expectations were high.

Ironically, Lancia had already introduced one year previously a 6-year anti-corrosion warranty - an automotive first in the
UK. Whilst later Betas (2nd Series cars) had reinforced subframe mounting points and post-1979 cars were better protected
from the elements, these issues damaged the whole marque's sales success on most export markets. However, thanks to
its strong driver appeal, the Beta still enjoys a following today. Surviving examples make an interesting classic car
choice for the enthusiast. Lancia's reputation was not helped by widespread, yet still unverified rumours of Fiat and Lancia
using Russian steel.

The last right-hand drive model was sold in 1994, after which Lancia withdrew from all right-hand drive markets.

However, as of September 2006, it has been announced that the brand will return to the UK with a right-hand drive version
of its new Delta, in early 2009.

Lancia in the United States
Whilst some models had been imported on a small scale in the 1950s and 1960s, Lancias were officially sold in the United
States from 1975. Sales were comparatively slow and the range was withdrawn at the same time as Fiat in 1982.

Lancia in Motorsport

Formula One

A Lancia D50A Formula One car

After Vincenzo Lancia's son Gianni became director of the firm, it started to take part more frequently in motorsport,
eventually deciding to build a Grand Prix car. Vittorio Jano was the new designer for Lancia and his Lancia D50 was
entered into the 1954 Spanish Grand Prix, where Alberto Ascari took the pole position and drove the fastest lap. In the
1955 Monaco Grand Prix Ascari crashed into the harbour after missing a chicane. One week later Ascari was killed in an
accident driving a Ferrari sports car at Monza. With Ascari's death and Lancia's financial problems the company withdrew
from Grand Prix racing.Altogether Lancia took two victories and ten podiums in Formula One.

Remnants of the Lancia team were transferred to Scuderia Ferrari, where Juan Manuel Fangio won the 1956 championship
with a Lancia-Ferrari car.

Rallying

A Lancia Delta S4 Group B rally car

Lancia has been very successful in motorsport over the years, mostly in the arena of rallying where, in the World Rally
Championship, they remain the most statistically successful marque (despite having withdrawn at the end of 1993),
winning constructors' titles with the Fulvia (1972), Stratos (1974, 1975 and 1976), 037 (1983) and Delta (all years between
1987 and 1992). The Delta is also the most successful individual model designation ever to compete in rallying. The history
of the brand in rallying is also tainted with tragedy, with deaths of Italian and Finnish drivers Attilio Bettega (in a Lancia
037) and Henri Toivonen (in an S4). These deaths would eventually led to the end of Group B rallying.

Sports Car Racing

A Lancia LC1 Group 6 sports car

During Lancia's dominance of rallying, the company also expanded into sports cars in the late 1970s until the mid-1980s.
Originally running the Stratos HF in Group 4, as well as a brief interlude with a rare Group 5 version, the car was replaced
with the Monte Carlo Turbo. In 1982 the team moved up to Group 6 with the LC1 Spyder, followed by the Group C LC2
coupé which featured a Ferrari powerplant in 1983. The LC2 was a match for the standard-setting Porsche 956 in terms of
raw speed, securing 13 pole positions over its lifetime, however its results were hampered by poor reliability and fuel
economy and it only managed to win three European and World Endurance Championship races. The team's inability to
compete against the dominant Porsche 956 and 962 sports cars led it to drop out of sportscar racing at the end of 1986 in
order to concentrate on rallying, although private teams continued to enter LC2s with declining results until the early 1990s.

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Italian News
Periodical On-Line that Promotes, Supports, Spreads ITALY,
and ITALIAN Language, History, Culture, Tradition, Genealogy,
Articles, Products, Services, Every Aspect of ITALIAN Life Style
by THE ITALIAN PROJECT

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Italian Regions

CALABRIA
Official Website: www.regione.calabria.it

Calabria is a fascinating fusion of hundreds of miles of
wonderful coastline with hinterland mountains, as the
imposing Pollino chain in the North, the Sila forested plateau
in the center and the Serre and Aspromonte chains in the
South. Being the mountains so near to the sea, the rivers
are all very short: called "fiumare", they stay dry for long
part of the year. Calabria was always a land of emigration,
due to the scarcity of good arable lands, and the population
is concentrated in the plains and along the coast. Industry
development is low and agriculture is not very productive,
because of the rugged terrain, but tourism has been steadily
on the rise in the last few decades.

The Provinces of Calabria
Province of Reggio Calabria (RC) | Province of Catanzaro
(CZ) | Province of Cosenza (CS) | Province of Crotone (KR) |
Province of Vibo Valentia (VV)

History
In the 8th century BC Calabria became a colony of the
Greeks, who founded the cities of Reggio Calabria, Sibari
and Crotone. Then in the 4th century BC it was occupied by
the Bruttii, who during the Punic wars sided with Hannibal
against the Romans. In 132 BC it was conquered by the
Romans and included in the Third Region as Brutium, while
the name Calabria was used only for the Salento Peninsula.
After the Roman Empire was split into Western and Eastern
(with capital Byzanthium), Calabria stayed under the
Byzanthines until the Lombards occupied it in the 7th century
AD. In 885 Byzanthine general Niceforo Foca defeated
Lombards and Saracens recovering the region. Later on it
was conquered by the Normans (1060), then by the
Swabians, the Anjou and the Aragonese, under whose
domination there were peasants' riots in 1459 and the
famous rebellion led by Tommaso Campanella in 1599. The
Spanish occupation was especially tyrannical for the region,
and the 19th century saw the rise of patriot movements (the
Carboneria) and riots, until in 1860 the population rose to
support Garibaldi after he landed with his "red shirts" at
Melito.

As all the Kingdom of Naples, Calabria was then united to
the newly established Kingdom of Italy. The decades that
followed saw an increase in poverty and emigration, also
due to the great disparity between the rich industrial regions
of Northern Italy and the agricultural, poorer South.

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Italian Genealogy

HOW TO OBTAIN Information and
Documents of your Ancestors in ITALY

Here are our Step by Step, Detailed, and Useful
Suggestions:

1- Go to PAGINE BIANCHE.it Web Site, by clicking HERE.

2- In the "Cognome o nome Azienda" box, Write the word
"municipio", or "comune", or "archivio di stato", if you are
looking for Registry Offices and State Archives, or Write the
word "parrocchia", or "chiesa", or "curia", or "diocesi", or
"arcidiocesi", if you are looking for Parish Churches and
Dioceses, where to Request Information, and Documents,
as Extracts, Acts, Certificates of your ITALIAN Ancestors.

3- In the "Nome" box, Leave the space blank.

4- In the "Dove" box, Write the Names of the Towns, or
Provinces, or Regions of Birth, Matrimony, Death of your
ITALIAN Ancestors.

5- Click on the button "Cerca": a List of the Registry Offices
and State Archives, or of the Parish Churches and
Dioceses, with their full names, addresses, and telephone
numbers will appear!

They are the Places where you can Request Information,
and Documents, as Extracts, Acts, Certificates of your
Ancestors in ITALY!

6- Write Informal and Personal Letters in ITALIAN to all
them, with ALL Information, and Details!

If you are not able to write in ITALIAN, Click on ITALIAN
TRANSLATION, in this Page, and/or Contact us!

7- With your Letters to ITALY, include fees and costs for
each Certificate requested (just a few U.S. Dollars or Euro
Each), explain ALL the reasons for your Letters, and
indicate Full Names, and Dates or Years of Birth,
Matrimony, Death of your ITALIAN Ancestors that you are
requesting Information, and Documents, as Extracts, Acts,
Certificates, and wait for their Answers, and Results
(usually after two or three months, up to a year, depending
from cases and areas)!

