UNICO
ComUNICO_SEPT15_Web
ComUNICO_SEPT15_Web
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
September 2015 | VOL 70 | ISSUE 05<br />
The Voice of <strong>UNICO</strong> National<br />
Service above Self ®<br />
Convention Coverage 36<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> Welcomes<br />
Our New President!
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Contents<br />
Table of Contents<br />
officers<br />
Ann Walko.......................................................President<br />
Dominick Nicastro...................Executive Vice President<br />
Thomas Vaughan............................First Vice President<br />
Lee Norelli..................................Second Vice President<br />
Michael Fiorelli................................................Treasurer<br />
Patty Hirsch.....................................................Secretary<br />
Frank T. Blasi.......................................General Counsel<br />
Anthony Bengivenga.Membership & Retention Director<br />
Nino Randazzo................................Expansion Director<br />
Joan Tidona...................................Scholarship Director<br />
Anthony D’Alessio...............................................Auditor<br />
Frank Greco, Jr..................................Sergeant-at-Arms<br />
Robert Tarte............Eastern Regional District Governor<br />
Paul Domico...........Midwest Regional District Governor<br />
James DeSpenza..Western Regional District Governor<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> Foundation<br />
John DiNapoli Foundation President<br />
jdnapoli@unico.org<br />
coOley’s anemia<br />
Peter Pettinato<br />
570-698-9626<br />
plpettinato@peoplepc.com<br />
Mental health<br />
Barbara Lipari Laborim<br />
BL135@verizon.net<br />
Scholarships<br />
Joan Tidona<br />
jntidona@verizon.net<br />
“v” foundation for<br />
Cancer research<br />
Frank DeFrank<br />
610-905-3931<br />
fdfe@enter.net<br />
Charitable donations to <strong>UNICO</strong> Charities are tax deductible!<br />
Send your check to the <strong>UNICO</strong> Foundation to:<br />
271 US highway 46 West, Suite F-103, Fairfield, NJ 07004<br />
Office Team<br />
Andre’ DiMino...................................Executive Director<br />
Pat Pelonero......Officer Manager & Com<strong>UNICO</strong> Editor<br />
Lisa Adubato............................Administrative Assistant<br />
Sue Anzelmo............................Administrative Assistant<br />
973-808-0035| <strong>UNICO</strong>national@<strong>UNICO</strong>.org | www.<strong>UNICO</strong>.org<br />
MESSAGES<br />
04 President<br />
05 Executive Vice President<br />
05 First Vice President<br />
06 Second Vice President<br />
06 Chaplain<br />
07 Editor<br />
07 Foundation President<br />
08 Membership & Retention<br />
08 Torraco Food Bank/Shelter<br />
08 “V” Foundation<br />
09 Scholarship Director<br />
09 Cooley’s Anemia<br />
NEWS<br />
10 Chapters & Districts<br />
14 New Members<br />
20 In Memoriam<br />
21 Com<strong>UNICO</strong> Rules<br />
22 In Memoriam<br />
25 Finding Nonno’s Family<br />
26 Eastern Regional Forms<br />
31 In Memoriam<br />
32 Dion - Return of the<br />
Wanderer<br />
34 Scrapbook Guidelines<br />
36 93rd Annual Convention<br />
46 Ella T. Grasso Essays<br />
50 In Memoriam<br />
51 Olimpia Milano<br />
Basketball<br />
FEATURES<br />
55 Cool Stuff<br />
56 Books<br />
57 Music<br />
58 Fashion<br />
59 Newsmakers<br />
63 Legends<br />
66 Sports<br />
67 Film<br />
68 Insight<br />
70 Ciao Italia<br />
71 Recipes<br />
74 Parting<br />
Mark Your Calendars!<br />
October 19, 2015<br />
Deadline for the November issue of<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
October 23 - 24, 2015 Eastern Regional Meeting<br />
October 28, 2015<br />
December 4, 2015<br />
March 4 - 5, 2016<br />
April 23, 2016<br />
July 27 - 30, 2016<br />
NY, NJ and PA Meet the President<br />
National Office Christmas Party Open<br />
House<br />
Mid-Year Board Meeting<br />
Community Service Day<br />
National Convention<br />
For more events, visit www.unico.org<br />
Title of Publication: Com<strong>UNICO</strong> Publication No. 00647700. Filed 11/15/14. No. of Issues Published<br />
Annually: 5. Annual Subscription Price: $25.00. Mailing Address of Office of Publication,<br />
Headquarters, and Publisher: 271 U.S. Hwy. 46 West, Suite F-103, Fairfield, NJ 07004. Editor: Pat<br />
Pelonero. The purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status<br />
for Federal income tax purposes has not changed during the preceding 12 months. Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
is the official publication of <strong>UNICO</strong> National. Pages 1-54, and 75-76 editorial content copyrighted<br />
by <strong>UNICO</strong> National ©2015. Pages 55-74 editorial content copyrighted by Fra Noi Inc. ©2015<br />
Volume 70, No. 5 • Com<strong>UNICO</strong> (ISSN-1044-7202) • Total Circulation 7,000+<br />
Phone: 973.808.0035 Fax: 973.808.0043 E-mail: uniconational@unico.org<br />
Periodical postage is paid to Caldwell, NJ and additional offices.<br />
Postmaster, please send Form 3579 and all address changes to:<br />
271 US Highway 46 West, Suite F-103, Fairfield, NJ 07004-2458<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 3
Messages<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
4<br />
NATIONAL<br />
PRESIDENT<br />
A message<br />
from<br />
Dr. Ann Walko<br />
We had another successful Convention<br />
in beautiful Newport Beach,<br />
California! My thanks to all who attended<br />
to the many details that go<br />
into coordinating a Convention and<br />
to all attendees who were declared<br />
the “stars” at the Gala for their humanitarian<br />
efforts throughout the<br />
year. It is my hope that everyone had<br />
a good time, as we had some fun in<br />
the sun, as well as conducting the<br />
business of <strong>UNICO</strong>. Know that I appreciated<br />
everything that was done<br />
to make this a memorable experience.<br />
Congratulations to all of the<br />
award and scholarship recipients.<br />
All were deserving of our recognition.<br />
Best wishes to the Officers now<br />
in place to prepare for a year of “Action,<br />
Accountability, Communication<br />
and Change” and ready to build<br />
a <strong>UNICO</strong> team.<br />
Now our work must begin.<br />
Changes have to be made in order<br />
for our organization to grow. This is<br />
the year in which we must be determined<br />
and assertive in terms of how<br />
we do our <strong>UNICO</strong> business. We need<br />
to become the “movers and shakers”<br />
of <strong>UNICO</strong> and become a movement<br />
for action. We need to deliver a<br />
“New <strong>UNICO</strong>” to our own members<br />
and present ourselves to a wider audience<br />
to attract new members. Then<br />
we must nurture all of our Chapters,<br />
so that they remain viable entities!<br />
We need to engage members in our<br />
change process.<br />
We must build sustainability<br />
into our programming and we need<br />
to do this by raising the bar in terms<br />
of how we operate. We need to become<br />
more creative, because we cannot<br />
continue as we now exist. We<br />
need to develop more interaction<br />
between our Chapters and Districts<br />
and more interaction with National,<br />
with all of us working together in<br />
a common cause. We need to think<br />
“out of the box”, become more computer<br />
literate and we need to put<br />
ourselves in a position to increase<br />
our membership. We need to motivate<br />
and engage new members in<br />
what we do. We need to work on retention.<br />
Above all, we need to create<br />
an atmosphere where people will<br />
want to come and enjoy what we<br />
have to offer.<br />
Public Relations and Communication<br />
will help us reach those who<br />
have not joined our wonderful family<br />
of volunteers. We need to flood<br />
the market with what we do and tap<br />
into areas not explored. Membership<br />
and Retention and Expansion needs<br />
to be our focus each and every year,<br />
therefore, developing an effective<br />
public relations and communication<br />
program will help us in these areas.<br />
We need to have accountability<br />
inserted into our daily business.<br />
We need to know what works and<br />
what is not working. Everyone must<br />
be involved in this process so that<br />
we can show results. This will help<br />
us with our Public Relation efforts.<br />
We must become a “<strong>UNICO</strong> think<br />
tank” and monitor where we have<br />
been, where we are now so that we<br />
can carve out a path as to where we<br />
need to go! This takes work and this<br />
administration will be a working<br />
one and one that is sensitive to the<br />
needs of the members. We need to<br />
know what you need and help you<br />
in your quest to remain successful.<br />
Accountability is the glue to commitment<br />
and results. It means that<br />
everyone must do his or her part.<br />
Reporting out is going to be a necessary<br />
part of solving problems that<br />
plague our organization. We will<br />
seek solutions to eliminate the roadblocks<br />
to our advancement.<br />
First, we must change our<br />
mindsets, change is going to be<br />
essential and working together<br />
will move us forward. Don’t fight<br />
change…it will happen….and we<br />
will be better for it!<br />
Recognition is a necessary component,<br />
Members, Chapters, and<br />
Districts need to be cited for the<br />
good work they do. We need to focus<br />
on our strengths and determine our<br />
September 2015<br />
weaknesses. We must challenge members<br />
to do more and increasing our<br />
membership will help us do more. We<br />
must commit to lead, to share, and<br />
collaborate. Helen Keller said “that<br />
alone we can do so little, but together<br />
we can do so much.”<br />
This year we have to move fast, we<br />
need to have a positive mindset, we<br />
need to exhibit a can do atmosphere,<br />
accept no excuses as to why we cannot<br />
move forward. We will strive for<br />
excellence in all we do, while we<br />
model the five pillars that guide this<br />
organization: Unity, we must work<br />
together, neighborliness, maintain<br />
our integrity by doing what is right<br />
because it is the right thing to do,<br />
continue our charitable endeavors,<br />
and provide our members with opportunities<br />
to lead and be engaged in<br />
what we do. We must put aside our<br />
personal agendas and work in unison<br />
to get the job done. Together we can<br />
be the force to turn the tide of complacency<br />
into positive activity.<br />
Please take a moment to read the<br />
text of the plan that has been outlined<br />
for this body in the President’s<br />
Newsletter which will be coming<br />
out shortly. Through the open door<br />
policy which will be instituted,<br />
share with me your concerns and<br />
your ideas to move us into more<br />
deeply into the 21st century. I asked<br />
you in one of my campaign speeches<br />
to close your eyes and imagine what<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> is today and what it could<br />
become tomorrow. Close your eyes<br />
and imagine what we can do for<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> when we work together!<br />
You have placed your faith in<br />
me to lead. I am looking forward to<br />
working with you so that we can<br />
grow and flourish and do what we<br />
do best, to work in the best interest<br />
of our organization and making<br />
life a little bit better for others. I am<br />
looking forward to meeting you at as<br />
many of your meetings and events as<br />
humanly possible.<br />
Thank you for this wonderful opportunity<br />
to serve and God Bless you<br />
for all that you do. Here’s to a successful<br />
and productive year!<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Messages<br />
Executive<br />
Vice PRESIDENT<br />
A message<br />
from<br />
Dominick Nicastro<br />
Congratulations to all of the newly<br />
elected and appointed officers. I am<br />
looking forward to working with everyone<br />
this coming year.<br />
I wanted to start with something<br />
our President said; we should update<br />
and adjust newer ideas for <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Membership and Retention, and Expansion.<br />
I would rather have quality<br />
members who participate and pay<br />
their dues, versus the quantity. Quantity<br />
is important, don’t misunderstand,<br />
but that should take a back seat for<br />
now; as we work towards restructuring<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> to be its best yet.<br />
Past National President Mike<br />
Veselka started the changes, and we<br />
are now on the right road to further<br />
revitalizing <strong>UNICO</strong>. The Vice Presidents,<br />
working along with myself<br />
following suit, feel confident in<br />
our collective abilities to continue<br />
the work necessary to make <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
achieve its goals.<br />
As you read in my report at the<br />
Convention, I will be working with<br />
the Vice Presidents and the President.<br />
One of the goals is to build New Jersey<br />
Districts III and VI back up, while<br />
working along with District Governors<br />
Vito Bilatta and Jim Fucci, respectively.<br />
I will also be assisting the<br />
office with membership dues owed.<br />
There are some Chapters, which are<br />
in arrears for two years. I feel Chapters<br />
in arrears over one years’ time are<br />
not in good fiscal standing, and their<br />
charters should be revoked.<br />
This year I will be travelling to<br />
Districts and Chapters and intend to<br />
visit the Mid-West. Please contact me<br />
if you are a District Governor or President<br />
and need any assistance. Please<br />
reach out to me by phone or e-mail if<br />
you are in need and I will be willing<br />
to help any way I can.<br />
In closing, I wanted to personally<br />
thank everyone for their support<br />
through the years. I am looking forward<br />
to becoming your President next<br />
year at the 2016 Chesapeake, Maryland<br />
Convention.<br />
Also, special thanks for both past<br />
and present support to my Garfield<br />
Chapter, my Convention Committee and<br />
the Chapters of New Jersey District VII,<br />
all of whom have been with me from<br />
the very beginning of my ascent up the<br />
chairs in <strong>UNICO</strong> National. Together we<br />
can make great achievements in <strong>UNICO</strong>.<br />
God Bless <strong>UNICO</strong> and all of us.<br />
First<br />
Vice PRESIDENT<br />
A message<br />
from<br />
Thomas Vaughan<br />
Wow! What a fabulous time we had<br />
at the Convention in Newport Beach.<br />
We had productive meeting time and<br />
quality free time to enjoy the California<br />
sun. This was Michele and my first time<br />
visiting Southern California. We really<br />
enjoyed the beaches, low humidity, and<br />
the seemingly absence of bugs! Congratulations<br />
to Frank Paolercio, Ann<br />
Walko, the Convention Committee,<br />
and the National Office Staff for putting<br />
it all together successfully.<br />
Best wishes to our new Second<br />
National Vice President Lee Norelli of<br />
the Greater Philadelphia Chapter. I have<br />
gotten to know Lee and his lovely fiancée<br />
Debbie well the last several years.<br />
Lee is a dedicated UNICAN with a great<br />
heart and I’m sure he’ll do a fine job in<br />
his new position. Good luck to our new<br />
Membership and Retention Director Anthony<br />
Bengivenga. I’m certain he will<br />
work hard in this challenging position.<br />
I’d also like to acknowledge Francine<br />
Nido, the Membership and Retention<br />
Director the past two years. Francine<br />
gave up her position to serve again as<br />
Connecticut I District Governor.<br />
I want to thank you for your support<br />
in electing me First National Vice<br />
President. I will help the Districts this<br />
year and I look forward to assisting<br />
the District Governors in any way possible.<br />
District Governors are the conduit<br />
between the Chapters and the National<br />
Officers. They are a very important part<br />
of our organization and deserve your<br />
support and attention. As part of my<br />
duties, I will also oversee the <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
website. I have some ideas to make the<br />
website a more dynamic destination and<br />
hope to implement them with the help<br />
of the Office Staff.<br />
I will still be part of the team to help<br />
the piazzaunico web site thrive and will<br />
work with its new Director, Immediate<br />
Past President Rick D’Arminio. National<br />
President Ann Walko is going to keep the<br />
Vice Presidents busy and our calendars<br />
are already filling up. I look forward to attending<br />
the terrific events, speaking to our<br />
members, and doing the great things we do<br />
as an organization. Do not hesitate to invite<br />
me to an event or contact me. I will do my<br />
best to serve our members this year.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 5
Messages<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Second<br />
Vice PRESIDENT<br />
A message<br />
from<br />
Lee Norelli<br />
On the morning of June 2, 1905, with<br />
only an elementary school education,<br />
my grandfather Luigi Norelli embarked<br />
on the steamship Regine Luise to sail to<br />
America from Naples. He kept notes in a<br />
small book and like many of our forefathers,<br />
he left “my dear motherland, Italy,<br />
and emigrated to America, not to abandon<br />
my family, but to help it, and see it<br />
in a state of happiness.”<br />
I am <strong>UNICO</strong> National’s new Second<br />
Vice President from the Greater Philadelphia<br />
Chapter. I am blessed with a large<br />
immediate and extended family. I have<br />
been an active member of <strong>UNICO</strong> serving<br />
as a Chapter Vice President, Chapter<br />
President, District Governor, and member<br />
of the previous Executive Committee.<br />
As Second Vice President of <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
National, I will work to see our organization<br />
and Chapters around the country<br />
in a state of happiness. I am honored<br />
to have this opportunity to serve and I<br />
promise to do my best.<br />
My charge: “The Second Vice<br />
President shall assist the President by<br />
supervising the activities of all Chapter<br />
Presidents and Chapter Secretaries.” To<br />
do this I’ll need your help and participation<br />
in the following activities:<br />
1. Submit your Chapter Reports<br />
monthly. The form is available online<br />
and takes minutes to complete. The receipt<br />
of this information is important to<br />
the continued success of the entire organization<br />
and helps us know what areas to<br />
focus on.<br />
2. Submit your Chapter or another<br />
Chapter for a Chapter Achievement<br />
Award.<br />
3. Come to a National Event, like a<br />
Regional Meeting, Mid-Year Board Meeting<br />
or the National Convention. Having<br />
attended these meetings and the last five<br />
Conventions, I have met people who will<br />
be lifelong friends.<br />
I look forward to learning about your<br />
Chapter and assisting in any way I can. I<br />
am available by email at lnorelli@unico.<br />
org or by telephone at 609-685-7860 and<br />
enjoy talking with old friends and meeting<br />
new friends. Please don’t hesitate to<br />
introduce yourself.<br />
My grandfather later wrote, “After<br />
almost a year that I resided in America,<br />
and having understood what this land<br />
was about, I brought my entire family to<br />
me. So, I hugged again my dear father,<br />
my brothers and sisters…”<br />
110 years later, we are all doing very well.<br />
Chaplain<br />
A message<br />
from<br />
Fr. Robert Wolfee<br />
Jesus used a variety of teaching<br />
methods throughout his public ministry.<br />
The use of parables was one. Often, the<br />
stories Jesus told were drawn from the<br />
world of planting, harvesting, shepherding<br />
and pruning because these things<br />
were such a big part of everyday life. We<br />
can see how Jesus recognized, in these<br />
ordinary events, places of grace and of<br />
God’s work at hand. People worked the<br />
land, planted the seeds and reaped the<br />
harvests, but the growing itself, the journey<br />
from the tiny seed to the great tree<br />
happened almost without them being<br />
aware of it. In other words, God’s loving<br />
power is secretly at work, making<br />
our routine efforts abundant with life<br />
and goodness.<br />
In one parable, Jesus spoke of a tiny<br />
mustard seed, which grows so huge that<br />
it provides a resting place for all the<br />
birds of the air. Jesus tells us that the<br />
kingdom of God is like that. It started<br />
very small with Adam and Eve but<br />
continues to grow because nothing<br />
can stop God’s plans. Our faith gives<br />
us hope; it reminds us that there are<br />
endless possibilities.<br />
Jesus tells us that we must act on our<br />
faith because faith without good works is<br />
not enough. Jesus had plenty of faith, but<br />
he also performed plenty of good works.<br />
He healed the sick, cast out spirits, fed<br />
the hungry, all while sharing God’s word<br />
as found in Scripture. There are many<br />
ways that we put our faith into action.<br />
For example, we sacrifice our time,<br />
talent and treasure for those in need. We<br />
teach. We care for others. We practice<br />
the <strong>UNICO</strong> motto of “service above self.”<br />
Those are just some examples. The list<br />
goes on and on.<br />
God plants in each of us many tiny<br />
seeds of goodness that we are to bring<br />
to fruition by our good works and loving<br />
care of others. We can produce good<br />
fruit, through our efforts and God’s grace.<br />
He is still at work, building his kingdom<br />
on earth and bringing his plan to completion.<br />
We co-operate with that plan<br />
by being willing to go where he leads<br />
us and by being patient if we do not see<br />
the results we want or expect. After all,<br />
holiness happens one step at a time, not<br />
all at once; and God is in charge of the<br />
process, not us!<br />
God bless.<br />
Celebrate Columbus Day!<br />
6<br />
September 2015<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Messages<br />
Comunico<br />
Editor<br />
A message<br />
from<br />
Pat Pelonero<br />
Even though the weather outside<br />
is extremely warm, summer is essentially<br />
over and fall is appearing with<br />
the start of the leaves turning and<br />
falling too soon! Welcome to a new<br />
year of <strong>UNICO</strong> and welcome to our<br />
new President Dr. Ann Walko! As the<br />
year begins there are many events<br />
and meetings being planned for<br />
members to attend. Please check out<br />
the <strong>UNICO</strong> National website and Piazza<strong>UNICO</strong>.US<br />
for all the dates and<br />
details. Columbus Day will be here<br />
before you know it. The parades always<br />
prove to be much fun and what<br />
a great way to celebrate Christopher<br />
Columbus. This year the Seaside parade<br />
will feature our very own Alan<br />
Floria, member of the Brick Chapter,<br />
as Grand Marshal. All Chapters are<br />
welcomed to march in this parade<br />
and your Chapter should think about<br />
joining in the Seaside fun. There<br />
is also the Seaside Heights Italian<br />
Festival going on that weekend with<br />
great food and entertainment. The<br />
Eastern Regional Meeting is just<br />
around the corner and this year it<br />
will be held at the Inn at Pocono<br />
Manor in Pocono Manor, Pennsylvania.<br />
It is a great location and we are<br />
looking forward to seeing everyone.<br />
The staff and I would like to<br />
thank the two interns that were employed<br />
over the summer weeks to<br />
assist us in the Convention crunch<br />
time. Both Jessie and Mark were<br />
extremely helpful with the projects<br />
presented to them and they were<br />
able to assist us in some technology<br />
questions and issues we experienced.<br />
Of course technology and the<br />
young go hand and hand.<br />
Please check out the advertisements<br />
in Com<strong>UNICO</strong> as well as the<br />
stories and features. The businesses<br />
and Chapters that advertise with<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong> help us to defray some<br />
of the substantial costs involved<br />
with producing the magazine. They<br />
place their advertisements hoping<br />
to attain some business or sales. It<br />
would be great for the members to<br />
support them. Also, if there is any<br />
business you know that would like<br />
to advertise with Com<strong>UNICO</strong> please<br />
direct them to the National Office<br />
for details relating to advertising. We<br />
do give a discount to our Members,<br />
Chapters and Districts.<br />
For all the Chapters that paid<br />
their first half dues on time a big<br />
thank you. The second half dues is<br />
due by November 30th. If you need<br />
assistance in getting this accomplished<br />
please call the office. We<br />
will help in any way possible so that<br />
you are in compliance with the Constitution.<br />
Thank you for all you do to<br />
keep the “Service Above Self”<br />
motto alive!<br />
The Deadline for the November 2015 issue of Com<strong>UNICO</strong> is<br />
Friday, October 16, 2015<br />
Foundation<br />
President<br />
A message<br />
from<br />
John DiNapoli<br />
On Thursday, July 30, 2015, the<br />
Board of Trustees of the <strong>UNICO</strong> Foundation<br />
met at the Marriott Hotel and<br />
Spa in Newport Beach, California.<br />
There were five positions on the<br />
Board of Trustees that were up for<br />
election. Five existing Trustees were<br />
re-elected. They were as follows:<br />
James DeSpenza, Nina Held, Joseph<br />
Monaco, Francine Nido and Peter Pettinato.<br />
Michael Spano, Treasurer reviewed<br />
the financial statements as of June<br />
30, 2015. Total funds in the various<br />
accounts of the Foundation totaled<br />
$2,936,298. A copy of the report is<br />
available at the National Office.<br />
The Trustees approved the following<br />
Grants:<br />
COOLEY’S ANEMIA $15,000<br />
ITALIAN STUDIES 2,000<br />
MENTAL HEALTH 3,800<br />
TORRACO FOOD BANK 7,500<br />
Andre’ DiMino was re-appointed<br />
Executive Director of the <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
FOUNDATION.<br />
Carmine Campanile was re-appointed<br />
General Counsel of the <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
FOUNDATION.<br />
Past National President Frank Cannata<br />
reported that the Seton Hall Book<br />
Project is 2/3 complete and is schedule<br />
for publication in the spring of 2017.<br />
Great News!<br />
The Trustees with the assistants<br />
from Past National President Chris<br />
DiMattio approved transferring<br />
$300,000 from the Scholarship Program<br />
to the 21st Century Campaign.<br />
This officially completes the Campaign.<br />
The new name will be the 21st Century<br />
Fund. None of the funds will be distributed<br />
until a formal written spending<br />
policy is in place, which endows the<br />
current Scholarship program.<br />
The Trustees met to elect the officers<br />
for the current year. They were as<br />
follows:<br />
John J. DiNapoli-President<br />
John Alati-Vice President<br />
Michael Spano- Treasurer<br />
Peter Pettinato- Secretary<br />
Thank you to everyone who has<br />
contributed to the <strong>UNICO</strong> Foundation.<br />
If anyone has any questions regarding<br />
the <strong>UNICO</strong> Foundation, please do<br />
not hesitate to contact me.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 7
Messages<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
8<br />
Membership<br />
& Retention<br />
A message<br />
from<br />
Anthony Bengivenga<br />
At this year’s <strong>UNICO</strong> National Convention<br />
in Newport Beach, I was fortunate<br />
to be elected <strong>UNICO</strong> National’s<br />
Membership and Retention Director. I<br />
am honored and thrilled to have this<br />
opportunity and look so forward to<br />
continuing my passion and devotion<br />
to <strong>UNICO</strong> in a directorial capacity. Addressing<br />
the challenges of increasing<br />
our membership is of the utmost importance<br />
and I am eager to work with all of<br />
the Chapters and with my colleagues at<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National to change this trend.<br />
Mangia bene, ridi spesso, ama molto<br />
(Eat well, laugh often, love much) is in<br />
our spirit. “Service Above Self” is in<br />
our hearts and shows in the gracious<br />
and dedicated work that our members<br />
partake in each and every day. The great<br />
pride we take in our recognition as the<br />
largest Italian American service organization<br />
can only strengthen as we increase<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> membership.<br />
In addition to being an active participant<br />
in the events of my own New Jersey<br />
District X over the past several years, I<br />
have been able to meet with and attend<br />
many other District and Chapter events,<br />
such as Roseto, Pittsfield, Scranton, New<br />
York District II, New Jersey Districts IV,<br />
VII and IX, Saddle Brook, Montville,<br />
Woodcliff Lake, Rehoboth Beach, Hazelton<br />
and Greater Atlantic City to name a few.<br />
As our new National President Ann<br />
Walko stated at the Convention, communication<br />
is extremely important in our<br />
organization. I ask each Chapter President<br />
to select a Chapter Membership<br />
Committee Chair and forward that member’s<br />
name and contact information to<br />
me as soon as possible. By sharing ideas<br />
and working together, we can certainly<br />
be successful in our efforts to increase<br />
membership.<br />
I encourage anyone with questions<br />
or ideas to contact me by e-mail at anthony@bengivenga.com<br />
or by phone at<br />
732-310-6031.<br />
Again, it is truly an honor to be<br />
elected as Membership and Retention<br />
Director and I look forward to working<br />
together in the New Year.<br />
Rachel and I congratulate our newly<br />
installed President, Ann Walko and<br />
thank her for allowing me to accompany<br />
her to so many events during the past<br />
three years as she moved toward her<br />
Presidency. A hearty thanks to our Past<br />
National President Rick D’Arminio for a<br />
great year of service and to both him and<br />
Manuela for their continued friendship<br />
and support. Grazie di cuore….thanks<br />
from the heart!<br />
Torraco Food<br />
Bank & Shelter<br />
A message<br />
from<br />
Chris DiMattio<br />
Thanks to additional funds by donor<br />
Ralph Torraco into the <strong>UNICO</strong> Foundation<br />
for the permanently endowed Torraco<br />
Food Bank/Shelters Fund. He has<br />
made it possible to distribute $7,500<br />
recently to several worthwhile organizations<br />
that focus on providing food and<br />
shelter to the needy in our communities.<br />
In completing this process, much<br />
gratitude needs to go to, first; Ralph<br />
Torraco, the staff of the National Office,<br />
the volunteer committee, Trustees of the<br />
Foundation, Chapters and members who<br />
solicited the Grant applications and most<br />
importantly, the organizations who continue<br />
to provide outstanding services.<br />
Those awarded funds included:<br />
• Bread Basket of NEPA, Scranton, PA<br />
• Feed the Children, Chicago, IL<br />
• Gardenia House, Georgetown, VA<br />
• Jamaica Services for Older<br />
Adults, Jamaica, NY<br />
• St. John’s Church, Newark, NJ<br />
• St. John the Apostle Food Bank,<br />
Linden, NJ<br />
• Rutherford Community Pantry,<br />
Rutherford, NJ<br />
• Waste Not Want Community<br />
Kitchen, Granby, CT<br />
Again, these are most challenging<br />
times for your local food pantries, as<br />
they struggle to keep shelves stocked and<br />
shelters need dollars to operate to their<br />
facilities. Any dollar amount donated<br />
is usually a blessing for these groups.<br />
September 2015<br />
The next distribution of funds from the<br />
Torraco Grant will be awarded at the<br />
Foundation’s Board of Trustees meeting<br />
to be held during the Mid-Year Board of<br />
Director’s Meeting next spring, so you<br />
have enough time to complete the proper<br />
application and submit.<br />
The application can be found on<br />
the www.unico.org website. Once completed,<br />
have the group send back to<br />
the National Office for consideration.<br />
The next grants will be awarded at the<br />
National Convention. If you have any<br />
