Leona Lewis: First Brit in Two Decades as No 1 in the Billboard Hot 100; Gets Good Looks from Italian Ancestry

Leona Lewis the 2006 Winner of the "X Factor", the Brit version of "American Idol" became the first British woman in more than two decades to top the US singles chart. She has embarked on a US /World Interviw Tour, that started with Oprah Winfrey, and NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and will include Regis & Kelly, Ellen DeGeneres Show, ABC's Good Morning America and Jimmy Kimmel's late night talk show.

Leona was born in the London district of Islington to mother Maria Lewis, a social worker of Italian-Irish descent, anf father Aural Josiah, a Guyanese Afro-Caribbean youth worker. At the age of five, she attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School, and later the Italia Conti Academy, and the BRIT School.

^{You Tube : Bleeding Love : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-ctIC65PV0&feature=user}

^{Leona Lewis My Space Page:} http://www.myspace.com/leonalewis

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

The Oprah Effect: America's Next Big Thing

Leona Lewis, the TV talent show winner from Hackney, yesterday became the first British woman in more than two decades to top the US singles chart

Independent - London,England,UK
By Ciar Byrne
Friday, 28 March 2008

"Wow, wow, wow... Talk about a star is born. You're the real deal, girl." It was with these words that Oprah Winfrey bestowed her blessing on Leona Lewis.

Following a live performance on her chat show last week by the talent show winner from Hackney, east London, the all-powerful Winfrey advised viewers they could download Lewis's single "Bleeding Love" from iTunes, or buy it from Target record stores.

Americans did so in their droves and yesterday Lewis's single shot to No 1 in the Billboard Hot 100, knocking Usher from pole position " the first British woman to top the US singles charts since Kim Wilde in 1987 with her cover of The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On".

Lewis, 22, a former receptionist and pizza waitress, who has earned comparisons with Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion, is also the first winner of The X Factor to make it big on the other side of the Atlantic.

When she won the ITV talent contest in 2006, the judge Simon Cowell said, in an uncharacteristically gushing critique: "For every little girl who dreams about being a pop star while they're working in an office, you're a role model."

But British music critics have not always been so kind, dismissing Lewis's music as too mainstream. Despite being nominated in four categories at the Brit Awards last month, Lewis walked away empty-handed.

The Billboard endorsement might force some of those who have sneered at Lewis's success in the UK to revise their opinion.

Only two other UK female artists in history have topped the US chart with their debut release - Petula Clark in 1965 with "Downtown" and Sheena Easton in 1981 with "Morning Train (Nine to Five)".

Lewis has even trumped Amy Winehouse, who, despite winning five Grammy Awards, has not yet achieved a No 1 in the US. It is Cowell's involvement above all which has helped to catapult Lewis to fame in the US.

As a judge on American Idol, the US version of The X Factor, Cowell is one of the most high-profile Brits in America. Through his record label, Syco, in tandem with Sony BMG, he has the first option on all winning acts to emerge from The X Factor.

While previous winners have sunk without trace, Cowell spotted something different in Lewis, describing her as the most talented singer he has heard in more than a decade, and did the groundwork for her to become a global star.

In 2006, Lewis enjoyed a Christmas No 1 hit with "A Moment Like This", which broke the world record by selling 50,000 downloads in its first half-hour on sale and went on to sell 600,000 copies in its first week.

Realising that her success was dependent on the right material, Cowell contacted Clive Davis, the founder of J Records – also part of Sony BMG – and told him: "You might have the next Whitney Houston on your hands."

Davis, the man who discovered Houston and Alicia Keys, agreed with Cowell's judgement: "I was immediately knocked out by her range, her versatility, and the pure beauty of her voice. She is an artist who will be a true star for many years to come."

Lewis signed a recording contract with Syco in the UK and with J Records and Syco in the US, earning a reputed ?5m advance, and started work on her debut album, Spirit, working with musicians who have previously played with Madonna, Gwen Stefani and Beyonc?.

For nine months, Lewis went quiet as far as her fans were concerned. Then, in September 2007, she re-emerged at a VIP music industry event in London, where she previewed some of her new material, including the single "Bleeding Love". She went on to premiere the single on her old stamping ground, The X Factor, on 20 October last year. Two days later, the track became the biggest-selling week-one single of 2007, shifting 218,805 copies in seven days.

In November, Lewis's Spirit was released in Britain and became the fastest-selling debut album of all time in the UK, with 375,872 copies sold in its first week, breaking the previous record set by the Arctic Monkeys, who sold 363,735 copies of Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not in January 2006. This week's Billboard triumph suggests that when Spirit is released in the US on 8 April, Lewis will enjoy a similar level of success.

As Lewis told Winfrey, she was always destined to sing. "I remember singing into my hairbrush and every chance I could I'd be doing a show or performing in the front room for my family."

Tall and slender, with a tousled mane of brown hair and sultry green eyes, Lewis's stunning looks come from her half-Italian, half-Irish ballet teacher mother and her Guyanese father.

As a young girl in Hackney, Lewis already had one eye on stardom. She attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School and later the Brit School in Croydon, a crucible for the current generation of young British music talent – the state school counts Kate Nash, Adele Adkins and Winehouse among its alumni. At the age of 15, she sent a demo tape of herself singing Minnie Riperton's "Loving You" to Sony in America, but at that time the record giant failed to sign her up. After leaving school, Lewis worked as a waitress at the Stamford Hill branch of Pizza Hut and as a receptionist, to earn money to pay for studio time.

A teetotal, animal-loving vegetarian, Lewis still lives in a rented flat in Hackney with her boyfriend Lou Al-Chamaa an elctrician. But for the rest of 2008, Lewis is unlikely to be spending much time at home. She kicked off her assault on the US last month with a performance at Clive Davis's pre-Grammys party, which won her critical acclaim and a profile in US Weekly.

Over the next few weeks, she will continue her promotional tour of the US, which has already included an appearance on NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno, with interviews scheduled for The Ellen DeGeneres Show, ABC's flagship breakfast programme Good Morning America and Jimmy Kimmel's late night talk show. Then it is on to Australia, one of the 10 other countries where "Bleeding Love" has topped the charts, followed by Asia.

All the overseas attention will do Lewis no harm back in the UK. An HMV spokesman, Gennaro Castaldo, said: "There was always a slight cynicism over artists that emerged through the reality TV process, but they've developed a truly global star here, not least because Simon Cowell has such a massive profile in the States that he really can open doors. Few people would dispute that she does look amazing; she has an incredible voice; and she's working with the right recording industry people over there, so if you give her the right material, that's a winning formula in the US.

"It's a virtuous circle which will then spill back to the UK. If there's anyone with an outstanding cynical attitude towards her, this will convince them she is more than an X Factor winner."

Despite finding her music "very safe" and "overwhelmingly mainstream", the Billboard contributor Paul Sexton agrees that Lewis has undoubtedly hit the big time. "There's no denying she's a big star now," he said. "Getting to No 1 in America is a very big endorsement, whatever you think of her music."

He was surprised that Lewis did not win at the Brits. "What that did is emphasise that the Brits are not stage-managed. Everyone expected her to walk away with at least a couple of awards. The performance she gave was powerful on the night."

Of Lewis's US success, he added: "Simon Cowell has become a huge celebrity in his own right on American Idol; that has got to be a huge factor in promoting a new act."

Cowell said he was "incredibly proud" of Leona. "What she has achieved in the last year is simply amazing." Speaking on Winfrey's programme, Cowell described his prot?g?e as "one of the nicest people I have ever met in this business".

In the first of a series of blogs on the US teen website Cosmogirl, Lewis lived up to this description with a breathless account of her US tour. "I'm so excited to be able to spend some time in the US and showcase my work to everyone here. It's been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl and I just can't wait! Thanks to everyone for the support so far. It's just incredible and I appreciate it so, so much."

She may have been compared with some of pop's greatest divas, but, thus far at least, Lewis exudes the charm of a pleasant and modest young woman, albeit with a star quality and stunning voice that has propelled her to international fame.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-oprah-effect-americas-next-big-thing-801760.html

Venice St Mark's Campanile to Topple?

Affectionately nicknamed El Paron de Casa (The Gaffer), the bell-tower, or 'campanile', was first built in 1156-73 on the site of an older tower dating back to around 900 AD. After suffering structural damage, the tower was rebuilt in the 16th century, but the campanile collapsed completely in 1902. The much-photographed current tower was built in 1912.

