Not Your Grandfather's Italy,

Not YourGrandfather's Italy,:Change Oveftakes the ·

ContentsLetters ........................................................................................... R............. . ......... . ... JDirector- leal ic Way · Rosario A faco.nisManaging Editor- John L. ManciniProduction Manager - Rira l. ManciniFeature Writers - Alfred Cardone,13ill Dal Cerro, Don Eiore, Robert MasulloThe lMiic Wa;y"f (ISSN 1079-2619) i.l pub­Lished by the Italic Sru&es I ostinHe, lnc., POBox- 818, Floral Park, NY 11001, ©2001 bydte Italic Studies Institute, inc .. All rightsreserved. The !r:alir: W~ is a trademark o( thelralicSru&es ]nstiture. Reproduction withoutpermission is prohibited. Subscription is &eeto aJI members of Italic Studies 1nstitute, Jnc.Direct all inquiries co (516) 488-7400.Fa.x: (516) 488-4889 Website: iralic.orgemail: lcaJicOne@aol.comLettersAll'lraliana .................................................................................................................. 4World Notes ...........................................................................................,.................. 6Edimrials .................................................................................................................... 8Forum ofThc People .................................................................................................. 9Ponrius Pilate .......................................................................................................... 11Focus: "Nor Your Grandfather's Italy" ...................................................................... 12Lady Power .............................................................................................................. 17N:.lples in Revolt ................................................ ...................................................... 19Roman Aqueducts ................................................... ................................................. 2 IltalianAmerican Cowboy ........................................................................................ 23Ferdinand Pecora ...................................................................................................... 24Correction[n issue XXX, "Deep Roots inAmerica", we stared that Mono Casrlc was inCuba. Actual ly, it is in San Juan, Puerro Rico.The fortification was designed and built bylralian engineer Bartista Anronelli around 1589.(pictured right)LETTERSTo the Ediror (NY Times, july 28. 2000}:Re: "A Big Crowd That Aspires ro Be a Mob"about a castmg call for those imerested in auditioningfor pam in the TV series The Sopranos:Gforifying a fictitious fami!y of gangsters ispuerile enough. But actively raking part in thedissemination of a srereorype adds insult ro bigotry.Such a display of ethnic derision by "young cigar-chompingmen in muscle T-shirts and women with tall hairdos and spikedheds" only encourages chose who profit mosc from anti-Italian uuoleranee.Tony Soprano is che polar opposite of a traditional paterfamilias.[ndeed, chis caricamre evinces not a scintilla of the no-nonsensehumanism that has been me hillmark of the Italian father since thedays of Caesar Augustus.Rosario JaconisDirector, Italic Studies Institute.To the Editor {NY Times Magazine. }1me 25, 2000):In his article (The Way We Live Now, June 18th), Stephen S. Halldecried America's slide into Tralian-scyle politics. While iris cusrom-ary among the Anglo-Saxonimelligentsia to sneer at the"operatic parade of dysfuncrionalItalian governments,"~:here is no grcan:r comedy oferrors than ~:he soap operaknown as the American poliocalprocess. America is anation where barely 30 percentof the electorate borhers to voteon Election Day and where agovernjng class boasts awrestler rumed governor and acarpetbagging first lady ::IS asenatorial hopeful.Rosario laconisDirector, Italic StudiesInstitute.(Ed.: The ludicrou.r cvmts of tJI(! 2000 election and the Clinton pardonscandals of 2001 have prmJtn lacon is to be not only tin Mtute poLiticalohst:rver Gut a clairvoyant as well.)Dear Editor:Re: Anti-defamationYou guys are doing a great job with the meager resources you havear hand. We have a far berrer repumrion as geniuses in "organizingcrime" but nor one in organizing against bigotry.Walter SantiBloomingdale, IIKXXl, 20011

LettersDear Editor:Re: "Deep Roots in America" (Issue XXX)halian thought and mores comributed significandy toAmerica's focus on the individual. The rhoughrs ofFilippo Mazzeiand Cesare Beccaria, with cheir emphasis on the individual, wereinfluemial during our revolution. In addition, rh.e lralian immigrantbroughr a unique and fierce loyalty to the principles of familyand private property.We must remain Loyal co our American heritage and faithful tothe unique Jcalian conuibution to the American philosophy.Emily Cremezzani KobosPoughkeepsie, NYDear Editor:Issue XXX was another great one. I look forward ro each newissue.You can add the following facts to the "Deep Roots in America"article: ln 1624 thirty-four families from Holland came toAlbany, NY. Among them these Italian names appear: RachelDeGarno, Rosina Fero, Agnice DeGarno, Catalyn Trico, andAnna Rosina. Trico was an Italian born in Paris and in 1625 ~avebirth. to the first white ch ild in New York State, her name was SaraRapelja. These Italians were Waldensi, a pre-Reformation denomination.In J 60 l, the Duke of Savoy drove 500 of these familiesinto exile, some going co Hollru1d.Prof.!Cav. Philip J. DiNovoPresidem, American ltaliru1 Heritage Assoc.Albany, NYDear Editor:The Latest issue, as usual, was beautifully written. Theorganizational positions are as strong and upfront as ever, and lagree wirb just about every point of view.Vincent RomanoMonroe Twp, NJDear Editor:After reading your article. "Deep Roots io America", I wish ronote that my Italian side came to rhese shores during colonialrimes. Our immigram ancestor, John Thomas Longino, had fivesons, ar leasr one served in the American Revolution. A laterdescendent, Dr. Thomas Dick Longino, served in General JoeWheeler's Confederate Army in 1864-65. After he became a medicaldoctor he served on the Atlanta Ciry Council for se,•en yearsand e.~rablishedCanillle LonginoChicago, ILthe Healch Dept in rhar city.Dear Editor:Re: EdicoriaJ in issue XXX1 have finally arrived at an opinion on Tht Sopranos. The showpresents more negatives tbru1 posirives. David Chase, the creator,as weiJ as the other negative artisrs like Coppola, Scorsese. andPuzo wem looking for only negative themes. Why did they go oneway and not the other in their storytelling? We all know theanswer. They are prostitutes!Our history is so overwhelming and powerful. How did theymiss the point? How can our enormous contributions be overshadowedby their negarive movies~Joe D iorioHot Springs, ARTidbitsEDUCATIONALLY CHALLENGEDSome early 20th Century education reports by the Federal governmentcarne ro .light recently as some folks wamed co compare today's Asian andHispanic immigrants wich y=eryears European masses. Be carefUl jumping roconclusions:Italian immigrant children graduated to high school at half the rateof non-inunigranr white children (fur example i£80% of native whites wemon ro high school only 40% oflralian kids did) It goc worse. By the end ofthe 1920s only 25% oflralian srudentS that made it to high school even wallygraduarai A 1909 srudy found that twice as many ltalian demenQIJ')' studentswere left back than non-immigrant wb.ircs. A 1919 rcpo.rron IQscoresn..'Velled that the median for Italian 10 year olds W:tS 84 compared ro I 09 fornative whires.Explaining life behind these scatimcs will make them more meaningful.For example, Jmlian poverty was unquestionably a major cause of thehigher drop-our rates. Families desperardy needed child labor ro raise the &roilyincome, Deaths of wage earners and desertions by Etthers were not unrommonamong IWian inunigrants, which further demanded rhar children leaveschool ordi\~

YEAR ONE A.D.U.S. News & World Report (118/01) did a feawre writtenby a .Lewis Lord on rhe First Century A.D. The cover blurbread: "2,000 years ago, life under Roman rule was bleak andbrutal, setting the stage for Christianity". To conrinue thatsimplistic line of observation we could add: ... setting rhe stagefor medieval intolerance and rhe Dark Ages. And rhc ceoruriesbefore the Roman Empire weren't much more progressive,especially in the ancestral bogs of the U.S. News writer.FOLLOW UPSALL THAT JAZZYou may recall rhatwe did a two-parter on Italians in Jazzwhich we forwarded m filmmaker Ken Burns who was workingon a PBS special abour jazz. Although Burns did mention[talians in the development of Dix:ieland Jazz he slanted theirconrribution as adversaries to black jazz artists. The coamhorof our arricle, Bill Dal Cerro, was more chan piqued.Bill notes that the first integrated jazz band was formed inChicago in 1937 by Marry Marsala.SOPRANOS AUDITIONLasr summer the n)uch-rcvcrcd New Yo1'k Times sent oneof irs correspondents to participate and rcporr on a caSt callfor the HBO series The Sopranos. Fourteen thousand buddingacrors descended on the New Jersey site and police hadro be called in to control rhe crowd. The smry by the participant/reporterappeared on the New York Times from pagechat Sunday. When our staff wrote to rhe reporter questioningthe appropriateness of participating in the news, especiallyin lighr of the controversial nature of the series, he exploded.He mailed ISI a chree page letter essentially reUing us coget lose. Here are some excerpts:"As an Iralian-American ft.Ued with enough pride ro warrama salure from rhe lrali.an flag itself, l'm having major rroublecrying to tmdersrand the uue funcrion of rhe Iralic Studiesfnstitute. Your critique and overall concerns regarding TheSopranos story have me a bit saddened and much more befuddled."Taking yow- lerrer apart rhought by thought, how exactlywas my journalistic objectivity blurred by my scory? Tf14,000 people show up at an evem. any evenr, isn't char newsworthyenough ro include in the paper of record?"And even though chepiece was written in whimsicalrones, did I not accuratelyreport the facts? Were myconversations with some ofthe people there complerelymade up? The face remainsr:har there were indeed cigarchompingmen and womenwith tall hair and short skirtson hand. And there was areason for that. Ir was a castingcall for a television showabout a mafia family, and allchose people were trying toOur Chicago rep, Bill DaJ Cerro, points outsome negative vocabulary.do- myself included- was have a lircle fun while entertaininga near impossible dream - ro gee a bit part on a hugely successfuland entertaining show. Ic's as jimpie tts that. Caseclosed ....... pass these words of advice along to your own colleagues:gee a grip on reality. Your Institute fans the flames of ethnicsmearing,instead of extinguishing chem, by overreacting cosomecl1ing as harmless as The Sopranos srory I wrote for rhe[NY] Times. Whenever you react rhe way you did to a storylike mine, or a TV show The Sopranos, you are helping pcrperuarea stereotype by placing a magnifying glass over a nonissueand rw-ning it inro something much larger for aU rheworld to see, and in the end, we are left with ltalian­Americans squaring off against lta.lian-Americans, jusr likeyour Institute and myself have squared off over dus nonissue... Fuggedabourit." - Vincent Millozzi[Ed This is the man that the NY Times chose to write a frontpagestory about an audition for "Italian-looking" people to starin tl national series featuring a family of murderers, thieves anddegenerates. Is this institutionalized stereotyping or yellow journalism?Either way, like the man says .. t}Jis is rettlity.}FORBIDDEN ITALYA story appeared io the August 13, 2000 issue of the NewYork Times reponing char Italian museum officials wereexhibiting pornographic arrwork from ancient Pompeii. TheItalic mzy can proudly say thar we did a cover story on thisvery subject in issue XV back in 1992. Reprinrs are availablechrough our office.Some of thedreamers who showed up for a New Jersey audition for The Sopranos.Egged on by smarmy PR backs and shock jock radio man Howard Stern, the nation was solicited for"Italian -looking people" to play bit pans in t:he rut cable show.3

- - ---All'italianaIIGONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN• Master stone carver at the Nacional Cathedral inWashi~ton, D C, Vincent Palumbo died at age 64. One ofmany lcalic crafismen recruited for the century old project,Paluinbo produced the bust of Marcin Luther King, amongorher works.• Award-winning TV director AI D eCaprio 1 whose workincluded Sgt. Bi{ko, Car 54, Where Are You?, and The MissAmerica Pageant died ar ~e 83. (Mr. DeCaprio was a foundingadvisor to the Italic Srudies Insrirure)• Lou Groza, 76, famed place-kicker for the ClevelandBrowns, was elected ro rhe Pro Football HaU offame in 1974.He still holds the: Browns record of 1,608 game points.• George Musso, 90, lineman for rhe Ch.icago Bears, wasream captain from l936 co 1944 and inducted inro the Hallof Fame in 1982. He agreed co play for $45 per game, at onerime, just 10 be a Bear. During his college days he plaveda_gainsr Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford, future U.S. presidcmcs.• Leo NomeUini, 76, hal ian-born Hall of Farner and playerfor the San fran cisco 49ers, weighed 264 pounds and stood6'.3" tall. His career spanned 14 seasons ana 174 consecutivegames. Known as the Lion from his college days, NomeUinioecan1e a legend in 1955 when he burst a musde-resringmachine dunng a trial run.• The conscrucrion managerfor rhe World Trade Ccnrcr inNew York Ciry, Rino Moncidied at che a~ of 71. Anemployee of the Pore Authorityof NY and NJ for 40 years,Momi's grearcsr projecr was lheTwin Towers where he oversaw200 conrraccors, 500 subcontractorsand numerous suppliers.The project consumed400 pounds of steel, 425,000cubic yards of concrete and utilized3,500 workers.• Formeru . s .Senator John Pastore of Rhode Island, 93.WllS the firsr l ralian-Arnerican elected as asenator and the first elected governor (NewYork's Charles Poletti succeeded to a governorshipin 1942) from 1945-1950. Thehighlighcs of Pauorc's career includedkeynote speaker ar rhe DemocraricConvention of 1964, Chairman of theJoinc Commirree on Atomic Energy thatprovided backing for the treaty banningatmospheric resting, and his role in passi~the 1964 Civil Rights Act. He was underconsideration for Lyndon Johnson's vicepr_esidenc when the Joe Valachi (CosnNostr·a) Hearh1gs in Congress cast a shadowon rrafian-Amencans in general.• Dr. Anthony Raimondi, 71, the neurosurgery pjoneer whotaught two-diirds of the most prominent neurosurgeons inthe world. Knighted by the Imla.an Republic in J 98licartoos inToscani's m arried life resultingin a lawsuit against the novelist.T he suir was resolved amicablywhen Hersey agreed to give aJIthe profits to me American RedCross.• Lu.iz. Bonfa', 78, comr.oser,guicarist and a crearor of theBrazilian Bossa Nova along withAntonio Carlos Jobim and JoaoGilberto.• Jose' Greco, 82, lralian-bornand part Spanisb., introducedSpa01sh dancing ro a worldaudience. He dted of an infectionfrom injuries caused by ascuffle wirh Amrrak Police.~ ~~Thr !t:aiic W&y ~~ .. ~

