The Annotico Report

"Life and Death on the Italian Front: 1915-1919" by Mark Thompson

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:36:00 +0000

If you are one who thought the trench warfare of the Western Front in WWII was horrific, and it was, ponder that Italy lost more combat deaths in proportion to population than did Britain, 689,000 from 35 million, versus 743,000 out of 46 million.

The bulk of the battles were between the Alps and the Adriatic. Imagine, "the flat or gently rolling horizon of Flanders being tilted at 30 or 40 degrees," with Arctic weather, with Austrian troops holding the high ground behind rows of barbed wire and a parapet of stone.

BOOK REVIEW: For territory and status

Washington Post ; Joseph C. Goulden; Thursday, July 2, 2009

LIFE AND DEATH ON THE ITALIAN FRONT 1915-1919

By Mark Thompson

Basic Books, $30, 480 pages

Reviewed by Joseph C. Goulden

Of all the military stupidities that mark mankind's gory history, the Italian front campaign of World War I is sui generis. Seldom, if ever, have so many men shed so much blood for no discernible reason other than political ego, fed into battle by criminally incompetent "leaders."

The cover photograph of Mark Thompson's book vividly illustrates the absurd impossibility of what the Italian army was asked to do. It shows soldiers clambering out of a trench and moving up an ice-and-snow coated slope that juts skyward at about a 45-degree angle - a route that would challenge an ice-climber, much less men burdened with a 45-pound kit.

As a fairly keen student of military history, I must admit that my knowledge of the Italian front pretty much starts and stops with Ernest Hemingway's novel "A Farewell to Arms." Now, Mr. Thompson shows us that the true story is even more horrible than fiction, with a work that garnered no less than eight "best book of 2008" from British publications last year - and deservedly so, for his writing is so vivid, so detailed, so sobering that a reader must take an occasional break from the horrors he describes.

Learn, as I did, that Italy lost more combat deaths in proportion to population than did Britain, 689,000 from 35 million, versus 743,000 out of 46 million. The bulk of the battles were between the Alps and the Adriatic. Imagine, Mr. Thompson writes, "the flat or gently rolling horizon of Flanders tilting at 30 or 40 degrees," with Austrian troops holding the high ground behind rows of barbed wire and a parapet of stone.

When the war began, Italy initially leaned toward the Germans. However, early French victories caused rethinking, and Italy chose to war against remnants of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and reclaim scattered northern territories lost over the years. France and Britain agreed to support the desired territorial concessions when the war ended. Their chief interest, of course, was that the Italians would draw enemy troops from the Western front.

According to Mr. Thompson, Italy's grounds for war were slim. "Alone among the major Allies, Italy claimed no defensive reason for fighting. It was an open aggressor, intervening for territory and status. The Italians were more divided over the war than any other people. But for a minority, the cause was whiter than white: Italy had to throw itself into the struggle, not only to extend its borders, but to strengthen the nation. In the furnace of war, Italy's provincial differences could blend and harden into a national alloy."

One feels pity for the fighting men. Mr. Thompson writes, "Even by the standards of the Great War, Italy's soldiers were treated harshly. The worst-paid infantry in Western Europe were sent to the front sketchily trained and ill-equipped, sacrificed to the doctrine of the frontal assault, ineptly supported by artillery."

The Italian commander was a dolt named Gen. Luigi Cadorna, whose military "thinking" - is the word deserved? - was summarized in an 1895 pamphlet, 25,000 copies of which were distributed to his officers at the outset of war. He wrote, "The offensive is profitable and almost always possible, even against mountainous positions that appear to be impregnable, thanks to dead ground that permits (a) advance under cover, (b) deployment towards the flanks or weak points, unseen by the enemy." Anyone who has completed a basic infantry training course perhaps would disagree.

Gen. Cadorna dithered for months while the Austro-Hungarian forces built reinforced mountain positions that commanded the battlefield. The bulk of the fighting was along the Isonzo, a river that rose in the Alps and flowed down to the Adriatic. Incredibly, Cadorna launched no less than 12 separate assaults over this ground, all of them repelled. Even the defenders were repelled by the carnage. Mr. Thompson recounts the Austrian captain who shouted to the Italians, "Stop, go back! We won't shoot anymore. Do you want everyone to die?" He cites a host of similar incidents.

But the Italians had no choice. Gen. Cadorna decreed that units which flinched in battle were subject to punishment by decimation - 1 man in 10 would be shot. Names were pulled out of a hat to pick those who faced the firing squad.

Punishments were arbitrary - one man was executed because he deigned to salute an officer without taking his pipe from his mouth. Italy mobilized roughly the same number of men as did Britain; it executed 3 times as many.

Soldiers who were captured were considered deserters, and food packages from families were withheld. Of the 600,000 Italians captured, more than 100,000 died. Mr. Thompson observes, "Statistically, it was more dangerous for the infantry to be taken prisoner than to stay alive on the front line."

A colonel named Angelo Gatti wrote after the Battle of Caporetto, which cost the Italians 12,000 lives, 30,000 wounded, and 294,000 prisoners, "This whole war has been a heap of lies. We came into the war because a few men in authority, 'the dreamers,' could not accept that you don't do politics by dreaming. Politics is reality. You don't stake the future of a nation on a dream, a yearning for reinvigoration. It is idiotic to imagine that war can be a means of healing."

Incredibly, even amidst the carnage, an ambitious Italian politician offered a positive view of the war, looking forward to the day when Italy would be governed by a "trenchocracy, a new and better elite." His name was Benito Mussolini, and what he did to Italy is another story for another day.

Joseph C. Goulden is writing a book on Cold War intelligence.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/02/for-territory-and-status/

Obit: Fred Travalena: 66; Master Impressionist and Singer

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:44:00 +0000

Of Italian and Irish heritage, Travalena was born Oct. 6, 1942, in the Bronx, N.Y., and grew up on Long Island.

The boyish-faced entertainer is said to have had a repertoire of more than 360 celebrity, political and cartoon-character voices, including Clint Eastwood, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, Henry Kissinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Johnny Mathis, Bruce Springsteen and Luciano Pavarotti.In one part of his act, Travalena physically and vocally "morphed" into all of the U.S. presidents, from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush.

Dubbed "The Man of a Thousand Faces" and "Mr. Everybody," Travalena emerged as an impressionist in the early 1970s. Over the next three decades, he was a headliner in Las Vegas, Reno and Atlantic City, performed in concerts across the country, appeared on "The Tonight Show" and other talk shows and starred in his own specials, such as "The Many Faces of Fred Travalena" and "Comedy in the Oval Office."

Fred Travalena Dies at 66; Master Impressionist and Singer

'The Man of a Thousand Faces' could voice Bugs Bunny as well as Luciano Pavarotti. Travalena, a Vegas performer, talk-show regular and star of his own specials, died of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Los Angeles Times; By Dennis McLellan; June 30, 2009

Fred Travalena, the master impressionist and singer whose broad repertoire of voices ranged from Jack Nicholson to Sammy Davis Jr. to Bugs Bunny, has died. He was 66.

Travalena, who began treatment for an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2002 and saw the disease return last July after going into remission in 2003, died Sunday at his home in Encino, according to his publicist, Roger Neal. Travalena also was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2003 but had been in complete remission since then.

Dubbed "The Man of a Thousand Faces" and "Mr. Everybody," Travalena emerged on the national stage as an impressionist in the early 1970s.

Over the next three decades, he was a headliner in Las Vegas, Reno and Atlantic City, performed in concerts across the country, appeared on "The Tonight Show" and other talk shows and starred in his own specials, such as "The Many Faces of Fred Travalena" and "Comedy in the Oval Office."

The boyish-faced entertainer is said to have had a repertoire of more than 360 celebrity, political and cartoon-character voices, including Clint Eastwood, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, Henry Kissinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Johnny Mathis, Bruce Springsteen and Luciano Pavarotti.

"I've known impressionists who have reached a wall where they can't do any more" voices, Travalena told the Omaha World-Herald in 1996. "I don't have that problem, thank God."

In one part of his act, Travalena physically and vocally "morphed" into all of the U.S. presidents, from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush.

He also was known to sing "Have I Told You Lately" in various voices, including Kermit the Frog ("Have I told you lately that I love you"), Katharine Hepburn ("Have I told you there's no one else above you") and Frank Sinatra ("You fill my heart with gladness . . . ")

The imaginative entertainer even did Sinatra imitating Boy George.

Of Italian and Irish heritage, Travalena was born Oct. 6, 1942, in the Bronx, N.Y., and grew up on Long Island.

When it came to impressions, he had an early role model: his father, a onetime entertainer who sang and performed comedy and impressions.

"He got me doing church shows when I was just a little kid," Travalena recalled in a 1998 interview on "The Crier Report" on Fox News Network. "I used to do an impression of [singer] Johnny Ray."

In school, he said, he learned to deal with bullies by imitating a Martian voice or Porky Pig. And he found he could deflect a teacher's question of why he didn't do his homework by making her laugh with his impression of Crazy Guggenheim, the goofy character played on TV by Frank Fontaine during the "Joe the Bartender" sketches on Jackie Gleason's show.

During a stint in the Army's Special Services, Travalena won the All-Army Entertainment Award for best singer and once impersonated President Lyndon Johnson's voice on the base theater's answering machine to announce the movies and show times.

Although he told the New York Times in 1989 that he was "headed for the commercial art field," Travalena said, "That wasn't getting me up in the morning, and I couldn't get show business out of my mind."

At one point after launching his career as a singer, he and his singer wife, Lois, were performing together at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington.

As recounted in a 1989 New York Times story, Lois surprised her husband by spontaneously asking the audience, "How'd you like to hear Fred do impressions?"

He went on to impersonate Dean Martin, Paul Lynde, Jim Nabors and Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

"People liked it," he later said.

Travalena reportedly was performing at a resort hotel in the Catskills when impressionist Rich Little was in the audience. After the show, Little congratulated Travalena and later recommended him for a spot in British celebrity journalist David Frost's show at the Riviera in Las Vegas.

Travalena joined Little, Frank Gorshin and other impressionists as a regular on the "ABC Comedy Hour," the 1972 comedy-variety show, which was known in reruns as the "ABC Comedy Hour Presents the Kopycats."

In 1974, he opened for Shirley MacLaine at the MGM Grand and later opened for other Vegas performers such as Mathis, Davis, Wayne Newton and Andy Williams.

Travalena's talent for vocal mimicry led to a side career dubbing in clean dialogue to replace offensive words in feature films bound for airing on television -- including Pesci in "Casino," De Niro in "Brazil" and Sean Connery in "Just Cause."

Travalena made occasional guest appearances on TV series such as "The Love Boat" and "Murphy Brown," as well as on "Hollywood Squares" and other game shows. He also did voices on a number of TV cartoon series and appeared in the 1978 movie "The Buddy Holly Story."

In recent years, he turned to songwriting and singing and released CDs, including "We All Need Love Today" and "The Spirit of America."

Travalena received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005.

He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Lois; sons Fred IV and Cory; and a granddaughter, Sophia.

Funeral services will be private.

A public memorial service is being planned.

dennis.mclellan@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-fred-travalena30-2009jun30,0,653197.story

Film" Quiet Chaos": Dad Is Distracted by Life, Work and a Motherless 10-Year-Old Daughter

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:13:00 +0000

This Italian sad-dad melodrama is a global (or at least a midlevel European art film) phenomenon.

Dad Is Distracted by Life, Work and a Motherless 10-Year-Old Daughter

New York Times

By A. O. SCOTT

June 26, 2009

The wanton slaughter of mothers and the consequent struggles of grieving single dads has been an epidemic in Hollywood for a long time, and not only in movies starring John Cusack. "Quiet Chaos" a new film from the Italian director Antonello Grimaldi, demonstrates that the sad-dad melodrama is a global (or at least a midlevel European art film) phenomenon. If the film is less maudlin and more psychologically astringent than most American specimens, this is partly a matter of Mr. Grimaldi?s restraint and partly thanks to Nanni Moretti?s sharp and unpredictable turn as the dad in question.

Mr. Moretti, who wrote the screenplay for ?Quiet Chaos? with Laura Paolucci and Francesco Piccolo, is essentially a comic actor, but he is no stranger to bereavement as a subject. In "The Son's Room " which he directed (and which won the top prize in Cannes in 2001), he played a father sent reeling by the sudden death of a child. Here, as Pietro, a top executive in a multinational media company, he does not so much reel as blink, stumble and brood. He also has lunch and, since this is a midlevel European art film, some rough sex with a beautiful woman (Isabella Ferrari).

The film begins with a brutal, jolting coincidence. At the beach near their summer villa Pietro and his brother, Carlo (Alessandro Gassman) rescue two women from drowning, an event that is nearly simultaneous with an unspecified accident (it seems to involve cantaloupe) that kills Pietro's wife, Lara. He is left with their 10-year-old daughter, Claudia (Blu Yoshimi), and a welter of confused emotions and reactions.

At the office things are heating up as Pietro and his colleagues (including the wonderful French actors Charles Berling and Hippolyte Girardot) debate a possible merger with another company, but Pietro abandons work, spending his days loafing in a small park near Claudia's school. As the days stretch into weeks, he becomes something of a neighborhood character, a benign, eccentric presence whose watchful, diffident manner arouses sympathy and mild curiosity from other habitués of the area.

At its best "Quiet Chaos" lives up to its name, enmeshing its protagonist in a complicated, lived-in reality that obstructs his attempts to clear his head and organize his feelings. He passes the time by making mental lists ? airlines he's flown, houses he's lived in ? but other people keep interrupting him.

His wife's sister, Marta (Valeria Golino), shows up with her own minor melodramas and with some interesting background about Pietro's marriage. Guys from work seek him out with business updates, and he handles everything with a distracted air that hovers between worry and amusement.

Thankfully, Mr. Grimaldi and the screenwriters have no great lessons to impart or messages to deliver, and the film, while uneven ? sometimes too on the nose, sometimes anecdotal and diffuse ? is generally absorbing, thanks mostly to the quality of the acting. There is one climactic moment that is both jarring and wonderful in ways that have nothing to do with the story; it's a surprise twist of casting, not of plot. I don't want to spoil anything, but let's just say that ?Quiet Chaos,? in addition to its other, rather modest virtues, earns a special place in the movie-trivia pantheon, midlevel European art-film division, since it is perhaps the only film in which two consecutive winners of the Palme d'Or appear on screen together.

QUIET CHAOS

Opens on Friday in Manhattan.

Directed by Antonello Grimaldi; written by Nanni Moretti, Laura Paolucci and Francesco Piccolo; director of photography, Alessandro Pesci; edited by Angelo Nicolini; music by Paolo Buonvino; production designer, Giada Calabria; produced by Domenico Procacci; released by IFC Films. At the IFC Center, 323 Avenue of the Americas, at Third Street, Greenwich Village. In Italian and French, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 48 minutes. This film is not rated.