questions, please feel free to contact me at<br />
570-348-4921 or e-mail: chrisd@unico.org.<br />
The “V”<br />
Foundation<br />
A message<br />
from<br />
Frank DeFrank<br />
Millie Grazie!!<br />
“Many thanks” to those who have<br />
contributed their time, energy, and<br />
dollars to the <strong>UNICO</strong> National “V”<br />
Foundation. I am humbled and proud<br />
to announce that the 2014-2015 goal of<br />
$50,000 has been reached, again due<br />
to the generosity of many of our members.<br />
As many already know, this year’s<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> grant will be in the memory<br />
of our long-time brother and friend,<br />
Mike Pisano. We will keep everyone<br />
informed as the current grant in<br />
Mike’s name goes forward to its respective<br />
research institution.<br />
For those of you who have made<br />
pledges, please send your checks into<br />
the National office. If you have not yet<br />
had the opportunity to contribute, we<br />
are already working on fund-raising for<br />
the 2015-2016 grant. Kindly consider<br />
searching for some room in your hearts<br />
and your <strong>UNICO</strong> budget for a pledge<br />
and/or fund-raiser toward our “V”<br />
Foundation this year. Together we will<br />
continue to finance important research<br />
toward the treatment and cure of cancer.<br />
Any help, large or small, is appreciated!!<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Messages<br />
Scholarships<br />
A message<br />
from<br />
Joan Tidona<br />
“The achievements of an organization<br />
are the results of the combined effort of<br />
each individual.” -Vince Lombardi.<br />
Members of <strong>UNICO</strong> truly understand<br />
and agree with Coach Lombardi’s<br />
statement. Our accomplishments are<br />
exceptional. Our support of Chapter,<br />
District and National projects enables us<br />
to have a meaningful, positive impact<br />
on a wide variety of important causes.<br />
It’s what we do! As we celebrate our<br />
magnificent heritage, we make things<br />
better. Congratulations brother and sister<br />
UNICANS.<br />
This commitment is especially<br />
apparent in our efforts to provide assistance<br />
to deserving young students.<br />
Virtually every Chapter, and many Districts<br />
offer grants for education. <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
National Scholarships are highly valued<br />
and sought after. As the cost of higher<br />
education continues to spiral, the importance<br />
of the support we provide is<br />
widely recognized.<br />
This year, we awarded $72,000 in<br />
National Scholarships. Our members<br />
and benefactors have great reason to be<br />
proud of this remarkable endorsement<br />
of learning and the far-reaching empowerment<br />
it encourages.<br />
Cooley’s<br />
Anemia<br />
A message<br />
from<br />
Peter Pettinato<br />
Thank you, thank you, thank you!<br />
Those two words carry so much<br />
meaning for me, this Committee, and all<br />
Cooley’s Anemia patients and parents. It<br />
is because of your hard work and generosity<br />
that at the Convention, the <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Foundation was able to award a $15,000<br />
research grant for genetic therapy that<br />
has real promise for eradicating this<br />
dreadful disease.<br />
A total of 224 individual candidates<br />
applied for undergraduate offerings.<br />
Since entrants submitted for all four<br />
programs, 896 applications were considered.<br />
The number of applications<br />
presented for our other scholarships<br />
equaled 119, submitted by 98 candidates.<br />
In all, 1,015 applications were<br />
evaluated.<br />
Italian Americans fully understand<br />
that education is an essential investment<br />
in the future. We know, that as we help<br />
talented young people to realize their<br />
aspirations, we also benefit society by<br />
encouraging our recipients to become<br />
productive adults.<br />
Newly established <strong>UNICO</strong> National<br />
scholarships are fully funded by our<br />
patrons. Traditional programs are underwritten<br />
by interest generated by a corpus<br />
account, supplemented by member donations.<br />
Owing to careful investments<br />
and Chapter support, we have been able<br />
to fully finance our programs, in recent<br />
years, without invading the corpus.<br />
This was not always the case. To help<br />
continue our success, donations are essential.<br />
The earlier programs cannot<br />
exist without the support of Chapters,<br />
Districts and individuals who provide<br />
funding.<br />
Grazie mille to our generous<br />
2014/15 contributors:<br />
• NJ District X<br />
• Kearny, NJ<br />
• Hackensack, NJ<br />
• Brookhaven, NY<br />
• Ladies of Kearny, NJ<br />
• Westwood, NJ<br />
This grant will benefit ongoing<br />
research at the prestigious Boston Children’s<br />
Hospital, where they are looking to<br />
raise fetal hemoglobin levels in Cooley’s<br />
Anemia patients. The fetus is unaffected<br />
by Cooley’s Anemia because the majority<br />
of the hemoglobin it has is fetal hemoglobin.<br />
After birth, fetal hemoglobin is<br />
converted to adult hemoglobin and that’s<br />
when the patient becomes susceptible.<br />
This research is looking into altering the<br />
fetal hemoglobin gene so that this conversion<br />
cannot take place, thus allowing<br />
fetal hemoglobin levels to remain high<br />
and subsequently the need for transfusion<br />
therapy will remain low.<br />
Transfusions and chelation therapy<br />
are right now the only treatments available<br />
for Cooley’s Anemia patients. These<br />
• Rutherford, NJ<br />
• NJ District VII<br />
• Orange/West Orange, NJ<br />
• Belleville, ACES, NJ<br />
• Woodcliff Lake, NJ<br />
• North Shore, LI, NY<br />
• Scranton, PA<br />
• Saddle Brook, NJ<br />
• St. Louis, MO<br />
• DE District I<br />
• Nutley, NJ<br />
• Clark, NJ<br />
• Passaic Valley, NJ<br />
• Point Pleasant Beach, NJ<br />
• Lou and Celeste Pandolfi,<br />
Monica Viana, Rose Anne<br />
Fritchie, Frank and Joan<br />
Tidona, Chris and Ann DiMattio<br />
and Ralph Torraco.<br />
To acknowledge the contributions<br />
of our members to the Scholarship<br />
Fund, we will continue to issue certificates<br />
of appreciation to those donating a<br />
minimum of $500. Chapters contributing<br />
$1,000 or more will receive a banner<br />
patch.<br />
Now, if you didn’t find your Chapter/Name<br />
on the list: Not a Problem!<br />
There is still time. Do what you can, but<br />
please do something. Remember: “Non<br />
è mai troppo ritardato per fare bene.” It<br />
is never too late to do good.<br />
As with all of our accomplishments,<br />
the success of the scholarship program<br />
reflects the combined efforts of individual<br />
members. I suspect Vince Lombardi<br />
would be impressed.<br />
are life long, time consuming, and at<br />
best uncomfortable, not to mention that<br />
the vast majority of patients requiring<br />
therapy are children. Through your generosity,<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> has supported several<br />
projects in gene research therapy, the<br />
main area of research that will someday<br />
provide a cure for Cooley’s Anemia and<br />
allow these children to lead a long, normal<br />
and productive life.<br />
For those of you who continually<br />
support this Committee, I again say<br />
thank you. For all of you reading this article,<br />
I ask you to join us. Get your Chapter<br />
involved in helping children who<br />
just want to be like everyone else. If we<br />
all join together and support this cause,<br />
we will change the lives of countless children<br />
for generations to come.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 9
News<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Denville, NJ<br />
The Denville Chapter awarded several<br />
$1,000 scholarships this year to local high<br />
school seniors of Italian decent. One of<br />
this year’s awards was given to Isabella<br />
Russo-Tiesi. Isabella is a senior at Morris<br />
Catholic High School and will be attending<br />
Fordham University in the fall.<br />
Again, congratulations Isabella Russo-<br />
Tiesi on your Italian Heritage and your<br />
scholastic accomplishments. Best of luck to<br />
you at Fordham University, from all of the<br />
members of the Denville Chapter.<br />
The Denville Chapter recently held<br />
its first “Re-Discover Your Italian Heritage”<br />
event. Over 110 people showed up<br />
for this afternoon of sharing our Italian<br />
Heritage. There were items brought in<br />
from the Denville members to celebrate<br />
the culture, traditions and history of all<br />
Italian Americans in a fun and festive<br />
atmosphere that included food tastings,<br />
a fun Italian lesson, entertainment<br />
and cultural information. Delicious<br />
homemade Italian specialties, such as<br />
bruschetta, mozzarella and antipasto<br />
followed by an array of tasty Italian desserts<br />
were served. The special exhibit<br />
called “Treasures from Home” which<br />
was a display of mementos and collectibles<br />
from Italy that were brought to<br />
America by ancestors of <strong>UNICO</strong> members<br />
were proudly displayed.<br />
Chapter President Lou Mattaliano<br />
opened the event with a welcome to all<br />
attendees and a thank you to all Denville<br />
members, as it was truly a team<br />
event. A special thank you to Andre’<br />
DiMino for his very informative presentation.<br />
He had the group excited as they<br />
all participated in this interactive session.<br />
Also, a big thank you to St. Francis<br />
for hosting and to Anthony & Sons for<br />
providing the delicious food. Nine new<br />
members signed up that afternoon and<br />
more expressed interest in joining the<br />
Denville Chapter.<br />
Andre’ DiMino gives an Italian lesson to a<br />
packed room.<br />
Remember, you are never too young<br />
to start thinking about joining <strong>UNICO</strong>,<br />
as you can see by one of our new<br />
member’s granddaughter, Kennadee<br />
Lynn Kravig (Trotta)!<br />
Torrington, Ct<br />
From left: Gaspare and Elena Russo-Tiesi,<br />
Isabella’s parents, Isabella Russo-Tiesi, and<br />
Lou Mattaliano, Denville Chapter President.<br />
10<br />
Special thank you to Mary Culver and Nancy<br />
Metz for chairing this wonderful event. Also<br />
pictured are Lou Mattaliano, Chapter President<br />
and Andre’ DiMino, <strong>UNICO</strong> National Executive<br />
Director.<br />
“Treasures from Home” on display of<br />
mementos and collectibles from Italy.<br />
Denville Chapter members pose for a<br />
group picture at Heritage Day.<br />
September 2015<br />
The Chapter presented a community<br />
projects award to the autism group,<br />
FOCUS Center for Autism. The gift<br />
was over $1000. From left: Christina<br />
Mascetti, Chapter President; Erika Davis<br />
and Meaghen Harris from the Center and<br />
John Ciesco.<br />
Scholarship recipients were awarded over<br />
$22,000 at the recent Scholarship Dinner.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
News<br />
St. Louis, MO<br />
The St. Louis Chapter recently held<br />
our 2015 Alphonse Lordo Memorial Golf<br />
Classic Four-Person Team Scramble, at<br />
Tapawingo National Golf Club. Immediately<br />
following golf, dinner was served,<br />
both oral / silent actions were held and<br />
tournament prizes were awarded. We<br />
had a great turn out and everyone enjoyed<br />
a fun day of golf!<br />
From left: Joseph Palazzo, Lonnie<br />
Hoerr, Jim Ferrante, Gabriele Lancia and<br />
Vincenzo Monteleone.<br />
From left: Josephine Lancia, Aggie<br />
Santangelo, Linda Stark and Emily<br />
Ferrante at the registration table.<br />
From left: Marianne Peri-Sack, Jack<br />
Allensworth, Chapter President<br />
John Mandala, Beth Meyer and<br />
Michael Mandala.<br />
Past National President Michael Spano<br />
addresses the St. Louis Chapter<br />
members, golfers and guests.<br />
Congratulations to the DiGregorio Family,<br />
the 2015 Alphonse Lordo Memorial<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> Golf Classic honorees. The family<br />
was presented with a St. Louis Chapter<br />
of <strong>UNICO</strong> appreciation award, for their<br />
ongoing support in the Italian community.<br />
From left: Frank, Dora, Toni and John.<br />
Congratulations to Joe Boccardi who had<br />
a hole-in-one on the Meramec Course,<br />
Hole #6!<br />
The Deadline for the<br />
November 2015 issue of<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong> is<br />
Friday, October 16, 2015.<br />
Please send all submissions to:<br />
comunico@unico.org<br />
Belleville, NJ<br />
Belleville <strong>UNICO</strong> Presents their<br />
Annual “Brian Piccolo” Awards and<br />
Student Scholarships<br />
Belleville <strong>UNICO</strong> recently hosted<br />
their annual “Brian Piccolo Awards”<br />
and “Scholastic Achievement<br />
Awards” breakfast.<br />
Chairman Gene Antonio stated,<br />
“The Belleville Chapter of <strong>UNICO</strong> is<br />
extremely proud of these students.<br />
Today, we not only recognize them for<br />
their achievements but, also for the<br />
many services they have performed for<br />
the community.”<br />
Belleville High School Coach<br />
John Spina awarded the female<br />
Brian Piccolo Awards to Barbara<br />
Jackangelo and the male award to<br />
Nicholas Bruno.<br />
Belleville <strong>UNICO</strong> also awarded<br />
two memorial scholarships presented<br />
by Belleville High School Assistant<br />
Principal Joseph Rotonda, Jr. to<br />
Pasquale Gencarelli and Erik Arroyo.<br />
Chapter member, Patricia Alfano<br />
awarded the ACES Scholarship to<br />
Paige Massaker from Mt. Saint Dominic<br />
Academy. Ms. Massaker has been<br />
a member of the Belleville ACES and<br />
is being honored for years of dedication<br />
to the ACES annual St. Joseph’s<br />
Day fund-raiser, which has donated<br />
thousands of dollars to local and<br />
national charities.<br />
Steve Rovell presented each<br />
awardee with a Belleville Township<br />
resolution from the Mayor<br />
and Council.<br />
Belleville <strong>UNICO</strong> President Vincent<br />
Cozzarelli stated, “We have accomplished<br />
a great deal for a small<br />
Chapter donating funds to many<br />
local and national charities. There<br />
is so much more we can do for the<br />
charities, scholarships and the Belleville<br />
community, but we need help,<br />
we need Italian Americans that are<br />
willing to serve and stand up for our<br />
heritage.”<br />
Those Italian Americans who are<br />
interested in joining should contact<br />
Manny Alfano at 973 429-2818 or<br />
mannyalfano@comcast.net<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 11
News<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Stamford, Ct<br />
Stamford Chapter Member<br />
Mario DeCarlo, a WWII US ARMY<br />
Veteran, was honored at a Knights<br />
of Columbus Annual Honor Our<br />
Veterans Award Dinner.<br />
Mario DeCarlo enlisted in the Army<br />
in 1943 at age 18. DeCarlo was also<br />
recognized with the Stamford <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Giuseppe Garibaldi Award, the Chapter’s<br />
own Italian American service organization’s<br />
highest honor. “I felt the war<br />
would not have been won without me,”<br />
said DeCarlo, who worked in a tool and<br />
die factory prior to enlisting. “Everyone<br />
felt that way when they went to war.”<br />
Five days after D-Day, DeCarlo<br />
landed at Normandy, where he shot<br />
down a German warplane and captured<br />
the pilot, from whom he took a chrome<br />
gun he still has today. He fought in the<br />
five major post D-Day battles prior to<br />
the end of the war, including the Battle<br />
of the Bulge. DeCarlo also received the<br />
Military Order of the Purple Heart<br />
after being wounded in the forearm<br />
in Trier, Germany.<br />
Knights of Columbus Color Corps<br />
Commander Giuseppe Pampena sound<br />
taps at the Annual Honor Our Veterans.<br />
Four <strong>UNICO</strong> members of the Stamford<br />
Chapter were honored at this event.<br />
Giuseppe is a member and past officer<br />
of the Stamford Chapter and a Past<br />
Connecticut District I Governor. This<br />
event has donated funds to various<br />
Veterans Organizations.<br />
Carbondale, PA<br />
Members of the Carbondale Chapter<br />
pose for a photo with Ann Walko, <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
National Executive Vice President, at the<br />
Keystone Chapter Spring Pig Roast event.<br />
Sparta, NJ<br />
From left: Nick Cutrone, three of the<br />
seven Scholarship Recipients; Sam<br />
Fritch, Joe Cifelli and Phil Haynes, and<br />
Chapter President Ken Carafello.<br />
From left: Ray Shupak, New ACE member<br />
Victoria Caruso, and Chapter President<br />
Ken Carafello.<br />
Jersey City, NJ<br />
From left: Stamford Mayor David Martin,<br />
State Senator Carlo Leone, Mario Di<br />
Carlo, United State Senator Richard<br />
Blumenthal and Antony Panaro.<br />
Stamford Chapter members and friends<br />
help at the Sacred Heart Church Feast<br />
by making the “Best Zeppole” in town.<br />
Working the booth are Rosanne Battinelli,<br />
Jennifer O’Hara Pope, Tony Rizzi, Louis<br />
Sileo, Mike Battinelli and Al Fusco. The<br />
members are always there to give a<br />
helping hand.<br />
12<br />
Carbondale <strong>UNICO</strong> donated a check to<br />
Special Olympics. From left: Lucas Pollits<br />
and Special Olympics Area P. Chairman<br />
Joe Lillis.<br />
September 2015<br />
Dr. Kathleen Sullivan, who was awarded<br />
the Dr. Benjamin J. Cottone Memorial<br />
Scholarship in 2011, earned her Medical<br />
Degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical<br />
School in May, 2015. She will be pursuing<br />
her clinical training in Anesthesiology at<br />
New York Presbyterian – Weill Cornell<br />
Medical Center. Dr. Sullivan’s proud<br />
grandmother is Rose Pugliese Seaman,<br />
a member of the Jersey City Chapter.<br />
From left: Rose Pugliese Seaman and Dr.<br />
Kathleen Sullivan.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
News<br />
Pittsfield, MA<br />
Easton, Pa<br />
Pittsfield Chapter<br />
Awards Scholarships<br />
In a recent ceremony the Pittsfield<br />
Chapter Scholarship Committee in conjunction<br />
with the Paul Capitanio Scholarship<br />
Committee, awarded their annual<br />
scholarships. The Pittsfield Chapter,<br />
chaired by Fran Marinaro, awarded fifteen<br />
scholarships at $1000 each. The<br />
Paul J. Capitanio Jr. Memorial Football<br />
Scholarship committee, chaired by past<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> Chapter President Paul Capitanio<br />
Sr., awarded two scholarships at<br />
$1000 each. Since 1987 the Pittsfield<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> Chapter has given out over<br />
$270,000 in scholarships throughout<br />
Berkshire County.<br />
From left: Paul Capitanio, Sr., Marco<br />
Anastasia, recipient of the Paul J. Capitanio,<br />
Jr. Memorial Football Scholarship and<br />
Beth Capitanio. Absent from the photo is<br />
recipient Chad Shade.<br />
Recipients of Pittsfield Chapter scholarships.<br />
Fran Marinaro (l) is sworn in as the new<br />
President of the Pittsfield Chapter by his<br />
brother, Vin Marinaro (r) who is also a<br />
past President of the Chapter.<br />
The Easton Chapter recently celebrated<br />
its Annual Scholarship Dinner at The<br />
Castel Club. Seven very worthy students<br />
were awarded scholarships to assist<br />
them in furthering their education. From<br />
left: Chapter President Angelo LaDuca,<br />
Robert Pelonero, Jillian Morello, Nina<br />
Attinello, Nicole Rizzolino, Olivia Corpora,<br />
Mackenzie Minotti, and Devin LaDuca.<br />
They represent Easton Area High School,<br />
Wilson Area High School, and Nazareth<br />
Area High School. The Easton Chapter<br />
has been awarding scholarships since<br />
1980 and over 150 local students have<br />
been selected as recipients.<br />
Donate to the<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> Foundation<br />
Today!<br />
Send tax deductible checks to:<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> Foundation<br />
271 US Highway 46 West<br />
Suite F-103<br />
Fairfield, New Jersey 07004<br />
811 E. Linden Ave. • Linden, NJ 07036<br />
— Established in 1920 —<br />
Dee Villani<br />
President<br />
Rent a Car<br />
Discount<br />
Corporate Account #V652167<br />
Comp Membership in Preferred Service<br />
Visit www.avisawards.com<br />
Discount good for all <strong>UNICO</strong> members & non-member, year around.<br />
We Solve Your Tax Problems!<br />
the taxadvocate group<br />
Salvatore p. Candela<br />
taX SpeCIaLISt ea, rfC, aba, ata<br />
taX preparatIOn & repreSentatIOn<br />
Visit: www.thetaxadvocategroup.com<br />
Email: scandela@thetaxadvocategroup.com<br />
Phone (908) 862-3333 • Fax: (908) 474-8058<br />
(877) Tax-1040<br />
Fax: (718) 894-4476<br />
75-16 Metropolitan Ave.<br />
Middle Village, NY 11379<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 13
Welcome New Members<br />
Congratulations and welcome to <strong>UNICO</strong> National-the largest Italian American Service Organization.<br />
The National Office Staff looks forward to meeting all of you in the near future.<br />
BELLEVILLE<br />
Amanda Massaker<br />
Paige Massaker<br />
BRICK<br />
Giovanni Di Leonardo<br />
Lillian Cognato Messina<br />
BRISTOL<br />
Adam Della Bianca<br />
Paula Grimaldi<br />
Gail Pacelle<br />
Terry Simpson<br />
BROOKHAVEN<br />
Jennifer Lombardi<br />
CHICAGO AMERITAL<br />
Kathleen Byrne-Bellavia<br />
Gloria Castrovillari<br />
Jimmy Dstice<br />
Thomas Zahn<br />
CLARK<br />
Devan Andre<br />
Lori Banta<br />
Louis Cacchione<br />
Genevieve Cece<br />
Taylor Drake<br />
Danielle Marzano<br />
Marcella Parise<br />
Matthew Pedicine<br />
Franco Pezzella<br />
Joseph R. Saron, III<br />
Michael Savvis<br />
Patricia St. Clair<br />
Barbaba White<br />
GRTER. ATLANTIC CITY<br />
Angelo C. Polcini<br />
GREATER HARTFORD<br />
Antonio Magno<br />
HIGHLAND BEACH<br />
Mona Benedetto<br />
Arthur A. Coia<br />
Margaret Matinale<br />
Carl J. Minaroo<br />
Donna M. Paolino<br />
Vincent Prestigiacomo<br />
Carol Trojan<br />
Domenico Facchini<br />
KEYSTONE<br />
Joe Macclocco<br />
Maria Mclaine<br />
Maria Zichettella<br />
MEMPHIS<br />
Bea Del Conte<br />
Katrina Krag<br />
Debbie Montel<br />
Eugene J. Ori Jr.<br />
July<br />
NEWINGTON<br />
John Bombard<br />
Theresa Bombard<br />
Eric Forte<br />
Theresa Gogluicci<br />
PASSAIC VALLEY<br />
Michael Conti<br />
Kesley Muir<br />
William Santoro<br />
PASSAIC/CLIFTON<br />
Lisa Galanti<br />
PHILADELPHIA<br />
Matthew D’Amico<br />
PT. PLEASANT BEACH<br />
Joya Diaz<br />
Ethan Hassee<br />
Susan Lepis<br />
Carly Pringle<br />
Gianna Pulitano<br />
Linda Pulitano<br />
Marielle Ravally<br />
Samantha Trabattoni<br />
RARITAN VALLEY<br />
Donna Fillmore<br />
Beverly Minetti<br />
REHOBOTH AREA<br />
Louis Arena<br />
Paul Cullen<br />
Joanne Delikat Arena<br />
Anotnietta Flocco<br />
George Meromgolo<br />
ROCKAWAY TWSP.<br />
Heather Darling<br />
RUTHERFORD<br />
Concetta Palasits<br />
SAN DIEGO<br />
Matthew Guccione<br />
Kim Spagnoli<br />
SANTA BARBARA<br />
Donna Barbabella Deal<br />
Katherine Lindgren<br />
Joel Garbarino<br />
Joanell Scala<br />
Kathy Stein<br />
SAYRE<br />
Lucas Beardsley<br />
SCRANTON<br />
John Baldino<br />
Nancy G. Barkasy<br />
Leila Cappellano-Sarver<br />
Linda Cappellano-Sarver<br />
Martin W. Genello<br />
Diana Giovannini<br />
Zachary Jacobson<br />
Ricky Johns<br />
Roseanne Michaels<br />
Paul Migliorino<br />
Angela Muchal<br />
Edward Penetar<br />
Barbara Pirrella-Sico<br />
Ronald J. Refice<br />
Michael Rescigno<br />
Barbara R. Rosetti<br />
Robert M. Rudzinski<br />
Robin Rudzinski<br />
Ellen C. Sallusti<br />
Robert Sico<br />
Scarlett Spager<br />
Neil C. Trama<br />
Thomas P. Tulaney<br />
SPARTA<br />
Thomas Gorrell<br />
ST. JOE’S H. S.<br />
MONTVALE<br />
Natalie Carpentieri<br />
Sara Carpentieri<br />
ST. LOUIS<br />
Cheryl Lahr<br />
Roger S. Lahr<br />
Ken Lapponese<br />
Mary Lapponese<br />
Ruth Siragusa<br />
TORRINGTON<br />
Louis Reynolds<br />
VERONA<br />
Donna Kiel<br />
WOODCLIFF LAKE<br />
Ann Marie Buffa<br />
John A. Buffa<br />
August<br />
CHICAGO W. SUBURBAN<br />
John A. Guido<br />
Victor Jakovlkevic<br />
GREATER PHILADELPHIA<br />
Steven Chiarella<br />
Rocco Fiorentino<br />
Mario Flacco<br />
Michael Messina<br />
Keith Stallone<br />
KEARNY<br />
Laura Sgalia<br />
KEYSTONE<br />
Edward M. Bush<br />
Chris Falzett<br />
Anthony Rossi<br />
Holly Scacchitti<br />
Beverly Shea<br />
NUTLEY<br />
Steven Romano<br />
Gerard Tolve<br />
Donna M. Vitiello<br />
PITTSFIELD<br />
Joe Brindisi<br />
John Dalone<br />
Deborah Miller<br />
Anthony Rizzo<br />
Michael Scaramuzzi<br />
Ellen Sorrentino<br />
RUTHERFORD<br />
James Rizzo<br />
Michael Rizzo<br />
SANTA BARBARA<br />
Marge Romano<br />
ST. LOUIS<br />
Peter J. Cavatore<br />
WAYNE<br />
Alex Baldino<br />
Francesco Baldino<br />
George F. Capria<br />
Daniel F. Domicolo<br />
Angela Gregorowicz<br />
Kyle Vandervelden<br />
14<br />
September 2015<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
News<br />
Greater Atlantic city, NJ<br />
Ciao Unicani!!<br />
The proud Greater Atlantic City<br />
Chapter recently held its annual Person<br />
of the Year and Scholarship Gala<br />
at Resorts International. Over 150 attendees<br />
shared in our excitement as we<br />
introduced esteemed area educator, Dr.<br />
Robert Previti, and seven outstanding<br />
scholarship awardees graduating, with<br />
high honors, from regional high schools.<br />
Dr. Previti served as Superintendent<br />
in several Atlantic County School Districts<br />
including Brigantine and Somers<br />
Point. He currently serves as Interim Superintendent<br />
of Mainland Regional High<br />
School. The schools at which he served<br />
have garnered many state and national<br />
awards for excellence including the<br />
New Jersey Schools of Excellence Governor’s<br />
Award in Brigantine.<br />
Our seven scholarship awardees<br />
each received $4000 to help defray college<br />
expenses. They all stand at, or near,<br />
the top of the academic spectrum at<br />
their respective schools. They are Matt<br />
Aromondo and Austin Trofa, Ocean<br />
City; Robert Mairone and Ray D’Amico,<br />
St. Augustine Prep; Domenic Santori,<br />
Holy Spirit; Juliette Housel, Egg Harbor<br />
and Annamarie Nistico, Mainland Regional.<br />
The Atlantic City Chapter has<br />
provided over $600,000 to outstanding<br />
students over our 35 years of service.<br />
Two long time Chapter and charter<br />
members, Liber Rich and Charles Andeloro,<br />
were also honored, posthumously,<br />
for their outstanding service to the<br />
Chapter and the causes it serves.<br />
Entertainment for the evening was<br />
provided by the Ed Vezinho Jazz Band<br />
and we were honored to have <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
National president Richard D’Arminio<br />
join in our celebration.<br />
Dr. Robert Previti and his family.<br />
2015 Scholarship Recipients.<br />
Merrimack Valley, MA<br />
Installation of Officers and<br />
Board of Directors<br />
The slate of Officers and Board of<br />
Directors from the Nominating Committee<br />
was formally voted on and approved<br />
by membership. Officers were officially<br />
installed at the Haverhill Country Club<br />
and are as follows: President-Jason Setineri;<br />
First Vice President-Joseph LaGrasse;<br />
Secretary-David Gingerella; Financial<br />
Secretary-Nick Forgione; At Large Board<br />
Members-Frank Coppola, Jeff Ferrante<br />
and Panfino Federico and Immediate Past<br />
President-Ken DiBenedicits.<br />
The Chapter is very proud to<br />
once again, award financial scholarships<br />
to deserving Merrimack Valley<br />
area, four year college-bound, Italian<br />
American students.<br />
The Scholarship Committee has selected<br />
the following individuals for the<br />
five scholarships:<br />
• Julia Elizabeth Mancini, Andover,<br />
MA. Graduated Andover High School. Will<br />
attend Vanderbilt University<br />
• Simon Joseph Gagliardi, Lynnfield,<br />
MA. Graduated Lynnfield High<br />
School. Will attend New York University<br />
• Shannon Dowd Manuel, Andover,<br />
MA. Graduated Andover High School. Will<br />
attend Wheaton College<br />
• Toni Jeanne Joy, Tewksbury, MA.<br />
Graduated Central Catholic High School.<br />
Will attend Worcester Polytechnic Institute<br />
Each student was presented with<br />
a check for $2,700. Total - $13,750 in<br />
Awards.<br />
The Merrimack Valley Chapter is<br />
celebrating its 25th year as a Chapter<br />
of <strong>UNICO</strong> National and recently announced<br />
that it has raised and distributed<br />
over $800,000 to local charities.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> Merrimack Valley currently enjoys<br />
the fellowship of approximately 60<br />
members. To learn more about <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
visit www.unicomerrimackvalley.org<br />
President Jason Sentineri.<br />
Seated from left: Joseph Tramontozzi,<br />
Julia Mancini, Simon Gagliardi, Shannon<br />
Manuel and Toni Joy. Standing: Lev<br />
Zompa, Bill Novelline, Joseph DiBlasi,<br />
Jerry O’Sullivan and Frank Coppola.<br />
Massachusetts District III Governor Larry<br />
Ardito conducted the official installation<br />
ceremony of the Merrimack Valley<br />
Officers and Board of Directors.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 15
News<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
The Chicago West Suburban Chapter<br />
hosted its second annual Cigar Event at<br />
Porretta’s Restaurant. Profits increased<br />
by 25% from last year, due to the deep<br />
pockets by its repeat participants. Committee<br />
members were Joe Mollica, Jack<br />
P. Cerone and John Panvino, owner of<br />
Porretta’s Restaurant.<br />
Two new additions to this year’s<br />
event were added; a new sponsor, Terlato<br />
Wines International, and a new<br />
cigar vendor, The Cigar Lounge.<br />
The Terlato Family imports the finest<br />
wines from all over the world and<br />
shared its best cases at our event. Party<br />
attendees sampled Italian and American<br />
fine wines. Some lucky raffle prize winners<br />
even got to bring a bottle home.<br />
The Cigar Lounge brought out their<br />
very own hand rolled cigars, a variety of<br />
Chicago West Suburban, IL<br />
five different blends. Our new paisano,<br />
Tim Hartke, will also be setting up at<br />
this year’s annual golf outing.<br />
John Panvino served up some of<br />
best pastas, arancini, pizzas and steak<br />
sandwiches Porretta’s Restaurant has to<br />
offer. If you recall, most <strong>UNICO</strong> members<br />
were able to dine here during the<br />
Mid-Year Meeting, which took place<br />
last March.<br />
And let’s not forget about Palermo<br />
Bakery, newly relocated to Norridge<br />
from Chicago, serving up some of their<br />
best pastries, cannolis and cookies.<br />
Loreto LoCasio and the Greco Family<br />
cannot be beat when it comes to great<br />
desserts. Samples were shipped to the<br />
Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach<br />
Conventions.<br />
Proceeds from our event help support<br />
local and national scholarships,<br />
and the Jimmy “V” Foundations. Look<br />
for future articles regarding fund raising<br />
disbursements.<br />
We invite all Chapters across the<br />
country to visits Chicago and attend our<br />
events this year. www.unicocws.com<br />
From left: John Panvino and Tommy<br />
Kammerer. In the distance can be seen Joe<br />
Madonia and Joe Luciano.<br />
16<br />
September 2015<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
News<br />
Fairfield, nj<br />
Fairfield Awards<br />
Scholarships to High School<br />
Graduates<br />
Monica Onorata graduated West<br />
Essex High School with a 4.0 GPA. She<br />
was the captain of the softball and cross<br />
country teams and was recognized as an<br />
All Conference Athlete in both sports.<br />
She will be attending The College of<br />
New Jersey where she will be playing<br />
softball and majoring in business.<br />
Sophia Polifonte graduated Mount<br />
Saint Dominic Academy. She was the<br />
member of several clubs and community<br />
service projects as well as being<br />
the Treasurer of the Key Club. She is<br />
an active parishioner at St. Thomas<br />
More Church. She will be attending St.<br />
Joseph’s University where she will be<br />
majoring in Biology with the hopes of<br />
becoming an Optometrist.<br />
The Fairfield Chapter made a donation to<br />
Brandon Zyla for his Eagle Scout project.<br />
He replaced the fence along the Fairfield<br />
Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery in<br />
Fairfield, which is our township’s symbol.<br />
From left: Leonard Russo, Brandon Zyla<br />
and Chapter President Vincent Russotto.<br />
Keystone, PA<br />
Keystone Chapter Installs John Mecca<br />
and Presents Service Awards<br />
At Keystone’s Annual Presidents’<br />
Dinner a moment of silence was held<br />
for recently deceased charter members<br />
Joseph Gentile and Leonard Verrastro.<br />
The presentation of the “Service Above<br />
Self” Award was given to Catherine<br />
Bianchi, Ernie DeStefano and John<br />
Mecca for their outstanding leadership<br />
in fund-raising for Keystone Chapter’s<br />
designated charities this past year. The<br />
Chapter’s President’s Service Award<br />
was presented to Jim Mack for his<br />
outstanding leadership this past year.<br />
Past National President Glenn Pettinato,<br />
was on hand to install John<br />
N. Mecca as the fourth President of<br />
the Keystone Chapter.<br />
From left: Tony Polifonte, Sophia Polifonte<br />
and Chapter President Vincent Russotto.<br />
Sarah Bendowski was installed as the first<br />
ACES member. From left: James Mack<br />
Sr., Chapter President; Cathy Bianchi,<br />
Sarah Bendowski, Sandy Graziano<br />
and Mark McDade, Pennsylvania<br />
District II Governor.<br />
From left: Past National President Glenn<br />
Pettinato installs President, John N.<br />
Mecca, with Past First Lady Mary Mack<br />
holding the bible for John.<br />
From left: Monica Onorata and Chapter<br />
President Vincent Russotto.<br />
The Keystone Chapter raised $2000 for<br />
the local Boy Scouts of America with its<br />
Third Annual Golf Tournament. Pictured<br />
with the winning team from left: Ray<br />
Tropeano, James Mack, Keystone Chapter<br />
President; Peter Noto, Ernie DeStefano,<br />
Champion Flight Winners-John Hill, Joe<br />
Cusick and Mike Jones and Dave Jones<br />
of the Boy Scouts.<br />
President James Mack presents the<br />
Chapters “Service Above Self” award<br />
to Cathy Bianchi, John N. Mecca and<br />
Ernie DeStefano.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 17
News<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Cliffside Park, NJ<br />
The Southington Chapter named its<br />
new slate of officers for the 2015-2016<br />
year at its June meeting.<br />
President Dave Zoni swore in his<br />
successor, Antonio Cusano, who will<br />
serve as President of the Chapter. Zoni<br />
now becomes Chairman of the Board<br />
of Directors. Also sworn in were Vice<br />
President Victoria Triano, Secretary Bob<br />
Moffo, Treasurer Ralph Ciaburri and<br />
Sergeant of Arms Ron Ingriselli.<br />
“I am truly honored to have been<br />
elected and chosen as the President<br />
of Southington <strong>UNICO</strong>. I’m looking<br />
forward to working with my slate of<br />
officers and fellow members in continuing<br />
the tradition of supporting our community,”<br />
said Cusano, who has been a<br />
member of <strong>UNICO</strong> since 2011.<br />
Cusano said he will also continue<br />
the Chapter’s mission of bringing an<br />
awareness of Italian heritage and culture<br />
to the community. He is most eager<br />
to break ground on the Goat Island project,<br />
which will restore the communal<br />
ovens at the historic site just off of the<br />
Rails to Trails Linear Park.<br />
Southington <strong>UNICO</strong>, which is comprised<br />
of more than 80 members, is a<br />
service-oriented organization that embraces<br />
three objectives: service to fellow<br />
man and community, fostering and promoting<br />
Italian heritage and supporting<br />
charitable educational projects. With<br />
such initiatives as the Italian American<br />
Festival, honoring the top 25 Southington<br />
High School students in each<br />
graduating class and 100 percent support<br />
of the high school’s Unified Sports<br />
and Theatre program, the Chapter has<br />
by far met its goals and exceeded expectations<br />
since its establishment in 1944.<br />
Annually, the Chapter distributes about<br />
$30,000 to local and national charities<br />
and initiatives.<br />
Chapter President Dave Zoni (l) passes the<br />
gavel to his successor, Antonio Cusano.<br />
The Cliffside Park Chapter recently held<br />
a fund-raiser at the Rockland Boulders<br />
ball field. From left: Jim Fucci, Chapter<br />
President and New Jersey District VI<br />
Governor; Fran Fucci, Dan Rome, Bernice<br />
Ranieri, Gerry Ranieri, Boulder Mascot,<br />
Sharon Rome and Eileen and Rich Miller.<br />
18<br />
Southington, CT<br />
Southington <strong>UNICO</strong> Announces<br />
New Officers<br />
Southington members hosted a<br />
community drive-in, helping to park<br />
cars, collect admission fees and man<br />
the popcorn machine. The Southington<br />
Drive-In is a community-owned and<br />
volunteer-operated establishment<br />
now in its sixth season. Host civic<br />
organizations run the drive-in, which<br />
only shows movies on Saturday nights<br />
during the summer months. Southington<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> has been a host civic organization<br />
since the drive-in opened as a community<br />
endeavor in 2010.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong>’s movie this year was Disney’s<br />
“Frozen.” The event was sold out and<br />
Southington <strong>UNICO</strong> now holds the drivein’s<br />
record after fitting 426 vehicles into<br />
the open parking lot.<br />
September 2015<br />
Southington <strong>UNICO</strong> officers for the<br />
2015-2016 from left: Sergeant –at-Arms<br />
Ron Ingriselli, Treasurer Ralph Ciaburri,<br />
Secretary Bob Moffo and Vice President<br />
Victoria Triano.<br />
GReater Binghamton, NY<br />
At the June monthly meeting of the<br />
Greater Binghamton Chapter, Dr. Felix<br />
De Sio (l) was installed as President of<br />
the Chapter by then <strong>UNICO</strong> National<br />
President Richard D’Arminio.<br />
The gavel is passed from this year’s<br />
Greater Binghamton President Barbara<br />
Wahila to President-Elect Dr. Felix DeSio.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
News<br />
Save the Date!<br />
94th Annual Convention<br />
July 27- July 30, 2016<br />
Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay<br />
Cambridge, Maryland<br />
Rockaway Township, NJ<br />
Rockaway Township<br />
Chapter News<br />
Here is an update for our Chapter<br />
since last newsletter:<br />
1) At our July Officer’s meeting<br />
we swore in our new Chapter Secretary,<br />
Judi Ricucci.<br />
2) On August 16th, we held our<br />
Second Annual “Charity Motorcycle<br />
Run for the Kids” to raise money for St.<br />
Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Over 3500<br />
flyers have been distributed, many road<br />
signs have been placed, it has been in<br />
the newspapers, run on WMTR and<br />
WDHA radio stations, and is being<br />
sponsored by many retailers and restaurants.<br />
This 60 mile Police Escorted<br />
Motorcycle run ended at The Barn in<br />
Rockaway Township with a full BBQ<br />
lunch, raffles and music by Michael Long.<br />
3) On August 18th, our Chapter<br />
meeting included a Homemade Mozzarella<br />
Making Demo by Giuseppe. Everyone<br />
left with a 1 pound ball of freshly<br />
made Mozzarella.<br />
4) In September, we are running<br />
two games at Montville <strong>UNICO</strong>’s San<br />
Gennaro Feast (the Golf Ball Race and<br />
Candy Wheel concessions). Monies<br />
raised will be used to help a local handicapped<br />
child and future scholarships.<br />
5) On October 15th we are holding<br />
a Golf Outing at Crystal Springs Golf<br />
Course. There will be breakfast, lunch,<br />
many prizes and Spa Day for those that<br />
do not want to play golf on the highly<br />
rated course. Proceeds will be raised to<br />
help fight Autism.<br />
6) And finally, we want to welcome<br />
our newest Rockaway Township<br />
Chapter member...Heather Darling.<br />
Farmington, CT<br />
This year’s scholarship recipients<br />
are Yea-Jin Lee, Valentina Ossa and<br />
Yoon-sun Hough, graduating from Farmington<br />
High School. Farmington <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
scholarship recipients will be invited to<br />
apply for future scholarships from the<br />
Aldo DeDominicis Foundation. These<br />
scholarships will be awarded for the duration<br />
of their college career.<br />
Representative Mike Demicco presented<br />
Frank Dolce, Chapter President<br />
with an Official Citation from the State<br />
of Connecticut General Assembly at<br />
the Installation Dinner. The citation<br />
was introduced by Representative Mike<br />
Demicco, Representative Brian Becker,<br />
Senator Beth Bye and Senator Terry<br />
B. Gerratana. It was made in recognition<br />
of the 45th Anniversary of <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
of Farmington and read “You’re entire<br />
membership is to be commended for<br />
putting “Service Above Self” for nearly<br />
half a century. The greater Farmington<br />
community has benefitted from your<br />
generosity and good works.” The original<br />
charter of Farmington <strong>UNICO</strong> has<br />
been framed and will be on display at<br />
the Farmington Library. Framed copies<br />
were also prepared for charter members<br />
of our Chapter. Officers for the 2015-<br />
2016 season were sworn in by Past District<br />
Governor Mario Giovannuci.<br />
We all look forward to a wonderful<br />
year under the leadership of Frank<br />
Dolce, graciously serving his third term<br />
as President. The final event of our<br />
season was the Second Annual Joe Filomeno<br />
Golf Tournament held at Wampanoug<br />
Country Club. It was a great event<br />
with a record number of golfers enjoying<br />
the day and then even more guests<br />
for the culminating dinner.<br />
Mike Demicco presents an Official Citation<br />
from the State of Connecticut to President<br />
Frank Dolce.<br />
This year’s scholarship recipients.<br />
Charter member Sal DiMauro is honored by<br />
President Frank Dolce.<br />
Frank Dolce presents this year’s<br />
President’s Award to Bob McNally.<br />
From left: Paul Pedemonti, Tom Filomeno,<br />
Sal DiMauro and Mike and Dan Filomeno<br />
at the golf tournament.<br />
Happy raffle prize winners.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 19
News<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
In Memoriam<br />
Anthony Iasiello<br />
Keystone, PA<br />
Anthony T. “Tony” Iasiello, 72, of<br />
Bethlehem died on Wednesday, July 1,<br />
2015. He was born in Bethlehem, the son<br />
of Marjorie (Achey) Schuler and the late<br />
Anthony J. Iasiello. He was the husband<br />
of Terry (McNelis) Iasiello. They celebrated<br />
their 46th wedding anniversary<br />
this past October. Tony graduated from<br />
Liberty High School and earned his Bachelor’s<br />
Degree from Moravian College. He<br />
was a longtime mentor and educator at<br />
Bethlehem Catholic High School teaching<br />
History for 42 years. He started the<br />
school’s first wrestling program and continued<br />
as the Head Coach for 38 years.<br />
Tony was also the owner of The Sports<br />
Corner for 38 years. He was the president<br />
of the Bethlehem Chapter of <strong>UNICO</strong> National,<br />
and a member of the Kiwanis and<br />
The Knights of Columbus. Among his<br />
many accomplishments, he was also inducted<br />
into the National Wrestling Hall<br />
of Fame and founded the Christmas City<br />
Wrestling Tournament which is currently<br />
known as the Tony Iasiello Tournament.<br />
He was President of District XI Wrestling<br />
Coaches Association. Survivors: He will<br />
be lovingly remembered by his wife,<br />
Terry; his mother, Marjorie; son, Anthony<br />
“Tony”, Jr. and wife, Trish of White<br />
Plains, NY; daughter, Kristen Boyle and<br />
husband, Sean of New Tripoli; brothers,<br />
Dennis of Allentown; John and his wife,<br />
Susie of Georgia; sisters, Sylvia Bayer of<br />
Bethlehem; Maryann Vanya and husband,<br />
Steve of Bethlehem; and Sandra Iasiello of<br />
Florida; and his six beautiful grandchildren<br />
who brought him such pride and joy,<br />
Teighan, Tealyn, Tyleigh, Riley, Tommy<br />
and Luke. He was preceded in death by<br />
his brother, Joseph. Memorial Contributions:<br />
may be made to <strong>UNICO</strong> 324 Grandview<br />
Blvd., Bethlehem, PA 18018 or<br />
Bethlehem Catholic.<br />
The Keystone Chapter donated $4800 to<br />
the Women’s Resource Center from this<br />
year’s Roaring Twenties Pig Roast. Front<br />
row from left: Carol Scrimalli, Peg Ruddy,<br />
executive director of the Women’s<br />
Resource Center and Cathy Bianchi. Back<br />
row: Michele and Mark McDade, Mary<br />
and Jim Mack and Val Riggi.<br />
The Keystone Chapter sponsored a Bocce<br />
Team at the Scranton Chapter’s Bocce<br />
Tournament Fund-raiser for Cancer<br />
Research. Team members from left: Jim<br />
Mack, Chapter President John Mecca and<br />
Michele and Mark McDade.<br />
20<br />
September 2015<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
News<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong> Rules and Guidelines<br />
The following are Com<strong>UNICO</strong> Rules<br />
that must be strictly adhered to in order<br />
for a Chapter and/or a Committee’s submissions<br />
to be included in an issue of<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong>:<br />
1. Each Chapter is limited to 300<br />
words per issue. This includes the number<br />
of words in a column and captions.<br />
2. The only titles to be included<br />
in captions are for National Officers<br />
and Chapter Presidents. Do not identify<br />
other Chapter Officers by title.<br />
3. If more than 10 people appear in<br />
a picture, do not identify each of them.<br />
4. Abbreviations are not to be<br />
used. The only title to be abbreviated is<br />
Vice President (VP).<br />
5. All articles and captions are to<br />
be submitted in Times New Roman font,<br />
11 point font size and in black.<br />
6. Photo File Name should be identifiable<br />
to the corresponding caption.<br />
7. A Chapter is allowed a maximum<br />
of 6 pictures per issue for a regular<br />
event.<br />
8. All award recipients (ie…<br />
Scholarship, Brian Piccolo) should be<br />
included in one picture. Do not send<br />
multiple pictures from an event with one<br />
recipient per picture.<br />
9. Only pictures attached to an<br />
e-mail will be accepted. Pictures embedded<br />
in an e-mail will be returned to the<br />
Chapter and not included.<br />
10. All submissions should be sent<br />
to comunico@unico.org. Submissions<br />
sent to any other office e-mail address<br />
will not be included.<br />
11. The deadline for submissions is<br />
5:00 PM on the designated day.<br />
12. Photos coming in after a holiday<br />
will not be included in the next issue,<br />
if deemed to be untimely. Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
should reflect the current time of year.<br />
13. Articles cannot contain copyrighted<br />
materials. All articles must be<br />
original and completely written by the<br />
person submitting the article. An article<br />
compiled from information that was cut<br />
and pasted from other sources is considered<br />
plagiarism.<br />
The following are Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Guidelines for a Chapter to follow:<br />
1. Photos should be sent in landscape<br />
not portrait form.<br />
2. Do not send in blurry pictures.<br />
3. Review all submissions prior to<br />
sending for grammar and punctuation.<br />
The Deadline for the November 2015 issue of Com<strong>UNICO</strong> is Friday, October 16, 2015<br />
LOUIS J. Serafini<br />
— Attorney at Law —<br />
Serafini & Serafini<br />
A Professional Corporation<br />
269 Hamburg Turnpike<br />
P.O. Box 2040<br />
Wayne, NJ 07474<br />
(973) 595-9500<br />
Fx: (973) 595-7442<br />
JOSEPH J. Serafini<br />
— Attorney at Law —<br />
Serafini & Serafini<br />
A Professional Corporation<br />
269 Hamburg Turnpike • P.O. Box 2040 • Wayne, NJ 07474<br />
(973) 595-9500<br />
Fx: (973) 595-7442<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 21
News<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
In Memoriam<br />
Romano Della Santina<br />
Kearny, NJ<br />
Romano Della Santina passes away<br />
on Thursday, July 9, 2015. After a courageous<br />
battle with cancer, he left this<br />
world peacefully with his beloved wife,<br />
Maria of 65 years and his family by his<br />
side. Along with her, he leaves behind<br />
four children; Paul, Joanne, Tina and<br />
Ralph, their spouses, seven grandchildren<br />
and four great grandchildren; and<br />
also leaving two brothers, family and<br />
friends in Lucca, Italy. There was no<br />
man who cherished and loved his family<br />
more than Romano. He was a proud Italian<br />
American and his involvement in the<br />
Italian American community ran deep.<br />
In 1984, he was bestowed the highest<br />
honor given to an Italian civilian,<br />
Cavaliere Dell’Ordine della Republica<br />
Italiana. Romano was an extremely generous<br />
man who gave of himself to many<br />
clubs and foundations. He was the first<br />
President of the Lucchesi nel Mondo,<br />
San Francisco chapter and a member<br />
of Boys Town of Italy, <strong>UNICO</strong> National,<br />
San Francisco Italian Athletic Club,<br />
Cristoforo Colombo Club, Scaccaipensieri,<br />
I.C.F. Branch 161 of Larkspur, Corte<br />
Madera Lion’s Club and many others.<br />
He received great pleasure participating<br />
in these organizations. Romano was the<br />
glue of his family; and along with Maria,<br />
taught his family the values which will<br />
be passed on for generations. Although<br />
hard work and building a business were<br />
prominent; to smile, to laugh, and to<br />
love family always came first. He was a<br />
strong man; one to acknowledge, one to<br />
live your life after, and one to never be<br />
forgotten. His smile will never leave our<br />
minds, and his love will never leave our<br />
hearts. Memorial contributions made be<br />
made to Hospice by the Bay, 17 E. Sir<br />
Francis Drake Blvd., Larkspur, CA 94939<br />
OR Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital<br />
www.stjude.org Monte’s Chapel Of<br />
The Hills~San Anselmo 415.453-8440.<br />
22<br />
Chapter members enjoyed playing bocce<br />
before breaking to enjoy pizza.<br />
JoAnn Mitchell delivering her “patented”<br />
one footed bocce throw.<br />
During a break in the bocce action,<br />
members gathered to enjoy eating pizza<br />
and camaraderie.<br />
Members of the Kearny Chapter visited<br />
the Shrine of Saint Joseph in Stirling, New<br />
Jersey. Chapter members visited the<br />
chapel and toured the grounds; including<br />
a visit to the 9/11 Memorial before<br />
stopping at the shrine’s gift and book<br />
shop. Following their visit to the shrine,<br />
Chapter Members enjoyed a luncheon at<br />
the Reservoir Restaurant in South Orange.<br />
September 2015<br />
At this year’s Convention, the Kearny<br />
Chapter received three awards. From<br />
left: National President Richard<br />
D’Arminio, and Celeste and Lou Pandolfi<br />
accepting the Honor Chapter Award<br />
for the Chapter’s Exceptional Project -<br />
Wheels for Vic, which raised over $20,000<br />
to purchase a van for a paralyzed young<br />
member of the community. The Kearny<br />
Chapter also received the Second Place<br />
Model Chapter Award and won for its<br />
entry in the Scrapbook competition in the<br />
Small Chapter Category.<br />
Pittsfield, MA<br />
Golf Tournament<br />
The Pittsfield Chapter recently<br />
held its twenty sixth annual golf tournament.<br />
This is the Chapter’s biggest<br />
fund-raising event of the year. The<br />
proceeds go to support numerous local<br />
charities, such as The Pittsfield Boys<br />
and Girls Club, Hospice Care, the Salvation<br />
Army, Homeless Veterans, various<br />
food pantries and many more, as<br />
well as funding fourteen $1000 scholarships<br />
to local high school students.<br />
The Pittsfield <strong>UNICO</strong> golf tournament<br />
has become one of the largest<br />
and most successful golf tournaments<br />
in the region. It is well supported by<br />
Chapter members as well as 200 local<br />
businesses.<br />
Chapter President Fran Marinaro adjusts<br />
the pin flag at the second hole before the<br />
start of the tournament.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
News<br />
Highland Beach, Fl<br />
Pennsylvania District II<br />
It has been a busy year for Pennsylvania<br />
II as with all of <strong>UNICO</strong> National.<br />
The Convention at Newport Beach,<br />
California was a fine way for the year to<br />
round out. My compliments to Chairman<br />
Frank Paolercio, Co-chairs Frank<br />
Cannata and John DiNapoli and the<br />
committee for all the effort that goes<br />
into the running of a Convention. Michele<br />
and I had a great experience. Also,<br />
congratulations to Rick D’Arminio for<br />
his successful year as President and for<br />
his aggressive movement of the agenda.<br />
He certainly gave the attendees plenty<br />
of free time to check out the resort. A<br />
big welcome to Ann Walko who woke<br />
everyone up with her Inaugural Address<br />
and her agenda for the coming year.<br />
I now wish to give a quick acknowledgement<br />
to the great works that the<br />
Binghamton, Carbondale, Keystone and<br />
Sayre Chapters performed this year representing<br />
Pennsylvania II and <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
National. They have really stepped up<br />
to the plate, as they do every year. Congratulations<br />
to both the Binghamton and<br />
Keystone Chapters for participating in<br />
the Chapter Achievement Competition<br />
and earning their Chapter Achievement<br />
Certificates and Banner Patches.<br />
I encourage all of our <strong>UNICO</strong> National<br />
Chapters to participate in this competition<br />
that gives recognition to the<br />
wonderful programs each of our <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Chapters present. Best wishes to all of<br />
our <strong>UNICO</strong> Chapters in this New Year!<br />
Members of Pennsylvania II gather for<br />
a group shot at the last District Meeting<br />
of 2014-2015, hosted by the Binghamton<br />
Chapter.<br />
Westfield, NJ<br />
The Westfield Chapter enjoyed their year<br />
end June election dinner meeting at La<br />
Famiglia Sorrento Restaurant.<br />
At the <strong>UNICO</strong> National Convention,<br />
three members of the Westfield Chapter<br />
were installed as National Officers. From<br />
left: Anthony Bengivenga, National<br />
Membership & Retention Director; Ann<br />
Walko, National President and Bob Tarte,<br />
Eastern Regional District Governor Chair.<br />
The Chapter recently awarded its first<br />
$1,000 four year scholarship to Bradley<br />
Falcone. From left: Michael, Nancy and<br />
Bradley Falcone, Gail Guy and Chapter<br />
President Frank Lo Re.<br />
Orange/West Orange, NJ<br />
The Orange/West Orange Chapter recently<br />
held its 18th Annual Bocce night<br />
at Panevino Restaurant. There were<br />
eight-four person teams competing. This<br />
year the Rossi team came out on top.<br />
Members and guests were invited to the<br />
event and enjoyed an evening of Bocce<br />
and an Italian Dinner.<br />
The winning team from left: Nino Petrillo,<br />
Matthew Rossi, Chapter President Frank<br />
Paolercio, Louis Rossi and Spiros Maragros.<br />
Raritan Valley, NJ<br />
Pennsylvania District II Governor McDade<br />
installs the Officers and Directors of the<br />
Binghamton Chapter.<br />
The Raritan Valley Chapter has a fun day at Duke Island Park in Bridgewater, New Jersey.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 23
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
News<br />
Special Feature Article<br />
Finding Your Nonno’s Farm<br />
The ghost town of San Basile seemed an unlikely candidate for renewal and repopulation until a young<br />
mayor came up with just the plan: an online initiative to sell abandoned real estate at extremely low prices.<br />
The program, called A Home in San Basile, helped repopulate this town on the slopes of Mount Pollino in<br />
the province of Cosenza (Calabria).<br />
A few years ago, Mayor Vincenzo Tamburi put up for sale about 150 abandoned homes and parcels of<br />
land. Prices ranged from as little as 5,000 euros each (about $6,000 at the time) to a maximum of 60,000<br />
euros (about $70,000). San Basile became an instant success, drawing the interest of buyers from all over the<br />
world.<br />
Today, more Italian mayors are following suit — even selling properties for as little as 1 euro (with some<br />
strings attached).<br />
We have to remember that San Basile is not an exception; many small towns in Italy have suffered tremendously<br />
after past migrations. When our ancestors left their hometowns, many of them also left their<br />
property uninhabited.<br />
“When my grandfather was a young man he, like many others, went to America leaving behind his beloved<br />
Italia; his parents, brothers and sisters who continued to manage the farm in those difficult times surviving<br />
only after long hours of sweat and toil and the few dollars set aside regularly in America and then<br />
sent back to Italy. I never really knew what happened to the land and that house. Later on I found that after<br />
my great-grandparents passed on, my grandfather’s brothers and sisters continued to work the farm,” says<br />
Anthony Alioto of Italian Law.<br />
A common misperception holds that the Italian government confiscated unclaimed property. The reality<br />
is that many properties remain unclaimed. In fact, in many cases the children of emigrants living outside of<br />
Italy may still claim it according to Italian Succession Law.<br />
Families of a decedent should file succession documents after the death of any individual (living anywhere<br />
in the world) holding title to the Italian real estate property. The danger in failing to do so, especially<br />
when a plot of land is left behind, lays in an ancient law called “usucapione” (from the Latin usucapio,<br />
meaning acquisition) which allows people to acquire property and/or land by adverse possession.<br />
For example, usucapione allows someone to become entitled to a property by cultivating abandoned<br />
land, harvesting crops or growing olive trees, and paying very low agricultural property taxes. This process<br />
gets a bit more complicated and longer for abandoned homes since residential property taxes are much<br />
higher.<br />
About a year ago, we conducted an onsite family research project in the town of Fontanarosa (located in<br />
the province of Avellino). After locating the living relatives, we learned that our client had rights to a property<br />
that was still in her grandfather’s name after many decades. She even took her family onsite last summer<br />
to meet the living relatives and visit the vacant property. A few years back, a distant relative had taken<br />
possession of the house but failure to pay property taxes defeated the purpose of “usucapione”. Thus, the<br />
property became vacant again, so our customer could decide what to do with it.<br />
There are thousands of parcels of abandoned land and many structures that should have transferred to<br />
successive generations but have not. The original owners, deceased many decades ago, are still found on the<br />
titles today.<br />
Whether you are interested in repossession or not, it can be very interesting to discover that your family<br />
still owns abandoned property. To research the matter, only the following data is needed:<br />
1. Italian name (if female, maiden) of presumed owner, even if deceased<br />
2. Exact town of birth in Italy (mandatory)<br />
3. Father of this person (optional, but very useful)<br />
4. Birth year of the above. (NOTE: no birth years before 1880)<br />
If you are planning to travel to your town of origin, our researchers will take you to the places where<br />
your ancestors lived and where you can meet your living relatives. Who knows, you may even discover that<br />
you still have rights to your nonno’s property!<br />
(Courtesy of My Italian Family. Call us FREE at 1-888-472-0171 to take advantage of the<br />
Heritage Research Offers just for <strong>UNICO</strong> Members or visit our website at www.myitalianfamily.com.<br />
Alternatively you can write to My Italian Family LLC, 6542A Lower York Road #204,<br />
New Hope, PA 18938 or e-mail at ask@myitalianfamily.com)<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 25
News<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
28<br />
Photos, News, Events,<br />
and Much More!<br />
Chicago W. Suburban, IL<br />
Invitational Golf Outing 2015:<br />
Another Great Success<br />
Over the past 47 years, the Chicago<br />
West Suburban Chapter has been the<br />
consummate host of one of Chicago area’s<br />
most popular charitable golf events.<br />
This year’s golf outing was recently held<br />
at the Bloomingdale Golf Club. It was<br />
one of the most successful fund-raising<br />
events in the Chapter’s history; a history<br />
that has seen the tournaments hosted<br />
over the years by members Jack Cerone,<br />
Joe Rovetto, Ed Gesualdo and current<br />
committee members Mario Veltri, Joe<br />
Mollica, Donato Ancona Billy Randazzo<br />
and Paul Domico.<br />
Chicago West Suburban <strong>UNICO</strong>’s<br />
outing is famous for its gastronomic delights<br />
from sausage and egg breakfast before<br />
the golfer’s shotgun start to a buffet<br />
feast consisting of grilled lamb, Italian<br />
sausage with peppers, sweet corn and<br />
a variety of fresh fruits (with optional<br />
wine). Guided by the versatile hands of<br />
Past National President Mike Veselka,<br />
the buffet ran from eleven in the morning<br />
to three in the afternoon, allowing<br />
guests the opportunity to return for more<br />
throughout their day of golf.<br />
The day’s activities saw 118 golfers<br />
enjoy camaraderie, good weather, a challenging<br />
course, great food, a raffle and<br />
prizes for the day’s accomplished golfers.<br />
Two Scholarships were awarded at<br />
the dinner event following the day of<br />
golf. This year’s awardees are Cecelia<br />
Ancona, a graduate student at Dominican<br />
University and Taylor Reckards, a<br />
senior at Indiana State University who is<br />
pursuing degree in nursing.<br />
The Chapter looks forward to doing it<br />
again on the third Monday in August, 2016.<br />
We invite your participation in what we<br />
promise to be yet another day of fun, competition,<br />
good food and a proud sense of<br />
contribution to our community.<br />
Food prep team from left: Mike Sberna,<br />
Michael Magiera, Jan Alessia, Larry Basilli,<br />
Richard Montlabano and Mario Veltri.<br />
Steve Veselka prepares food for<br />
the golfers.<br />
Santa Barbara, CA<br />
The Santa Barbara California Chapter<br />
awarded college scholarships to two<br />
noteworthy high school students who are<br />
each attending undergraduate studies in<br />
California and one college student.<br />
Dos Pueblos High School graduate<br />
Claire Gilmore (family name Carvotta)<br />
received <strong>UNICO</strong>’s Brian Piccolo Memorial<br />
Scholarship and is attending the<br />
University of California at Berkeley as a<br />
psychology major.<br />
Giulia Castleberg was awarded the<br />
Renaissance Scholarship. Giulia, with<br />
a 4.83 GPA, holds dual citizenship in<br />
the US and Italy and visits her mother’s<br />
homeland on a regular basis. She is attending<br />
Harvey Mudd College with a goal<br />
to work in design engineering.<br />
On the National Level, Dominic<br />
Conti, Pepperdine University student in<br />
Malibu, won the <strong>UNICO</strong> National Ella T.<br />
Grasso Literary Scholarship for his essay<br />
titled, “A Humble Heart,” which he read<br />
September 2015<br />
at the Chapter meeting in July. His heartfelt<br />
essay profiled his uncle who built<br />
a church in Mexico per the wishes of<br />
Mother Teresa.<br />
Chapter President Dr. Jim Barbabella<br />
noted, “We are so proud of these<br />
bright, dedicated young people of Italian<br />
heritage and happy our small Chapter<br />
can hopefully make a bit of difference<br />
in their college costs. We wish them all<br />
success in their future endeavors.”<br />
The Chapter, whose membership has<br />
increased 89% percent in the past year,<br />
holds its monthly dinner meetings at the<br />
Coral Casino Beach Club at the Four Seasons<br />
Biltmore Hotel in Santa Barbara.<br />
From left: Claire Gilmore, Brian Piccolo<br />
Memorial Scholarship recipient; Dr.<br />
James Barbabella, Chapter President<br />