The 99-metre bell-tower is sloping by seven centimetres, a year - due to its foundation consists of thousands of wooden posts driven into the water logged ground under Venice and its Canals The Restoration work which started this week will depend on a titanium belt that will be wrapped around its foundations two metres below ground and will be invisible from the outside.

Thanks to Pat Gabriel

Work begins on Venice bell- tower

Titanium belt to prevent St Mark's campanile from toppling (ANSA) - Venice, March 27, 2008

Work began in Venice this week to fit a titanium belt to one of the city's most famous landmarks, the bell-tower in St Mark's Square. Experts were called in after a survey revealed the 99-metre bell-tower is sloping by seven centimetres, a sign that its foundations - thousands of wooden posts driven into unstable ground - are failing to provide adequate support. Surveyors also reckon the foundations of the tower are cracking by a millimetre a year. To prevent the tower from toppling over, the titanium belt will be wrapped around its foundations two metres below ground and will be invisible from the outside. Consorzio Venezia Nuova (CVN), the conservation group in charge of the restoration, has warned that the picturesque square - a must on Italy's tourist trail - will be covered in scaffolding for the next two years while the belt is fitted. Work will also be carried out on the Ducal Palace and the Ponte della Paglia in the square, CVN said. Affectionately nicknamed El Paron de Casa (The Gaffer), the bell-tower, or 'campanile', was first built in 1156-73 on the site of an older tower dating back to around 900 AD. After suffering structural damage, the tower was rebuilt in the 16th century, but the campanile collapsed completely in 1902. The much-photographed current tower was built in 1912 at a cost of 500,000 lire and commands a magnificent view over the city and its lagoon.

Amaro: A New Sweetheart from Italy

Bitters Making a Happy Ending
By Jim Clarke

Gentian. Angelica. Centaurea minor. What place do these obscure plants and herbs have at the bar? Juniper. Coriander. Some of them sound familiar, but their real home is in bitters. In the Middle Ages, monks began uncovering the techniques of distillation from Arabic science. Given the primitive technology, these distillates were probably pretty rough, and the monasteries - except in Germany, for some reason - didn’t consider the resulting concoction a beverage but more of a medicine. They began to infuse the aqua vitae with various herbs – also thought to possess healing properties - to create a medical potion, and the combinations eventually grew in diversity and complexity. St. John’s Wort. Each monastery developed a jealously guarded secret recipe for their cure-all, and as the art of distillation became a more secular affair after the Renaissance, these recipes began to pass from their hands to the pharmacists. The pharmacists’ recipes from the 19th century are today’s bitters.

Prior to the 1800’s if you needed a healthful tonic you went to your local pharmacist and bought his private blend, but by the end of the century many enterprising apothecaries began bottling their production for sale elsewhere. Quinine. At the same time, their supposed medical virtues were beginning to fade from public belief; nonetheless, even today many Italians still swear by the drink’s power to settle the stomach and aid digestion. In other European countries single, national brands have tended to monopolize the market - think of Germany’s Jagermeister, or Unicum in Hungary - but Italian production remains diverse. Most Italian bars sport several varieties of bitters - amari, in Italian - and just over twenty different brands are currently available in the U.S.

What’s in the bottle

Interest here is growing, but many people would like to know exactly what’s in the unfamiliar bottle in front of them - especially since some producers have created some unusual labels and intriguingly-shaped bottles to show of their product on the shelf. It starts with a distillate, usually a grain-based alcohol, but sometimes brandy, grappa, or, in the case of the Fernet products, fermented and distilled beet molasses.

A secret mix of herbs, roots, and flowers is then infused into the distillate - sometimes as many as forty ingredients. Each producer has its own recipe, protected as carefully as the formula for classic Coca-Cola. Bitter orange peel. Prime components almost always include something vegetal for bitterness plus botanicals to provide aromatics. Lavender. After this the drink is aged to allow the flavors to blend and soften. Some producers even age in oak casks to introduce wood and oxidizing elements. The amaro is then ready for bottling.

What are bitters not? Vermouth? No. Vermouth is a close cousin, infused with many of the same herbs and roots, but is an undistilled wine. As an aside, this means vermouth can turn; if you’ve ever had a manhattan made with vinegared sweet vermouth, you know what I’m talking about. Rue. Being stronger in alcohol, bitters generally last a lot longer on the shelf. Bitters are also not gin; gin avoids the bitter components, favoring botanicals, and is re-distilled after they are added, so the flavoring and color is much lighter.

What to do with it

If I’ve gotten you past the name - which puts a lot of people off - then how should you drink your bitter? The classic Italian way is straight up at the end of a meal, either with or after coffee. Some even add it to their espresso to make a "café corretto" To broaden their market some bitter producers have been encouraging drinkers to try this classic digestivo as an aperitif by serving it on the rocks with seltzer, and with some bitters this is pretty successful. A few restaurants have even developed cocktails that highlight their bitters selection " Mario Batali’s “Lupa," for one. Mario’s partner, Joe Bastianich, developed Lupa’s collection of bitters, originally to give the bar a distinctive look with the less-familiar labels. Lupa spurred New Yorkers’ interest in bitters, and Bastianich himself recently bought two secret recipes with the aim of eventually producing them himself. Sage. Elder. Patrick Bickford, the Beverage Director for the restaurant group "Off the Menu," made an exciting bitters selection part of their new restaurant, "Cesca," and is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable promoter of bitters with his guests.

What it tastes like

Bitters were originally produced more in the north of Italy, but are now made throughout the country. Because the original creators had to use herbs and botanicals that were available locally, there are some faint regional characteristics, but there are almost as many exceptions as there are examples. Northern producers tend toward alpine and menthol notes, the Santa Maria al Monte being perhaps the most extreme example; it’s from the Valle d’Aosta, a valley nestled in among the Alps near the French border. Cora is made nearby in Piedmont and is less extreme; floral aromas come together with some cinammon - rather like red hot candies - finished with a note of orange peel.

Lombardy, to the East, is home to two of the amari best known to Americans: Ramazotti and Fernet Branca. The former shows notes of cola, vanilla, and a light pepperiness. Fernet Branca is more intense, with strong herbal qualities over a licorice note buttressed by a warming alcoholic burn. The same company makes Branca Menta by adding mint to the recipe; toned down and more caramelly than its brother, this was once so popular in the U.S. that they even produced it here for a while. There is another Fernet, Fernet Luxardo, from the Veneto, which gets downright aggressive with its herbal qualities and finishes with cleansing menthol and eucalyptus notes. "Fernet" in the name indicates that the liquor was distilled from beet molasses.

There is a "Luxardo" in the Veneto as well, the Luxardo Abano. Medium-bodied and rounder in the mouth, its herbal qualities are toned down and complemented by an aroma of white pepper. Nearby, Nardini, a grappa producer, also makes an unusual bitter that will appeal to tawny port drinkers; the herbs come primarily on the finish, while the mouth and nose encounter mocha, toffee, and baking spices. In Friuli another grappa producer, Nonino, uses a brandy as their base and ages their bitter in barrel for five years, yielding a smooth, elegant amaro.

Moving south to Bologna, Montenegro is a light-bodied amaro characterized by orange peel, and makes a good start for people new to bitters. Another that Americans might find familiar-tasting is Cio Ciaro, from Lazio, the area around Rome; it calls up root beer and sassparilla and has a touch of sweetness to it. Meletti, made in the Marche on the far coast, offers an array of baking spices as well as saffron and caramel, with a white pepper note that builds through the finish. Meanwhile further south in Basilicata – the arch of the boot – the Lucano adds nutty aromas to herbal notes, to create a complex, totally dry beverage that is one of the most popular in Italy. Using a recipe which the firm’s founder bought from monks in Friuli in the north, Sicily’s Averna makes a rich, full drink with cola, licorice, vanilla, and cinnamon, the bitterness balanced by stewy fruit flavors.

What are the exceptions?