WITH: Nanni Moretti (Pietro Paladini), Valeria Golino (Marta), Isabella Ferrari (Eleonora Simoncini), Alessandro Gassman (Carlo), Blu Yoshimi (Claudia), Hippolyte Girardot (Jean Claude), Charles Berling (Boesson) and Ester Cavallari (Lara).

http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/movies/26quiet.html?ref=movies&pagewanted=print

British Vote Italians the Worst Drivers in Europe - Italians Vote British Dumbest

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:49:00 +0000

The British Travellers polled: 14% said they never brushed up on local driving regulations, 45% had misread a map and got lost, 38% had argued with their partner while at the wheel, and 11% had lost their temper with other drivers while on foreign roads. The British. Self Portrait is NOT very becoming.

British Travellers Vote Italians the Worst Drivers in Europe

London Mail Online
June 29, 2009

British travellers regard Italians as the worst drivers in Europe, with the French not much better, a survey out today has shown.

More than 30% of the 819 British travellers polled by TripAdvisor reckoned that contending with the locals' driving style was the biggest challenge of motoring abroad.

As many as 35% of those surveyed were nervous of driving abroad, while 14% said they never brushed up on local driving regulations.

The survey also showed that 45% had misread a map and got lost, 38% had argued with their partner while at the wheel and 11% had lost their temper with other drivers while on foreign roads.

While Italian and French drivers were considered the worst and second-worst in Europe, the Greeks were third worst, followed by motorists in Turkey, Spain and Portugal. Those polled put British drivers as seventh-worst.

TripAdvisor spokesman Luke Fredberg said: "Hitting the open road can be one of the most rewarding and cost-effective ways of exploring a new destination, but some travellers find the notion of a relaxing road trip vanishes as soon as they encounter unfamiliar driving laws and styles."

These are the countries with the worst drivers in Europe, according to the poll:

1. Italy; 2. France; 3. Greece; 4. Turkey; 5. Spain; 6. Portugal; 7. UK; 8. Malta; 9. Belgium; 10. Russia

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1196263/British-travellers-vote-Italians-worst-drivers-Europe.html

Spike Lee Did Wrong Thing in "Do the Right Thing"

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:26:00 +0000

Spike Lee did the Italian American Community a GREAT Injustice when he filmed his "Do the Right Thing" in the 1980s, wherein Spike portrays Italian Americans as racists, and approves the use of Slurs and Violence against Sal, an Italian Pizza Owner who declined one patron's request to add to Sal's Italian Wall of Fame, any photos of any other persons. Spike considered Sal's declining a customers the right to redecorate Sal's Parlor a justification for a Riot.

'Do The Right Thing' Still Asks Burning Questions

The Washington Post; From The Associated Press; By Jesse Washington; Sunday, June 28, 2009

NEW YORK -- Twenty years later, the trash can is still crashing through America's window.

At the climax of Spike Lee's 1989 drama "Do The Right Thing," the eternal battle between love and hate teeters on a razor's edge. The young black man Radio Raheem has been choked to death by white police after a fight with a Brooklyn pizzeria owner. A seething crowd gathers in front of the shop.

Lee's character, Mookie, a black pizza deliveryman, stands between the crowd and the shop. He's shoulder-to-shoulder with Sal, the shop's Italian owner. They exchange looks of confusion, betrayal and regret.

The crowd stares at Mookie. He's on the wrong side. Mookie moves over to his brothers, rubs his face, wrestling with the weight of the moment. Then he decides.

"Hate!" screams Mookie as he hurls the metal can through the pizzeria's plate glass window. The dam bursts. The mob destroys the shop in a frenzy that was both inevitable and completely avoidable....

Lee responded by adding two quotes at the end. The first, from Martin Luther King Jr., preached nonviolence: "The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind." The second, from Malcolm X, advocated self-defense against "bad people" who block racial progress: "I don't even call it violence when it's self-defense, I call it intelligence."

"It got misconstrued that it had to be either Dr. King or Malcolm," Lee said. "It was never meant to be that you had to pick one or the other. These are the two most prominent African-American leaders of the 20th century, and they both wanted the same thing."

[RAA: A Good Communicator dousn't have to explain himself !!]..

The riot is sparked by the militant Buggin' Out, who demands that Sal add some black people to his all-Italian Wall of Fame. Buggin' notes that Sal's all-black and Puerto Rican clientele provides his livelihood. Sal responds that if Buggin' wants to make decorating decisions, he should start his own business.

Buggin' tries to organize a boycott, but his black friends have no problem with Sal or his wall. He finally enlists Radio Raheem, whose enormous boom box blasting Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" has offended both Sal and various black residents.

"They both had good points," said Lee, with a challenging smile.

[RAA: WRONG: If you don't like the Decor, or the Food, or the Service at an establishment, you don't burn down the place, you take your business elsewhere. Yhe main aggitator couldn't even enlist enough support for a boycott of Sal's ITALIAN Pizza Parlor....

Throughout the film, Sal has expressed his love for the neighborhood and its residents. Sal has been lenient with Mookie's meandering deliveries, even saying he's "like a son to me." Sal's shop would have been closed when Buggin' and Raheem arrived if he hadn't unlocked it to feed a few neighborhood kids.

But after Raheem doesn't turn down his radio, and Buggin' calls Sal a guinea, Sal drops the bomb - "Nigger!" - and destroys the radio with a bat. Raheem attacks Sal, the police arrive, and Raheem ends up dead.

"One of the biggest criticisms about 'Do The Right Thing' is, 'Spike Lee didn't provide the answer to end racism and prejudice.' That's not my job, I don't have the answer for that. The film was to show what I felt at the time were issues that needed to be dealt with."

But still no answers, 20 years later?

"It doesn't matter," Lee said. "I'm not gonna sit here and lie and say I have the answer to end racism and prejudice in America."

[RAA: Spike Not only do you Not have the Answers, You don't even Know the Question, or a Proper Construct of the Problem. ]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/28/AR2009062800823_pf.html

The Historic Underground Cities of Naples

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:29:00 +0000

The Greeks, as part of Grecia Major, in 470 B.C. created Neapolis; the name means "New City" and emerged over time as Napoli, or in English, Naples. During the Past 2500 years, the City has been both buried several times, and at other times has burrowed into the ancient layers of "tufo" (a combination of volcanic rock and ash from Mount Vesuvius) to create a lost world: of catacombs and caves, Roman roads, markets, and an extensive system of underground aqueducts, early Christian burial sites, and World War II air-raid shelters.

Deep in the Heart of Historic Naples

Explorer Magazine; By Joan Motyka ; June 14, 2009

The narrow, winding streets of Naples reverberate with the sounds of impatient car horns, barking dogs and rat-a-tat-tatting scooters. Opulent Baroque churches and elegant palazzi open onto a landscape covered over in graffiti, and patrons in cafes keep a close eye on their bags as they chatter over pizza or the delicate, shell-like local pastries called sfogliatelle. Under towering Vesuvius, the city has a feel of chaos, congestion, frenetic activity.

But make your way beneath the espresso-fueled cacophony, and you discover the deep and ancient silence of a lost world: of catacombs and caves, Roman roads and markets, World War II air-raid shelters, and early Christian burial sites of faded frescoes and mosaics.

Naples is built layer over layer out of the compacted volcanic ash and rock that Italians call tufo. Porous and easily manipulated, it was used by the Greeks, starting around 470 B.C., as they built their Neapolis; the name means "New City" and emerged over time as Napoli — or, in English, Naples. Later the Romans used the tufo quarries for an extensive system of underground aqueducts. Early Christians dug caves to worship and bury their dead. Neapolitans of various centuries used the cavities as dumping grounds. Only the cholera epidemic of the mid-1880s shut down this underground city, but in World War II it was in use again, as shelter from the heavy bombing that decimated the city.

Most of Naples has a honeycombed underground, and slipping into it " and back through time " is as easy as descending a flight of stairs or turning a corner. Guided tours help travelers explore, and in a few places, where the excavations are parts of museums or churches, you can wander on your own.

This layered, partially exposed history lends Naples a haunting, mysterious quality. And there is a figurative underground as well as the literal one: the Camorra criminal network represents one use of the term, but the famed archaeological museum illustrates another sort of concealment. Its Secret Cabinet, long kept under lock and key and still off limits to unescorted children, is a collection of sex-themed ancient objects, many excavated from the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, that were long considered too obscene to be brought into public view.

One group showing the way underground is the Libera Associazione Escursionisti Sottosuolo, whose tour, in Italian with English handouts, leaves a few times a week from the well-known Gambrinus bar in the Piazza Trieste e Trento. But on our visit in March, my husband, Greg Miller, and I chose to explore with Napoli Sotterranea, which runs several 90-minute English-language tours a day from the city’s historic heart.

Our guide, 23-year-old Alex Fusaro, whose other job is as a drummer in an indie band, led our small group down a flight of stairs in an apartment building and into the first-century B.C. Here, he told us, were the remains of a Greco-Roman theater with a capacity of 6,000 where Nero is said to have sung through an earthquake. Some 30 families live above it now. We gazed from a large open space at ancient, intricately constructed arches in what had once been the backstage.

Wandering on, through the interconnected passageways below the bustling Neapolitan streets, we saw aqueducts that had been used for 23 centuries and then descended 121 steps deeper to the air-raid shelters. In 1941, almost 250 miles of tunnels and waterways under Naples were cleared of water and refuse, most wells were sealed, and stairways were built and electricity installed. The Neapolitans who waited in the shelters as bombs pounded overhead left markers of their tense days and weeks there: drawings on walls of bombs and planes, the word "aiuto" (help). We saw toy cars and beds, a sewing machine and a radio that were later found in the shelters. Then we gripped lighted candles and navigated a chilly long, low and narrow passageway where water once flowed, to reach Greek and Roman cisterns. The largest, our guide told us, was built by the Romans in the second century A.D. and used until the 19th century; it is high and boxy, carved from the yellow tufo.

Afterward, it was a welcome contrast to re-enter the 21st century at Scaturchio, on the Piazza San Domenico Maggiore, with an espresso and sfogliatelle. Crowds wandered nearby in the Via San Gregorio Armeno, jampacked with shops that make and sell the traditional Neapolitan nativity scenes, known as presepi.

Also not to be missed in this part of the city are the remarkable Greco-Roman ruins beneath the 18th-century cloister at San Lorenzo Maggiore. We descended a staircase and wandered entirely alone for 90 minutes in a buried world that was once at street level: the remains of a first-century A.D. Roman market, a barrel-vaulted shopping arcade and a road with remnants of ruins, including a domed oven of an ancient bakery and a communal laundry with tubs and drains.

Within walking distance is the Church of Santa Chiara, which is known for its elegant majolica cloister but also has archaeological ruins discovered after World War II, including Roman thermal baths, a sauna area and parts of an aqueduct made of tufo. New wooden walkways lead around the area, and identifying plaques are in four languages, including English.

Another day, we took an English-language tour at the catacombs of San Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples, which began behind the Church of Madre del Buon Consiglio and just past a courtyard overlooking clotheslines, lemon trees and scooters. Down below we walked, first seeing small chapels, which held the bodies of wealthy families; in one "cubico," a haunting fresco from the sixth-century A.D. memorialized a family with a young child. The bodies of humbler citizens were placed in wall niches that are now empty. We walked through ancient arches amid a silent mustiness, and learned that this catacomb’s earliest use was in the second century A.D. Here, too, is the site of three early churches, the oldest dating to the fourth century; two of them were built underground. We saw a painting of Adam and Eve from the third century A.D. and symbols of Greek goddesses. Near the exit was a fresco of a bishop from the ninth or 10th century, found about a year ago.

Later, in the Sanità district, we toured the Catacombs of San Gaudioso " named for an African bishop who arrived in Naples in 439 " and saw skulls set into wall niches with frescoes below them depicting the dress of their owners’ professions: a judge’s robes, a knight with a sword. In the women’s area, the frescoes showed only long dresses: "The women had no professions, of course," our guide explained.

Another day, we sought out that other long-hidden element: the erotic collection in the Secret Cabinet at the archaeological museum. This room has been open since 2000, but heavy locks on chains remain on the iron doors, near a notice saying children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult. (We saw no one checking.)

The collection is rich and graphic. To ancient Greeks and Romans, the phallus was a symbol of prosperity, fecundity and good luck, and they depicted it in statues and oil lamps, on vases and paintings, even outside shops. Representations of heterosexual and homosexual activities were part of the decoration of homes and gardens, and the exhibition includes erotic paintings of mythological scenes, marble sculptures of nymphs and satyrs, and erotic images from gardens, boudoirs and brothels.

As we wandered, a dozen Italian schoolchildren, mostly boys, entered with a young, bearded instructor. They looked about 12 and moved fast, wide-eyed and clutching notebooks. One of the few girls looked stunned.

At the exit, the boys erupted in giggles. When several returned about a half-hour later, sans instructor, a middle-aged woman visitor peering at a stone phallus gave them a sharp look, and they fled.

NAPLES FROM THE GROUND UP

Many major airlines fly from Kennedy Airport in New York to Naples Capodichino Airport with one stop, although Eurofly has direct fights a few days a week. Round-trip fares for travel in July started at about $750 in an Internet search last week. The airport is about five miles from the city center, and the Alibus, to Piazza Garibaldi and Piazza Municipio, costs 3 euros, or $4.35 at $1.45 to the euro. Once in Naples, you’ll find a good walking city and extensive public transportation including buses, subways and funiculars.

WHAT TO DO

Underground tours are given in English by Napoli Sotterranea (Piazza San Gaetano, 68; 39-081-296-944; www.napolisotterranea.org; 9.30 euros) and in Italian with English handouts by Libera Associazione Escursionisti Sottosuolo (39-081-400-256; www.lanapolisotterranea.it; 10 euros).

Catacombs tours are at Catacombs of San Gennaro (Via Capodimonte, 13; 39-081-741-1071; 5 euros) and Catacombs of San Gaudioso (Piazza Sanità, 14; (39-081-544-1305; www.santamariadellasanita.it; 5 euros).

Other archaeological sites include San Lorenzo Maggiore (Via dei Tribunali, 316; 39-081-211-0860; www.sanlorenzomaggiorenapoli.it; 5 euros) and Santa Chiara (Via Santa Chiara, 49; www.santachiara.info; 5 euros).

The Secret Cabinet collection of erotic art is in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (Piazza Museo Nazionale, 19; 39-081-292-823; 10 euros).

"Fighting Nun" Publishes "Pope Pius XII -- An Anthology on the 70th Anniversary of Coronation"

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:57:00 +0000

Sister Margherita Marchione of the Religious Teachers Filippini, and ardent defender of Pius XII, over her life has written 60 books. Most of them are passionate defenses of Pius against contrived accusations that Pius XII did too little to save Jews in World War II.

The accusations are so spurious and are thoroughly discredited by an impressive and extensive list of highly respected and placed Jews,that it can only be surmised that those accuser authors were interested more in sales and profits than truth, or had malevolent intent.

Another interesting theory is that it is a calculated move to try to keep the attention on the Holocaust in Europe, and off the Holocaust in Palestine, and the current Pope from

Pius XII, in his position of Shepherd of his Catholic flock, should have been more concerned about the Protection of those of his Catholic Faith rather than jeopardizing members of his Flock.

If Critics expected more, then why have they not been calling out the Jewish High Council,for the last Forty Years, to stop the Genocide and Concentration Camps of Palestinians by Israeli??????

