by John Mancini | Dec 15, 2024 | Uncategorized
The cowardly assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson can be convincingly classified as the work of an anarchist. The suspect, Luigi Mangione, was found to have writings and documents evidencing that nihilistic philosophy. Mangione allegedly...
by John Mancini | Dec 8, 2024 | Uncategorized
As Columbus unified the globe, Marconi connected it. I’ve written about Guglielmo Marconi a number of times. He was truly the father of Wi-Fi (wireless-fidelity) which made possible radio, television, cellphones, and radar. This year is the 150th...
by John Mancini | Dec 1, 2024 | Uncategorized
This Irish Catholic family is an arbiter of the Italian American image. We often note how Mafia movies like The Godfather, Goodfellas, and Casino seem to run on cable television in a continuous loop. At times, you can watch any of these movies any day of the...
by John Mancini | Nov 24, 2024 | Uncategorized
The other day while watching a History Channel documentary on ancient Rome the narrator recounted how the emperors Caligula and Nero were “Italians” as opposed to the more enlightened ones such as Trajan and Hadrian who came from Spain. True enough, but both Trajan...
by John Mancini | Nov 18, 2024 | Uncategorized
He is known affectionately as Dr. NO because of his scientific research into Nitric Oxide (NO) which earned him the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1998. We noted that achievement at the time in an issue of The Italic Way; but I am prompted to write about Dr. Louis...
by John Mancini | Nov 11, 2024 | Uncategorized
My grandson is preparing for his First Communion, enrolled in a CCD class. As a 7-year-old he is slowly being introduced to life’s requirements – homework, bedtime, and internet limits. To many kids nowadays religion is an option and morality a multiple...
by John Mancini | Nov 3, 2024 | Uncategorized
This past week a local school on Long Island honored the memory of cartoon illustrator Al Plastino. He was one of many Italian Americans who crafted the comic books that every boy in the country grew up with — Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, The Flash, and the...
by John Mancini | Oct 27, 2024 | Uncategorized
The other day, the cable station TCM aired The Joe Louis Story a biopic from 1953. Like The Jackie Robinson Story (1950) both the subjects of the bios were still alive at the time. In fact, Robinson played himself in the 1950 movie. The two films were tributes to...
by John Mancini | Oct 21, 2024 | Uncategorized
Luigi Cornaro 1464 – 1566 With cold, flu, and covid season upon us I thought it relevant to introduce our subscribers to Luigi Cornaro possibly the first professional dietician. Cornaro was born in 1464 in Venice and lived to be 102 years old, a feat he...
by John Mancini | Oct 13, 2024 | Uncategorized
Our troubles are over! Christopher Columbus is on his way back from being Satan Incarnate to God’s Gift—the man who unified the globe. Some Spanish researchers have analyzed the bones of the Great Navigator, interred in Seville for the past 518 years, and found...
by John Mancini | Oct 6, 2024 | Uncategorized
The current wars in the Middle East seem without any permanent solution. For the Italic people, there should always be some reflection on how our ancestors created Palestine two thousand years ago as a result of Jewish rebellions. The Romans first occupied Judea...
by John Mancini | Sep 29, 2024 | Uncategorized
Pope Pius V was born Antonio Ghislieri in Italy’s Piemonte Region. He joined the Dominican Order changing his first name to Michele. He pursued an austere life, unafraid to condemn Church abuses but defending traditional Catholic doctrine. Pope Pius V...
by John Mancini | Sep 22, 2024 | Uncategorized
For those of us who grew up in a world of Italian American music – from Guy Lombardo ringing in every New Year and TV shows hosted by Perry Como or Dean Martin- pride came in more forms than just cuisine. Sinatra was our gold standard, using the name he was born...
by John Mancini | Sep 15, 2024 | Uncategorized
Emperor Napoleon III There was never any doubt that Rome would be the capital of a reunified Italy. Just as the Jewish people in exile longed for the city of David and Solomon (“Next year in Jerusalem!”) Italian patriots of the 19th Century dreamed of restoring...