Americans might find two noticeable absences above: Campari and Cynar. These are often omitted from the list of amari because of their original intent: they were conceived of as aperitifs, to stimulate the appetite, rather than to aid digestion. Nevertheless, they are produced in very much the same way as the digestivos. Campari has found a place in a number of cocktails, including the classic Negroni, and Cynar enjoys a certain notoriety because the idea of an artichoke-based liqueur seems to get people’s attention. A lot of thought actually went into using that ingredient - experiments had shown that artichokes contain a chemical called cynarin that makes anything eaten immediately after the artichoke taste sweeter, a trait which Cynar’s creator thought would be commendable in an aperitif (as a side note, cynarin generally wreaks havoc with wine, giving it a tinny, metallic taste).

Cascia bark. Radicchio. Agarico Bianco. You won’t see these names at the bar. Nux Vomica. Coriander. But they’re there, in digestivi with history, complexity, and class.

http://starchefs.com/wine/features/html/bitters.shtml

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U.S. Bartenders Have a New Sweetheart from Italy: Amaro

Houston Chronicle - United States
From The Washington Post By Jason Wilson March 24, 2008

An amaro (meaning "bitter" in Italian) is a bitter herbal liqueur that Italians sip after dinner. There seems to be some validity to its therapeutic reputation; a 2001 study published in a Swiss journal said herbal bitters "sensorially stimulate" stomach secretions and digestive glands "at even very small concentrations."

Digestion aside, there's the issue of the bitter taste (think eucalyptus), which might politely be termed "challenging" for the American palate.

Bartending logic being what it is, that challenge makes amari perfect for cutting-edge mixologists, and plenty have been experimenting with them.

Most amari are in the 40- to 60-proof range, lower in alcohol than many spirits.

Averna is the amaro of the moment, and it's popping up all over the country. It's even used in a new manhattan variation, called a "black manhattan" (two parts rye whiskey, one part Averna, a dash of angostura bitters and a maraschino cherry). Averna is quite assertive when mixed with stronger spirits, such as whiskey or cognac, or with syrupy, flavorful liqueurs.

Or you can just drink it neat. And when you make that bitter face, just remember: At least your digestive tract is smiling.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/food/5644082.html

Dandelions are an Italian Salad and Wine Delicacy

Dandelion Wine Remains Popular as Weed Declines

The Daily Journal- Vineland NJ

By Joseph P. Smith, Staff Writer
jsmith@thedailyjournal.com
March 26, 2008

BUENA -- Ada Quarella really was on to something with her dandelion wine. It just took a few generations for her family to rediscover it for commercial purposes. The Quarella family's Bellview Winery now counts dandelion wine among its regular spring wine releases. "My great-great-aunt had always made it around the farm," Lee Quarella said recently. "When we were cleaning out the winery, we found some bottles she had made all the way back to the '50s. "And they turned out to be really good, so we decided to make it," Quarella said. "At that time, my aunt was still alive. She told us her recipe." The first vintage of Aunt Ada's formula sold 50 cases, or 600 bottles, two years ago. The business is flowering, mostly from local interest. The 2007 vintage, which is out this weekend, will have more than 1,200 bottles at $24.99 each. "It's definitely a niche wine," said Quarella, whose parents, Jim and Nancy, opened the winery in 2000. The family, vegetable growers for several generations, grows its own dandelions next to the winery. Only the dandelion's yellow petals are used. "We have 26 different wines we do here," he said. "This one is sort of in memory of Aunt Ada. It's something a lot of local people are looking for, and it's actually fun to do." While the general population may know dandelion as an annoying and persistent lawn weed, generations of area residents have given it a place of honor on the dinner table. It is a common ingredient in Italian cuisine in particular. Farmers start cutting spring dandelions in March. The 2008 harvest has been showing up at restaurants and in private homes as a salad for weeks. The greater Vineland area is a particular stronghold of consumers because of its large numbers of Italian-Americans. Dandelion is a shrinking delicacy even here, however. The market started declining around 1990, and the trend continues. The New Jersey Farm Bureau produce directory for 2008 lists only eight farms in the state growing it for general sale. Five of those are in Vineland or neighboring Buena Borough or Buena Vista Township. The Farm Bureau listed 19 growers statewide as dandelion growers in New Jersey in 1995. Wes Kline, a Cumberland County Extension Service agent, said dandelions recently were drawing $15 per crate in Philadelphia. Kline said no one tracks how much dandelion is grown in New Jersey, but the amounts are very small. "It makes sense to have something to come in early, so you have some money," Kline said. "I think there is more market for what they call 'summer dandelion' than for the true dandelion because you can grow it all through the summer." One issue for would-be dandelion growers is finding seed. None is sold commercially and fewer growers bother with it. "The person who is selling dandelion is saving their own seeds," Kline said. "That's not the reason there is less and less," he added. "The price hasn't been there. It's essentially an Italian specialty, and that market is getting less and less." AT A GLANCE The dandelion, part of the chicory family, arrived from Europe and spread rapidly except in southern states. It has been a source of not only food and drink, but folk medicines. About 3 pounds of seed sows an acre. Planting is in the fall for the spring dandelion. The roots are dug up in the second season after planting. The name dandelion comes from the French dente-de-lion, or lion's tooth, because of its jagged leaves. The plant has gone by many other names, including blow-ball, cankerwort, doon-head-clock, fortune-teller, horse gowan, Irish daisy, yellow gowan and one-o'clock. Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture

http://www.thedailyjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080326/NEWS01/803260319/1002

"Sicilian Crossings to America .." Exhibit at Stony Brook U.

The exhibit is comprised of 120 panels. Through photographs and narratives - in English and Italian - it tells the story of one of the largest groups of immigrants to come through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924. The pieces explore the economic and political reasons that Sicilians came to America during this period, depicting the life they left behind, their journey across the Atlantic, their adjustment to the New World and how they established ethnic communities in the United States.

So many Italians came to America between 1880 and 1913 partly because of the invention of the steam boat, which cut travel time down from a month to about 10 days. There was also an economic crisis in Sicily at that time. The grape vines had been destroyed by disease, so there was a "force of expulsion, but there was also the force of attraction - the myth of America," he explained. "There was no television, no radio back then. Many of the people couldn't read or write so they just heard myths about great opportunities.

Currently, approximately 28% of the people in Suffolk County are Italian. The hamlets and villages in Brookhaven with the largest number of Italians are Lake Grove with 41%, Selden with 40%, Nesconset with 38%, and Rocky Point and Mount Sinai, each with 37%. All the towns in Brookhaven are at least 20% Italian

Exhibit Highlights Sicilians' Journey Suffolk Life. long Island

By:Karen Forman 03/26/2008

A number of people on Long Island can trace their heritage back to Italian roots. In recognition of the contributions Italians - particularly Sicilians - have made to the area, the traveling exhibit, "Sicilian Crossings to America and the Derived Communities" will be arriving at Stony Brook University's Wang Center this April. The pieces have been on display at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and spent the past two months at a public library in Boston.

The exhibit is comprised of 120 panels. Through photographs and narratives - in English and Italian - it tells the story of one of the largest groups of immigrants to come through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924. The pieces explore the economic and political reasons that Sicilians came to America during this period, depicting the life they left behind, their journey across the Atlantic, their adjustment to the New World and how they established ethnic communities in the United States.

The event is the brainchild of Marcello Saija, who organized the exhibition. He is the director of a network of Sicilian museums and also a professor at the University of Messina in Italy, with which SBU has an exchange program. Back in 1996, Saija met Mario Mignone, who now chairs SBU's Italian studies program. They kept in touch and, in 2004, Saija became a visiting professor at Stony Brook. During this time, Saija did research on Italian immigration, interviewing more than 600 Italian Americans with the help of a group of students from Sicily. According to Mignone, Saija also researched and collected a lot of relevant material, as well.

There are many beautiful panels in the exhibit, according to Mignone. One particular favorite of his contains a "moving poem" by an immigrant who came to Ellis Island from Italy and saw the Statue of Liberty, which he calls an "American Madonna."

Mignone said that so many Italians came to America between 1880 and 1913 partly because of the invention of the steam boat, which cut travel time down from a month to about 10 days. There was also an economic crisis in Sicily at that time, according to Mignone. The grape vines had been destroyed by disease, so there was a "force of expulsion, but there was also the force of attraction - the myth of America," he explained. "There was no television, no radio back then. Many of the people couldn't read or write so they just heard stories about the possibility of making good money in America."

In the beginning, Mignone said, males mostly immigrated alone. "They came here to work and then hoped to go back once they made money," he stated. "They had nostalgia for Italy. But many of them stayed here and sent for their families. My grandpa came here at age 16."