Defending Pius XII; A Pope for All Priests

"Fighting Nun" Publishes New Book on Wartime Pontiff

By Edward Pentin

ROME, JUNE 18, 2009 (Zenit.org).- She may be 87, but Sister Margherita Marchione isn't even close to retiring.

The indomitable sister of the Religious Teachers Filippini, and ardent defender of Pius XII, has just published a new book on the wartime Pontiff which she launched in Rome last month. Called "Pope Pius XII -- An Anthology on the 70th Anniversary of Coronation," the work is just one of over 60 she has written. Most of them are passionate defenses of Pius against accusations he did too little to save Jews in World War II.

Meeting Sr. Margherita is always a pleasure. A loveable, tiny nun whose broad New Jersey accent matches her tough resilience in clearing Pius's name, she ardently defends Pope Pacelli's holiness and innocence at every opportunity. And her historical research is supported by a growing number of prominent figures, including the highly reputed Jewish historian Sir Martin Gilbert and -- increasingly -- rabbis and ordinary Jews.

She began campaigning to clear Pius XII's name after hearing of the many Jews who were saved through hiding in the convent of her Order in Rome. She also has especially fond memories of meeting the wartime Pope in 1957. "Just that one time I met him, I can still visualize him," she recalls. "Just thinking about him, I can hear his voice -- there was something about him that was so saintly."

But this isn't mere sentiment: She backs up these claims with hard facts. He was not silent, she says, as his condemnations of Nazism were regularly reported in L'Osservatore Romano and on Vatican Radio; she stresses that whatever the bishops or apostolic delegations did in Europe to save Jews was on the Pope's instructions; moreover, she argues that all the convents, monasteries and the Vatican itself opened their doors to hide Jews because Pius XII had asked them to. "What more could he have done?" she asks.

What Sr. Margherita and many others have been trying to counter is the so-called black legend – a smear campaign masterminded by communists in the Soviet Union after the War to discredit the ardently anti-Communist wartime Pope. He was not silent during the war, says Sr. Margherita and others in his defense, but kept a low profile in order to avoid aggravating the situation of the victims.

Sr. Margherita also is quick to brush away one criticism which often comes up: that other Catholics who lost their lives to save Jews, and who have not yet been beatified, should be elevated to the altars before Pius XII who survived the war. She insists Pius XII did lay down his life -- he risked his own self and was prepared to die (a recent testimony has given credence to rumors that the Nazis secretly planned to kill or kidnap Pius in 1943). "Can you picture the kind of fear he experienced day in and day out?" she says. "What would happen to him and the Catholic Church, the Vatican? He had a terrible responsibility."

But according to the Congregation for Saints' Causes, no convincing miracle attributed to Pius XII (necessary for beatification) has yet to been found, which is why Sr. Margherita is keen to press Catholics to pray for one. She gave me a 1958 prayer card in the hope that ZENIT readers will do their part. It reads:

"O Jesus, Eternal Pontiff, you deigned to elevate to the supreme dignity your Vicar here on earth, your faithful servant Pius XII and to him you gave the grace of being an intrepid defender of the faith and a courageous asserter of justice and of peace, a devoted glorifier of your Holy Mother and a luminous model of charity and of all the virtues. Deem worthy now, in view of his merits, to grant us the grace that we ask of you. We are certain of his efficacious intercession and we hope to see him one day glorified on your altars Amen."

Sr. Margherita -- nicknamed the "Fighting Nun" -- remains ever hopeful that she will see Pius XII beatified in her lifetime. And it's a hope coupled with characteristic good humor. In a recent telephone call to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, she told him: "I'll be back in the fall for the beatification."

"Pope Pius XII -- An Anthology on the 70th Anniversary of Coronation" is published by Libreria Editrice Vaticana as a bilingual edition in Italian and English. For more information, visit www.sistermargherita.com/articles.htm.

* * *

Getting the "Little Picture"

When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was proclaimed Pope, I vividly remember the joy of a priest friend standing next to me in St. Peter's Square. "Cardinal Ratzinger," he said, "was a "priest's cardinal.'" It struck me then as an interesting insight, which now appears to be spot on.

Tomorrow, Benedict XVI will inaugurate the Year for Priests -- the first time since the Congregation for Clergy was founded at the Council of Trent that the Church has paid such special attention to priests.

It's just one of many examples of how much he values the priesthood. Elsewhere, Benedict XVI's esteem can be seen most clearly in his addresses to priests and seminarians. Frequently, on such occasions he has spoken about reaffirming a priest's identity, about being "a humble but real sign of the one, eternal Priest who is Jesus."

More specifically, he has given them firm words of guidance and encouragement, especially in light of today's pressures and challenges. Addressing clergy in Warsaw, Poland, on May 25, 2006, he reminded them that the faithful "expect only one thing from priests: that they be specialists in promoting the encounter between man and God. The priest is not asked to be an expert in economics, construction or politics. He is expected to be an expert in the spiritual life."

He added: "In the face of the temptations of relativism or the permissive society, there is absolutely no need for the priest to know all the latest, changing currents of thought; what the faithful expect from him is that he be a witness to the eternal wisdom contained in the revealed word." He later stressed that Christ needs priests "who are mature, virile, capable of cultivating an authentic spiritual paternity. For this to happen, priests need to be honest with themselves, open with their spiritual director and trusting in divine mercy."

But the most emphasized point of Benedict XVI has been for priests to live Christ-centered lives. In a speech he gave last year to young people and seminarians at the St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers, New York, he urged them to deepen their friendship with Jesus the Good Shepherd, and talk heart-to-heart with him.

"Reject any temptation to ostentation, careerism, or conceit," he said. "Strive for a pattern of life truly marked by charity, chastity and humility, in imitation of Christ, the Eternal High Priest, of whom you are to become living icons. […] Remember that what counts before the Lord is to dwell in his love and to make his love shine forth for others."

His main concern is that priests be centered on the Eucharist -- something that was clear from his first speech as Pope, in the Sistine Chapel in April 2005: "The ministerial Priesthood was born at the Last Supper," he said. "All the more then must the life of a priest be "shaped' by the Eucharist."

Four years on since that momentous day when we watched Benedict XVI's election in St. Peter's Square, I asked my priest friend to expand on why he described the Pope at his election as being a "priest's cardinal." "He is obviously a priest first and a big cheese second -- someone who doesn't lose sight of the little picture," he said. "Too many bishops lose sight of the little picture, and say "We can't worry about that, we have a big conference/Mass/organization to worry about.'"

"Look how he has introduced kneeling for holy Communion," continued the priest, who comes from Britain and serves in an Italian parish. "A very powerful gesture, but it is not really a gesture, it is just normal if you respect the Eucharist… Look at his horror of child abuse: He looks at it from the position of a priest sullied by association rather than a CEO. Look at the way he preaches to parishes and children: He doesn't grandstand for the cameras or for the press, he speaks directly and is not easily distracted.

"Look at the lifting of the [SSPX] excommunications: an act of profligate generosity, which flew in the face of fashion, but then a priest is always profligate with mercy. … Look at his idea of creating a smaller Church: Any priest who is not an administrator will know that to renew a parish there is much to cut away."

The priest concluded: "He is obviously interested in Truth and wants others to be interested in the Truth too, not in him. Priests don't have vocations to be bureaucrats, they just become them, weighed down and demoralized by relentless diocesan 'big picture' initiatives, and some bishops who want a quiet life. But he has never lost sight of why he wanted to be a priest, of what helps and of what doesn't."

* * *

Edward Pentin is a freelance writer living in Rome. He can be reached at: epentin@zenit.org

Italy Seizes $134 Billion in Counterfeit US Bonds from Smugglers

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:55:00 +0000

Two Japanese tourists were detained by Italian Police attempting to smuggle $ 134 BILLION in Counterfeit US Bearer Bonds, into Switzerland, that were poor quality fakes. The Speculation of who is behind this Scam is running rampant, from N. Korea to Al Qaeda and all possibilities in between.

U.S. Treasury says Bonds Seized in Italy are Fakes

Reuters, By David Lawder; Fri June 19, 2009

WASHINGTON, June 19 (Reuters) - A purported $134 billion in U.S. government bearer bond certificates seized by police near the Italian-Swiss border are fake, the U.S. Treasury said on Friday.

"Based on the photograph we've seen online, they are clearly fake. And not even good fakes," said Stephen Meyerhardt, a spokesman for the Treasury's Bureau of the Public Debt.

He added that there is only $105 million in Treasury bearer bond securities outstanding, so the $134 billion amount seized far exceeds the universe of outstanding securites.

The Treasury's determination confirmed the suspicions of Italy's Guardia di Finanza, or tax police, which seized the bond documents in early June from two Japanese nationals at the Chiasso rail station in northern Italy, close to the border with Switzerland.

The bonds comprised 249 "Federal Reserve" bonds of $500 million nominal value each and 10 "Bond Kennedy" with a $1 billion nominal value, the tax police said on June 4 in a statement on the seizure of the bonds.

A senior tax police officer said Italian authorities also were checking whether the two travellers' Japanese documents are genuine.

In the last two years, Italian authorities have seized some $800 million of U.S. bonds in the Como area in northern Italy.

Meyerhardt said U.S. government investigators believe that the seized bond forgeries were made using commercial photo software to alter the image of a $100 bill to increase the amount into millions or billions and add what appear to be interest coupons.

He said this appears similar to scams that the Treasury uncovers fairly frequently involving bearer and other securities issued in the 1930s and 1940s. Images of similar counterfeit bonds appear on a Treasury website aimed at combating fraud, here .

The case has been turned over to the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates and combats counterfeiting of the U.S. currency. A spokesman for the Secret Service was not immediately available for comment.

The forgery determination came a day after the Treasury warned U.S. banks against the potential for increased currency counterfeiting activity and large cash transactions by North Korea in an effort to evade U.N. sanctions aimed at cutting off financing for Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and missile programmes.

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1944623120090619

Alitalia Airline Map Forgets Sicily - Unbelievable

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:25:00 +0000

How can Italy's Airline forget to put Sicily on its Tourist Map??? Even an Italian Sarah Palin couldn't be that Dumb!!!

Italy is subdivided into 20 regions Five of these regions (Sicily, Sardinia, Aosta, Friuli, Trentino) have a special autonomous status that enables them to enact legislation on some of their local matters. Sicily is the largest of all the 20 Regions of Italy.

Northern Italy was inconsequential as compared to Sicily and Southern Italy, and Kingdom of the Two Sicilies) until the Italian Renaissance. Sicily and Southern Italy have been Nothing since the "Reunification" of Italy.

Sicilians have long Labored for Separation from Italy. Is this a sign, that the time is now???

No One Seems to Know the Importance of Sicily to Mediterranean History, that was predominated in Western Civilization until the Anglo Saxons were Civilized by the Italian Renaissance. Mediterranean Culture borrowed from the Mid East Civilizations of Babylon and Persia. I'll try to remedy that unawareness of SICILY later in this Report. Sicily has a FASCINATING HISTORY being THE STRATEGIC Location in the Mediterranean, since Sicily CONTROLLED all EAST-WEST Mediterranean Trade !!!!!!!!! The Distance between Sicily and Africa is just 90 miles !!!!!!

Alitalia Sorry as Sicily Vanishes

BBC NEWS; June 18 2009

*Italian airline Alitalia has apologised after its in-flight magazine printed a map leaving off the Mediterranean island of Sicily. *

The magazine's editor blamed the error on a printing mistake, and pledged not to let it happen again.

A passenger told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that she noticed Sicily was missing - while she was on a flight to the island.

Smaller islands, such as Sardinia, were in the right place on the map.....

===================================================================================================================

SICILY

How many people know that Sicily (and Southern Italy) as Magna Grecia (admittedly singular Colonies tied to Cities in Grecia Minor) FAR outstripped Grecia Minor in Culture and Learning. Archemedes was born and died in Syracuse. Pythagoras, established his School of Philosophy in Sicily, after he escaped the stifling, suffocating Grecia Minor. The List of Intellects that choose Grecia Major , or were born there is staggering .

The Peloponnese got their civilization from the Minoan civilization in Crete and then the Mycenean civilization on the mainland. Later, City-States emerged across the Greek Peninsula. Athens and Sparta led the way in repelling the Persian Empire in a series of battles. Both were later overshadowed by Thebes and eventually Macedon, with the latter under the guidance of Alexander the Great uniting and leading the Greek world to victory over the Persians.

Cicero described Siracusa as the greatest and most beautiful city of all Ancient Greece. Syracuse became desired by the Athenians, who during the Peloponnesian War set out on the Sicilian Expedition. Syracuse gained Sparta and Corinth as allies, and after the failure of the Athenian expedition, the Athenian army and ships were destroyed, with most of the survivors being sold into slavery.

While Syracuse controlled much of Sicily, there were a few Carthaginian colonies in the far west of the island. When the two cultures began to clash, the Punic Wars erupted, the longest wars of antiquity. Greece began to make peace with the Roman Republic in 262 BC and the Romans sought to annex Sicily as its empire's first province. Rome intervened in the First Punic War, crushing Carthage so that by 242 BC Sicily had become the first Roman province outside of the Italian Peninsula. The Second Punic War, in which Archemedes was killed, saw Carthage trying to take Sicily from the Roman Empire. They failed and this time Rome was even more unrelenting in the annihilation of the invaders; during 210 BC the Roman consul M. Valerian, told the Roman Senate that "no Carthaginian remains in Sicily".

Sicily served a level of high importance for the Romans as it acted as the empire's granary.When Verres became governor of Sicily, the once prosperous and contented people were put into sharp decline, in 70 BC noted figure Cicero condemned the misgovernment of Verres in his oration. The period of history where Sicily was a Roman province lasted for around 700 years in total.

As the Roman Empire was falling apart, a Germanic tribe known as the Vandals took Sicily in AD 440 they soon lost these newly acquired possessions to another East Germanic tribe in the form of the Goths. The Ostrogothic conquest of Sicily (and Italy as a whole) under Theodoric the Great began in 488; although the Goths were Germanic, Theodoric sought to revive Roman culture and government and allowed freedom of religion. The Gothic War took place between the Ostrogoths and the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire. Sicily was the first part of Italy to be taken under general Belisarius who was commissioned by Eastern Emperor Justinian I. Sicily was used as a base for the Byzantines to conquer the rest of Italy, with Naples, Rome, Milan and the Ostrogoth capital Ravenna falling within five years. However, a new Ostrogoth king Totila, drove down the Italian peninsula, plundering and conquering Sicily in 550. Totila, in turn, was defeated and killed in the Battle of Taginae by the Byzantine general Narses in 552.In 535, Emperor Justinian I made Sicily a Byzantine province.

As the power of the Byzantine Empire waned, Sicily was invaded by the Arab forces of Caliph Uthman in the year 652. By the end of the 7th century they had captured the nearby port city of Carthage, allowing the Arabs to build shipyards and a permanent base from which to make more sustained attacks.

Byzantine Emperor Constans II decided to move from the capital Constantinople to Syracuse in Sicily during 660, the following year he launched an assault from Sicily against the Lombard Duchy of Benevento, which then occupied most of Southern Italy.