by John Mancini | Sep 8, 2024 | Uncategorized
Before there was an Italic Institute I had fun with an imaginary organization named Istituto di Past’Asciutta (ah-SHOO-tah). The name was even fun to pronounce, try it! Literally the Institute of “dried paste,” the term covered all your boxed or bagged...
by John Mancini | Sep 2, 2024 | Uncategorized
On September 3, 1943, the Kingdom of Italy signed an “armistice” with the Allies. Negotiations had been going on secretly for months with meetings in neutral Portugal by some Italian military leaders under orders of King Victor Emmanuel III. Mussolini had been...
by John Mancini | Aug 29, 2024 | Uncategorized
“Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” -George Orwell, from his book 1984 These words are not a riddle or an abstract concept. For those of us who take pride in the millennial contributions of Italy to...
by John Mancini | Aug 19, 2024 | Uncategorized
I wish I knew how young Italian Americans think. Admittedly, I grew up an oddball. My immigrant father spoke with a heavy accent and was raised under Fascism, coming here in 1930 at age 18. My American side was Italian American to the core: the old...
by John Mancini | Aug 12, 2024 | Uncategorized
I wonder if gunman Thomas Crooks was a pawn of the eternal Mafia as he pumped eight rounds at Donald Trump. Just wait a couple of years and some enterprising journalist or a goombah in the celebrated Witness Protection Program will reveal the true story of...
by John Mancini | Aug 4, 2024 | Uncategorized
Nothing has changed our modern world more than the insane start of the First World War in August 1914. It led directly to the Second World War, Communism, Fascism, Nazism, the Bomb, the Cold War, and some hot wars still to this day. Historians all agree that the...
by John Mancini | Jul 28, 2024 | Uncategorized
The latest groundbreaking production by the Mafia-Industrial Complex is Tulsa King, a mob series starring Sylvester Stallone. I’ll describe it as Rip van Winkle meets The Sopranos and My Cousin Vinny. Intriguing? Beside the clever combination, Tulsa King...
by John Mancini | Jul 21, 2024 | Uncategorized
My family and I spent a week on a cruise to Bermuda last week. We haven’t taken ship for over thirty years and much has changed. Ships have turned into amusement parks and dining is now an international lovefest. Bars, shopping malls, casinos, and...
by John Mancini | Jul 14, 2024 | Uncategorized
While I am on vacation, I wanted to post one of my early blogs from 2017 explaining the Italic Institute. Enjoy the summer. What makes the Italic Institute different from all other organizations? It starts with our name. We use Italic to add back the one...
by John Mancini | Jul 7, 2024 | Uncategorized
Among the film offerings during the 4th of July holiday was the Spirit of St. Louis starring Jimmy Steward as aviator Charles Lindbergh. The title referred to the name of the plane Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic. That plane wasn’t Lindbergh’s first...
by John Mancini | Jun 30, 2024 | Uncategorized
I noticed how four Italian American ladies figured in recent news stories: Jill Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Gina Raimondo, and Lisa Monaco. You may not know the latter two, but they are among the movers and shakers in Washington, DC. Pelosi saving democracy At last...
by John Mancini | Jun 23, 2024 | Uncategorized
Another John Cabot anniversary is upon us—that fateful landing on Newfoundland on June 24, 1497. It was the ‘discovery’ and claim that launched England’s empire and the reason we speak English. I have written often of this event and how Benjamin Franklin cited...
by John Mancini | Jun 16, 2024 | Uncategorized
It was Italy’s turn to host the G-7 meeting of the wealthiest democracies last week. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni chose the southern region of Apulia to impress the member nations, which include the U.S., Canada, France, UK, Germany, and Japan. The...
by John Mancini | Jun 9, 2024 | Uncategorized
It isn’t often that I reminisce about this enterprise we call the Italic Institute. Now in our 37th year with a modest following across the nation, I was recently surprised to learn of the passing of someone upon whose shoulders the Institute depended. ...