Another immigrant who came here alone during that time period - Rocco DiVirgilio - came over to America in 1916, when he was 16 years old. He was the second brother to come over, explained his niece, Ann Fabrizio.

"Each brother sent for the next brother when he turned 16. He sent for my father, Donato, in 1918," she said. DiVirgilio got a construction job in Brooklyn before moving out to Suffolk County in the 1940s. "I remember taking the Long Island Rail Road from Brooklyn out to visit [my uncle] after the war when I was about four years old," Fabrizio said. "The trip seemed to take a whole day. And when we got to Lindenhurst, it looked like there was nothing there but my uncle's house, which he'd built himself. There were just farms. I didn't see any stores."

All the brothers were skilled carpenters and were in the construction business. Rocco DiVirgilio and his brother Donato belonged to the United Brotherhood of Carpenters union, which is still in existence today. Donato originally worked in the coal mines in Pennsylvania when he first came to the United States, and then became a carpenter in New York City, where he worked on the Empire State Building, the old and new Madison Square Garden buildings and many other important New York City landmarks, according to his daughter.

"Then he opened the first canning factory in Brooklyn," Fabrizio explained. "My mother made the sauce, and did all the cooking. But their business partner wanted to drop out and my father didn't want to run the company without him, so he sold the whole business. The new owners renamed the company Chef Boyardee."

Many Italians played an important role in helping to create the Long Island we see today. According to Mignone, when Italians immigrated to this country, "a great number of them ended up in New York City, Brooklyn and the Bronx, and then made their way out here. Many of them were in the construction business. A lot of the big construction firms on Long Island today are still run by Italians."

In fact, Mignone said that approximately 28% of the people in Suffolk County are Italian. The hamlets and villages in Brookhaven with the largest number of Italians are Lake Grove, with 41%, Selden with 40%, Nesconset with 38%, and Rocky Point and Mount Sinai, each with 37%. All the towns in Brookhaven are at least 20% Italian, he stated.

The exhibit will be coming to the Charles B. Wang Center at Stony Brook University on April 4 and will run through April 13. Viewing hours will be Monday through Friday, from noon to 4 p.m., and on weekends from 1 to 4 p.m. The exhibit is free to the public. For more information, call 632-7444 or visit www.stonybrook.edu/sb/crossings.shtml.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19424605&BRD=1776&PAG=461&dept_id=6363&rfi=6

No Ban on Italian Buffalo Mozzarella, Only Media Hype.... or Hoax ?

When Investigative Journalism descends into Tabloid Sensationalism !

There is No Ban on Buffalo Mozzarella, Only Media Hype

(AGI) - Rome, March 26, 2008

"There is no ban on mozzarella from the Campania region by Asian countries, not even from North Korea", and " Japan has not stopped its importation at customs". This comes from General Saverio Cotticelli who is the head NAS of the health watchdog section of the police force.

This news was released after a long meeting with the Minister of Health in order to address the alarm which has grown up about the presence of dioxins in the mozzarella coming from Campania. He added " the analyses have not yet been completed but will be made public soon and in accordance with the deadline".

According to the General, " there is a lot of panic which is exaggerated and which will have serious consequences on the economy of a region already under stress. It is just media hype", said Cotticelli. He also added that "everyone must remain cautious and await the results of the tests because up until now everything has been based on hypotheses and theories."

Italian Men Revere Mamma in Song

I'm not sure that ANY other country in the world can count so many songs that praise Mom on their top 40 lists, as Italy. Here are just five.

You may hear a rendition of any of the songs by going to You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/ and inserting the name of the Song in Search.

Italian Songs for Mamma

Sons who are about to marry have a slew of songs from which they can choose to dance with their beloved mother

Italians R Us
Our Paesani

by Francesca Di Meglio

March 23, 2008

Italian moms tend to have a tight bond with their sons. That's why when many Italian men get married, their moms tend to be a bit sad. But good Italian boys never forget their mamma - and they are sure to reassure her on their wedding day. Often, Italians living abroad - especially in the United States, where it's tradition for the groom to dance with his mother at the wedding - call on Italian songs to say what's on their mind. Indeed, I'm not sure any other country in the world can count so many songs that praise mommy on their top 40 lists, but Italy sure can. Here are some of Italy's most popular songs about le mamme:

Le Mamme

I still remember Toto Cotugno performing this song on RAI International when I was a young girl. He was able to capture in his words the entire culture of Italy. This song in particular rings true with almost all Italians. It is an anthem honoring all Italian mothers. He recognizes the mother's humanity -- "Le mamme, sognano, invecchiano, le mamme, si amano, ma ti amano di piu" or "Mothers, dream, get older, the mothers, they love, but they love you the most". Indeed, Italian mothers are known for putting their children above all other love. That's why many Italians have such a strong bond and reverence for their mothers.

Mamma

One of my favorite versions of this extremely popular song was sung by the late Luciano Pavarotti and Ricky Martin. It is the ultimate love song from son to mother. Here, the singer says that his songs only fly for his mother and that he will never leave her again. It is devotional. There is a sense that mothers are pure and loyal and the only woman a son needs. Italian mothers are big fans of this song. I think this is probably the most popular song for mother and son to dance to at Italian American weddings. (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vZqq0Sqk_yM)

Portami a Ballare

This is the song that my mother and brother danced to on Oct. 27, 2007, when he got married. The lyrics to this song also play a bit like a love song. Luca Barbarossa, as the son, asks his mother to bring him to dance (that is what ?portami a ballare? means) in an old-fashioned way that no one else even remembers. Then, he tells his mother that he is happy and fulfilling her wishes for his life.

Ciao Mamma

Jovanotti's high energy song has him telling his mother how much fun he is having performing concerts and playing his music. It's a great song to dance to if you're looking to pick up the pace and party. It can be used at a wedding if you look at it metaphorically, where a son is simply explaining to his mother that his life is full of music and joy in this moment. ?Ciao mamma, guarda quanto mi diverto!? or ?Hi mom, look at how much fun I'm having!?

Viva La Mamma

Another high tempo beat, "Viva La Mamma" is a fun little tune sung by Edoardo Bennato. Mothers and sons who want to bop into the reception will love this one, which shows reverence for mom. - Long live mom - is the basic meaning of the title. Then, throughout the song, Bennato expresses how wonderful mothers are for their affection and sincerity, their ability to be strong in the face of hardship, and their devotion to their children.

Di Meglio is the guide to Newlyweds for About.com, where you'll find advice on everything from saving up for your dream home to communicating better with your spouse. You can also find more information on all things Italian at www.francescadimeglio.com.

http://www.italiansrus.com/articles/ourpaesani/mammasongs.htm

Italians to Build Russian New Supercity "Globe Town" for 500,000 Residents

Italian architects are to build a new futuristic metropolis the size of Manhattan in the Volga region of Russia, across the river from Russia's third largest city, Nizhni Novgorod, that will cost 100-billion-euro, and be named "Globe Town"

The city gets its name from what will be its signature building - a huge transparent, illuminated globe 120 metres in diameter that will house a theatre, museums, a cinema and shopping centres. Globe Town will also have a public park four times bigger than New York's Central Park as well as stadiums, hotels, sports centres and a large river port on the banks of the Volga.

