The first names to roll off the tongue need little if any explanation…Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello, Dante Alighieri, and Petrarch…all artists whether of the pen, the brush or the chisel, they are considered some of the greatest the world has ever produced…Italians all. There is of course that friend of da Vinci’s, one Galileo Galilei.
Disregarding the contributions during antiquity and of the
early Romans—monumental as those contributions to humanity may be—there have
been nineteen Italian Nobel Prize Winners; one in economics, one in chemistry,
five in both physics (including Marconi and his development of radio
transmission) and physiology/medicine each. Of the six who won a Nobel Prize in
Literature, Giosuè Carducci (1835-1907) was a poet, noted historian, and an
eminent orator. His work would be the standard for many successive and highly
successful Italian poets to follow. Walking in the footsteps of some of the
greatest literati of all time, Dante and Petrarch, Carducci’s work was
considered cutting edge and, at times, extremist. One Italian, Ernesto Teodoro
Moneta (1833-1918), was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Peace for his
commitment and the foundation of the “Lombard Union for peace and arbitration.”
It was Eugenio Barsanti (1821-1864)
who invented the first internal combustion engine driven by gas and Tito Livio
Burattini (1617-1681) who developed a system of measurement based on time upon
which today’s International System of Units is based. A man many may be
especially thrilled with is Antonio Benedetto Carpano (1764-1815) a distiller
who became famous for inventing Vermouth and consequently the concept of an
aperitif. It was an Italian, Giovanni Caselli (1815-1891) who invented the pantelgraph, the precursor to the fax
and another, Bartolomeo Cristoforo di Francesco (1655-1731) who invented the
piano. And who cannot help but send up a word of gratitude, Italo Marcioni, the
Italian American who invented the ice cream cone. Maria Montessori (1870-1952) is
forever remembered for her philosophies and teaching methods that are more
utilized now than during her own era, and grow more and more popular every day.
There are currently more Italian opera singers than of any
other nationality, except American, and a majority of those are of Italian
heritage.
Italian violins are
considered the archetype of the instrument; the oldest violin, the greatest
violin of all times, and the most famous violin were all made by Italian hands.
My own grandfather, Michele Galiano Russo (born 1896 in Foggia, Italy, d 1966
Providence, RI) was a violin player and maker, one of which rests in the
Smithsonian Institute. His father was a religious sculptor whose works still
stand in the churches in and around Foggia.
And where would any of us be without Marco Polo, Christopher
Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, and Giovanni
da Verrazzano, to name but a few of the astounding Italian explorers.
It is estimated that since the beginning of the Mafia, its
roots in the tenth or eleventh century Sicily, perhaps thirty to forty thousand
Italians and Italian Americans have been involved in the crime organization
that began as a form of family protection against the feudal lords and barons.
Today, Italy’s population is cited at 60,483,521 making the percentage of those
involved in the organization less than .05%, and that does not include the
millions of Italian Americans equally unsullied by the most despicable of
minorities.
Few movies or television shows have ‘glorified’ any of the
great Italians mentioned above as they have the Mafia and, unfortunately, far
too many opinions are cemented in these odious portrayals. I ask two things:
read and learn about these extraordinary individuals (and the hundreds of
others not mentioned) and speak of Italians if you will, if you must as this
blog has proved, but speak of us con
rispetto…with respect.
Donna Russo Morin’s passion for the written word began when she was a child, took on a feminist edge as she grew through the sixties, and blossomed into a distinctive style of action-filled historical fiction at a defining moment in her life. With two degrees from the University of Rhode Island, the state in which she was born and raised, Donna’s first book, The Courtier’s Secret (2009) won RWI-RWA’s Best First Book Award and was a finalist in the National Readers’ Choice Award. The Secret of the Glass (2010), her second book, received a Single Titles Reviewers’ Choice Award and was a finalist in the USA Best Books of the Year Contest. Also a recipient of a Single Titles Reviewers’ Choice Award and a finalist in the USA Best Books of the Year Contest, Donna’s third Book, To Serve a King (2011), was a finalist in Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year Award as well. The King’s Agent (2012), Donna’s latest release, received a coveted starred review in Publishers Weekly. Donna is currently at work on a major trilogy set in turbulent Medici ruled Renaissance Florence. Donna lives near the beauty shoreline of Rhode Island with her two sons, Devon and Dylan, her greatest works in progress.
If we want to hold the titles until next week, it can read: With two degrees from the University of Rhode Island, the state in which she was born and raised, Donna has written four award-winning, critically acclaimed historical novels specializing in the Italian and French Renaissance periods.
Donna Russo Morindonnarussomorin.com
donnarussomorin.blogspot.com
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