HOW TO FIND Places of your Ancestors
and Living Relatives in ITALY

H OW TO CONTACT your Living Relatives
in ITALY

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Italian Recipes

Spaghetti with Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
3 carrots, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds ground beef
1/4 cup tomato paste
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup dry white wine
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes in puree
1 cup milk
12 ounces spaghetti
Finely grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Cooking Directions
Make sauce: In a Dutch oven (or 5-quart saucepan), heat oil
over high heat. Add onions, carrots, and garlic; cook,
stirring, until slightly softened, about 2 minutes. Add beef;
cook, breaking up meat with a spoon, until no longer pink,
about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste; cook 1 minute.
Season generously with salt and pepper.
Add wine and tomatoes. Bring sauce to a simmer; cook,
partially covered, stirring occasionally, until thickened,
about 1 hour. Add milk; simmer until completely absorbed,
about 15 minutes more. Season again with salt and pepper.
When sauce is almost done, cook pasta in a pot of boiling
salted water until al dente, according to package
instructions; drain. Toss pasta with half the meat sauce;
save remaining sauce for next day. Serve sprinkled with
cheese.

Yield
4 servings

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Italian Language

Double Consonants
In Italian, all consonants except h can be doubled. Double
consonants (i consonanti doppie) are pronounced much
more forcefully than single consonants. With double f, l, m, n,
r, s, and v, the sound is prolonged; with double b, c, d, g, p,
and t, the stop is stronger than for the single consonant.
Double z is pronounced almost the same as single z. Double
s is always unvoiced.

Double consonant examples:

Italian English
babbo dad
fetta slice
evviva hurrah
bistecca beefsteak
mamma mama
albicocca apricot
bello beautiful
filetto filet
anno year
assai a lot
basso short
ragazzo boy
ferro iron
pennello paint brush
espresso espresso coffee
tavolozza palette
spaghetti spaghetti
cavalletto easel

Most Italian words end in a vowel.

Diphthongs
Diphthongs (i dittonghi) are two vowels fused to emit a
single sound. A diphthong is formed when an unstressed i or
u combines with another vowel (a, e, o) or when the two
vowels combine with each other, in which case either the i
or u may remain unstressed. In diphthongs, unstressed i and
u become semivowels approximating in sound the English
consonants y and w, respectively.

Diphthong examples:

Italian English
ieri yesterday
buono good
fiore flower
chiuso closed
invidia envy
più more

Tripthongs also exist. These are sequences of three vowels
with a single sound, usually a diphthong followed by an
unstressed i.

Italian English
tuoi yours
miei mine
buoi oxen
pigliai I took

Italian has numerous words that contain sequences of
vowels. The following words are not triphthongs (which are
infrequent), but sequences of a vowel and a diphthong.

Italian English
noia boredom
febbraio February
baia bay
fioraio florist

Each of the words below has a sequence of two diphthongs:

Italian English
ghiaia gravel
muoio I die
acquaio sink
gioiello jewel

Italian Syllabication
Italian words are divided into syllables as follows:

A single consonant goes with the following vowel.

Italian English
ca–sa house
po–si–ti–vo positive

Double consonants are divided.

Italian English
bab–bo dad
ros–so red
bel–lo beautiful
at–to act

Two consonants, the first of which is l, m, n, or r, are divided.

Italian English
al–ber–go hotel
con–ten–to contented
am–pio ample
for–tu–na fortune

Otherwise, a combination of two consonants belongs to the
following syllable.

Italian English
ba–sta enough
fi–glio son
pa–dre father
ba–gno bath
so–pra above
sa–cro sacred

The first of three consonants, except s, goes with the
preceding syllable.

Italian English
sem–pre always
fel–tro felt
mem–bro member
men–tre while

BUT

Italian English
fi–ne–stra window
pe–sche peaches
mi–ne–stra soup
mo–stro monster

Diphthongs and triphthongs are never divided.

Italian English
nuo–vo new
mie–le honey
per–fi–dia spite
uo–mo man
mai never
lin–gua language
suoi his
pi–gliai I took

Diphthongs may occur in stressed or unstressed syllables.
However, when a diphthong is broken by stress (the vowel i
or u directly bears the stress), then the two vowels break
into separate syllables.

Italian English
mi–o mine
tu–o yours
spi–a spy
ma–ni–a mania
rin–vi–o postponement
te–ra–pi–a therapy
al–le–gri–a joy
far–ma–ci–a pharmacy

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Italian History

Italo-Americani (Italian-Americans)

Notable Italian Americans:

Rudy Giuliani Nancy Pelosi Fiorello La Guardia Sylvester Stallone Martin Scorsese Lee Iacocca Samuel Alito

Total Population:
17,829,184
6.0% of the U.S.A. Population (2006)

Regions with Significant Populations:
Found in the Northeast, Florida, Illinois,
Michigan, Ohio, Chicago, and the West Coast
Heavily concentrated in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Boston, and Miami.

Languages:
American English · Italian · Sicilian · Neapolitan, other Italian dialects and languages of Italian historical minorities

Religion:
Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Waldensians

An Italian American is an American of Italian descent and/or dual citizenship. The phrase refers to someone born in the
United States or who has immigrated to the United States and is of Italian heritage.

History
The Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European explorer to pass New York Harbor. Other Italians played an
important role in early United States history, as Filippo Mazzei, an important Italian physician and a promoter of liberty,
close friend of Thomas Jefferson. He acted as an agent to purchase arms for Virginia during the American Revolutionary
War. Throughout the 1800s, Italians arrived in the US in small numbers, though most immigration from Italy occurred in the
20th century between 1880 and 1960. Most Italian Americans came from Southern Italy, Naples at first, and Sicily, many as
rural peasants with very little education. Smaller but significant numbers came from the northern regions of Liguria and
Veneto. From 1890 to 1900, 655,888 immigrants arrived in the United States, of which two-thirds were men. The main
reasons for Italian immigration were the poor economic conditions in Italy during this period, particularly in the southern
regions. In the United States, Italians settled in and dominated specific neighborhoods (often called "Little Italy") where
they could interact with one another, establish a familiar cultural presence, and find favorite foods. Many Italian
immigrants arrived with very little cash or cultural capital (that is, they were not educated) and generally performed
manual labor. Their neighborhoods were typically slums with overcrowded tenements and poor sanitation. Tuberculosis
was rampant. Italian immigration peaked from 1900 until 1914, when World War I made such intercontinental movement
impossible. In many cases, the Italian immigrants were subjected to severe anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant discrimination
and even violence such as lynching. By 1978, 5.3 million Italians had immigrated to the United States; two million arrived
between 1900 and 1914. About a third of these immigrants intended to stay only briefly, in order to make money and return
to Italy, and were commonly referred to as "Birds of Passage." While one in four did return home, the rest either decided to
stay or were prevented from returning by the war.

Internment during World War II
The internment of Italian Americans during World War II has often been overshadowed by the Japanese American
experience. Recently, however, books such as Una storia segreta (ISBN 1-890771-40-6) by Lawrence DiStasi and Uncivil
Liberties (ISBN 1-58112-754-5) by Stephen Fox have been published, and movies, such as Prisoners Among Us have
been made. These efforts reveal that during World War II, roughly 600,000 Italians were required to carry identity cards
that labeled them "resident aliens." Some 10,000 people in war zones on the West Coast were required to move inland,
while hundreds of others were held in military camps for up to two years. Lawrence DiStasi claims that these wartime
restrictions and internments contributed more than anything else to the loss of spoken Italian in the United States. After
Italy declared war on the U.S., many Italian language papers and schools were forced, almost overnight, to close by the
U.S. Government because of their past support for an enemy government.

Involvement in World War II
During World War II, many Italian Americans joined or were drafted into the U.S. armed forces to fight the Axis Powers;
many women also enlisted. An estimated 1.2 million Italian Americans served in the armed forces during World War II;
this represented 7.5% of the 16 million total who served. Italian American service assistance was pivotal during the
Allied invasion of Sicily, where United States government troops worked with locals, including Mafiosi, to secure and
fortify the newly-acquired foothold in Europe. Numerous texts document the delicate relations the United States
government established with Italian American organized crime figures in the U.S. and the manner in which these were
used to help ensure a successful landing. It is rumored that even Lucky Luciano helped smooth relations between the two
communities during World War II.

Demographics

Numbers
In the 2000 U.S. Census, Italian Americans constituted the fifth largest ancestry group in America with about 15.6 million
people (5.6% of the total U.S. population).[3] Sicilian Americans are a subset of numerous Americans of regional Italian
ancestries. As of 2006, the Italian-American population climbed to 17.8 million persons constituting 6 percent of the
population.