by John Mancini | Jun 2, 2024 | Uncategorized
Someday there may be a monument to The Godfather, where the corpses of its founding fathers will be interred and worshipped. Gone now are Mario Puzo, author of the original bestseller and co-screenwriter of the film; Marlon Brando (Don Vito Corleone), James Caan...
by John Mancini | May 26, 2024 | Uncategorized
The other day on the Laura Ingram Show (FOXNews), Ingram and comedian Jimmy Failla (Fail-la) mocked cable network AMC for putting what is called a ‘trigger warning’ on the Mob movie Goodfellas as it contains “language and/or cultural stereotypes” that may be offensive...
by John Mancini | May 19, 2024 | Uncategorized
This is a follow-up to last week’s blog on the movie Cabrini. A few of our subscribers have seen the film and confirmed the fact the theaters averaged only a handful of viewers. So, is Cabrini a financial success? If you try Googling the answer, you may...
by John Mancini | May 12, 2024 | Uncategorized
Currently, the movie Cabrini is being shown in only one theater on all of Long Island. The same scarcity is probably true in regions around the country. Cabrini is a $50 million production starring Italian actors and many well-known Americans like John Lithgow. All...
by John Mancini | May 5, 2024 | Uncategorized
On May 9th 1936, Mussolini proclaimed the “Italian Empire” after Italian troops occupied the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. This victory was the apex of the Fascist regime but sowed the seeds of its destruction. The founder and the vanquished Of all his...
by John Mancini | Apr 28, 2024 | Uncategorized
When our Senior Analyst Anthony Vecchione informed me that the Italian government just placed a Minneapolis museum on its cultural sh-t list, it gave me a crazy idea. (More on that later.) According to the Italians, the Minneapolis Institute of Art has had...
by John Mancini | Apr 21, 2024 | Uncategorized
What a week it has been. Today is the birthday of Rome, the Eternal City – 2,777 years young. April 16th was composer Henry Mancini’s 100th birthday (Rest in Peace), and April 17th the 500th anniversary of explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano’s arrival in New...
by John Mancini | Apr 14, 2024 | Uncategorized
It comes with aging. How do we preserve and pass on the things we value, like heritage? Dilemma: what you value may not be of value to your descendants. Heritage is easily lost. Marriage may hide an Italian surname in the case of females. Catholicism is...
by John Mancini | Apr 7, 2024 | Uncategorized
My local library showcases books according to ethnic and gender celebrations. This month it’s Arabs and Scots. Last month honored the Irish and Women. You can spend a day googling ‘diversity’ to find out what Americans are celebrating each month. But I’ll save you...
by John Mancini | Mar 31, 2024 | Uncategorized
Did you know that four Italian cities – Rome, Reggio Calabria, Syracuse, and Pozzuoli – are mentioned in the Bible, or that the first non-Jew that the Apostles converted to Christianity was an Italian? It is safe to say that Christianity itself might well...
by John Mancini | Mar 24, 2024 | Uncategorized
The Italians have a word for it dietrologia*, literally the study of [what’s] behind. Nothing is what it appears to be; there’s more to it than meets the eye. *(dee-eh-tro-lo-GEE-ah) I used to roll my eyes at such Italian cynicism, but the ensuing decades have taught...
by John Mancini | Mar 17, 2024 | Uncategorized
Their celebrations are only two days apart, and St. Patrick and St. Joseph have something in common—one worked for Jesus, the other raised him. We know much about St. Patrick. He was a Roman by descent, he converted Ireland to Christianity, and he is beloved by...
by John Mancini | Mar 10, 2024 | Uncategorized
Connecting “the dots” is a saying from the Analog Age. Recall how those dot puzzles entertained us as kids as well as taught us that objects could be hidden in plain sight until you connected the dots? Today, I’m playing connect the dots with our March...
by John Mancini | Mar 3, 2024 | Uncategorized
I read Newsday every day. It’s Long Island’s only regional newspaper, the 8th largest newspaper in the nation and the highest in suburban readership. It is an ultra-liberal newspaper with a keen eye for “mafia” news. When John Gotti died in 2002 the paper...
