Columns

The Italian verb  dovere fills an essential role in everyday life, whether one is a traveler to Italy or is speaking to an acquaintance, friend, or family.  Dovere is used as a helping verb to emphasize the obligation or the need to complete an action with its meanings of “to have to,” or “to must.”  Think of how many times a day we say we “have to” or “must” do something — leave for work or school, run an errand, meet a friend we haven’t seen in a while — the permutations are endless!  Also, it is important to note …

The Pullman National Historical Park (PNHP) has become a focal point of the Pullman community. In the beginning, Pullman residents worried that the National Parks, as a government agency, would be too stodgy and hung up on rules and regulations. As community activists evolved from their grassroots beginnings to become professional organizers, they found that many government agencies put up the hurdles to jump, climb or claw their way over. But the passage of time has provided nothing but positive results from the PNHP, with the programs, presentations, exhibits and displays created by the park rangers adding immensely to Pullman’s …

A visual love letter to the culture and landscape of Sicily, Sergio Gianfalla’s documentary “Sicily in Photographs” features images captured by a few of the island’s most renowned photographers, including Angelo Pitrone, Melania Messina and Mauro D’Agati, plus the stories behind them. The film begins with the photographers talking about what first sparked their interest in the craft and then what fueled their passion to master it. We are then taken through the Sicilian countryside for a firsthand look at the natural landscape that has captured their imaginations through the years. “The calling of the lens around here has been …

We have received a number of questions regarding the most common legal problems faced by foreigners who are traveling to, doing business in, and living in Italy. The answers often depend on how long you plan to stay in Italy, why you’re there, and how well you know Italian culture. We’ll be answering these questions in the course of the next several columns. What are some of the major differences in the Italian and American legal systems? The legal systems of Italy and the United States have many differences rooted in their historical origins and foundational principles. Italy follows a …

Last month, we discussed how the Italian naming traditions can be used to help create the entire family tree more easily.  You can guess the names of grandparents and search for marriages of people with the correct first names without even knowing them from an official document, just because they have grandchildren with those names. Also you can tell which children were alive and when, based on how the later children were named. We also started talking about stillbirths, mostly because they fill out the family and you can then say that you have a complete family tree. When I …

Franco entered the barn to gather the cows and lead them out to graze.  A few chickens followed him clucking and prancing at his feet. The 14-year-old boy gave three crisp, high-pitched whistles announcing his presence to the cows, which rustled in their stalls, turning their heads toward the piercing noise. They had been milked three hours ago and knew it was time to go outside. “Good morning cows! A new day is here. More fresh grass to eat and milk to give. You have me today so be on your best behavior!” Franco unlatched them one by one from …

I’m sure many of you recall the movie “The French Connection.” Well, I’m about to discuss “The Roseland Connection!” The “French Connection” was all about a bad habit. But the “Roseland Connection” involves a good habit: Roseland pizza! In the ’60s, there were plenty of smaller pizza places scattered throughout the area. Whenever Facebook conversations have centered on the neighborhood over the years, local pizzerias would always pop up. They were a popular weekend treat, a lively place to hang out or a good bet for a first job. These were the neighborhood spots, but what if you were shopping …

Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1962 “Mamma Roma” stars Anna Magnani as the title character, a Roman prostitute determined to change her life and give her son the opportunities she never had. She seizes the opportunity to leave her life on the streets behind when her pimp (Franco Citti) gets married and frees her from his control. Mamma then goes to the small provincial town of Guidonia to fetch her son, Ettore (Ettore Garofolo), and bring him to Rome to embark on their new life together. She buys a pushcart, finds an apartment in a nice neighborhood, and uses her connections to …

We always talk about the “old days” when we followed traditions the family held onto, mostly in reference to food, family gathering, religious practice etc. These are all a great part of our family history, but they don’t help us with our genealogy research. Some of those traditions are so ingrained that they are never talked about. They just “are.” One of the areas of ‘tradition’ we look at as genealogists is the way our Italian families named their children. Even if we grow up Italian and choose to not research the family tree, if we see a chart made …

After more than 30 years of editing Fra Noi, I thought I knew a thing or two about the challenges our ancestors faced in America at the turn of the 20th century. I’ve learned from countless articles about the crowded tenements and abject poverty, the dangerous jobs at scant pay, and I can enumerate the Sicilian-born laborers lynched by a New Orleans mob in 1891. But to know is one thing and to understand quite another. My eyes were truly opened to the gross indecencies our forebears endured when I attended a preview screening of “Cabrini” on Oct. 24 at …