When Emperor Michael II in 826, reprimanded Euphemius the commander of the Byzantine fleet of Sicily, Euphemius killed General Constantine and then occupied Syracuse; he in turn was defeated and driven out to North Africa. He offered rule of Sicily over to Ziyadat Allah the Aghlabid Emir of Tunisia in return for a place as a general and safety; a Muslim army of Arabs, Berbers, Spaniards (then an Islamic region), Cretans and Persians was sent The conquest was a see-saw affair met with much resistance. It took over a century for Byzantine Sicily to be conquered. Syracuse held for a long time, Taormina fell in 902, and all of Sicily was eventually conquered by Arabs in 965.

The Arabs initiated land reforms which in turn, increased productivity and encouraged the growth of smallholdings, a dent to the dominance of the landed estates. The Arabs further improved irrigation systems. The Palermo suburb of Al-Khalisa (Kalsa) contained the Sultan's palace, baths, a mosque, government offices, and a private prison.

Throughout this reign, revolts by Byzantine Sicilians continuously occurred, especially in the east, and parts of the island were re-occupied before being quashed. Agricultural items such as oranges, lemons, pistachio and sugar cane were brought to Sicily. As dhimmis, the native Christians were allowed freedom of religion, but had to pay an extra tax to their rulers.

However, the Emirate of Sicily began to fragment as intra-dynastic quarreling fractured the Muslim regime. By the 11th century, mainland southern Italian powers hired Norman merecenaries, under Roger Guiscard. In 1068, Roger and his men defeated the Arabs at Misilmeri, but the most crucial battle was the siege of Palermo, which led to Sicily coming completely under Norman control by 1091.

Roger II of Sicily, was ultimately able to raise the status of the island to a kingdom in 1130, that included Apulia and Calabria. During this period the Kingdom of Sicily was prosperous and politically powerful, becoming one of the wealthiest states in all of Europe; even wealthier than England.

Pope Innocent IV crowned Angevin Dynasty duke Charles I as the king of both Sicily and Naples. Strong opposition due to mistreatment and taxation saw the local peoples of Sicily rise up, leading in 1282 to an insurrection known as the War of the Sicilian Vespers, which eventually saw almost the entire French population on the island killed. The Sicilians turned to Peter III, Kingdom of Aragon for support after being rejected by the Pope. However , the French retained control of the Kingdom of Naples. The wars continued until the peace of Caltabellotta in 1302, which saw Peter's son Frederick III recognised as king of the Isle of Sicily, while Charles II was recognised as the king of Naples.Sicily was ruled as an independent kingdom by relatives of the kings of Aragon until 1409 and then as part of the Crown of Aragon.In October of 1347, in Messina, Sicily, the Black Death first arrived in Europe.

The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 saw Sicily assigned to the House of Savoy, but was almost immediate TRADED for the island of Sardinia with Emperor Charles VI of the Austrian Habsburg Dynasty

While the Austrians were concerned with the War of the Polish Succession, in 1733, a Bourbon prince, Charles from Spain was able to conquer Sicily and Naples. At first Sicily was able to remain as an independent kingdom under personal union, while the Bourbons ruled over both from Naples. However the advent of Napoleon's First French Empire saw Naples taken and Bonapartist Kings of Naples were instated. Ferdinand III the Bourbon was forced to retreat to Sicily which he was still in complete control of with the help of British naval protection. Following this Sicily joined the Napoleonic Wars, after the wars were won Sicily and Naples formally merged as the Two Sicilies under the Bourbons. Major revolutionary movements occurred in 1820 and 1848 against the Bourbon government with Sicily seeking independence; the second of which, the 1848 revolution was successful and resulted in a period of independence for Sicily.

After the Expedition of the Thousand led by Giuseppe Garibaldi, Sicily became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1860 as part of the risorgimento. The conquest started at Marsala and was finally completed with the Siege of Gaeta where the final Bourbons were expelled and Garibaldi announced his dictatorship in the name of Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia. An anti-Savoy revolt pushing for Sicilian independence erupted in 1866 at Palermo: this was quelled brutally by the Italians within just a week. The Sicilian (and the wider mezzogiorno ) economy collapsed, leading to an unprecedented wave of emigration. Organisations of workers and peasants known as the Fasci Siciliani, who were leftist and separatist groups rose and caused the Italian government to impose martial law again in 1894.

It is felt by Most Southern Italians and Sicilians that the Reunification of Italy, was actually the Occupation and Expoloitation of Sicily and Southern Italy, by Northern Italy. It is based on at least two claims . (1) That the Treasury of Northern Italy was Bankrupt, while it raided the RICH Treasury in Naples. (2) the Northern Italians looked down upon the Southern Italians and Sicily as "moorish" and worthy only to be exploited by Northern Lanlords.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicily

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Graecia

New Jersey Soccer Star Giuseppe Rossi is Living Out His Italian Dream

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:09:00 +0000

They are calling Giuseppe Rossi a "Benedict Arnold" for choosing to play for Italy rather than the US.

Yet, the U.S. National Team used the likes of midfielder Earnie Stewart (Netherlands) and defender Thomas Dooley (Germany), among others, who were vital members of several World Cup sides. They were born in other countries to at least one parent who was an American. The much-hyped Freddy Adu, who at 14 became the youngest player to play in MLS in 2004, was born in Ghana and emigrated to the U.S. Adu picked the U.S. (he is on the Confederations Cup roster.)

New Jersey Soccer Star Giuseppe Rossi is Living Out His Italian Dream - So what's the problem?

The New York Daily News; By Michael Lewis: Wednesday, June 17th 2009,

Villa/Getty

Clifton's Giuseppe Rossi came off the bench to spark Italy past the U.S. in a Confederations Cup match from South Africa.

Rossi turns down opportunity to join the U.S. national team to play for the Azzurri

PRETORIA, South Africa - Some American fans think New Jersey's Giuseppe Rossi is soccer's answer to Benedict Arnold.

Fans are upset that Rossi decided to go with his heritage instead of the country of his birth to play with the green, white and red of Italy rather than the red, white and blue of the USA

While it hurts that Rossi came off the bench to strike twice to help turn a U.S. lead into a 3-1 loss in the FIFA Confederations Cup on Monday - and that he probably will continue to fill nets for Italy in the future - the Clifton product did nothing wrong. And he is certainly not a traitor.

Rossi, simply put, is the one who got away. But what the 22-year-old did happens all the time throughout the world because FIFA rules allow players to perform for the country of their birth or heritage.

Just look at the Irish National Team, which traditionally has used players with Irish blood and background who live in the British Isles. Last year the Barbados Football Federation placed a notice on the front page of its Web site asking for players of Barbadian heritage worldwide to play for its National Team.

Once a player makes that decision and appears in an international match, he cannot change his mind. He's locked into that country forever.

Rossi was courted by former U.S. national coach Bruce Arena a few years ago, but he said no thanks. He opted to play in Italy's Serie A, a much more challenging league than the MLS, where Rossi could stretch his game, with his sights set on the Azzurri.

American soccer fans shouldn't protest too much because this rule works both ways. The U.S. has used it to its advantage throughout the past two decades.

How do you think the U.S. National Team got an opportunity to use the likes of midfielder Earnie Stewart (Netherlands) and defender Thomas Dooley (Germany), among others, who were vital members of several World Cup sides? They were born in other countries to at least one parent who was an American.

The much-hyped Freddy Adu, who at 14 became the youngest player to play in MLS in 2004, was born in Ghana and emigrated to the U.S. Adu picked the U.S. (he is on the Confederations Cup roster), although he has yet to fulfill his promise at the international level.

There is even a player on the U.S. roster for this tournament who made this decision less than a year ago.

Midfielder Jose Francisco Torres, a 21-year-old who is a starter for Mexican club Pachuca, has a Mexican father and an American mother.

Last September he chose to play for the U.S. and made his international debut less than a month later.

Whether he becomes a regular or pans out, it remains to be seen.

But let's say Torres scores for the U.S. or makes a big play in a vital win over Mexico. We'll certainly hear similar protests and complaints from south of the Rio Grande.

I wonder if American soccer fans will complain about that.

Soccerwriter516@aol.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_sports/2009/06/17/2009-06-17_theres_nothing_wrong.html

"Bitter Spring: A Life of Ignazio Silone" by Stanislao G. Pugliese

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:04:00 +0000

"Silone has left us on a threshold, asking us to pursue an ideal of justice that may be illusory, Our only salvation is in a compassionate encounter with human beings who suffer and struggle against a common fate."

BOOK REVIEW

'Bitter Spring: A Life of Ignazio Silone'

Decoding the man, who fought injustice but was ensnared in scandal, isn't so easy.

The Los Angeles Times; By Wendy Smith; June 14, 2009

Bitter Spring
A Life of Ignazio Silone
Stanislao G. Pugliese
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 426 pp., $35

"Fontamara" and "Bread and Wine," Ignazio Silone's passionate novels of peasant life and political awakening, are iconic works for anyone who cherishes the literature of social commitment. Inspired by primitive Christianity and revolutionary socialism, Silone portrayed an oppressed, impoverished people's longing for justice and freedom with a unique moral sensibility. An implacable enemy of Mussolini, he helped found the Italian Communist Party in 1921. Yet by the time he began writing fiction from exile in Switzerland, he was engaged in a torturous debate over Stalinist tactics that resulted in his expulsion from the party in 1931. For the rest of his life, Silone would speak and write for those who rejected the horrors of both fascist and communist totalitarianism but who also strove to disentangle Western democracy from its embrace with rapacious capitalism.

Like George Orwell and Albert Camus, Silone was and is a patron saint of the independent left, yet his reputation has been dogged by accusations of spying for the CIA and informing for the fascists. One of the many virtues of Stanislao Pugliese's astute biography is that the author makes us understand that it's impossible to render simple judgments about those accusations. Pugliese, who has written two previous books about Italian antifascism, persuasively identifies Silone as "an enigmatic yet representative figure of the twentieth-century intellectual swimming in the rough seas of history and ideology."

He plunged into those seas from the timeless world of Southern Italy's rural peasantry. The 1915 earthquake that killed his mother and 3,500 others in his village of Pescina underscored 14-year-old Secondino Tranquilli's experience of life as essentially tragic, subject to the vicissitudes of nature. The crooked distribution of funds intended for earthquake victims reinforced his contempt for a corrupt ruling class and the Catholic Church that buttressed its authority.

Secondino became a Socialist at 17 and joined the Communist underground at 21. He crisscrossed Europe doing clandestine work and was jailed many times; he adopted the name Ignazio Silone in a Spanish prison. He accepted, for a while, the need for ruthlessness and may have acted as a double agent on orders from his superiors. But he was increasingly repulsed by the party's suppression of dissent. He had rejected the church because it preached unquestioning submission; he would ultimately reject communism for the same reason.

In Switzerland, freed from the "Bolshevist nightmare," he discovered his true calling: "a writer, tied to no other discipline except that which my thinking and conscience master." His novels would reassert his solidarity with the peasants whose sufferings had made him a radical and would bring the fight against injustice to life for the thousands who would never read a Marxist tract. But after World War II began, Silone could not remain politically aloof. He rejoined the Italian Socialist Party and from its foreign office in Zurich worked with Allen Dulles of the U.S. Office of Strategic Services to funnel money to antifascist groups in Italy. His link to Dulles, later head of the CIA, gave rise to charges that Silone had spied for the Americans. The truth, Pugliese shows, was considerably more complicated.

Silone and his fellows on the noncommunist left were desperately seeking a new path. They knew the Soviet Union's pose as champion of the oppressed was a lie; the Moscow show trials and Siberian prison camps made clear what they could expect from communist rule. But they had no desire to reconstitute the prewar European order and restore to power an elite that had failed to resist, and in some cases collaborated with, fascism. They hoped for a democratic socialism that would foster economic equality and political liberty, and the New Deal seemed a reasonable approximation of that ideal.

Silone's activities from the war's end until his death in 1978 show a man who refused to believe the world was divided into "two irremediably opposed camps" and who encouraged the quest for freedom wherever it was found. As editor of the journal Tempo Presente, he denounced the Soviet invasion of Hungary and McCarthyism in the United States. He published Willy Brandt's protest against the construction of the Berlin Wall and verbatim transcripts of the Union of Soviet Writers' expulsion of Boris Pasternak. He supported Algeria's war for independence and African Americans' struggle for civil rights.

Silone's books were suppressed behind the Iron Curtain, and he was on the State Department's list of "undesirable" visitors. Accepting the 1969 Jerusalem Prize for literature, he mentioned "the most unhappy fate" of Palestinian refugees and expressed "hope that the Israeli people, who have known such bitter sorrow, will eventually propose an equitable and generous solution to this sad situation."

By then, Tempo Presente was defunct. Silone had been given proof of what he must always have suspected: that the journal's funds from the Congress for Cultural Freedom, in fact, came from the CIA. He shut it down in 1968, the same year he declared his sympathy for the student protesters taking to the streets across the Western world. Silone, like those protesters, could not create independent institutions to support an independent progressive movement.

Silone memorably characterized himself as "a Socialist without a Party, a Christian without a Church." Pugliese's judicious narrative does not devote an undue amount of space to Silone's private life or psychological makeup, but the biography captures with telling details a meditative, skeptical and ironic man, deeply rooted despite all his cosmopolitan experience in a peasant culture resigned to disappointment in an imperfect world. This cogent portrait makes it easy to understand why the writer in his later years was increasingly drawn to the quiet spirituality of those who sought to live in personal harmony with God, reflected in his play "The Story of a Humble Christian" and in his close study of Simone Weil's writings.

"Silone has left us on a threshold, asking us to pursue an ideal of justice that may be illusory," Pugliese writes. "Our only salvation is in a compassionate encounter with human beings who suffer and struggle against a common fate." Silone defined his bedrock faith with even more simplicity and modesty in his final, unfinished work, a novel about a contemporary nun who, when asked on her deathbed if she still believes, replies, "I hope. What remains is hope."

Smith is the author of "Real Life Drama: The Group Theatre and America, 1931-1940."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-ignazio-silone14-2009jun14,0,2833173.story

UN Declares 2009, "The International Year of Astronomy", in part, to Recognize Galileo

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:49:00 +0000

Joseph N. Grano, Chair of the The Constantino Brumidi Society, argues persuasively that if the UN decides that it is important enough to declare 2009, "The International Year of Astronomy", and recognize Galileo for his first use of the telescope for astronomical observations 400 years ago, that the Italian American Delegation to Congress should be moved to introduce and sponsor a Resolution to honor Galileo and his achievement.

GALILEO: THE FATHER OF MODERN SCIENCE, HIS TELESCOPE and
THE ITALIAN AMERICAN DELEGATION TO CONGRESS

The Legacy of Galileo Symposium

From: The Franklin Institute reservations@fi.edu
Date: Wed, 10 June 2009

The United Nations has declared 2009, "The International Year of Astronomy", in part, to recognize Galileo for his first use of the telescope for astronomical observations 400 years ago.

Would it not have been possible for the Italian American Delegation to Congress to introduce and sponsor a resolution to honor Galileo and his achievement?

While the Congress cannot stop the negative stereotyping of Italian Americans, it can honor the positive achievements of eminent Italians and Italian Americans. After all, it was Galileo who began the scientific enterprise upon which our modern civilization is based.
He is the father of modern science.