Politics

Logo of Sons of Italy, which is the largest Italian American fraternal organization in the United States.

In the 1930s, Italian Americans voted heavily Democratic; since the 1960s, they have split about evenly between the
Democratic (37%) and the Republican (36%) parties[4]. The U.S. Congress includes Italian Americans who are regarded as
leaders in both the Republican and Democratic parties. The highest ranking Italian American politician is currently Nancy
Pelosi (D-CA) who became the first woman and Italian American Speaker of the United States House of Representatives,
but former Republican New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani was a candidate for the U.S. presidency in the 2008 election, as
was Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo.

Business and Economy
Italian-Americans have served an important role in the economy of the United States, and have founded companies of
great national importance, such as Bank of America (by Amadeo Giannini in 1904), and companies that have contributed
to the local culture and character of U.S. cities, such as Petrini's Markets (founded by Frank Petrini in 1935), among many
others. Italian-Americans have also made important contributions to the growth of the U.S. economy through their
business expertise, such as the management of the Chrysler Corporation by Lee Iacocca,Dean Martin Frank Sinatra and
the creative innovations of Martin Scorsese for film companies such as Columbia Pictures and Warner Brothers.

Culture
Many Italian Americans still retain aspects of their culture. This includes Italian food, drink, art, Roman Catholicism,
annual Italian American feasts and a strong commitment to extended family. Italian Americans influenced popular music in
the 1940s and as recently in the 1970s, one of their major contributions to American culture. In movies that deal with
cultural issues, Italian American words and lingo are sometimes spoken by the characters. Although most will not speak
Italian fluently, a dialect of sorts has arisen among Italian Americans, particularly in the urban Northeast, often popularized
in film and television.

Among the most characteristic and popular of Italian American cultural contributions has been their feasts. Throughout the
United States, wherever one may find an "Italian neighborhood" (often referred to as 'Little Italy'), one can find festive
celebrations such as the well known Feast of San Gennaro in New York City, the unique Our Lady of Mount Carmel
"Giglio" Feast in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
celebrated in Cleveland's Little Italy, the Ciciarata in Ambler, Pennsylvania or the lesser known Festa Italiana, in Seattle.
In Jessup, Pennsylvania, there takes place a celebration known as La Festa dei Ceri (literally "the feast of candles") or
The Race of The Saints, which was transplanted from Gubbio, Italy. It consists of teams "running" wooden statues through
the streets in honor of the patron St. Ubaldo Baldassini. For the past 125 years, the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Festival has
been celebrated annually in Hammonton, New Jersey. The Feast of St. Rocco has been celebrated in Denver, Colorado
since 1892 & at Il Societa Nativi di Potenza, Basilcata (Potenza Lodge)since the 1930s. Our Lady of Mount Carmel hosts
their bazaar every July in honor of the feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel (Founded in North Denver 1894 by Father Mariano
LePore) Italian feasts involve elaborate displays of devotion to God and patron saints. Perhaps the most widely known is
St. Joseph's feast day on March 19th. These feasts are much more than simply isolated events within the year. They
express a "typically Italian" approach to life and are taken very seriously by the communities who prepare them. Feast
(Festa in Italian) is an umbrella term for the various secular and religious, indoor and outdoor activities surrounding a
religious holiday. Typically, Italian feasts consist of festive communal meals, religious services, games of chance and
skill and elaborate outdoor processions consisting of statues resplendent in jewels and donations. This merriment usually
takes place over the course of several days, and is communally prepared by a church community or a religious
organization over the course of several months.

The First Lady Laura Bush meets the Secretary General of Italy-USA Foundation, Corrado Maria Daclon.

Currently, there are more than 300 Italian feasts celebrated throughout the United States. These feasts are visited each
year by millions of Americans from various backgrounds who come together to enjoy Italian delicacies such as Zeppole
and sausage sandwiches. Though in past, and still unto this day, much of Italian American culture is centered around
music and food, in recent years, a large and growing group of Italian American authors are having success publishing
and selling books in America.

Some of the authors who have written about everyday, hardworking Italians are Pietro DiDonato, Lawrence Ferlinghetti,
Dana Gioia, Executive Director of the National Endowment for the Arts; Daniela Gioseffi, Winner of the John Ciardi Award
for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry, and Helen Barolini, author of The Dream Book, a collection of Italian American
women's writings. Both women are American Book Award Winners and pioneers of Italian American writing, as is poet,
Maria Mazziotti Gillan. These women have authored many books depicting Italian American women in a new light. They,
along with several other poets and writers, can be found at Italian American Writers.

Among the scholars who have led the Renaissance in Italian American literature are professors Richard Gambino,
Anthony Julian Tamburri, Paolo Giordano, and Fred Gardaphe. The later three founded Bordighera Press, Inc. and edited
From the Margin, An Anthology of Italian American Writing, Purdue University Press. These men along with professors like
novelist and accomplished critic, Dr. Josephine Gattuso-Hendin of New York University, have taught Italian American
studies far and wide, at such institutions as The City University of New York, John D. Calandra Institute, Queens College,
CUNY, and The State University of New York at Stonybrook, as well as Brooklyn College, where Dr. Robert Viscusi,
founded the Italian American Writers Association, and is an author and American Book Award winner, himself.

As a result of the efforts of magazines like VIA: Voices in Italian Americana, and Italian Americana, and many authors old
and young, too numerous to mention, as well as early immigrant, pioneer writers like poet, Emanuel Carnevali, "Furnished
Rooms," and novelist, Pietro DiDonato, author of "Christ in Concrete " --Italian Americans are beginning to read more of
their own writers. A growing number of books featuring ordinary, hardworking Italians--having nothing to do with
criminality--are published yearly to confront the cruel television and Hollywood stereotyping of this ethnic group. (See
"Stereotypes," below.) Famed authors like Don DeLillo, Gilbert Sorrentino, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gay Talese, John Fante
Tina DeRosa, Kim Addonizio, Daniela Gioseffi, Dana Gioia, to name a mere few who have broken through to main stream
American literature and publishing, are changing the image of Italians in America with their books, stories, poems and
essays far too numerous to site. Many of these authors' books and writings are easily found on the internet and on Italian
American Writers as well as in bibliographies online at Stonybrook University's Italian American Studies Dept. in New
York or at The Italian American Writers Association website. The cultural face of Italian Americana is widening and
changing daily to combat stereotyping by American movies and television.

Religion
Most immigrants had been Catholics in Italy. Observers have noted that they often became more devoutly Catholic in the
United States, since their faith was a distinctive characteristic in the U.S.; devout Italian Americans often identified
themselves as "Catholics" when talking to coworkers or neighbors. In spite of the Catholic dominance among the
immigrants, it can be noted that the Italian religious minorities such as Waldensians, Greek Catholics, Greek Orthodox
and Italian Jews, also took part in the Italian immigration to America.

In some Italian American communities, Saint Joseph's Day (March 19) is marked by celebrations and parades. Columbus
Day is also widely celebrated, as are the feasts of some regional Italian patron saints, most notably St. Januarius (San
Gennaro) (September 19) (especially by those claiming Neapolitan heritage), and Santa Rosalia (September 4) by
immigrants from Sicily. The immigrants from Potenza, Italy celebrate the Saint Rocco's day feast at the Potenza Lodge in
Denver, Colorado. Rocco is the patron saint of Potenza. Many still celebrate the Christmas season with a Feast of the
seven fishes.In Cleveland, Ohio, the Feast of Assumption is celebrated in Cleveland's Little Italy on August 15. On this
feast day, people will pin money on Blessed Virgin Mary statue as symbol of prosperity. The statue is paraded through
Little Italy to Holy Rosary Parish. For almost 25 years,Cleveland Catholic Bishop Anthony Pilla would join in the parade
and mass due to his Italian heritage. Pilla resigned in April 2006, but he still celebrates.