Italians to Build Russian New Supercity for 500,000

Futuristic Volga city will feature massive illuminated globe

(ANSA) - Rome, March 25, 2008 Italian architects are to build a new futuristic metropolis the size of Manhattan in the Volga region of Russia. Milan-based firm Dante O. Benini won a tender earlier this month to build the urban complex across the river from Russia's third largest city, Nizhni Novgorod. The firm pulled out all the stops to meet the deadline for the design of the 100-billion-euro city. ''It took us just two months to come up with the master plan with a team of 50 people working round the clock,'' said Luca Gonzo, Benini's senior partner. Globe Town will replace the small, run-down town of Bor and will feature skyscrapers in glass, aluminium and steel arranged in ascending and descending order of height to create an undulating skyline. The city gets its name from what will be its signature building - a huge transparent, illuminated globe 120 metres in diameter that will house a theatre, museums, a cinema and shopping centres. Globe Town will also have a public park four times bigger than New York's Central Park as well as stadiums, hotels, sports centres and a large river port on the banks of the Volga. The regional government of Nizhni Novgorod hopes the new complex, which will provide housing for 500,000 people, will act as a spillover for the crowded industrial city. Streets as wide as motorways will allow 250,000 cars to circulate in the city, which will be connected to Nizhni Novgorod by four bridges and an underground tunnel. Snow covers the area where the city will be built for half of the year, and the site is also vulnerable to being swamped by the Volga river. ''To overcome the problem of flooding the water will be channelled into canals, while four million square metres of land where we're going to put the buildings will be raised eight metres above ground level,'' Gonzo explained. An underground system will pump hot water to heat the houses in winter and will store cold water and ice to cool the city in summer. To make the city eco-friendly, the architects will use 'smog eating' material - photocatalytic asphalt and cement that gobbles up pollution from the air - and will also build a gasifier to convert household rubbish into fuel. Green spaces will cover around 15 million square metres, or around half of the city's total surface area. Nizhni Novgorod's regional government has already stumped up 20 billion euros, which will include the creation of an underground train system that will cross the Volga river through a tunnel. The remaining 80 billion euros will come from private investment. Work on the city is set to begin in 2010, with completion slated for 2020. Benini, 61, studied in Venice, London and Sao Paulo in Brazil, where he was taught by the great Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. He has designed industrial buildings, pharmaceutical laboratory complexes, family homes, showrooms and shops in Italy and abroad, including projects in New York, Japan, Hong Kong and Turkey.

Shakespeare May Have Visited Venice After All

It is not unusual for Shakespeare to have Italy as the setting for one third of his works, since Northern Italy was considered the global centre of Western Civilization in the 16th century. The only question is whether Shakespeare was able to be so accurate in his portrayals merely by meticulously gleaning information from Italian merchants visiting London on business, or can attribute it part to the fact that Shakespeare had a working knowledge of Italian, and that one of his friends was the Anglo-Italian translator and lexicographer John Florio, who lived from 1553 to 1625.
Italian Scholars in a new book 'Shakespeare in Venice' argue that the Bard's information was based on a first hand account - his own.

Shakespeare May Have Visited Venice After All
ANI
Tuesday 25th March, 2008

London, Mar 25 : For decades, scholars have thought that William Shakespeare described Venice so vividly in his plays thanks to information he gleaned from Italian merchants visiting London on business. Now however, Italian academics have challenged this notion.

Shaul Bassi, a lecturer at Venice University, and the writer Alberto Toso Fei have penned a new book 'Shakespeare in Venice' in which they argue that the Bard's information was based on a first hand account - his own.
"Most scholars believe that what Shakespeare knew about Venice must have been the fruit of wide reading and his contact with Italians," Times Online quoted Mr Bassi, as saying.
"But the local references -- implicit as well as explicit -- are so numerous they point to an alternative hypothesis: what if he did come here after all?"
About a third of Shakespeare's works are based in Italy, or have specific references to events and locations in the country which was a global centre in the 16th century.
As there is no concrete proof that the Bard ever travelled outside England, scholars usually agree that his source of information were the traders who came to London.
They also believe that Shakespeare had a working knowledge of Italian, and that one of his friends was the Anglo-Italian translator and lexicographer John Florio, who lived from 1553 to 1625.
Though they agree that some references in his plays did not prove that Shakespeare had visited Italy, others like giving the name "Gobbo" to Shylock's in 'The Merchant of Venice' - a reference to the carved figure of a hunchback (Il Gobbo di Rialto) on the Rialto Bridge - would not be known outside the city.
Such references, they say, can also be seen in other plays like 'Othello' in which Shakespeare uses local words such as gondola and gondolier.

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=341052

"Ibiz" - From Laborer Lunch Bag to Chic Hand Bag

There was a time when Florence was the place for leather,but then people sold all their shops to foreigners make big money.
That was part of Italy's richness, and it's gone. Italians were good with their hands. It was part of what made Italy special. Now, to start something like this, it's quite impossible. How to even begin with all the bureaucracy today It can't be done.

Interestingly enough, Ibiz was founded by Fulvio and Simonetta Nepi as a part time hobby when they were college students in 1972, making what were the equivalent of laborer's lunch bags that turned out to be popular satchels for young trekking foreigners, who couldn't resist a Nepi original for 11,000 lire - about $10.

Elisa, the daughter elevated the "Ibiz" brand by designing classic womens hand bags in brilliant hues, and the world started to take notice.

LETTER FROM ROME

Handbags - By Hand

The Tribune's Christine Spolar finds one of the few remaining family leather shops in Rome, where daughter takes over from father with an eye for style

ChicagoTribune Tribune correspondent Christine Spolar is based in Rome. March 24, 2008

ROME- Elisa Nepi knows, with every stitch and soft-leather skin she touches, that she and her family are holding tight to a fast-disappearing art.

She and her father are among the few in this city who still hold the key to a family-run studio for leather craft. Every day, the two sit, with hammer or needle in hand, and pound out a living.

Italy was once known for such handmade leather goods. Today, as Chinese imports flood the market and Chinese immigrants fill factories commissioned by Prada and other designer shops, the Nepis' small shop is a reminder of the back-alley enterprises that once thrived in Rome and Florence.

"There was a time when Florence was the place for leather," said Nepi, a bright-eyed 31-year-old. "But then people sold all their shops to make big money. They sold those shops to strangers. ...

"That was part of Italy's richness, and it's gone. … [Italians] were good with our hands. It was part of what made Italy special. Now, to start something like this, it's quite impossible. How to even begin with all the bureaucracy today … It can't be done."

The store at Via dei Chiavari 39, near the famed fruit-and-flower market of Campo dei Fiori, was born before Nepi was. Her parents, Fulvio and Simonetta, were college students in 1972, landing back home in Rome after a summer vacation on the island of Ibiza. Wandering one day, they noticed a small olive oil store up for rent for the equivalent of $40 a month. On a whim, they plunked down the rent and figured, between sociology classes and study, they could fashion themselves as leather craftsmen.

Within a few months, the young couple realized that their skill could be much more than a hobby.

Fulvio, now 57, spent his time working the natural rawhide leathers wildly popular in the 1970s and then selling them on the street. He made his mark stitching what were essentially sturdy lunch pails for Italian laborers, bags that turned out to be popular satchels for young foreigners. Thousands of Americans who were trekking through Italy for the first time, in the breakthrough era of cheap airfares, often left with a modest Nepi original for 11,000 lire - about $10.

The Nepis rented the one storefront and eventually bought the slightly larger one next door. Their store, named Ibiz, evolved as something akin to an extra living room for the Nepis' two children, and a place where neighbors came to chat and passersby could buy an authentic if somewhat predictable leather bag.

Until the day their daughter Elisa did something totally unpredictable. She failed her university entrance exam.

Suddenly, the young woman who had expected to study physical therapy"she liked to work with her hands" had lots of time on her hands. She turned to Ibiz with new purpose. She learned how to tramp the pedals of the store's old sewing machine and master the finer points of stitch. (No simple task there: The 50-year-old machine was once owned by a costume-maker who stitched sandals and belts for the movie "Ben-Hur.") She embarked on leather-buying trips with her father, who knew the best tanneries in Tuscany.

Nepi soon realized she loved the work, but she also wondered whether she and the store had a future with leather craft.

Six years ago, designer bags were all that Italian women wanted. Even sales among young tourists were in decline. Nepi made a deal with her parents: She would take over the store and take on the challenge of trying to survive as a Roman artisan.

The younger Nepi wandered the fashion streets of Rome - she still walks down and around Via del Corso every Sunday - and noticed how women of every age rely on handbags. She thought they wanted classics and colors " modern colors that could go from day to night. Bright blue, maybe. Orange, well, why not? Details on an Ibiz handbag had to be distinctive" bits and pieces of real handiwork - but not overwhelming. Gold chains, she said, were never an option.

Nepi followed her father's first idea: Good leather would always sell. But she had a fresh and keener eye for what makes a high-quality Italian borsa. Supple skins only from Tuscany, which she and her father believe produce the most elegant leather in the world, were a necessity.

The storefront expanded into chairs " made-to-order pieces for the discerning buyer" even as handbags held priority. Belts, wallets and key chains were salvaged from handbag remainders. Durable cotton thread, nothing else, bound all.