• Michael Mortara, 51. a parmer in Goldman Sachs, wasinstrumental in founding the market for mortgage-backedsecurjries i.n the 1970's and 1980's along with Lewis Rangieri.The concept of bundling mortgages and selling them to differentinvestors help expand the mort~ages by spreading rherisk. The idea has spread to loans, and credit cards debts.WORLD TRAVEL BY FOOTAn Italian historian has now documented evidence thatthe world's first global traveler was a Calabrian fellow namedGiovanni Gemelli Careri from 1693 to 1698. Traveling byland and sea fcom Italyea.scward to Cuba thisadvenrwcr had been dismissedas a braggartuncil now.BRAINY LADYSeven teen year oldMariangela Lisanti ofWestport, Connecticut,won 1st p6ze in thisyear's Intel ScienceTalent Search.Mariangela won thenarior1al trophy and$100,000 toward hercollege education lastMarch with her study ofelectron transport intiny nanostrucrures.Her investment in Inventor Mariangcla Lisantiequipment was $35. Herwork may contribute tO the further miniaturization of electronics.Mariangela fits an old Italic stereotype: the creativegenius.STRINGS ATTACHEDSixteen investors have raised $3.5 million to own a 1735violin made by Italian master Giuseppe Guarneri, one of 100known ro exisr. By comparison there are 700 Srradivariaround. The investmcm group ex.pecrs chc vio~n ro appreciate5.5% per year and is planning to f1ip it in25 years for $10million after taxes. The violin is now leased ro a virtuoso whoagrees to play it regularly and pay for maintenance and insurance.This is art for business' sake.VENICE AND DEATHMost normal peopl.e associate the ciry on the sea withbeauty and vitality. But some lta1an psychologists are convincedthat many suicidal people see it as a siren of death.Calling it the "Yeruce Syndrome," Venetian psycholo~isr Dr.Diana Stainer found thac Britons, Germans, Frcn~hmen,Spaniards, and Americans have a weakness for suicide inVenke. Maybe ir's d1e water which recalls rhe ambiocic fluidof the womb. or the historical importance that generates psychicdisturbances, or che black gondolas rhar look like floatingcoffins that set off the desire to end ir all. No mentionwas made about Irali:m suicides. Maybe they respond to cheold saw, "See Naples and die''.FASCIST VOGUE?The architectural communiry was aroused recently whenrhe Italian government revealed plans w sell off Mussoliru'screation in the outskirts of Rome known rts Foro Italico (ItalicForum), a planned civic center that includes an Olympic stadiumand government buildings. Comments in defense ofretaining the Foro for pub1c use range from Prof. GiorgioMuratore who claims that politics controlled negative aestheticjudgmenrs. Instead oF saying, as before, that it was uglyand Fascist, young architects say char it is Fascist but beauciful.A New YorkTtmes article quoted a20 year old politicalscience studem: ac rheUniversity of Romeas saying, ''It's beautiful,imposing, it'smajestic." Anorhersrudenc was qumed assaying, "[everythingnow] is glass oHicerowers, but this iscloser to our roots.It's classical, bur witha modern feel."[Note: The Fascistarchitect who originallyworked on Foroltalico, Luigi Moretti,later designedWashington ' sWatergate Complex.]A distant relative to theWatergate ComplexRESEARCH TIMES FOURImagine a parents pride if one or two of their childrenbecame doctors. What about if four of them are doctorsinvolved in research rhat may cure paralysis? The V-acantimedical family is jusr that. Charles, Robert, Francis andMartin are aU members of different reams searching for solurionsro tissue growth and regeneration. Charles and Marcin,ar the University of Massachusserts Medical School, havealready had spectacular success in regenerating the spinal cordof a crippled mouse that now can walk. Meanwhile, a1Harvard Medical School, brother Joseph is growing a humanheart. While being on different teams usually means keepingsecretS, these brorbers are sharing rheir ideas which is whatrhcy say accounts for rheir exceptional progress.XXXI, 20015

WORLDNOTESOLYMPIC TALLYAs always, lraly placed in the top ten in the world-class athleticevenrs at Sidney, Australia, in 2000. With a coral medalcoum of 34, ltaly was number seven in the standings, marchingsixth place winner, France, wirh 1.3 gold medals. The Italianwomen's fencing team copped the gold to mark lraly's I OOthOlympic medal in fencing. Baseball competition pir Iralyagainst the American ream led by Dodger manager TommyLasOJda. Nor surprisingly, rhe U.S.A. won 4-2.WORLD L.EA.DERSIt is becoming more apparenr that inclividuru Italians arebeing entrusted with high-ranking positions in the internationalcommunity.• Former Italian premier Romano Prod.i is Presidenr of theEuropean Union's Executive Commission,• Cnrnc fighter Pino Arlacchj is the United Nations drug czarra~ing Cain both within the UN and our.• Carla del Ponte is rhe chief prosecuror for rhe UN War CrimesTribunal. She has her si~ts on former Serb leader SlobodanMilosevic and has bearded the burcher in his own counrrydespite her unpopularity there.• Mario Monti is the European Union's rop ancitrusr rc:gu}aror.Among fljs targets have been the World-Com/Sprim combo, theTime Warner-America Online mer~er, and the Volvo/Scaniapairing. The one monopoly Monti cares ro see is closer tiesberween rhe members of the European Community.• Indian leader Sonja Gandhi easily won reelecrion as presidentof her Congress Party capruring all bur 94 of' the 7,542 votescast.• Sardinian businessman, Renato Soru, chairman of Tiscali,scored when his inrerner company acquired a French ri val tObecome Europe's second largest i ncerner provider afrer theGerman company T-Ontine.Ofl fN THE FAMILYThe Italian knack for good management goes back ro Imperiallraly so ir shouldn't be a surprise thar rhe nation of Kazakhstanhas sdecred AGIP. Italy's hydrocarbon monopoly, to develop andmanage it's nacional oil fidd, the fifrn largest in the world wirhesrirnarcd reserves of 10 to .30 billion barrels. AGIP must conrendwith six differenr governments, including Russia andTurkey, to lay its pipelines. Their deadline is 2005.SALUTE!So you think living in the richest counay in rhe world guaranreesyour good health? Think again. The Wodd RcalthOr~ i zarion ranked che quality of health care around the worldand found rhat rhe French and Italians have no equals. Assessingsuch criteria as overall health of the population, responsivenessof rhe narional health care system, equaliry of health care anddistribution of costs, the WHO chose France #l and fraly #2.A ttibu~ to genes 3Jld 1ralianhe:Uthcare, 112 year oldAntonio Todde.The USA ranked #37. Theproblem with the UnitedStares is not in the availabilityof expensive surgery andmedicine bur the fuct thatprevemive care is marginaland much of the popularionlives wirhour heilrh insurance.To add insult roinjury, Italy spends onlyabout half as muc.h as rheU.S. P.er capita for healthcare {$1 ,824 vs. $3,724).The average Italian evenlives longer, 72.7 years versus70 in the U.S. Iralianwomen have rhe world'slowest risk of sexual andreproductivedan~ers(according to PopulanonAccion l m'l). Fitially, theoldest m:m in the world isItalian, living in Sardinia atage I 12, according to theGttinm Book of &cords.PROFITABLE SfAYTalk about the gift rhar keeps givin&. Britain's occupation byImperial Ir.:t.ly lasted 350 years and tmbued it with Graeco­Roman civilization. If thar weren't enough recent fi nds of cad1esof Roman coins have thrilled modernBrirs. In London, 43 ~old coins, rheequivalent offour years salary of aRoman soldier, were foundunder a mosaic floor. NearGlastonbury in sourhwcstEngland over 9,000 silverdmariiwere found in a field,probably the sire or aRoman viUa. The area is chel ~eodary burial ground ofKing Arthur (Arrorius wa~his acruaJ Roman surname,yes, of Italic stock).r ncidcnrally, under the old.Bricish money syorem a "pence" wasabbrev~r~d as "d" which srood for,'wl. J --n.,..L .. tu7lartUS!0fWhlle we are on rhe sub jeer, Museum of London archeologistsbelieve rhey have uncovered the first'-ever remains of aFemale gladiator in rhe old Roman cemecery. The bones wereinterreef with gladiaror-decorarcd ccram.ics and other tdl-talclinks ro rhe rrade. In rhosc days female gladiarors didn't fightwith shaving cream and oil.TAKING CHARGEItalian-Americans are raking the lead in some interestingfidds. Dr Pierluigi Gamberti, a neuropathologist, heads the6

S11rveillance Center ar Case Western Reserve University inCleveland rhat is charged wirh protecciJ1g rhe American publicfrom Mad Cow disease. The center receives cerrain disea.~edhuman brain samples from auropsies around rhe counrry. Dr.Gamberti's staff must then determine any possible link to MadCow. There have been 92 known dearhs in Europe from MuccaPazza. None, rhus far; in the U.S.Th.e Middle Easr may be a confusing issue ro most Americansbu~ Bishop Joseplt A. Fiorenza, presidem of rhe NationalConference of Carbolic Bishops, has reached an opinion. Underhis leadership. the Conference recenrly called for rhe esrablishmemof aPalestinian state andan end r:o anti­Semitism 1nAmerica.The country hasa new Iralian­American governor.D o n a l dDiFrancesco succeededGov.Christie Whitmanof New Jersey asWhitman heads ro\Washington towork for rl1c BushAdministration.DiFrancesco is thesecond Italic governorof the stare,James Florio being Dr. Pierluigt' Gambetti on guard forrhe firsr.However, he is me Mad Cow in the USAonly governor in thenanon with an Italian surnan1e since Gov. Paul Cellucci ofMassachussers resigned recendy ro become ambassador coCanada. Governor George Pataki ofNew York is parr lcalian burhis surname is Hungarian.SPEAKING OUTItalian Cardinal Giacomo Biffi made headlines when he publiclysuggested rhat Italian imrnirrration laws should favorRoman Catholic immigrams over Muslims, pointedly observingthar Muslim. nocions of family and che scams of women are''incompatible with Iralian culture." He was immediatelydenounced as a racisr by the lralian political left.Not:wimstanding, center-right leaders considered the Cardinal'sconcerns ''wormy of attentiOn." (Poim of information: Romepresently has rhe largest mosque in Europe while there are noChriscian churches in Mecca or Medina.)An lralian couple ha~ been rebuffed by borh the Italian medicalestablishment and me courts in their efforts tO hire a surrogatemother. "Common sense prevailed" was the comment fromthe president of the lralian Medical Association. The couple hasleft me country for America where seven states allow surrogateparenthood. In Western Europe, only England allows it.SPACE NEWSLast Sepcember, the space shuttle Atlantis crew includedItalian-Amencan Ri.chard Mastroacchio. The mission was wcomplete final pcepararions of che living quam:rs of thelnrernarional Space Station. The Iralian Space Agency has provideda $1 SO niillion cargo carrier, named Leonardo. for rhe stationthat transports crewmen and supplies &om the stacion rothe sb urrle.Spaces first rourisr is It.alian-American businessman DennisTiro. The 60-year-oldformer NASA employeehas chis thing for spacetravel. He paid theRussians $20 million tobeam him aboard rhe MirSpace Sration. But beforet:fie deal was consummatedrl1e Mir was pulled omof service and replaced byrhe ImernacionaJ SpaceStarion. To keep theirend of the bargain theRussians sent Tito up torl1e new jointly-ownedstation. Coincidenrl y,NASA rocketed upItalian asrronaur Guidoniaround the same rimegiving rhe space stationan Icilian erhnic plurality.NASA wants Italy roCosmonaut Dennis Tito savorsbuild more modules in his expensive vacationexchange for more freemps.Tim rhe tourist is yet another Italian ftrst. Let's not forger matItalian American Rocco Petrone managed NASA's first moonlanding back in 1969.IN REVERSEA surprising number of Argentines of halian origin are clamoringro rerum tO rhe boot in lighr of their country's economicmalaise. Last year, some 14,000 ciciu:ns requested passportsfrom rhe Italian embassy ~o seek !their fornmes in rhe ancestralhomeland. Many feel that life was better in Argentina undermilitary rule than the more corrupt and permissive civilian governments.!talk people make up about 40% of the Argentinepopulation.ETHNIC UNRESTWhile ir appears char Italians have accomodared rheirGermanic citizens in the region of Alro Adige (a fart of RomanItaly retaken in rhe first World War) with fibera language andcultural concessions, me French have been resistam ro the Iealiepeople of Corsica. But rhar may now change. Corsica, birthplaceofNaeoleon Buonaparre, may be given unique autonomystatus from Paris. allowing it to amend French laws and teach irsItalian dialect in public schools. Neither France nor Spain freelyadmirs that their nations are beser by ethnic divisiOnS fromBasques, Bri[(ans, and Catalons, aJl remnants of the l)(c:-Romanpopulations. En~land already has irs hands full with Scots,Welsh. and ldsh mdepe.ndence movemenrs. By contrast, Tra.lylooks almost monolithic!CRIMINAL MOSAICWhile rhc media distracts rhc public wim overblown lrauccriminal images, mosr of rhe country is waking up ro me realirythat every ethnic group is nirti.ng the mean Streets. The ciry ofLos Angeles is beset by Hispanic, Russian, AsiaJ1, and Armeniancrime syndicates, among others. Drugs, illegal immigration,insurance fraud, auto theTt, murder, rax evasion, money laundering,you name ic, are being perpetrated by rhe newcomers ro theAmerican dream. Although law enforcement officials knowthem for what mey are, the American media rares rhese groupsway below the Italian American for screen image.7