It would seem to me reasonable that honoring an eminent Italian of Galileo's stature is something the 200 members and associate members of the Italian-American Delegation to Congress would wish to do and are capable of doing. But first, someone has to ask them to do it.

I know of only one Italian-American organization that is specifically honoring Galileo this year and that is the Italian Heritage and Culture Committee of New York.

By the way, Galileo's first telescope is now in Philadelphia, PA, this summer, as part of an exhibit on Galileo at the Franklin Institute.

Joseph N. Grano, Chair
The Constantino Brumidi Society
Washington, D.C.
joegrano@netzero.com

Obit: Sam Butera: 81, Saxophonist Sidekick of Louis Prima and Keely Smith

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 09:22:00 +0000

Sam Butera, a hard-swinging tenor saxophonist, formed a rowdy and successful onstage partnership with entertainers Louis Prima and Keely Smith in the 1950s. Both Prima and Butera were of Italian ancestry from New Orleans.

Butera, was a composer ("Sing, Sing, Sing"), trumpeter, singer and irrepressible stage performer, a combination of Louis Armstrong and Jerry Lewis, and in 1952 was named the country's outstanding teenage jazz musician by Look magazine.

He lived to see his music influence a later generation of musicians as varied as David Lee Roth, who copied the Prima-Butera arrangement of "Just a Gigolo"/''I Ain't Got Nobody," and Brian Setzer, who won a Grammy for his cover of "Jump, Jive, An' Wail."

Jazz, Pop Sax Player Sam Butera Dies

From AP to The Times-Picayune - NOLA.com - New Orleans,LA,; Adam Berstein; June 4, 2009

(AP) — WASHINGTON-Sam Butera, a hard-swinging tenor saxophonist who formed a rowdy and successful onstage partnership with entertainers Louis Prima and Keely Smith in the 1950s, died June 3 at a hospital in Las Vegas. He was 81.

He had Alzheimer's disease, according to a report in the Las Vegas Sun.

Prima, nearly 20 years older than Butera, was a composer ("Sing, Sing, Sing"), trumpeter, singer and irrepressible stage performer, a combination of Louis Armstrong and Jerry Lewis. His career was on the wane when he teamed in 1954 with Butera, who a few years earlier had been named the country's outstanding teenage jazz musician by Look magazine. Both men were New Orleans natives of Italian heritage.

Butera was enjoying a long engagement at a New Orleans club owned by Prima's brother before he and Louis Prima began a musical union in 1954 that lasted nearly two decades. They recorded hit albums for Capitol Records, became nightclub fixtures from Las Vegas to New York and appeared in movies and on television.

Prima was married to Smith, a smoky-voiced balladeer with a page-boy haircut, until their rancorous divorce in the early 1960s. Prima's fifth wife, Gia Maione, later joined the act as singer.

Backed by a small band called the Witnesses, the Prima-Smith-Butera partnership recreated jazz and pop standards in a dazzlingly inventive array of styles and tempos: swing jazz, "shuffling" upbeat jump blues, Italian tarantellas and Dixieland. Some of their best-known titles included "Just a Gigolo"/''I Ain't Got Nobody" (done as a medley), "Pennies From Heaven," ''That Old Black Magic" (which won a Grammy Award), "Jump, Jive, An' Wail" and "When You're Smiling."

They billed themselves as "The Wildest Show in Vegas"-customers at one time were given chairs with wheels so they could roll around as the band played. The act could be crude, with Prima belching, making suggestive gestures and rewriting lyrics to emphasize their most bawdy possibilities.

The musicians appeared in performance to crack each other up, but Butera said the spontaneity was well-rehearsed. For example, as Smith sang a plaintive rendition of "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good," Prima interjected in a raspy bellow, "I've got it good and it ain't bad!"

Mostly, Butera took a supporting role to the headliner Prima but was at times allowed to shine in a singing role, notably on "There'll Be No Next Time," a jokey, blues-inflected number about a man who goes to jail for "failure to support" his faithless wife.

Prima had complications from surgery for a benign brain tumor in 1975, and he lingered in a coma until his death in 1978. Afterward, Butera continued to perform with a band he called The Wildest. He lived to see his music influence a later generation of musicians as varied as David Lee Roth, who copied the Prima-Butera arrangement of "Just a Gigolo"/''I Ain't Got Nobody," and Brian Setzer, who won a Grammy for his cover of "Jump, Jive, An' Wail."

Butera was born Aug. 17, 1927, in New Orleans, where his father owned a meat market and played guitar and concertina. He later recalled that at 7 his father took him to see a big band and his father asked which of the instruments he liked best.

"The saxophones were closest, so I pointed to the saxophones," Butera told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "The next day, I had a horn."

He married his childhood sweetheart, Vera, who survives him, as do their four children.

In addition to his work with Prima, Butera enjoyed a prolific side career performing with entertainers including Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr., with whom he recorded the acclaimed 1965 album "When the Feeling Hits You!" He also put out several albums under his own name, including "The Rat Race" (1960) and "The Whole World Loves Italians" (1996).

He told interviewers that with companions such as Sinatra, he lived hard much of his life, with a typical day starting with two beers and ending with a bottle of Courvoisier.

Prima was the most influential figure in his life.

"The whole thing is entertainment, man," Butera told a reporter. "I learned that from him. You can get up on stage, do all the singing and talking you want, but if you don't know how to laugh and get happy with the people, it's nothing."

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/national-8/1244163479110400.xml&storylist=louisiana

Italian 14-15 yr Old Trio Sing "O Sole Mio" - And Italian Singer List

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:14:00 +0000

I was formerly in the Music Business, but can hardly stand to listen to American Music now a days, with the nonsense Hip Hop, and screeching Rock, and the soothing Voices of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, are fifty years gone.
Eureka. Why did it take me so long to discover that Italy has SO many good Singers singing Marvelous Ballads, and even though I don't understand Italian, they are so soothing.
But before I suggest a List of Italian Singers that you should "Search For" on "You Tube" or "Truevo", please listen to this Amazing young Italian Trio. Susan Boyle I love you,
but be scared. :)

http://www.truveo.com/hq-ti-lascio-una-canzone-o-sole-mio-trio/id/4176982730

A few of my Favorites are:
Fabrizio Morro, Andrea Bocelli, Antonio Cupo, Eros Ramazzotti, Gianni Palazzo, Luca Dirisio, Paolo Meneguzzi, Nek, Nyco Nicholas, Raoul Bova, Tiziano Ferro, Anna Tatangelo, Beatrice Antolini, Carla Bruni, Gabriela Cilmi, Michela Quattrociocche, Sabrina Salamo, Laura Pausini, Esmerelda Lirazioguilli, Charice Pempengco.

A More Extensive, But Not Complete List, with some Duplicates:

ITALIAN SINGERS

A
Mario Abbate
Anna Maria Alberghetti
Alice (Italian singer)
Domenico Allegri
Ambra Angiolini
Renzo Arbore
Livia d'Arco
Arisa
Serena Autieri
B
Don Backy
Claudio Baglioni
Leonora Baroni
Adriana Basile
Giovanna Bersola
Anna Bon
Mario Biondi (musician)
Giulio Cesare Brancaccio
Matteo Brancaleoni
Rossano Brazzi
Caterina Bueno
Ciccio Busacca
Fred Buscaglione
Carlo Buti
C
Peppino di Capri
Sergio Caputo
Albano Carrisi
Maria Carta
Marco Carta
Ceppaflex
Felice Chiusano
Carlo Colombara
Giovanni Luca Conforti
Romina Contiero
Cesare Cremonini
Cristiana Cucchi
Simone Cristicchi
Lorella Cuccarini
D
DJ Lhasa
Nino D'Angelo
Augusto Daolio
Enrico De Angelis
Nicola Della Valle
Eduardo di Capua
Luca Dirisio
Valerie Dore
Johnny Dorelli
E
Elisa (singer)
F
Nino Ferrer
Giusy Ferreri
Giovanni Lindo Ferretti
Tiziano Ferro
Rosario Fiorello
Riccardo Fogli
Sergio Franchi
Mike Francis (musician)
Giorgia Fumanti
G
Rino Gaetano
Peppino Gagliardi
Nunzio Gallo
Alessandra Mirka Gatti
Enrico Gentile
Enzo Ghinazzi
Tata Giacobetti
Greta Accatino
Giovanni Francesco Grossi
I
In-Grid
J
Iacopo Jacomelli
Jeffrey Jey
L
Elena Ledda
Fabio Lione
Robertino Loreti
Lucrezia (singer)
M
Maler (musician)
Giovanni Battista Mancini
Giuseppe Mango
Lucia Mannucci
Mariolino Barberis
Marracash
Sandy Marton
Giovanni Mascellaro
Gianni Meccia
Mario Merola
Milva
Mina (singer)
Amedeo Minghi
Domenico Modugno
Girolamo Montesardo
N
Nada (Italian singer)
O
Silvia Olari
Natalino Otto
Moni Ovadia
P
P. Lion
Nevio Passaro
Laura Pausini
Piero Pelų
Max Pezzali
Luigi Piccioli
Alessandro Piperno
Violante Placido
Pamela Prati
Patty Pravo
Gigi Proietti
R
Alberto Rabagliati
Eros Ramazzotti
Mino Reitano
Francesco Renga
Lella Ricci
Raffaele Riefoli
Ettore Rigotti
Rinaldo dall'Arpa
Dave Rodgers
Claudia Rusca
S
Saba Anglana
Gigi Sabani
Sabrina Salerno
Marisa Sannia
Virgilio Savona
Cristina Scabbia
Valerio Scanu
Spagna
T
Achille Togliani
Gianni Togni
Tonina Torrielli
V
Claudio Villa (singer)
W
Diana Winter
d
Gigi D'Alessio

ITALIAN VOCALISTS
A
Ghigo Agosti (6 F)
Ambra Angiolini (2 F)
Domenico Annibali (1 F)
B
Claudio Baglioni (3 F)
Angelo Branduardi (1 P, 3 F)
Alex Britti (10 F)
C
CapaRezza (2 P, 21 F)
Enrico Capuano (2 F)
Choirs from Italy (5 F)
Riccardo Cocciante (1 F)
F
Tiziano Ferro (1 P, 6 F) G
Rino Gaetano (1 P, 1 F)
Giuliano Palma (1 P, 3 F)
Giuseppina Strepponi (8 F)
Gianluca Grignani (4 F)
J
J Ax (5 F)
Jo Squillo (1 F)
Jovanotti (5 F)
L
Bruno Lauzi (3 F)
M
Petra Magoni (1 P, 11 F)
Milva (8 F)
Morgan (3 F)
N
Natalia Pestrada (3 F) O

Anna Oxa (10 F)
P
Adelina Patti (1 P, 15 F)
Laura Pausini (1 P, 5 F)
Omar Pedrini (1 F)
R
Eros Ramazzotti (1 P, 4 F)
Riccardo Fogli (1 F)
Andrea Rivera (1 F)
Red Ronnie (2 F)
Vasco Rossi (4 F)

PLUS:

Dolcenera
Andrea Ferro
Giorgio Cordini
Laura Pausini
Massimo Morini
Piero Parodi

FEMALE VOCALISTS
A
Marietta Alboni (4 F)
Alice (Italian singer) (6 F)
Anna Clementi (4 F)
B
Cristina Bugatty (2 F)
C
Francesca Caccini (4 F)
Rossana Casale (1 F) C cont.
Angelica Catalani (1 P, 3 F)
Chiara Civello (1 F)
Carmen Consoli (1 P, 9 F)
D
Dalida (1 P, 9 F)
Cristina Donā (1 P, 13 F)
F
Federica Felini (1 F)
G
Giorgia Todrani (3 F) G cont.
Irene Grandi (1 P, 1 F)
H
Eva Henger (1 P, 3 F)
I
In-Grid (4 F)
R
Antonella Ruggiero (2 F)
S
Cristina Scabbia (1 P, 7 F)
Balbina Steffenoni (1 F)
Barbara Strozzi (1 C, 3 F)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Italian_singers
Check Further for Italian Opera Singers, and Italian Pop Singers.

Italian "Vespa" Scooter Makes Unprecedented Risk-Free 12 Month Test Ride

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:04:00 +0000

Piaggio Group Americas, Inc., the importer of Vespa, Piaggio, Aprilia and Moto Guzzi scooters and motorcycles, has an offer that you just can't refuse.

It may be hard to believe but, effective today, Piaggio invites consumers on a risk-free 12 Month Test Ride, an industry-first program that offers qualified buyers the opportunity to experience all the fun, savings and environmental benefits of select Piaggio, Aprilia and Vespa scooters without a long-term commitment. The 12 Month Test Ride offer includes the option to return the scooter to participating dealers after 365 days of ownership if the buyer decides that the two-wheel lifestyle just isn't right for them after all.

Italian Scooter Company Wants to Make You an Offer You Can't Refuse

Piaggio Group Americas; Press Release; June 2, 2009

NEW YORK, June 1, 2009 ? Piaggio Group Americas, Inc., the importer of Vespa, Piaggio, Aprilia and Moto Guzzi scooters and motorcycles, has an offer that you just can?t refuse. If you?ve been tempted to join America?s rapidly growing scooter community but your plans have been on idle because you?re not sure whether you were born to ride, the time to discover your inner scooteristi is right now.

Effective today, Piaggio invites consumers on a risk-free 12 Month Test Ride, an industry-first program that offers qualified buyers the opportunity to experience all the fun, savings and environmental benefits of select Piaggio, Aprilia and Vespa scooters without
a long-term commitment. The 12 Month Test Ride offer includes the option to return the scooter to participating dealers after 365 days of ownership if the buyer decides that the two-wheel lifestyle just isn?t right for them after all.

The Piaggio scooters included in the 12 Month Test Ride are the Piaggio FLY 50, Piaggio FLY 150, Piaggio BV Tourer 250 and the Piaggio MP3 250. You can also choose from the Vespa S 50, Vespa LX 150, Vespa GTS 300 Super or the Aprilia Sportcity 50, Aprilia Sportcity 125, Aprilia Scarabeo 100 and Aprilia Scarabeo 200 (shown above).

"It?s our mission to remove any roadblocks keeping even more Americans from discovering just how much money and time they can save, and how much fun they can have, by adding two wheels to their garage,? said Paolo Timoni, President and CEO, Piaggio Group Americas. ?The economic, environmental and lifestyle benefits of scooters are proven on a daily basis in major markets
around the globe, and we think this hassle-free introduction to scooter ownership is a risk-free way for U.S. consumers to take a trial membership in our American scooter nation.?

Timoni believes that newcomers to the scooter lifestyle will quickly be convinced to make two wheels a permanent addition to their personal transportation fleets. Existing scooter owners already know that life on two wheels delivers fun and thrills. Practical benefits such as an average 70 mpg fuel economy and an average ownership and operating cost savings of $6,000 per year provide even more incentive to ride. With the majority of American households still owning two, three or more vehicles, swapping just one set of four wheels for two is an immediate solution to rev up personal savings while throttling back on foreign oil dependence, urban congestion and carbon dioxide emissions.

