by Jerry Finzi

Italy’s Giuseppina Projetto-Frau is is about to turn 116 on May 30th and is currently the oldest living person in Europe. Several days ago in Barcelona, 116 year-old Spaniard, Ana Vela Rubio passed away. Ana was born on October 29th, 1901 which made her the longest living European.  Ana passes the baton to Giuseppina, bringing back the title formerly held by Emma Morano, who died in March 2017 at 117 years old, who was also considered to be the last human who lived during the 19th century. Born in Sardinia in 1902, Projetto has been dubbed La Nonna d'Italia (the grandmother of Italy). She is the third oldest person alive in the world today, after two Japanese women.

Giuseppina (her friends call her Pina) was born in 1902 in La Maddalena--a small island off Sardinia's northern tip. Her father’s name was Cicillo, and she had four siblings. Her grandfather had moved to La Maddalena from Sicily in the wake of the revolt of Garibaldi. At 5 years old, after losing her mother, along with with three of the four sisters, she was sent to  the female orphanage Satta-Sequi of Ozieri on the main island of Sardinia, where she lived until she was 21. Pina calls the the orphanage il Collegio, where she learned the art of embroidery, a craft she practiced her entire life. Pina has vivid memories of Ozieri... the fountain with the two marble lions that is located just in front of the "Collegio", the Attilio Pintus pastry shop and the "Swiss" café where she used to buy candy.

She married twice, but bore no children of her own. Her second husband, Giuseppe Frau, had 3 children that Nonna Pina raised with great love.  In 1946, when her son moved to Montelupo Fiorentino near Florence for work, she moved with him, where she still resides today with one of her daughters, Julia. Her son was tragically lost when trying to save bathers from drowning--a sorrow she still carries with her. Pina worked many years for the Bitossi Ceramics factory in Montelupo Fiorentino. She attributes some of her longevity to eating chocolate.

She is one of tens of thousands of Italians over 100 and still going. Many scientists have sought to identify the key to Italy’s extraordinary longevity, with suggestions ranging from a Mediterranean diet to hormones to a good sex life.

© GVI

You might also be interested in...
Emma Morano, Italy's Oldest Person, Dies at 117 Years Old
Sister Candida Bellotti Celebrates her 110th Birthday
Why Are There So Many People in Italy Over 100 Years Old?
Acciaroli, Campania: A Legend of Hemingway and 300 Residents Over 100 Years Old!

If you are a world traveler, a lover of art and have someone special with oddball, special sensitivities--just like you--then perhaps here is a gift your lover will really love. A fully articulated Michelangelo's David Action Figure by Figma. Well know to nerds and comic book fans worldwide, Figma produces both static and pose-able action figures of nearly every type of pulp, TV and movie hero. But now, in their Table Museum series, they are offering several classical art sculptures as articulated models.

The David is the fourth artwork to join the series along with Venus de Milo and Rodin's The Thinker. David has smooth, pose-able joints that can move from his classic pose to an endless variety of action poses. Even his eyes can be moved to change the direction of his gaze. A special base and arm parts are included for the classic pose, but various other hand parts are also included. His sling is also included, allowing you to pose him ready to take a shot.

The first in the their series was the Le Penseur (The Thinker) by Rodin. For the first time after pondering his problem, the Thinker can actually get up and do something about it! But for Valentine's Day, perhaps you'd like to see him with a special someone... How about a wonderful Goddess from the Greek island of Milos--Venus herself. Of course, you'd get the classic upper torso without arms, but in her kit you also get additional parts such as her missing arm parts, an apple and various hand parts.

Pose your Venus with the bronzed body of Thinker or pair her with The David. Either way, these are unique gifts for that special someone who is also an art lover.

Available on Amazon.



Happy Valentine's Day...

--Jerry Finzi

from CNBC News:

Who bought the $450 million da Vinci?

