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This section offers the author's personal impression and assessment of the ideas of Niccoló Machiavelli particularly those discussed in the book The Prince. This chapter begins by describing people's general impression of Machiavelli as a man and as a writer. The author notes that those who have read him in depth have positive opinions while those who have not have negative opinions. The author also observes how people secretly belive that what Machiavelli says is right but will not admit it. According to the author, Machiavelli wrote The Prince as a manual to enlighten leaders on ways to good government.

This chapter profiles Cesare Bonesana Beccaria, who was born in 1738 and died in Italy in 1794. Harvard Professor Ernest H. Wilkins observes that the influence of Beccaria's thought is manifest in the U.S. Bill of Rights. A thorough study of the works of Beccaria, together with the Declaration of Causes, The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, would prompt another observation that will surely upset many scholars of U.S. history: without Beccaria, the U.S. would not have its present form of government.

This chapter profiles Italian American artist Giovani Castano who was born in Calabria, Italy in 1896 and died in Massachusetts in 1978. A graduate of the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Castano studied with Philip Hale, Leslie Thompson, Huger Elliot, F. M. Lamb, and Henry James. After graduation, he worked as a scenic artist in theatres and opera houses throughout the U.S. He has painted murals for many churches and public buildings, and at the age of seventy-four, restored the Herter murals at the Boston State House. He has also restored hundreds of canvasses of various famous painters.

This chapter profiles Philip Mazzei, an Italian born in Florence in 1730 and died in Pisa in 1816. Mazzei was a man of various significant interests. He traveled throughout Europe and U.S., leaving behind unmistakable imprints of his own huminity, which had been nurtured by the great Italian culture. Every powerful sovereign sought Mazzei's presence and his services: he went to Turkey, England, France, Germany, Poland, and most important, the U.S. colonies. There he became friend and consultant to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, with whom he marched against the British, George Mason, Payton Randolph, Benjamin Harrison, and many others.

This chapter profiles Christopher Columbus the discoverer of the U.S. continents. For his awesome undertaking of August 1492, he and he alone should be recognized as the Universal Admiral. That Columbus was a born sailor is well-known. In 1474, hardly twenty-three years old, he was rendering service on ships belonging to his native city of Genova. He went to Spain where he succeeded in gaining an audience with King Ferdinand and his wife, Queen Isabella. In his subsequent three voyages of 1493, 1498, and 1502, he searched to locate the whereabouts of the true Orientals and the passage to the East. The Spaniards, meanwhile, searched for gold.

This chapter profiles Italian American football coach Vincent Thomas Lombardi, who was born in 1913 and died in Washington in 1970. Lombardi is first-generation U.S. citizen of Italian descent, whose teams have won several National and two World Championships. He had repeatedly led mediocre and even losing teams to one victory after another. Vince has been elected to the Football Hall of Fame. The name Vincent, incidentally, derives from the Latin vincens, which means winning, a participial form of vincere which means to win.

This chapter profiles Italian American artist Joseph Santoro. Santoro has received several awards, including two gold medals from the American Artist Professional League in New York, joins the ranks of outstanding artists in the U.S. As an artist, Santoro shows deep feeling for his subjects, and he is remarkable for his use of color. His paintings, Falmough Light, Winter at Good Harbor, Mexican Wash Woman, and Sicilian Woman seem literally to be bathed in light. Santoro is a member of the American Watercolor Society, the American Artist Professional League, the Allied Artists of America, the Rockport Art Association, and the Guild of Boston Artists.

This chapter profiles Italian American entrepreneur Joseph Pellegrino. Pellegrino, who came to the U.S. from Sicily, Italy when he was still a teenager, educated himself mainly at evening school. Even though his formal education was not outstanding, his intelligence and common sense enabled him to take control of a small, local, and faltering macaroni factory, and turn it into a giant company whose products compete successfully in many parts of the world. At age twenty-three, he entered the macaroni business and soon had an interest in the Roma Macaroni Company in Long Island, which he quickly turned into a profit-making organization. Fate would have it that the company plant was destroyed by fire in 1940; and Pellegrino, forced to move to Boston, where he met with the Prince Macaroni executives. The following year, Pellegrino bought out the Prince Company, and moved the operation from Prince Street in Boston's North End to its present location in Lowell, Massachusetts. It was as president of the Prince Spaghetti Company that Pellegrino created the famous non-skid spaghetti, which was quickly acclaimed by spaghetti lovers throughout the land.