by John Mancini | Feb 26, 2024 | Uncategorized
A lesser known aspect of the Great Navigator Christopher Columbus was his superpower. Beyond his amazing nautical skills, the Admiral seemingly had the heavens on his side. On February 29th 1504, during his 4th voyage to the New World an eclipse of the moon...
by John Mancini | Feb 18, 2024 | Uncategorized
Fatti maschii, parole femine is the state motto of Maryland, the only state to have an Italian motto rather than one in English or Latin. It translates as “Deeds [are] Masculine, Words Feminine.” Such male chauvinism is typical of Italian culture dating back to...
by John Mancini | Feb 11, 2024 | Uncategorized
Today marks the 95th anniversary of the treaty that created Vatican City. Top story around the world At the time in 1929 this event was considered almost miraculous—to both Catholics and nonbelievers alike. The Lateran Treaty, as it is known, settled a...
by John Mancini | Feb 4, 2024 | Uncategorized
My wife and I recently went to see A Beautiful Noise – a Neil Diamond biography – on Broadway. We highly recommend it. You can’t go wrong with any Broadway show based on musical legends like The Four Seasons (Jersey Boys), Cher, Carol King, Barry Manilow,...
by John Mancini | Jan 28, 2024 | Uncategorized
Is Italy better off today than any time in its modern history? Despite being heavily in debt—140% of its annual income—having the lowest birthrate in history, awash in illegal aliens coupled with a super-aging population, massive unemployment among its youth,...
by John Mancini | Jan 21, 2024 | Uncategorized
Last Monday was Martin Luther King Day, preparatory to Black History Month in February. On cue, the media is already filled with informative Black history, a subject that is of interest to me. Booker Taliaferro (Washington) One PBS program I watched in the Black...
by John Mancini | Jan 14, 2024 | Uncategorized
The other night I was watching Primetime on FOX News when host Jesse Watters interviewed Salvatore Gravano, the notorious mob butcher known as ‘Sammy the Bull.’ Gravano recently completed a 20-year lockup, after a plea deal for his testimony against his boss...
by John Mancini | Jan 7, 2024 | Uncategorized
Little did we know that those Hippies from the 60s would go on to dream up a new America for us when they got older. They were the “counter-culture” at a time when America needed a new direction – away from the pointless Vietnam War and a blind obedience to the...
by John Mancini | Dec 31, 2023 | Uncategorized
Celebrating New Year’s Day on January 1st is definitely a Roman development. Like so many other facets of our existence, Italy figured large in mastering time. We learned in school that the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Sumerians all studied the heavens and...
by John Mancini | Dec 25, 2023 | Uncategorized
Another Christmas Eve has left my wife Rita and me exhausted from all the work. The Feast of the Seven Fishes has become an annual celebration to prove that money is no object and no sea creature is safe from the Italian digestive system. Why must we serve seven...
by John Mancini | Dec 17, 2023 | Uncategorized
The current war in Ukraine seems hauntingly similar to the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). That conflict began as a fratricidal war but quickly turned into a contest between Fascism and Communism. Both wars have Russia in common: in 1936 Joseph Stalin’s USSR...
by John Mancini | Dec 10, 2023 | Uncategorized
A new cable series (AppleTV+) is coming next January paying homage to the bomber crews of World War II. This collaboration by the two men – Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks – who have been extolling the virtues and sacrifices of the “Greatest Generation” will follow...
by John Mancini | Dec 3, 2023 | Uncategorized
My title, a famous movie epic of the 1950s. It’s Latin for “Where are you going?” In legend, it was Peter’s question to a vision of Jesus. Ultimately, it was Peter’s call to his own martyrdom. In today’s increasingly chaotic national and international...
by John Mancini | Nov 26, 2023 | Uncategorized
As my soon to be seven-year-old grandson gets older I can’t help but measure his progress against my own bygone youth. Surely, this is a common exercise among parents and grandparents. My grandson is of mixed ethnicity, all Euro-American. He hasn’t an Italian...