• The $450 million sale of Leonardo Da Vinci's "Salvatore Mundi" has touched off an epic guessing game in the art world: Who paid so much for a painting?
  
• Some dealers say the buyer is likely an American, since there is only one
  Da Vinci in the U.S.
  
• Others say the price suggests it was a foreign buyer willing to pay anything to have a Da Vinci in, say, China or the Middle East.
  

to read MORE, CLICK HERE...

New York, NY
Monday, October 9th

Carve out a spot along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue for a family-friendly celebration filled with colorful floats and rousing musical performances. The parade honors Italian-Americans’ contributions to New York City and draws around million spectators and 35,000 marchers.
The parade travels from 44th Street to 72nd Street and marching bands will perform along its length, and there’s also a “red carpet” area between 67th and 69th Streets for stage acts—special passes are needed to get up close. For more information, visit columbuscitizensfd.org.

Pittsburgh, PA
Saturday, October 7th

The Saturday before Columbus Day always turns Pittsburgh’s Little Italy into one big celebration. And even though the old Bloomfield neighborhood is affectionately known as “Little Italy,” there’s actually nothing small about the annual Columbus Day parade. Thousands line Liberty Avenue to see everyone from Pittsburgh politicians to pint-sized pageant queens.
The 32nd annual parade will step off at 11 a.m. at Bloomfield Liberty Avenue.

Chicago, IL
Monday, October 9th

For nearly half a century, the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans has sponsored Chicago’s Columbus Day celebration. Festivities begin with a mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii and a wreath laying ceremony at the Columbus Statue located in Arrigo Park, followed by the parade.  The parade of over 150 floats, bands and marching units travels down State Street, from Wacker Drive to VanBuren Street.
Many prominent Italian-Americans have been honorary parade Grand Marshals, including Ernest Borgnine and Tommy LaSorda.

Cleveland, OH
Monday, October 9th

The 65th annual Cleveland Columbus Day Parade will step off at noon on Monday, Oct. 9. The parade will take place in Little Italy, where it moved in 2003 after decades downtown.
The 15th parade in Little Italy will begin at Murray Hill and Cornell Roads and proceed north to East 125th Street and Fairview, then turn north on Fairview and march back to Mayfield past Holy Rosary Church.
The parade will feature more than 100 groups, including marching bands from Mayfield, Garfield Heights, Holy Name and other high schools. The Knights of Columbus, local Italian associations and Little Italy Montessori school will also march in the parade.

San Francisco, CA
Sunday, October 8th

Columbus Day’s three-day holiday weekend delivers San Francisco’s oldest civic event — the nation’s first Italian-American Columbus Day Parade. Introduced in 1869, the free event has continued growing, with colorful marching bands, floats and plenty of people waving red, white and green flags to celebrate Italian pride. The Italian Heritage Parade kicks off from Fisherman’s Wharf beginning at 12:30 p.m. and finishes in North Beach on Sunday, Oct. 8, 2017.
Spectators are treated to dozens of handcrafted parade floats from Bay Area businesses, community groups, Italian organizations, local high school Italian clubs and marching bands. Traditional Italian musicians and performance artists led by grand marshals are on show, as well as special character appearances by Christopher Columbus, Queen Isabella and her court.

Baltimore, MD
Sunday, October 8, 2017

This is the 127th Columbus Commemoration in Baltimore. The parade begins 2 pm Parade on Key Highway and ends in Little Italy. Join Baltimore's Italian community in the longest-running parade and commemoration in the country to honor Christopher Columbus... Bring the family!
PARADE CHAIRMAN: Al Massa, ladolcevitaltd@verizon.net
PARADE DAY COORDINATOR: Gina Piscopo, gpiscopo@verizon.net

by Rich Monetti (on the GEEK)

Every summer, as the sizzle perspires from the cement, urban thoughts of running streams, flowing grass and cool mountain breezes inherently materialize around every New Yorker and only subside with the arrival of fall. But few would consider the very nearby setting today that many Italian families once made an affordable respite and desired vacation getaway. A sentiment reflecting the desolation this upstate destination of a bygone era now suffers. Nonetheless, a holdout remains and is the subject of The Last Resort.