"Every morning, I come in and I check the bags. I think: When people enter the store, what they see is mine," Nepi said. What they also see is a remarkable display of workmanship. In a city of over-the-top price tags, Ibiz has found a way to produce handbags in brilliant hues" yellow is a color of this summer" and of notable quality and value.

Others have noticed. Ibiz now is part of the Japanese shoppers' circuit and listed in top tourist guides. This year, Ibiz rates a mention by some tony American guides, including the discerning Context Travel. Nepi is learning to gauge how and when shoppers buy. The Japanese can take two hours to choose a bag. Americans "far fewer in number because of the falling U.S. dollar and a disastrous exchange rate" take about 15 minutes.

When asked how long she expects the good times to last, Nepi shrugs. She can only vouch for the handbags - and those, she bets, will be around for another generation.

"Twenty-five years, at least," Nepi said. "That's when the cotton stitch might go. The leather should last."

Tribune correspondent Christine Spolar is based in Rome. cspolar@tribune.com

www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-rome-leathermar24,1,5948099.story

Olive Oil in US: No Self-Respecting Italian Would Consume

While olive oil dates to antiquity, truly fine oil only came about in the last few decades, as Europeans revolutionized production with clean, modern techniques. Stainless steel spinners and decanters sped-up the process that eliminated fermentation.The result was an entirely new "authentic" taste that captures the fresh fruit flavor of the olive.

But few in this country have learned to appreciate this fresh taste. Just as post-Prohibition Americans happily drank wine of such poor quality it could not be sold today, so do many contemporary Americans make their salad and pasta with olive oil no self-respecting Italian would consume. What Americans think of as good oil is rancid, fermented or riddled with flaws that consumers would easily detect if their palates were more sophisticated.

Olives have been growing in California for more than a century, but most of the state's 600 oil makers are of recent vintage. Collectively, they produce 500,000 gallons of olive oil each year, a tiny fraction of the 75 million gallons Americans consume.California's output is expected to increase fivefold in the next five years, as several thousand acres of "super high density" olive groves come into production using mechanized pickers that vastly speed up the process.

California University Launches Center to Nurture Emerging Olive Oil Industry

International Herald Tribune

From The Associated Press

Friday, March 21, 2008

SACRAMENTO: After the U.S. repeal of Prohibition in 1933 let alcohol flow legally again, the University of California, Davis established a research department that led to the flowering of the California wine industry.

Now, it hopes to do the same for olive oil.

The challenges to the emerging industry are significant. They include finding economical ways to produce fine oil, dealing with unscrupulous importers and educating unsophisticated palates.

While California olive oil makers have begun to use fine techniques developed in Europe to capture the pungent taste of fresh olives, not all American palates may not be ready for it.

"This is the big challenge for all of us here in California ? to expose people to this fresh fruit juice olive oil and not have them gag on it," said Paul Vossen, a formative figure in the nascent world of California olive oil who is affiliated with the new UC Davis Olive Center.

The center opened in January under the umbrella of the university's Robert Mondavi Institute, which also houses the campuses' Department of Viticulture and Enology, the scientific names for grape-growing and wine-making.

That is where UC scientists showed California winemakers how to replant vineyards that had been ripped out during Prohibition and taught them how to make fine wine.

Olives have been growing in California for more than a century, but most of the state's 600 oil makers are of recent vintage.

Collectively, they produce 500,000 gallons of olive oil each year, a tiny fraction of the 75 million gallons Americans consume.

California's output is expected to increase fivefold in the next five years, as several thousand acres of "super high density" olive groves come into production using mechanized pickers that vastly speed up the process.

The potential U.S. market for olive oil is huge. America is the fourth largest consumer, after Italy, Spain and Greece. Consumption has doubled in the last decade, but the average American still uses relatively little - about the equivalent of a bottle of wine each year.

The olive center's executive director, Dan Flynn, said the center will be a resource to delve into essential questions about olive production and consumption. Undergraduate courses may come later.

Contributing faculty include researchers from the UC Davis Medical Center, who are studying the health benefits of antioxidants in olives.

Others already have done work on genetic fingerprinting of olive varieties and how irrigation affects growth.

Researchers also make and sell oil from the 1,500 olive trees on campus and are launching this year's oils with a party on Wednesday. The proceeds will make up half the olive center's budget. The rest comes from industry and the university.

Charles Shoemaker, a food scientist who is a co-chairman of the olive center, said a possible topic of research - preventing oxidation, which ruins the taste - could benefit olive oil lovers around the world.

In most of the restaurants he visited were serving rancid or oxidized oils.

"It's not just a new challenge in California," Shoemaker said. "It's a challenge the world needs to take on."

But the answer, he said, may be as simple as selling the oil in smaller bottles.

Fine olive oil is a relatively recent phenomenon anywhere in the world, said Vossen, who teaches an olive oil tasting seminar to the general public through UC's extension program. He also helped develop California's first panel of expert tasters.

While olive oil dates to antiquity, Vossen said truly fine oil only came about in the last few decades, as Europeans revolutionized production with clean, modern techniques.

Stainless steel spinners and decanters replaced the old, smelly mats that had been used to drain oil from paste made of crushed olive pits and meats.

The sped-up process eliminated fermentation, along with odors that had seeped into the mats from farm animals and the fires workers used to warm themselves in mill houses.

The result was an entirely new taste that could be as spicy, peppery and pungent as the olives from which it was made.

"The new olive oil industry of the world is capturing the fresh fruit flavor of the olive," Vossen said.

But few in this country have learned to appreciate this fresh taste. Just as post-Prohibition Americans happily drank wine of such poor quality it could not be sold today, so do many contemporary Americans make their salad and pasta with olive oil no self-respecting Italian would consume.

Vossen and others say most of what Americans think of as good oil is rancid, fermented or riddled with flaws that consumers would easily detect if their palates were more sophisticated.

In his tasting classes, Vossen teaches how to discern the mellow flavors of oil made from ripe olives, such as nutty, floral, buttery, tropical, banana and spices such as cinnamon.

He also introduces the pungent flavors of oils made from green olives, including those of fresh-cut grass, artichoke or even straw. As his students' palates grow more complex, he says, they quickly develop an appreciation for bitter green oils, which are rich in antioxidants.

It is a leap he hopes the greater American public will one day, as well.

http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=11307534

Alitalia Takeover Becomes 'Cause Celebre' in Italy, with Elections Looming

The Air France-KLM possible "Takeover" of AlItalia has now taken on Election implications, in addition to (1) the blow to National Pride, (2) Regional "bickering" with Northern Italians concerned that many flights might be diverted to Rome from Milan's Malpensa, (3) the Union of AlItalia workers objecting to job reductions in the 11,000 workers (7,000 claims union, 2,000 claim Air France).

Berlusconi has featured himself as a "white knight" in requesting a government "bridging" loan to enable him to put together a "consortium"

to "save" this National symbol. Silvio's alleged banker has stated "nothing is on the table".

Walter Veltroni, Berlusconi's rival, and head of the new centre-left Democratic Party, thinks Berlusconi's actions constitute a cynical election "ploy", and said Alitalia should be kept out of "the electoral meat grinder," adding: "I don't want to see a consortium that vanishes after the elections."

With Elections Looming, Alitalia Takeover is Cause Celebre in Italy

ATP March 23, 2008

ROME - An "arrogant" takeover bid by Air France-KLM for the near-bankrupt Italian flagbearer Alitalia has become a cause celebre in Italy's election campaign with the vote just three weeks away.

Conservative opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi -- tipped to win the premiership for a third time in next month's polls -- jumped into the fray after talks collapsed between the European giant and Alitalia unions last week.

Berlusconi, a self-made billionaire, branded the Air France-KLM offer as "arrogant" and said that if elected he would reject the sale out of hand.

Air France-KLM has said that it would not go ahead with the deal without the approval of the unions as well as the government that will emerge from the mid-April elections.

Berlusconi revived the idea of a "Made in Italy" rescue plan for Alitalia, suggesting that his sons could take part in a consortium to keep the national symbol in Italian hands, and asking outgoing prime minister Romano Prodi to approve a bridging loan while details are worked out.

Berlusconi claimed that Intesa Sanpaolo was willing to back a bid by an Italian consortium to rescue Alitalia, but the Italian banking giant's CEO Corrado Passera quickly remarked that nothing was "on the table."