8Ed•tLEAVING ELLIS ISLANDLike many others, I have experienced the rush offinding a grandparent's name on a long-forgotten shipmanifest from the Ellis Island archives. I suppose Icould even enroll my family name on the island's registryfor a few dollars to claim this poor man'sPlymouth Rock. Bur what is the point? Was EllisIsland the defining moment for the Italian Americansin the New World or was it merely one of many entrygates for us?We have transformed the Atlantic passage and thebeachhead at Ellis Island inro a grand spiritual event.Granted, it took some degree of courage to forsake anold familiar culture to start a new life in America.And, it appears a vindication of that ancestral trekwhen children and grandchildren later achieved a comfortableeconomic status. Bur are we selling ourselvesshort by highlighting an immigrant past rather than rhetruer version of the Italian American story. That storywas covered in our last issue, Deep Roots in America(n. XXX). In short, our ancestors partly financed thediscovery of the Americas, led Europeans to theseshores, and assisted in the building and defending ofcivilization here.If our Italian grandparents were courageous in cominghere one hundred years ago it is the same couragethat millions of English, Germans, Irish, Scots, Jews,Poles, Asians, and Hispanics have demonstrated overthe preceding centuries. Immigrants are still facingharrowing passages to participate in the Americandream. What makes them so special? Nothing.Whether the other groups were escaping poverty, religiouspersecution, hunger, pogroms, Communism, dictatorship,or whatever, coming ro America was not suchan agonizing choice. Bur, we ofltalian origin shouldrightfully see our transplantation here as an older andmore complex immigration. O ur real treasure is norEllis Island but rhe very foundations of the New Worldand the United States. Our inspiration should be ourforebears' courage and foresight in exploring this world,in the fine Italic hand behind the Constitution and rheAmerican form of government, and, eventually, in ourmuscle and blood in creating an enduring civilization.This is the real stuff of our heritage. It's rhe mentalfuel that we need to rise above rhe low expectationsr t•0 athat has given us The Godfather and The Sopranosinstead of the moon.Isn't it time to get off the beach and take the highground?- JLMPECORA FOR TH E PEOPLEThough they claim to worship at the altar of theMuses, Hollywood's creative types are nothing morethan ritual purveyors of recycled prejudices. IfHollywood bad any chutzpah, however, it would minea treasure trove of real-life heroes whose exploitschanged the course of history-and bettered the livesof everyday citizens. The only hitch is that LaLa Landmight have to scuttle its fixation with crude Italianstereotypes. One such champion of the people whowould be ideal for the silver screen (or cable TV) isFerdinand Pecora. (read history on p.24)Picture a Vincent Bugliosi-like prosecutor bringingWall Street's smarmy white-collar criminals to justiceduring the early days of the New Deal. Possessed of arapier-sharp mind and indefatigable integrity, Pecorafights for truth, justice and the American way-andwins. Furthermore, he takes on the likes of J .P Morgan] r., Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge and assorted robberbarons and pols who prospered as the stock marketcrumbled and the banking system collapsed.Riveting courtroom confrontations would featurePecora's dissection of the pompous and the corrupt.And these scenes would need no theatrical embellishment.You see, in his time, Ferdinand Pecora was theliving embodiment of all that is good about America.His crusade against organized malfeasance in businessled to the Security and Exchange Act of 1934. Pecoradid not suffer corporate fools gladly. He just prosecutedrhem.Suspend disbelief for just one moment and imagineStanley Tucci ascending the stage of the DorothyChandler Pavilion to accept an Oscar for his portrayalof this intrepid Italian American.What a sea change that would be.-RAI((Call for our free gift catalog 516-488-7400"• • •"Visit our Website"www.italic. orgmlThe Italic Wty'U~n@'

Forum of the PeopleT HE T ROUBLE WITH RUDYBy Louis CornaroThose of you who inhabit the hinrerlands beyond theMetro New York area may find ir surprising that a goodlynumber of Italian Americans here have an uneasy refationsbipwirh the "Italian" mayor of rhis cirr.. lr is as thoughMayor Rudy doesn't rrusr us. He rarely, tf ever, anends anyof our e~hn1c functions (even when being honored, which israre now), except maybe when a political crony is involved.Making marters worse, be is a very vocal fan of TherSoprnnos, which annoys. us no end, as does his incessanrmtmicking of the Godfather characters on national television.He has even had che casr of The Soprano; come to CityHall for an award, and ne ler them ride on victory floatswhen the Yankees copp.ed the series (I suppose it was cocheer them up after the Columbus Citizens Foundationbanned rhem from rhe Columbus Day Parade).H is rerm as mayor was no boon to Italian Americans. Iwould guess that the number of his co- ethnics in his administrationis probably less chan i· n~asr administrations. Hisadmirarion and concern for the ewish community borderson pandering. He once chased asir Arafac om of LincolnCenter, which placeshim politically ro theright of most AmericanJews. He flies roJerusalem w show hissolidarity buc rarelydrives over a bridge tosee his fcalian-AmericanconstirueDts.His relations withminorities is abominable.He makesSlobodan Milosevic looklike a civil rights advocate.The fact rhatHarlem and the ocherethn.ic enclaves are nowflrospering has more rodo with rhe narionaleconomy than Giuliani'sCrazy legs Giuliani shavedfor rhe occasionnoone wants it, anacking museumexbibirs. and going after Italianlargesse. The same is,P.tobably rrue of thedecline in crime, thecorporate and real estareboom, and the employmcnrrise. Rudy's majorrhrusrs have been tobuild a. new sports stadiumin Manhattan, whereAmerican crimmals. Meanwhile,the building deearrmenr is almostan appendage of crooked Hasidicbuilders, The water sysrem is iD disarray. Garbage disposalcosrs a~e rb_ro~gh the :oof. The hom~less are ~-rill that way.Educauon IS 10 the pits. Tbe truth IS, Rudy s ralenr is iDprosecuting, nor city planning. If the city looks cleaner it"sbecause budding ow!lers have taxed rhemselves to put privatesweepers on their avenues.Uoforcunatcly, Rudy's obsession with Ital-crime leaveshim linle rime to go afterthe Russian mafiya which isconraminaring Wall Sneer,the Israeli mob that is dumpingEcstasy on our kids, theAs1an slave and heroine trade, rheHispanic cocaine gan6s• Hasidic conartists who use the c tty_ coffers as rhcir jeisonal schoolvoucher system, and rhe Korean massage an brothel chains.Instead, he has unleashed his law officers on the SanGennaro Feast, the Fuhon Fish Muker, rhe trash industry,the Iralian bread industry, and anywhere else he smells apaisan. Ir all looks heroic and makes great beadJines in theaccomodating press.If 1 were a shri ok I would guess that his disdain and distrustof Italian Americans dares back ro his own crime fam-Her Honor, Mayor Rubyily antics. fr was recently revealed that Hizzoner's fatherand uncle "were senr up the river." Who wams ro do aHarold Giuliani imitation for the national media?Bur what about his lralian values? Ask his wife DonnaHanover. He was once married ro his own cousin, southernstyle - and we don'r mean the south of Italy. He claims hedidn't know h.e needed a Church dispensarion ro keep it incbe family, and rhis from a lawyer no less!. Well. he dumpsthe cousin and marries Donna. Two kids later and he's datinganorbcr woman. When discovered by rhe press he publiclyannou11ces his divorce, before he lets Donna know.Th1s is the nice guy who rakes offense ro distasteful artwork.If chis weren't enough, the Mayor is a compulsive cross­~resser. Now •. maybe o.nce we can forgive but three or fourumes? Whac 1s wHh th1s guy? He even shaved his legs for ar.f.'lh h · · b ~ockerre show. To bundle all hisJ e as aspzra_ttons ... we can. e hang-ups, the show was a takeoffsure that he w~ll be of n.o asszs- on chc Italian mob. . .tance to Italtan Ame·ncans. . J?ecause of term hmJtS, Rud>'1s fin1shed as mayor at the end ofthe year. Whether he has aspirationsin A lbany or Washington we do no[ know. Ei[her way,we can be sure that he will be of no assistance to lralianAmcricu1s. And he sure ain't no role model for our kids.[Ed. TJH autbor's views do not reflett those of the Ttttfic StudieslnstituU nor The Italic Way Magazine.]~~ XXXJ,2001~ .. ~9

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R e v i e w Booll l?e/Jieu• by Rosflrio A. [tlCOI/lSPontius PilateAnn Wroe, (Modm library. 1999. 412 pages)"Tiberius, most venerated Emperor/;: Rome andSupreme Lawgiver, I, Pontius Pilate, Prefect o Judaea, sendthee encomiums and greetings. In matters o governance, Ibring to thy attention a case of sedition that has muddiedthe political waters in this dusty province: the trial of anitinerant p1·eacher, jesus of Nazareth, who proclaimed 'himselfto be the son of a dezty. Some called him tht Christ, aGreek affectation, while othet:s reviled him as a magicianand a bltJ.ffJhemer. According to their ancient Hebrew text,a bible of sorts, a 'messiah,' is prophesied to appear in theirmidst But the rabbis of ]erusal.tm did not think this jesuscame in fulfillment of iheir scripture. He is said to have performedmtracles, cured the infirm, even raised the dead.Lepers were cleansed and blind men could see . .Yet the jewsopposed him for desecrating their sabbath with such parlortrtcks. Perhaps other jewi.sh priests resen!ed tbts selfano~nted rabbi. Perkaps th~ feared outrtght . rebetlionagatnst Rome. As hzs promznence grew, so dzd unrestthroughout judaea.When they brought him before me, I ruquested thatthe ma_tter be a_djudicated.acco_rding to the law of the jews.Such ts t~e wzsaom of Tzbertus and the magnanimity ofRome. Stzll, Herod and aU the rest would h11ve none of it.They cla:imed this bedraggled Nazarene posed tt threat to thesecurity of the province. They said he plOtted against our paxet impertum. They beseeched me to try him as an enemy ofthe state,. (1-r you know, my lo_rd, the whole of!udea, indeed,thtS entzre swath of earth, rs a hotbed of reGeilion. It is inthe natu.re of these semites to court anarchy. Fanaticism is inthezr blood. They stone their unfaithfol women, mutilatetheir men's genitalia and inbibe locusts in the desert. Andthey_ share none of our rationalism. In truth, they are a mostvextng race. Gratus before me and Lamia, legate of Syria,would surely agree.When they brought this Jesus of Nazareth to mypalace a second time, I found him bl.ameless. True, heespoused a kingdom, but it was not ofthis plane ofexistence.It posed no threat to Imperial Rome. His god is a local triba[deity 110 different than Gilgamesh. This 'messiah' wasmerely delusional Christ believed himself to be both godand man, father and son. And this ((kingdom of god" wassimply a product ofhisfevered imagination- not a cabalof seditionists. Yet the jews persisteil in their rants. The airwas thi~k witk rekellion, a contagion that could spread fromCaesarta to Ttbenas to jerusalem. I had to resolve this matterin. the most expeditious and forthright mannerAccordmgly, I openea a court of inquiry. jesus the Christwas found culpable. Yet 1 ofrerea clemency to one of threeprisoners charged that da;1 hoping the Nazarene would bespared. RAther than freeing jesus, however; the jews chose acommon thief_br the name ofBarabbas.Havingdone my part 7washed myhands of thisman's fote. Hewas crucifiedforthwith by theItalian regiment"0 n ecan almostimagine theEmperorTibenus, in hisvilla on rh.eblissful isle ofCapri, archingan eyebrow ashe read Pilare'saccount. Hemight haveviewed this missive as a minor annoyance about a fracri~mspeopJ.e in a far-fl ung province. Or ir could havemggered h1s legendary fury. judaea had always been atroublesome realm.Is the lener apochrypnal? Perhaps. Yec the very~arne Ponriu~ Pilate conjures up so many images. Whatts fact, what ts fiction and what is early Christian camremains open ro conjecrure. According to d1e Carechismof me Cad1olic Church, "Jesus Chi1st suffered underPontius Pilate, was crucified 1died and was buried." Burdid he _rise again ro walk among the livina? Did beascend lntO neaven? Ann Wroe addresses t~S pricklytopic briefly, but devotes the bulk of ber book to a dayin the life of history's most famous procurator.The Pilate of face, not fable, succeeded ValeriusGrarus as governor of Judaea. He governed rhe provincefrom 26 to 36 A.D., which, included, of course, the dateof Christ's crucifixion. H e built an aqueduct to ferrymuch-needed wacer ro the parched province of T.1 udaea,and to make a_mends, perhaps, for a heavy-handedatre~pr ~rcolont~ rule. In adorn~gJerusalem with anicomeshields bearmg me Emperors visage, Pilare erred.Though they found rhe Jews querulous, the Romansallo-w:ed them g~eater self-rule rhan any other pare of cheEmpue. You mtght say tbat Judaea enjoyed the greatestautonomy in the Middle East. The shields and othericons extolling Tiberius rankled the children ofAbraham. Pilate, in all his haughtiness, had flaunredRoman power carelessly, wasting precious political capital. In the end, complaints(continued on p. 16)11

