Dear Readers,
Ferragosto will be held on Sunday, August 14, 2011.
You are all invited, cost is $45 per person and if geography permits, I urge you all to attend this benefit for our "giornale" and also to benefit yourself and guests with "una bella giornata" of delicious food, wine, music and "Italianità".
Reserve now and make checks payable to L'ITALO-AMERICANO and mail to PO BOX 1287, MONROVIA, CA 91016.
L'Italo-Americano, an Italian American weekly news-paper with positive news about your heritage, began publishing over one hundred years ago (in 1908) and is now the only weekly Italian American newspaper published west of the Mississippi.
I hope you realize that it can easily become "0" without the enthusiastic effort of all Italian American organizations.
Officers must encourage all their members to subscribe and encourage relatives and friends to subscribe too.
In the early 1900's there were dozens of Italo-American newspapers, but by 1979 there were only two weekly newspapers west of the Mississippi:
L'Eco d'Italia and L'Italo-Americano which merged in January 1980, in order to have one strong newspaper instead of two weak ones.
L'Eco d'Italia was owned by Pierino Mori (then residing in Toronto, Canada) and managed by his editor Eva Sodo, who stayed on with L'Italo-Americano until her death in 1997, ending a lifetime of dedication to the Italian American press and S.F. Italian American community. Eva believed that "Truths were set forth in living actions, and that laudable actions never stand alone, they go from eye to eye, from heart to heart creating fresh copies of their worth". By vocation Eva was a journalist, by avocation, an unparalleled communicator on activities of Italian American contributions to our society. Through her writings she assisted in the diffusion of the Italian language and recorded and conserved for posterity Italian American events and accomplishments. Eva, born in San Francisco, California, was a true guardian of "Italianità" and of the Italian American press.
The following "glimpses" of history from the pages of Italian American newspapers in San Francisco are culled from the writings of Eva Sodo. During
the progressive course when California was born a State, "Yerba Buena" once a fishing village by the Golden State, became San Francisco. Enticed by stories of abundant work and a new way of life across the Atlantic, more and more Italians joined the throngs of those immigrants to leave their Old World, for the "New Promised Land". Many settled on the West Coast, where the possibility of gaining employment seemed more likely to occur. Strangers in a foreign land, in an alien environment, they surrounded themselves with fellow countrymen, adhering closely to the established usage of their land of birth, exchanging nostalgic memories of their distant land. Most of them spoke only their native language, and depended upon the existing Italian language newspapers for news of their homeland, gaining as well, knowledge and customs of their adopted home.
Some Italian "mastheads" prominent in San Francisco during the early years of community development were, "La Voce del Popolo", "Patria", "L'eco del Pacifico" (amalgamation of the two becoming "L'Italia"), "La vita italiana", "Il corriere del popolo", "L'Unione" and for the Swiss-Italian speaking
"La colonna svizzera" and the "Swiss Journal" (co-editors Achille and Louis Muschi).
In San Francisco, these newspapers in the Italian language served the community the longest:
1) "La Voce del Popolo" (1859-1932). A weekly, founded by Genoese, G. B. Cevasco, becoming a morning daily until its merging with L'Italia.
Instrumental to its development and progress, Paul DeMartini and William Torchia.
2) "Il corriere del popolo" (1910-1967). A weekly, founded by P. B. Pedretti. In 1935 published by Carmelo Zito, becoming a monthly in 1949, until its closing date approximately 57 years of publication.
3) "L'Italia" (1886-1965). In San Francisco, the Italian language newspaper of longest duration was "L'Italia", consolidated with "La Voce del Popolo" in New York. "L'Italia"'s masthead read, "L'Italia the oldest, diffused Italian Daily Newspaper West of New York".