Undeterred, Berlusconi said Friday: "I've appealed to the pride of Italian entrepreneurs who think as I do that we shouldn't be colonised."

He said that in three or four weeks a group of Italian investors would make a "definitive proposal which, I hope, will resolve the situation."

Berlusconi's rival Walter Veltroni, head of the new centre-left Democratic Party, said Alitalia should be kept out of "the electoral meat grinder," adding: "I don't want to see a consortium that vanishes after the elections."

The Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore also took a dim view of Berlusconi's move, calling it a "very dangerous" blend of politics and business in an editorial on Saturday.

Infrastructure Minister Antonio Di Pietro even accused Berlusconi of trying to manipulate the volatile Alitalia share price with his statements, Il Sole reported.

Unions -- which have been asked to approve the Air France takeover terms by March 31 and walked out of initial talks last week -- are set to meet on Tuesday.

Alitalia, which has lurched from crisis to crisis for years, is now close to bankruptcy, losing around one million euros (1.6 million dollars) a day.

A senior Air France-KLM executive on Friday insisted that Alitalia had to take a decision now and not after the elections.

Prodi's centre-left government approved the purchase of the state's holding of 49.9 percent in Alitalia by Air France-KLM last Monday in a share swap valuing the Italian airline at 140 million euros.

Air France-KLM chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta warned on Wednesday that there was little room for manoeuvre in the negotiations, and insisted that the takeover plan would involve only 2,100 job cuts from the 11,000-strong work force.

Trade union leaders say the takeover would lead to 7,000 job losses.

Milan Polytechnic transport economist Marco Ponti told AFP: "This last-minute Italian solution seems too late, but nothing is impossible.

"The problem is that Alitalia is worth nothing commercially," he added. "It loses money every time a plane takes off."

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hF05WKCVeLtZYz_07U3zb3ZMSHkg

Italy's Sorrow: A Year of War, 1944-45 by James Holland - Was it worth it?

The Italian Campaign cost 536,000 German casualties, 313,500 Allied ones and a grim total of over one million Italians.

The additional pity of the war beyond the devastation of the entire Italian peninsula was beyond comprehension, as was the 700 atrocities that resulted in the massacre of 20,000 Italians by the Germans, and the savage French Moroccan Goumier troops (who raped and murdered 3,000 Italians in hot blood) with the consent of Allied Command.

To this day, Historians question the Strategic wisdom of this campaign, when the the Invasion of Normandy commenced before the Italian Campaign was half completed. The Long narrow peninsula was an enormous advantage for the German Defenders who set up a continuum of defensible fortified lines that were a nightmare for the allied Invaders.

Was the Italian Campaign Worth It?

Italy's Sorrow: A Year of War, 1944-45 by James Holland

Reviewed by Andrew Roberts

Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom
March 23, 2008

'It was mind-numbing!' recalled Private Stan Scislowski, of the Canadian 11th Infantry Brigade, of the opening Allied barrage against the Senger Line south of Anzio at 6am on 23 May 1944. 'It was a cross between a howling coyote, a car running on its rims, and the banshee wail of a London Blitz air-raid siren.'

Scislowski is only one of many witnesses whose superbly well-expressed emotions bring alive James Holland's history of the last year of the war in Italy. Interviews with British and US veterans, hours trawling through the archives at the Imperial War Museum and the Second World War Experience Centre at Leeds, weeks spent walking the battlefields (Holland is a badged member of the highly respected Guild of Battlefield Guides), combined with a fascination with the campaign from the often-overlooked German point of view, has produced a work that is the Italian version of Armageddon, Max Hastings's history of France and Germany between D-Day and VE-Day.

The Senger Line was only one of many defensive lines that the Germans threw up to try to halt the Allies as they fought for every mile from Salerno, south of Naples, in September 1943 up to the River Po by the end of the war. Those that stretched all the way across the wasp waist of Italy acted like giant tourniquets across the country and saw fighting at times as attritional as in the trenches of the First World War.

When Churchill told Stalin and Roosevelt at the Tehran Conference that 'He who holds Rome, holds the title deeds of Italy', he was wrong. The Allies took Rome on 5 June 1944, the day before D-Day, but it merely won them the title deeds to continue fighting on up to Tuscany and beyond.

Holland is refreshingly revisionist in his estimation of the two senior Allied commanders, General Sir Harold Alexander and General Mark Clark, seeing much to admire in both, in a way that few recent military historians have done.

Of Alexander he writes: 'The enormous difficulties facing him, the repeated cuts in manpower and equipment, and the vast challenge of bringing a polyglot force of 17 nations together, are often forgotten.' Clark meanwhile is accused of arrogance and ambition - neither of which preclude military greatness - but he adds: 'Not only was he tough, forthright, and prepared to make difficult decisions, his operational planning was always superlative.'

Yet was that also true of the Combined Chiefs of Staff of the Western Allies, who at the Casablanca Conference of January 1943, chose Italy - a thin, mountainous, highly defensible peninsula far from Berlin - as their main offensive of that year?

Holland fails to engage in the great debate that has been raging ever since the end of the war. In the introduction to his seminal Hitler's Mediterranean Gamble, Douglas Porch concluded that although the Mediterranean was not the decisive theatre of the war, it was none the less the 'pivotal' one. Holland's views on the macro-role of the Italian campaign would have been equally welcome.

Holland does tell us that it cost 536,000 German casualties, 313,500 Allied ones and a grim total of over one million Italians.

The pity of the war as it affected Italian non-combatants is an ever-present feature of this profoundly decent and occasionally moving book. When he visits mountain cemeteries, he tells us: 'These are beautiful, yet haunting, places, melancholy dripping from the abundant oaks and chestnuts all around.'

They would not be such full places had Hitler not demanded the fanatical defence of every inch of Italian soil, even when tactical withdrawals would have suited Germany's overall planning better. The German commander-in-chief in Italy, Air Marshal Albert Kesselring, was, in the author's view, 'no less impressive' than Alexander and Clark as a general, and his frustration at having to follow his Führer's absurd, ideologically driven orders of 'no retreat' was evident. Holland does not fail to detail the 700 atrocities that Kesselring's troops carried out against partisans and innocent civilians, however, for which the jovial 'Smiling Albert' should have been hanged as a war criminal at Nuremberg.

Holland is particularly good at telling the story of a nationality through a few interlocutors, including New Zealand Maoris storming Monte Cassino, Polish infantrymen, volunteer South Africans, French mountain corps, savage Moroccan Goumier troops (who raped and murdered 3,000 Italians in hot blood), German Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers), British squaddies and their officers, such as the gentlemanly ADC Ion Calvocoressi.

All are portrayed with a remarkably engaging touch, yet the sorrow is ultimately reserved for the poor, un-martial Italians whose ancient towns and villages were laid waste by both sides.

Was it worthwhile to carry the war north of Rome - let alone all the way to the Po - after the Allies had successfully landed in northern France and taken the direct route to the heart of the Third Reich? We are not told.

Can all that mud and blood, all those civilians massacred in reprisal for partisan ambushes, those mountain cemeteries, rats in foxholes and viciously contested river crossings, as 'the Allies clawed their way up the peninsula', actually all have been a catastrophic waste of lives and effort after June 1944?

Perhaps even now it's best not to know. [But it seems as if the obvious answer is that it was one of the bigger dumber strategic blunders of the war]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/03/23/bohol123.xml

Mario Cuomo: Views on the Election Process

Cuomo thinks the country needs a new type of political debate. The problem is that "party political conventions are purely theatrical". "You exaggerate your virtues and the other team’s vices," "But it’s a con game. What I would like to see is an unconventional convention."

Cuomo’s vision of an "unconventional convention" is that, a few weeks before the general election, each presidential candidate, and his or her team of potential cabinet secretaries, should come together for an entire weekend and discuss the big issues facing the country in marathon series of televised debates. "We want their prepared answer," a goal that jars with my journalistic instincts, "we don’t want to catch them off guard. What we want is the truth."

Cuomo lists "the big issues", as the war in Iraq, healthcare, education, the environment and nuclear power, the national debt and the weak economy. He has some interesting views on the influence of the President on the US Economy. I only partially agree.