Focus: Not Your GrandfatherS Italyby john Mmu:ini and Rosario A. lacon isFor most Italian Amtricans, Italy is a col/.ection of quaint villagesfrom whmce their grandparents or great grandparmtr fledto sct:k a better lifo. Unlm tiJt:y have visited their ancestral landor read the fow periodicals tbat prerent Italy in a balanced lightthn-e still remains rhe lin$erhlg image of a poor agriculturalcountry that is reinforad try tekvi.sion commercials and ItalianmovitS like «Cinema Paradiso" and "Lifo is BeautifUL" Trut!,those hifftop villages stilt exist as they have for a thousand years,but within them can be found afi the modern applia11ces andgadgets that we are aLL fomiliar with.While the mind is fixed on a picturesque Italy, the hearrembraces the lcaly of stout virtues: strong extended families,oldtime moraHry overseen by strong mothers and fathers, aCatholic nation united in one faith and a people who oftenstop ro enjoy life.ln short, rhi.~ was your grandfather's Italy. Bur it bears Littleresemblance co 200 l. Some momentous cnanges haveoccurred rhat are transforming Italy into a very untraditionalplace. What has happened in the Unired Stares is happeningin Iraly and Europc.The global economy wirh its heavy influxof Third World immigrants along with radical social phenomena,women's liberation and gay rights have made theirmarks on Italian society. Some 2% of the italian population isforeign. Rome now has a mosque. Women are beingaccepted imo the military. Marriage is now optional andhaving children is out of fashion.A recenc segment on rhc television news program 60Minutes featured a rather new phenomenon in Ica.lian sociery:men who are remaining single and stiU living withtheir parenrs.Known by thenot-coo-flatteringlabel ofmammoni, ormomma's boys,these grown men,weU into their40's tn somecases, have contributedto a verydis mal statistic,the zero birthrate.Essentially,Italians arebecoming extinctat a rapid rare. Theold taboos againstbirr.b control, abortion,and bachelorhoodhave fallen bythe wayside causingthe native populationro stagnate.Where onceAugustus penalizedunmarried men with. .......... ,_ ... Paris asfashion capitalT he new Italy is animal-friendly. Animals rights is asure sign of a wealthy nation.exua taxes co force up the Roman birrhrate, the Italian menare passively encouraged ro delay or avoid fatherhood by governmentraxarion policies and by rhe very family srructurethat has made the nation great. Mammas still dote on theirfree-spirited sons, cleaning their childhood bedrooms, cook-A traditional view of the "old" countrying their favorite meals, doing their laundry and running theirerrands. The boy-men, so created, have all rheir domesticneeds fulftlled at licde or no charge while they carry on theirdaring without commitment. The resulting decline in childrenIS now being offset by an influx of immigrants.These immigrants, legal and illegal, hale from all continents.Consequently, racial issues which never existed beforeare now common. Racial hatred, xenophobia, and interracialcoupling an: transforming some pans of Italy imo tinderboxesof violence. New immigranr crime organizarions have12

President Caclo Azeglio Ciam pirevives Italian patriotismsproured in many northernItalian cities. Southern ltaly isliterally awash in clandestini,Touching scene, crusiUng prognosis: momma's boys are cuttingItaly's birthrateboatloads of illegalaliens hoping roenter Europe by wayof the peninsula.While nor as direas che crises facingFrance, Britain orGermany, Italy's vulnerabilityhas resultedin waves ofKurdish, Albanian, Gypsy and African (North and Sub­Sahara) diasporas. This strains the nation's resources and hascontributed ro crime waves inMilan and Rome. Recently, aNew York Times editorial excoriatedthe Italians for mountinga crackdown against Gypsycriminality. Bm:h of Italy's political poles, the cenrer-left andthe cemer-right, have struggled ro find a middle ground thatrespects civil Liberties yet preserves the viability of rhe Italiannarion. Virtually all rbe major establishment figures, fromindustrialists to economists to political candidates- -exceptnorthern separatist Umberto Bossi--have repudiated rhexenophobic reactions.Still, Italy's negative birthrate and cl1e depopulation oftowns and villages in mountainous central and southern Italy,could dramaticaUy alter the ethnic make-upof a people who predate Jesus Christ. Rome,r:he sear of universal Catholicism, has becomehome to thousands of Muslims. And theyhave erected an imposin~ mosque in rhe heartof rhe Eternal Ciry. Jtalys economic prosperitycontinues to attract many Third-Worldimmigrants who rake jobs shunned by theaffluenr lta.lians. Unlike the United States,Italy {along wirh France, Britain andGcrmany) has difficulty sustaining such ademographic influx. When you combineIt:Uy's aging £Opu1ation with the increasingbirth rate of Third World f.1.miJies andinclude the rising cost of pensions for an evergrowingnltOlber of senior citizens. the mix isquite volatile.To coumer rhe growing social liberalizationand ethnic diversity, center-right parties ledThe resulting decline in children is 11owbein.g offset by a1l influx of inmzigrants.Newly-elected Prime MinisterSilvio Bcrlusconi is movingItaly to the right.by the National Alliance (AN) fought for years to have overseasrralians represented in rhe Parliament. The cenrer-righrbelieves char rhe overseas Italians have retained the strong traditionalvalues that are endangeredin the ancestral homeland.Led by stalwart AN parryveteran Mirko Tremaglia, thelaw was finally approved latelast year. Representatives ofItalian origin livtng around rheworld convened for the firsrrime in Rome last December tobear the ground rules for theireventual participadon in rheItalian Legislative process. Thereare 57 million Iralic peopleoutside of lraly, as many asthere are natives of the peninsula.Only those who havedual citizenship (about 4 million)or are Italians livingabroad will vote for 12Deputies in the parliamem'slower house (out of 630depuries) and 6 Senawrs our of315. Only time will teU ifTremaglia's hunch is correcr andjust how much weight this influence will have.Like most countriesaround the globe, Ltaly is tryingto emulare American capitalism.The buzz words areprivatization, decentralization,and globalization. The first cruciaJ test Iraly needed wpass was ro gain entry into the newly formed EuropeanUnion, the descendent of the old Common Marker. In whatamounted ro a fiscal miracle, Rome reduced irs onerousnational debt to meet new European requiremencs within 18months. Large chunks of government monopolies tbat datedback co cht: Fascist era were sold off, taxes were raised, pensionsreduced, and tax cheats pur through rhc ringer. TheresuJrs were phenomenal. Despite the pain and protest, theItalian people understood what was at stakeand bir the bullet. The prime minister whooversaw dus amazing transformation,Romano Prodi, so impressed his Europeancouncerparrs that chey elected him Presidentof the European Commission, rbe executivebranch of the Union.AJrhough you may still take a gondola ridein Venice or rhrow a coin in the TreviFoumain, by Lhe end of rhe year the lira willbe replaced with the new cut·o, the uniformcurrency of cl1e Union. Nor since the Romandenarius has Europe shared the same currency.For Italians everything will seem a bargain.What was once 1.500 Lire will nowbe 1 euro.At times, the new Iraly clashes with the oldItaly. Two recent court decisions have galvanizedthe women's rights movement. The(continued on p. 15)13

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"Nor Your Grandfather's ltaly"first offered the court's opinion that women should shunshort skirrs to prevent rape. This rulingbrought Italian women, led by AJessandraMussolini, into che srreers sponing jeans romock the judgement. In anorher ruling, thecourt has found one-cime parting by men of::1 woman's bottoms nor harrassmenr. Oldcustoms d.ie hard and the old guard wantS topresenre its privilege. Nevertheless, womenAs jo1· ove1·all healthcare, Italy ranks amongthe top 5 nations of theworldare on the march, literally.As parr of a far-reachingrealignment of rhe military,female soldiers will now jointhe ranks of Italy's armedforces, and not merely in anauxiliary capacicy. Some willcorer combat-ready units asour magazine cover shows(the black cock feather in herhelmet identifies the soldieras a member of theBersaglieri, elire halianinfanrrv.) Given the nation'spivotal. peacekeeping role inthe Balkans, Africa andthroughout rhe globe, rheimplications of a feministGia.nJianco Fmi is the most fighting force will be hotlyrespected politician in Itlly debated for years to come.Speaking of che military,the new Italy is scheduled ro eliminate the 200-year old conscriptionby rhe year 2005.The one structural defect of the old lraly that continues todefy improvement is Italy's constitution, that convolutedreaction ro Fascism. Plagued by electoral laws that allowminor parries ro cause major d.isruprioos in political coalitions,any_ It:Uian govern!'l1enr runs th~ ris~ of falling precipi·tously. G1ul1ano Amato's technocranc retgn ended, for allinrenrs and purposes, just last Marchwhen President Carlo Azeglio Ciampidissolved Parliament. The generalelection, held on May 13, made mediamagnate Silvio Berlusconi rhe newprime minister. Berlusconi bas vowedro reform the destabilizing politicalsystem and to make Italy more efficientwith a smaller bureacracy andlower income taXes.One of the least desireable reformsbeing sought by one of Berlusconi'srriwnvirate, Umberro Bossi, is regionalauconorny. Interestingly, che thirdparmer, Gianfranco Fini (AN), wantsa stronger central government with aU.S.-like president ar the top. Thisschizophrenic triumvirate crashed andburned shortly after it came to powerin 1995 because of Bossi's inuansgence.Wlllle Fini subscribes ro RomaDoma ("Rome rules"), Bossi sees Romn. Ladrona ("Romerobs"). These are certainly odd bedfellows.Icalian federalism would enable, say,Lombardia to essentially withold tax revenueearmarked for other regions. As a result, ahospital mighr shut down in Calabria, orinfrastructure repaits in Puglia could bepostponed indefinitely. Worse yet, otherregions miglu: opt for full autonomy notun l ike Spain' sCatalonia. TheVeneto region hasalready indicated irmay move cowardsa referendum inrhal direction. Theresult there couldprove devastatingfor 1talian unityand may well be incontravention ofrhe [ralian constitution.Italy's ceremonialpresident CarloAzeglio Ciampi haswarned about rlusschism in publicstacemenl:i.Economically-,the new Italy is insync with Europe'scenrral bank andGypsies and other illegal aliens from Africa,Albania, and the Near East are taxing Italy'spatience and resources.myiad regulations emanating from Brussels, sear of theCommunity. Unemploymcm in Iraly registered a significantdrop thanks to increased hiring in relecommunications, airunesand other services firms. Italian unemployment was thelowest in 8 years. In fact, 600,000 new jobs were created inElements of the famed Folgoreontheir way to East Timor. Italy wantS a global presence.15