The 12 Month Test Ride is open to buyers who qualify for a 36-month closed-end finance term, exclusively offered through Piaggio Group America?s partner Sheffield Financial. To take advantage of the offer, the purchase must be completed by July 31, 2009. The risk-free return guarantee requires the completion of 12 scheduled loan payments and excludes upfront license, vehicle preparation, freight and tax fees as well as a 10% down payment based on the vehicle?s manufacturer?s suggested retail price.

For more details about the 12 Month Test Your Ride, please visit www.PiaggioUSA.com.

http://www.amadirectlink.com/news/story.asp?id=936

Miller-Coors Scuttles Ad Campaign Offensive to Italians

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:04:00 +0000

Kudos to Lou Rago, founder of the Italian American Human Relations Foundation of Chicago, and Anthony Baratta, the Chicago-based national chairperson for the Commission for Social Justice of the Sons of Italy for successfully persuading/pressuring Miller-Coors to remove the offensive ads within a week.

Beer Ads Pulled Over Italian Complaints

'PROTECTION' | Miller Lite spot evokes 'Sopranos'

Chicago Sun Times; By Lewis Lazare, Media & Marketing Columnist , June 3, 2009

Miller Lite beer's new "Protection" campaign, prominently featuring actor Frank Vincent from the HBO mobster hit "The Sopranos," is being pulled after Chicago representatives of the Italian-American community lashed out over the stereotypical mafia depiction of Italian Americans in the ads.

In one commercial, Vincent and his sidekick enter a convenience store and ask the clerk if he needs "protection." The clerk, pointing to a Miller Lite container, says he's got all the protection he needs, which prompts an exaggerated "oh!" from Vincent and his sidekick. In a commercial set in a bar, Vincent asks -- in a threatening tone -- if the bartender needs protection. When the bartender says "no," Vincent asks if he's a wiseguy.

MillerCoors has pulled their ads starring Frank Vincent of "Sopranos" fame due to complaints from Italian-American organizations.

"We seem to be the last breed in America that ad agencies think they can take a shot at," said Lou Rago, founder of the Italian American Human Relations Foundation of Chicago, who helped spearhead the effort to force the new Miller Lite ads off the air. The campaign, created by DraftFCB/Chicago, was to run through the summer, but MillerCoors said it will remove the ads within a week.

On Monday, Rago participated in a conference call with MillerCoors executives who indicated they might consider running fewer of the "Protection" commercials. But when Rago and Anthony Baratta, the Chicago-based national chairperson for the Commission for Social Justice, said that was unacceptable and that they would call for a boycott of MillerCoors by Italian Americans, the brewery had by Tuesday decided to dump the entire campaign.

AD: Miller Lite mobster ads pulled over Italian complaints

http://www.suntimes.com/business/lazare/1604372,CST-NWS-miller03.article

Villanova Virtual Video of Vatican

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:41:00 +0000

Vatican officials had long been looking for a way to interact better with the world via its popular Web site and bring the Vatican spaces to a wider audience than just those who visit Rome, when they were approached by Villanova Professors who proposed a "reality" Filming of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican that far exceeded the comprehensiveness and quality of anything heretofore.

While other universities may send students to work in the Vatican at times, Villanova is the only school with a formal, ongoing relationship, A Villanova team has already filmed in several other basilicas, including St. Peter's, St. John Lateran, and St. Mary Major.

The small crew of Villanova students and professors entered the Sistine Chapel - after it was closed to the public and for the next three hours, they were allowed to film alone and uninterrupted the most well-known chapel in the Vatican, even moving inside the small area where ballots are counted in the election of a new pope - which is normally roped off to the public

The Vatican virtual tour will allow viewers with a left click of the mouse to rotate the camera from wall to wall, floor to ceiling, zooming in and out. At St. Paul's, viewers can zoom in on ornate gilded candlesticks, marble statues, medallion-shaped portraits of popes and saints around the frieze, and the basilica's coffered ceilings.

Villanova Team Films Virtual Reality of the Vatican

Philadelphia Inquirer; By Susan Snyder ; Inquirer Staff Writer;Tue, June. 2, 2009

The small crew of Villanova students and professors entered the Sistine Chapel at 8 p.m. - after it was closed to the public and everyone but a few workers had left.

And for the next three hours, they were allowed to film almost alone and uninterrupted the most well-known chapel in the Vatican, even moving inside the small area where ballots are counted in the election of a new pope - which is normally roped off to the public.

"It was perfectly silent. It really was sort of outside of time," said Bryan Crable, chair of Villanova's Communication Department and one of the professors on the project.

The Sistine Chapel shoot was part of a larger project being undertaken by the Villanova team, which is resulting in unprecedented virtual-reality tours of the holiest of spots in the Vatican.

Villanova students interning there this school year, along with their professors, were given special, off-hours access so that they could produce the tours for the Vatican, the first of which is now on the Vatican's Web site.

The tour of the Basilica of St. Paul - with 360-degree panoramas of the courtyard, baptistry, apse, and six other sites - appears with a written thank-you to Villanova.

The Sistine Chapel tour will require more filming and additional approvals, and won't go up until next school year, Crable said.

Students and their professors also filmed in several other basilicas, including St. Peter's, St. John Lateran, and St. Mary Major.

Those tours are expected to be posted in the coming months, Crable said.

Next fall, as the unique partnership progresses, they could be filming in some areas seen rarely, if at all, by the public, such as a series of excavations of an old cemetery under St. Peter's on Vatican Hill.

Samantha Coveleski, 22, said the experience filming inside the Sistine Chapel, as well as working in the basilicas, left her "speechless."

"We were really able to go past the red rope, behind the altar, back where the pope might stand, to get these beautiful shots, and that was pretty incredible," said Coveleski, 22, a communication major from Lewes, Del., who graduated last month.

While other universities may send students to work in the Vatican at times, Villanova is the only school with a formal, ongoing relationship, according to the Vatican. It has been sending a handful of computer science and communication students to the Vatican to do various jobs each year for several years.

The Internet project was proposed by Villanova professors and embraced last fall by Vatican officials who were looking for a way to interact better with the world via its popular Web site and bring the spaces to a wider audience than just those who visit Rome.

While the Vatican had pictures and text posted on its site before, it has never had "anything of this quality," said Msgr. Paul Tighe, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications at the Vatican.

Tighe praised "the passion, the professionalism," of the Villanova team.

"Everybody is so impressed, and those [within the Vatican] who are aware are considering how they can use this unique, cooperative arrangement we have with Villanova," he said.

It took a while to secure permission for the project. Access to the Sistine Chapel, where photos normally aren't allowed, proved the most challenging, Crable said.

"We had to sign papers on behalf of the university saying we weren't going to damage anything and that the university would be liable for any damage," Crable said. "So I was a little nervous until we got out of there."

Just getting to the chapel required the crew to haul its equipment through hallway after hallway lined with priceless artwork.

Once inside, the crew had extensive time to study the art unlike the way most visitors, herded through in large groups, see it. The crew was allowed in on two nights, but had to be out of the Vatican by 11:30 p.m. - a requirement for all nonresidents.

While Tighe acknowledged that past groups had secured permission to film inside the Sistine Chapel, he doubted that anyone had had as long as the Villanova crew.

"There was a guard whose job it was to write down our movements every 15 minutes," Crable recalled.

He noted that the equipment for the project, student travel, and some other expenses were covered by a gift from Villanova alum Lawrence Waterhouse, Class of 1959, founder and chairman emeritus of TD Waterhouse Investor Services Inc.

The virtual tour, for which the Vatican has the copyright, allows viewers with a left click of the mouse to rotate the camera from wall to wall, floor to ceiling, zooming in and out. At St. Paul's, viewers can zoom in on ornate gilded candlesticks, marble statues, medallion-shaped portraits of popes and saints around the frieze, and the basilica's coffered ceilings.

"You can look at things that you wouldn't be able to with the naked eye," Crable said.

Caroline Ford, 20, a soon-to-be senior from Pittsburgh, said her family was impressed.

"They're trying to live vicariously through me," she said.

She recalled entering St. Paul's one morning before it had opened to the public.

"Almost everything was dark. The only lights on were up in the apse. There were priests having their own little Mass," she said. "It was just breathtaking at that moment."

To see the video, go to http://go.philly.com/vaticanvideo

Contact staff writer Susan Snyder at 215-854-4693 or ssnyder@phillynews.com.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20090602_Villanova_team_films_virtual_reality_of_the_Vatican.html

Italian Comfort Food Salves Swiss Stressed Economy

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:40:00 +0000

Are the Swiss Smart or Cowards. They remained Neutral during the last two World Wars, and were not only untouched by the devastation, but profited from being a "safe harbor".

Now the World's Banker is suffering the effects of the Banking Crises it helped create, with about a quarter of a million Swiss work in finance, in a country of 7.5 million, The largest metropolitan area is Zurich, with almost 1 million, The capital city, Bern, had a population of almost 400,000. Other large cities include Basel, Geneva, and Lausanne, all under 200,000.

In these trying times, while the Billionaires may be turned into Lesser Billionaires, or merely only Multi Millionaires, the Middle Class are being turned into Paupers by losing their Jobs, and the Value of their Homes, Pension Funds and Investments plummeting.

The Swiss are turning to Italian Food that seems to be more comforting than any other.

Thanks to Bert Vorchheimer

As Swiss Economy Goes South, Appetites Turn to Italy

The New York Times; By John Tagliabue; June 2, 2009

ZURICH — The bankers in this Swiss financial center are struggling these days to overcome a funk.

Some Swiss banks, like the largest, UBS, have run up huge losses, forcing them to lay off thousands. Others have had profits shrink with the declining stock market.

Wealthy foreigners, like the Russians, are coming less frequently to check their anonymous bank accounts, so sales in the luxury shops along the glitzy Bahnhofstrasse are hurting. Moreover, the promise by President Obama and other Western leaders to go after tax havens, Switzerland included, has spread an unaccustomed sense of the blues.

But you would not know it over at Il Giglio, where the tables are filled six nights a week (Il Giglio is closed Sundays) even while some of Zurich’s fanciest restaurants often sit nearly idle. "We’re always full". said Vito Giglio, 52, as he leafed through his reservation book, showing how his place is booked solid for lunch and dinner, sometimes weeks in advance. "Even if they’re out of a job, they get six months’ pay and lucrative package deals", he said of his banker diners. "They keep coming in."

Yes, the bankers here are in pain, and in surprising numbers they are seeking comfort in Italian cuisine. This sudden appetite for Italian dishes seems to arise from their potency as comfort food, and the comfort factor seems to have grown in importance as Swiss banks have felt the pinch of the financial crisis.

Since the beginning of last year, when the recession began to be felt here, unemployment in the restaurant sector has climbed by more than 10 percent, said Bruno Sauter, director of the city’s labor office. But Daniel Müller, the director of gastronomy for Bindella, one of Zurich’s largest restaurant groups, said that business at Bindella’s 16 Italian restaurants has fallen by less than 2 percent since last year, and in some price segments, not at all. He said that yearly revenues rose to $100 million last year, from $90 million in 2006.

Bindella, a family-owned group, employs about 500 people in a chain that includes an exclusive restaurant called Bindella, midpriced restaurants known as Santa Lucia and a number of modestly priced restaurants called the Spaghetti Factory. Italian cuisine, Mr. Müller said, “is almost Swiss cuisine; it’s a big, integrated part of our life."

Restaurants that are not Italian are recognizing that they have to compete with Mediterranean cuisine. In an advertisement on billboards around Zurich, for example, McDonald’s shows a large juicy cheeseburger and its price, about $2.25, with the words, "Four tortellini, or this."

“Everybody has suffered to some extent," said Urs P. Roth, chief executive of the Swiss Bankers Association, gazing from his office above the Limmat River at the banking center. Mr. Roth was general counsel at UBS, when it was profitable.

The health of banks is no academic matter, for banks are to Switzerland what lobsters are to coastal Maine. About a quarter of a million Swiss work in finance, about 40 percent of them in the Zurich area.

Even so, in some traditional Swiss restaurants, well-known bankers have been booed out of the house; one brasserie even turned away an illustrious banker client.

While he was chairman of the board at UBS, Marcel Ospel dined regularly on Wednesday evenings at his favorite restaurant, the Kronenhalle, an old brasserie near the opera house where paintings by Matisse, Picasso and Miró adorn the walls. Yet last year, after Mr. Ospel announced that UBS had lost more than $19 billion, the Kronenhalle made him feel he was persona non grata, according to Swiss news media reports. Only recently has he begun to visit the restaurant again.

But the restaurants that are not turning the bankers away are the Italians, which have displaced the Chinese as the largest group of restaurants in the city that do not serve up Swiss dishes. Asked where he eats when he goes out, Mr. Roth of the Bankers Association replied, “If I’m with clients, I go to local restaurants around the office; if I’m alone and just want to relax, I go to Il Giglio"

Mr. Giglio, for one, is not mystified by the bankers’ sudden taste for Italian cuisine. Like another Italian specialty, it is soothing, he said: "Like the music of a tenor. For lots of music has been written for tenors; for Caruso, Pavarotti."

And yet, on a recent evening when a banker and a lawyer were complaining loudly over their pasta about their banking losses, Mr. Giglio said, a diner at a neighboring table leaped to his feet and loudly upbraided them. "He told them it was not they, the bankers, who were losing money; it was paupers like him", he said.

“Giglio’s is a place you can go to in good times and bad", said Jan A. Bielinski, 55, of Bank Julius Bar, an exclusive private bank just off the Bahnhofstrasse. "The mood has changed," he said over coffee. "The moods change when the market changes, and a bad market influences everybody."

Mr. Müller of Bindella agrees with Mr. Giglio about the soothing factor in Italian food. Leisurely dining is fading in Switzerland, he said, where life is increasingly rushed. "Here you have the feeling of being on vacation," he said, picking at calamari and polenta at the Café Terrasse, one of his group’s newest restaurants, in a hall that once housed a striptease club.

Even at the very top, some Italian restaurants are prospering. Over at the Savoy Baur en Ville, the exclusive five-star hotel on the Paradeplatz, the center of Zurich finance, Manfred J. Hörger operates Orsini, the restaurant where the Piccatine di Vitello alla Milanese, or veal Milanese, costs a diner $47.

Mr. Hörger, 67, who has run the hotel for decades with his wife, Christina, says the most important element in Italian cooking is continuity. "A guest came in recently from Basel and said, ‘I’d like the Ravioli della Nonna,’ ” Mr. Hörger said. "And we had taken it off the menu."

Mr. Hörger ordered it returned immediately. "What marks us is continuity," he said proudly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/world/europe/02swiss.html?_r=1

Judge Halts Berlusconi Photos Release: The Concept of Mistresses, Arranged Marriages and Romantic Love

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:26:00 +0000

Further to my previous Report, a Judge has ruled the Belusconi Photos could not be Published. But since there was much attention given to Belusconi's supposedly 10 various "Mistresses", but no mention of his wives "dalliance" with the Mayor of Venice, it seemed appropriate to educate those unfamiliar with the European custom of "Mistresses".

Most ancient societies needed a secure environment for the perpetuation of the species,a system of rules to handle the granting of property rights, and the protection of bloodlines. The institution of Marriage handled these needs.