and Giulia Castleberg, Renaissance<br />
Scholarship recipient.<br />
Dominic Conti, Ella T. Grasso Literary<br />
Scholarship recipient.<br />
San Diego, CA<br />
From left: Valeri Orsini, Jennifer and Jim<br />
Despenza, Cindy and Frank Caperino and<br />
Kathy Strozza.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
News<br />
Wilkes Barre, PA<br />
The Wilkes Barre Chapter recently held its Past Presidents Dinner at The Woodlands Inn and resort in Wilkes Barre. Outgoing<br />
President Robert DiPietro ushered in the new President, John Terrana, who was sworn in by Past National President Andre’<br />
DiMino. Also in attendance was Past National President Chris DiMattio.<br />
From left: Past National President<br />
Chris DiMattio, outgoing Chapter<br />
President Robert DePietro, incoming<br />
Chapter President John Terrana, and<br />
Past National President and Executive<br />
Director Andre’ DiMino.<br />
Montville, NJ<br />
The Montville Chapter recently held<br />
their 27th Annual Charity Golf Outing<br />
at the Brooklake Country Club. This first<br />
class affair included 18 holes of golf,<br />
with a Starter’s Brunch, Cocktail Hour,<br />
Gourmet Buffet Dinner, one hour open<br />
bar, plus gifts and prizes. The major<br />
sponsor, Valley National Bank, hosted<br />
over 100 golfers and by all accounts, everyone<br />
had a great time. Once again, a<br />
special donation of $5000 will be given<br />
to the Burn Center at Barnabas Hospital<br />
from the proceeds.<br />
The Wilkes Barre Chapter installed their<br />
new President for 2015-2016, from left:<br />
President John Terranna, Past National<br />
Presidents Christopher DiMattio and<br />
Andre’ DiMino and outgoing Wilkes Barre<br />
President Robert DePietro.<br />
The Wilkes Barre Chapter awarded<br />
their annual scholarship award to high<br />
school senior Kristin Cussat. Kristin<br />
attends Hazleton Area High School and<br />
after graduation will attend Marywood<br />
University to study architecture and<br />
design and hopes to study in Florence,<br />
Italy. From left: John Terranna, Kristin<br />
Cussat and Leo Sperrazza.<br />
The Golf Committee standing from left:<br />
Karen Arakelian, Michele and Gene<br />
Maddalena and Peter Mellilo. Seated:<br />
Nick Conturso, Danielle Speciale, Phyllis<br />
Mellilo and Vivian Cleffi.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 29
News<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Have you filed your<br />
990 with the IRS?<br />
Greater Binghamton, NY<br />
In May of 2015 Greater Binghamton<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> celebrated their five year anniversary<br />
as a member of <strong>UNICO</strong> National.<br />
How does a Chapter celebrate their Fifth<br />
Anniversary? Member Maria Pezzuti<br />
had a vision to financially donate to<br />
five local charities in celebration of five<br />
years. So began the theme “Five Years,<br />
Five Charities.” Over the course of a<br />
year, Maria and the Charities Committee<br />
reviewed applications for the funding,<br />
and narrowed it from fourteen applicants<br />
to five. At the same time Angela<br />
Carro and her team prepared for a May<br />
fund-raiser to obtain the money for the<br />
project. Success was achieved from the<br />
fund-raising, and the money was in hand<br />
to donate at the June Meeting. Greater<br />
Binghamton <strong>UNICO</strong> was able to donate<br />
to five local charities Mercy House,<br />
Southern Tier Veterans Support Group,<br />
RISE (A women’s shelter), Robbie’s Pantry<br />
at STAP Southern Tier AIDS program<br />
and Union-Endicott High School Student<br />
Exchange Program. Representatives from<br />
the Charities were invited to the June<br />
Meeting of the Chapter. They were presented<br />
their checks by Greater Binghamton<br />
Member Maria Pezutti and <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
National President Richard D’Arminio.<br />
But, none of this would have been possible<br />
without the support of the members<br />
of the Chapter and the local community!!<br />
Francesca Spinelli from Seton Catholic<br />
Central School and Alexander White from<br />
Union-Endicott High School were the<br />
2015 recipients of Greater Binghamton’s<br />
Angelo Zuccolo Memorial Scholarship.<br />
From left: Francesca Spinelli, Nick Pianella<br />
and Alexander White.<br />
Pennsylvania District II Governor<br />
Mark McDade proudly presents the<br />
Greater Binghamton Officers and<br />
Board of Directors for the 2015-2016<br />
calendar year!!<br />
From left: Maria Pezzuti, Mercy House<br />
of the Southern Tier, Sister Joanna<br />
Monticello, Mercy House, <strong>UNICO</strong> National<br />
President Richard D’Arminio and First<br />
Lady Manuela D’Arminio.<br />
Awards were also given to high school<br />
students.<br />
The evening was highlighted by the<br />
presentation of two <strong>UNICO</strong> National Undergraduate<br />
Scholarships. Kristin Donadio<br />
of West Orange, who attends Seton<br />
Hall University and Catherine E. Fonseca<br />
of Kearny, who attends William Paterson<br />
University. Both received the Bernard<br />
and Carolyn Torraco Memorial Nursing<br />
Scholarships. These fine young women<br />
were sponsored by the Orange/West Orange<br />
Chapter.<br />
Local scholarships in the amount<br />
of $1,500 each were awarded to the<br />
students. The students were selected<br />
by a committee of members which was<br />
chaired by Frank V. Gonnella. Students<br />
received the following scholarships:<br />
Christian Otto Schmid, Anthony F. and<br />
Flora Gonnella Memorial Scholarship;<br />
Anna Lackey, Vecchio Family Memorial<br />
Scholarship; Esther Delvalle, Orange/<br />
West Orange Scholarship; Abigail Tiu<br />
Chua Orange/West Orange Scholarship<br />
in memory of our late Chapter member<br />
Carmine Molinari and Daphne Campbell,<br />
Townsend Memorial Scholarship.<br />
The last scholarship was funded by the<br />
DeFranco Family in memory of their late<br />
sister Roseann DeFranco Townsend.<br />
Italian Language Scholarships were<br />
also awarded to students for outstanding<br />
academic achievement in the Italian Language.<br />
John Carlo Barone received the<br />
Orange/West Orange Italian Language<br />
Scholarship and Angelica Alica Pozzoli<br />
received the Michele and Lucia Russo<br />
Italian Language Scholarship.<br />
The Chapter donated an additional<br />
$30,000 to local and national charities<br />
and organizations.<br />
From left: Maria Pezzuti, Rebecca Allerton,<br />
RISE; John Barry, Robbie’s Pantry; Amalia<br />
Roma-Circensi, UEHS Italian Exchange<br />
Program; Greater Binghamton President<br />
Barbara Wahila, First Lady Manuela<br />
D’Arminio, Angelo De Michele, UEHS<br />
Italian Exchange Program and <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
National President Richard D’Arminio.<br />
30<br />
Orange/West Orange, NJ<br />
2015 Scholarship Dinner<br />
The Orange/West Orange Chapter<br />
held its 2015 Scholarship and Awards<br />
Dinner at Mayfair Farms. Two <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
National Scholarship winners were announced<br />
and five local area high school<br />
students were awarded individual local<br />
memorial scholarships. Italian Language<br />
September 2015<br />
From left: Frank Gonnella, Angelica<br />
Pozzol, Abigail Tiu Chua, Christian Otto<br />
Schmid, Anna Lackey, Daphne Campbell,<br />
Catherine E. Fonseca, John Carlo Barone,<br />
Kristin Donadio.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
News<br />
Scranton, PA<br />
In Memoriam<br />
Joseph Serafini<br />
The Scranton Chapter welcomed new<br />
members at the June Meeting.<br />
Mary Marrara, Chapter President<br />
2014-2015 presented the Al Dante<br />
Distinguished Service Award to Pat<br />
Yanni. Pat Yanni joined <strong>UNICO</strong> in<br />
1978. Among his many accomplishments<br />
and service in <strong>UNICO</strong>, he<br />
served as Chapter President and on the<br />
Board of Directors for many years. He<br />
was a UNICAN of the Year and District<br />
Governor, at which time he received<br />
the Distinguished District Governor<br />
Award. He spent countless hours<br />
cooking and preparing the Porketta, as<br />
well as readying our famous Porketta<br />
tent for La Festa Italiana. As a skilled<br />
carpenter, during the Quincentenary<br />
celebration of the Columbus discovery,<br />
he was asked to join the efforts<br />
in planning a celebration parade. He<br />
spent months of his time constructing<br />
nearly life-size replicas of the<br />
Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria ships.<br />
He has held leadership positions in<br />
the Knights of Columbus and in other<br />
committees, as well. Pat owned and<br />
operated a construction business until<br />
his retirement. Pat and Palma have<br />
been married for 64 years and are<br />
the proud parents of four children,<br />
twelve grandchildren and two great<br />
granddaughters.<br />
Past National President Chris DiMattio<br />
recently installed Mike Rescigno as<br />
Chapter President at the 57th Past<br />
President’s and Installation Dinner.<br />
From left: Mary Marrara, Past Chapter<br />
President; Mike and Ginny Rescigno and<br />
Chris DiMattio.<br />
Past National President Chris DiMattio<br />
presents Mary Marrara with the Past<br />
President’s Award at the 57th Annual<br />
Past President’s and Installation Dinner.<br />
The award is in memory of Dr. D.J.<br />
Maldonato, who was the first Chapter<br />
President of the Scranton Chapter. From<br />
left: Mary Marrara and Chris DiMattio.<br />
Joseph J. Serafini, 83, of Cedar<br />
Grove, N.J., passed away surrounded by<br />
family on Tuesday, August 18, 2015.<br />
Born in Newark to Luigi and Adele<br />
Serafini, he lived in Bloomfield before<br />
settling in Cedar Grove the past 13 years.<br />
Joseph was the owner of Beppy’’s Restaurant<br />
in Newark for 32 years before<br />
retiring 27 years ago. He proudly served<br />
in the National Guard during peace time<br />
and as a member of the Cedar Grove<br />
Chapter of <strong>UNICO</strong> National. In addition,<br />
he was a professional boxer, golden<br />
gloves champion and boxing trainer.<br />
He is survived by his wife, Connie<br />
Serafini; children Louis Serafini and<br />
his wife Diana; Joseph Serafini and his<br />
wife Linda and Deborah Maggio and her<br />
husband Arthur; grandchildren Joseph,<br />
Jennifer, Maria, Daniel, Nicholas, Julia,<br />
Stephanie and Gabrielle and sister, Irene<br />
Duvalle.<br />
In lieu of flowers, donations to St.<br />
Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501<br />
St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105<br />
would be appreciated. Memories and<br />
condolences may be shared at shookscedargrove.com.<br />
Paramus, NJ<br />
From left: Mary Marrara, Scranton<br />
Chapter President; Lisa, Dante, Dave and<br />
Nicole Bieri and Pat and Palma Yanni.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National Scranton Chapter Ladies<br />
Auxiliary recently installed the 2015-<br />
2016 officers. Palma Yanni installed the<br />
officers. From left: Palma Yanni; Diane<br />
Alberigi, Treasurer; Ashley DeFlice, Vice<br />
President; Gayle DeAntona, President;<br />
Joanne Quattrone, Recording Secretary;<br />
Lori Nozzi, Financial Secretary and<br />
Danelle Hogan, Corresponding Secretary.<br />
Past National President Richard D’Arminio<br />
swears in four new members. From left:<br />
Chapter President Lois Iula, Rita and<br />
Peter O’Hare, Richard D’Arminio, Roe and<br />
Anthony Bucco and May D’Arminio.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 31
News<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
32<br />
Dion – Return of the Wanderer<br />
Dion Francis DiMucci is best known<br />
to rock and roll fans worldwide simply<br />
as Dion. Honing his craft in the mid-<br />
1950s on the street corners of 187th<br />
Street and Crotona Avenue in Bronx,<br />
NY, the legendary singer-songwriter has<br />
remained one of the most versatile and<br />
popular performers of his generation.<br />
At age fifteen, the street corner poet<br />
recruited the three best doo-wop singers<br />
in his neighborhood, naming themselves,<br />
Dion and the Belmonts. They<br />
lifted their name from nearby Belmont<br />
Avenue, located in the heart of the ‘Little<br />
Italy’ section of the Bronx. By 1957 Dion<br />
and the Belmonts were bona fide teen<br />
idols, scoring with the rock and roll<br />
classics, “I Wonder Why” and “A Teenager<br />
in Love,” and appearing on American<br />
Bandstand. Dion has described their<br />
ethnic sound as “Black music filtered<br />
through an Italian neighborhood, coming<br />
out with an attitude.”<br />
Dion is forever linked to the most<br />
tragic event in rock and roll history<br />
which occurred on February 3, 1959.<br />
The then nineteen year old was a featured<br />
performer along with Buddy Holly,<br />
Ritchie Valens, and ‘The Big Bopper,’<br />
headlining the ‘Winter Dance Party’ tour.<br />
The four headliners decided to charter<br />
a plane rather than continue riding<br />
on a broken down old bus. The plane<br />
seated only three passengers, plus the<br />
pilot, so they flipped a coin. Dion won<br />
the toss, but let Ritchie Valens take his<br />
plane seat. Dion’s reasoning was that he<br />
couldn’t justify paying a $36.00 fare, the<br />
same amount as the monthly rent for<br />
his childhood Bronx apartment. As fate<br />
would have it, soon after take-off in the<br />
wintry early morning hours, the pilot<br />
lost control of the airplane, which subsequently<br />
crashed into a cornfield, leaving<br />
no survivors.<br />
Special Feature Article<br />
Despondent upon returning home<br />
after the tour, Dion attempted to make<br />
sense of his life and an increased dependency<br />
on alcohol and heroin addiction.<br />
There were also disagreements within<br />
the group ultimately resulting in Dion<br />
leaving the Belmonts in 1960 to pursue<br />
a solo career. Nonetheless, from 1960<br />
through 1964, he recorded eight bestselling<br />
singles, including “Runaround<br />
Sue” and “The Wanderer.”<br />
Dion married his high school sweetheart,<br />
Susan Butterfield in 1963 and<br />
credits her with much wisdom and<br />
tolerance. They have been together for<br />
fifty-two years, and blessed with three<br />
grown daughters.<br />
Despite his success, Dion was at an<br />
all-time low both mentally and spiritually.<br />
He moved to Florida seeking a fresh<br />
start. Then on April 1, 1968, he asked<br />
God to help him and “was delivered<br />
from the obsession to drink and drug.”<br />
Within six months of becoming clean<br />
from heroin addiction, Dion, at the age<br />
of 28, embarked upon a new musical<br />
path. He released a gentle, folk rock<br />
recording in the summer of 1968. The<br />
song, “Abraham, Martin and John,” was<br />
a tribute to the memory of four assassinated<br />
Americans and sold a million<br />
copies.<br />
On morning of December 14, 1979,<br />
Dion underwent a life-altering religious<br />
experience. While on his daily morning<br />
jog he started thinking about the past<br />
and future. He prayed, “God, it would<br />
be nice to be closer to you.” He was<br />
then flooded with a white light and saw<br />
a man with outstretched arms. “I love<br />
you,” He said. “Don’t you know that?<br />
I’m your friend. I laid down My life for<br />
you. I’m here for you now.” Dion firmly<br />
believes that God changed his life that<br />
morning.<br />
Confused by his mild Catholic upbringing,<br />
he drifted from the Church and<br />
became a born-again Christian. Over a<br />
period of eighteen years, Dion moved<br />
throughout Florida and participated in<br />
a number of Protestant denominations.<br />
During this period, his musical odyssey<br />
took yet another direction. From 1979<br />
through 1986 he recorded contemporary<br />
Christian music and proclaimed his<br />
newfound religious experience.<br />
But throughout this Protestant period,<br />
he felt incomplete. He realized that<br />
September 2015<br />
the rich tradition of the Catholic Church<br />
was missing in his life. As a Protestant,<br />
he saw no living voice of authority to<br />
settle and resolve disputes or controversies.<br />
And with new churches opening,<br />
each with slightly different doctrines, it<br />
became confusing for Dion to know what<br />
the truth really was. He found that St.<br />
Paul called the Church the “pillar and<br />
foundation of truth,” and it should hold<br />
to the traditions passed on by the early<br />
Fathers of the Church, who recognized<br />
the Bishop of Rome as the earthly head.<br />
Dion concluded after more years of intense<br />
religious studies, that the Catholic<br />
Church is guided by the Holy Spirit to<br />
make decisions without error, and this<br />
promise given by Jesus – this infallible<br />
divine guidance – gave us the Bible.<br />
Dion’s truth searching journey continued<br />
in the early 1990s when he took<br />
a plane from his Boca Raton home to the<br />
old Bronx neighborhood. He went to Our<br />
Lady of Mount Carmel Church, at the<br />
corner of Belmont Avenue, where he was<br />
baptized and confirmed. He met with<br />
Father Frank, went to confession and let<br />
it all out to the priest. When he finished,<br />
Father Frank stood up, stretched his arms<br />
out and said, “Dion, welcome home.”<br />
With those words, he tried to control his<br />
emotions, but broke down. Dion has said<br />
that he had met a Father who took the<br />
wanderer in his arms and led him home.<br />
With his return to Catholicism,<br />
Dion’s odyssey has taken him full circle.<br />
Elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of<br />
Fame in 1989, the invigorated superstar<br />
returned to secular music and performs<br />
regularly to sell-out audiences. His repertoire<br />
includes a perfect mix of his 1950s<br />
hits; classic songs from his early 1960s<br />
solo career; occasional gospel tunes; and<br />
the hard driving rock and blues music he<br />
records today. The 76 year old music icon<br />
(born: July 18, 1939) is more relevant and<br />
energized today than ever. Spirituality<br />
has brought Dion inner peace and public<br />
acceptance as true rock and roll royalty.<br />
John Esposito is a freelance writer,<br />
who lives in New Providence, NJ with<br />
his wife and two children. The complete<br />
article, Dion – Return of the Wanderer,<br />
abridged for <strong>UNICO</strong>, is included in Mr. Esposito’s<br />
website: www.PieceworkJournals.<br />
com on the “Arts, Music, Food & Entertainment”<br />
page.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
News<br />
Nutley, NJ<br />
NUTLEY CHAPTER NEWS<br />
The Nutley Chapter culminated<br />
its activities for the 2014-15 year<br />
with the awarding of 27 scholarships<br />
in amount of $34,150 at recent<br />
meetings, in addition to its Brian<br />
Piccolo Scholarship Breakfast. The<br />
Chapter wishes to thank all its members,<br />
family and friends who assisted<br />
in the fund-raisers needed to<br />
finance a portion of these awards.<br />
We are especially appreciative of the<br />
many members who have donated<br />
funds to support the scholarships in<br />
the names of loved ones who have<br />
passed, many of whom were members.<br />
Committee Chair Alan Genitempo<br />
is to be congratulated for his<br />
dedicated work in preparing the applications<br />
for review, chairing the selection<br />
meeting and coordinating the<br />
awarding of the scholarships.<br />
Our April meeting included the<br />
presentation of three major Chapter<br />
awards of $4,000, $3,000 and $2,000<br />
and the recognition of the UNICAN of<br />
the Year, Greg Tolve and Outstanding<br />
Achievement, Alan Genitempo. This<br />
process was coordinated by committee<br />
chair Joe Cervasio.<br />
The May 17, Brian Piccolo Scholarship<br />
Breakfast included the presentation<br />
of seven scholarships, the<br />
two main awards were the male and<br />
female Piccolo recipients; Robert<br />
Melillo and Carly Anderson. Those<br />
in attendance were treated to an inspirational<br />
address by former Giant<br />
running back Billy Taylor.<br />
Additional activities included<br />
Community Service Day where<br />
members dug up and prepared a<br />
150 sq. ft. area for a vegetable garden<br />
for the Nutley Special Young<br />
Adults, and a congregation of members<br />
who marched in the Nutley<br />
Memorial Day Parade.<br />
The June meeting marked the last<br />
for our outgoing president Phyllis<br />
Coldebella. We thank her for her hard<br />
work and dedication to our chapter’s<br />
goals and objectives. The 2015-16<br />
slate of officers will be led by incoming<br />
President, Bob Montanino.<br />
Nutley Chapter Past President Marie Solimo<br />
(l) and outgoing 2015 President, Phyllis<br />
Coldebella (r) at the New Jersey District VII<br />
Carnevale with Bob and Elyse Buonomo.<br />
Nutley Chapter member Sam Stellatella<br />
(on bike) with Frank Cocchiola and Phyllis<br />
Coldebella at the Memorial Day Parade.<br />
Scrapbook committee<br />
SCRAPBOOK/DVD AWARDS<br />
Thank you to all the Chapters<br />
that took the time to participate in<br />
this year’s Scrapbook/DVD Awards<br />
program. They were all truly art treasures<br />
which can be used to promote<br />
your Chapter at different events. Our<br />
committee would like to encourage<br />
more Chapters to participate in next<br />
year’s awards program.<br />
Scrapbook Awards were presented<br />
to Celeste Pandolfi, Kearny<br />
Chapter for the small size category<br />
and Joseph Nasello, Saddle Brook<br />
Chapter for the medium size category.<br />
The DVD Award was presented<br />
to Joseph Kovacs, Garfield Chapter in<br />
the medium size category.<br />
You need to start NOW by collecting<br />
pictures, flyers, tickets and<br />
publicity articles. Please consult the<br />
Scrapbook/DVD Awards Guidelines<br />
to assist you in preparing your entry.<br />
I can be reached by e-mail at lpandolfi@verizon.net<br />
with any questions<br />
you may have. See you at the Hyatt<br />
in Cambridge, Maryland.<br />
Scrapbook/DVD Awards presented to<br />
from left: Lou and Celeste Pandolfi, Joe<br />
Kovacs and Marilyn Nasello.<br />
The Scrapbook/DVD Committee: Seated<br />
from left: Michele McDade, Beatrice<br />
Ceraso, Pam Domico and Joe Kovacs.<br />
Standing: Monica Silva Viana, Mary<br />
Teresa Morrison, Mark McDade, Joe<br />
Nasello and Celeste Pandolfi.<br />
From left: Pam Domico and Joe Kovacs<br />
judge medium size scrapbook entries and<br />
Beatrice Ceraso and Joe Nasello judge<br />
small scrapbook category while Celeste<br />
Pandolfi, Committee Chair looks on.<br />
From left: Mark and Michele McDade,<br />
Monica Silva Viana and Mary Teresa<br />
Morrison judge the medium size<br />
scrapbook category.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 33
News<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Pt. Pleasant Beach, NJ<br />
Delaware District I<br />
New Jersey District X<br />
Twenty four members, family and<br />
friends of the Point Pleasant Beach<br />
Chapter travelled to Newport Beach. Five<br />
members attended the <strong>UNICO</strong> National<br />
Convention. All were there to celebrate<br />
Youth Member Michael Gynn’s (far right)<br />
graduation from Fordham Law School.<br />
Brian Piccolo Award Ceremony guests<br />
from left: Nick Ruggieri, Richard DiLiberto,<br />
Chairman, Delaware Commission on<br />
Italian Heritage and Culture; Richard<br />
D’Arminio, Nick Caggiano, Commissioner,<br />
Delaware Commission on Italian Heritage<br />
and Culture and guest speaker Melissa<br />
Cannavo-Marino.<br />
Union County Freeholder Vernell Wright<br />
congratulates incoming <strong>UNICO</strong> National<br />
President Dr. Ann Walko. Walko, a professor<br />
at Kean University, is also a resident of<br />
Scotch Plains. From left: Westfield Chapter<br />
President Anthony Bengivenga, Ann Walko,<br />
Vernell Wright and Union Chapter President<br />
Joe Almeida.<br />
Scrapbook/DVD Guidelines<br />
SCRAPBOOK/DVD GUIDELINES<br />
PURPOSE: To work and assist in keeping a record of significant events in <strong>UNICO</strong> National, through the collection of pictures<br />
and news articles, and to foster and supervise the establishment of a Scrapbook Committee in each Chapter, as a source of historical<br />
reference to the activities of that Chapter.<br />
SCRAPBOOK GUIDELINES<br />
1. To be eligible, scrapbooks should only contain information covering the most recently completed fiscal year, that is, from<br />
July 1st to June 30th.<br />
2. Scrapbooks must be submitted to the committee chair by Thursday, Noon of the National Convention. NO EXCEPTIONS.<br />
3. A Chapter’s scrapbook should signify the Chapter’s accomplishments. Materials should include the following: publicity<br />
from newspapers, magazine articles, programs from Chapter events and thank you notes.<br />
4. The material will be judged for artistic work and presentation of items and items submitted in book form. Socials, fundraisers<br />
and community participation should be clearly labeled as such.<br />
5. The judges use a point system in grading the scrapbooks. Committee members are paired off in twos and review the entries<br />
that are not competing in their own Chapter size. This allows for fairness and diligence in the scoring of each entry. In the event of a<br />
tie, the deciding factor will be based on the overall artistic presentation, as judged by ALL qualifying committee members.<br />
6. The scrapbook from the Chapter receiving the highest number of points from the above criteria will be the winner in that<br />
Chapter size category. The Chapter size categories are as follows:<br />
a) small sized Chapters are 40 members or less;<br />
b) medium sized Chapters are 41 to 80 members;<br />
c) large sized Chapters are 81 to 200 members;<br />
d) extra large sized Chapters are 201 or more members.<br />
The chair will act solely as the facilitator, providing the guidelines and answering questions. The chair will have no voting privilege.<br />
DVD GUIDELINES<br />
The DVD must be submitted to the committee chair by Thursday, Noon of the National Convention. NO EXCEPTIONS The<br />
DVD should not exceed thirty (30) minutes. Each of the following four categories could receive up to ten (10) points for a possible<br />
total of forty (40) points.<br />
1. The DVD should depict as many Chapter functions and events as possible from the most recently completed fiscal year.<br />
2. The events must be presented chronologically and must be properly identified.<br />
3. The importance of the events will be considered.<br />
4. The DVD most professionally presented, but not necessarily, professionally done, will be given serious consideration.<br />
Judges for the DVD category can include any number of committee members, but not less than two. They cannot be a member<br />
of a competing Chapter in the same category size. The Chapter size categories will be the same as given for the scrapbook<br />
competition. The committee chair will have no voting privilege and will act solely as the facilitator, proving the guidelines and<br />
answering questions. In the event of a tie, the deciding factor will be the overall artistic presentation.<br />
34<br />
September 2015<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
News<br />
Queensboro, NY<br />
Food Bank/Shelter Fund<br />
QUEENSBORO’S ANNUAL<br />
CONCERT<br />
The Queensboro Chapter and the Juniper<br />
Park Civic Association, along with<br />
many of our members recently sponsored<br />
our annual concert in the park. Chapter<br />
Member Anthony Nunziata has organized<br />
this for years! There was a medley<br />
of Sicilian, Abruzzese and Neapolitan<br />
favorites, along with over 700 attendees.<br />
A great evening for all.<br />
We heard the great voices of Jessica<br />
Carvo and Elio Staccio.<br />
Elio Staccio standing among the crowd,<br />
entertaining us with his great voice. Elio<br />
also preformed songs that had us all<br />
singing along with him.<br />
Food Bank and Shelter<br />
Grant Applications are available<br />
through the National Office.<br />
Deadlines for consideration are<br />
60 days before either the Mid-<br />
Year Board of Directors Meeting<br />
or the Annual Convention.<br />
From left: President Michael Mucaria,<br />
Chairman of the Board John Ficano,<br />
Joe Papavero, guest unknown, Frank<br />
Fabrico and Philip Joseph.<br />
The Rutherford Community Food<br />
Pantry, Inc., Rutherford, New Jersey is<br />
one of seven recipients of the Torraco<br />
Food Bank/Shelter Fund 2015 Grants.<br />
Pictured are Rutherford <strong>UNICO</strong> members<br />
and RCFP representatives from left:<br />
Barbara Lipari Laborim, Barbara Pilarcek,<br />
RCFP Board; Patty Hirsch, Genevieve<br />
Kacmarcik, Rutherford Social Service<br />
Director; Nicholas Iocca, Maureen Bigley,<br />
RCFP Board; Joan Tidona, Shirley Tokarz,<br />
Councilwoman Carolyn Smith and<br />
Dolores Gennaro.<br />
To donate to a<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> Charity<br />
make checks payable and mail to:<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> Foundation<br />
271 US Highway 46, West<br />
Suite F-103<br />
Fairfield, New Jersey 07004<br />
All donations to the Foundation are tax deductible<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 35
National Convention - Ice Breaker<br />
Anthony Bengivenga and Pat Pelonero<br />
set up the signage.<br />
From left: Steve Pelonero, Dave D’Arco,<br />
Ann Walko and Joe Agresti<br />
From left: Marilyn and Joe Nasello,<br />
Dominick and Alina Nicastro, Talia and<br />
Dave D’Arco.<br />
From left: Frank Paolercio, Gene<br />
Antonio, Joe Almeida, Matt and Mario<br />
Giovannucci and Mike Veselka.<br />
From left: Sheriff Joseph Arpaio,<br />
Dave D’Arco, Joe Agresti and<br />
Dominick Nicastro.<br />
From left: Frank Paolercio, John DiNapoli<br />
and Chris Tomasello.<br />
Jean Chomko and Frank Greco.<br />
From left: Paula Varsalona-Marino, Marie<br />
Rose and Ralph Contini.<br />
Pat Strocchia and Lou Mattaliano.<br />
From left: Sandy Giordano, Denise Silva,<br />
Michael Walko, Karen Arakelian and<br />
Diane Markley.<br />
From left: Lisa Adubato, Tom Park and<br />
Debbie Bailey.<br />
Former First Ladies Linda Spano and<br />
Cindy Caperino.<br />
36<br />
September 2015<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
National Convention - Ice Breaker<br />
Linda Spano and Nina Held. Father Bob Wolfee. Frank Greco and Frank Paolercio.<br />
Richard D’Arminio. Angela DiNapoli and Carol Cannata. Tom Vaughan entertains the crowd.<br />
Mark McDade gets a dance lesson. Jennifer and Jim DeSpenza. Lupe and Tony Fornelli.<br />
Linda-Gail and John Alati. Paula and Joe Marino. Linda and Michael Spano.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 37
National Convention - Family and Friends<br />
From left: Steve Pelonero, Rick<br />
D’Arminio, Andre’ DiMino, Manuela<br />
D’Arminio and Pat Pelonero.<br />
Joe and Paula Marino.<br />
From left: Ron Giametti, Michael and<br />
Linda Spano.<br />
From left: Father Bob, Maggie Pettinato<br />
and Pat Pelonero.<br />
The Office Staff and Friends enjoy dinner<br />
at Cucina Alessa’.<br />
From left: Ron Giametti, Michael Spano,<br />
Ralph Contini and Ron Manzella.<br />
Father Bob and Paul Domico.<br />
From left: Mary Berger, John DiNapoli<br />
and Monica Viana.<br />
The Registration Table.<br />
From left: Manny and Pat Alfano, Gene<br />
and Marie Antonio.<br />
Pennsylvania Members enjoy dinner.<br />
New Jersey District X Members gather<br />
for dinner.<br />
38<br />
September 2015<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
National Convention-General Session<br />
The Marine Corps Color Guard opens<br />
the Convention.<br />
From left: Jenny DiMino, Manuela<br />
D’Arminio and Alina Nicastro.<br />
Lou Pandolfi presents Ann Walko with a<br />
Convention Cap.<br />
Francine Nido and Frank Greco.<br />
From left: Linda-Gail Alati, Nicki Carpinelli<br />
and Nina Held.<br />
Steve Perillo presents <strong>UNICO</strong> National<br />
with a check for $12,000.<br />
President D’Arminio calls members up<br />
for a best goatee contest!<br />
The <strong>UNICO</strong> National Executive Board is<br />
sworn in by President D’Arminio.<br />
President D’Arminio swears in the<br />
District Governors.<br />
Members and friends of New Jersey<br />
District X join Ann Walko on the podium<br />
prior to her swearing in as <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
National President.<br />
Past National President Frank Licato<br />
swears in new President Walko as<br />
Michael Walko holds the family bible.<br />
Ann Walko presents Richard D’Arminio<br />