m ~ TPLUMBING&HEATING CO., INC.ffi.n.aut D. T.ct

(Pare l of a 3 part series)"La p_rima donna del mondo"-The First Lady ofthe World.' Those words were ;enned by the Italian poetNiccolo' da Correggio, singing the praises of Mantua's brilliantand vivaczous Renaissance Queen, !sabei!a d'Erte(1474-1 539).And yet, Correggio'sphrase could also have been wrmenm the plural. For, in fact, manyItalic women have, over the centuries,distinguished themselves asrhe first ladies of the world, settingstandards of leadership anaachievement which connnuc wastonish members of both sexes.In addi1ion co their physicalgrace and beauty, which basinspued countless poets, painrersand photographers, le donne italianepossess many of the samevir cues of lralic men: passion, intelligence,creativiry, fortitude andeven political savvy. Why shouldthis be a surprise? After all, the rwobrothers who founded the ciry ofRome in 43 B.C., Romulus andRemus, were nurtured not by morralparenrs but by a s~ewolf A!ld,as Rome expanded 1ts Empue,gratefi.tl cicy fathers paid homage tomeir new patroness of the carynamed,of course, Roma.Stodgy old Caro the Elderoften evoked- the ire of Rome'sladies when he artempted ro resroremale chauvinism. In his failure hequire eloquently summarizedwomen's status in classical fraly,"we Romans, who rule ali men) areruled by our women. "Cenruries larer, hisrorian Will Duram funher underscoredthe feminine strength of the Iralian nation, referring toTral>: as "the nourisllmgGina LoUabrigida Eyes: an Etruscan genetic giftmother of Europe." And, as J t· r:o /' • .-rp · · b · dwe shall see, Italic womenhave certainlY. "rocked rbeu z.a re LX> a natwe OJ. ompett.> com znereal estate skills with business know-how>·c~r:arion ofrom ;:es~~~~beginnings.creating thbe anbcienthltal~c equivllalent of astt ur an s oppz.ng ma .ETRUSCAN ROOTSThe uniqueness of the women of Italy predates classicalRome. It began during the era of the Ecru.scan.s, the highlydeveloped civilization which occul:?ied centr:tl l raly inpauan times. One distinguishing trait ot Etruscan society was1tshighJy advanced attitude toward women. Erruscan womenwere considered equals in marriage; many of them even pursuedcareers as lawyers and teacliers. They were also knownfor their piercing physical beaury, especially for their'Etruscan eyes', i.e., la1·&e, brown almond orbs, not unlikechose of Gina Lollabrigiaa.One of rhe fust great women ofltaly was of Etruscanorigin: T~maquil, the so-Called "good queen" who served astrusted advisor ro her ruler-husband, Tarquin. ln a relationshipremarkably similar to t:har of20m cenrury American presidentFranklin Delano Roosevelt and hiswife Eleanor, Tanaquil prerty muchruled as a coregenr w1th Tarquin,advising him on matters of state.When Tarquin was assassinated,Tanaquil wasted no time in proppingtheir son, Servius Tullus, onthe throne, thus ensuring a continuationof the family dynasty.Tanaquil, !r was said, haddai_rvoyant powers; so, roo, did agroup of ancient women who traversedrhe Italian countryside: thesibyls. These nomadic women werealleged ro have had magical P.owers,chief among rhem die abiliry ropredict the future. Althougl-i, asstated, rhe sibyls toured theprovinces (quite unlike their moderncounterparts, who use 1-800phone numbers), one of them didshow an entrepreneurial spirit, setclingdown in a cave oucside ofNaples. Soon thereafter, the Sibyl ofCw11ae became a national celebrity,with everyone from politicians ropeasanrs seeking out her advice.Ir can be assumed rharEtruscan women were a demandinglor who, unlike their Greek contemporariesinsisted on social equalitywith the menfolk. Wall paintingsattest co the fact chat Etruscanwomen dined and ripped d1e lighr fantastic wirh their husbands.1n Greece, by contrast, tne women stayed home andthe men cavorted with courtesansor attended sympos~ums(literally, drinking parttes).THE RISE OF ROMEEventually, Rome becamethe dominant power in theMediterranean, subsumingEtruscan culture as weU as other locaJ Italic tribes such as theAequians and Volscians. Rome's ascemion aJso brought wjthit some internal strife, giving rise ro an image whiCh mostpeople ~ociate with modem Italian operas: the self-sacrificmgherome.Verdi may call her Violetta and Puccini may call herTosca, bur her spirit first materialized in 509 B.C. That's(continued on pg. 26)~ -~ ---.2-0_0_1 ----------------------------------------------------------------J-T~~ClfJ,$~

-----------------CONSULTANT•FACILITY MANAGEMENT•OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE• ENVIRONMENTAL•ENERGYVINCE"-7 J, PIZZULLIPresident212-599-0427516-757-0599917-933-533018

NAPLES IN REVOLT, 1647Spain's Role in Molding the Southern Mentalitybyand Spain's domination as the final decline in the sourhemDon Fiorelralian character. These larrer rwo devdopments complemenredeach orher "... ro produce conformtry, docility, andh has been observed by sociologistS and laymen alike passiviry, to create the conviction rhat governmental authorityis ouc of reach of common people and that hierarchicalrhat there is a distincdy southern Italian mentality with positiveand negative culrural rrairs. These artirudes were carried order is the narural order."to the New World and sciU manifest themsdves in manyItalian Americans. The strong family values char have created Ir is the 17th Century. Newly gained American territoriessrron~ support systems and srable neighborhoods have also ro wh.ich Italian navigators bad opened the way provided aconrnbuted to a protective insularity and an apathy roward steady stream of wealrh to Spain, Portugal. England, andthe outside world. lr has been labeled campaniiismo, a concepederived from the norion char some Italians only care banking cechniqucs and methods of commerce devised byFrance. Dutch merchanrs flourished through the deploymentabout things within the range of rheir church bell (i.e., their Italian businessmen. Builc upon the srurdy foundatjons ser bysmall community). Thisrejeclion of chc oursideworld allows outSiders coperpetrate all kinds of mischiefItalian scholars,science and rech­~ology con_tinuc~Its advance an unl-and defamation.versmes fromHaving had on its soilGermany torhe great civilizations ofScocland. Buc onMagna Gmecitt (Greekthe Jrnlian peninsulaitself, suchcolonies), Erruria, andRome it is difficult to discernwhat forces reshapedprogressive acrivicicscame to all bucthe population of southerna dead hair. In mltaJy to create camponilamo.Some have suggestedshort amount ofastonishinglythat during rhc · lattertime, the landRoman rimes southernchanged, in borhlraly was peopled by foreignslaves imported byeconomic terms,imeiJecrual andRoman landowners tofrom the wealchiesrwork their vast escaces.co the pooreslAmong tbose who subscribeco chis cheory wasForeign con­i.n Europe.rhe lace Mario Puzo (TbtA depiction of the Neapolitan revolt against Spain.querors, theGodfather) and DavidDuplicity was another roo! of oppression.Church, and rnosrChase, nee De Cesare (Theof aU, the divisive,Sopranos), borh of whom gained fan1c and fonune by denigratingthe Italian heritage. Rach mused [bar he was proba­swift and thorough degeneration. Throughout the first halt ofself-serving I ral ian nobility, shared responsibi1i ry for Italy'sbly a descendent of Roman slaves, thereby caking little pride che 16th century, clH~ peninsul

IJO IT 'I'BE ITALIAN WAY ...COME IN TODAYAND EXPERIENCE FOR YOURSELFFOR THOSE OFYOU WHO WANTTO EXPERIENCETHE ULTIMATE IN"ITALIAN CUISINE"-· ALLOW ROSSINI'STO DELIGHT YOURPALATE. THEIDEAL SPOT FOR ABUSINESS LUNCHOR A ROMANTICINTERLUDE.OPEN 7 DAYSWITH LIVEENTERTAINMENTITALIAN CUISINE108 East 38th StreetBetwen Park & Lexington Aves.New York . N.Y. • 683·013520The ludic Way

THE ROMAN AQUEDUCTSBY ALFRED CA RDONEForty p~rcent of thr world's six billion prople still lackbasic sanitation as w~ mtcr the 21st century. In foct, morethan a billion people lack the most btmc water mpp_Ljaccording to a study~ sponsored by the World HealihOrganization and the United Nation's Children's Fund. lcis estimated that 2.2 mill:on deaths from d~enrery alonecould be prevented by the provision of safe water andsanitation.Considering these grim statistics, one cannot helpbut be amazed atrhe remarkableaccomplishmem ofthe ancientRomans in buildinga vast system ofaqueducts to providesafe . water . andsanttartonthroughout th~irextenstve emptremore than twothousand yearsago.T h cprocess began withthe location of awholesome and2)entiful source.This search developedinto someiliingof a sciencefor the Romanstaken place. This aeration allowed the water ro breatheoff odors and precipitate some of irs minerals. The commonRoman practice of transporting water in largeunfilled condutts permitted a great deal of exposure tothe ai r.By definition. aqueducts were artificial channelsby whicll rhe Romans conducted water to specificregions. While rhe Greeks originated the use of runnelsfo r this purpose, Roman engmeers, such as the famedMarcus Agrippa,greatly improvedupon this method.Gradually, threebasic styles ofRoman aq ueductswere developed:bridges, arches andsyphons. T he archeswere made ro slowthe water down andrestrain it so that irwould not burst thelead rubes that wereinstalled beneaththe ciry. Modernengineers still wonderhow theRomans calculatedand achieved aslope of nearly tenfeet for every 3,200feet of rock:-cut orarch-borne channel.The syphons or invened syphons carried pipeswhich rook die water down one side of a valley and uprhe oLher w an elevmion almost equal to irs starringpoinr. Syphons were used as an aJternative ro the aque-duct bridge when the valley to be crossed was over fiftymeters be1ow rhe channel level, otherwise requiring amassive and sometimes unsus-who were very much concerned with the qualjry of theirwater. In addition to the clariry, taste, and flow of thewater, engineers were expected to observe the generalhealth, physique and comp lexion of rhe local inhabitantswho reS':llarly drank it. Rock and soil rypes were alsoused as clues co the water's quality.The Romans also mastered effective methods ofwater treatment. Large impuri-A Roman aqu educt crossing the Spanish countryside.cies were removed 5y seedi ng ''How can y_ou compare the useless rainable arcade of higp arches.tanks built anywhere along the Pvramids 0 + Euvt>t or the beauti.f:u/ ?yphon cban~els ~ned wareraqueduct's course. These tanks J 1 'J. 6-fr 'k .1' h G ':fks ·?' m ~ O.P.en-atr gr~vtry system,would slow the flow of warer, so non-pro_aucttVe wor. 'S OJ ~ e ,ree ' wluch ftlled a basrn and creatchatparticles of sand and rock Wtth these constructtom? ed an airtight pressurized syscarriedaJong by the currentwould drop down and collect at the botrom of the rank.The sediments were periodically removed b.r a crew afterche water of the aqueduct had been shut off or diverted.The emperor Hadrian added an especially elaborate tankto the Aqua Virgn aqueduct, which channeled the water~o.ugh a ser!es of ch:_unbers on rwo levels before allowmgtt to conttnue on tts course.The aeration that Roman water underwemalong jrs course, and at some of the fountains in the city,also contributed ro its purity. Something resembling thecascade aeration of modern water systems would haverem descending to the valleyfloor in pip~ made generally of lead.T ne water was forced up the opposite hillside ofche valley by the water prcsswe on the descending sideand filled another basin just below the elevation of thestarting basin. From there, the water proceeded onceagain m an open-air unpressurized channel. Syphonswould have been used more extensively by rhe Romanswere ir nor for che high cost of uansporring massivequantities of lead ro the construction sites. Scone fororid2es, on the ocher hand, was plentiful and generally-locally at hand.m~ XXXJ,2001~."w(continued on p. 28)21

"Not Your Grandfather~ ftaly'~orttinued from page l5one year, 240,000 of which rook place in three months.Significantly, 223,000 of the new jobs were in the services sector.And the Mezzogiomo (the Italian south), for rhe first timesurpassed the northern and central regions in employmentgrowth, posting a 1.7% increase.The sourh also received a bit of good news from a barreryof technical experts regarding the suspension bridge rharwould link Sicily to the mainland at Reggio Calabria(berweeu Messina and Villa SanGiovanni). According to the experrs, rheproject is feasible, technically and financially,within a decade. More importantly,the funds would be splir 60o/o privateand 40o/o public. Even under a federalsystem, the coffers of rhe scare would notbe unduly saained. And it would raiseIraly's in rernarional profile even as the:improved Mezzogiomo prospers. AJl char is needed is chepolicical will.In Sicily; Mayor LeoJuca Orlando has burnished Palermo'sin1age and improved d1c quality of life by reaffirming anancient Roman principle - me rule of law. As a resulr,scores of Mafia terrorists were convicted and incarcerated.Enlisting the aid of school children, Mayor Orlando Jed agrass roocs movemcnr to rescore decaying churches and his-"In tribute to Italianresolve Palermo was thechosen site a for aworld conference on successfulljcombattintorganized crime.'Compare this figure with those of other world capitals: NewYork (671), Paris (105), Berlin (86), Athens (79) and Madrid(48).The Italian Republic is poised for change- nor all of itbenign. AJthough it has been an oasis of hygiene in a Europeafflicted wim Mad Cow (Mucca Pazza) disease - mostprominently in France and Britain -lraly just reported sevencases of this contagion. IronicaJly, it was from a mear supplier(in the norm) who provided the groundmeat for invading MacDonald's ouders. Itis likely mar chese bovines became b rai 11addled when mey were fed grain fromBritain. In ilie vast majority of cases, d1eIralian government keeps a vigilant eye onmearpacking and processing.As for overall health care, Italians wereasconished lO learn that their country isranked among d1e rop 5 narions of rhe world in providingexcellent medical, child development, nutritional and mcrapeuticse.n·ices, according to the U.N.'s Wodd HealthOrganizarion The other nations in this exclusive club are theLarin sisrers France, Spain , San Marino (another Italiannation) and Malta. The United Stares is ranked an embarassing146. (Tell that to your grandfather who invariably e.xcoriacesItalian health care.)QUICK FACTS ON ITALIAN LIFE TODAY:Tax cat~ 67% (Highest in world)Home ownership: 78% (highest in world- USA is 66%)Household savings rate: 17% (USA is below zero)Per caprta range :$19,500 co $~3,000 (south co nocrh)Vacation time {average): 6 weeks per annumHolidays per year. 1 0Automobile ownership: 32 million aus for 57 million people(4th Jru:gest market in the world)Cooking skills: an estimated 80% of20-year old females can'tcookSmoking: about 24% of the population smokes, bur fallingCeU phones! 33 millionNuclear Power plants: 0Genetically altered foods: NoneMacDonalds: 230 srores employing 10,000 workersHon. Mir.ko 'fremaglia: the new governmem minister formillions of lralic people beyond IcaJy.coric palaces. The Massimo Opera House has been rebuik asa symbol of Palermo's renaissance. In uibure to Italian resolveco eradicate the Mafia gan.gs Palermo was the chosen sire afew months ago for a world conference on succesfully combarringorganized crime.Nationally, me news is also salurory. Crime is down nearlyacross rhe board. Rome, for example, is a low-crime capital.The Eternal Ciry had only 26 homicides in the year 2000.Finally, on March 8, 2001. the Shuttle Discovery lifted offfrom Cape Canaveral carrying the multjpurpose Italian logisticsmodule "Leonardo." This is one of three pressurized cargomodules furnished by me Iralian Space Agency co transportequipment and personnel to the 1nternacional Space $ration.Each module costs approximately $150 million, and Italy'sroral contribution co this nascent scar trek is in rhe neighborhoodof $60 billion. The furure may also bring Iraly togetherwith France and the U.S. for a joint venture ro Mars.Your grandfather would never have imagined that!* ~ ~(Ed. Cesit!io Tnllt'ni andAntl;enyCardi/L() 1mirttd in writing thiJ arridr)22The Italic Way

