Dear Readers:
“March”… the third month of the year has 31 days and is short for “Martius menis”, month of Mars. in roman mythology, Mars was the god of war and agriculture. Nerio, a minor roman goddess was his wife, Jupiter (Zeus) the supreme roman god of the skies, rain and weather was his father.
Juno (Hera) goddess of marriage and daughter of saturn was his mother. March, Marzo has many dates with an “Italian Connection”: * Julius Caesar, 100-44 BC, greatest of all Caesars, roman statesman and general, it’s said, laughed at a soothsayer’s warning to “Beware the Ides of March.” A successful plot for his assassination took place on March 15th, 44BC done by the hand of his trusted adoptive son and is considered the most famous of classical betrayals.
Julius Caesar was assassinated by members of the roman senate, in part because they feared his dictatorship. Ides, my dictionary informs, were in the ancient roman calendar the 15thday of March, May, July and October, and the 13th day of the other months. The soothsayer, who in reality may have just overheard the plot, was very specific as to the day Caesar would be dead.
* D.H. Lawrence, 1885- 1930, the controversial english novelist and poet, “Lady Chatterly’s Lover” died of tuberculosis in Italy, March 2, 1930.
* The Star-Spangled Banner, officially became America’s National Anthem on March 3, 1931. italian-Americans stood proudly to sing it, especially in 1936 while watching Joe DiMaggio, newly hired rookie, playing for the New York Yankees at their namesake stadi- um.
* Antonio Meucci, born in Florence, applied for a patent, for what was to be the telephone in 1871. Alexander Graham Bell applied for a patent in 1876 and edison’s carbon refinement is dated 1877. italians in italy and italian Americans felt they were “robbed”, after Bell prevailed in American supreme Court litigation (because Meucci’s provisional patent expired in 1873) therefore they will not be celebrating Bell’s March 4, 1847 birthday anniversary.
* Pier Paolo Pasolini, italian film director, “Decamerone,” “Arabian Nights,” poet, novelist “ragazzi di vita” was born March 5, 1922 in Bologna. Police arrested a seventeen-year- old male, after his body was found murdered on the outskirts of rome in 1975. As a young writer Pasolini described the Friulan peasantry of his child- hood as a world of uncorrupted Christianity and innocence. He became anti-fascist by way of his fascist father and communist later.
* Michelangelo Buonarroti, born March 6, 1475 near Florence, was an artist, sculptor, architect and poet. He painted “The Creation of Man” and some of the most beautiful pictures in the world, on the ceiling of the ues of David and Moses are masterpieces in marble and his dome of st. Peter’s established him as one of italy’s foremost architects.
He died in 1564, and was almost ninety years old, an exceptional age for the time. Michelangelo is known for his beautiful Pietà. The title Pietà is given to any representation in painting or sculpture of the Virgin Mother grieving over the body of Jesus after the crucifix- ion. Many people seem to relate Michelangelo with only one Pietà or La Pietà when in fact he sculpted four of them.
At the age of 23 he did his first and most famous Pietà which shows the Virgin Mother holding the head of Jesus across her lap. This work is now in the Basilica of st. Peter, in rome. At the age of 73 he did a second Pietà entitled “Deposition from the Cross” which shows Jesus being taken down from the cross, with Virgin Mother, Nicodemus, and Mary Magdalene also shown.
At 75 he did the “Palestrina Pietà” which shows Jesus after having been removed from the cross. The Virgin Mother and Mary Magdalene are in this compotion. At the age of 81 Michelangelo carved the “rondanini Pietà” which was his last piece of sculpture before he died. it was purchased in 1952 by the City of Milan for the museum of the sforza Castle, where it now stands.
When Michelangelo was 72 he was commanded by Pope Julius iii to take over the position of Architect for the Basilica of st. Peter, then under construc- tion. eighth of fourteen men who served in this capacity, he served without compensation, “For the love of God only.”
* Anna Magnani, interna- tionally celebrated italian film star was born March 7, 1908, to moderately prosperous italian immigrants in Alexandria, egypt, but since her early characterizations had made her the emotional and proletariat, her middle-class beginning were de-emphasized. Divorced from italian film director Goffredo Alessandrini in 1943, she worked as a bit actress in films and on stage in order to pay the enormous medical expenses for her polio striken son Luca, until her big break in 1946, when Anna Magnani burst upon American audiences, as the pregnant fiancée of an italian resistance leader in “Open City” directed by roberto rossellini.
In 1955 she won an Academy Award for her first Hollywood portrayal in Tennessee Williams “The rose Tattoo.” “Open City”, the film which brought her fame and fortune, also brought her heartbreak as the film brought rossellini to the attention of Hollywood actress ingrid Bergman and eventually precipitated an international scandal, which catapulted the sicilian- island of stromboil into the spotlight, along with rossellini and the two famous actresses in his life.
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International Woman’s Day honors the world’s women. Women’s Day was first proclaimed March 8, 1910, to com- memorate a protest by female garment workers in New York City in 1857, and is a holiday born out of women struggles for sufferage, decent working condi- tions ad other human rights.