So for those completely at a loss in the younger generations, the only introduction that suffices with a question: What the hell are the Catskills “Exactly. Right now there’s one Jewish place and three Italian places. I used to go to a place called Villa Maria," said Filmmaker Dante Liberatore. “The whole setting was an extension of little Italy for Italians. It meant going to a place with people just like themselves and reminded them of home in Italy where they could catch the mountain breeze.”

Unfortunately, the Catskills sunk as Americans were no longer grounded by the high rates of travel. “When the airlines went through deregulation, prices fell dramatically. This giving people so many more options – who really wants to go to the mountains and look at trees,” said the Yonkers born writer.

Still, who does a movie about the Catskills. “After finishing my previous project on Arthur Avenue, the producer wanted to do another Italian themed film. So I said, why don’t we go see if there’s any Italian resorts left in the Catskills,” said Liberatore....

Click HERE to read more...

There is a reason people have flocked to la bel Paese as part of their Grand Tour in the nineteenth century and are still doing it today. Tourists gather en masse in hopes of discovering the romance, history and beauty of Italy. Blame the artists. That's right, the romantic movement in art filled the salons, galleries and the homes of the elite (who could actually afford a "Grand Tour" for a year or more) and in essence promoted the beauty of Italia.  Here are a dozen of what I consider the most beautiful and romantic of this type of painting... who wouldn't want to travel to Italy after seeing the grandeur?

In a land ravaged by earthquakes, floods and volcanoes from time to time, it's no wonder that in Italy, one will occasionally discover one of the many Ghost Towns... 

Perched high on a rocky outcrop, with buildings precariously built under overhanging cliffs, is the beautiful remains of Pentedattilo, a village in southern Calabria. (The look of this village--tucked under dolomite cliffs--reminds me of the twin villages of Pietrapertosa and Castellmezzano we visited in Basilicata.) The village is a 45 minute drive from Reggio-Calabria.  It got its name from the Byzantine word Pentedáktilos, which means five fingers, a reference to the five deep valleys surrounding the mountainous village. First inhabited in "Magna Graecia" period and then the Romans, Pentedattilo offers a wonderful view of the sea.

Being one of the oldest Ghost Towns of Italy, the town was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1783, which led to large parts of the population moving to the nearby seaside port town of Melito Porto Salvo. Today a modern-day with the same name of Pentedattilo was built on another hilltop a bit closer to the sea. The residents still attend Catholic services in the restored Chiesa dei Pietro e Paolo (Church of Saints Peter and Paul) standing proudly against the threat of Nature under the cliffs in the old town. 

After some restoration in the 1980s, the old village today has a few new residents, although many ruins still sit without roofs, windows or doors just waiting for the Voyager with camera to capture its haunting beauty and solitude. Oddly enough, the village becomes the site of the International Pentedattilo Film Festival... with appropriate their motto, "Don't be a Ghost".  

Only in Italy!

--Jerry Finzi

It's simple, really. My Mother grew up in a poor immigrant Italian family in Hoboken. I'm sure her Neapolitan parents passed on this tradition. When you're poor in Italy, you are superstitious about money so you tend to push luck on your side with certain traditions. You would eat coin shaped lentils on New Year's Day, for instance. My Mother taught me that putting a pile of coins--whatever you happen to be carrying in your pocket at the end of the year--on the windowsill will guarantee that you have money all year long. 

One rule: Put the coins out before midnight. 

Felice Anno Nuovo!

Postscript:
Years ago when I lived in my loft/studio in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, I used to have my windows washed by professional window-washers. You know the kind... they clip their safety belts on to lugs outside of the commercial building windows, then lean back over the void to soap up, clean and then squeegie the windows clean. I had a 50 foot long wall of 10 foot tall windows running along the front of my sixth floor loft. Once a month, they would clean the city grime off the windows and suddenly the front of the studio would seem a lot brighter. 