While most Italian-American families have a Catholic background, there are various groups of Italian-American Christians
who have chosen to practice Protestant Christianity for various reasons. In many cases, families may have decided to
regularly worship at a local non-Catholic parish with which they and their community identify, but keep with the Catholic
tradition in schooling their children at Catholic parochial or private schools, as well as fully participating in Catholic
worship when attending Catholic churches for whatever reason. In some cases, there are individuals and families who
have become resentful or disenchanted with the Catholic religion, and completely leave the Church, no longer
considering themselves as being a part of the Catholic traditions in any way. Many joined the Episcopal Church because
of disagreement with local Catholic Church leadership. Many converted to Evangelical Christianity because they did not
agree with the ritualistic nature of the Catholic religion, as well as their belief that Catholics have an incorrect
interpretation of certain doctrines concerning the Magisterium, the Virgin Mary and the Saints, and the doctrine of
Transubstantiation. There are many ex-Catholic Italian-American members of mainline Protestant churches, in particular
the United Church of Christ, most of whom left the Catholic Church because they thought it to be too doctrinally
conservative. There are also a significant number of ex-Catholic Italian-American converts to the Unitarian Universalist
Church, which is not a Christian faith.

For example, Fiorello La Guardia was an Episcopalian (on his father's side; his mother was from the small but significant
community of Italian Jews). Frank Santora is an ex-Catholic Italian-American pastor of Faith Church, a large Evangelical
megachurch in New Milford, Connecticut. There is a small charismatic denomination, called the Christian Church of North
America, which is rooted in the Italian Pentecostal Movement that came out of Chicago in the early 1900s. It should also
be noted that the first group of Italian immigrants to Trenton converted to the Baptist denomination. In the early 1900s, a
number of Protestant denominations and missionaries worked in urban Italian American neighborhoods of the Northeast.

Education
According to 2000 Census data, Italian Americans have a greater high school graduation rate than the national average,
and a greater than or equal rate of advanced degrees compared to the national average. Italian Americans throughout the
United States are well represented in a wide variety of occupations and professions, from skilled trades, to the arts, to
engineering, science, mathematics, law, and medicine, and include numerous Nobel prize winners.

Italian language in the United States
According to the Sons of Italy News BureauPDF (339 KiB) from 1998 to 2002, the enrollment in college Italian language
courses grew by 30%, faster than the enrollment rates for French and German. Italian is the fourth most commonly taught
foreign language in U.S. colleges and universities behind Spanish, French, and German. According to the U.S. 2000
Census, Italian is the fifth (seventh overall) most spoken language in the United States (tied with Vietnamese) with over 1
million speakers.

As a result of the large wave of Italian immigration to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Italian
language was once widely spoken in much of the U.S., especially in northeastern and Great Lakes area cities like
Rochester, Chicago, Cleveland, and Milwaukee, as well as San Francisco, Saint Louis and New Orleans. Italian-language
newspapers exist in many American cities, especially New York City, and Italian-language movie theatres existed in the
U.S. as late as the 1950s.

Today, Prizes like The Bordighera Annual Poetry Prize founded by Daniela Gioseffi and Alfredo di Palchi with support from
the Sonia Rraiziss-Giop Foundation, and Bordighera Press, which publishes the winners in bilingual editions, have helped
to encourage writers of the diaspora to write and read in Italian. Chelsea Books in New York City and Gradiva Press on
Long Island have published many bilingual books also due to the efforts of bilingual writers of the diaspora like Paolo
Valesio, Alfredo de Palchi, Luigi Fontanella. Dr. Luigi Bonaffini of The City University of New York, publisher of The Journal
of Italian Translation at Brooklyn College, has fostered Italian dialectic poetry throughout his homeland and the USA.
Joseph Tusiani of New York and New York University, a highly distinguised linguist and prize winning poet born in Italy,
paved the way for Italian works of literature in English and has published many bilingual books and Italian classics for the
American audience, among them the first complete works of Michaelangelo's poems in English to be published in the
United States. All of this literary endeavor has helped to foster the Italian language, along with the Italian opera, of course,
in the United States. Many of these authors and their bilingual books are located throughout the internet.

This sign appeared in post offices and in government buildings during World War II.
The sign designates Japanese, German, and Italian, the languages of the Axis powers, as enemy languages.

Author Lawrence Distasi argues that the loss of spoken Italian among the Italian American population can be tied to U.S.
government pressures during World War II. During World War II, in various parts of the country, the U.S. government
displayed signs that read, Don't Speak the Enemy's Language. Such signs designated the languages of the Axis powers,
German, Japanese, and Italian, as "enemy languages". Shortly after the Axis powers declared war on the U.S., many
Italian, Japanese and German citizens were interned. Among the Italian Americans, those who spoke Italian, who had
never taken out citizenship papers, and who belonged to groups that praised Benito Mussolini, were most likely to
become candidates for internment. Distasi claims that many Italian language schools closed down in the San Francisco
Bay Area within a week of the U.S. declaration of war on the Axis powers. Such closures were inevitable since most of
the teachers in Italian languages were interned.

Despite the pressures of the US government during World War II, now more than ever, children of Italian heritage,
especially paternal heritage, are given Italian names, and raised in traditional Italian ways. The Italian language is still
spoken and studied by those of Italian American descent, and it can be heard in various American communities,
especially among older Italian Americans. During the late 20th and early 21st centuries, interest in Italian language and
culture has surged among Italian Americans. Today's Italian American youth no longer take for granted the impressive
contributions Italians and Italian Americans have made to Western civilization, especially in the areas of fine art, music,
science, philosophy, law, medicine, education, literature, architecture, and cuisine.

There is, however, a dilemma for Italian Americans who consider re-learning the language of their ancestors. The formal
"Italian" that is taught in colleges and universities is generally not the "Italian" with which Italian Americans are
acquainted. Eighty percent of Italian Americans are of Southern Italian origin; therefore, the languages spoken by their
families who arrived between 1880-1920 were most likely variations of the Neapolitan and Sicilian dialects with perhaps
some degree of influence from Standard Italian. Because the Italian of Italian Americans comes from a time just after the
unification of the state, their language is in many ways anachronistic and demonstrates what the dialects of Southern Italy
used to be at the time. Because of this, Italian Americans studying Italian are often learning a language that does not
include all of the words and phrases they know, and which their ancestors would not have recognized well.

The situation is even more pronounced among Italian Americans whose ancestors came to the United States from
Northern Italy. Italian Americans variously of Emilia-Romagnan, Lombardian, Genoese, Marchigiano, Piedmontese,
Venetian and other Northern Italian heritage are even further moved away, linguistically, from the languages of their
ancestors through the contemporary standard Italian language.

Stereotypes

History
In the 1890-1920 period Italian Americans were often stereotyped as being "violent" and "controlled by the Mafia". In the
1920s, many Americans used the Sacco and Vanzetti trial, in which two Italian anarchists were wrongly sentenced to
death, to denounce Italian immigrants as anarchists and criminals. During the 1800s and early 20th century, Italian
Americans were one of the most likely groups to be lynched. In 1891, eleven Italian immigrants in New Orleans were
lynched due to their ethnicity and suspicion of being involved in the Mafia (see: David Hennessy). This was the largest
mass lynching in US history.

Present
To this day, Italian Americans are frequently and unfairly associated with organized crime, and New York in the minds of
many Americans, largely due to pervasive media stereotyping, a number of popular gangster movies (such as The
Godfather and Goodfellas) and television series such as The Sopranos. A Zogby International survey revealed that 78
percent of teenagers 13 to 18 associated Italian Americans with either criminal activity or blue-collar work. A survey by
the Response Analysis Corp. reported that 74 percent of adult Americans believe most Italian Americans have "some
connection" to organized crime.

However, the National Italian American Foundation, the National American Italian Association and other Italian American
organizations have asserted that the Mafia in the United States have never numbered more than a few thousand
individuals, and that it is unfair to associate such a small minority with the general population of Italian Americans.

Communities
States known for their high concentrations of Italian Americans include New York, New Jersey, Connecticut,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maryland, Illinois, California, Ohio and Florida. Among major
cities across the country: New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh, and Miami have America's six largest
Italian communities.

