Bill Giovinazzo 10/19/23 Bill Giovinazzo 10/19/23

Tony Bennette

This past July, we bade farewell to Tony Bennett, one of the all-time great crooners. Tony Bennett, an artist of whom Frank Sinatra said “is the best singer in the business.”

Bill Giovinazzo 10/9/23 Bill Giovinazzo 10/9/23

The Iconic, Columbus

Bill Giovinazzo 4/25/22 Bill Giovinazzo 4/25/22

The Godfather, The Offer, and Disinformation

Bill Giovinazzo 4/16/22 Bill Giovinazzo 4/16/22

Easter, Holy Week, & Sorrento

Bill Giovinazzo 3/15/22 Bill Giovinazzo 3/15/22

Ukraine & Partisan Flowers

Bill Giovinazzo 9/28/21 Bill Giovinazzo 9/28/21

The Many Saints of Newark

Bill Giovinazzo 9/6/21 Bill Giovinazzo 9/6/21

In Praise of Labor

Bill Giovinazzo 8/23/21 Bill Giovinazzo 8/23/21

100 Days of Dante

This September 14th will be the seven-hundredth anniversary of the death of the greatest poet of western literature, Dante Alighieri.

This claim of Dante’s position in literature, is more than the assertions of an Italophile. Eric Auerbach, the author of Mimesis, said that there is Dante and then all others. Michael Dirda notes that in the early part of the twentieth century, “one important writer after another argues strongly for Dante – even above Shakespeare – as the central figure of European literature, the linchpin of the great classical and Christian tradition of learning and culture.” For Italians, Italian-Americans, and Italophiles Dante bears even greater importance than the rest of the Western World.

Bill Giovinazzo 6/13/21 Bill Giovinazzo 6/13/21

Anti-Italianism is Alive & Well

I was called a Guinea this week. I never had that happen before. I was also told that when the Nazis marched into Italy Hitler told them to not defecate (that was not the word he used) in the streets because he wanted to starve the Italians. That one was a real head-scratcher for me. Were Germans in the habit of doing something like that in the streets? I also wondered if the Germans ever really marched into Italy as they did in France or Poland. I thought the two countries were allies. I guess you shouldn’t expect a bigot’s comments to make any sense.

Bill Giovinazzo 6/13/21 Bill Giovinazzo 6/13/21

The Origins of Valentine’s Day

They say Italians didn’t invent love, we just perfected it. We can, however, take credit for inventing Valentine’s day. Now, I will admit although the cynical assertion that the holiday was started by chocolatiers, florists, and greeting card companies to help bump sales during the post-holiday slump has some appeal, it isn’t correct. If you are one of these naysayers that dreads having to buy flowers and find a coveted seat at an overbooked restaurant every mid-February, blame the Italians.

Bill Giovinazzo 6/13/21 Bill Giovinazzo 6/13/21

Mussolini and the Catholic Church

In my post last week, Italians and the Catholic Church, I noted how there was a split between the church and the newly unified nation of Italy. Since that time, however, the two have reconciled their differences. No one knows more about this reconciliation than Mrs. Soile Lautsi.

Bill Giovinazzo 6/13/21 Bill Giovinazzo 6/13/21

Italy and the Catholic Church

In my post last week, The Catholic Church and Italian Americans, I had noted how Italians of the Mezzogiorno saw the Catholic Church as yet another institution living off the sweat of the working class. I had also referred to the fact that after Italians unified the country making for the first time in history an actual Italy, that the Vatican reached out to Catholics around the world as well as foreign governments to work towards destabilizing the newly formed Italian Government.