Throughout history, and even today, families Arranged Marriages for couples. The people involved didn't and don't have much to say about the decision. Most couples didn't marry because they were in love but for economic liaisons. Some marriages were by proxy, some involved a dowry (bride's family giving money or presents to the groom or his family), some required a bride price (the groom or his family giving money or a present to the bride's family), few had any sort of courtship or dating, but most had traditions.

However is was not until the Twelfth century that troubadours introduced the notion of Romantic Love. "Love" is one of the most ambiguous and flexible words in the English language. It means so many different things that we cannot be sure what someone means when they use the word "love". "Romantic love" is somewhat more narrow than simply "love", but we often lack precise meanings when we use it.
The Romantic Love Test: How Do We Know if We Are in Love? A test of 180 questions, organized into 26 sections. http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/Q&A-800.html

I actually took a "Marriage" course in college, and was stunned to be instructed that "Love" was 22nd on the List of Reasons people Marry.
A little disconcerting, but part of the reason that there is a 50% divorce rate, plus Love is Fickle. :(

Arranged Marriages, Finding "The One"

Examiner.com

Rita Watson

June 1 2009

The excuse for mistresses or comares is arranged marriages at an early age. Men often say, "Our parents chose our wives, we choose our mistresses."

But here is a thoughtful look at the tradition of arranged marriages by Leo Buscaglia often considered the "love guru". He believes that we spend too much time in our search for "the one."

SEE: "Loving Relationships by Leo Buscaglia" a 6 minute video, Entertaining and Informative.

http://www.examiner.com/x-2108-Love-and-Marriage-Examiner~y2009m6d1-Italian-marriage-a-man-his-mistress-and-finding-the-one

Aunt Agatha and the comares

My great Aunt Agatha prided herself on being married for 75 years and she had a diamond ring on each finger - gifts to her for allowing Guiseppe his afternoon "exercise."

We often asked her why she had so many diamonds and she would say, "Some day, you will understand."

Then as each of us married she took us aside and told us this story, which we began to hear often as she hit her 80's. "This was for your Uncle Guiseppe's exercise in Sicily. This for his exercise in Naples. These two, for the Marchietta twins -- Santa Maria, Santa Maria. Enough. Silencia” she would say and then go off to her kitchen.

She had a diamond for each comare through the years and 10 children who will fiercely defend their father just as the Italian PM's children are defending their father and suggesting that the scandal is politically motivated.

If you asked Aunt Agatha why she never left him during all those years of philandering, her eyes would fill with tears and she would say, "because he was the one, my one and only."

http://www.examiner.com/x-2108-Love-and-Marriage-Examiner~y2009m6d1-Italian-marriage-a-man-his-mistress-and-finding-the-one

Paolo Conte: Italian Lawyer Turned Singer; Italian Legend at 72; Still Going Strong

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:22:00 +0000

Paolo Conte at 72, over the years, his gravelly timbre has prompted no end of comparisons with those North American singer-poets Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. But the Italian’s intricately arranged music is sui generis, blending elements of vintage jazz and blues, echoes of Neapolitan songs and the cerebral charm of the very finest chansons. Alongside the surrealist wit, there is an earthy quality.

Paolo Conte: Italian Lawyer Turned Singer

Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen-like artist makes first appearance in London in almost half a decade as CD Psiche is released

London Sunday Times; Clive Davis; May 31, 2009

Along a backstage corridor at Berlin’s Philharmonie, the 1960s period piece that stands close by the neon glamour of Potsdamer Platz, one of Paolo Conte’s saxophonists is warming up with that classic of bittersweet nostalgia, September Song.

The melancholy strains drift above Conte’s husky voice as he sits, cigarettes and wine close at hand, reflecting on the path he has followed from provincial obscurity to Europe’s grandest venues.

Later that evening, the audience fell instantly under the spell of this most unassuming of performers. The atmosphere was even more electric at the Barbican on Monday, where his band, a peerless collection of multi-instrumentalists, delivered one of the concerts of the year. Making his first appearance in London in almost half a decade, the singer-pianist judiciously mixed old favourites with impressionistic pieces from his new album, Psiche. Not forgetting, of course, Via con me, the quirky song of love and seduction that has long been his signature tune.

While Italian expats inevitably formed a large contingent of the sellout crowd, Conte also has a devoted British following. His voice remains as hypnotic as ever. Over the years, its gravelly timbre has prompted no end of comparisons with those North American singer-poets Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. But the Italian’s intricately arranged music is sui generis, blending elements of vintage jazz and blues, echoes of Neapolitan songs and the cerebral charm of the very finest chansons. Alongside the surrealist wit, there is an earthy quality, too, reflecting his roots in the rural landscape around his home town of Asti. “Women can sometimes be bad-tempered/Or perhaps they just need to pee,” goes one line in his much-loved song Bartali. Few songwriters could get away with such a Chaucerian sentiment.

At 72, Conte could be forgiven for preferring to look backwards rather than forwards. Photographs tend to portray him as a stern and aloof figure, but, in the flesh, he is genial and mischievous. He has the relaxed manner of a man who has only just entered middle age, and he is not interested in standing still. Indeed, Psiche is as adventurous as anything he has released in the past 30 years. Conte’s passion for New Orleans melody and exotic metaphor still burns bright (the French love him so much that his lyrics are studied in schools alongside the likes of Apollinaire), but on this project his faithful musicians are set against a delicate backdrop of electronica. To listen to gently insinuating pieces such as Berlino or Intimita is like catching glimpses of statues in a dense, drifting mist. "I’d always felt before that electronics sounded fake", Conte explains though his translator. "But in the neutral sound the musicians created, I found some poetry. Of course, you have to still be in charge, to dominate it somehow. You cannot obey its rules."

It’s a great pity that the disc fails to include translations. Yet even when read in English, many of his compositions leave fans groping in the dark. You do not need to speak Italian to love Conte’s work; all you really require is a taste for the unexpected. As a jazz lover, in fact, he has long nursed a passion for English, a language he does not speak. Many a listener has puzzled over why he added the cry "Chips! Chips!" to the chorus of Via con me (it seems he just liked the sound the words made). The new record even includes an eccentric number, Silvery Fox, sung in a precarious but loveable approximation of the Bard’s tongue. As Conte admits: "If I could pronounce English properly, I would love to sing more in it, because it’s the most musical language of all. It has musical accents and short words that fit together better. It’s like elastic. Italian might be better for opera, but not for rhythmic music."

His infatuation with the sounds of the pre-war era dates back to a childhood lived in the shadow of Mussolini. Conte’s father, a lawyer and amateur musician, was a passionate admirer of American popular songs, as was the boy’s mother. During the reign of Il Duce, however, American imports attracted official disapproval, especially if they had an Afro-American tinge. A standard such as, say, St Louis Blues might only slip through the censor’s net if it was rerecorded by an Italian band under the title of Le Tristezze di San Luigi. Conte’s parents nevertheless got hold of contraband discs. Their son grew up with melodies of jazz all around him. Deciphering the lyrics was no easy task. "I probably never really understand the words " just a few phrases here and there." He says. "But being ignorant of the lyrics was also something positive. It left us in a more mysterious realm. It was more dreamlike."

In that respect, his British audiences now find themselves in the same position. Talking to him, you sometimes get the impression that Conte himself does not fully understand where his imagination is carrying him. On-stage, he seldom speaks except to introduce members of the band. Faced with an interviewer and a tape recorder, he can be every bit as reticent. As he says: "It takes me a long time to understand where the emotions of my songs come from. I might even die before I know." It is only when conversation moves to another of his great loves " painting and drawing" that he grows more talkative.

Now that he is a living legend in Italy, garlanded with awards and literary prizes, it is difficult to believe that, for the first part of his career at least, he made a quiet living as a lawyer. Having inherited his father’s vocation, he spent years combining legal practice with a nighthawk existence as a jazz musician, playing vibraphone and piano in local bands. In the late 1960s, he was drawn to the gritty school of songwriters then emerging in Italy. Indeed, one of his best-loved tunes, Azzurro (Blue), first became a hit for the pop heart-throb Adriano Celentano. Over time, Conte, who still lacks a certain confidence in his voice, finally found the courage to perform his own songs. By the early 1980s, his fame had spread to France, where some listeners detected parallels with the late Georges Brassens, that unpretentious chronicler of love, sex and death. Conte himself has long admired Charles Aznavour, to the extent that he describes the 85-year-old Frenchman as the singer he has in mind when he is working on a new tune.

Latin-American music is another key influence. Many of his records evoke the sensual rhythms of the tango or its precursor, the milonga. On one of the gems he performed in London, Alla prese con una verde milonga (Dealing with a Green Milonga), he explicitly namechecks the Argentine singer Atahualpa Yupanqui, an artist he routinely describes as "a god". And on the new album, he plunges into a tango rhythm on Ludmilla, a manic love letter to a circus performer that is delivered with all the sardonic fury of a Brecht and Weill morality tale about the lure of female flesh. Yet for all his love of the past " he regards the 1920s, an age of fevered experimentation in all the arts, as his true spiritual home" Conte creates music that is utterly contemporary. He is a man of quiet passion, not pastiche.

Psiche is out now on Wrasse Records

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6381247.ece

Brits Apoplectic over Berlusconi Bikini Girl Photographs

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:21:00 +0000

As I have repeatedly stated, while I disagree with Berlusconi Right Wing Politics, I also wonder whether Italy can function properly without a "strong man", yet when Italy's leader is being unfairly besmirched, I feel compelled to comment.

Rigid, stiff, and stuffy Brits whose Puritanical influences the US is still trying to break away from unsuccessfully, while on one hand are shocked by the rest of Europe's greater casualness about sex and nudity, yet are fixated on their own British Tabloid nudity, and can't seem to get enough Vacations in Nude and Topless Beaches in Mainland Europe. (Been there, Done that, and very easy on the Eyes, except for the few Fat Americans and Brits that blot the otherwise beautiful scene. )

In question here are Extreme TelePhoto Lens Photography taken onto the Private grounds of Berlusconi at the Villa Certosa on the Costa Smeralda, which is an Invasion of Privacy. Part of Berlusconi's effort to prevent publication of the Photos, were to Protect the privacy of the former Czech Prime Minister who was visiting the Villa with her small children who were also enjoying Nudity in Private.

How would you feel if a Photographer took pictures of your family nude or topless out by your pool, or of your bedroom activities through a slit in your drapes ?

Silvio Berlusconi Blocks Publication of Bikini-Girls Photographs

The London Times

Lucy Bannerman and Richard Owen

June 1, 2009

The Italian Prime Minister has come under intense scrutiny over his links to the 18-year-old model Noemi Letizia

Silvio Berlusconi has blocked the publication of potentially embarrassing photographs said to include images of young bikini-clad and topless girls at his villa in Sardinia.

Police seized hundreds of photographs, which are believed to feature Mirek Topolánek, the former Czech Prime Minister, in the nude, after the media tycoon claimed that they constituted an invasion of privacy.

Some of the pictures were taken on New Year’s Eve, when Noemi Letizia, 18, was among the guests. Veronica Lario, Mr Berlusconi’s wife, announced more than a month ago that she will be divorcing him, partly because she could not "stay with a man who consorts with minors".

Prosecutors in Rome ordered the seizure of 200-300 images, taken by Antonello Zappadu, a Sardinian photographer, outside Villa Certosa on the Costa Smeralda. Mr Zappadu told local media that the pictures were taken from 2007 to 2008 and could be divided into three categories.

In the first, involving guests inside Villa Certosa, he said, some of the faces were obscured because "some of those present, seemed to me, to be minors. For that reason I made them unidentifiable to respect codes on privacy and the protection of minors." The second showed guests arriving on military aircraft and the third showed other guests, some in bikinis and some topless, at a country club.

Mr Berlusconi’s lawyers appealed successfully to the courts to block the use or publication of the photographs after Mr Zappadu allegedly offered them to newspapers for €1.5 million (£1.3 million). The photographer went to the Carabinieri headquarters in Cagliari on Saturday to hand over a CD of the photographs.

Mr Berlusconi, who is due to visit Washington on June 15 for talks on the economy with Mr Obama, insisted that the images were innocent, claiming that they "consist of people photographed during absolutely private moments which are completely legal".

Niccolò Ghedini, his lawyer, said that the long-lens shots were a gross invasion of privacy. He told the newspaper Corriere della Sera that at least one of the pictures showed Mr Topolánek naked in the garden during a visit with his family in May last year. He added: "There were no minors, unless you want to include the young children of Topolánek."

Gino Flaminio, a former boyfriend of Miss Letizia, said he did not believe that she had had sex with Mr Berlusconi. He claimed that the billionaire had contacted Miss Letizia while she was his girlfriend, contradicting the explanations given by Mr Berlusconi and the Letizia family, who claimed that he was an old family friend. In a letter to Corriere della Sera yesterday, Mr Flaminio said he had been used for attacks on Mr Berlusconi.

Franco Frattini, the Italian Foreign Minister, also dismissed rumours that the Prime Minister had a romantic interest in Miss Letizia, but he said that sex with girls over the age of 14 was not wrong in principle. Asked by Newsweek magazine if a relationship with Miss Letizia when she was under 18 would have been a crime, Mr Frattini said: "Absolutely not. In Italy it is a crime under the age of 14. Between 14 and 18 is absolutely legal."

Mr Frattini insisted that any allegations of a relationship were "in any case absolutely not true".

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6401845.ece

EMail to Miller-Coors to Protest Their Negative Stereotype TV Ad

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Thu, 28 May 2009 02:03:00 +0000

Time for your Voice to be Heard !!!!!!!!

Please everyone email your disappointment to Miller-Coors in regards to these stereotypical and defamatory ads. Thus far they have not cooperated with us in an immediate removal or this campaign in fact they have increased the visibility of the ads and have included radio. Today we threatened a boycott of the product and are encouraging retailers and taverns to call Miller-Coors to remove the product from their establishments.

Please email Tom Long CEO at Miller-Coors at miksic.sandy@millercoors.com please cc on your email response, to anthonyjb49@comcast.net so we have an idea of how many responses they receive. We intend to have a national press release sent to the media on Monday.

Thank you,

Anthony J. Baratta

National President

Order Sons of Italy in America

Commission for Social Justice

Subject: You Tube Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF1rKZNCBhg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnmU83WKI9c

Italians Sol Trujillo and Francesco de Leo to Compete in America's Sailing Cup

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Thu, 28 May 2009 01:06:00 +0000

Skeptics doubt that the Italians can build a giant 90 foot state of the art racing multihull by January, including "Valencia Sailing" that interviewed Francesco de Leo in the article below.

The doubts would be well founded were the team not to be headed by Sol Trujillo, Francesco de Leo, and Mario Dal Canto.

Sol Trujillo is former CEO of US West, then Orange and now Telstra, and covered the entire Australian territory, 98% of its population with a broadband wireless network in 10 months. Australia is as big as Continental Europe.

Francesco de Leo, CEO of Green Comm, Italian communications industry heavyweight, and former managing director of Telecom Italia.

Mario Dal Canto,is the founder of Simtone, and one of the initial managers of Sun Microsystems, together with founders Scott McNealy and Bill Joy. Mario is an Italian with a very strong presence in the US and creator of what is probably the world's most powerful cloud computing platform. This technology will also be of use in the challenge.

