Italian Americans know precious little of their heritage except what they learned from family or the movies. Each generation becomes more ignorant than the next until our legacy becomes one of ‘cooks & crooks,’ as I have often observed.
Sadly, there is no remedy to reverse this decline as I have realized in some 40 years of trying. Every quarter seems to work against our legacy. Unlike Greek or Jewish religions, Catholicism is not proprietary to Italians. In fact, the Church has separated us from our classical Roman heritage by making Rome the ‘evil empire.’ Hollywood has projected that same image for decades on the silver screen. And we know what’s been done to Columbus, to make even our children confused about his legacy.
But there is a lifeline. I present to you a condensed version of our Italian heritage, that once absorbed can reawaken the spirit that made the world a better place and can make you a prouder Italian American.
1. Italy was the first nation-state of Europe, geographically unified from Sicily to 
the Alps, by Rome and its fellow Italic allies in 222 B.C.—one year before China!
2. The secret of the Roman Empire was that a united Italy had a population of 4 to 6 million people who manned the legions and colonized Europe and the Mediterranean. We had the beef!
3. Modern Italy owes everything to Emperor Caesar Augustus who made Italy the center of the Roman Empire and completed the unification of Italy. The treasure and talent of three continents poured into Italy enriching it in every field—a diversity of talent and DNA not found anywhere else in the world until the United States.
4. The Catholic Church owes its existence and power to ancient Rome. Church organization and doctrine were overseen by the Roman emperors from Constantine onward. The popes assumed the duties of the emperor after the fall of the empire and throughout the Middle Ages.
5. Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Latin are classified as the ‘Italic Language Family.’
6. The Renaissance began in Italy because it contained the infrastructure, archives, and genetic pool bequeathed by classical Italy.
7. The Age of Exploration depended on Italian investors as well as Italian explorers even though they were sponsored by countries like Spain, France, and England. Columbus unified the globe and made the Americas European, Christian, and progressive. “America was in part an Italian enterprise.” – Historian German Arciniegas.
8. The Risorgimento (‘resurgence”) movement in the 1800s was inspired to recreate Roman Italy. “Rome…was the dominant thought and inspiration of my whole life.” –Giuseppe Garibaldi. It was a Reunification.
9. The American children of Italian immigrants from the 1910s to the 1950s made the greatest contributions to the United States in business, agriculture, sports, politics, entertainment, music, and military service in two world wars. They also used brains and brawn to uplift their fellow Italians with newspapers, histories, banks, cultural centers, and monuments.
10. A small group of Hollywood filmmakers from the 1960s until today destroyed the progress made in the previous generations by fictionalizing and glamorizing criminals and linking them to Italian American culture. They cheated the current generations of a deep classical heritage.
These points have been expanded upon in print and videos available in our Research Library and Galleria Italica. More importantly, they are available in any library in nonfiction books about the Italian people.
Pity the generation that has no interest in these facts. -JLM
You nailed it, too many Italian Americans are ignorant of their Italian heritage and culture.
Unlike other ethnic groups we do not have schools to educate young Italian Americns. Most Italian Ameicans are related to italian food and stop there. What a shame!
Prof./Cav. Philip J. DiNovo
I agree with you wholeheartedly. I have tried to tell my children and grandchildren about Italian history and culture, but it seems to fall on deaf ears. I believe that it is a little naive to feel that Italian youth will be interested in reading this condensed version of our Italian heritage. As I have commented here many times before, that I believe the best way to have our youth feel proud of our heritage is through the media. Today, people get most of their information through the media. It will take money, time, talent and effort to produce and air short clips regarding Italian contribution to America and the world. To put Italians in a positive light and bring back out Italian pride will not be an easy task. This may be the last hurrah for Italian Americans and their children to realize how the genius of Italians contributed to America and the world.
Dr. P V Buffa
I agree with 99% of what you’ve written, and I can understand your comment of, “Sadly, there is no remedy to reverse this decline as I have realized in some 40 years of trying.”
I believe there IS a remedy; it will just take ALL of us.
– We continue to do what we can to promote our Italian heritage wherever and whenever we can.
– We continue to plant seeds in the hearts and minds of the next generation. (I wasn’t as enthusiastic about my heritage until later in life.)
– On social media platforms, we flood our pages with information like that which was shared in this blog post.
– We get involved in as many Italian cultural events as we can because we can do more together.
– We remind ourselves that it’s a privilege to carry on our rich heritage and traditions as a way of honoring our ancestors and all their sacrifices.
My family’s heritage won’t stop with me. What the next generation does with it is up to them, but I will hold the torch high while I can. If enough of us do that, who knows if those sparks will become a flame?
Keep in mind my favorite Italian quote: Finche’ c’e’ vita, c’e’ speranza. (As long as there is life, there is hope.)
The Institute’s AURORA program for young children–akin to curricula taught in Jewish, Polish, and Greek schools–was, is, and remains a template for how to shape our youngsters. The major organizations were approached but weren’t interested.
The Italic equivalent of Birthright Israel, where hundreds (not just a selected few) of Italian Americans are sent to visit Italy, was also touted by us. Again, no interest, though a single trip to Italy is the best way to inspired young adults/professionals.
Finally, our magazine, Italic Way (where luckily, you can still access back copies on our website: italic.org, then click on Research Library) changed adults into activists.
Need I repeat myself? Neither the major organizations, nor even the Italian government, was interested. The same for academic institutions across the US.
The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars but in ourselves. We are cursed by a fatal lack of leadership, both locally and nationally. All we have are dedicated individuals like the three wonderful people above who “get it”–that is, we need leaders to lead.