Lunch with the FT: Mario Cuomo

Financial Times By Chrystia Freeland March 21 2008

Mario Cuomo knew exactly where he wanted to have lunch with the FT - "Piano Due", a restaurant a few steps from his law office....and this comfortable dining room is a favourite because it is Italian in a way that is familiar and important to him.

“Manhattan’s Italian food is northern Italian, fancy Italian," he tells me. "But most of the Italian Americans, came here for economic reasons", and so most of the Italian Americans are from south of Rome and that’s Naples, Salerno, Sicily, all of those places. That food is more robust, more flavourful.

At a moment when US politics is focused on race, gender and class, this reference to the subtler distinction of ethnic community is a useful reminder that "white", “African American" and "Hispanic" are not the only self-definitions which matter to Americans.

Once Cuomo organises our lunch, inevitably, the next thing on the menu is the election, a subject Cuomo, who used to be mooted as possible presidential candidate himself and who gave the speech nominating Bill Clinton at the 1992 Democratic convention, is following avidly. He starts by telling me that he has advised Chris Matthews, the MSNBC anchor who has been one of the more prominent chroniclers of the race [full disclosure - I sometimes appear on his show], to "stop drinking that black coffee".

I brace myself for an anti-journalist diatribe. But Cuomo surprises me, going on to say of Matthews: "I love him, I think he’s a great guy, he’s very smart." He also turns out to be a fan of NBC’s "excellent" Washington bureau chief, Tim Russert: "They [both] really love the game and that shows in the way they go at it. There’s no smooth aloofness in what they do."

In Cuomo’s view, "if you want somebody to get the information out of someone, Tim does that as well or better than anybody", a skill that was on display during a recent Clinton-Obama debate when Russert raised tougher issues than either of the candidates. It turns out that the television journalist cut his teeth in politics working for Cuomo: "He was my counsel and he was my first PR guy, but it would have been an insult to call him a PR guy."

What Cuomo really wants to talk about, though, is not pundits or PR, but "the issues" and his belief that more "truly big ones" will be at stake this November than in "any presidential campaign in modern history since Kennedy/Nixon". For that reason, Cuomo thinks the country needs a new type of political debate. The problem, he says, is that "party political conventions are purely theatrical". (Our lunch took place before it became clear that a "purely theatrical" convention might become a highly desirable, and possibly unachievable, dream for Cuomo’s Democrats.) "You exaggerate your virtues and the other team’s vices," Cuomo told me. "But it’s a con game. What I would like to see is an unconventional convention."

Cuomo’s vision of an "unconventional convention" is that, a few weeks before the general election, each presidential candidate, and his or her team of potential cabinet secretaries, should come together for an entire weekend and discuss the big issues facing the country in marathon series of televised debates. "We want their prepared answer," Cuomo says, a goal that jars with my journalistic instincts, "we don’t want to catch them off guard. What we want is the truth."

I am not the first journalist Cuomo has shared this proposal with and he tells me, with real surprise, that when he described the idea to a cable television executive his retort was, "well, how do you pay for this?" Cuomo knows for sure that wouldn’t be a problem: "Are you kidding? You think the first time, you don’t think everybody would want to be involved in it?" Fortunately for me, this turns out to be a rhetorical question.

Before long, we are back on the safer ground of how the political battle is actually being waged. Cuomo reminds me several times that he hasn’t endorsed anyone, although he says the Clinton campaign called seeking his support. But given his historic ties to the Clinton family and his dynasty’s endorsement - in the person of his son Andrew, the New York attorney general - of Senator Clinton, it is hard not to suspect that the former governor leans in that direction, too.

He permits himself a moment of regret for Clinton’s poor performance in the 11 contests she lost between February 5 and March 4. "She’d be ahead now, I’m sure, if she’d just shown up in all those races," he tells me. Like many of Clinton’s public supporters, he also can’t resist criticising the strategy that kept her from effectively competing in so many places: "What struck me and a lot of other simple-minded people was how come you’re not contesting all of these states? Why is he there and you’re not there? Why does he have money and you don’t?"

Executive ability has been an important issue in the race so far, and Barack Obama has told his backers to judge his potential for the Oval Office in part by how he manages his effort to get there. But Cuomo is quick to insist that Clinton should bear no personal blame for her campaign’s stumbles. "You don’t manage your own campaign," he tells me. "So no, I wouldn’t say it has anything to do with her."

[RAA: But Mario, Hillary chose the people who did manage the campaign. What does that say about her judgment???]

Cuomo is getting animated, but he is also enough of a politician to realise this isn’t at all what he wanted to talk about. He firmly steers us back to his preferred subject of "the big issues". He runs through the list: the war in Iraq, healthcare, education, the environment and nuclear power, the national debt and the weak economy. It is a familiar list, but Cuomo offers a few twists. My favourite is his admission, offered almost in passing, that no political leader can make his country rich. "No president creates economic prosperity," Cuomo says. "Roosevelt didn’t end the depression with his ‘alphabet program’. The war ended the depression. The almost inevitable irony is that if you are a president or for that matter a governor you get credit for whatever happens while you’re there and you get blamed for whatever happens while you’re there."

One of Cuomo’s most famous political lines is his assertion that "you campaign in poetry, but you govern in prose". It is a phrase a lot of people are quoting at the moment, including the man who coined it. The line is apt today, Cuomo believes, because the nation is hungrier than usual for political poetry. And Obama, Cuomo concedes, is doing a great job crafting it.

“Obama can give a speech," Cuomo tells me. '"He’s very, very strong personally. His persona is wonderful, just like Reagan. Reagan went out there and said, ‘Morning in America’ [his campaign message], we’re going to change everything. That’s all he had to say because everybody was unhappy with the previous period. So they’re unhappy with the previous period now." But, in an argument that is not a million miles away from Clinton’s "solutions, not speeches" line of attack, Cuomo thinks poetry without prose is dangerous for America: "Nobody promised better than Reagan and what he offered us was an utter failure."

Instead, Cuomo thinks American voters are ready for a politician prepared to diagnose the country’s ills and offer specific remedies, even if they don’t taste very good: "I’m hoping that we don’t have another ‘Morning in America’ situation. I’m hoping we have a general election in which Clinton or Obama say, ‘look, we’re going to offer details and specifics. We’re going to trust the American people to reward us for our honesty and our candour. And here’s the price you’re going to pay, Mr and Mrs America’. It may be about time we started paying a price.’’

...I take my chance to ask Cuomo one of the big political questions of the year " whether race or gender will determine the election. Cuomo’s answer is instant and enthusiastic: "I honestly, objectively conclude, a good Greek-American could have won: Dukakis. A good Italian could have won: Giuliani - given the correction of certain moves. A good Irishman: obviously Kennedy. A good black " I don’t think there’s any question." A woman? "Absolutely."

This cheerful certainty that America "is open to excellence of all kinds" leads us back to where we began our meal " the importance of immigrants and their communities. "The greatest gift the country has had is waves, generations of immigrants, who came here from all over the globe, all of them bringing their own special gift," Cuomo tells me. He is not one of the people who thinks the resulting multiculturalism is a dirty word: “They called the United States the melting pot for the newcomers. Presumably a melting pot was supposed to somehow boil away their cultural distinctions and produce some kind of bland uniformity " I always thought that the better analogy would be to the mosaic, a church window."

It is a good moment to conclude, because Cuomo turns out to be working on a series of children’s books about the cultures of America’s different ethnic communities. After lunch, he steers me to his nearby office to give me two copies of another children’s book he has written, which he signs for my young daughters....

Chrystia Freeland is the FT’s US managing editor

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a007de8a-f3bd-11dc-b6bc-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

Venice - Raise the Bridge or Lower the River ????

Operation "Rialto" actually is more like Raise the Buildings rather than Lower the Canals. Seriously, engineers are planning to lift buildings by up to one metre (3.3 feet) using piston-supported-poles to be placed at the bottom of each structure. This will take around a month per building if each structure is raised by eight centimetres (3.14 inches) a day.

This is in addition to Project "Moses", which began in 2003 and is due to end in 2012. "Moses" is expected to cost around four billion euros (six billion dollars) under huge plans to build 78 mobile barriers at a stretch of two kilometres (1.2 miles) by the lagoon's entrance.

Venice was flooded 50 times between 1993 and 2002. That's five times a year!!!!!!!!!

Venice Plans to Raise its Sinking Buildings as Sea Levels Rise

Terra Daily