Many italian females entered the garment industry as low paid workers and were exploited by factory owners in the eastern states. “We want bread and roses too” was a sign carried out in 1912 by young italian American women striking a textile mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The 1912 strike resulted in national sympathy for the exploited italian workers in America.
The phrase “Bread and roses” became the title of a poem writ- ten about the strike and A. Giovanitti wrote an italian song “Pane e rose” which was popular with the italian dressmakers, Local 89 of the international Ladies Garment Union. Now celebrated worldwide, international Woman’s Day actually originated in the U.s.A. in 1908, when socialist Women organized the first “Giornata della Donna” at the Garrick Theater in Chicago. The celebration became more prominent outside the UsA in 1910 when American Women participated in Copenhagen to the second international Conference of the socialist Party.
Their goal was to introduce, even to europe, the international Woman’s Day. The delegate of the German social- Democratic party Clara Zetkin, director of a newspaper, suggested to readers the idea that had originated in America. success was instantaneous and the following year the first international Woman’s Day took place on March 19.
This date was meaningful to east european women because during the 1848 revolution, the king of Prussia had promised the women’s right to vote. Other dates were suggested. February 23, 1917, was the day the wives of soldiers fighting at the front, organized a rally in the streets of Petersburg to get bread and the return of their husbands from the war, but at the 2nd international conference of Communist women held in 1921, it was decided to adopt the date of March 8thas Women Workers international Day.
In italy “Woman’s Day” became a regular celebration in 1945, thanks to the Communist and socialist Women’s Union. Women representatives of italy gathered in rome, at Visconti College, together with Catholic women and widows of war veterans.
Italian women signed a document that was sent to London, where the international Woman’s Day was taking place. Women were to be guaranteed their right to work in all industries at equal salary, and have accessibility to executive positions and participation in national political life.
For admission to the March 8th celebration of the whole peninsula, it was necessary to wait one year for the end of the war in Northern italy. in italy “La Giornata Della Donna” is usually celebrated in the work place with gifts of roses, however, in March the beautiful mimosa blossoms and it is preferred by many women in rome.
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David Rizzio, (1535-1566) was the italian diplomat who became secretary to Mary Queen of scots in 1564, after serving as a musician and her chamber groom. He may have had a romantic royal dalliance with Mary, which disturbed her husband Darnley and onMarch 9, 1566, he was seized by Darnley and others in Mary’s presence and murdered.
Mary, Queen of Scots(Mary as you may recall, (1548-1587) was the only child of King James V of scots and became queen of scotland on the death of her father, five days after her birth. Five years later the infant queen was betrothed to the Dauphin of France whom she married in 1558. While he was in France, the scottish Protestants, aided by elizabeth of england, overthrew the Catholics in 1560.
Her arrival in scotland in 1561 after the death of the Dauphin created a difficult position. Her marriage in 1565 to her cousin, Henry Lord Darnley, also a descendant of Margaret Tudor through his mother, the Countess of Lennox, had a claim to the england throne. Her husband, angered at her refusal to grant him the crown, joined the opposition and in 1565, headed the troop who murdered Rizzio, the queen secret adviser and possibly, lover.
Mary and Darnley were reconciled for a time, and their son, James, was born in 1566; but in the following year Bothwell headed a conspiracy which resulted in Darnley’s death, and three months later the queen murdered her husband’s murderer after his trial and acquittal. The nobles banded together and Mary was forced to separate from Bothwell, yield herself prisoner and abdicate in favor of her son.
She was kept in confinement in various castles. Finally Mary was brought to trial in 1586, found guilty of high treason, and on Feb. 8, 1587, was executed at Fotheringhay Castle.
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* Marcello Malpighi, italian 17thcentury naturalist was born March 10th, in Crevalcore, italy. in 1671 Malpighi founded plant anatomy. He was the first to observe the stonata of plants. His treatise on silkworms was the first monograph on an invertebrate. The microscopic anatomist also made several important medical discoveries on the kidney and spleen.
* Mt. Etnain sicily erupted March 10, 1985and a stream of lava more than 2,950 feet poured from the southeast crater of the volcano. The renowned photographer sebastiano Auteri of Catania, sicily recently had a special showing of his pho- tographs, on more recent lava flows of the etna volcano, at Cooper High school, san Pedro, California.
* Antonin Scalia, U.s. supreme Court Justice, was born March 11, 1936. Justice scalia was born in Trenton, New Jersey. He was appointed to the supreme Court in 1986 by Pres. ronald reagan.
* Gabriele ‘D Annunzio, italian novelist, playwright, poet “The Flame of Love”, aviator and political leader was born March 12, 1863. He died in 1938.
* Eraserson the end of pen- cils were patented in March 1858, by a non-italian… italian males don’t make mistakes!
* Enrico Caruso (1873- 1921) had just turned twenty-two when he made his professional debut in Naples, in Domenico Morelli’s new opera “L’amico Francesco” on March 15, 1895. During the engagements that fol- lowed, mostly in provincial italian theaters, he learned 16 major roles in two years.
* Bernardo Bertolucci, born March 16, 1940 in Parma, italy. He is best known as an epic film director, “The Last emperor” (Oscar award winner in 1990).
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