with the Past President’s Plaque.<br />
Manuela D’Arminio is welcomed into the<br />
Past First Ladies Club.<br />
The Past National Presidents accept<br />
Richard D’Arminio into their ranks.<br />
From left: Richard and Manuela<br />
D’Arminio, Michael and Ann Walko.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 39
National Convention-Awards<br />
From left: President Richard D’Arminio,<br />
Americanism Recipient Sheriff Joseph<br />
Arpaio and Frank Cannata.<br />
Francine Nido presents Bob Kievit with<br />
a Membership Award for the St. Joe’s<br />
H. S. Montvale Chapter.<br />
Joe Corsini and Michael Mucaria receive a<br />
Membership Award from Francine Nido.<br />
From left: Richard D’Arminio,<br />
Distinguished District Governors Mark<br />
McDade and Carmine Campanile and<br />
Frank Greco.<br />
From left: Richard D’Arminio, Outstanding<br />
District Governor Steve Pelonero, Frank<br />
Greco and Joe Agresti.<br />
Orange/West Orange member Frank<br />
Paolercio accepts the Model Chapter<br />
Award from President Richard D’Arminio<br />
and Lou Pandolfi.<br />
Montville members Joe Marino and Karen<br />
Arakelian accept the Model Chapter Award<br />
from Richard D’Arminio and Lou Pandolfi.<br />
The Exceptional Local Project is awarded<br />
to the Montville Chapter. From left:<br />
Richard D’Arminio, Joe and Paula Marino,<br />
Karen Arakelian and Lou Pandolfi.<br />
President Richard D’Arminio presents an<br />
Exceptional Local Project Award to Celeste<br />
and Lou Pandolfi.<br />
Chapter Members display their Chapter<br />
Achievement Certificates.<br />
Celeste and Lou Pandolfi accept the<br />
Model Chapter Award from President<br />
Richard D’Arminio.<br />
Scrapbook and DVD Award winners<br />
from left: Lou and Celeste Pandolfi, Joe<br />
Kovacs and Marilyn Nasello.<br />
40<br />
September 2015<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
National Convention-Red Carpet<br />
From left: Jonathan Cerone, Laura<br />
Contini, Steve Perillo and Maria-Rose<br />
and Ralph Contini.<br />
Jennifer and Jim DeSpenza join Valeri<br />
Orsini for a picture with “Jack and Marilyn”.<br />
Linda and Frank DeFrank.<br />
Lou Mattaliano stops for a picture with<br />
“Marilyn and Jack.”<br />
From left: <strong>UNICO</strong> National President<br />
Ann Walko, “Jack”, Bernice Hornchak,<br />
“Marilyn” and Brad Mayer.<br />
Angela and John DiNapoli’s pose with<br />
“Jack and Marilyn.”<br />
Linda-Gail and John Alati take a picture with<br />
“Jack and Marilyn.”<br />
“Jack and Marilyn” are pictured with the<br />
Agresti family and friend.<br />
Long time friends gather for their annual<br />
picture with “Jack and Marilyn.”<br />
Mike and Marlene Veselka meet “Marilyn<br />
and Jack on the Red Carpet.<br />
From left: Peter and Maggie Pettinato,<br />
Michele and Mark McDade, Monica<br />
Viana and Mary Teresa Morrison.<br />
“Jack” greets the Paolercio family and<br />
friends.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 41
National Convention-Gala<br />
Convention Chairs from left: Frank<br />
Cannata, Frank Paolercio and John<br />
DiNapoli.<br />
2015-2016 District Governors. Regional District Governors Ron Giometti<br />
and Bob Tarte.<br />
From left: Past National President Mike<br />
Veselka, Vastola Award Recipient Ralph<br />
Contini and <strong>UNICO</strong> National President<br />
Ann Walko.<br />
Past Vastola Recipients standing from<br />
left: Joe Agresti, Frank Paolercio,<br />
Tony Fornelli, Manny Alfano and John<br />
DiNapoli. Seated: Ralph Contini.<br />
From left: <strong>UNICO</strong> National Office<br />
Manager Pat Pelonero, National Chaplain<br />
Fr. Bob Wolfee and <strong>UNICO</strong> National<br />
Executive Director Andre’ DiMino.<br />
From left: National President Ann Walko,<br />
Basilone Freedom Recipient General Anthony<br />
Zinni and Michael Walko.<br />
From left: Ralph Contini, Presidential<br />
Award Recipient Steve Perillo and Past<br />
National President Richard D’Arminio.<br />
The Executive Board from left: Anthony<br />
Bengivenga, Patty Hirsch, Dominick<br />
Nicastro, Ann Walko, Tom Vaughan, Lee<br />
Norelli and Frank Greco.<br />
From left: Michael Walko, Louis DeFillipo<br />
Award Recipient Captain Charles Gatlin<br />
and Ann Walko.<br />
New Jersey District X.<br />
Past National Presidents.<br />
42<br />
September 2015<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
National Convention-Gala<br />
From left: Michael Walko, <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
National President Ann Walko and Past<br />
National President Frank Licato.<br />
Manuela and Richard D’Arminio.<br />
From left: Lee Norelli, Dominick Nicastro<br />
and Tom Vaughan.<br />
Father Wolfee gives the invocation.<br />
From left: Frank Cannata, Louis DeFillipo<br />
Award Recipient Captain Charles Gatlin<br />
and President Ann Walko.<br />
Basilone Freedom Recipient General Anthony<br />
Zinni accepts his award.<br />
East Meets West! President Ann Walko<br />
presents Past National President Kathi Stozza<br />
with a beautiful bouquet.<br />
President Ann Walko gives her inaugural<br />
speech.<br />
From left: Frank Cannata, Presidential<br />
Award Recipient Steve Perillo and Past<br />
National President Richard D’Arminio.<br />
Frank Cannata and Ann Walko.<br />
Frank Cannata and Manuela D’Arminio.<br />
Ann Walko and Frank Greco.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 43
National Convention-Gala<br />
Pennsylvania and Delaware Chapter<br />
Members.<br />
New Jersey Chapter Members.<br />
New Jersey District X Members.<br />
New Jersey and Tennessee Chapter<br />
Members.<br />
New Jersey Chapter Members<br />
California Chapter Members.<br />
Pennsylvania and New York Chapter<br />
Members.<br />
The Orange/West Orange Chapter.<br />
Connecticut Chapter Members.<br />
New Jersey and Connecticut Chapter<br />
Members.<br />
St. Louis, Illinois and Wisconsin Chapter<br />
Members.<br />
Award Recipients and New Jersey<br />
Chapter Members.<br />
44<br />
September 2015<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
National Convention-Gala<br />
From left: Richard and Manuela<br />
D’Arminio and Valeri Orsini.<br />
Linda Spano and Carol Cannata.<br />
Ralph Contini and Michael Spano.<br />
The Marinos and the Fornellis.<br />
From left: Marlene Veselka, Lee Norelli,<br />
Michele and Tom Vaughan and Debbie<br />
Bailey.<br />
John DiNapoli and Frank Licato.<br />
Frank and Cindy Caperino. Michael Spano and Tony Fornelli. Manuela D’Arminio and Linda Spano.<br />
Alina and Dominick Nicastro. The D’Arminio Family. Ron and Janet Benjamin.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 45
News<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Ella T. Grasso Schoalarship Essay<br />
A Humble Heart<br />
by Dominic Conti<br />
Six pounds of pasta, eight loaves<br />
of garlic bread, and fifty meatballs; the<br />
aroma swarms our Italian style circular<br />
kitchen as eight of my dearest friends<br />
and I devour every savory mouthful.<br />
Topping off our meal with sesame<br />
seed cookies, frosted fig cookies, anise<br />
biscotti, and homemade cannolis make<br />
the day even more spectacular. This is<br />
my world...a hospitable home, loving<br />
parents, positive reinforcement for others,<br />
and a sincere respect for country.<br />
A place where my Mom teaches us a<br />
deep faith in God, and my Dad works<br />
unconditionally to provide for his<br />
cherished family. These qualities created<br />
the firm foundation of my life,<br />
because my Italian grandparents and<br />
extended family came to this country<br />
three generations ago with a vision<br />
of familial, professional and spiritual<br />
growth. They succeeded in their plight,<br />
and I am here today as an Italian American<br />
who is a living testimony and an<br />
enriched young man continuing in the<br />
dream of my ancestors. There never<br />
was a particular experience which encompassed<br />
my Italian heritage all in<br />
one. There was, however, a particular<br />
man who created many positive memories<br />
for me that will last a lifetime and<br />
represented all we stand for as Italians<br />
making a difference in this great nation.<br />
I can’t count the endless hours I<br />
went through, before I was finally able<br />
to articulate my thoughts on paper and<br />
express into words to describe such an<br />
extraordinary man, a one- in- a- million<br />
man, ”my hero”, Uncle Chuck<br />
Gallucci. Not many people can say<br />
they actually knew a true hero in their<br />
lifetime, but we had one of the greatest<br />
ones right here in our own family.<br />
At the age of thirteen, Uncle Chuck<br />
lost his father, and he and his older<br />
brother, my “Papa”, quickly became<br />
the men of the house; running the<br />
farm, tending the family Italian grocery<br />
store, as well as trying to finish<br />
school. While attending college in<br />
Michigan, he worked in restaurants as<br />
a dishwasher and fed himself the leftovers<br />
that came through his line as his<br />
46<br />
gloves dripped with soap and water.<br />
He earned a Business degree and took<br />
that knowledge seriously, by saving<br />
all the money he could from random<br />
jobs, until he was able to purchase his<br />
first piece of property. Eventually, he<br />
became immensely wise with his investments,<br />
and he was able to buy and<br />
sell homes quickly while making an<br />
honest profit from them. He was a man<br />
of deep faith, putting his Lord and Savior<br />
first in his life, not just by words,<br />
but by his actions. He was the most<br />
unselfish person I knew, and charity<br />
was his middle name. That’s the true<br />
Italian way! His generosity extended<br />
out beyond description; outside the<br />
walls of his own family, to the community<br />
around him, and even beyond our<br />
American borders.<br />
His character was one of strength<br />
and perseverance, yet his spirit one of<br />
humility and grace. A true American<br />
who loved his country and appreciated<br />
the freedom this country gave his own<br />
family and allowed him to become a<br />
successful entrepreneur at a young<br />
age. He appreciated the perseverance<br />
it took for his grandparents to immigrate<br />
here from Piemonte, Italy, and he<br />
never wanted his family’s transition to<br />
the United States to be in vain. Uncle<br />
Chuck wanted to create a legacy of the<br />
Gallucci family for all generations to<br />
come, and he did just that.<br />
Italians are known for their welcoming<br />
smiles and insistent warmth,<br />
and Uncle Chuck epitomized these<br />
attributes. His working hands were<br />
always busy building and rebuilding,<br />
and the compassion he had for those<br />
in need was indescribable. He couldn’t<br />
tolerate anyone longing for anything,<br />
when he had the financial means in<br />
which to help them….a soft bed to<br />
sleep in, a warm meal, the shirt off his<br />
back, extra pocket money, medical attention<br />
for a forgotten child, running<br />
water for those without …and….yes,<br />
even a church to give an entire poverty<br />
stricken town a place to worship God.<br />
This was Uncle Chuck, our ‘miracle<br />
worker’. He made sure people were<br />
not discriminated against when in his<br />
presence, by having conversations with<br />
September 2015<br />
them and many times offering them<br />
jobs and even inviting them as welcomed<br />
strangers into his home. He felt<br />
everyone was a child of God and worthy<br />
of justification and happiness.<br />
He forgave those who took advantage<br />
of his generosity and never had a<br />
mean thing to say about anyone. His<br />
fantastic sense of humor allowed him<br />
to always see the positive side of life,<br />
no matter how bad things may have<br />
been going for him in his personal or<br />
business life. He never had children<br />
of his own, but my mom was his Goddaughter,<br />
and because of this, they had<br />
a special bond. At a very young age,<br />
I knew what an honor it was to have<br />
Uncle Chuck in our lives. I knew him<br />
until I was thirteen years old, but his<br />
memory is implemented forever.<br />
As mentioned above, he built a<br />
church, not just any church, but a<br />
church per the request of Mother Teresa<br />
called “The Immaculate Heart of<br />
Mary”, located in one of the poorest<br />
towns of Mexico called El Florido. My<br />
mom has shared many stories of her<br />
quietly listening on the phone while<br />
Uncle Chuck, living in San Diego,<br />
spoke to Mother Teresa in Calcutta,<br />
India. He would joke with Mother with<br />
his amazing sense of humor, and she<br />
would laugh and call him “Mr. Chuck”<br />
in her shy humble tone. She had<br />
contacted him when she heard about<br />
his numerous philanthropic work in<br />
Mexico helping build orphanages and<br />
providing clean running water to any<br />
neighboring village suffering from contamination.<br />
Mother Teresa also heard<br />
of his work with Sister Liley who lived<br />
in a convent with fifteen other nuns.<br />
They slept on the floor or on cots in<br />
three small sheds, with hanging sheets<br />
for walls, and no official bathrooms for<br />
them to use. Within six months, Uncle<br />
Chuck built suitable rooms for these sweet<br />
‘sisters’ along with a simple chapel for<br />
them to pray and worship. His love for the<br />
“least of these” was remarkable.<br />
Underneath the foundation of this<br />
modest church, in which the altar<br />
stands, is buried multiple pictures<br />
Continues on page 47...<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
News<br />
Ella T. Grasso Schoalarship Essay<br />
...continued from page 46...<br />
of generations of the Gallucci family.<br />
All of our pictures are there! He<br />
included the “Stations of the Cross”<br />
in stained glass windows with our<br />
families’ names etched on the bottom;<br />
Louis and Margaret Gallucci<br />
Family is my family on Station<br />
#5, depicting Jesus falling for the<br />
first time while carrying the cross.<br />
Mother Teresa made sure he did<br />
not add too many ornate decorations,<br />
as simplicity was important<br />
to her. Uncle Chuck quotes in his<br />
book, A Change of Heart, that he was<br />
“so honored and humbled that the<br />
Gentle Master above gave him such<br />
an incredible opportunity to do these<br />
projects for the poor. An opportunity<br />
that took many truckloads of cement,<br />
thousands of bricks, tons of steel,<br />
tens of thousands of nails and hardware,<br />
hundreds of sheets of plywood<br />
and a huge number of labor hours.”<br />
He said, whenever he felt too much<br />
pride or became boastful, he would<br />
“remind himself Jesus built an entire<br />
incredible bridge to heaven using<br />
only three nails on a cross.” He accomplished<br />
all this with his own<br />
money and never asked for a dime<br />
from anyone. With all our Uncle<br />
Chuck did in these journeys of love<br />
and sacrifice, there does not exist 1<br />
plaque on any building or one stone<br />
with his name on it recognizing him<br />
for his generosity and hard work.<br />
Uncle Chuck taught each of us<br />
the value of an honest and loyal work<br />
ethic, because Italians keep fighting<br />
and not allowing obstacles to stand in<br />
their way of having a wonderful life<br />
filled with opportunities. Because of<br />
his tight work schedule, he was the<br />
only man I knew that wore his watch<br />
backwards. He did this so as to never<br />
offend anyone when he wanted to<br />
check the time having to get to another<br />
appointment. Other people’s feelings<br />
always took priority over his own.<br />
In addition to his work outside our<br />
borders, his work in the United States<br />
was truly admirable and effected multiples<br />
of people in a positive way. He<br />
provided hundreds of jobs for workers<br />
at various health clubs, private<br />
preschools, and other properties he<br />
owned. He believed in empowering<br />
oneself to be independent so one can<br />
take care of his family with honor<br />
and integrity. Uncle Chuck loved to<br />
eat his Italian food, but he also reminded<br />
us to take care of ourselves<br />
at the same time, and loved his<br />
health club businesses. He took people<br />
off the street and nurtured their<br />
confidence, simply by employing<br />
them and teaching them how to take<br />
care of themselves and respect their<br />
own lives. He would even house<br />
them in some of the vacant properties<br />
he owned. Through the years, we<br />
witnessed him make enough money<br />
to last five lifetimes, and giving most<br />
of his money to charity and eventually<br />
losing what he had left due to<br />
people taking advantage of his generosity,<br />
he said, with a smile on his<br />
face, “he never felt richer in his life,<br />
and he would do it all over again if<br />
given the chance.”<br />
Uncle Chuck wrote this before he<br />
passed away seven years ago: “My<br />
Prayer to You”:<br />
May you remember that life is a<br />
mystery to be lived, not a problem to<br />
be solved, therefore strive to live by<br />
virtue and not by appetite.<br />
May you remember we are more<br />
than a body with a soul, rather we<br />
are a soul with a body and that life is<br />
merely a short span of years between<br />
two eternities.<br />
May you remember that life is<br />
not about what happens to you, life is<br />
about how you react to what happens<br />
to you.<br />
May you remember to help those<br />
less fortunate than you because love is<br />
the reason for our season here on earth<br />
remembering that we only get to keep<br />
what we give away.<br />
May you remember that success<br />
should not be measured by heights<br />
achieved, but rather by obstacles overcome,<br />
never letting defeat have the last<br />
word.<br />
May you remember the Lord’s<br />
promise, “be not afraid, for I am with<br />
you always.” Therefore, have the courage<br />
to awaken the hero in you and<br />
blaze a trail for Christ.<br />
May you remember that the entrance<br />
fee into heaven may be:<br />
Loving more than others think is<br />
wise.<br />
Risking more than others think is<br />
safe.<br />
Giving more than others think is<br />
practical.<br />
Forgiving more than others think<br />
is possible.<br />
Finally, until we meet again, may<br />
the good Lord keep you in the palm of<br />
His hands, remembering that He is the<br />
Way, the Truth, and the Life.”<br />
What a legacy he left for us and<br />
a true positive Italian American experience<br />
that will last a lifetime;<br />
not just for me, but for everyone<br />
who was blessed to be part of his<br />
life. There is no doubt, Uncle Chuck<br />
encompassed the attributes of the<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> Foundation in Unity, Neighborliness,<br />
Integrity, Charity, and Opportunity<br />
to its fullest meaning, and<br />
I am proud to be here to share his<br />
life with others.<br />
To donate to a<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> Charity<br />
make checks payable and mail to:<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> Foundation<br />
271 US Highway 46 West,<br />
Suite F-103,<br />
Fairfield, New Jersey 07004.<br />
All donations to the Foundation are tax deductible.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 47
News<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Ella T. Grasso Schoalarship Essay<br />
48<br />
Eel on Christmas Eve:<br />
My Italian-American Story<br />
by Kathryn Kerr<br />
During the first few moments of<br />
dusk on Christmas Eve, just as the sun<br />
dips below the horizon and the sky<br />
fades from orange to black, the cellar<br />
kitchen of a snow-covered house<br />
simmers with aromas of cooking fish.<br />
Oil crackles in a frying pan, spitting<br />
under the influence of the stove’s heat.<br />
Experienced Italian hands place strips<br />
of eel into the pan, causing the oil to<br />
scream and sizzle as it sears into the<br />
fish’s breading. They are left to simmer<br />
for a few moments, browning in the<br />
spitting oil, until each strip is flipped,<br />
allowing the opposite side to embrace<br />
the heat. Once the hands deem the eel<br />
to be cooked enough, they remove the<br />
strips from the pan and layer them<br />
on a waiting plate. The hands wipe<br />
themselves clean on an apron, then lift<br />
the plate, holding on securely as the<br />
steaming eel is carried up the steps to<br />
the main floor of the house.<br />
At the top of the steps, the<br />
cellar door opens, releasing the fishy<br />
tinge into untainted air. Slowly and<br />
quietly the scent creeps through each<br />
room, silently engulfing the home.<br />
The plate of eel travels past the family<br />
room, where children squeal in<br />
anticipation of Santa’s arrival while<br />
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer<br />
blares from the television. Wisps of<br />
the redolence gently glide past the<br />
TV as Clarice consoles Rudolph about<br />
his nose being different from everybody<br />
else’s. “But that’s what makes<br />
it so grand!” she exclaims, just as the<br />
hands carry the plate through the main<br />
kitchen, where other types of fish bake<br />
in the oven and the finishing touches<br />
are added to pasta dishes. Finally, the<br />
eel arrives in the dining room, where<br />
a long table is elegantly set with fine<br />
china and trimmed with subtle Christmas<br />
decor. Shrimp with cocktail sauce<br />
adorns each place setting and the different<br />
dishes of fish occupy the center<br />
of the table. The hands gently place<br />
the eel on the table, joining the baccala,<br />
smelts, squid, and anchovy pasta.<br />
This is the tradition of the Feast of the<br />
Seven Fishes, and to me, it is the culmination<br />
and embodiment of my Italian<br />
heritage.<br />
I was born into the epitome<br />
of an Italian-American family, at least<br />
on my mother’s side. However, the<br />
numerous Italian experiences I have<br />
had atone for the sin of my father’s<br />
Scottish and German heritage. While<br />
I always feel connected to my Italian<br />
side, Christmastime is when I identify<br />
most strongly with my roots. During<br />
Christmas, every major aspect of Italian<br />
culture culminates. As I see them,<br />
these aspects are food, family, music,<br />
and religion.<br />
Most Italian-Americans will<br />
agree that food lies at the heart of Italian<br />
culture. While Italy abounds with<br />
astounding architecture, artwork, and<br />
history, the country’s immigrants could<br />
not bring these pieces of their culture<br />
with them to their new lands. Instead,<br />
they brought recipes as reminders of<br />
their homeland, and it is these recipes<br />
which have flourished in America.<br />
For every city boasts countless Italian<br />
restaurants, and every home looks<br />
forward to ‘pasta nights’ for dinner.<br />
Through food, Italian traditions<br />
have become incredibly interwoven<br />
into American culture, all because of<br />
Italian-Americans’ incorporation of<br />
their culture and their food into their<br />
new lives. My family provides a great<br />
example of this. We have retained our<br />
Southern Italian heritage by celebrating<br />
Christmas with the Feast of the Seven<br />
Fishes. Yet fish is only one aspect of<br />
the Italian food offered during the<br />
Christmas season: traditional Italian<br />
cookies, rice pudding, and coffee are<br />
always eaten for dessert. While Christmastime<br />
especially exhibits traditional<br />
Italian meals, such dishes are also featured<br />
at all other holidays and throughout<br />
the year. In fact, the majority of our<br />
family dinners have always included<br />
some sort of Italian dish. Even when<br />
my mother did not have time to cook,<br />
she would never drive down the street<br />
to McDonald’s for Happy Meals. Instead,<br />
she would quickly boil water for<br />
rigatoni or penne and heat the homemade<br />
red sauce she would store in the<br />
September 2015<br />
refrigerator, allowing for a quick yet<br />
delicious meal. I grew up spoiled on<br />
the finest recipes Italy has to offer,<br />
which made my transition to bland,<br />
greasy college food all the more difficult.<br />
Family dinners such as these<br />
have always been emphasized. At<br />
least once a month, my extended family<br />
would gather around my grandmother’s<br />
table on Sunday afternoons,<br />
eating some form of pasta with her<br />
famous sauce, which was passed down<br />
from her Italian ancestors. After we<br />
children finished, we would play with<br />
one another while the adults shared<br />
updates about relatives and friends,<br />
reminisced upon old family memories,<br />
or argued about recent topics in the<br />
news. Oftentimes friendly and loving<br />
arguments would occur no matter<br />
what the topic of discussion was; for<br />
what sort of Italians would we be if we<br />
did not engage in impassioned debates<br />
over pasta and wine? After all, arguing,<br />
even in a friendly manner, appears<br />
to be engrained within our nature. We<br />
are born with a gene for hot blood that<br />
will boil at the slightest provocation,<br />
and there is no better time to argue<br />
than around the dinner table with<br />
those we love the most. Arguments,<br />
it seems, are expressions of affection<br />
for Italians, and no meal or holiday<br />
is complete without them. Holidays,<br />
especially Christmas, are when the entire<br />
family gathers together, laughing<br />
and arguing, embodying another pillar<br />
of the Italian-American lifestyle.<br />
Christmastime also incorporates<br />
another staple of this experience:<br />
music. Throughout the Christmas season,<br />
holiday music of Italian artists,<br />
especially that of Frank Sinatra, floats<br />
throughout the house, encouraging<br />
Christmas spirit. I vividly remember<br />
decorating my grandparents’ home<br />
while Sinatra’s smooth, rich vocals<br />
bellowed from the stereo system.<br />
Music such as this is important because<br />
it connects us to our heritage<br />
even more. We celebrate our roots by<br />
Continues on page 49...<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
News<br />
Ella T. Grasso Schoalarship Essay<br />
...continued from page 48...<br />
singing along to the music of those<br />
Italian-Americans who express their<br />
heritage through song. While many<br />
Italian artists are beloved by my family,<br />
none receives more attention than<br />
Sinatra. Each year at La Festa Italiana<br />
in Scranton, my uncle, whose vocals<br />
astonishingly emulate Sinatra’s,<br />
performs a repertoire of his songs.<br />
Through these concerts, my uncle introduced<br />
me to a style of music that is<br />
very important to Italian-Americans,<br />
allowing me to create deeper connections<br />
with my identity as one.<br />
Perhaps the largest contributor<br />
to my identity with my heritage is<br />
Catholicism. Because of Catholicism,<br />
I feel even more connected to my<br />
heritage, for the center of the Catholic<br />
universe lies within the heart of Italy.<br />
Though the Vatican City is considered<br />
a separate entity from Italy, it must<br />
be influenced by the large, passionate<br />
country surrounding it. Like many<br />
Italian-Americans, my religion is at<br />
the center of my life. Catholic values<br />
have shaped my morals and decisions,<br />
thus defining who I am as a person. I<br />
have seen religion’s importance and<br />
influence in the lives of my grandparents,<br />
parents, and aunts and uncles.<br />
Their piety and devotion, along with<br />
their level of happiness, has encouraged<br />
me to emulate them so that I, too,<br />
might live in such a manner of peace<br />
and happiness. Additionally, Catholicism’s<br />
overarching message of loving<br />
and helping others heavily influenced<br />
my career decision of entering pharmacy,<br />
through which I can combine<br />
my desire to aid those in need, with<br />
my interest in science and medicine.<br />
The college I attend, Duquesne University,<br />
is a Catholic institution which<br />
encourages the highest level of education<br />
while emphasizing the importance<br />
of service and kindness to the<br />
community. Because of this, Duquesne<br />
appears to be the best place to help me<br />
become a competent and compassionate<br />
pharmacist.<br />
College is not my first experience<br />
of a Catholic education; I was<br />
fortunate enough to attend Catholic<br />
grade school and high school as<br />
well. Throughout my time in Catholic<br />
school, I have been surrounded by<br />
people who are very similar to me,<br />
while also being very different. For<br />
while most of my classmates were<br />
Catholics raised in similar family situations,<br />
none grew up with any emphasis<br />
upon Italian culture as I did. For<br />
few of them were Italian, and those<br />
who were did not have strong connections<br />
to their heritage. Throughout<br />
elementary school, I often felt separated<br />
from my friends. None of them<br />
emphasized their culture to the extent<br />
my family did; none of them served<br />
fish for Christmas Eve dinner. Whenever<br />
I discussed my holiday plans<br />
with my friends, they gave me strange<br />
looks, crinkling their noses while asking<br />
why we eat fish, of all things, on<br />
Christmas. At times, I remember feeling<br />
like Rudolph did, solitary and<br />
misunderstood. I wished I could experience<br />
a “normal” Christmas with<br />
“normal” foods that were not fish. Yet<br />
as I matured, I realized the importance<br />
of this tradition, for I soon recognized<br />
that it embodies everything held dear<br />
to Italian-American culture, containing<br />
traditional Italian food, family, music,<br />
and religion. I recognized that Christmas<br />
focused my sense of identity, for it<br />
emphasized and strengthened all these<br />
aspects which define my life. Yet I did<br />
not need a Clarice to tell me that my<br />
different “nose,” my heritage, made me<br />
“grand”; this was something I realized<br />
for myself. This sense of identity has<br />
made me proud to be Italian. While<br />
others may cringe at the notion of fish<br />
on Christmas, I embrace it. For nothing<br />
on earth will smell as comforting as<br />
frying eel on a cold winter’s night in a<br />
warm home where Sinatra’s carols are<br />
background music to a loving family<br />
arguing ceaselessly into the night, as<br />
snow falls gently and peacefully on the<br />
eve of Christ’s birth.<br />
Ella T. Grasso<br />
Literary Scholarship<br />
Established 2012<br />
“It is not enough to<br />
profess faith in the<br />
democratic process;<br />
we must do something<br />
about it.”<br />
~Ella T. Grasso<br />
Through her dedication and commitment<br />
to service, Ella Grasso positively impacted<br />
the lives of many Americans.<br />
Born in Windsor Locks, Connecticut<br />
on May 10, 1919, Ella was the only child of<br />
Italian immigrants, James and Maria Oliva<br />
Tambussi. Her parents highly valued education,<br />
and instilled in their daughter the<br />
love of learning. A gifted student, Ella won<br />
a scholarship to the prestigious Chaffee<br />
School. Upon graduation, she attended<br />
Mount Holyoke College, on scholarship,<br />
where she earned her BA, magna cum<br />
laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1940; her MA<br />
in 1942. Following graduation, Ella served<br />
with the War Manpower Commission of<br />
Connecticut as Assistant Director of Research.<br />
She married Dr. Thomas Grasso;<br />
they had two children, Susanne and Jim.<br />
In 1970, Ella Grasso won election to<br />
the Congress of the United States from<br />
the Sixth Congressional District of Connecticut<br />
by over 4,000 votes. Her outstanding<br />
performance in Congress was<br />
acknowledged; she was re-elected in<br />
1972 with over 60% of votes cast.<br />
One of the most significant pieces of<br />
legislation Grasso supported and influenced<br />
was the National Cooley’s Anemia<br />
Control Act of 1972. This Act established<br />
programs to assist patients dealing with<br />
the serious blood disorder that primarily<br />
affects people of Mediterranean descent.<br />
Ella Tambussi Grasso was overwhelmingly<br />
elected Governor of the state of Connecticut<br />
in November 1974. Inaugurated in<br />
January 1975, she became our nation’s first<br />
woman to hold a state governorship in her<br />
own right. She won re-election in 1978. Ill<br />
health forced her resignation in December<br />
1980. Ella Grasso succumbed to cancer the<br />