State Totals

Distribution of Italian Americans according to the 2000 Census

Numbers
1. New York 3,254,298
2. New Jersey 1,590,225
3. Pennsylvania 1,547,470
4. California 1,149,351
5. Florida 1,147,946
6. Massachusetts 918,838
7. Illinois 739,284
8. Ohio 720,847
9. Connecticut 652,016
10. Michigan 484,486
11. Texas approx. 363,354
12. Louisiana approx. 195,561

Percentage
1. Rhode Island 19.7%
2. Connecticut 18.6%
3. New Jersey 17.9%
4. New York 14.4%
5. Massachusetts 14.5%
6. Pennsylvania 13.0%

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Italian Products

Formaggio Pecorino (Pecorino Cheese)

Country of Origin: Italy
Region, Town: Sardegna (Sardinia), Lazio (Latium), Sicilia (Sicily),
and Province of Grosseto, Toscana (Tuscany)
Source of Milk: Sheep
Pasteurised: Yes
Texture: Hard
Aging Time: 8 months or more
Certification: Certification PDO 1996

Pecorino is the name of a family of hard Italian cheeses made from sheep's milk. The word pecora, from which the name
derives, means sheep. Most are aged and sharp.

Of the four main varieties of mature pecorino, all of which have Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status under
European Union law, Pecorino Romano is probably the best known outside Italy, especially in the United States which has
been an important export market for the cheese since the 19th century. Most Pecorino Romano is produced on the Island of
Sardegna (Sardinia), though its production is also allowed in Lazio (Latium) and in the Tuscan Province of Grosseto.

The other three mature PDO cheeses are the milder Pecorino Sardo from Sardinia; Pecorino Toscano, the Tuscan relative
of Pecorino Sardo; and Pecorino Siciliano (or Picurinu Sicilianu in Sicilian) from Sicily. All come in a variety of styles
depending on how long they have been matured. The more matured cheeses, referred to as stagionato, are harder and
have a stronger flavour. Some varieties may have spices included in the cheese. In Sardinia, the larvae of the cheese fly
are intentionally introduced into Pecorino Sardo to produce a local delicacy called casu marzu.

Pecorino Romano is most often used on pasta dishes, like the better-known Parmigiano Reggiano (parmesan). Its
distinctive strong, very salty flavour means that it is preferred for some pasta dishes with highly-flavoured sauces,
especially those of Roman origin, such as pasta all'amatriciana.

Pecorino Romano

Pecorino Romano Cheese

Pecorino Romano is a hard, salty Italian cheese, suitable primarily for grating, made out of sheep's milk (the Italian word
pecora, from which the name derives, means sheep). Pecorino Romano was produced in Lazio (Latium) up to 1884 when,
due to the prohibition issued by the city council of salting the cheese inside their shops in Rome, many producers moved
to the Island of Sardegna (Sardinia). It is produced exclusively from the milk of sheep raised on the plains of Lazio
(Latium)and in Sardegna (Sardinia). Most of the cheese is now produced on the island, especially in Gavoi.

Pecorino Romano was a staple in the diet for the legionaries of ancient Roma (Rome). Today, it is still made according to
the original recipe.

Pecorino Romano is most often used on pasta dishes, like the better-known Parmigiano Reggiano (parmesan). Its
distinctive aromatic, pleasantly sharp, very salty flavour means that in Italian cuisine, it is preferred for some pasta dishes
with highly-flavoured sauces, especially those of Roman origin, such as bucatini all'amatriciana. The sharpness depends
on the period of maturation which varies from five months for a table cheese to at least eight months for a grating cheese.

Pecorino Romano should not be confused with Pecorino Toscano (from Toscana / Tuscany) or Pecorino Sardo (from
Sardegna / Sardinia). Unlike Pecorino Romano, these cheeses (which are not particularly salty) are generally eaten by
themselves or in sandwiches.

Pecorino Romano cheese, whose method of production was first described by Latin authors like Varro and Pliny the Elder
about 2000 years ago, was first created in the countryside around Roma (Rome). Pecorino Romano cheese is used mostly
in Central and Southern Italy.

On the first of May Roman families traditionally eat Pecorino with fresh fava beans, during a daily excursion in the
Campagna.

Pecorino Sardo

Pecorino Sardo Cheese

Pecorino Sardo is a firm sheep's-milk cheese from Sardegna (Sardinia), Italy (also known as fiore sardo). It is a Protected
designation of origin (or DOP) cheese. Its flavor is different than its more famous cousin, Pecorino Romano - Sardo is
richer while Romano is much more biting and salty. Pecorino Sardo is delicious in applications where the Romano would
overpower, such as in Pesto or with Fruit.

Pecorino Sardo is an uncooked hard cheese made from fresh whole sheep's milk curdled using lamb or kid rennet. The
mixture is poured into moulds that will give the cheese its characteristic shape. After a brief period in brine, the moulds
are lightly smoked and left to ripen in cool cellars in central Sardinia. The average weight of the finished product is 3.5
kilos: sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less depending on the conditions of manufacture. The rind varies from deep
yellow to dark brown in colour and encases a paste that varies from white to straw-yellow. The sharpness of the flavour
depends on the length of maturation. It's most often found in the United States as a hard cheese, its more mature form.

Pecorino Sardo is not as well known outside Italy as Romano or Pecorino Toscano, although a good deal of Pecorino
Romano is actually made in Sardegna (Sardinia), as Sardegna (Sardinia) is within Romano's DOP area. Pecorino Sardo can
be processed further into Casu marzu.

Pecorino Siciliano

Pecorino Siciliano is an origin-protected firm sheep's-milk cheese from the Italian island and region of Sicilia (Sicily). It is
produced throughout the Island, but especially in the provinces of Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Enna, Trapani and Palermo. It
is a pecorino-style cheese, like its close relation Pecorino Romano, but not as well known outside Italy as the latter.

The cheese was awarded Italian Denominazione di Origine protection in 1955 and EU Protected designation of origin
status in 1996.

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Italian Latest News

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Famous Italians

Caravaggio

Chalk portrait of Caravaggio by Ottavio Leoni, c. 1621.

Birth Name: Michelangelo Merisi
Born: 28 September 1571 (1571-09-28)
Milan, Italy
Died: 18 July 1610 (aged 38)
Porto Ercole, near Grosseto, in Tuscany, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Field: Painting
Movement: Baroque

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (September 28, 1571 – 18 July 1610) was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples,
Malta and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. He is commonly placed in the Baroque school, of which he was the first great
representative.

Even in his own lifetime Caravaggio was considered enigmatic, fascinating, rebellious and dangerous. He burst upon the
Rome art scene in 1600, and thereafter never lacked for commissions or patrons, yet he handled his success atrociously.
An early published notice on him, dating from 1604 and describing his lifestyle some three years previously, tells how
"after a fortnight's work he will swagger about for a month or two with a sword at his side and a servant following him,
from one ball-court to the next, ever ready to engage in a fight or an argument, so that it is most awkward to get along with
him." In 1606 he killed a young man in a brawl and fled from Rome with a price on his head. In Malta in 1608 he was
involved in another brawl, and yet another in Naples in 1609, possibly a deliberate attempt on his life by unidentified
enemies. By the next year, after a relatively brief career, he was dead.

Huge new churches and palazzi were being built in Rome in the decades of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and
paintings were needed to fill them. The Counter-Reformation Church searched for authentic religious art with which to
counter the threat of Protestantism, and for this task the artificial conventions of Mannerism, which had ruled art for
almost a century, no longer seemed adequate. Caravaggio's novelty was a radical naturalism which combined close
physical observation with a dramatic, even theatrical, approach to chiaroscuro, the use of light and shadow.

Famous and extremely influential while he lived, Caravaggio was almost entirely forgotten in the centuries after his death,
and it was only in the 20th century that his importance to the development of Western art was rediscovered. Yet despite
this his influence on the new Baroque style which eventually emerged from the ruins of Mannerism, was profound. Andre
Berne-Joffroy, Paul Valéry's secretary, said of him: "What begins in the work of Caravaggio is, quite simply, modern
painting."

Biography

The Crucifixion of Saint Peter, 1601. Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome.