"L'Italia''s growth became evident after 1895, with Ettore Patrizzi its director (prior were Enrico Biesta and Pio Morbio). From Milan, Italy, a recent graduate of a school which imparted instruction in the arts and sciences, young Patrizzi was assigned to assist in the Italian section of the International Exposition of 1893, held in Chicago. The success of the Italian pavilion, and of the fair itself, was so great that a repetition of the same was organized in San Francisco, bringing Patrizzi to the West Coast. Fond of music and art, he initially sponsored an Opera Company which played two seasons at the Old Tivoli Theater. In San Francisco, Patrizzi met Pio Morbio, director of the then bi-weekly "L'Italia" and joined the staff. Lending his talents to "L'Italia's" columns, in 1895 he became director and publisher, transforming the bi-weekly, in due time, into a daily, increasing the four pages to eight, improving copy and eye appeal, making "L'Italia" noteworthy, and he himself not only the main figure of "L'Italia", but one of the major representatives of the Italian Community as well, until his death in 1946.
By 1900 the move to large quarters indicated growing popularity, and in early 1906 another move to a more spacious location with up-to-date equipment. The paper briefly settled. In April 1906, San Francisco earthquake and Fire saw the destruction of the entire "L'Italia" headquarters.
From Oakland, California, three days after the 1906 disaster, an advertisement placed by Patrizzi in the San Francisco Examiner indicated "L'Italia" would resume publication.
Three days later, the first issue of "L'Italia" appeared. In those beginning issues, Patrizzi's editorials urged the return of Italians to the North Beach area, to re-establish their businesses and residences, to rebuild the area previously destroyed.
Although with difficulties, the Italian colony did surge ahead of the rest of the City in work of reconstruction. During the rebuilding era, "L'Italia" returned to North Beach 118 Columbus Avenue. Fifteen months after the 1906 disaster, a superb, extraordinary issue, with over 40 pages of photos, designs, etc., showing the rapid resumption of the City, and of the North Beach section, was published. In 1907, "L'Italia" incorporated (L'Italia Press, Co.). By 1913, North Beach took a new appearance as new structures replaced the old and as many as 30,000 Italians made their homes in this area by the 1920's.
1913 brought to San Francisco another young man from Milan, Italy, Renato Marrazzini. Some months later he too became a member of the "L'Italia" family. Marrazzini took part in everything good in the Italian community, defending and promoting Italian heritage and culture. He became active in Italian organizations being formed, some still today in existence.
The year 1932 brought about the merging of the two Italian dailies in San Fran-cisco, "L'Italia" and "La Voce del Popolo". In 1936 a change of address to Stockton and Green Streets; and in 1947, months after Patrizzi's death, Marrazzini became President of the L'Italia Press Company.
Serving the Italian community throughout the West Coast, from its inception in 1886, the greatest headlines in history, dramatic, important events during the formative years of the Italian American community have all been recorded.
In "L'Italia"'s pages for the benefit of those early immigrant readers, were the values and merits of American citizenship. Encouraged to learn the language and customs of their new homeland, they were also influenced to become good citizens. "L'Italia" served, too, local needs, assisting and taking part in cultural social events, charity drives, projects for
the betterment of the Italian American Community at large.
Keeping Italians aware, and affirming the cultural heritage, of their ancestors, current up to date news of their faraway land of birth, was educational as well as beneficial, especially for those residing in communities remote from city activity.
"L'Italia" was a household word to thousands of Italian Americans on the West Coast. It was with sadness, on September 25, 1965, after seventy-nine years of continuous publication that "L'Italia" ceased its publication. The treasured pages of "L'Italia's" seventy-nine years of dedicated service are today on file at the Library of the University of Santa Clara. The absence of the daily "L'Italia" was felt by the Italian Community. October 13, 1966, while the Italian American community in San Francisco was celebrating the Discovery of America by Genoese Christopher Columbus, L'"Eco d'Italia", San Francisco weekly Italian newspaper printed its first issue, becoming the second of Italian language weeklies on the West Coast, the other being in Los Angeles (L'Italo-Americano with which it merged in 1980).
Although in recent years the Italian immigration flow to California has decreased and many Americans of Italian descent have made their residences away from the North Beaches of the West, the need for an Italian American newspaper still exist.
Published with love and pride and with limited resources they modestly attempt, weekly, to be of service to its readers and serve as a reference for those who follow Italian American events, especially their positive accomplishments, that you will not read anywhere else: L'Italo-Americano is a valuable treasure...do your part to see it doesn't disappear...