by John Mancini | Nov 19, 2023 | Uncategorized
There have been many concerned citizens over the years who have warned of the death of Western Civilization. They uniformly believe that unfettered immigration from Third World countries would be the means to our end. Is this ‘the-sky-is-falling’ panic just...
by John Mancini | Nov 12, 2023 | Uncategorized
On November 17th, filmmaker Martin Scorsese will be 81. His soulmate Francis Coppola is already 84. I’m sure the media have obits prepared on both these octogenarian goombahs. We can only wait to see what accolades they will pile on, and how many...
by John Mancini | Nov 5, 2023 | Uncategorized
Did you know that the entrance to the Underworld, according to poets Virgil and Dante, is on the Bay of Naples? It’s called Campi Flegrei (“The Burning Fields”) an underwater basin (“caldera”) of collapsed volcanoes—about 40 of them—that are still active. Vesuvius...
by John Mancini | Oct 29, 2023 | Uncategorized
Have you ever wondered where the staying power of mafia movies comes from? Just about any day of the week you can find an old mafia movie on cable or streaming. They never seem to go out of vogue. Every year, new versions are being filmed or planned. ...
by John Mancini | Oct 22, 2023 | Uncategorized
One of the fond memories of my early years was visiting ships docked in New York harbor. In the 1950s and early ’60s, my father worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and had a paesano who was chief engineer on a cruise ship. With such connections, dad...
by John Mancini | Oct 15, 2023 | Uncategorized
Wars are breaking out all over, so far in Ukraine and Israel. Is Taiwan next? The odd nature of these conflicts is that they are being waged within the same ethnic groups. Russians and Ukrainians are both Slavic. Israelis and Palestinians are both...
by John Mancini | Oct 8, 2023 | Uncategorized
Will popular history ever reveal how crucial Italians were to opening the New World? There is so much already known of this “Italian enterprise” but buried in a few books. Sadly, our community is consumed by the struggle to save the reputation of Columbus from...
by John Mancini | Oct 1, 2023 | Uncategorized
Some Italian researchers wondered why so many residents of Bergamo, in the northern region of Lombardy succumbed to the Covid-19 pandemic — 800 died on one day. So, they sampled DNA from 10,000 survivors around the area and concluded that Neanderthal genes may have...
by John Mancini | Sep 24, 2023 | Uncategorized
My local librarian – a young man of Italian descent – suggested I watch a DVD titled Golden Door about a Sicilian family immigrating to America in 1904. The 2006 Italian film, originally titled Nuovomondo, has an introduction by Mob-filmmaker Martin Scorsese who no...
by John Mancini | Sep 17, 2023 | Uncategorized
A number of people I know went to Italy this year. Overall their impressions were positive. The reasons for their trips varied. Some cousins proudly announced their journey was purely epicurean – food and wine was their goal and only Naples and Gaeta...
by John Mancini | Sep 10, 2023 | Uncategorized
The A & E cable channel has done a documentary on Bob Guccione, the founder of Penthouse Magazine and his short-lived global empire. Older folks followed the Guccione saga in real time starting in the 1970s when he challenged Hugh Hefner’s Playboy empire. ...
by John Mancini | Sep 3, 2023 | Uncategorized
History has many twists and turns. Nations and cultures can be shaped by a single event. A Roman battle fleet September 2nd marked the anniversary of the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C. Julius Caesar had been assassinated thirteen years before, setting off a...
by John Mancini | Aug 27, 2023 | Uncategorized
de Corti, of the Italian tribe Before it was condemned as ‘cultural appropriation” non-White movie roles were played by Euro-Americans. For Indigenous Americans one of the most egregious appropriations was Chief Iron Eyes Cody, the iconic face of the...
by John Mancini | Aug 20, 2023 | Uncategorized
Last week, our suburban newspaper Newsday published an op-ed by former congressman Steve Israel recounting how Albert Einstein wrote President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 warning him that Nazi Germany was pursuing an atomic bomb. The op-ed cited work by Jewish...