From The Bronx to Madison S_quare Garden:LONG 1-IORSEBACK RIDE FOR ITALIAN AMERICAN COWBOYby Robert A. MasulloHis personal stationery has a lariar logo and idemifieshim as "The New Star of rhe Old Wesr." The handsome 30-yearoldis a real-life, modern day cowboy who makes his living onthe rodeo circuit.Bur there are twothings about this young manthat don't seem in sync withthat line of work.First, he doesn't hailfrom El Paso, Laramie,Tucson-or anywhere west ofthe Pecos. ln fact, he's noreven from west of theH udson. He was born in theBronx and, when not ridingthe range, still hangs hisStetson there.Second, his rtame is notStirn, Tex, or Hoot. It's Angelo.Angelo Iodice. (Vd-dee-cnce)That's right. He's athird generation Italian­American, all four of hisgrandparents having beenborn in Italy.So, how did hebecome a cowboy?"lr started when I wasvery young, 5 or() mayhe, andmy parents rook me for ponyrides in Van Courtland Park''(in the northwest Bronx),explains lodice, neither in aWestern drawl nor in rhemovierrY version of a NewYork Italian American accent.He sounds che waymost real, educated ltalian Americans sound-like aU other real,educated Americans."1 really loved those ponies," says Lodice.The feeling was murual. The ponies responded to bimbeautifully. Consequently, when he turned 10 his parentS, Roseand Ralph Iodice, allowed him to "graduate" co horses.From then unci! he was 18, he wenr riding every weekendon the long bridle trail in Pelham Bay Park (also in theBronx). His brother, Silvio, and sister, Luann, often joined him.'They loved being on a horse, too, bur not as much as I did," hesays with a laugh.Still, going from horseback riding weekends to earningone's living as a performing cow poke is a stretch.Iodice credits another Bronx Italian American for putringhim on that career path."When 1 was 13, I met Helen Panzella. Her husband,Nick, was a blacksmith at the Pelham Bay Park stables. She hadbeen a prize-winning trick rider in rodeos and circuses whenyounger. She had worked all over the United States andCanada.''"Anyway, when shesaw how much I liked horsesshe said I reminded her of herselfas a child. We becamepretty good friends and shebecame my mentor. Shetaught me how to ride-hangingoff the side of a horse; layingacross the saddle, andstanding up in the saddle."The nascent cowboythought his weekend lifestylewas just great but he also hadanother life, as a normal bigciry teenager and studenr."l was a happy kid,bur I was leading a doublelife. I couldn't really talkabout horses with my friends.They would have thought 1was crazy. When they wantedto do something fun ir was togo ro a baseball or basketballgame. I went to see the rodeo.Everycime there was a rodeoin Madison Square Garden oranywhere else near New York,[ would go. My parents didn'tmind my riding, bur theycouldn't fathom someone havinga career doing anythingwith horses. So J would talkabout my dreams mostly toHelen."Iodice was a good student at Cardinal Spellman HighSchool in the Bronx-where he studied Italian-and later atPace University in Pleasantville, N.Y. If anyone asked he wouldsay that he was going co become a lawyer. Bur in his heart heknew what he reaUy wanted to do with his life."Even before 1 met Helen, I wanted to be in show business.1 wanted to be a trick rider in the rodeo. And then, when Imer her and starred to actually learn some basic tricks, l washooked. T knew that I would become a cowboy.'·Although he didn'r know about ir when heenrolled, Pace University had an equestrian club. Whenhe found our about it, he immediately joined. The dubwasn'r concerned with what he wanted to do with horses-itsmain reason for being was to play polo-but at(continued on p.32)23

(Adapted &om an article by Milton S. Gould, Esq. Longwith astonishmentar this manIsland N~wsdny)who, through theAlmost 70 years ago, a wave of outrage raced through theintricare maze ofcoumry, comparable ro the sleazy days of me 1980s whenbanking, syndijunkoond mavens like Ivan Boeskjr and Dennis Levine cares, marketwreaked havoc on inv~cors. Even roday'$ "boiler room" deals, chicanerymachinations dommaced by rhe Russian tnnjiya and inde-of all sons, and inQendenr crooks like William Goren and Martin Frankel area field new toHeecing millions of dolhrs from hard working Americans.him, never madeFrankel srole over $200 million and Goren was recently con- an error in ~evicced for scock fraud worth $32 million.and never lost hisOf course, rhcrc arc many differences berween 1933 andteml'er."now. In that rime, the malefactors who sapped our nationalThe hismrianswell-being were che colossi of our commumty, men who were of rhe era allsocial as well as financial titans- to an entire nation symbolsrecord char theofpower and prestige, of wealth and stability- men like J.climatic witnessP. Morgan, Bcrnardl3aruch, and Charles Lindbergh. was rhe grearToday we are reeling from the flagrant derdiccions of com- J .P.Mor~n Jr.,pararively obscure manipulators, quintessentially parvenus f>ecora, 1933with his sunlamp mn. head of the lordlywho have come from nowhere through the business schoolshouse char boreand law school, where they sharpened i:heir skills ro emerge ashis name. One offinancial freebootel'i.the most sensation-There is anorher enormous difference bcrween rbar rime a1 moments in Morgan's testimony carne whenand today. Pecora drew from thts kin_.~; of the beasts rhar heIo 1933. rhis country tnd the re.sr of rhe western world was had paid no income taxes tor several years.in tbc grip of Depressior. There wasWhen word of this resavast liemorrhagtng of confidence intimony reached rhe ears of!ndi.vid?als, rhe pracnces and the Pecora's investigations be/ped to Roo~evelr, he summonedmsmuuons chat only a few years create fior us the ern 0 rfit//aud Dean Acheson, chenbefore had underpanned an unprecc- . 'J .. • undersecretary of rhedemed prosp~rity complete dzsclosure, of ~r.uth 111 Treasury. .Dunng thiS ume of boom and busr tiJ£ selling of securtttes Aclleson explamed rhacwas a lawyer named Ferdinand Pecora,it was a legaJ tax dodge fora Sicilian immigrant who rose rhrou_ghthe very rich to use taxrhe New York Ciry Tammany machane ro serve rwelve years as writc-ofTs year after year to avoid income raxes.a prosecutor in dle Distnct Attorney's office. His reputation The president promptly insisted that the law befor artful investigating tnd fe3rless prosecuting_ Jed to his changed so th:it caP.ital losses could be used asselection lace in 1932 as special counsel ro the U.S. Senate wrire-offs only in rhc year in which they badCommin:ee on Banking and Currency. The committee had occurred.begun hearings that Apri l. Bur for months, nothing starrling Even more startling was the disclosure wrung bywas disclosed: Then, with Pecora's advenr, rhe pace pickea Pecora from a grudging Morgan char the House ofup, and there began to issue rrom irs sessions some of the Morgat1 maintained a preferred List of persons tomost revolting rcvelationl of the times.whom it sold sccurirics at prices below market andAll during the summer and autumn of 1933, while rhe without suings, so that these favored few couldnewly elected president, FrankJin D. Roosevelt, was pulling realize huge instant pro6'1S.the nacion back from the abyss. Pecora, flanked by a staff or Morgan admmed char he had invited imo hisexperts whose indignation marched rheir skill, caprured the magic circle his ~ood friends, "good sound suaighrimerest and tmagination of press and public wtth a daily fcJiow:.," as he described them.rableau of why ana how the seemingly impregnable financial- The tir became electric, :and public ind!gnacionstrucrure of rhe richest country on eirth liad been ravaged bv reached a fever pitch when Pecora elicited !Tom thethe gluttonous depredation of erstwhile heroes and unprincl- harried Morgan that his lisr of the favored fewplea rascals.mcluded suCh tO\\enng fcgures as ex-PresidentWhat was produced for public view was a parade of Calvin Coolidge, General John Pershing, aviatormoguls, snatched by subpoenas from rheir family retreatS, Charles Lindbergh, former presidencial candidarerhe1r clubs and their vach:ts, and subjected ro an mexorable John W. Davis and financier Bernard Baruch.inquisition. · Even worse, the lise included Owen J. Roberts,All marveled ar rhe precision with whlcb chis Italian a member of the U.S Supreme Court, andupstart (that's what they called him) marshaled his facts and William H. Woodin who, even as t:he rescimonyftred his shafts. Year~ laH:r, John T. Flynn, who coiled day and was given, was serving as Roosevelt's secretary ofnidlr as a member of Pecora's staff and who later became a rhe Treasury. What Pecora demonstrated was charcerebrated investigative journalist, would write: "I looked the Morgans and other financiers had created a24

network of highlyplaced and influenrialfigures, allbeholden to themagnate for favors.The hard andugly facts were chat,through the era ofeuphoric Jrosperitythar ende with meDepression years,when so many_ millionswere sutferingand starving, rhefinancial control ofrhe nation was inthe hands of predaroryrascals caringnothing for theirfellows and passionatelydevoted tomaking a fast buck.Even harder anduglier were rhe methods by which these buccaneers had operated.A desperately cired and hungry nation Learned how, asso many of the Lmemployed sold apples on street corners andstood in line at soup kitchens, a cabal of highly placed flimflammershad explOited the gullibility and greed of the Urclepeople who were on no body'S lise of freebies.People learned about worthless investmems palmed off onAll marveled fit the precision withwhich this Italian upstart (that's wbatthey caLled him) marshaled his factsand fired his shafts.a deluded narion by lies and tricks, about rigged stock marketpools in which worthless securities were run up in price bymanipulacion, enriching the insiders while the P.ublic was leftholdincr the bag; they learned about the shameless constructionofcier upon rier of so-called "holding companies" by tbeutiliry magnates. rulers of financial empires, revealed as mockerykings of snow.They learned how conspiratorial groups of insidersunloaded worthless bonds on WJdows and orphans by lies anddeceptive practices.Pecora's investigations helped ro create for us the era of fulland com_plete disclosure, of truth in rhe selling of securities asexem[>litied in the Securities Act of 1933.Out of this came the salutary federal guarantee of baakdeposits under rhe Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., rheSecurities Exchan!Se Acr of 1934, the Pubuc Utiuries HoldingCompany Act of 1935 and many other remedial and protectivemeasure.~. Any objective observer must concede tharthese reforms have achieved thelr laudable objecrive.T hese acrs of the 1930's are still used by the Securiry andExchange Commission in combadng the still prevalem boilerroom taccics of today. Notwithstanding, Wall Street is scillthe breeding ground for the most creative and ourrageousfinancial gimmicks. Junk bonds, hostile takeovers, poisonpills, de riv~uives, and pyramid schemes are scill putting rhesystem at rtsk.The need is ro find men such as Ferdinand Pecora ro show·us the way out of prevailing chicanery and shame.*In terview with Ferdinand Pecora (excerpts)By Dominick Lamonica, (AJfantica Magazirte, August, 1933)[Editor's note: Ferdinand Pecora declined many opportunitiesfor appoinonent to high office after his Senateinvestigations. He became a justice of the State SupremeCourr in New York State, where many recaU his scholarshipand unfailing courresy. He resigned from the bench in1950 to pursue an unsuccessful candidacy for mayor ofNew York. He died in 1971 , ar 89.In 1933, just as he began his work in Washington, DC,my father's cousin, Dom Lamonica interviewed b.im for theItalian American publicarion At-lantica, of which he was theeditor. Pecora had mong feelings abom his ethnic bredu:enthat stili ring true today.]Background : Born in Nicosia, Sicily in 1882, came toAmeric-a when he was 5 years old His family did nor serclein an Italian American neighborhood preferring toassimilate quiddy. Like Fiorello LaGuardia Pecora was notRoman Catholic but Episcopalian. He encered politics asa Teddy Roosevelt Progressive and later switched ro aWilson Democrat. He embarked on his career in publicservice with an appointment to the D .A.'s office in 1918.On ethnicity: " ... become America.n.ized as quickly as possible,retaining certain cultural attachments and traditionswhich America is glad to receive as our contribution, burnot overdoing it...it is unfortunate chat immigrants havegathered largely in segregated groups ... ma.king assimilationdiffi cul r."On Italian American organizatio ns: "To a large exrentthese Italo-American societics ... are formed w serve the personalinteresrs and advancement of the leaders or organiz-,ers.Personal life: Cigar smoker, married co a non-Italian, darklytanned from rhe use of a sun lamp on his doctor's recommendation.* * * "~ -~---. 2-0_0_1 ________________________________________________________________ 2_''~