Sol Trujillo Inspires Italian America’s Cup Campaign

Sail World; Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Italian America's Cup Team needs to build a giant 90 foot state of the art racing multihull in a very short time and the marine industry doubts it can be done. The Italians says it can be and recently departed Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo is their inspiration.

Italian communications industry heavyweight Francesco de Leo, CEO of Green Comm, the Italian team that filed a challenge for the 33rd America's Cup, wanting to race against Swiss Billionare Ernesto Bertarelli who’s Team Alinghi won the Cup and defended it in 2007 and Larry Ellison, the CEO of the US software giant Oracle who is the Challenger of Record campaigning BMW Oracle.

Spain’s America’s Cup website Valencia Sailing.com interviewed de Leo last week. Their first question was : Are you a pawn of Alinghi, used in their quest to buy time in order to better prepare for the inevitable one-on-one race with BMW Oracle?

Francesco de Leo: No, we are absolutely not their pawns. This is a challenge that started with completely different objectives and has its own global agenda. It isn't a coincidence that we are called Green Comm and this has to do with my personal background. Probably your readers don't know it but I won the third mobile phone license in Spain when I was managing director of Telecom Italia.

Valencia Sailing: Is Green Comm's challenge a delaying tactic used by Alinghi?

Francesco de Leo: No. Look, I have no connection whatsoever with Ernesto Bertarelli...

Valencia Sailing: Still, is it a coincidence that the world headquarters of Simtone, the first sponsor you publicly announced, are in Vevey, Switzerland, close to Serono's facilities and the Décision boatyard?

Francesco de Leo: I will tell you everything about Simtone. If you go to the company's website, www.simtone.net, you'll see that I form part of its advisory board. Simtone is the creation of Mario Dal Canto, one of the initial managers of Sun Microsystems, together with founders Scott McNealy and Bill Joy. One of my dearest friends and mentor, Sol Trujillo, CEO of US West, then Orange and now Telstra, was one of Dal Canto's financial backers. I know Mario since a very long time. He's an Italian with a very strong presence in the US and creator of what is probably the world's most powerful cloud computing platform. This technology will also be of use to me for our challenge.

Valencia Sailing: I will interrupt you again, but there is no multihull experience in Italy, unlike France where you have legends such as Franck Cammas, Loďck Peyron or Pascal Bidégorry, just to name a few.

Francesco de Leo: You are absolutely right, but if you go to Google and type 'multihulls' you will have much more information than what I had myself 20 years ago when I was doing my PhD in California. The world has changed and people still don't understand it. They think we are in the 1980's.

If you have the right contacts and the right people, you can build any challenge you want.

Let me give you an example. Sol Trujillo, with whom I'll dine on Friday in Venice, covered the entire Australian territory, 98% of its population with a broadband wireless network in 10 months. You are obviously aware that Australia is as big as Continental Europe.

How did he achieve it? Certainly not by doing the things the usual way in the telecom sector. He reviewed all processes, the roles of each person, saw where time savings could be made and carried out his plan. People now ask me, 'How can you build a catamaran before February?', my answer is simple.

Trujillo covered the entire Australian territory in 10 months and we will not able to build a multihull in 3 months? It depends a lot on your starting point. I come with a different background and a managerial experience. I'm sorry to see people are very surprised but they shouldn't be surprised at all.

Valencia Sailing: Nevertheless, right now we are in what is, or at least was, the base of +39 Challenge, right here in Valencia. There must be some relation.

Valencia Sailing: Let's assume you design a 90ft multihull. This yacht must be built in Italy as per the Deed of Gift. Is there such a knowhow? Where would you build it?

Francesco de Leo: Of course there is the knowhow in Italy. In Italy there are companies like Finnmecanica, Finncantieri or Alenia Spazzio that not only are leaders in aerospace or defense but have also made acquisitions throughout the world. Let's not forget there are boatyards that, starting with the Moro di Venezia, have built a number of America's Cup yachts. We have extraordinary knowhow in carbon fiber and it's only 50km away from my home.

Valencia Sailing: Let's again, hypothetically, assume that BMW Oracle agrees and accepts you challenge. That would mean you would have to race a Challenger Selection Series some time in January. Your time window is even smaller. Would you still have the time to develop realistically something competitive?

Francesco de Leo: It's clear that we are not doing something that is absolutely normal. In fact, the management's mentality is to manage a 'mission impossible'. We know we have until the end of July before we definitely freeze the boat design.

We also know we can accelerate the construction process, within certain limits. We will certainly not have the time we would have wished for to test her in order to optimize her. We will substitute this with the wireless electronic sensors and the sensor networks that will allow us to process data that today we are not even able to collect.

We just have to wait and see what are the decisions taken by others.

http://www.sail-world.com/Australia/Sol-Trujillo-inspires-Italian-Americas-Cup-campaign/57188

Italy Serie A Soccer Being Over Shadowed by England's Premier League and Spanish Liga

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Thu, 28 May 2009 01:05:00 +0000

Soccer remains an obsession for many Italians, filling up the newspapers' sports pages and paying handsome salaries for the top players. But the sport has failed to modernize itself the way it has in England.

In the 1980s and 1990s many of the sport's biggest stars in their prime played for Italian teams, from Diego Maradona to Michel Platini, from Paul Gascoigne to Zinedine Zidane. Now, with a few exceptions, it is the Premier League and the Spanish Liga that attract the greatest names.

The team dominating the Italian domestic league, Inter Milan, clinched a fourth consecutive Serie A title but lost in the first knockout round to Manchester United. Highlighting the gap between Premier League clubs and Italian teams, Juventus was eliminated by Chelsea and Roma by Arsenal, also in the first knockout round. Fiorentina didn't make it out of the group stage.

There are said to be structural problems: financial backing of the teams is weaker; there has been no investment in modernizing stadiums as the clubs don't own them; hard-core fans, who are generally opposed to changes, still hold too much sway with the clubs; the sport's ruling class hasn't changed in two decades; the 2006 scandal hit the international image of Italian football, and as a consequence its power.

Rome Final Underlines Decline of Italian Soccer

Associated Press: By Alessandra Rizzo; May 26, 2009

ROME (AP) - While Italian clubs once dominated Europe, the country can only sit back and watch as the Champions League final is played in Rome between teams from England and Spain.

Recent success at the World Cup and even in the Champions League feels like an eternity ago as Italian clubs failed to reach the quarterfinals in the Champions League this season for the first time in seven years.

With Udinese going only one step further before elimination in the UEFA Cup, talk of the decline of Italian soccer has been mounting.

Several problems have hit the game in past years: A match-fixing scandal damaged the sport's credibility and left many fans disillusioned; hooliganism has continued even as authorities have taken steps to fight it; and stadiums have become outdated and unfit for families.

"The decline of the Serie A is pretty much undeniable," said Gabriele Marcotti, a book author and the European soccer correspondent for the Times of London.

"Italian football has been completely and utterly mismanaged, to the point that where it has succeeded it has succeeded in spite of the people running it," said Marcotti. "Here it is more important to be No. 1 in a low-quality environment than be No. 2 in a high-quality environment."

As a result, Serie A has lost prestige.

On Wednesday, Manchester United will play Barcelona in the final at Rome's Stadio Olimpico.

In the 1990s, an Italian club - either AC Milan or Juventus - made an appearance in the Champions League final seven times, including six straight from 1993 to 1998. They won a combined three titles.

Since 2000, AC Milan won the trophy twice, in 2003 and 2007.

"Obviously it takes time for the decline to filter through to the biggest clubs," Marcotti said.

The team dominating the Italian domestic league, Inter Milan, has failed to make any headway in Europe. This year Jose Mourinho's Inter clinched a fourth consecutive Serie A title but lost in the first knockout round to Manchester United.

Highlighting the gap between Premier League clubs and Italian teams, Juventus was eliminated by Chelsea and Roma by Arsenal, also in the first knockout round. Fiorentina didn't make it out of the group stage.

Foot pointed to what he said are structural problems: financial backing of the teams is weaker; there has been no investment in modernizing stadiums as the clubs don't own them; hard-core fans, who are generally opposed to changes, still hold too much sway with the clubs; the sport's ruling class hasn't changed in two decades; the 2006 scandal hit the international image of Italian football, and as a consequence its power.

"The game itself is less exciting, slower. There are more fouls. There's more arguing with the referees," Foot added.

One step that many experts praise is a plan by Serie A clubs to break away from the second-tier Serie B and create their own independent top flight similar to the Premier League - a model that made English clubs the richest in the world.

"One encouraging aspect is that in certain areas of decline we have already hit rock bottom," said Marcotti. "When it comes to running football if you make the wrong decisions then you have negative effects for a while."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jWgBsuSO3GxnOZIc0ybI66aPrLcQD98EF8O00

Obit: Amos Elon: 82; Retreated to Italy, after Disillusionment with Zionist Intractability

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Thu, 28 May 2009 01:04:00 +0000

Amos Elon, one of Israel's best known intellectuals and social critics, died in his ItalianTuscan home, that he had retired to 5 years ago, withdrawing from Israel, -- disillusioned over its direction and the seemingly intractable nature of Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians.

Elon was a well-known journalist in Israel in 1971 when his second book, "The Israelis: Founders and Sons," challenged the heroic image of his country's Zionist founders and gained him international recognition. His portrayal was generally sympathetic but faulted the European-born pioneers for being blinded by an ancient claim to Palestine and failing to consider the fate of Arabs already living there.

"The Arabs bore no responsibility for the centuries-long suffering of Jews in Europe," Elon wrote, voicing criticism that is common in Israel today but was rare at the time. "Whatever their subsequent follies and outrages might be, the punishment of the Arabs for the sins of Europe must burden the conscience of Israelis for a long time to come."

Some of Elon's nine books became international best sellers, and many of his essays appeared in the New York Review of Books.His columns in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, where he worked for five decades, established him as an early critic of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He wrote that the occupation had corrupted and burdened Israel, turning it into a more militaristic society and making its 1967 victory "worse than a defeat."

Amos Elon Dies at 82; Provocative writer Examined the Roots of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

His second book, 'The Israelis: Founders and Sons,' challenged the heroic image of his country's Zionist founders.

Los Angeles Times; By Richard Boudreaux; May 27, 2009

Reporting from Jerusalem - Amos Elon, whose critical explorations of Jewish history and the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict made him one of the most distinguished and provocative Israeli authors of his time, died Monday in Italy, his home for the last five years. He was 82.

His wife, Beth, said the cause of death was leukemia.

Elon was a well-known journalist in Israel in 1971 when his second book, "The Israelis: Founders and Sons," challenged the heroic image of his country's Zionist founders and gained him international recognition. His portrayal was generally sympathetic but faulted the European-born pioneers for being blinded by an ancient claim to Palestine and failing to consider the fate of Arabs already living there.

"The Arabs bore no responsibility for the centuries-long suffering of Jews in Europe," Elon wrote, voicing criticism that is common in Israel today but was rare at the time. "Whatever their subsequent follies and outrages might be, the punishment of the Arabs for the sins of Europe must burden the conscience of Israelis for a long time to come."

He returned to that theme in other works on the Middle East while also writing historical biographies and other scholarly examinations of Jewish life in Europe before and during World War II. Some of his nine books became international best sellers, and many of his essays appeared in the New York Review of Books.

His columns in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, where he worked off and on for five decades, established him as an early critic of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, territories captured from Arab nations in the 1967 Middle East war. He wrote that the occupation had corrupted and burdened Israel, turning it into a more militaristic society and making its 1967 victory "worse than a defeat."

After gaining stature as one of Israel's best known intellectuals and social critics, Elon withdrew from the country late in life -- disillusioned over its direction and the seemingly intractable nature of its conflict with the Palestinians.

Tom Segev, a prominent Israeli historian, said Elon's critique of Israel's founders and early policies paved the way for freer debate about the Zionist project in the nation's contemporary discourse. "He filled an important role in Israel, as one of the first to observe the society without being a prisoner of its ancient and national myths," said Segev, who followed in Elon's footsteps as a Haaretz columnist and author of iconoclastic bestsellers. "This required a critical eye and a somewhat removed and ironic perspective."

Born July 4, 1926, in Vienna, Elon moved to Palestine with his family in 1933, arriving so young, he said later, that he never considered himself "an ideological Israeli." In a 2004 interview with Ari Shavit of Haaretz, he said he continued to believe in the need for "a state of the Jews in Israel" but added: "Zionism has exhausted itself, precisely because it accomplished its aims."

Behind horn-rimmed glasses, the writer exuded intelligence and refinement that earned him the nickname "The Viennese" among newspaper colleagues. Shavit described him as "serious, German, stern." A secular Jew, he maintained a lifelong attachment to German culture; spoke German, English and Hebrew fluently; and wrote in all three languages.

He grew up in Tel Aviv and served three years in the Hagana, the paramilitary forerunner of Israel's army, while it was fighting against British rule. After Israel gained independence in 1948, he studied law and history at Hebrew University and Cambridge.

After starting at Haaretz in 1951, he became a correspondent in Europe and the United States. In Washington he met American-born Beth Drexler, who became his wife and an editor for much of his work. She survives, along with their daughter, Danae, of New York; two grandchildren; and a sister.

Shortly after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war Elon had a chance meeting at Harvard with Sana Hassan, the daughter of Egypt's ambassador to the United States at the time. A series of conversations between them was published the following year as "Between Enemies: A Compassionate Dialogue Between an Israeli and an Arab."

Egypt's president at the time, Anwar Sadat, was reportedly furious over the book, which helped shatter a taboo against Israeli-Egyptian contacts. But three years later he became the first Arab leader to visit Israel, a breakthrough that led to Israel's 1979 peace agreement with Egypt. Free to travel there, Elon wrote "Flight Into Egypt," a book based on interviews with Egyptians who told him the country had tired of the cycle of war.

"In all my writing I have felt that my most important task was to work for that emotional detente and ideological disarmament which is so necessary for any Arab-Israeli settlement in the future," he said in a 1987 interview for the publication Contemporary Authors.

Elon's books included biographies of Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism, and Meyer Amschel Rothschild, the patriarch of the Rothschild banking dynasty.

His 2002 book "The Pity of It All," his last volume, portrayed German Jewish life from the mid-18th century until Adolf Hitler's rise to power. The book explores the complex relationships between educated Jews who wanted to be complete Germans and Germans who respected Jews but could not fully accept them.

The failure to achieve a multicultural Germany, in which one could be both Jewish and German, was tragic in light of what befell the Jews under Hitler, Elon wrote. But the book challenges a widely held view that pathology in the German culture made the Holocaust inevitable.

Elon sold his Jerusalem apartment in 2004 and retreated to his longtime vacation home in Italy's Tuscan region, where he could write about Israel from a distance. Many Israelis were astonished by his departure; some called him an elitist who simply couldn't accept an Israel that didn't resemble Europe.

Interviewed by Haaretz that year while packing up in Jerusalem, he said he felt "disappointment" over the country's nationalistic policies and the religious influence in its politics, especially since the 1967 war.

"Nothing has changed here in the last 40 years," he said. "The problems are exactly the same as they always were. The solutions were already known back then. But nobody paid attention. I found myself saying the same thing all the time. And I started to bore myself."

boudreaux@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-me-amos-elon27-2009may27,0,7664415.story