following February.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National has established the<br />
Ella T. Grasso Literary Scholarship to honor<br />
the accomplishments of an extraordinary<br />
Italian American. This scholarship will be<br />
awarded to an undergraduate college student,<br />
submitting an original short story or<br />
essay celebrating their Italian heritage.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 49
News<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
In Memoriam<br />
Lionel Lessard<br />
New Jersey District X<br />
Carbondale, PA<br />
Lionel Lessard passed away on Friday,<br />
August 28, 2015. He was 91 years<br />
young.<br />
He was a member of the Manchester<br />
Chapter of <strong>UNICO</strong> National.<br />
The Manchester Chapter will miss<br />
him and his outspoken voice very much.<br />
Memorial contributions in Lionel’s<br />
name may be made to the Robert<br />
L. Lessard.<br />
Scholarship Fund, c/o East Catholic<br />
High School, 115 New State Road,<br />
Manchester, CT 06042.<br />
50<br />
Members of Plainfields’ and Clark<br />
Chapters joined together in laying a<br />
wreath at the foot of the Columbus<br />
Statue in Hamilton, New Jersey as part<br />
of a re-dedication ceremony. The statue<br />
was recently vandalized, but restored<br />
by Italian American activists. From left:<br />
Renato Birbin, Past National President;<br />
Santi Buscemi, President Plainfields’<br />
Chapter; Bill Hearon, New Jersey District<br />
X Governor; John DeAndrea and Bob<br />
Bengivenga.<br />
September 2015<br />
Members attend the Carbondale Pioneer<br />
Nights Festival which provides fund<br />
raising space to local groups. The<br />
Carbondale <strong>UNICO</strong> Chapter has a pizza<br />
stand each year in the festival.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
News<br />
The Italians Are Coming!<br />
The Italians Are Coming!<br />
... to Chicago’s United Center<br />
on October 1st and to Madison<br />
Square Garden on October 4th.<br />
On Thursday, October 1st at<br />
7:00 PM, Italian basketball powerhouse<br />
A/X Armani Exchange<br />
Olimpia Milano, from Chicago’s<br />
sister-city Milan, will face-off<br />
against Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv at<br />
the United Center in the first leg of<br />
the inaugural Euro Classic Tournament.<br />
On Sunday, October 4th at<br />
12:30 PM, A/X Armani Exchange<br />
Olimpia Milano and Maccabi Electra<br />
Tel Aviv will play at Madison<br />
Square Garden in the second leg of<br />
the inaugural Euro Classic Tournament.<br />
For the very first time, European-style<br />
basketball in its purest<br />
form will be on display at the<br />
in Chicago’s own United Center,<br />
when the most successful team<br />
in Italian Basketball history A/X<br />
Armani Exchange Olimpia Milano<br />
hosts the most successful team in<br />
Israel, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv.<br />
The Euro Classic Tournament will<br />
then entertain fans in The Big<br />
Apple when they travel to New<br />
York to play the second leg of the<br />
inaugural tournament in Madison<br />
Square Garden. Olimpia Milano<br />
has been an incredible story of<br />
success since its founding in 1936,<br />
and as it inaugurates its octogenarian<br />
anniversary this season, it<br />
is launching the Euro Classic, a<br />
tournament 80 years in the making.<br />
The Euro Classic will be a great<br />
opportunity to showcase the high<br />
quality playing-style of the best<br />
European teams in the birthplace<br />
of basketball. It will be a great opportunity<br />
for the Italian community<br />
and the Hebrew community<br />
to attend a game played in an Old<br />
World atmosphere with all the fanthusiasm©<br />
and excitement, all on<br />
display in the brave new world of<br />
an NBA arena. From the entertainment<br />
of the fans displaying their<br />
team’s colors, everything will be<br />
Olimpia Milano Basketball<br />
like watching a championshipcaliber<br />
basketball game back home,<br />
but on the biggest stage in the<br />
world. What makes the event even<br />
more spectacular is that the opposing<br />
teams are two of the most successful<br />
in International basketball<br />
history as demonstrated by their<br />
having won a total of 9 European<br />
titles combined.<br />
The Story of Olimpia Milano:<br />
“Le Scarpette Rosse” (“The Red<br />
Shoes”)<br />
Olimpia Milano, which has<br />
been owned by fashion icon Giorgio<br />
Armani since 2008, is the<br />
most successful team in the history<br />
of Italian basketball. It has<br />
won the Italian championship 26<br />
times, has won the European title<br />
3 times, and has won 8 additional<br />
prestigious, international tournaments.<br />
Olimpia Milano has always<br />
reaffirmed its excellence as the<br />
most successful team in Italian<br />
basketball history by developing<br />
the best Italian players, who take<br />
pride in wearing Olimpia Milano’s<br />
signature scarpette rosse. This<br />
year’s team features team captain,<br />
Alessandro Gentile, the youngest<br />
M.V.P. in the history of Italian basketball.<br />
Olimpia Milano has always<br />
been steeped in class, innovation,<br />
courage and spirit. With the announcement<br />
that successful Head<br />
Coach Jasmin Repesa will coach<br />
the team for the 2015- 2016 season,<br />
Repesa will be reunited with Gentile<br />
whom he coached in Treviso as<br />
a young prodigy. Olimpia Milano<br />
is renowned for excellence and is<br />
the most widely-followed team in<br />
Italy, with an average of 9,000 fans<br />
attending its home games. Every<br />
home game is broadcast live on<br />
National TV.<br />
The Story of Maccabi Tel Aviv:<br />
Maccabi Tel Aviv has always<br />
been the symbol of Israeli sports,<br />
a team which is synonymous with<br />
the nation of Israel, having won<br />
51 national championships in<br />
61 seasons, starting in 1954. The<br />
club has always been an International<br />
powerhouse, mixing the best<br />
Israeli players with the best American<br />
players. Maccabi’s history is a<br />
history of excellence. In 2004 and<br />
2005 the team was able to repeat<br />
and win back-to-back European<br />
titles. In its history, it won six<br />
European championships, while<br />
participating in 15 finals and winning<br />
41 national cup tournaments.<br />
Maccabi was the first International<br />
team to defeat an NBA team back<br />
in 1978 in Tel Aviv, and then the<br />
first team to defeat an NBA team<br />
on its home court in 2005. It has<br />
played 22 games against NBA<br />
teams in the United States.<br />
Olimpia Milano and the U.S.A.<br />
For Olimpia Milano, inaugurating<br />
the Euro Classic is in character<br />
with its long and storied history.<br />
In 1987 Olimpia took part in the<br />
first official competition between<br />
an NBA and a European team, held<br />
in Milwaukee. No club outside<br />
the NBA has more representatives<br />
in the Naismith Memorial Hall of<br />
Fame in Springfield: Coaches Cesare<br />
Rubini and Sandro Gamba,<br />
and players Dino Meneghin, Senator<br />
Bill Bradley and Bob McAdoo.<br />
The list of great players in America<br />
who used to play for Olimpia is<br />
impressive and also includes Mike<br />
D’Antoni (whose number 8 jersey<br />
has been retired), Danilo Gallinari,<br />
John Gianelli, Albert King, Rolando<br />
Blackman, Joe Barry Carroll,<br />
Skip Thoren, and Antoine Carr.<br />
*Attend the inaugural Euro<br />
Classic: A/X Armani Exchange Milano<br />
vs. Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv<br />
In Chicago: Thursday, Oct. 1st @<br />
7:00 PM at The United Center<br />
In New York: Sunday, Oct. 4th<br />
@ 12:30 PM at the world’s most<br />
famous arena, Madison Square Garden<br />
Individual tickets: may be obtained<br />
via www.Ticketmaster.com<br />
or by calling 800-745-3000. EA7<br />
Olimpia Milano website: http://<br />
www.olimpiamilano.com<br />
Link to the Version in Italiano:<br />
http://www.olimpiamilano.com/<br />
press-kit/<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 51
52<br />
News<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
Computer Advice<br />
Are You Prepared For The Crash?<br />
by Steve Pelonero<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National Photographer<br />
This is a true story.<br />
It happened shortly after the<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National Convention in Newport<br />
Beach, California. Upon arriving<br />
home, I had a horrifying experience.<br />
Imagine losing everything: hundreds…<br />
no, it was thousands. I had lost a little<br />
over 100,000 to be exact.<br />
It wasn’t my stock portfolio. It was<br />
my entire digital photo library on my<br />
hard drive. So again, are you prepared<br />
for the crash?<br />
Yes, my personal excel files are<br />
just as important, along with event<br />
fliers and copies of sponsor logos for<br />
my own Passaic Valley <strong>UNICO</strong> Chapter.<br />
But consider having a collection<br />
of over 100,000 digital photos! With<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> and local events, along with<br />
the various photography jobs that I<br />
have done (Sweet 16s, anniversaries,<br />
birthdays, christenings, photo challenges,<br />
and yes - even some weddings),<br />
I was prepared.<br />
What would you do if you took<br />
digital photos of a family event, a<br />
Thanksgiving dinner, a Christmas<br />
Party, or even your own <strong>UNICO</strong> Chapter<br />
event, and after you uploaded<br />
them to your computer the next day<br />
you went to look at them and the hard<br />
drive had crashed? When I came back<br />
from the Convention and finally sat<br />
down to look at the photos, it was then<br />
I realized my hard drive had crashed<br />
and it was entirely unreadable. I cannot<br />
stress enough how important it is<br />
to back up your files!<br />
Thank God that I had the foresight<br />
to get an online backup service that<br />
automatically uploads my new files<br />
on a daily basis. There are many services<br />
out there. I’m not saying mine<br />
is the best, but I’ve been using www.<br />
BackBlaze.com for four years at $5 a<br />
month. The moral of this story: Always<br />
Be Prepared.<br />
www.PeloneroPhotos.com<br />
LA Festa<br />
La Festa Celebrates 40th Anniversary<br />
La Festa Italiana is celebrating<br />
its 40th anniversary this year. The<br />
end-of-Summer festival attracts over<br />
100,000 guests, who are afforded the<br />
opportunity to enjoy live entertainment,<br />
Italian food, specialty pastries,<br />
various activities and novelty shopping.<br />
The event has expanded to<br />
four days, opening on Friday for<br />
the very first time. The Lackawanna<br />
County Commissioners marked<br />
the organization’s milestone with a<br />
“Good Works” certificate.<br />
From left: Commissioner Edward G.<br />
Staback, Commissioner Jim Wansacz,<br />
Christopher DiMattio, La Festa President<br />
and Commissioner Patrick M. O’Malley.<br />
New feature<br />
The <strong>UNICO</strong> National Office has had<br />
many requests from members wishing to<br />
participate in Novenas that require publication.<br />
These types of Novenas appear<br />
in other publications such The<br />
Italian Tribune, FraNoi and local<br />
community newspapers.<br />
We are now offering this feature to<br />
our readers. If you would like to participate,<br />
please send a check for $20/issue<br />
and your initials to:<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong> Prayer<br />
271 US Highway 46, West<br />
Suite F-103<br />
Fairfield, New Jersey 07004<br />
September 2015<br />
Prayer to the<br />
Blessed Virgin<br />
NEVER KNOWN TO FAIL — (1X)<br />
Oh, most beautiful flower of Mt. Carmel,<br />
fruitful vine, splendor of Heaven,<br />
Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate<br />
Virgin, assist me in my necessity.<br />
Oh, Star of the Sea, help me and<br />
show me herein you are my mother. Oh<br />
Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of<br />
Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech<br />
you from the bottom of my heart to<br />
succor me in this necessity. There are<br />
none that can withstand your power.<br />
Oh show me herein you are my mother.<br />
Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray<br />
for us who have recourse to thee. (3X)<br />
Holy Mother, I place this cause in your<br />
hands. (3X) Holy Spirit, you who solve<br />
all problems, light all roads so that I can<br />
attain my goal, you who gave me the<br />
divine gift to forgive and forget all evil<br />
against me and that in all instances in<br />
my life you are with me, I want in this<br />
short prayer to thank you for all things<br />
as you confirm once again that I never<br />
want to be separated from you in eternal<br />
glory. Thank you for your mercy toward<br />
me and mine. (Say this prayer three consecutive<br />
days and after three days, your<br />
request will be granted. Publication<br />
must be promised.)<br />
LAA SA AD JCG<br />
DPM IPP SP JCS<br />
TFP<br />
TO OFFER A PRAYER TO THE BLESSED<br />
MOTHER send a Check for $20, made out<br />
to <strong>UNICO</strong> and your initials to:<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong> Prayer<br />
271 US Highway 46 West<br />
Suite F-103<br />
Fairfield, NJ 07004 <strong>UNICO</strong> National
Com<strong>UNICO</strong><br />
News<br />
Waterbury, CT<br />
The Waterbury Chapter held their<br />
93rd Annual Scholarship Awards Dinner<br />
honoring Greater Waterbury senior<br />
high school students of Italian heritage.<br />
Ten Scholarships of $1,000 each were<br />
awarded during the event. The scholarship<br />
recipients for 2015 were: Carissa<br />
Ciarlone, Kelly Edwards, Elizabeth<br />
Frenis, Julianne Frenis, Tyler Gargano,<br />
Katie Grendzinski, Avery Liotta-Henderson,<br />
Hannah McCasland, Alexis Rinaldi,<br />
and Filomena Stabile.<br />
Scholarship award recipients and<br />
their families along with members of<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> celebrated their success with a<br />
dinner and awards ceremony. The guest<br />
speaker for the evening was Brandon<br />
Dufour, President of All-Star Driver, the<br />
largest driver education school in Connecticut.<br />
Members of the <strong>UNICO</strong> Scholarship<br />
Committee included: Bianca Daniels,<br />
Robert Gerace, Dawn Maiorano, Nicole<br />
Maiorano, Francine Nido, Connecticut<br />
I District Governor; Carmine Paolino,<br />
Frank Travisano and Patricia Varanelli.<br />
From left: Louis Gelada, Dominick<br />
Nicastro, <strong>UNICO</strong> National Executive<br />
Vice President and Frank Travisano,<br />
Chapter President.<br />
From left: Brandon Dufour, Elyse Bonanno,<br />
Dominick Nicastro, <strong>UNICO</strong> National<br />
Executive Vice President; Robert Gerace<br />
and Frank Travisano, Chapter President.<br />
Pennsylvania District I<br />
At a recent District meeting there was<br />
an IAOVC presentation. From left: Mike<br />
Bouselli, President Happy Valley; Mike<br />
Resigno, President Scranton; Mary<br />
Marrara, Manny Alfano IAOVC President<br />
and <strong>UNICO</strong> Anti-Bias Chair; Carrado<br />
Gigante, Presenter; Bernard Brutto,<br />
Pennsylvania I District Governor; Andre’<br />
DiMino, <strong>UNICO</strong> National Executive<br />
Director; Chris DiMattio, Past National<br />
President; John Terrano, President<br />
Wilkes Barre and Mike DeCosmo,<br />
President Hazleton.<br />
2015 Scholarship Recipients.<br />
From left: Peter and Mariane Petrarca and<br />
Carol Russo.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> Leadership and Wilkes Barre<br />
Chapter meet at District Governor’s<br />
Meeting. From left: Bernie Brutto,<br />
Pennsylvania I District Governor;<br />
Manny Alfano, John Terrana, Wilkes<br />
Barre Chapter President; Andre DiMino,<br />
Executive Administrator; Dominic<br />
Ortolani, Corrado Gigante and Chris<br />
DiMattio, Past National President.<br />
Scholarship Committee: front row from<br />
left: Nicole Maiorano, Carmine Paolino<br />
and Bianca Daniels. Back row: Robert<br />
Gerace, Dawn Maiorano, Francine Nido<br />
and Patricia Varanelli.<br />
The DEADLINE for the<br />
Nov. 2015 Edition of Com<strong>UNICO</strong> is<br />
Friday, October 16, 2015<br />
Send Chapter news to <strong>UNICO</strong> National Office:<br />
comunico@unico.org<br />
Com<strong>UNICO</strong> will only accept high resolution digital<br />
photos attached to an e-mail and test in MS Word as an<br />
attachment or in the body of an e-mail.<br />
Scranton Chapter attendees at<br />
Pennsylvania District I Governor’s<br />
meeting held at Arcaro & Genell’s.<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National September 2015 53
SHARE YOUR<br />
ENTHUSIASM!<br />
Join us Today!<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National is the largest Italian<br />
American Service Organization in<br />
America. With 127 local Chapters in<br />
18 states and more being formed right<br />
now, we have an unparalleled track record<br />
of giving that dates back to 1922.<br />
Through the <strong>UNICO</strong> Foundation, we<br />
donate annually to cancer and Cooley’s<br />
anemia research, mental health initiatives<br />
and scholarships.<br />
Through our many National Award<br />
Committees, we present awards in literature,<br />
science, amateur and professions<br />
athletics and military service.<br />
Through our Anti-Bias Committee, we<br />
promote positive images of Italian Americans<br />
and battle negative stereotypes.<br />
Through our local Chapters, we provide<br />
countless volunteer hours and<br />
support worthy causes of all sorts.<br />
If you are looking to celebrate your<br />
heritage, serve your community and<br />
build lifelong friendships, <strong>UNICO</strong><br />
National is the organization for you!<br />
To find out more,<br />
call 973-808-0035<br />
Or visit www.unico.org<br />
54<br />
September 2015<br />
<strong>UNICO</strong> National
STARTERS<br />
Cool Stuff<br />
▼ MORE THAN JUST A CART<br />
Ornate, colorful and richly narrative, the carretto siciliano or carrettu<br />
sicilianu is a horse- or donkey-drawn cart native to Sicily. Each province<br />
has its own unique style — for instance Palermo’s carretto is shaped like<br />
a box while Catania’s is covered with more elaborate designs. The carvings<br />
and brightly painted scenes convey local history and folklore.<br />
Introduced by the ancient Greeks, these two-wheeled carts made out of<br />
wood and iron reached the height of their popularity in the 1920s. Handcrafted<br />
by crews of skilled woodcarvers, metal workers and painters, the<br />
carts hauled items like produce, wood and wine. They were also used as<br />
taxis and to this day are popular in parades and weddings.<br />
The carretto is handed down from generation to generation and can still<br />
be seen traversing the streets of Sicily today. The Museo del Carretto<br />
Siciliano in Terrasini, Palermo, is dedicated to keeping the history of these<br />
carts alive. Even modern day designers like Sicily’s own Domenico Dolce<br />
of Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana has been inspired to incorporate<br />
elements into his own creations. (Wikipedia, Museo del Carretto Siciliano, Dolce<br />
& Gabbana)<br />
This turn-of-the century carretto features a host of historical scenes,<br />
including Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the New World. Each wheel<br />
is decoratively painted and elaborately carved with angel figures on each<br />
spoke. Inscribed on both sides of the cart is Daneu, Palermo, Italy. $12,000<br />
| www.1stdibs.com<br />
From cellphone cases to high heels, Dolce & Gabbana’s designs were<br />
definitely inspired by the carretto siciliano. store.dolcegabbana.com<br />
Vally Mary Jane Cart Painted Heels, $1,095<br />
Sicily Bag Macro Polka Dot Flower Dauphine Purse, $2,195<br />
Smartphone Case Cart Print Dauphine, $445<br />
Key Rings, $395<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong> September 2015 55
Books<br />
REVIEWS<br />
Literary<br />
crime story<br />
by Fred Gardaphe<br />
▲ JOSEPH BATHANTI<br />
EXCERPT From the Book<br />
Pittsburgh is self-consciously mythic,<br />
over-determined in its symbolism: all<br />
these bridges and tunnels, the sage and<br />
capricious divagations of the Monongahela<br />
and Allegheny spawning against<br />
banks of steel the juggernaut Ohio. You<br />
don’t think about these things if you’re<br />
born here and you sure as hell don’t use<br />
language like this. Words are risky: another<br />
way to get your ass kicked<br />
though, in East Liberty. Where I grew<br />
up on Saint Marie Street, it was custom,<br />
a sanctified rite, for people to disparage<br />
one another. The parable of the boy<br />
whose face froze with his cruel impersonation<br />
of the octoroon with Bella’s<br />
Palsy, or the paralytic who sat gargoyle-like<br />
on his porch in a wheelchair<br />
because he had dived into the forbidden<br />
river and broken his back in the<br />
shallows, the half-dozen wanderers<br />
with plates in their heads. But there’s<br />
food on your table, and your kids are<br />
healthy. You get down on your knees<br />
and thank God.”<br />
The Life of the World to Come<br />
by Joseph Bathanti<br />
■ PUBLISHER:<br />
The University of South Carolina Press<br />
■ PAGES: 252 (hardcover)<br />
■ COST: $29.95<br />
■ ISBN: 13: 978-1-6117-453-3<br />
■ WEBSITE: www.sc.edu/uscpress<br />
Want more? Visit italianamericanvoice.com.<br />
We all come from one East Liberty or<br />
another. It’s a familiar place that gets<br />
richer as time moves on. It’s that place<br />
that memory forges out of fact and fantasy,<br />
out of what was and what should<br />
have been — the place where imagination<br />
takes what once was real and weaves<br />
it into something that’s useful. The pieces<br />
of our personal history that come from<br />
such places become the building blocks<br />
of personality. And for<br />
the fiction writer, that<br />
past becomes a playground<br />
out of which<br />
stories, often better<br />
than the histories, are<br />
spun.<br />
East Liberty, Penn.,<br />
a working-class neighborhood<br />
of Pittsburgh,<br />
has been the setting for<br />
much of the fiction and<br />
some of the poetry of<br />
Joseph Bathanti. His<br />
first novel, about to be<br />
reprinted, was in fact<br />
titled “East Liberty.” In<br />
his latest novel, “The<br />
Life of the World to<br />
Come,” Bathanti returns<br />
to his birthplace to set in motion all<br />
the things that can turn a good boy bad.<br />
George Dolce, a kid born to workingclass<br />
parents — both children of Italian<br />
immigrants — is a smart, hardworking<br />
college kid who gambles just enough to<br />
help his family out. For the most part, his<br />
bets are smart, safe and designed to get<br />
him through college and into an Ivy<br />
League law school. When he takes a job<br />
at the local pharmacy, run by Mr.<br />
Rosechild, a Jewish man who has money<br />
to burn and a loyalty to his home team,<br />
the Pittsburgh Steelers, George turns to a<br />
bookie, taking the pharmacist for the<br />
money he needs to keep his family in<br />
their home when his father loses his job.<br />
The worst happens after George falls<br />
in love with Rosechild’s daughter, and<br />
the pharmacist’s betting gets out of hand.<br />
George gets in trouble with his bookie,<br />
which means he also must deal with the<br />
local gangster who runs things in the<br />
hood. The result is a tragic story of a<br />
young man’s fall from grace and his futile<br />
flight toward freedom.<br />
Throughout the novel, George narrates<br />
what happens as well as what could<br />
happen. The result is a<br />
narrative tension that<br />
keeps the reader wondering<br />
how it’s all going to<br />
end. Bathanti, a poet as<br />
well as a natural-born storyteller,<br />
casts a literary<br />
crime story that becomes<br />
part thriller, part comingof-age<br />
account of something<br />
that could happen to<br />
any smart kid who tries<br />
too hard to fight what he<br />
perceives as the fate of following<br />
in his father’s<br />
hopeless footsteps.<br />
East Liberty is a place<br />
where even the best of the<br />
local kids end up on its<br />
skid row streets. We see it<br />
all first, as George gives his middle-class<br />
girlfriend a tour of the neighborhood in<br />
her father’s Cadillac, and later, as he<br />
morphs into Michael Roman and walks<br />
Crow, his new girlfriend, through East<br />
Liberty’s tough streets in search of a way<br />
to right all the bad he has done. While it’s<br />
too late to change the past, George hopes<br />
it’s not too late to save his soul.<br />
Somewhere between George’s fantasies<br />
and the narrator’s reality lies the<br />
magic that makes this novel a must read.<br />
This tale of two Georges, crafted by a<br />
master of the literary trade, reminds us<br />
that literature can still do more than any<br />
film to reveal the extremes humanity can<br />
handle when facing the obstacles that<br />
stand in the way of achieving our dreams.<br />
56 September 2015 FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong>
REVIEWS<br />
Music<br />
A different<br />
drummer<br />
by David Witter<br />
He may not be as famous as the solo<br />
artists and front men of his generation,<br />
but many within the music industry will<br />
point to Steve Gadd as the best all-round<br />
drummer of his era. A master of rock,<br />
jazz, pop and blues for more than five<br />
decades, his resume includes touring<br />
and recording with the likes of Frank<br />
Sinatra, Paul McCartney, B.B. King,<br />
Chick Corea, The Bee Gees, Chet Baker,<br />
Frank Zappa, Al DiMeola and James<br />
Brown. Gadd’s percussion has appeared,<br />
in one form or another,<br />
on almost 800<br />
recordings.<br />
Born in 1945 in<br />
Rochester, N.Y.,<br />
Gadd is of Sicilian<br />
background. He<br />
grew up in a closeknit,<br />
extended family,<br />
all of whom took<br />
an active part in his<br />
musical upbringing.<br />
“They saw interest,<br />
which guided<br />
me,” Gadd told The Dishmaster. “My<br />
uncle gave me drumsticks before we had<br />
television, and my grandmother used to<br />
take me for lessons. I lived with my parents,<br />
my grandparents and my father’s<br />
brother. My uncle and I would put on<br />
records and the whole family would listen.<br />
We’d put on John Phillip Sousa<br />
marches and I would play on little<br />
round pieces of wood. It was a family affair.”<br />
Like most great musicians, Gadd<br />
was a prodigy. When he was 9 years old,<br />
he met Gene Krupa, and at 11, he appeared<br />
on stage with Dizzy Gillespie. As<br />
a young man, he honed his skills in the<br />
U.S. Army Stage Band and at the Manhattan<br />
and Eastman school of music.<br />
Gadd also began playing in a band that<br />
included of childhood friends Chuck<br />
and Gap Mangione.<br />
Between 1967 and 1973, Gadd<br />
recorded six albums with the Mangiones,<br />
while working other sessions. In 1974,<br />
his recordings increased to 19. During the<br />
following years, he worked with artists as<br />
varied as Chet Baker, Frankie Valli,<br />
George Benson, Bette Midler and<br />
Stephane Grapelli. He is best known for<br />
creating the drum intro for Paul Simon’s<br />
No. 1 hit, “Fifty Ways to Leave Your<br />
Lover,” and the backbeat on Steely Dan’s<br />
“Aja.” The former is a tight snare roll<br />
with a distinctly military rhythm. On<br />
“Aja,” Gadd turns<br />
octopus, throwing<br />
down crashing<br />
cymbal and tomtom<br />
runs that<br />
combine jazz,<br />
rock and funk.<br />
The ultimate<br />
team player, Gadd<br />
continues to regularly<br />
tour with the<br />
likes of Eric Clapton<br />
and James<br />
Taylor, in part because<br />
of his technical skills, but also his<br />
willingness to forgo them. Gadd takes as<br />
much joy in playing a simple pocket<br />
groove as he does a 10-minute solo, whatever<br />
it takes to make a great record.<br />
“There’s a lot of jazz drummers back<br />
in the day who weren’t inspired by<br />
groove or pop kinds of music,” Gadd told<br />
The Dishmaster. “At a certain point, I<br />
went to New York and I heard some guys<br />
play very simply and the groove was<br />
deep. You’d think it’s a simple, less technical<br />
approach, but it’s not. It’s not an<br />
easy thing to do. It’s just as challenging as<br />
playing very busy, but in another way.<br />
The drummer I heard do it the first time<br />
was Rick Marotta, and that’s what inspired<br />
me. To play less notes and make it<br />
feel the best it could feel, and to record<br />
where you start with the minimal amount<br />
to make it feel musical and then add as<br />
you go, it gives you somewhere to go.”<br />
▼<br />
IN THE SPOTLIGHT ▼<br />
STEVE GADD AND FRIENDS,<br />
LIVE AT VOCE<br />
featuring Joey De Franceso<br />
Steve Gadd has played in every<br />
genre imaginable short of classical. On<br />
this CD, he combines swing, blues and<br />
funk in a downhome version of the<br />
Great American Songbook. Like all of<br />
his CDs, it is not a venue to showcase<br />
Gadd’s tremendous chops. Instead, he<br />
lays down a broad rhythmic canvas<br />
upon which his collaborators — which<br />
include Joey De Francesco, Ronnie<br />
Cuber, Paul Bollenbeck and Edie Brickell<br />
— paint.<br />
The CD opens with the Bob Dylan<br />
standard, “Watching the River Flow.”<br />
De Francesco’s Hammond B-3, Gadd’s<br />
pocket drumming and Bollenbeck’s<br />
guitar give it a jazzy, bluesy feel that<br />
sets the tone for the album. The cool<br />
swing continues on “Way Back Home,”<br />
with De Francesco and Bollenbeck<br />
adding a funk feel. “Undecided” and<br />
“Bye Bye Blackbird” are more in a<br />
bebop vein, and feature Cuber’s baritone<br />
sax.<br />
The baritone sax and Hammond B-<br />
3 take the group to church with their<br />
rendition of “Georgia on My Mind.” But<br />
the highlight of the CD is the old juke<br />
joint standard, “Back at the Chicken<br />
Shack.” The CD ends with two “bonus”<br />
tracks, with Edie Brickell’s vocals<br />
adding an odd bit of jazzy, street-smart<br />
folk. If you like deep, soulful jazz and<br />
downhome bluesy sax and organ that<br />
swings with a mellow soul, this is the<br />
CD for you.<br />
Available at www.amazon.com<br />
Want more? Visit italianamericanvoice.com.<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong> September 2015 57
Fashion REVIEWS<br />
Queen<br />
for a day<br />
Sign me up! Who wouldn’t want to be queen for a<br />
day? Fashion designer Alberta Ferretti certainly<br />
broke out all of the tricks for her fairytale fall line.<br />
Harkening back to the opulence of the Italian Renaissance,<br />
Ferretti incorporated details like gilded brocades,<br />
flared skirts, high necklines, heavy embroidery, rich velvets,<br />
jacquard patchworks, luxurious mohair and textured trapunto.<br />
Alberta Ferretti has been working as a dressmaker since<br />
1968. Known as “the woman who works to make women<br />
always beautiful,” she currently runs two fashion lines, Alberta<br />
Ferretti and Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti. Though her<br />
company’s showroom is in the fashion capital of Milan, her<br />
studio remains in her hometown of Cattolica. She designs<br />
clothes that “enhance not only the silhouette but also the<br />
personality of the women who wear them.” It’s no wonder<br />
celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Sandra Bullock, Meryl Streep,<br />
Anne Hathaway, Scarlett Johansson, Christina Ricci, Demi<br />
Moore, Jessica Alba and Queen Rania of Jordan are all regular<br />
patrons. (www.albertaferretti.com)<br />
These dramatic, captivating, almost theatrical ensembles<br />
make you think of saying silly things like, “Oh, Romeo …”<br />
or “Your palazzo or mine, m’lord?”<br />
The centerpiece of Ferretti’s fall line is this layered, sheer silk<br />
dress featuring intricate gold and red embroidery. The rest<br />
of the runway didn’t disappoint, showcasing countless romantic<br />
looks in rich colors and luxurious fabrics embellished<br />
with gems, unbelievable embroidery and lace. Look<br />
closely. Every last-minute detail has been attended to —<br />
gemstone buckles on velvet heals, lace-trimmed collars and<br />
cuffs, bobbles that sparkle like crown jewels. Playing queen<br />
for a day is a pretty good gig.<br />
by Mary Racila<br />
58<br />
September 2015<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong>
PEOPLE<br />
Newsmakers<br />
Top of the<br />
mountain<br />
by Jim Distasio<br />