26LADY POWER: ITALIC WOMEN THROUGH THE AGES CONTINUED FROM P. 17when Lucretia, the wife of a Roman soldier, commited suicideafter being raped by her husband's rival, to prevent bring­a suburban shopping malLand clothes dealers -creating the ancient Italic equivalent ofing shame upon her &mily. Before doing so, however,Lucretia did ask that she be avenged (and she was). The con- FREEDOM OF EXPRESSIONcept ofltalic "honor," then, herecofore seen as a "macho" atti-Unlike women in other ancient cultures, who weretu(le, appears co have a feisty female core.largely relegated to the background, Italic women wereAs the Romans increased their influence, they bor- encourag~d to be seen as well as heard.rowed other concepts and ideas from the Greeks, particularlyToday~ Italian women strut their stuff on the runwaystheir religious practices. This included "Romanizing" famous of Milan. In classical times, the streets of Rome served as anGreek goddesses, i.e., molding them to fit the needs of the open-air fashion show. On any given day, women of all class·Italic peopJe.es could be seen showing off the latest trends in clothing, jew·Ah:er a few years, citizens be_gan worshipping a elry or bait styles, many of them imported from Romanplethora of strong, mvihological female figures. They mclud- provinces in Europe or the Middle East.ed Venus, goddess of Love; Diana, goddess of War; Luna,Anyone who has visited Rome's famous shoppinggoddess of the Moon; Fortuna, godaess of Chance; Vesta, street, the Via Condotti, see Italian women continuing thisgoddess of the Hearth; Minerva, goddess of Wisdom; Juno, "Hey, Look at Me" tradition today.goddess of Marriage; Terra, godcfess ofThe Italic woman's sense of unathe Earth; and Ceres, goddess of thebella figura (making a fine impression)Harvest. (Note: A large statue of Ceres,has, tnd.eed, expanaed throughout theas in "cereal", adorns the top of thecenturies, with names like Versace, PradaMidwest Stock Exchange building inand others dominating the modernChicago's financial district.) One ofworld of style and high cUlture. Yet, theirthese strong women was actually a realancestors in classic31 Rome were noperson: Cloelia. In 507 B.C., during theslouches in the image department. Juliamiddle of a war, Cloelia swam across theDamna, wife of the Emperor SeptimusTiber River and rescued fellow RomanSeverus, traveled with her husband allwomen, who had been taken prisoner byover the empire, where her innate ele·a rival tribe. A arateful Senate built agance won over the crowds. Italic house·life-sized statue of Cloelia in the Romanwives marveled at Julia's regal clothesForum, one of the only women to beand creative hairstyles, often changinghonored in such a fashion.their own to give themselves marSurrounded by statues of these"empress'' look. And, in fact, em_peror'spowerful goddesses, Roman women,wives routinely appeared on Romanespecially among the upper classes,coinage along with their husbands.sought to embody the virtues which theyOn a more substantive level, Italicrepresented. Of these, Livia, wife of the women freely spoke their minds. In 42great Emperor Augustus, is perhaps theB.C., after declaring a war, the Senatemost striking example. A dignifiecf, edu-decreed that all upperclass womencared woman (despite her media imageshould be taxed to finance the militaryin /, Claudius ancf The Sopranos), Liv1acampaign. This didn't sit too well withstood side-by-side with Augustus Hortensia, the daughter of a famous orathroughouthis 40-year reign, ushering_tor. Like a chiP. off the old block,in one of the most prosperous periods of Hortensia angnly marched to theworld history, the Pax Roinana (or,Roman Forum with some 1,000 womenRoman Peace).in row, where she spoke out against thisMany historians feel that Liviaunfair tax. Her speech was so inspiringstill hasn't been given enough credit forthat the Senate promptly reconstderedassisting Augustus in this remarkable Messalina, the powerful and scandalous the measure.achievement, although she did receive a wife of Emperor Claudius Gaia Afrania also achieved a cerraine_osthumous awara: the Emperor notoriety. She became a familiar face atClaudius declared her "divine," one of the first women the Forum - nor as a defendant, but as a prosecutor, rack·accorded such an honor. Citizens who recalled Livia's public ing up a record number of lawsuits. She sued so many people,works P.rojects and political acumen could now worshlp her in Fact, dogging up the court system, that one Senator bitterasa goadess.ly referred to her as "the best known example of women's liti-The goodwill engendered by Livia soon filtered down giousness."into Roman socie!}' at-large. Although women could not voteSabina, the wife of Emperor Hadrian, founded aor hold P.ublic office, they could own/roperry, visit public women's law advocacy group. Afthough the group had nofacilities (such as the famous baths) an even own thetr own official legislative powers, it was allowed to act as a consul tambusinesses. For example, Julia Felix, a native of Pompeii, com- on issues relevenr ro women's lives, such as marriage, properbinedreal estate skills with business know-how. Ah:er a mild ry and children's education.earthquake damaged her block-long home in 62 AD., Felix,In the arts, Bassilla from Aquiliea became the Merylto raise needed repair funds, rented out space to a variety of Streep of her day, an actress who entertained both emperorssmall business owners: bakers, butchers, mnkeepers, &rmers and the public with her dramatic gifts. Sulpicia was the distaff(continued on p. 30)The Italic Way~U~J($1@'

ACC CONSTRUCTION CORPORATIONGeneral Contracting and Construction A1anagemeni.firmspecializing in interior and exterior renovations ofmajor corporate. retail, educational, institutional. and healthcarefacilitiesin the Metropolitan Area.Michele Medaglia, President24-6-1- 45 111 StreetLong Island City. New York 11103Telephone: 718-545-4141 Facsimile: 7J8-:~04-483RE-Mail: info@acc-construction.comNAPLES IN REVOLT, 1647, rc~ntinuedfromp.19)\Vhile wholesale socio-economic rezression was the fare of general welfare, most of ir serving ro enrich Spain and irs coreveryover-taxed and abused sector of the Spanish-ruled por- rupt Italian lackeys.cions of the peninsula, no where was the despoiling more Historians continue m cornmenr on the transmutation ofthorough chan in the Kingdom of Naples. Now des!gnated a a once independent-minded and vibrant race to the submerevice-royalry of the Spanish crown, irs untorrunare servient and passive minions of foreign powers from the 16rhinhabirams languished under a misgovemmenr surpassed through early 19th cenruries. Nor unril the srLrrings of rheonly marginaiJy in brutality by that imposed on Spain's R~orgjmmto would assertiveness, courage, or militancy beAmerican conquests. Here, the very concept of human digni- iocluisodes of roil, by surprise. The event was triggered, predictably, by yethunger, disease, and death. All measures of anything that another new tax, this time on all types offruit, a staple in thecoula be considered wealth were rourindy shuttfed into the meager clier of the peasanuy. To ensure rhe prompt remithandsof the Spanish, their allied Catholic authoritits, and the ranee of this taX, collection stations had been pos{ed nearcompliant and greedy local nobility. Yet, despire the almost every fruit vendor's booth in the city's crowded Piazzaunimaginable poverty in which they subsisted, the rag-clad Mercaro. lr was here, on July 7th, that a quarrel over the Jarandundernourished subjecrs of the Kin&dom of Naples est levy erupted between colJecrion agents and an impoverbecameand continued ro be the mosr heaVIly taxed popi.Jacionin Europe. Dignified only by the degree of creativity inished, 27 year-old ftsh vendor named Tommaso An.iellod'Amalfi.which they were conceived new taxes were levied frequently Much of what .is recorded about Masaniello, as this brashand upon almost every acciviry, enterprise, and item of value. young man was called, is based on conjecture. His rise fromOnly a fraction of the collected moneys was urilized for the faceless obscurity to historical prominence was far roo sudden(contm~t~d tm p . .J9)27

THE ROMAN AQUEDUCTS(tollh1lt«J from p. 1 1)The first Roman aqueduct, the Aqua Appia, was che majority of the people would obtain water m meetan underground aqueduct: built around 310 B.C. dwing their daily needs.the administracion of Appius Claudius Caecus, for At a castellum, rhe water system was convertedwhom the famous Appian Way is named. It conveyed from an open gravitadonal system ro a pressurized supwarerto rhe rhirsry my of Rome from newly discovered p1y in pipes. A fining called a. caLix was used co connectSJ>rings about ten miles away. This was the first of the an indiVIdual pipe to a castellum. The calix was a nozzlefamous eleven aqueducts which were eventually con- equipped wicli a flange that fit against the inside of thestructed from 310 B.C. to A.D. 226 to supply the great castel[um wall. Depending on the user's water allotmenrcity.or fee, a ctdi.x would be provided in one of several offi-The AquaMarcian, built by the praemr Marcius cially stamped sizes. The smallest size was caUed ain 144 B.C., was the fusr Roman aqueduct to carry quinaria w1tb a diameter of .9 inches. It was the basicwater above ground. Ir was the third and longest of the unit tbe Romans used to measure water. Ulegal watereleven aqueducts and carried spring water more rhan 56 raps were a constant ·concern of me Curator Aquarummiles from east of the ciry to the(Director ofWaters).Capit?line hilL The bri~ged section A controversy over an Aqtteduct Togerher rhe eleven aque~~ctsof this aqueduct, which featwed b 'l b . . . 11 . supplied about 150 to 200 million60-foot-high arches, was abom ren 1~ 1 t 1 Ponttus P t ate WJtn gallons of warer ro rhe ciry ofmiles lo~g. This snu:dy aqueduct fewtsh tnoney may have affected ancient Rome each dax.later earned rwo addiuonal chan- his later t 1 -eatment of Jesus. Remarkably, parts of several are srlllnels that rode piggyback on itsin use today {one feeds the famousarches. Other aqueducts to RomeTrevi Fountain). With rhis vastincluded rhe Aq_ua Anio ~tus, Aqua Anio Novu..s, Aqua amounc of fresh water, anciem Rome boasted betweenTepula, Aqua julia, Aqua V1rgo, Aqutl Felice, Aqua 1.200 and 1 ,300 public founcains, 11 great baths, 867A/sietina, !!qua Hadritrna and the Aqua Agusta.lesser baths, 15 nymphaea or monumental decoratedWater flowed to the cicy by the force of gravi~ shoV\]>iece foumains, and 2 arciHcial lakes for imperialalone. To absorb the impact of dus great force, each of naval exhibitions.the aqueducts ended in a grand fountain which bore a The ancient Romans built aqueducts in all partsplaque identifying the emperor or other w~althy sponsor of ~hei! empire, many of which are sril_l standing. Theirwho fLOanced the work. These were rhe duecr ancescors ma1esnc arches may be seen today m Greece, Italy,of the magnificent fountains thar today grace the ciry of France, Spain, North Africa and Asia Minor.Rome.(Incidentally, it was Pontius Pilate's use of temple fundsAll told, 30 miles our of a total of tbe 260 miles ror an aqueduct in Judea rhat stirred rebellious feelingscomprising Rome's aqueduct system actually crossed among his Jewish subjects.) Fresh water traversedover valleys on stone arChes. The remainder were under- Tunis1a., carried 50 miles by a series of arches fromground conduits constructed mostly of stone and terra Mount Zaghouan to Carthage. Under Roman rule, durcotrapipe, although some ~ipes were made of lead and ing which 400,000 Italic setclers migrated rhere, thebronze. Recently, a cbeory has gained some acceptance cities ofNorrh Africaenloyed decent hygiene for rhe firstthat lead poisoning, either from pipes or perhaps uten- time with me delivery of fi·esh water for baths and drinksits,led ro the mental deterioration and tf1us decline of ing. The aqueduct: of Se~ovia in Spain is also especiallyRome's ruling class and was therefore a conuibucing fac- impressive and was built !'Y the Emperor Trajan early intor ro the falf of Rome. Two factors, however, limireCI the the second century A.D. This aqueduct, which is still inharmful effects oflead pi{'es. T.1.ps, which could stop the working order today, is part of a ten-mlle-long waterHow of water, were not w1dely used by the Romans. As a supply system for the ciry. It is built wirh two tiers ofresult, the water seldom rested in {'ipes, which is where arclies and spans an 800-meter valley and is 28 metersit could gather harmfuJ concentrauons of lead particles. h.igh ar its htghest point. This aqueduct is builr entirelyRome's water also coma.ined plenry of minerals, which. from granite, and uses no mortar or mechanical conneccoatedborh the channels and the pipes w[rh deposits tion oerween individual stones.rh,ar prevented rhe water. from. making direct con. tact The most beautiful and the most enduring of thew1th the lead. The~e. constder~oons reno to cast_ senous Roman aqueducts was built at Nimes, in France bydoubt on the val1dity of this theory concermng the . c h. 'decline of Rome. The warer wem through a series of dis- Marcus ~gnppa rrom 20 to 16 B.C. T e aqued~ct systributiontanks within the cicy, and the excess was used tern at Ntmes brought water to the town from spnngs 31to flush out Rome's exrensive system of sewers.miles away. A bridge, the Pont du Gard, was built overWater was stored in water towers or water tanks the Cardon River, measuring 323 feet in length and~