One year, in a cold January, I noticed that the years of accumulated nickels, dimes, pennies
and quarters were gone! There must have been $20-30 in coins out there. I figured one of my window-washers must have needed it more than I did...

...unless it was those notorious, thieving Flying Rats of New York--the pigeons!
--Jerry Finzi

This tradition has its roots in the Middle Ages when superstitions (and the plague) ran rampant, many promising to cure a person of his ills or perhaps bring good fortune and love. Red represents passion, blood flowing through your bod and thus life itself. It's no wonder that most red-blooded, passionate Italians bring in the New Year by wearing red undies... but I wonder how many of them stick to the tradition of throwing away the undergarments just as the New Year commences. (How would one accomplish this?)

So, whether playing Tombola (Italian Bingo, read more HERE), dancing it up at a party, watching the fireworks in the Piazza or from your own balcony, don't forget the sausage, lentils and the red underwear!

Felice anno nuovo!

--Jerry Finzi

Wrinkled skin, warts, black shawl, flying broomstick... sounds scary, right? Such a witch on a flying broom would strike fear in the hearts of most children, but not in Italy, and not on January 6th, the Epiphany (Epifania in Italian) .

This witch--la Befana--comes down chimneys and leaves gifts for children. And if they've been bad, she'll leave a lump of black coal... but she's usualy compelled to leave a black sugar lump rather than real coal. She's that good!

In just about every town in Italy there will be celebrations, feasts, parades, marching bands, flying witches, floating witches, puppet witches and witches brooms and black cats everywhere... 

In Italy the crisis began on February 1, 1956; on February 2, the Po Valley was below a -15°C, and snow storms were all over the North. Rome experienced a snowfall that became historic.

On February 4, snow was falling over most of Italy, and new ice-cold currents hit the Adriatic region reaching a peak on Feb. 7, when a powerful cold core struck the southern regions.

On 8 February, a new low pressure between Corsica and Tuscany again caused heavy snowfalls in Rome and throughout central and southern Italy, with blizzards and freezing temperatures, frost and snow. In those days it snowed even on the Sicilian coast. In Palermo, the minimum temperature went down to 0° C (32° F) and the city was blanketed over and again by several centimeters of snow, which also fell on the southern coasts of Sicily and the island of Lampedusa.

On 13 February new ice-cold currents came from the Rhone valley, resulting in rigid temperatures that struck the north of Italy and led to new snowfalls especially on the Marche, Umbria and Tuscany, moving the day after southward, while the regions of the north and centre were enveloped by frost. In the next days frost and snow continued, with new snowfall from February 18 until February 20 on the whole north and centre, and even in Rome.

In many mountain towns of Abruzzo, as well as in alleys of the historical centre of L'Aquila, people moved only through tunnels excavated through the huge snow heaps. With the new snowstorms many places became unreachable: Ovindoli, Campo di Giove, Campotosto, Castel del Monte, Pizzoferrato, Gamberale. Civitaluparella at 903 meters (2962 ft). SOme were isolated for over ten days, partly because of a large avalanche in the vicinity. At Pescina, just over 700 meters (2296 ft) of altitude, in some spots the snow had reached 23 ft deep, halting the Avezzano-Sulmona railroad.

Here is a video (in Italian) that profiles the Presepe di Pane....

In the next video, a baker-artisan works his magic and creates a detailed human figure. If you bake, this is well worth watching!

--Jerry Finzi

If you enjoyed this article, please SHARE it and LIKE it on your favorite social media site. Buon Natale!