Adriana Trigiani, perhaps the most<br />
prolific and heartfelt chroniclers of the Italian-American<br />
experience in publishing<br />
today, is going home.<br />
A bestselling author of more than a<br />
dozen novels and memoirs, an acclaimed<br />
playwright and seriously funny writer/producer<br />
of series television,<br />
Trigiani can now add cinematic<br />
auteur to her resume.<br />
Trigiani is making<br />
her big-screen debut as a<br />
writer and director with<br />
“Big Stone Gap,” a<br />
charming adaptation of<br />
her beloved 2001 novel,<br />
starring Ashley Judd,<br />
Patrick Wilson and<br />
Whoopi Goldberg. The<br />
film hits theaters on Oct.<br />
9, and marks not only a<br />
return to the novel that<br />
started it all but also to<br />
the real-life Virginia coal<br />
mining town of the same<br />
name that serves as the<br />
film’s backdrop and Trigiani’s hometown.<br />
The novel of the same name is a warm,<br />
funny and inspirational tale about Ave<br />
Maria Mulligan, a spitfire spinster who<br />
runs the family pharmacy in her small Appalachian<br />
town and whose life and very<br />
identity get turned inside out following the<br />
death of her mother. Like so many protagonists<br />
in Trigiani’s canon, Ave Maria is a<br />
proud Italian-American woman who’s defined<br />
not just by an ethnicity that sets her<br />
apart in an otherwise homogenous community,<br />
but also by her inner-strength and grit.<br />
Trigiani, who devotes a sizable amount<br />
of her time and energy to discussions and<br />
online book club meet-ups in the service of<br />
her fans, says Ave’s devotion to making<br />
other people happy, even if it means sacrificing<br />
her own wants, has made her a relatable<br />
and enduring heroine.<br />
“People return to this character because<br />
they understand her loneliness and<br />
her otherness. They get her,” she says.<br />
Before Trigiani ever conceived “Big<br />
Stone Gap” as a novel, it started out as a<br />
screenplay following a life-changing trip<br />
the author took to Italy to visit family near<br />
the Italian Alps. There, she says, she saw<br />
the parallels of her American family settling<br />
in the shadow of mountains and her<br />
Italian ancestors making their home in similar<br />
terrain. Eventually, Trigiani transformed<br />
her screenplay into a novel, which<br />
in turn spawned three successful sequels<br />
— “Big Cherry Holler,” “Milk Glass Moon”<br />
▲ ADRIANA TRIGIANI<br />
Unabashedly Italian American in life as<br />
well as art, she has added screenwriting<br />
to her already lofty authorial resume<br />
with the imminent release of the movie<br />
version of her novel, “Big Stone Gap.”<br />
and “Home to Big Stone<br />
Gap.”<br />
The mountains would<br />
prove to be a perpetual font<br />
of inspiration for Trigiani.<br />
“Throughout my career writing<br />
books, I returned to that<br />
mountain path again and<br />
again. It’s a metaphor for me.<br />
It’s the climb, putting one<br />
step ahead of the other,” Trigiani<br />
says.<br />
Trigiani’s father, a garment<br />
manufacturer, grew up<br />
in Roseto, Penn., an Italian-<br />
American enclave famous for<br />
its close-knit community and<br />
unusually low instance of<br />
heart disease in the mid-20th<br />
century. (Inspired by her<br />
grandfather’s home movies, Trigiani made<br />
a documentary on this subject in 1996.) He<br />
and his wife, a librarian, raised their seven<br />
children in Big Stone Gap, Va. Trigiani’s<br />
grandparents hail from northern Italy, near<br />
Veneto and Bari.<br />
Ave Maria is in some ways an avatar<br />
for Trigiani’s early life — an Italian-American<br />
growing up in the South, culturally<br />
marooned outside of her own family. “I<br />
was bestowed with this insanely ornate<br />
name that reminds people every day that<br />
I’m Italian,” she says. “I’m always Italian.<br />
Continues on page 60 …<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong> September 2015 59
… continued from page 59 …<br />
It’s the first thing people see in me.”<br />
Trigiani did not recede nor assimilate<br />
but rather drew personal strength and creative<br />
inspiration from her Italian-<br />
American family and its traditions.<br />
“I wake up every day very aware<br />
of my Italian-American heritage,” Trigiani<br />
says. “There isn’t a day that goes<br />
by that I don’t call on it. My temperament,<br />
my opinions and certainly my<br />
faith and sense of family and art,<br />
everything about the way I create my<br />
art, comes from the long line of<br />
women and men in my family who<br />
make things with their hands. They’re<br />
working people, and I absolutely inherited<br />
their sense of perfectionism.”<br />
Outside of long-form fiction, Trigiani<br />
is an experienced hand at television<br />
writing and producing, having<br />
worked on “The Cosby Show,” “A<br />
Different World” and projects for<br />
ABC, Jim Henson Productions and<br />
Lifetime. So it comes as no surprise<br />
that the theatrical version of “Big<br />
Stone Gap” is breezy, a little screwball<br />
and unabashedly old-fashioned.<br />
As a first-time director, Trigiani handles<br />
her all-star cast, 1970s period setting<br />
and the narrative’s tonal shifts<br />
with an assured, deft hand. It took<br />
more than a decade to bring this story<br />
to the screen, and Trigiani says she<br />
used every minute possible to shape and<br />
polish the characters’ journeys.<br />
“I had a long, wonderful, luxurious<br />
time to really finesse the characters and the<br />
scenes in the book into the script,” Trigiani<br />
says, adding that, once on location, “The<br />
greatest artistic challenge was to stay in the<br />
moment and revel in the gift and joy of the<br />
actors interpreting it.”<br />
Much of the film’s charms — and<br />
certainly its emotional core — can be attributed<br />
to lead actress Ashley Judd. Similar<br />
to Ave Maria, Judd has<br />
Italian-American roots mixed in with a little<br />
bluegrass/Southern belle charm by way<br />
of her native Kentucky. And like Trigiani,<br />
Judd proved herself on set to be a workaholic<br />
and consummate perfectionist.<br />
“She prepares unlike any actor I have<br />
ever seen, knowing everything inside and<br />
out about this character,” Trigiani says of<br />
her star. “She embodies [Ave Maria], she<br />
invents her.”<br />
Before production began, Trigiani remained<br />
insistent that the film be shot on<br />
location in Big Stone Gap and not in a<br />
cheaper foreign locale doubling for her<br />
hometown. This request was not subject<br />
to negotiation, Trigiani says. “As the<br />
granddaughter of Italian immigrants, I<br />
can’t for the life of me understand why<br />
you can’t make American products in the<br />
United States,” she says.<br />
If the excitement over “Big Stone<br />
Gap’s” release wasn’t enough, Trigiani has<br />
a highly anticipated novel about the<br />
golden age of Hollywood, “All the Stars in<br />
the Heavens,” slated for release just a few<br />
days later on Oct. 13. As for seeing more<br />
of Ave Maria<br />
on screen,<br />
Trigiani says<br />
she’s content<br />
to let audiences<br />
decide.<br />
“I<br />
wanted the<br />
campaign for<br />
this movie to<br />
be: ‘If you’re<br />
Italian-American,<br />
and you’re not in the movie theater,<br />
we’re sending you back to Italy,’” Trigiani<br />
says.<br />
60 September 2015 FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong>
PEOPLE<br />
Newsmakers<br />
Out of this<br />
worldby Jim Distasio<br />
Photos courtesy of European Space Agency<br />
Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti<br />
spent a record-breaking 199 days aboard<br />
the International Space Station, earning<br />
distinctions for being the first Italian<br />
woman in space as well as securing the<br />
record for longest duration in space by a<br />
woman when she returned home in<br />
June.<br />
But Cristoforetti’s months-long<br />
trek among the stars, her first,<br />
wasn’t without a little taste of<br />
her native Italia.<br />
In addition to her other accolades,<br />
the 38-year-old<br />
Cristoforetti also holds the<br />
unique honor of being the<br />
first person ever to brew an<br />
espresso in space. Yes, that’s<br />
one small cup of coffee, but<br />
one giant leap for baristas<br />
everywhere.<br />
With the help of coffeemaker<br />
Lavazza and the engineering firm<br />
Argotec, Cristoforetti brewed the<br />
drink while orbiting more than 250<br />
miles above our planet, using a cup specially<br />
designed for zero gravity to sip the<br />
Italian staple. She even marked the occasion<br />
by donning a Starfleet uniform from<br />
the TV show “Star Trek,” a pop culture favorite<br />
of hers, and tweeted from ISS, “Coffee:<br />
the finest organic suspension ever<br />
devised. Fresh espresso in the new zero-G<br />
cup! To boldly brew … ”<br />
Cristoforetti, who also is an engineer,<br />
fighter pilot and captain in the Italian Air<br />
Force, wasn’t even supposed to break the<br />
woman’s duration record on this mission,<br />
the longest ever for the Italian space agency<br />
ASI, but a technical difficulty with a Russian<br />
cargo spacecraft pushed the team’s re-<br />
turn date.<br />
Cristoforetti says she doesn’t feel it’s a<br />
record she’s truly earned.<br />
200 days in space<br />
“I think records are more something<br />
for media to write about because it’s potentially<br />
a piece of news,” she told Time magazine.<br />
“But of course for me, it really<br />
doesn’t make a huge difference having<br />
been in space 200 days as opposed to 190,<br />
which would not have been the record.”<br />
Despite her humble protests, Cristoforetti’s<br />
work on the Futura mission, a<br />
name she helped crowd-source from the<br />
Italian people in the lead-up to liftoff, was<br />
a big deal. It not only worked toward scien-<br />
▲ SAMANTHA<br />
CRISTOFORETTI<br />
One of the first women to join the Italian<br />
military, she once again broke new<br />
ground when she became the first Italian<br />
woman in space.<br />
tific discovery in the fields of physical<br />
science, human physiology and radiation<br />
research, to name a few of<br />
many disciplines, it also moved<br />
humanity one step closer to<br />
greater space exploration<br />
within our solar system.<br />
Moreover, Cristoforetti’s<br />
journey served as an inspirational<br />
story for her fellow Italians,<br />
especially for young<br />
women looking to enter the<br />
typically male-dominated fields<br />
of science and technology.<br />
Cristoforetti acknowledges<br />
she’s now in a privileged position<br />
to help guide others to follow their<br />
dreams like she has.<br />
“I really hope to be a role model for<br />
anybody who is interested in this field,”<br />
Cristoforetti told NASA in an interview. “I<br />
think growing up I have looked up to men<br />
and women equally and tried to learn from<br />
other people who I felt could be role models,<br />
something that I could apply in my<br />
life. Now, of course, what can be especially<br />
important for women is that it can be encouraging<br />
to see that women can do that<br />
and in fields where there are not that many<br />
women it can be quite important, actually.”<br />
For her efforts, Cristoforetti was<br />
awarded a Knighthood of the Grand Cross<br />
of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic<br />
Continues on page 62 …<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong> September 2015 61
… continued from page 61 …<br />
in July in a joyous ceremony at the Quirinale.<br />
“Capt. Cristoforetti, the whole of Italy<br />
has been following you with affection and<br />
admiration,” Italian President Sergio<br />
Mattarella told the astronaut, adding that<br />
the mission was “a huge success for science,<br />
the Air Force, and the Italian and the<br />
European space agencies.”<br />
Cristoforetti’s mission marks the culmination<br />
of a lifelong dream to head to the<br />
stars as an astronaut, which came perilously<br />
close to never happening.<br />
“It’s not like I chose space, but in a<br />
way I was chosen, because I can’t really<br />
find a moment in my life when I made a<br />
conscious decision,” Cristoforetti told<br />
NASA. “I just always said I want<br />
to go to space at some point.<br />
Maybe I did not even know that<br />
there was such a thing as an astronaut,<br />
but I knew that I wanted<br />
to explore space. I wanted to fly<br />
up there.”<br />
Born in Milan, Cristoforetti<br />
grew up in a tiny tourist village<br />
in the Italian Alps, where her<br />
parents operated a resort. The environment<br />
offered a spectacular<br />
and uninhibited view of the stars<br />
thanks to scant light pollution,<br />
and exploring the terrain stoked<br />
Cristoforetti’s passion for adventure.<br />
Her grandmother helped<br />
foster a passion for reading at a<br />
young age, and her elementary<br />
school teachers introduced her to<br />
astronomy, eventually nudging<br />
Cristoforetti into an exchange<br />
program in the United States<br />
while in high school and subsequently<br />
into the aerospace engineering<br />
program at the<br />
University of Munich in Germany.<br />
By the late 1990s, however,<br />
Cristoforetti’s dreams of joining<br />
the Italian space program were<br />
running up against rules prohibiting<br />
women from entering<br />
the Italian military. By the time<br />
the prohibition was lifted in<br />
1999, Cristoforetti was already<br />
one year too old to enlist, but in<br />
a fortuitous twist of fate, the Italian<br />
government created a threeyear<br />
grace period for women who<br />
had waited patiently for this law<br />
to pass.<br />
So Cristoforetti, already<br />
62<br />
armed with an engineering degree, started<br />
her college education again from scratch,<br />
but this time at the Italian Air Force Academy<br />
to hopefully one day earn her shot at<br />
space. Nine years later, she was among six<br />
new astronauts welcomed into the European<br />
Space Agency.<br />
She was selected for the ISS mission in<br />
2012, and even with years of preparation<br />
under her belt, Cristoforetti likened being<br />
in space to feeling like a blank sheet of<br />
paper.<br />
“I discovered many things, like how it<br />
feels to float — just that sensation of being<br />
so light to the point of having no weight<br />
September 2015<br />
whatsoever, of being able to move in three<br />
dimensions,” Cristoforetti told Time.<br />
“Everything is just effortless. You’re like<br />
Superman all day long for 200 days.”<br />
Following her return to Earth — a 45-<br />
minute, 250-mile free fall until a soft touchdown<br />
in Russia — Cristoforetti wasted no<br />
time in expressing interest in getting back<br />
to work.<br />
“I hope I can continue contributing to<br />
space exploration from Earth, making myself<br />
useful somehow and sharing my experience,”<br />
she said in an interview. “Of<br />
course, I also hope that I will be able to go<br />
back in space.”<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong>
PEOPLE<br />
Legends<br />
Political<br />
trailblazer<br />
by Otto Bruno<br />
More than two centuries after the formation<br />
of our American democracy, we are<br />
just now approaching a national election<br />
with the very real possibility of a female<br />
nominee on a major party ticket for president<br />
of the United States. When that happens,<br />
our nation will<br />
have trailblazers like Ella<br />
Tambussi Grasso to thank<br />
for paving the rocky road<br />
toward the acceptance of<br />
women in power in our<br />
public and political institutions.<br />
Grasso was the<br />
very first woman ever<br />
elected in her own right<br />
as governor of one of<br />
America’s 50 states. It<br />
was a monumental<br />
achievement in 1974, not<br />
only for a woman but also<br />
for a child of Italian immigrants.<br />
Ella Rosa Giovanna<br />
Oliva Tambussi was born<br />
and raised in Windsor<br />
Locks, Conn., on May 10,<br />
1919, to Maria and Giacomo<br />
Tambussi. She may<br />
have been an only child<br />
but she was not a lonely<br />
child, having grown up in<br />
a neighborhood filled<br />
with relatives and friends<br />
that her parents had<br />
known in Italy.<br />
She was close to both<br />
of her parents but her father was particularly<br />
dear to her. He started out as a machine<br />
operator and eventually opened a<br />
bakery in Windsor Locks with his brother.<br />
He went on to own a tavern before retiring<br />
as a partner in the Windsor Locks Machine<br />
Co. Grasso once admitted that her father<br />
“indulged and spoiled me.” In the biography<br />
“Ella Grasso: Connecticut’s Pioneering<br />
Governor” author Jon E. Purmont quotes<br />
Grasso’s son James as saying his mother<br />
“absolutely adored” her father and she felt<br />
a “greater tie to him rather than her<br />
mother.”<br />
She was devastated when her father<br />
died in 1971, saying, “I became a pathetic<br />
fifty-year old orphan.” In remembering her<br />
father’s influence she wrote, “He worked<br />
▲ ELLA GRASSO<br />
A woman of deep faith and unshakeable<br />
principles, she needed every<br />
ounce of her resolve to reach heights<br />
never before attained by a woman.<br />
long hours, six days a week but he always<br />
had time for me and he took me seriously.<br />
From him I learned respect for others and<br />
persistence. By his example, I learned one<br />
does not abandon a task. Quit? We didn’t<br />
quit anything.”<br />
She may have been emotionally closer<br />
to her father, but her mother had a decided<br />
influence on her daughter as well. Grasso’s<br />
parents encouraged educational advancement<br />
for their daughter from a very early<br />
age, making whatever sacrifices were necessary<br />
to send her to Catholic grammar<br />
school and later the prestigious Chaffee<br />
School. Neither of Grasso’s parents ever<br />
made it past the sixth grade, but she remembered<br />
them as “very intelligent and<br />
generous people.” Grasso grew up with a<br />
love for books and study, which no doubt<br />
was actively encouraged by her mother.<br />
She remembered that her mother believed<br />
that learning “was a special key to living …<br />
and … books were my ‘open-sesame’ to a<br />
whole new world.<br />
“My mother was self-taught,” Grasso<br />
wrote. “She had a quick wit and charm.<br />
She had great respect for learning and encouraged<br />
me in my studies.”<br />
Grasso had a series of important and<br />
influential mentors in her life beginning<br />
with her parents. In the eighth grade, a nun<br />
named Sister DeChantal, whom Grasso re-<br />
Continues on page 64 …<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong> September 2015 63
… continued from page 63 …<br />
membered as “a very modern woman,”<br />
taught her at St. Mary’s School. She remained<br />
close to DeChantal until she died<br />
during Grasso’s third term as Connecticut’s<br />
secretary of state. Biographer Jon Purmont<br />
believes that DeChantal's religious devotion<br />
greatly influenced Grasso’s character,<br />
as it was faith that defined her moral outlook<br />
throughout her life.<br />
In 1932, Grasso won a scholarship to<br />
the private Chaffee School. She flourished<br />
academically and discovered an entirely<br />
new world of music, art and drama. However,<br />
she never felt completely comfortable<br />
with the student body, which came from<br />
considerably wealthier families than her<br />
own. She admitted years later that she felt<br />
as though a few of her classmates at Chaffee<br />
had “treated her with patrician disdain.”<br />
The Great Depression was spreading<br />
across the nation, and as the child of working<br />
class immigrants in school with the<br />
children of moneyed families, Grasso<br />
viewed the culture of “the haves and the<br />
have-nots” through a unique lens.<br />
It was while she attended Chaffee that<br />
she met a young Hartford native named<br />
Tom Grasso. He noticed her on the beach at<br />
Old Lyme. She was reading Shakespeare<br />
and unlike the other girls tanning themselves<br />
on the beach, “she seemed intent on<br />
reading, not meeting young men,” he later<br />
recalled. He admits he had to pursue her<br />
and asked for a date three or four times before<br />
she finally agreed to go out with him.<br />
Their relationship proceeded slowly, starting<br />
as a friendship mixed with admiration,<br />
affection and the shared desire to achieve.<br />
Eventually, it turned into a long-term romance<br />
and a 38-year marriage. But before<br />
she would become anyone’s wife, she had<br />
to go to college.<br />
Her studious nature served her well as<br />
she entered the freshman class at Mount<br />
Holyoke College on a scholarship in the<br />
fall of 1936. She was enrolled in a brand<br />
new, experimental program called the<br />
“Two Unit Plan,” which permitted just 20<br />
freshmen that first year. The idea behind it<br />
was to allow students to focus on a specialized<br />
curriculum rather than a broad, liberal<br />
arts plan of study. In this program, the students<br />
worked closely with a faculty advisor.<br />
In Grasso’s case, that was Amy Hewes,<br />
chairperson of the Economics and Sociology<br />
Department and one of the faculty<br />
members who’d championed the new<br />
“Two Unit Plan” program.<br />
Professor Hewes became another important<br />
influence in Grasso’s life and career.<br />
A much-admired teacher, she<br />
emerged as a state and national advocate<br />
and leader for labor reforms, particularly<br />
child labor and women’s rights in the<br />
workplace. Grasso learned a great deal<br />
from Hewes and worked closely with her<br />
on a variety of research projects.<br />
Grasso never forgot the struggles and<br />
terror of the Great Depression. Her empathy<br />
for the working class remained at the<br />
foundation of her career in public life. She<br />
often described herself as a “child of the<br />
Depression” and recalled the sacrifices<br />
her parents had made for her. She remembered<br />
that her parents had “lived tenaciously<br />
… we were pressed, other people<br />
were destroyed. We ate, other people<br />
starved.”<br />
Her biographer believes that Grasso’s<br />
childhood experiences in the tight-knit,<br />
immigrant community of neighbors helping<br />
one another led to her “conviction<br />
that, in a stressful, bleak and overwhelmingly<br />
harsh economic climate, government<br />
must replicate on a larger scale what local<br />
communities tried to do for themselves.”<br />
As an interested young scholar,<br />
Grasso began to realize that government’s<br />
traditional role of non-involvement in<br />
people’s lives was changing. FDR’s New<br />
Deal further led her to realize that “the<br />
machinery of government can be used for<br />
the service of the people.” She began to<br />
see, as she once said, a “relationship between<br />
politics and the lives of the people<br />
— that what happens to us was affected<br />
by government and I wanted to be part of<br />
that government.”<br />
The scholarly environment at Mt.<br />
Holyoke proved invigorating to Grasso, as<br />
did the frequent participation of the<br />
school’s faculty in national and international<br />
affairs. Mt. Holyoke emphasized<br />
participation and service, all of which she<br />
found inspiring. She earned a B.A. in<br />
1940 and a M.A. in 1942 in economics<br />
and sociology. Upon completion of her degrees,<br />
she married her longtime beau.<br />
Her time at Mt. Holyoke, her years<br />
with teachers like DeChantal and Hewes,<br />
and the changing political landscape of<br />
America all convinced Grasso that her future<br />
lay in public service. As a 23-year-old<br />
newlywed, Grasso took a job on “the lowest<br />
rungs of public service,” by her own<br />
account, as an Interviewer for the State of<br />
Connecticut’s Employment Service.” The<br />
position, insignificant as it may have initially<br />
been, gave her the ability to apply<br />
her knowledge of labor and personnel relations<br />
as well as the skill of statistical analysis<br />
as she worked her way up to assistant<br />
director of research in the Office of Manpower<br />
Research.<br />
After four years in the workforce, she<br />
left her position in 1946 to focus on starting<br />
a family. Her daughter Susanne was<br />
born in 1948 and her son James in 1951.<br />
In 1952, Grasso initiated her public life<br />
as she ran for an opening in the Connecticut<br />
House of Representatives and won. She<br />
was re-elected in 1954. In 1958, she ran for<br />
the office of Connecticut’s secretary of state<br />
and again proved victorious. She won reelection<br />
to that post two times, serving a<br />
total of 12 years, the longest anyone had<br />
held the post since 1835.<br />
Grasso’s daughter Susanne once observed,<br />
“If it hadn’t been for my grandparents<br />
… my mother would have had a much<br />
different destiny.” Shortly after Ella and<br />
Tom were married, they purchased a home<br />
right across the street from her parents in<br />
the same neighborhood where Ella had<br />
grown up. This proximity to her children’s<br />
grandparents, as well as relatives and<br />
neighbors she’d known all her life, allowed<br />
her the freedom and security to leave her<br />
children knowing they’d be watched over<br />
by trusted loved ones.<br />
In 1970, Grasso was persuaded to run<br />
for Congress. She had been asked multiple<br />
times before but had always turned down<br />
the opportunity due to family considerations.<br />
Her husband had suffered two heart<br />
attacks in the 1960s and her daughter had<br />
been in a serious auto accident. By 1970,<br />
her daughter was healed and her husband’s<br />
health had stabilized. She was elected to<br />
Congress and won re-election in 1972.<br />
Once in Washington, however, she was<br />
frustrated by the impotence of being a<br />
rookie legislator. Washington was a rigid<br />
hierarchy and it took years to build power<br />
and affect any kind of worthwhile change.<br />
Disenchanted with Washington, she<br />
decided to run against incumbent Governor<br />
Thomas Meskill in the fall of 1974. She<br />
bested Connecticut Attorney General<br />
Robert Killian in the Democratic primary.<br />
While victory over Killian infused her campaign<br />
with increased confidence and support,<br />
she was nevertheless persuaded by<br />
her mentor, the leader of the Connecticut<br />
64<br />
September 2015<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong>
PEOPLE<br />
Legends<br />
State Democratic Party, John Bailey, and<br />
other party leaders to choose Killian as her<br />
running mate to strengthen the ticket and<br />
unite the party. They went on to defeat<br />
their Republican opponent by a margin of<br />
over 200,000 votes in the November general<br />
election.<br />
Grasso was an indefatigable campaigner.<br />
She was not only a rousing public<br />
speaker but could also be an effective debater<br />
when the situation demanded it. She<br />
refused to be reduced to a stereotype of the<br />
Grasso with Christopher Dodd, Abraham Ribicoff,<br />
Jimmy Carter and Wilson Wilde<br />
Official signing of legislation by Governor Ella Grasso<br />
to establish the Office of Protection<br />
weak female. Her election victory made her<br />
the nation’s only female governor at the<br />
time and the first woman of Italian ancestry<br />
to reach the governor’s office in the history<br />
of the United States. Aware of the<br />
historic implications of her victory, Grasso<br />
told voters, “I hope I have been a credit to<br />
women, and to all persons.” Frances Farenthold,<br />
chair of the National Women’s Political<br />
Caucus, released a statement that in<br />
part read, “Ella Grasso’s victory in Connecticut<br />
raises the hopes and expectations<br />
of all women considering political careers.”<br />
Grasso’s first year in office proved to<br />
be a difficult one. She inherited more than<br />
a $70 million state debt that the previous<br />
Republican administration had hidden<br />
from the electorate. Rather than implementing<br />
many of the social programs for<br />
which she campaigned, she had to make<br />
cuts to the state budget, raise the sales tax<br />
and lay off 500 state employees. Her popularity<br />
took a beating as she tried to establish<br />
a firmer economic footing for her state.<br />
In 1976, Connecticut instituted a State Lottery.<br />
That, along with an increase in the<br />
state gasoline tax and judicious spending,<br />
eventually led to a state budget surplus.<br />
Nearly all of the laid off workers were rehired,<br />
and her ability to balance the state<br />
budget while extending more aid to a variety<br />
of Connecticut communities raised her<br />
stock among constituents.<br />
As the first woman ever elected governor<br />
of a state in her own right (all others<br />
ran on their husband’s records), Grasso received<br />
considerable national attention. She<br />
was co-chair of the 1976 Democratic Convention<br />
in New York City. Her name was<br />
mentioned as a possible candidate for president<br />
and/or vice president. Nevertheless,<br />
she had no intention of returning to Washington.<br />
In February of 1978, Connecticut was<br />
hit with a devastating blizzard that brought<br />
the state to a standstill for several days.<br />
Grasso personally went to the State Armory<br />
to oversee rescue operations. Her visibility<br />
in the midst of the statewide crisis cemented<br />
her image as a hands-on, compassionate<br />
leader. Her power and popularity<br />
well established, she ran for re-election in<br />
1978 and easily won a second term with<br />
another huge margin of victory.<br />
By the late 1970s America was headed<br />
for another recession due, in large part, to<br />
the high oil prices and gas shortages that<br />
led to increased costs in industrial production.<br />
The oil crisis also resulted in higher<br />
costs of running a variety of state and government<br />
programs. Grasso was once again<br />
forced to raise taxes to make up shortfalls.<br />
She established an odd/even system for gas<br />
rationing and opened an emergency gasoline<br />
center at the State Armory. In part as a<br />
result of her state programs, she was invited<br />
to Camp David to discuss energy issues<br />
with President Carter.<br />
Sadly, as economic conditions worsened,<br />
so did Grasso’s health. She was diagnosed<br />
with cancer in March of 1980 and as<br />
the year wore on, she grew increasingly<br />
weak. In late 1980, she announced she<br />
would resign. She felt her health was limiting<br />
her ability to serve the people of Connecticut<br />
in the manner that they deserved.<br />
Her last day in office was Dec. 31, 1980,<br />
and she died on Feb. 5, 1981.<br />
From her mother’s passion for education<br />
to Sister DeChantal’s Roman Catholic<br />
moral code to Professor Hewes’ dedication<br />
to public service, Grasso took the examples<br />
of so many strong women who came before<br />
her to build a legacy of leadership, strength<br />
and commitment to public service that has<br />
since inspired multitudes of women to<br />
continue her mission of positive political<br />
change. But Grasso wasn’t just an example<br />
of what women can accomplish or what<br />
Italian Americans can accomplish, but of<br />
what human beings can accomplish<br />
through hard work, education and persistence.<br />
There was an abundance of female role<br />
models that shaped the life and career of<br />
Ella Grasso but she wouldn’t want us to<br />
forget her father’s influence as well. It was<br />
he who inspired her with the idea that “we<br />
never quit.”<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong> September 2015 65
Sports<br />
PEOPLE<br />
In it for the<br />
long haul<br />
by Elena Ferrarin<br />
One thing you can say about Miller<br />
Bugliari: He knows a good thing when he<br />
sees it.<br />
The 80-year-old has spent his entire<br />
coaching career — 56 years and counting<br />
— guiding the soccer team at The Pingry<br />
School, a private prep school in Basking<br />
Ridge, N.J. At 812-102-68, he holds the<br />
national record for most<br />
victories as a high school<br />
soccer coach, earning him<br />
induction into both the<br />
National Soccer Coaches<br />
Association of America<br />
Hall of Fame and the National<br />
Soccer Hall of Fame.<br />
Starting at Pingry as<br />
assistant soccer coach in<br />
1959, Bugliari taught in<br />
the science department,<br />
eventually serving as its<br />