by John Mancini | Aug 13, 2023 | Uncategorized
Zorro: Armand Catalano I was reminded the other day of the Disney TV series Zorro (1957-1959, 1960-1961) starring Guy Williams. What a handsome fellow! Zorro means “fox” in Spanish (volpe in Italian). He played a fictional character, a Hispanic version of Robin...
by John Mancini | Aug 6, 2023 | Uncategorized
You have probably heard Italy’s national anthem but know little about its lyrics. Like our Star Spangled Banner, it was adopted from a poem written in wartime. But unlike our anthem, il Canto degli Italiani, tells the story of Italy – from its Roman foundation to...
by John Mancini | Jul 30, 2023 | Uncategorized
Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis seems to be stuck in a political quagmire. His message accentuating his cultural battles with the Woke and Disney have mobilized the Left and put him on the defensive. Worse, Donald Trump is still out-polling him despite...
by John Mancini | Jul 24, 2023 | Uncategorized
Admiral Lisa Franchetti The U.S. Navy appears to be the source of many Italian American firsts. Newly nominated for Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) is Admiral Lisa Franchetti. If Senate-approved, she will be the first female CNO and the first female on the Joint...
by John Mancini | Jul 16, 2023 | Uncategorized
Back in 2020 I wrote of the execution-style murders of Paul and Lina Marino in a Delaware cemetery by a Black gunman. Early reports indicated that the murderer was dressed in black, with a rifle, and waited in ambush for the couple; that he was motivated to take...
by John Mancini | Jul 9, 2023 | Uncategorized
With the recent Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action in university admissions, I spent a few minutes thumbing through my college yearbook. Looking back now with so much real world experiences under my belt was an eye-opener. I attended a small private...
by John Mancini | Jul 2, 2023 | Uncategorized
There were 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence; of those we have confirmed Caesar Rodney of Delaware as having Italian roots. Another, William Paca of Maryland, has been elusive despite having an Italian-sounding name. Declaration signer William Paca...
by John Mancini | Jun 25, 2023 | Uncategorized
Magellan’s flagship the Trinidad Last week, a “tall ship” visited my Long Island village, a port of call that has seen the HMS Bounty and replicas of every kind from the Age of Sail. This time it was the Nao Trinidad, one of Ferdinand Magellan’s Spanish...
by John Mancini | Jun 18, 2023 | Uncategorized
Every year around June 24th I write of the momentous event in 1497 when navigator Giovanni Caboto landed on North America (perhaps Newfoundland) and planted the flags of England and Venice. That small ceremony was the seminal event in the creation of our United...
by John Mancini | Jun 11, 2023 | Uncategorized
Why didn’t Italy stay neutral in 1940? In hindsight it seemed like the smartest course. Nevertheless, on June 10th of that year, Italy threw in its lot with its Axis partner. Its ultimate strategic goal: access to the world’s oceans. Benito Mussolini...
by John Mancini | Jun 5, 2023 | Uncategorized
Political Enemy #1 in America today is presidential candidate Ron DeSantis. Both Donald Trump and the liberal media want to take him out pronto. But Ron’s worst enemy appears to be the Black Establishment. Anticipating Ron’s entry into the presidential...
by John Mancini | May 28, 2023 | Uncategorized
An estimated 750,000 Americans on both sides died during the Civil War. A fratricidal war that ended the “original sin” of slavery and gave the North mastery of the nation. For the next 150 years the United States pursued the goals of a more...
by John Mancini | May 21, 2023 | Uncategorized
I took a walk this morning across the county line into New York City (Queens) – I live in adjacent Nassau County, Long Island. It only took me a few minutes to experience the “open Biden border” crisis first hand. As you know, the millions of illegals being...
by John Mancini | May 14, 2023 | Uncategorized
A strange thought occurred to me this week. Will Mother’s Day survive the Woke Revolution? What is a “mother” anyway? Shouldn’t it be called Birthing Person Day? If Nature has been replaced by Identity, nothing should be assumed. Everything is...