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In the centuries before the iconic Bialetti Mokka pot, people drank the new beverage in coffeehouses, an idea that started in Constantinople around 1550, but also spread to Mecca, Damascus and Cairo. Although David ibn Abi Zimra (a Cairo rabbi) ruled in 1553 that Jews could drink coffee prepared by a non-Jew, he also warned against patronizing public coffeehouses and suggested that instead, they have their coffee deliver to their homes--especially due to its medicinal use. 

Initially, in the 15th century, the drink quickly spread throughout the Ottoman Empire, enjoyed with large amounts of sugar. Jews and Muslims alike found that it helped them stay awake and alert for nightly prayer services. For Muslims, it took the place of forbidden alcoholic beverages. For the Jews, its adoption was tentative with rabbis debating whether it was Kosher, what blessing it required or whether it was actually a medicinal drug. 

Coffee in Italy had a slow start, partly due to it being declared a Drink of the Devil by the Catholic church, and because it was a very expensive drink for the elite. It wouldn't be until 1603 when Pope Clement VIII tasted--and liked--coffee and gave the drink full absolution from its sins. This helped open the floodgates for coffee in Italy and the rest of Europe.

In 1632, the Jews of Livorno--a port city that was given over to the Italian Jewish population which became a center of Mediterranean trade--imported the first coffee into Italy and then opened the first coffeehouses (Bottega del Caffè). By 1624 and 1650, large shipments were shipped to Venice and by 1683, the first coffeehouse in Venice opened.

In researching this article, I actually discovered that in 1766, an ancestor with my family name, Beniamino Finzi (an Italian Jew) was given management of a coffeehouse in Livorno. He managed to get the Jewish leaders to rescind a law forbidding games of chance in coffeehouses frequented by Jews. He was the first Jew to be granted a permit to allow gambling with card and board games in a coffeehouse. From this time on, a Jew could only run an "entertainment room" for gambling only if they also served coffee!   

Coffee was becoming mainstream.... within 200 years of the first sip being tasted in Italy, the craving for coffee had spread throughout Europe and even into the New World. 

--Jerry Finzi

Although there might still be a few homes in rural Italy where the fràscere or braciere (brazier) might be found, this tool for heating and cooking is more than likely a memory for older Italians. Typically an ancient-looking copper pan set into a wider wooden base, many recall  their mothers placing the braciere full of hot coals from the home's fireplace into the middle of the room so all members of the family could sit around warming their feet on a cold winter's evening.

Some have shared memories with me: Mama putting large black olives in to heat them up, and then squeezing them onto pieces of toasted bread... or melting pieces of cheese on forks. They also remember how their fathers warmed up some zuppa for an evening snack before heading off to bed. A second braciere might have been placed in their bedroom to take the chill off as they drifted off to sleep.

​And their mothers may well have covered the braciere with a scaldapanni (or sciuttapanni)--a dome cover made from bent strips of wood--and then draped a damp washcloth, panties, socks or a cloth diaper to dry overnight. In school the next day, there might have been a braciere--perhaps more than one--sitting on the floor between desks to help warm their scholastic endeavors, even if just to toss a crumpled mistake into the coals when their maestra was dissatisfied with their work.   

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

― Mark Twain, from The Innocents Abroad/Roughing It

Mark Twain, aka Samuel Clemens, first visited Italy in 1867 in what he called "the first organized pleasure party ever assembled for a transatlantic voyage". In 1869 he published The Innocents Abroad, a detailed account of a six month long journey through most of Europe and the Holy Land. In 1867 Italy was already a unified country, with the sole exception of Rome and Latium, which were still ruled by the Pope.

The quotation above is still true today. As we travel the world--especially as Americans--we are rightfully humbled by the majesty of thousands of years of history, art and architecture. We realize that Europe, and even Italy itself, are the original melting pots. When traveling we open our eyes to different customs, lifestyles, religion and even food. If you take the time to learn another language, you will open yourself up to even more of what the world has to offer...

So, if you find yourself "vegetating in one little corner of the earth", take Twain's advice.

Travel.