chairman. He also coached<br />
other school teams.<br />
So did he ever think of<br />
leaving over the decades? “Everybody<br />
has other opportunities, but every time<br />
something happened here that I felt I<br />
could help out,” he says. “The kids are<br />
great to me, and I stayed.”<br />
Effective coaches are the ones who<br />
truly forge a connection with players, he<br />
says. “If you have a 40-goal scorer or a<br />
50-point basketball player, a LeBron<br />
James, you’ve got to make sure he knows<br />
what you want, but you also have to find<br />
the right way to reach him,” he says.<br />
“That’s the secret.”<br />
How one reaches players differs from<br />
person to person. “Some of them you<br />
don’t have to say much at all, some of<br />
them you have say, ‘Hey, that’s enough,’”<br />
he says. “It’s getting to know each player<br />
and finding out what gets to them.”<br />
It’s also important to keep up with<br />
66<br />
the times in an ever-evolving world of<br />
technology. “You have to make sure<br />
you’re no so far behind that they think<br />
you’re out of it,” he says.<br />
Bugliari’s ties to the school are as<br />
personal as they get: He was a student<br />
there, as were his three sons. All three<br />
boys, in fact, were members of the soccer<br />
Photos courtesy The Pingry School<br />
team and served as co-captains. Two of<br />
them ended up playing soccer in college,<br />
and one, Anthony, even played in New<br />
Zealand and for the New York Athletic<br />
Club.<br />
Coaching your own kids requires<br />
extra self-evaluation, Bugliari says. “Generally,<br />
if you’re fair, you’re watching<br />
other kids and making sure you’re seeing<br />
your own through the same eyes.”<br />
Bugliari’s philosophy is to never cut<br />
anyone from the team, regardless of skill<br />
level. That means that during practice,<br />
he’ll have as many as 33 players, about a<br />
dozen more than other high school<br />
teams, but only 15 or 16 will actually<br />
play during games.<br />
There is one imperative, though.<br />
Bring a positive attitude, he says, or<br />
you’re off the team.<br />
September 2015<br />
▲ MILLER BUGLIARI<br />
A former student and soccer player at<br />
The Pingry School, he has coached the<br />
New Jersey prep school’s soccer team<br />
for more than half a century, amassing<br />
a hall-of-fame record along the way.<br />
Bugliari served on the board of the<br />
National Soccer Coaches Association<br />
from 1974 to 1980, including one term as<br />
president. One of his favorite memories<br />
of that time is meeting Eunice Kennedy<br />
Shriver when soccer was inaugurated<br />
into the Special Olympics. “She was dynamic.<br />
Absolutely dynamic,” he recalls.<br />
Another highlight was getting up<br />
close and personal with the Italian national<br />
soccer team in 1994. The team,<br />
which made the World Cup finals that<br />
year, stayed in a hotel near The Pingry<br />
School and practiced on campus every<br />
day.<br />
Bugliari, who played soccer in high<br />
school and college, says he always knew<br />
the sport would eventually boom in the<br />
United States.<br />
“It’s been in the last 20 years that it<br />
really happened,” he says. “Then the<br />
women took it up and you see what<br />
they’ve done. It’s a wonderful sport. It’s a<br />
natural sport. It’s played by everyone in<br />
the world.”<br />
When you ask him if he has plans to<br />
retire, he laughs. “Not right now. I have a<br />
couple more projects I’m trying to finish,”<br />
he says, such as raising money for a<br />
field house and more scholarships.<br />
“There’s always something. And school<br />
is good for me.”<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong>
PEOPLE<br />
Film<br />
A complete<br />
artist<br />
by Jeannine Guilyard<br />
There are actors. There are directors.<br />
There are painters. There are poets. But<br />
every once in a while, you encounter one<br />
and say, “Now there’s a complete artist.”<br />
He or she wholeheartedly embodies<br />
creativity in the thoughts they share, the<br />
words they choose, the<br />
way they express themselves,<br />
even the way they<br />
carry themselves. It’s similar<br />
to that “it” factor that<br />
distinguishes a star, but it<br />
runs much deeper. One<br />
such actor is Sebastiano<br />
Filocamo.<br />
Born in Messina,<br />
Sicily, Filocamo studied<br />
his craft in New York,<br />
London, Berlin and<br />
Milan. He also studied<br />
briefly at Brown University<br />
in Rhode Island,<br />
working as a disc jockey<br />
at a local restaurant.<br />
These days, he lives in Milan and travels<br />
wherever his roles take him.<br />
A highly esteemed character actor with<br />
an impressive resume, he has worked in<br />
just about every medium, including theater,<br />
television and film, sharing the spotlight<br />
with such luminaries as Roman Polanski<br />
and Gerard Depardieu.<br />
Although he’s an established actor and<br />
has had supporting roles in several highprofile<br />
movies, his subtle yet commanding<br />
performance in “Anime nere” (Black Souls)<br />
is the one that grabbed my attention.<br />
As I often do these days, upon seeing<br />
“Anime nere,” I searched for him through<br />
Facebook and we became friends.<br />
Thanks to social media platforms like<br />
Facebook and Twitter, actors today are far<br />
more accessible than in the past. We can be<br />
“friends” with or “follow” an artist who we<br />
admire onscreen, learning about their personal<br />
tastes and opinions through their<br />
posts.<br />
Through his fascinating posts and photographs,<br />
I have come to admire and respect<br />
Filocamo as a “complete artist.”<br />
Filocamo on the set of “Sangue del mio sangue” (2015)<br />
When I contacted him for an interview,<br />
he was very enthusiastic to talk about his<br />
experience as an actor. After corresponding<br />
with him, I have come to understand the<br />
tremendous depth of passion and love he<br />
has for his craft.<br />
When I asked him about the breadth of<br />
his experience in theater, television and<br />
film, he explained that he has always loved<br />
diversity and has made an effort to avoid<br />
repeating himself.<br />
“I enjoy portraying characters with different<br />
psychologies, but often caused by social<br />
issues dear to me,” he shared. “I<br />
consider myself an interpreter and I really<br />
dig into the psyche of the characters. I like<br />
auteur cinema where you can build a character<br />
and where there is a special attention<br />
to acting.<br />
“Sometimes the characters stay with<br />
▲ SEBASTIANO<br />
FILOCAMO<br />
A respected character actor with an<br />
impressive resume, the passion he has<br />
for his craft shines through in every role.<br />
me after shooting, but this is something<br />
that my family helps me to overcome.<br />
However, the many footprints of the characters<br />
I have played remain hidden inside<br />
me.”<br />
Filocamo’s role as Antonio Tallura in<br />
“Anime nere” was a dramatic departure<br />
from his previous characters. He described<br />
Tallura as “a silent, suspicious man who<br />
avoids making eye contact. He was the<br />
first-born, the one that will take the place<br />
of the father, so he is always on guard and<br />
suspicious of everyone, especially rivals.<br />
He takes his time in responding and always<br />
insists that his father have the last word.”<br />
The film was a huge international success,<br />
and much of that success can be attributed<br />
to Filocamo and the rest of the cast<br />
and their powerful, superb performances.<br />
Filocamo is currently promoting his<br />
latest film, Marco Bellocchio’s “Sangue del<br />
mio sangue” (Blood of My Blood). The film<br />
made its premiere at the 2015 Venice Film<br />
Festival and is expected to be distributed<br />
internationally.<br />
“Anime nere” was in theaters earlier<br />
this year and should be available on DVD<br />
in the near future. Filocamo also has a role<br />
in Giuseppe Tornatore’s 1995 film, “A Pure<br />
Formality.” The story of a crazed writer,<br />
starring Roman Polanski and Gerard Depardieu,<br />
it is available on amazon.com.<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong> September 2015 67
Living the<br />
Italian dream<br />
by Arthur Kenney<br />
I first discovered the world<br />
of Italian basketball in April of<br />
1966 on ABC’s Wide World of<br />
Sports, when I saw Rhodes<br />
scholar Bill Bradley win the European<br />
Cup of Champions with<br />
his teammates from Olimpia<br />
Milano. A future NBA All-Star,<br />
Naismith Memorial Hall of<br />
Famer, and New Jersey senator,<br />
Bradley was commuting weekly<br />
from Oxford to play for the<br />
team on their home court, the<br />
PalaLido. I knew Bradley was a great<br />
player, but what captured my attention<br />
was how skilled his teammates were and<br />
how well they worked together. Their<br />
team game was so good that they had me<br />
at “Buongiorno”!<br />
I grew up in Manhattan, where basketball<br />
is known as “The City Game.” I<br />
played grammar and high school ball<br />
with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was<br />
known back then as Lew Alcindor. Our<br />
team at Power Memorial Academy<br />
racked up 71 consecutive victories over<br />
2-1/2 years on the way to earning the<br />
designation “The High School Team of<br />
the Century.”<br />
I went on to play at Fairfield University<br />
under legendary coach George<br />
The team retires Kenney’s number<br />
Bisacca, who tallied a 151-87 record<br />
while playing against some of the best<br />
teams in the nation. After graduation, I<br />
played on Jim McGregor’s Touring All-<br />
Star teams, travelling throughout Latin<br />
America and then playing the summer<br />
tournament circuit in the Italian resort<br />
towns. I played in Le Mans, France, for<br />
two seasons, and in May 1970 received<br />
an invitation to try out for Olimpia Milano.<br />
I passed the test, and when club<br />
owner and President Dr. Adolfo Bogoncelli<br />
launched into his invitation to play<br />
for his team, I interrupted him in midsentence<br />
with “Si! Si! Si!” I think I set<br />
the record for the shortest contract negotiation<br />
in history. On that day in May of<br />
1970, there was no happier<br />
man in Italy, or the planet!<br />
I initially roomed with<br />
Giorgio Gaggiotti, the most<br />
serious medical student<br />
ever, who went on to become<br />
a famous surgeon. We<br />
both spoke French as a result<br />
of our schooling, and<br />
teammates Giorgio Papetti<br />
and Paolo Bianchi spoke to<br />
me in the Milanese dialect,<br />
which seemed to be a misto<br />
of French and Italian, so I enjoyed a<br />
gradual emersion in the Italian language.<br />
I enrolled at the British School of<br />
Milan on chic via Montenapoleone. My<br />
teacher was an elderly woman, Signora<br />
Lidia Verga, who was a fantastic teacher,<br />
and I would read my textbook, “Parliamo<br />
italiano,” over and over. I looked forward<br />
to going to class and then heading off to<br />
practice with my teammates. They were<br />
great at correcting my mistakes, and as<br />
time went on, I began to think and even<br />
dream in Italian. In reality, I was living<br />
the dream … in Italian!<br />
Everyone at the club took an interest<br />
in my desire to learn as much as I could<br />
about Italy. We were a Band of Brothers,<br />
spending a lot of time together. Periodi-<br />
Simmenthal (Olimpia Milano) vs Ignis (Varese, Italy)<br />
68<br />
Kenney makes headlines<br />
September 2015<br />
After winning the Cup of Cups<br />
against Spartak Leningrad<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong>
PEOPLE<br />
Insight<br />
▲ ‘ARTURO’ KENNEY<br />
A New York native and standout high<br />
school and college player in America,<br />
he found his spiritual home on one of<br />
the greatest basketball teams of all<br />
time.<br />
cally, Dr. Bogoncelli would give me his<br />
season tickets to see performances at La<br />
Scala, so I saw “Norma,” “Orfeo,”<br />
“Tosca” and others. A gentleman in the<br />
chorus, whose two daughters were fans,<br />
also offered me tickets to the opera, and I<br />
in turn gave him tickets for his family to<br />
our sold-out games.<br />
I enjoyed walking around Piazza San<br />
Babila early in the morning passing il<br />
Duomo and la Galleria along the way. On<br />
occasion, I would have a cappucio (cappuccino)<br />
and brioche at Marchese. And<br />
on Friday evenings, after seeing a film in<br />
prima visione, my teammates and I<br />
might go to la Pazza Pizza or have frulatto<br />
in Piazza Diaz. Life was good!<br />
Head Coach Cesare Rubini had very<br />
interesting friends, who became our<br />
friends and fans. He knew designer Tai<br />
(Ottavio) Missoni, who was a hurdler in<br />
the London Olympics, and renowned<br />
artist Roberto Crippa. Class and style<br />
were a part of the Olimpia Milano DNA,<br />
a tradition upheld by the current owner,<br />
iconic fashion designer Giorgio Armani.<br />
Olimpia Milano was founded in<br />
1936, marking its 80th anniversary this<br />
coming season. During its long and illustrious<br />
history, the team has set the standard<br />
of excellence in Italian basketball.<br />
They have won 26 Italian League Championships<br />
(scudetti), one less than the<br />
New York Yankees in 35 fewer years.<br />
My head coach was a two-sport<br />
champion, starring on the Olympic water<br />
polo team as a young man. A great defensive<br />
basketball player with Olimpia Milano,<br />
Rubini was Italy’s most successful<br />
coach, winning more than 80 percent of<br />
his games, including 15 Italian League<br />
Championships. The president of the<br />
Italian National Team in 1980, he led the<br />
team to an Olympic silver medal in<br />
Moscow. He was inducted into the International<br />
Swimming Hall of Fame in<br />
2000, and the Naismith Memorial Basketball<br />
Hall of Fame in 1994.<br />
Coach Rubini’s nickname — “Il<br />
Principe” (“The Prince”) — says it all.<br />
And at his side at the Olympics as well<br />
as Olimpia Milano was Assistant Coach<br />
Sandro Gamba, a fellow Naismith inductee<br />
and one of the most technically<br />
astute coaches ever. To play for two such<br />
illustrious coaches was a dream come<br />
true, and that was only the beginning.<br />
My teammates were outstanding<br />
players, and more importantly, some of<br />
the best people and friends you could<br />
hope to meet. Of our nine Italian players,<br />
six were on the Italian National team,<br />
and one was on the junior national team.<br />
During my three-year tenure, the<br />
team won the Italian League Championship<br />
once, the European Cup of Cups<br />
twice, and the Italian Cup once. Our<br />
winning percentage of 84.3 earned each<br />
of us the Ambrogino D’Argento, similar<br />
to the Key to the City, which is my<br />
prized possession.<br />
In 2013, the team retired my number,<br />
18, but that individual distinction would<br />
not have been possible without the familial<br />
environment fostered from the<br />
ownership on down. It started with<br />
Adolfo Bogoncelli and spread from<br />
coaches Rubini and Gamba throughout<br />
the team. The only thing that mattered<br />
was the success of the club, and each<br />
player was chosen because he possessed<br />
that team-first attitude. It was an outstanding<br />
mindset — one team, one<br />
dream!<br />
My teammates and I looked after<br />
each other both on and off the court, and<br />
everyone sacrificed personal glory for the<br />
sake of the team. That has been the<br />
defining characteristic of Olimpia Milano<br />
throughout the decades, and what<br />
differentiates it from other clubs.<br />
Two generations later, Olimpia Milano<br />
continues its winning ways. With<br />
Giorgio Armani as its owner, Jasmin<br />
Repesa as its coach and Alessandro Gentile<br />
among its star players, the team epitomizes<br />
the skill, color, passion and<br />
"fan-thusiasm" that consistently propels<br />
it to the top the Italian basketball world.<br />
A/X Armani Olimpia Milano will<br />
play against Maccabi Tel Aviv in Chicago<br />
at 7 p.m. on Oct. 1 at the United Center,<br />
and then at NYC’s Madison Square Garden<br />
at 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 4. Tickets are<br />
available at ticketmaster.com, with special<br />
discounts available by using the promotion<br />
code FraNoi.<br />
Forza Italia, Forza Olimpia Milano e<br />
Forza Bostoniano!<br />
Current owner Giorgio Armani<br />
The team celebrates another<br />
championship season<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong> September 2015 69
Ciao Italia with Mary Ann Esposito<br />
CUISINE<br />
When in<br />
Genova …<br />
by Mary Ann Esposito<br />
Pesto sauce is to the region of Liguria<br />
what tomato sauce is to Campania.<br />
The history books place the origins<br />
of pesto all over the culinary map. Some<br />
claim the crusaders brought basil seeds<br />
from the Holy Land to Genoa. Others<br />
claim it is an offspring of the herbal<br />
sauces that the ancient Romans made.<br />
To make pesto alla Genovese according<br />
to the rules laid out by the Consorzio<br />
del Pesto Genovese, the ruling body that<br />
oversees the traditional way to make it,<br />
basil (basilica Genovese) must be cultivated<br />
in and around Genoa and only tender,<br />
young small leaves can be used.<br />
Other ingredients include Ligurian extra<br />
virgin olive oil and fresh, mild-tasting<br />
garlic. The grated cheese must be either<br />
Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano in<br />
combination with pecorino cheese from<br />
Rome, Tuscany, Sicily or Sardinia. The<br />
pine nuts must be from Liguria, but walnuts<br />
are sometimes substituted. The salt<br />
must be coarse sea salt. Only then are<br />
you ready to make an authentic pesto as<br />
the Genovese do so well.<br />
To make pesto in the traditional way,<br />
a marble mortar, preferably made with<br />
Cararra marble from Tuscany, and a<br />
wooden pestle must be used.<br />
The basil leaves are washed in cold<br />
water and dried. For every 30 leaves of<br />
basil, one clove of mild garlic should be<br />
used. The olive oil should also be mild,<br />
not spicy. The garlic is added first to the<br />
mortar and gently mashed with a few<br />
grains of the salt using the pestle in a circular<br />
motion and against the sides of the<br />
mortar.<br />
The nuts are then added and mashed<br />
70<br />
so they are amalgamated into the sauce.<br />
Next the leaves are added a handful at a<br />
time along with a few grains of salt and<br />
gently mashed in a rotating manner. This<br />
is important because the essential oils in<br />
the leaves of basil need to be release as<br />
gently as possible.<br />
When the basil is a brilliant green<br />
liquid, the cheeses are mixed in. The<br />
olive oil is last, dribbled in a little at a<br />
time and mixed with the ingredients<br />
until a fluid, not paste-like sauce is obtained.<br />
Pesto sauce is now ready to be<br />
used on trenette or trofie (two classic<br />
pastas of the region) and green beans<br />
with potatoes. It is the last thing added<br />
to minestrone soup and is the sauce favored<br />
for potato gnocchi.<br />
Of course, there are many other uses<br />
one can find for it: It is perfect mixed<br />
into risotto, it adds extra flavor to<br />
cooked vegetables and it makes for a<br />
unique pizza topping as well.<br />
Given the constraints of time today,<br />
pesto can be made using a food processor.<br />
However, the taste and texture will<br />
September 2015<br />
not be the same as a batch made by hand,<br />
and it will oxidize quickly due to the<br />
bruising of the leaves by the steel blade<br />
and the residual heat from the processor.<br />
I have learned that there are two<br />
things that basil dislikes: water on its<br />
leaves, which turns them black, and<br />
being put into cold water and stored in<br />
the refrigerator. Basil, which derives from<br />
the ancient Greek word for “royal,” needs<br />
to be treated with care and respect.<br />
Pesto Genovese<br />
Enough to dress 1-1/2 pounds pasta<br />
2 cloves garlic, peeled<br />
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt<br />
1 tablespoon pine nuts or walnuts<br />
2 packed cups fresh young basil leaves<br />
Mild extra virgin olive oil<br />
(Ligurian if possible)<br />
6 tablespoons grated Parmigiano<br />
Reggiano or Grana Padano<br />
2 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano<br />
Recipe www.ciaoaitalia.com.<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong>
A pesto<br />
panoply<br />
CUISINE<br />
Recipes<br />
by Dolores Sennebogen<br />
Ah, fresh basil. Each time I gather<br />
some from the pot on my patio I stop for<br />
a moment to deeply inhale its heavenly<br />
scent. The botanical name for sweet basil<br />
is ocimum basilicum, with ocimum derived<br />
from the Greek term for fragrant. At<br />
this time of year when we’re using up<br />
the last of our homegrown basil, Liguria<br />
comes to mind. The region is most famous<br />
for Christopher Columbus, whom<br />
we celebrate this month, and for its wondrous<br />
pesto alla Genovese. Basil flourishes<br />
in its mineral-rich terrain, and<br />
some would say it is the world’s best.<br />
Liguria is also known for its outstanding<br />
fruity olive oil, so it was inevitable that<br />
these two palate pleasers came together<br />
in the form of this alluring condimento.<br />
I was recently treated to pesto made<br />
by my friend Dina Giordano. She told me<br />
her recipe came from<br />
Genoa and is part of<br />
fond childhood memories.<br />
“While we were in<br />
Genova visiting my<br />
Mom’s cousin Gina, she<br />
cooked us Linguine with<br />
Pesto Sauce, which we<br />
had not tasted before. I<br />
cannot tell you how de-<br />
licious it was to us. I said right away, ‘Zia<br />
Gina, please, can you give us the recipe<br />
to take back with us to Brooklyn? We love<br />
it!’ Zia was delighted and she wrote the<br />
recipe without hesitation. Back home,<br />
Mom made it often and it became a tradition<br />
on Friday nights and during Lent.”<br />
Mille grazie, Dina, for sharing your<br />
memories and Zia Gina’s recipe. I’m offering<br />
additional recipes that star pesto<br />
sauce, including a recipe that my mother<br />
was given by her friend Mary Parisi almost<br />
50 years ago.<br />
Continues on page 72 …<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong> September 2015 71
… continued from page 71 …<br />
72<br />
LINGUINE CON<br />
PESTO ALLA GENOVESE<br />
(Linguine with Pesto Sauce)<br />
For the condimento:<br />
2 cups fresh basil<br />
1/4 to 1/3 cup good olive oil<br />
1/2 cup pignoli<br />
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese<br />
3 cloves garlic<br />
Pinch of salt (to taste)<br />
1/4 teaspoon black pepper (or to taste)<br />
Put the above ingredients in a<br />
blender or food processor and process<br />
until smooth. Start with 1/4 cup olive oil<br />
and add additional oil in a thin stream if<br />
necessary for a smooth sauce. Set aside<br />
while the pasta cooks.<br />
To finish the dish:<br />
Linguine cooked al dente<br />
Additional olive oil<br />
Additional sliced garlic<br />
A handful of pignoli<br />
While the linguine is cooking, cover<br />
the bottom of a very large skillet with a<br />
coating of olive oil and place over<br />
medium heat. Add enough sliced garlic<br />
to suit your taste along with the pignoli<br />
and sauté them in the olive oil. Just before<br />
you drain the linguine, add the<br />
pesto sauce to the skillet containing the<br />
garlic and pignoli and heat it through.<br />
Drain the pasta, saving a little of the<br />
pasta water. Add the drained pasta to the<br />
skillet and toss very well, continuing to<br />
warm over medium heat. You may want<br />
to add a small amount of the reserved<br />
pasta water to help the sauce cling to the<br />
pasta. When thoroughly combined, serve<br />
hot with additional Romano cheese to<br />
taste.<br />
NOTE: This pesto recipe is enough<br />
for up to 2-1/2 pounds pasta. The sauce is<br />
also an excellent marinade for chicken. It<br />
can be served over salmon or as an appetizer<br />
spread with crostini. You can mix a<br />
little pesto into softened<br />
butter to use on cooked vegetables.<br />
Whisk some into<br />
your vinaigrette for tossed<br />
salads.<br />
— Dina Giordano<br />
MINESTRONE<br />
ALLA GENOVESE<br />
(Vegetable Soup from Genoa)<br />
1/4 pound pancetta<br />
3 tablespoons fresh parsley<br />
1 clove garlic, minced<br />
1 yellow onion, diced<br />
2 carrots peeled and sliced<br />
1/4 head cabbage, shredded<br />
1 stalk celery, diced<br />
1 leek, washed and sliced<br />
2 cups cooked cannellini beans<br />
1/4 pound cut green beans<br />
1 large fresh tomato, cut up<br />
1 large potato, peeled and diced<br />
Beef broth<br />
Salt and pepper<br />
Zucchini (optional)<br />
Pesto (see above)<br />
Grated Cheese<br />
1/4 pound cooked tubetti (optional)<br />
Chop the pancetta,<br />
parsley and garlic together<br />
and cook in a large<br />
stock pot. In the rendered<br />
fat, sauté the vegetables to<br />
a golden color. Add about<br />
4 pints of water or beef<br />
stock and season with salt<br />
and pepper. Cook slowly<br />
until all of the vegetables are<br />
tender and the soup thickens<br />
a little. If using zucchini, add<br />
it during the last 10 minutes<br />
so it doesn’t get overcooked.<br />
Stir in about 3 tablespoons of<br />
pesto and some grated cheese.<br />
Adding some small pasta will<br />
September 2015<br />
make a more substantial soup. Serve with<br />
plenty of grated cheese.<br />
Variations: You may omit the cabbage<br />
and add a bunch of chopped Swiss<br />
chard or spinach with the tough stems removed.<br />
For a meatless meal, use olive oil<br />
instead of pancetta and water instead of<br />
beef broth.<br />
— adapted from Mary Parisi<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong>
CUISINE<br />
Recipes<br />
RIGATONI PANNA,<br />
PESTO, E POMODORI<br />
(Creamy Rigatoni)<br />
1/2 pint heavy cream<br />
12 ounces chopped tomatoes,<br />
well drained<br />
2 tablespoons pesto (see above)<br />
4 cups rigatoni<br />
1/2 cup freshly grated Romano or Parmigiano<br />
cheese<br />
Pour the cream into a large skillet,<br />
add the chopped tomatoes and cook over<br />
very low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring<br />
occasionally. Remove the pan from<br />
the heat and stir in the pesto. Meanwhile,<br />
cook the rigatoni in a large pot of boiling<br />
salted water until it reaches the al dente<br />
stage. Drain the pasta, gently rewarm the<br />
cream sauce and add some of it to the<br />
pasta. Toss it and place it in a prewarmed<br />
serving dish. Spoon the remaining<br />
sauce over the pasta and sprinkle<br />
with the cheese.<br />
— Dolores Sennebogen<br />
INSALATA DI<br />
POMODORO E BURRATA<br />
(Tomato and Burrata Salad with Pesto)<br />
4 heirloom tomatoes<br />
Salt and pepper to taste<br />
Sugar to taste (optional)<br />
Fruity extra-virgin olive oil<br />
1 pound fresh burrata cheese<br />
Pesto sauce<br />
Blanch and shock the tomatoes<br />
quickly in boiling salted water, and then<br />
peel them. Slice them into rounds and<br />
season with salt, pepper and a little of<br />
the optional sugar. Cut the burrata into<br />
rounds and season with salt,<br />
pepper and a generous<br />
drizzle of the olive oil.<br />
Stack the tomatoes and<br />
burrata in alternating layers,<br />
seasoning each layer<br />
with the pesto. Serve with<br />
a chilled white wine.<br />
— adapted from Chef<br />
Christopher Daly<br />
PASTA<br />
CON PESTO<br />
E ‘NDUJA<br />
(Pasta with Two Sauces)<br />
1 pound pasta of<br />
your choice<br />
1/2 cup Ligurian pesto<br />
1/4 cup Calabrian ‘nduja (see note)<br />
A little fruity olive oil<br />
Grated Parmigiana or Pecorino cheese<br />
Cook the pasta in boiling salted<br />
water until al dente. Meanwhile, dissolve<br />
the two sauces and a bit of olive oil<br />
in a saucepan over low heat. Drain the<br />
pasta and combine it well with the<br />
mixed sauces. Serve in a preheated bowl<br />
with grated cheese to taste.<br />
NOTE: ‘Nduja (pronounced en-dooya)<br />
is a spreadable mixture of ground<br />
cured pork (usually salami) seasoned<br />
with Calabrian chilies. You can purchase<br />
it online or in Italian specialty stores. For<br />
spicier pasta, use equals portions of<br />
pesto and ‘nduja.<br />
— adapted from cooker.NET<br />
PASTA COL PESTO<br />
ALLA TRAPANESE<br />
(Pasta with Sicilian Pesto)<br />
4-6 very fresh garlic cloves, cut up<br />
1 teaspoon salt<br />
1 cup fresh basil leaves<br />
1/3 cup flat leaf parsley<br />
1 cup blanched almonds,<br />
roughly chopped<br />
4 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and<br />
chopped<br />
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil<br />
Black pepper<br />
1-1/2 pounds bavette or bucatini<br />
Pound the garlic, salt, basil and parsley<br />
into a paste in a mortar. Add the almonds<br />
little by little and then the<br />
tomatoes. When all the ingredients are<br />
reduced to a pulp, add some of the oil<br />
and the pepper. Add the remaining oil a<br />
little at a time until the sauce is smooth<br />
and creamy. Cook the pasta in boiling<br />
salted water. Drain and toss in a serving<br />
bowl together with the pesto until everything<br />
is distributed evenly.<br />
NOTE: This can be done in an electric<br />
blender, in which case you should<br />
add a small amount of the oil in the first<br />
step and the remainder with the tomatoes.<br />
You can reduce the garlic, according<br />
to taste. Variations also include lightly<br />
toasting the almonds, or adding one<br />
minced pepperoncini (seeds removed).<br />
— Dolores Sennebogen<br />
▼ COOK’S TIP ▼<br />
If you aren’t going to use all of your<br />
homemade pesto right away you can<br />
refrigerate it for 5 to 7 days. However,<br />
be sure to store it in a glass jar filled almost<br />
to the top. Then cover it with a<br />
thin layer of olive oil before sealing<br />
tightly. This keeps it from oxidizing and<br />
turning an unpleasant color. You can<br />
also freeze leftover pesto t in ice cube<br />
trays so that you can defrost small<br />
amounts to use in soups, sauces or<br />
pizza toppings.<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong> September 2015 73
Castel di Sangro<br />
PARTING SHOTS<br />
Eternal battleground<br />
by Nicola Orichuia<br />
Few places have been fought over<br />
as fiercely or for as long as the little hilltop<br />
town of Castel di Sangro. Situated in<br />
southern Abruzzo, just across the borders<br />
of Lazio and Puglia, this village of<br />
5,000 souls was the birthplace of the<br />
mighty Aufidena tribe, which resisted<br />
Roman dominance until 209 B.C. Emperor<br />
Augustus liked the town so much<br />
he ordered the construction of a forum<br />
and arenas for games, making it a lively<br />
center of activity.<br />
During the Middle Ages, though,<br />
the town was sacked numerous times by<br />
Hun and Saracen tribes, until the di<br />
Sangro family took over and built a<br />
mighty fortress in 1050, right on top of a<br />
monolithic stone base that had served as<br />
a guardian tower for several centuries<br />
before. Still, the fortress could not hold<br />
off the troops of Cardinal Colonna, who<br />
burned and destroyed the town’s center<br />
in 1228, punishing Castel di Sangro’s inhabitants<br />
for their loyalty to Holy<br />
Roman Emperor Frederick II. A few<br />
years later, Charles I of Naples drove the<br />
message home with more sacking and<br />
burning.<br />
Castel di Sangro finally found peace<br />
in the 1300s, when it became a flourishing<br />
trade center with many artisans<br />
working for the caravans that traveled<br />
along the Via degli Abruzzi, the main<br />
thoroughfare connecting the south and<br />
north of Italy down the peninsula’s<br />
mountainous spine.<br />
The town’s last beating came during<br />
World War II. On Nov. 7, 1943, German<br />
troops occupied Castel di Sangro, razing<br />
the town’s center and positioning it at<br />
the heart of the Gustav line. The town<br />
was pummeled for months, first by Allied<br />
troops and then by the Nazis once<br />
the Allies seized control. The town’s role<br />
in the victory was recognized with the<br />
Bronze Medal for Civil Merit for “having<br />
resisted fearlessly against the bombings<br />
and oppression of the enemy invader.”<br />
74<br />
September 2015<br />
FRA NOI for Com<strong>UNICO</strong>