by John Mancini | May 7, 2023 | Uncategorized
Emperor Constantine There used to be a British TV series called Connections which explained how modern events or inventions were derived. The show connected all the historic dots. May 11th will be the anniversary of the founding of the city of Istanbul, Turkey...
by John Mancini | Apr 30, 2023 | Uncategorized
The once all-male Italian political scene has come a long way as evidenced by how the Right and the Left are now embodied in two women: Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and opposition leader Elly Schlein (Sh-line). These ladies are at odds in a cultural war...
by John Mancini | Apr 23, 2023 | Uncategorized
Among Italy’s national holidays is Liberation Day on April 25th. It commemorates the day in 1945 that a coalition of Italian partisan groups in northern Italy put the last nail in the coffin of Fascism and the German occupation. Four days later the German...
by John Mancini | Apr 16, 2023 | Uncategorized
An alarm is sounding as Communist China makes inroads into Africa. Just like the old Soviets did back in the 1950s and 1960s, the Chinese offer to build infrastructure in developing nations, funding the projects with Chinese loans. When the Africans find...
by John Mancini | Apr 10, 2023 | Uncategorized
I’ve written before about the PBS show Finding Your Roots, hosted by Prof. Louis Gates. As an avid viewer for nine seasons the complex detective work by genealogists to uncover the roots of celebrity guests has intrigued me. But the show rarely wavers from its...
by John Mancini | Apr 2, 2023 | Uncategorized
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis threw a lifeline to Donald Trump last week. The former president and perennial Democratic target was indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney and ordered to surrender this Tuesday for an undisclosed felony. Trump can either jet to New...
by John Mancini | Mar 26, 2023 | Uncategorized
House of Representative In March of 1919, newspaper editor Benito Mussolini founded the Partito Nazionale Fascista with a group of fellow veterans. They took as their symbol the Roman fasces. That bundle of rods with an axe attached was created on the Italian...
by John Mancini | Mar 19, 2023 | Uncategorized
Back in the day, Italian Americans were justifiably excited when one of their own achieved stardom. In the 1930s, the elections of Fiorello LaGuardia and Angelo Rossi as mayors of New York City and San Francisco announced our arrival in the dominant Anglo/Celtic...
by John Mancini | Mar 12, 2023 | Uncategorized
Irish Americans will soon regale us with their ethnic pride, celebrating the saint that converted them to Christianity. They concede that St. Patrick was a Roman, but they wince at the suggestion that Paddy’s paesans also trampled on the Old Sod. Since...
by John Mancini | Mar 5, 2023 | Uncategorized
I had a minor procedure done a few weeks ago by a Dr. Baciagalupo. For those of a certain generation this name evokes pleasant memories of the Abbott & Costello television comedy series of 1952-54. I was a faithful viewer of the reruns as a kid. The...
by John Mancini | Feb 26, 2023 | Uncategorized
He was called the “Sword of Rome” in his time, but a man forgotten in popular history. He should rank among the greatest military leaders that Italy produced, up there with Julius Caesar, Napoleon, and Garibaldi. Marcus Claudius Marcellus created the Italy...
by John Mancini | Feb 19, 2023 | Uncategorized
It was on February 19, 1942 that the Second World War came for Italian Americans. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 making many in our community “enemy aliens.” The order primarily targeted Japanese Americans who lived on the West...
by John Mancini | Feb 12, 2023 | Uncategorized
Recent polls among Republican voters are finding that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is a serious contender against Donald Trump for 2024. DeSantis hasn’t officially entered that race but even the left-leaning media envisions his entry. The Florida governor has...
by John Mancini | Feb 5, 2023 | Uncategorized
One of our duties at the Institute is to monitor the media – how the Italian heritage is perceived and broadcast across the nation. The Learning Channel (TLC) has a popular series called My 600-lb Life, about morbidly obese Americans who decide to avert early death by...
by John Mancini | Jan 29, 2023 | Uncategorized
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) recent showed the 1962 Italian film The Four Days of Naples, the true story of the Neapolitan uprising against German occupation in 1943. I had seen it as a teenager at a Brooklyn theater when it first came out. It was one of the...
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