Dear Readers,
Andola Lake, on the slopes of Mount Gallino in Italy “ain’t hay” when the autumn rains come, but beginning in April, the lake, 42 feet deep, 4,800 feet long and 1,000 feet wide, dries up and farmers raise a crop of hay on its lake bed then harvest it before the annual autumn rains return.

Bride Bianca Capello, a native of Venice, insisted that her June 5, 1578 wedding coach was to be pulled by lions (not horses) to symbolize the fact that the lion St. Mark is the emblem of Venice, the bride’s birthplace.

Chemist Martino Poli (1662-1714) invented the first flame thrower; however, King Louis XIV decided not to use the weapon and paid the Italian chemist a pension for over a dozen years to keep his discovery secret, until his death.

Dante Alighieri (1261-1321) the poet who helped create the Italian language, became the first man to climb Mount Pratto (5,000 feet) in winter. He said he did it to find fresh inspiration for his poetry. Dante’s Divine Comedy helped establish the Tuscan as the literary language of Italy.

England’s first English Club, White’s, was founded in London by an Italian from Verona, Francesco Bianco, aka Francis White. Mr. White carried on the business of White’s Chocolate House one of the oldest and most respected clubs in London until his death in 1711. He was buried in St. James church in Piccadilly. In addition to chocolate, gambling was available at White’s and upon his death he left his legacies to his widow Elizabeth, four minor children and his sisters Angela Maria and Nicoletta of Verona.

Ferdinand I, (1751-1825) King of Sicily, an ardent fisherman, often disguised himself as a fisherman and hawked his catch in the marketplace.

Gates of all homes in Naples were once painted by famed Italian painter Mattia Preti (1613-1699). Preti was convicted of killing a sentry who tried to bar him from entering a military area. He was sentenced to paint pictures of saints on all the gates of Naples, a task that took him four years.

Henry II of Navarre’s (son of King Francis I of France) bride, Caterina de Medici (daughter of Lorenzo de Medici of Florence) (1515-1589)) introduced Italian cooking to France when she married and took with her to France a retinue of Italian cooks and a gastronomic tradition which went back over 300 years.

Italian Lieutenant Tito Falconi, of the Italian Air force, on August 27, 1933, flew a plane from St. Louis, Missouri to Joliet, Illinois, a distance of 250 miles. He made the entire 3 hour flight, flying upside down.

John Ciardi (1916-1986) Italian American poet, critic, educator, lecturer, radio, and television personality is best known for his translations of Dante’s Divine Comedy, which reproduced the Italian poet’s complex rhyme scheme. His translations won him plaudits from critics and scholars and sold over half million copies.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he was three when his father died, leaving a family of four children to the support of his mother. She spoke hardly a word of English but managed by day and night jobs to support and educate her family.

Ciardi taught in the English Department of Kansas City, Harvard and Rutgers University. In 1955 he began a long tenure at the Saturday Review, as a poetry editor. He also gave weekly radio commentaries on Public Radio in the 1980’s and was the only poet to have his own television show, “Accent” on CBS in 1961.He wrote over 50 books of poetry for adults and children. One of my favorite Ciardi poems for children is:
HOW TO TELL THE TOP OF A HILL:
The top of a hill
Is not until
The bottom is below
And you have to stop
When you reach the top
For there’s no more up to go.

Kublai Khan, the ruler of Mongolia and China, took a liking to Marco Polo (1254-1300) the Venetian traveler who in his youth had journeyed with his father Nicolo and his uncle Maffeo into China by the overland route which took over four years. Marco Polo became a favorite of the Khan and was employed by him on missions throughout the Kingdom. With his father and uncle, he spent nearly 17 years in the service of Kublai Khan. He was the first merchant to introduce cashmere wool to the West, when he brought back to Venice fine cashmere ring shawls he had obtained during his travels to the East. It was claimed the cashmere shawls were so fine they could be pulled through a lady’s finger ring.

Luigi Scevola ((1779-1819) became a professor of Oratory at the University of Brescia, Italy at age 17.

 

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