Early Life (1571–1592)
Caravaggio was born in Milan, where his father, Fermo Merisi, was a household administrator and architect-decorator to
the Marchese of Caravaggio. His mother, Lucia Aratori, came from a propertied family of the same district. In 1576 the
family moved to Caravaggio to escape a plague which ravaged Milan. Caravaggio's father died there in 1577. It is
assumed that the artist grew up in Caravaggio, but his family kept up connections with the Sforzas and with the powerful
Colonna family, who were allied by marriage with the Sforzas, and destined to play a major role in Caravaggio's later life.
In 1584 he was apprenticed for four years to the Lombard painter Simone Peterzano, described in the contract of
apprenticeship as a pupil of Titian. Caravaggio appears to have stayed in the Milan-Caravaggio area after his
apprenticeship ended, but it is possible that he visited Venice and saw the works of Giorgione, whom Federico Zuccaro
later accused him of imitating, and Titian. Certainly he would have become familiar with the art treasures of Milan,
including Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, and with the regional Lombard art, a style which valued "simplicity and
attention to naturalistic detail" and was closer to the naturalism of Germany than to the stylised formality and grandeur of
Roman Mannerism.

Rome (1592–1600)

Boy with a Basket of Fruit, c. 1593. Oil on canvas, 67 x 53 cm. Galleria Borghese, Rome.

In mid-1592 Caravaggio arrived in Rome, "naked and extremely needy ... without fixed address and without provision ...
short of money." A few months later he was performing hack-work for the highly successful Giuseppe Cesari, Pope
Clement VIII's favourite painter, "painting flowers and fruit" in his factory-like workshop. Known works from this period
include a small Boy Peeling a Fruit (his earliest known painting), a Boy with a Basket of Fruit, and the Young Sick
Bacchus, supposedly a self-portrait done during convalescence from a serious illness that ended his employment with
Cesari. All three demonstrate the physical particularity — one aspect of his realism — for which Caravaggio was to
become renowned: the fruit-basket-boy's produce has been analysed by a professor of horticulture, who was able to
identify individual cultivars right down to "... a large fig leaf with a prominent fungal scorch lesion resembling anthracnose
(Glomerella cingulata)."

Caravaggio left Cesari in January 1594, determined to make his own way. His fortunes were at their lowest ebb, yet it was
now that he forged some extremely important friendships, with the painter Prospero Orsi, the architect Onorio Longhi, and
the sixteen year old Sicilian artist Mario Minniti. Orsi, established in the profession, introduced him to influential
collectors; Longhi, more balefully, introduced him to the world of Roman street-brawls; and Minniti served as a model and,
years later, would be instrumental in helping Caravaggio to important commissions in Sicily. The Fortune Teller, his first
composition with more than one figure, shows Mario being cheated by a gypsy girl. The theme was quite new for Rome,
and proved immensely influential over the next century and beyond. This, however, was in the future: at the time,
Caravaggio sold it for practically nothing. The Cardsharps — showing another unsophisticated boy falling the victim of
card cheats — is even more psychologically complex, and perhaps Caravaggio's first true masterpiece. Like the Fortune
Teller it was immensely popular, and over 50 copies survive. More importantly, it attracted the patronage of Cardinal
Francesco Maria Del Monte, one of the leading connoisseurs in Rome. For Del Monte and his wealthy art-loving circle
Caravaggio executed a number of intimate chamber-pieces — The Musicians, The Lute Player, a tipsy Bacchus, an
allegorical but realistic Boy Bitten by a Lizard — featuring Minniti and other boy models. The possibly homoerotic ambience
of these paintings has been the centre of considerable dispute amongst scholars and biographers since it was first raised
in the later half of the 20th century.

The Cardsharps, c. 1594. Oil on canvas, 107 x 99 cm. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas.

The realism returned with Caravaggio's first paintings on religious themes, and the emergence of remarkable spirituality.
The first of these was the Penitent Magdalene, showing Mary Magdalene at the moment when she has turned from her life
as a courtesan and sits weeping on the floor, her jewels scattered around her. "It seemed not a religious painting at all ...
a girl sitting on a low wooden stool drying her hair ... Where was the repentance ... suffering ... promise of salvation?" It
was understated, in the Lombard manner, not histrionic in the Roman manner of the time. It was followed by others in the
same style: Saint Catherine, Martha and Mary Magdalene, Judith Beheading Holofernes, a Sacrifice of Isaac, a Saint
Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy, and a Rest on the Flight into Egypt. The works, while viewed by a comparatively limited
circle, increased Caravaggio's fame with both connoisseurs and his fellow-artists. But a true reputation would depend on
public commissions, and for these it was necessary to look to the Church.

'Most Famous Painter in Rome' (1600–1606)

The Calling of Saint Matthew. 1599-1600. Oil on canvas, 322 x 340 cm. Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome.
The beam of light, which enters the picture from the direction of a real window, expresses in the blink of an eye the
conversion of St Matthew, the hinge on which his destiny will turn, with no flying angels, parting clouds or other artifacts.

In 1599, presumably through the influence of Del Monte, Caravaggio contracted to decorate the Contarelli Chapel in the
church of San Luigi dei Francesi. The two works making up the commission, the Martyrdom of Saint Matthew and Calling
of Saint Matthew, delivered in 1600, were an immediate sensation. Caravaggio's tenebrism (a heightened chiaroscuro)
brought high drama to his subjects, while his acutely observed realism brought a new level of emotional intensity.
Opinion among Caravaggio's artist peers was polarized. Some denounced him for various perceived failings, notably his
insistence on painting from life, without drawings, but for the most part he was hailed as a great artistic visionary: "The
painters then in Rome were greatly taken by this novelty, and the young ones particularly gathered around him, praised
him as the unique imitator of nature, and looked on his work as miracles."

Death of the Virgin. 1601 - 1606. Oil on canvas, 396 x 245 cm. Louvre, Paris.

Caravaggio went on to secure a string of prestigious commissions for religious works featuring violent struggles,
grotesque decapitations, torture and death. For the most part each new painting increased his fame, but a few were
rejected by the various bodies for whom they were intended, at least in their original forms, and had to be re-painted or
find new buyers. The essence of the problem was that while Caravaggio's dramatic intensity was appreciated, his realism
was seen by some as unacceptably vulgar. His first version of Saint Matthew and the Angel, featured the saint as a bald
peasant with dirty legs attended by a lightly-clad over-familiar boy-angel, was rejected and a second version had to be
painted as The Inspiration of Saint Matthew. Similarly, The Conversion of Saint Paul was rejected, and while another
version of the same subject, the Conversion on the Way to Damascus, was accepted, it featured the saint's horse's
haunches far more prominently than the saint himself, prompting this exchange between the artist and an exasperated
official of Santa Maria del Popolo: "Why have you put a horse in the middle, and Saint Paul on the ground?" "Because!" "Is
the horse God?" "No, but he stands in God's light!"

Other works included Entombment, the Madonna di Loreto (Madonna of the Pilgrims), the Grooms' Madonna, and the Death
of the Virgin. The history of these last two paintings illustrate the reception given to some of Caravaggio's art, and the
times in which he lived. The Grooms' Madonna, also known as Madonna dei palafrenieri, painted for a small altar in Saint
Peter's Basilica in Rome, remained there for just two days, and was then taken off. A cardinal's secretary wrote: "In this
painting there are but vulgarity, sacrilege, impiousness and disgust...One would say it is a work made by a painter that
can paint well, but of a dark spirit, and who has been for a lot of time far from God, from His adoration, and from any good
thought..." The Death of the Virgin, then, commissioned in 1601 by a wealthy jurist for his private chapel in the new
Carmelite church of Santa Maria della Scala, was rejected by the Carmelites in 1606. Caravaggio's contemporary Giulio
Mancini records that it was rejected because Caravaggio had used a well-known prostitute as his model for the Virgin;
Giovanni Baglione, another contemporary, tells us it was due to Mary's bare legs —a matter of decorum in either case.
Caravaggio scholar John Gash suggests that the problem for the Carmelites may have been theological rather than
aesthetic, in that Caravaggio's version fails to assert the doctrine of the Assumption of Mary, the idea that the Mother of
God did not die in any ordinary sense but was assumed into Heaven. The replacement altarpiece commissioned (from one
of Caravaggio's most able followers, Carlo Saraceni), showed the Virgin not dead, as Caravaggio had painted her, but
seated and dying; and even this was rejected, and replaced with a work which showed the Virgin not dying, but
ascending into Heaven with choirs of angels. In any case, the rejection did not mean that Caravaggio or his paintings
were out of favour. The Death of the Virgin was no sooner taken out of the church than it was purchased by the Duke of
Mantua, on the advice of Rubens, and later acquired by Charles I of England before entering the French royal collection in
1671.