NAPLES JN REVOLT(tfJntt11111'i jrvm p U)and brief for any accurate, biographical skerch to be built. menr and church for his ceaseless advocacy for the poor andThe few, first hand accounts char exist simply depict him as downrrodden. In fact, some spc:culate that Genoino hadtypical of h1s class and calling; iUiterate, barefoot, and des per- secredy orchestra red the evenrs of July 7th, with Masanielloarely poor. He has also been contradictorily characterized as simply acting our the priest's instructions.guileful and cunning; certainly advantageous survival trairs In any event, Genoino inherited a difficult situation. Tofor hjs time and place, and asmany of rhose incircd by theblunt , crude and naive. uprising, political and socialSucceeding events suppon bothviews.reforms were a secondary consid-eration. Instead, the first order ofIn any case, Masaruello canbusiness was vengeance for yearssurely be described as being anof outrages and abuse. Thoughangry man on July 7th, U547,since his wife, charged with caxrelative calm was restored in thecity of Naples over the succeedingeV3Sion by concealing a quamiryweeks, Gcnoino was unable roof grain in her home, had beenconrrol the acts of violence directarrested,fined and jailed. Byed against che nobiliry in themost accounts, his impromptuprovinces, ~us reducin~ his ab~liprorescat the marker place wasry to credJbly negouare wJthquickly joined by his brotherGiovanni and cousin Tommaso,Spanish authorities.Whatever concessions might betheir increasingly loud and bois-secured in the people's f.tvor couldrerous dispute drawing dozens,hardly be guaranteed, since rhechen hundreds of onlookers. TheSpanash and Italian nobility wereshouting continued umil thethree men, oblivious to theby no means above treachery.Neither could Genoino expectthreat of arresr, physicaUy overrurncdthe collection booth. Thesupport from his ecclesiastic supe-riors, as the Church was firmlyspectators roaied wicl1 approvalaligned with rhe ruling class.and the rebellion was on.Wrrhour organuation and aWith Masaniello at its head,strong hand, the uprising was surethe crowd surged out of the piaz-co be crushed by che Spanish army1.a, growing larger by the instantalready on irs way ro Italy. Sinceuntil it numbered, reportedly, inGenoino could nor achieve eirherthe tens of thousands. Violenceof these, the possibility of pennawasinevitable. Government offi- A rather young-looking portrait of Masan iello the nem reform could oruy be suscialswc::rc hauled inro rbc :>tn:et, rebel ofNaples. ' rained through the military imerkickedand beaten while theirvention of another foreign power.residences were burnt to the ground. Many were murdered. The logical canrudace was France, Spain's old rival in theToo stunned and terrified to respond wirh force, rhe panicked domin:.rion of the Italian penin~ula . And indeed, withoutpolice chief and his g_endarmes fled for their lives. Within a invitation, the French dispatched an army ro Sourhern Italymarrer of hours, all of Naples was at Masaniello's command. in September ro rake advantage of the chaos as a step cowardThe Spanish viceroy, Rodrigo Ponce De Leon D'Arcos, regajning their lost IraJjan holds. Greeted initially as Jiberahasrilyordered the repeal of the fruittors, the French could nor longtax, a conccssio.n thar was harclly Misrule b11 Snain and its Italian disguise rheir rrue motive a_naenough ro samfy che suddenly J r l' 1 . d found no support, from the Iraltanempowered popuface. Masaniello, and Papal accomp tees aente people once Spanish forcesshuttled to the role of leader and S h l l' h • l arrived. Yicrorious again, thespokesman for the peasantry, out. ern ta tans t. e SOCta Spanish lost no time in restoring_dema~dcd more. ~ach demand.the proo-ress that the rest ol' the the old order co r!te Kingdom ofreducuon of cemun raxes and the 6 · · 'J . Naples ar gunpomc. Tliousands~stenl world began to enjoy. Y.ho participated in the rebeUionabolition of Olhers, a reduction inthe price of bread, government rep-were summarily hung, and noresentation for the poor, was grantedmeaningful reforms were ever"? a wholly uncharacteristic spirit of conciliation by tbe enacted.v1ceroy.Founded upon unconcealed greed and ignorance, misruleNot rwo weeks after the uprising began, Masaniello accept- by Spain and Its halian and Papal accomplices continued toed an invitation tO discuss the impending reforms over dinner sysremarically deny Southern Italians almost every facet ofwich government authorities. He was promptly served poi- social progress chat the rest of the Western world evenruallyso ned wine, drugged, seized and beheaded.began co enjoy. The legacy of near-hopeless poverty, illiteracy,Masanicllo's murder did not bring an end to the rebellion, rhc virtual absence of meaningful economic opponunicy, andwhich by now was spreading across the all of southern Italy. perv:tSive lawlessness in any issue beyond rhe immediate, self-Instead, leadership passed into the hands of a lawyer-priest mrere.m of rhe ruling cla..~es, and complete distrust of authornamedDon Giulio Genoino. Articulate and well educated, iry characceri1.ed Southern Italian life well into modern times.Genoino had long been a thorn in che sides of both govern- ~ .. • •X:XXJ, 2001 29

LADY POWER (cominutd from p. 26)version of Ovid, a composer of scandalouslyerotic poems. Cornelia, daughter of the greatRoman general Scipio Africanus, regularlymer with writers and poets of the day, creatingan idea which Italic women from theRenaissance would later perfect: the literarysalon.Another Cornelia became themodel for an image which sciU casts its spdlover [raly and !talk culture: Mamma. As rhemother of rhe famous Gracchi brothers, CorneliaGr-acchus's example of toug!:lnessand nobility sec an example for aUItalic women to follow. Widowedat a young age, Cornelia became astrong-willed single mother, choosingto raise her two sons alone. Later,wl:ien they were assassin a red ~ter r~ingto reform Roman agranan policies,Cornelia steadfasrly carried on, asymbol of enduring Roman mothernood.Even that fabled feminineinruirion has strong Italic roots.Portia, seeing her husband Brutusross and turn aU night (he was plotting Julius Caesar's death),asked him to open up to her. Like many macho men, herefused. The nen morning. Caesar's wLfe, Calpurnia, askedhim not to go the Senate, having had a frighrful dream;Caesar, roo, refused.The resr, as chey say, is history-all. of w~ch couldhave been avoided if Brutus and Caesar had stmply ltstened torheir ladies. Stubbornness, thy name is man!SAINTSWhen it come-s to that most ennobling ofltalic virrues,humanism, rhe leadership of ancient Italic women rakes on aspecial glow. .. . .Eumachia of PompeJJ, a weaJrhy philanrhrop1st,donated much of her J?Oner. t? her beloved hometown, er~ingtemples and pubhc bu1ldmgs. In cenrral I~y, Umm1~1aQuadrarma lived co be a ripe old age (78)-luckily for the cLtizensof Casinum, her home city, who benefmed from hergenerosity in consuuc_ripg amphithe:'-ters. On-~ smaller.sc~e,Faustilla was Eurnachtas lesser half m Pompeu-she discnbutedmonies bur collected interest, perhaps the world's firstmortgage loan lender.Tne chaste Vescal Virgins, precursors of RomanCatholic nuns, p_rcsided over the Sacred Fire of Vesta, goddessof the Hearth. If the flame ever went out, it was said, a.isasrerwould befall the Empire. One Vestal Vir~in in particularscood out: Aquilia Severa. Survi~ng a sordtd. p~tb_lic scandal(the wicked emperor Egalabalus vwlated her Vtrgm~ty becauseh.e wanted to sue "godlike children"). Her reputanon was sopure that she was reinstated as a Vestal Virgin, a completerelaxation of the rules.After the Em,Peror Constantine declared Christianityrhe empire's "official' religion in 313 A.D., Roman womenbecame some of the most Fervem and powerfuJ followers ofJesus of Nazareth.[n Ostia, near Rome, Fabiola, from a well-re-do family,established the world's first free public hospital, dedicatingAn Italian lady with pen and book, from Pompeii.Educated females were common in Italian history.Sabina~ the zvifo of EmperorHadrian, founded a women's lawadvocacy group to act as a consultanton issues relevent to women'slives, such as marriage, propertyand children's education.ir to "the glory of rhe Church." A religiouswoman named Echeria literally went on foor inher zeal co praise Christ, traveling rhroll:ghevery town and village in rhe HoJy Land. L1keany good travdcr, slie kept a diary, which canstill be read in its original Latin.Unfortunately, some Italic women didn't geta chance to celebrate their faith. Rufina andSecunda, daughters of a Roman senator,underwent rorcure for their conversion. Theirbodies were buried near the Via Aurelia road outsideof Rome, where a church stands in their honor.And Cecilia, a rich Romanwoman, lay in pain for rhree daysafter executioners botched severalattempts to kill her-first byscalding her in hot warer, chen bycrying co behead her. Even as she laydying, her vocal chords damaged bythe olows of the sword, she COntLnuedto sing out P.saJms co cl1ose whogathered to coffifort her. She is nowthe patron saint of music.Faustina the Yourtger, wife of theEmperor Marcus Aurelius, certainlyhad the patience of a saint-shesired 13 children, a record amounr in those days!SINNERSEvery society has rheir "bad girls," chose passionatefemales who usurp what are considered "proper" modes offeminine behavior. What that meant in classical days is that awoman "acted like a man"-rhar is, either demanded fullequality or, more typically, n:imicked ~e worst excess of ti:emale ego: pride, greed, sexuality or poliocal rurhlessness. Italicwomen were no different-although, being Italic women,they loomed just as large as cheu masculine versions.In modem America, we have pop srarMadonna Louise Ciccone, aka Madonna, using her sexualicyto shock and undermine a puritanical, male-domin~red society.Her haJic counterparr_was rh_e Empress Messalma, clurdwife of the Emperor Cfaudius. Tlurry four years younger thanClaudius when they wed in 48 A. D. (he was 48, she 14),Messalina quickly grew tired of her plodding husband andequally plodding cabinet members.Whenever ClaudLUS was away, she delighted in scandalizingthe public with her anrics, which included paincinhe~: nipples gold _or visiting br~~hels ~n~nnou~ced and ch;ilengingrhe working wo~en to _duels (1.e., seemg who co~Ll.dsatisfy more customers m a g1ven hour-a coruesr whichMessalma usually won). When Claudius's cohons finallysilenced MessaJina, the old emperor, upon hearing the news,simply nodded his head in relief.Italic women didn't shy away from the batclefield,either. Fulvia, the wife of Marc Antony, frequentlysti.rred up revoirs against towns or vill~es who oalked ar herhusbands authority. When Antony left Fulvia io 42 B.C. todalJv with Cleopatra in Egypt, she waged war againstAntony's enemy, Ocravian, as a way of showing him her loyalty.It djdn't work. Needless to say, if Fulvia liad gorten herown hands on the Queen of the Nile, it might h ave put professionalwrestling to shan1e."' *30

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The Roman Aqueducts (continucdfomp. 28)inspired admiration and awe throughout the cenrur.ies.Perhaps Sextus Julius Fromius, Rome's first century A.D.Curaror Aquarum said it best: "How can you comparethe useless Pyramids of Egypt, or the beautiful n on-productiveworks of the Greeks, with these constructions?"People yearned more for fresh water, the susrainer andcleanser of life, than for such monuments which,alrhough beautiful, served no useful fimctioo. Romanaqueducts were not only visually magnificent, bur provideda rdiablc system of clean water for the exrensiveempire a luxury which a uemendous portion of theworld's population still does not enjoy.* *clo sed system (p res s ure)-------:*~- open system (gravitational)public fountains baths homes, indu stryt\groundlevel11 =Jb==~~~~~~~ secondary1!::: castellumsubterranean pipesmaincastellumItalian-American Cowboy (contilluedfom p. 23)least ir did keep him around the animals he loved. He evenrually became captain of its polo team.Officially, Iodice was majoring in communications and minoring in education. Before he would become a "lawyer" hewould become a "reacher."That was his story. Bur weekends and summers he worked around horses. These jobs did more than helppay for his education. They were his real education.At the age 23 he was hired by a rodeo circuit full-time and he has been cowboy'ing ever since. He taught himself how cowork with ropes and whips. He's designated as a "crick rider and roper" and also does tricks with a bullwhip.He has won many awards, including two Montie Montana Trick Roping Showmanship Awards (equivalenr co a MostValuable Player award in baseball) and the Rodeo Act of rhe Year Trophy Buckle.Most of the year Iodice is on the road, living out of a suitcase. "I love lraly best. I've visited every part oflraly. It's all wonderfuland ir makes my very proud of my name and my heritage."When not working or being a tourist Iodice beads to rhe Bronx, where he bunks at his parenrs'house. The handsome, oliveskinned cowboy, who stands 5-foot-9 and weigbs 170 pounds, is nor married. He was engaged to Alida Wallenda (of the famouscircus family) bur because of competing career demands, ir didn't work our.In November of 1999, Iodice saw bis life come full circle when he performed in the National Horse Show ar MadisonSquare Garden, the same place char sparked his imagination as a child."That was a dream come true," he says.To aspiring Italian American cowboys, he says: "Go for it. We can use more.""Sometimes when people hear my name, rhey throw some stereotype cliche at me. [ try to rurn ir back on them.Forrunarely, in the rodeo it is mostly good natured banter. I haven't run into many bigots. But still, it would be nice co have a fewmore people in rodeo with names like mine.""' *~---------------------------------------/~32 Tbe Italic \~y ~:'>\:.,, .. ~

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