--Jerry Finzi

My wife, Lisa bought me an interesting birthday gift this year--a DNA test kit. I've been researching my Italian heritage since before we took our voyage to Italy late 2014.
The origins of the Finzi family name have fascinated me since I was a kid. It was such an unusual name... unlike most Italian names, aside from an "i" at the end. To my ears it sounded Ancient Roman. I could imagine it engraved in marble somewhere in the ancient world.

As I grew through life I had hints of the roots of the Finzi famiglia: The film Garden of the Finzi-Contini about a Jewish family during Nazi occupation; a large department store named Finzi in Geneva (also Jewish); the British, Jewish composer Gerald Finzi (I was also baptized Gerald); but then I was thrown off by the Finzi Rum made in Jamaica (how did a Finzi get way down there?)

Suspecting a Jewish connection, I started reading about the history of the Jews as they moved throughout the world and through history in what is called the Diaspora--the often forced movement of Jews from one land to another. They originated in the Middle East, then moved to Greece and Southern Italy (called Magna Graecia) then to Northern Italy, Austria, Germany, Poland, Western Europe, Spain and beyond.

I read how the ancient form of our family name was varied: Pinchas, or in Latin as, Finees or Finea. I learned that the Finzi lineage leads back to ancient times—2000 years ago and perhaps further. Many—and semingly most—modern Finzis living today are Jewish. Roman Catholic Finzis are in much smaller numbers. I have come to a theory on the reason for this...

At several times in history, many Jewish bearers of the Finzi name were forced to either to give up their religion entirely, convert to Catholicism (often under threat of death), or to leave their current homeland and relocate to other lands if they wanted to continue in their Jewish faith. This caused a split in the Finzi family lineage--most being Jewish, and some Catholic—like my family.

When my line of Finzis converted to Catholicism isn't certain, but there are a few possibilities. The first goes back almost 2000 years...

More likely than not, the first Jews (including Finzis) arrived in Puglia in southern Italy (perhaps after first migrating to Greece) sometime after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD.  At the time, Emperor Tito brought back 5000 prisoners who settled in and around Taranto. In addition, the ports of Brindisi, Otranto, Bari, Trani and Barletta were the natural ports of entry from the Middle East, with the whole of Puglia becoming the first new community for the dispora of Jews looking for a new life in Italy and Western Europe. OK, so that's how the first Jewish Finzis probably arrived in Italy.

As time went on, more and more Jews came to Puglia, but not all from Palestine. Some arrived by sea from the Balkans, others from Spain and Portugal, France, Central Europe and even other parts of Italy. Once in Puglia, they assimilated with existing groups, creating a Judaism with its own unique profile. Many spoke Greek as their first language. Still today, there are Jewish communities and a strong historic record of Jews in Puglia, such as Jewish tombstones from the third century A.D..

But why and when did my line of Finzis convert from Judaism to Catholicism? There are three possibilities:

1. In 70 AD the
2. In the 9th and 10th centuries Byzantine emperors forced Jews to convert.
3. In the 13th century the Angevin ruler Charles II also forced Jews to convert or die.
4. In the 1600s the Aragonese also forced conversion to Christianity.

Jews who were forced to convert were called either neofiti, cristiano novi or cristiani novelli. Converting to Christianity didn’t mean they had as many rights as others who were born as Christians. When Jews converted, they were expected to condemn their former religion in the harshest way possible, making it difficult for them to re-enter at a later time. Most neofiti were not permitted to own land. And in Christian communities, these Jewish apostates were not considered full-fledged Christians. Cristiani novella were caught in the middle of the two faiths. Perhaps this was the fate of my lineage of the Finzi famiglia so long ago...