Amor Vincit Omnia. 1602 - 1603. Oil on canvas. 156 x 113 cm. Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. Caravaggio shows Cupid
prevailing over all human endeavors: war, music, science, government.

One secular piece from these years is Amor Victorious, painted in 1602 for Vincenzo Giustiniani, a member of Del Monte's
circle. The model was named in a memoir of the early 17th century as "Cecco", the diminutive for Francesco. He is
possibly Francesco Boneri, identified with an artist active in the period 1610-1625 and known as Cecco del Caravaggio
('Caravaggio's Cecco'), carrying a bow and arrows and trampling symbols of the warlike and peaceful arts and sciences
underfoot. He is unclothed, and it is difficult to accept this grinning urchin as the Roman god Cupid – as difficult as it was
to accept Caravaggio's other semi-clad adolescents as the various angels he painted in his canvases, wearing much the
same stage-prop wings. The point, however, is the intense yet ambiguous reality of the work: it is simultaneously Cupid
and Cecco, as Caravaggio's Virgins were simultaneously the Mother of Christ and the Roman courtesans who modeled for
them.

Exile and Death (1606–1610)

Alof de Wignacourt, 1607-–1608 Louvre, Paris

St Jerome, 1607, Valletta Co-Cathedral, Malta

Caravaggio led a tumultuous life. He was notorious for brawling, even in a time and place when such behavior was
commonplace, and the transcripts of his police records and trial proceedings fill several pages. On 29 May 1606, he
killed, possibly unintentionally, a young man named Ranuccio Tomassoni. Previously his high-placed patrons had
protected him from the consequences of his escapades, but this time they could do nothing. Caravaggio, outlawed, fled to
Naples. There, outside the jurisdiction of the Roman authorities and protected by the Colonna family, the most famous
painter in Rome became the most famous in Naples. His connections with the Colonnas led to a stream of important
church commissions, including the Madonna of the Rosary, and The Seven Works of Mercy.

Despite his success in Naples, after only a few months in the city Caravaggio left for Malta, the headquarters of the
Knights of Malta, presumably hoping that the patronage of Alof de Wignacourt, Grand Master of the Knights, could help him
secure a pardon for Tomassoni's death. De Wignacourt proved so impressed at having the famous artist as official painter
to the Order that he inducted him as a knight, and the early biographer Bellori records that the artist was well pleased with
his success. Major works from his Malta period include a huge Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (the only painting to
which he put his signature) and a Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt and his Page, as well as portraits of other leading knights.
Yet by late August 1608 he was arrested and imprisoned. The circumstances surrounding this abrupt change of fortune
have long been a matter of speculation, but recent investigation has revealed it to have been the result of yet another
brawl, during which the door of a house was battered down and a knight seriously wounded. By December he had been
expelled from the Order "as a foul and rotten member."

The Raising of Lazarus (1609), Museo Regionale Uffici, Messina.

Before the expulsion Caravaggio had escaped to Sicily and the company of his old friend Mario Minniti, who was now
married and living in Syracuse. Together they set off on what amounted to a triumphal tour from Syracuse to Messina and
on to the island capital, Palermo. In each city Caravaggio continued to win prestigious and well-paid commissions. Among
other works from this period are a Burial of St. Lucy, a The Raising of Lazarus, and an Adoration of the Shepherds. His
style continued to evolve, showing now friezes of figures isolated against vast empty backgrounds. "His great Sicilian
altarpieces isolate their shadowy, pitifully poor figures in vast areas of darkness; they suggest the desperate fears and
frailty of man, and at the same time convey, with a new yet desolate tenderness, the beauty of humility and of the meek,
who shall inherit the earth." Contemporary reports depict a man whose behaviour was becoming increasingly bizarre,
sleeping fully armed and in his clothes, ripping up a painting at a slight word of criticism, mocking the local painters.

After only nine months in Sicily Caravaggio returned to Naples. According to his earliest biographer he was being pursued
by enemies while in Sicily and felt it safest to place himself under the protection of the Colonnas until he could secure his
pardon from the pope (now Paul V) and return to Rome. In Naples he painted The Denial of Saint Peter, a final John the
Baptist (Borghese), and, his last picture, The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula. His style continued to evolve — Saint Ursula is
caught in a moment of highest action and drama, as the arrow fired by the king of the Huns strikes her in the breast, unlike
earlier paintings which had all the immobility of the posed models. The brushwork was much freer and more
impressionistic. Had Caravaggio lived, something new would have come.

The Denial of Saint Peter, c. 1610. Oil on canvas, 94 x 125 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
In the chiaroscuro a woman points two fingers at Peter while a soldier points a third. Caravaggio tells the story of Peter
denying Christ three times with this symbolism.

In Naples an attempt was made on his life, by persons unknown. At first it was reported in Rome that the "famous artist"
Caravaggio was dead, but then it was learned that he was alive, but seriously disfigured in the face. He painted a Salome
with the Head of John the Baptist (Madrid), showing his own head on a platter, and sent it to de Wignacourt as a plea for
forgiveness. Perhaps at this time he painted also a David with the Head of Goliath, showing the young David with a
strangely sorrowful expression gazing on the wounded head of the giant, which is again Caravaggio's. This painting he
may have sent to the unscrupulous art-loving cardinal-nephew Scipione Borghese, who had the power to grant or withhold
pardons.

In the summer of 1610 he took a boat northwards to receive the pardon, which seemed imminent thanks to his powerful
Roman friends. With him were three last paintings, gifts for Cardinal Scipione. What happened next is the subject of much
confusion and conjecture. The bare facts are that on 28 July an anonymous avviso (private newsletter) from Rome to the
ducal court of Urbino reported that Caravaggio was dead. Three days later another avviso said that he had died of fever.
These were the earliest, brief accounts of his death, which later underwent much elaboration. No body was found. A poet
friend of the artist later gave 18 July as the date of death, and a recent researcher claims to have discovered a death
notice showing that the artist died on that day of a fever in Porto Ercole, near Grosseto in Tuscany.

Caravaggio the Artist

The Birth of Baroque

The Taking of Christ, 1602. National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.
Caravaggio's application of the chiaroscuro technique shows through on the faces and armour notwithstanding the lack of
a visible shaft of light. The figure on the extreme right is a self portrait.

Caravaggio "put the oscuro (shadows) into chiaroscuro." Chiaroscuro was practiced long before he came on the scene,
but it was Caravaggio who made the technique definitive, darkening the shadows and transfixing the subject in a blinding
shaft of light. With this came the acute observation of physical and psychological reality which formed the ground both for
his immense popularity and for his frequent problems with his religious commissions. He worked at great speed, from live
models, scoring basic guides directly onto the canvas with the end of the brush handle. The approach was anathema to
the skilled artists of his day, who decried his refusal to work from drawings and to idealise his figures. Yet the models
were basic to his realism. Some have been identified, including Mario Minniti and Francesco Boneri, both fellow-artists,
Mario appearing as various figures in the early secular works, the young Francesco as a succession of angels, Baptists
and Davids in the later canvasses. His female models include Fillide Melandroni, Anna Bianchini, and Maddalena
Antognetti (the "Lena" mentioned in court documents of the "artichoke" case as Caravaggio's concubine), all well-known
prostitutes, who appear as female religious figures including the Virgin and various saints. Caravaggio himself appears in
several paintings, his final self-portrait being as the witness on the far right to the Martyrdom of Saint Ursula.

Supper at Emmaus, 1601. Oil on canvas, 139 x 195 cm. National Gallery, London.