I'm strongly convinced now that my family line was forced to convert perhaps as much as a thousand years ago. The DNA results give strong evidence for that, especially since the percentage of "Italy/Greece" DNA is very high at 74%, while the "European Jewish" (5%) and "Middle East" (3%) DNA are surprisingly low. To be honest, I was expecting a higher percentage of Jewish DNA in my blood, either European Jewish or Middle Eastern. From what I read about the DNA science behind the results, such a large percentage of "Italian/Greece" DNA with such a low percentage of Jewish DNA means that the Jewish part of my lineage was long ago in history.

The amazing thing to me is that 74% is actually higher than a native of the "Italy/Greece" region! Does this mean I'm more Italian than Italians?

--Jerry Finzi

Recently, on a bright, crisp late summer day, I thought we should take our son, Lucas to Ellis Island to see his grandfather's name on the Immigrant Wall of Honor. Lucas never knew his grandfather, which is why he knows him as "Angel Grandpa", but through my stories he feels that he knew him. I'm happy for that. I never knew either of my grandfathers--they were both gone long before I was born. Both were immigrants and so was my father, Saverio Finzi.

Dad passed through Ellis Island in 1914 at the age of 4, with his father, Sergio, his mother, Caterina De Ceglia, his older brother, Anselmo and baby sister, Antonia. His father, Sergio had two prior excursions to America before being able to bring his family with him to start their new lives.

There were 12 other men from Molfetta traveling with Sergio on his 1907 voyage. Many from Molfetta eventually settled in Hoboken--which still today is considered a sister city to Molfetta. The cold, early spring sea voyage lasted 13 days. He was going to stay with his "cousin, Domenico Pansini" in Hoboken, NJ. 

On his second trip, there were 8 other men from his hometown of Molfetta traveling with Sergio Finzi. He was the only man from Molfetta to list a trade (tailor), with all the others listing themselves as "laborers". Sergio listed his "brother, Mauro" on the ship's manifest as the person he was meeting in Hoboken, NJ. It must have been rough at first--he had only $13 in his pocket when he first arrived on Ellis Island.

By the time Sergio returned in 1914 with his family, he came with $27 and paid for their passage himself. He left a home, mother, father, brothers and an entire life back in Italy. At the time there was fear about the upcoming war, there was massive inflation and joblessness. He was 5'3" tall with blue eyes--just like my father, Saverio.

I wanted Lucas to learn from the exhibits in the Ellis Island museum displays just how hard it was for his grandfather's family to make the sacrifice and leave their native Italy to start a New Life here in America. I wanted him to know why this Presidential election is so important--especially considering the negative rhetoric concerning immigrants. I wanted him to understand that although at one time Italians were "the other", most like my father Saverio, became American citizens. 

When I saw Lucas searching for his grandfather's name along the bright stainless steel walls of the Wall of Honor, I knew he felt proud... and then he found it. We touched the engraved "Saverio Finzi" together.

You have a fantastic grandson, Dad. He's proud of your memory--you would be so proud of him.

--Jerry Finzi

--September 29

One of Hoboken, New Jersey's historic gems--the Lackawanna Terminal Railway Station--suffered a terrible tragedy this morning when a train full of morning commuters from Spring Valley, NY plowed full speed past the concrete terminus of the line. The rail cars flew into the air, injuring 100 or more and killing at least one person who wasn't even on the train itself--she was standing on the platform.  The lead car came within inches of breaking through the walls and into the beautifully restored waiting room, a proud piece of Hoboken's history from 1907, when thousands of Italian immigrants found their way from Ellis Island and into their new lives in Hoboken itself and beyond in the rest of America.

The glass roof above the station platform collapsed onto the train below, while people broke out train windows and crawled to their freedom. Passengers and NJ Transit workers alike were the first to spring into action, helping to get the injured out of harms way. 

The station serves 7 train lines bringing more than 15,000 commuters into the New York City hub daily.  Passengers either switch to the PATH subway trains to travel under the Hudson River into Manhattan, or take waiting ferries across the busy New York City waterway. 

Needless to say, this incident will disrupt travel for months to come.

(Read about our Visit to Hoboken HERE)