Caravaggio had a noteworthy ability to express in one scene of unsurpassed vividness the passing of a crucial moment.
The Supper at Emmaus depicts the recognition of Christ by his disciples: a moment before he is a fellow traveler,
mourning the passing of the Messiah, as he never ceases to be to the inn-keeper's eyes, the second after, he is the
Saviour. In The Calling of St Matthew, the hand of the Saint points to himself as if he were saying "who, me?", while his
eyes, fixed upon the figure of Christ, have already said, "Yes, I will follow you". With The Resurrection of Lazarus, he goes
a step further, giving us a glimpse of the actual physical process of resurrection. The body of Lazarus is still in the throes
of rigor mortis, but his hand, facing and recognizing that of Christ, is alive. Other major Baroque artists would travel the
same path, for example Bernini, fascinated with themes from Ovid's Metamorphoses.

The Caravaggisti

Judith Beheading Holofernes 1598-1599. Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome.

The installation of the St. Matthew paintings in the Contarelli Chapel had an immediate impact among the younger artists in
Rome, and Caravaggism became the cutting edge for every ambitious young painter. The first Caravaggisti included
Giovanni Baglione (although his Caravaggio phase was short-lived) and Orazio Gentileschi. In the next generation there
were Carlo Saraceni, Bartolomeo Manfredi and Orazio Borgianni. Gentileschi, despite being considerably older, was the
only one of these artists to live much beyond 1620, and ended up as court painter to Charles I in England. His daughter
Artemisia Gentileschi was also close to Caravaggio, and one of the most gifted of the movement. Yet in Rome and in Italy
it was not Caravaggio, but the influence of Annibale Carracci, blending elements from the High Renaissance and Lombard
realism, which ultimately triumphed.

Caravaggio's brief stay in Naples produced a notable school of Neapolitan Caravaggisti, including Battistello Caracciolo
and Carlo Sellitto. The Caravaggisti movement there ended with a terrible outbreak of plague in 1656, but the Spanish
connection – Naples was a possession of Spain – was instrumental in forming the important Spanish branch of his
influence.

A group of Catholic artists from Utrecht, the "Utrecht Caravaggisti", travelled to Rome as students in the first years of the
17th century and were profoundly influenced by the work of Caravaggio, as Bellori describes. On their return to the north
this trend had a short-lived but influential flowering in the 1620s among painters like Hendrick ter Brugghen, Gerrit van
Honthorst, Andries Both and Dirck van Baburen. In the following generation the effects of Caravaggio, although attenuated,
are to be seen in the work of Rubens (who purchased one of his paintings for the Gonzaga of Mantua and painted a copy of
the Entombment of Christ), Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Velázquez, the last of whom presumably saw his work during his
various sojourns in Italy.

Death and Rebirth of a Reputation

The Entombment of Christ (1602-1603). Pinacoteca Vaticana.

Caravaggio's fame scarcely survived his death. His innovations inspired the Baroque, but the Baroque took the drama of
his chiaroscuro without the psychological realism. While he directly influenced the style of the artists mentioned above,
and, at a distance, the Frenchmen Georges de La Tour and Simon Vouet, and the Spaniard Giuseppe Ribera, within a few
decades his works were being ascribed to less scandalous artists, or simply overlooked. The Baroque, to which he
contributed so much, had evolved, and fashions had changed, but perhaps more pertinently Caravaggio never established
a workshop as the Carracci's did, and thus had no school to spread his techniques. Nor did he ever set out his underlying
philosophical approach to art, the psychological realism which can only be deduced from his surviving work. Thus his
reputation was doubly vulnerable to the critical demolition-jobs done by two of his earliest biographers, Giovanni
Baglione, a rival painter with a personal vendetta, and the influential 17th century critic Giovan Bellori, who had not
known him but was under the influence of the French Classicist Poussin, who had not known him either but hated his
work.

In the 1920s art critic Roberto Longhi brought Caravaggio's name once more to the foreground, and placed him in the
European tradition: "Ribera, Vermeer, La Tour and Rembrandt could never have existed without him. And the art of
Delacroix, Courbet and Manet would have been utterly different". The influential Bernard Berenson agreed: "With the
exception of Michelangelo, no other Italian painter exercised so great an influence."

Modern Tradition

The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, 1608. Oratory of the co-Cathedral of St John, Valletta.

Many large museums of art, for example those in Detroit and New York, contain rooms where dozens of paintings by as
many artists display the characteristic look of the work of Caravaggio — nighttime setting, dramatic lighting, ordinary
people used as models, honest description from nature. In modern times, painters like the Norwegian Odd Nerdrum and
the Hungarian Tibor Csernus make no secret of their attempts to emulate and update him, and the contemporary American
artist Doug Ohlson pays homage to Caravaggio's influence on his own work. Filmmaker Derek Jarman turned to the
Caravaggio legend when creating his movie Caravaggio; and Dutch art forger Han van Meegeren used genuine
Caravaggios when creating his ersatz Old Masters.

Only about 50 works by Caravaggio survive. One, The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew, was recently authenticated and
restored. It had been in storage in Hampton Court, mislabeled as a copy. At least a couple of his paintings have been or
may have been lost in recent times. Richard Francis Burton writes of a "picture of St. Rosario (in the museum of the Grand
Duke of Tuscany), showing a circle of thirty men turpiter ligati" which is not known to have survived. Furthermore, the
rejected version of The Inspiration of St. Matthew painting intended for the Contarelli Chapel in San Luigi dei Francesi in
Rome was destroyed during the bombing of Dresden, though there are black and white photographs of the work.

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ITALIAN LANGUAGE: Lessons of Italian Grammar, Spelling, and Usage: Double
Consonants - Diphthongs - Syllabication
ITALIAN GENEALOGY: How to Obtain Information and Documents of your Ancestors in
Italy
ITALIAN REGIONS: Calabria
ITALIAN PROVINCES: Reggio Calabria - Catanzaro - Cosenza - Crotone - Vibo Valentia
ITALIAN RECIPES: Spaghetti with Bolognese Sauce - Italian Five-Cheese Chicken
Roll-Ups - Broccoli with Caramelized Onions and Pine Nuts
ITALIAN HISTORY: Italo-Americani (Italian-Americans)
FAMOUS ITALIANS: Caravaggio
ITALIAN COMPANIES: Lancia
ITALIAN PRODUCTS: Formaggio Pecorino (Pecorino Cheese)
ITALIAN LATEST NEWS: Life in Italy

In This Issue:

Issue # 7, July 2008

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Italian Recipes

Broccoli with Caramelized Onions and
Pine Nuts

Ingredients
3 tablespoons pine nuts or chopped slivered almonds
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
4 cups broccoli florets
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Cooking Directions
Toast pine nuts (or almonds) in a medium dry skillet over
medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until lightly browned
and fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl to cool.
Add oil to the pan and heat over medium heat. Add onion
and salt; cook, stirring occasionally, adjusting heat as
necessary, until soft and golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, steam broccoli until just tender, 4 to 6 minutes.
Transfer to a large bowl. Add the nuts, onion, vinegar and
pepper; toss to coat. Serve immediately.

Yield
4 servings

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Italian Recipes

Italian Five-Cheese Chicken Roll-Ups

Ingredients
1 cup Finely Shredded Italian Style Five Cheese Blend,
divided
2 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
1/4 cup finely chopped green peppers
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves, pounded
to 1/4-inch thickness
1 cup spaghetti sauce

Cooking Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix 1/2 cup of the shredded
cheese, the cream cheese, peppers, oregano and garlic
salt until well blended. Shape into 4 logs. Place 1 log on
one of the short ends of each chicken breast; press into
chicken lightly. Roll up each chicken breast tightly, tucking
in ends of chicken around filling to completely enclose
filling.
Place, seam-sides down, in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed
with cooking spray. Spoon spaghetti sauce evenly over
chicken; cover with foil.
Bake 30 min. or until chicken is cooked through (170
degrees F). Remove foil; sprinkle chicken with remaining
1/2 cup shredded cheese. Bake an additional 3 to 5 min. or
until cheese is melted.

Yield
4 servings

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