This chapter profiles Italian American Louis Robert Perini, who was the owner and president of the Perini Corporation, one of the largest construction companies in the world. The young man inherited the reigns of a company which was already engaged in modest road and dam construction: enough work and the right amount of time for young Lou to learn about the construction business. Under Lou's leadership, the Perini Corporation grew from a small regional company into an international organization that handled major contracts on practically every continent.

This chapter profiles Italian American Enrico Fermi, who was known in many circles as the father of the Atomic Age. Fermi bore witness to the discovery, control, and use of atomic power. Fermi succeeded in achieving uranium fission at the University of Rome in 1930. Twelve years later in Chicago, he built the Fermi Pile, the first nuclear reactor, achieving the chain reaction that ushered in the Atomic Age. Unfortunately for humankind, the Atomic Age brought with it the potential to destroy life to an extent unparalleled in human history. Luckily for us and the rest of the world, Fermi came to the U.S., and not Germany or Russia, to reveal the secrets of the atom: had he done otherwise, he may well have contributed towards the victory of Nazism or Communism, and with it, the submission of the free world to a single power.

This chapter profiles Italian American historiographer Giovanni Ermenegildo Schiavo, who was born in Sicily, Italy in 1898. Schiavo came to the U.S. at age eighteen, having completed high school in his native city of Trapani, Sicily. He has contributed to newspapers, magazines, and reference publications, including the Encyclopedia Americana. His forte, however, has been the history of the Italian-Americans. Were it not for his efforts, much of our knowledge of the contributions of these people would have been lost. In many ways, this book, itself, has been easier to write because of the basic, extensive research accomplished by Schiavo.

This chapter profiles Italian American judge Felix Forte, who was born in 1895 and died in 1976 in Boston, Massachusetts. Forte established a private law practice, and participated in a wide variety of activities: he was an officer of the Republican State Committee, and a Supreme Venerable of the Sons of Italy in Massachusetts. A witty, brilliant, and enlightened lecturer, Forte traveled throughout Europe and the U.S. to speak on the U.S. judicial system. He received many awards, including an honorary degree from Staley College, and the Star of Solidarity of the Italian Republic. His longstanding dream, which is to create an institution of higher learning, may come true in the establishment of the Dante University of America; and Forte will be recognized as one of its founders.

This chapter profiles Walter Piston, a distinguished modern U.S. composer, who was born in Maine in 1894 and died in Massachusetts in 1976. He was the grandson of Antonio Pistone, an Italian sailor who Anglicized his surname after he settled in Maine and married into a U.S.-born family. Antonio's son was a bookkeeper, and he moved his family to Boston when Walter was nine years old. There Walter, who studied violin, attended the Mechanic Arts High School where he played in the school orchestra. After graduation he studied at the Massachusetts School of Art; and during this period he earned his living playing violin and piano in various Boston-area dance halls.

This chapter profiles Italian American sculptor Anthony De Francisci, who was born in Sicily in 1887 and died in New York in 1964. The U.S. certainly richer for the contributions of De Francisci, who came to U.S. from Sicily in 1904. He was a sculptor who excelled in medallic and coin design: the 1921 silver dollar is among the more famous examples of his work; and veterans of World War II wear De Francisci's special commemorative button on their uniforms. He decorated monuments as the Independence Memorial in New York City, and the facade of the Federal Post Office in Washington, D.C.

This chapter profiles Italian American composer Peter A. Yon. He was born in Torino, Italy in 1886 and died in New York in 1943. The Triumph of St. Patrick is one of Peter Yon's most beautiful and best known musical works. Yon wrote the score for this famous oratorio while employed at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, where he was church organist for sixteen years. He became an American citizen in 1921, and in 1927 he was appointed organist at the famous St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue.

This chapter profiles Italian American airplane manufacturer Joseph M. Bellanca, am important figure in the history of aviation. He was born in Sicily in 1886 and died in New York in 1960. In 1907, Bellanca built a plane that would compete in the crossing of the English Channel. He had been studying at the Istituto Tecnico and Politecnico in Milan, and graduated in 1910 with degrees in engineering and mathematics. One year later, Bellanca emigrated to the U.S.; and in 1912 he established the Bellanca Airplane School.

This chapter profiles Joseph Facciolo, an Italian American expert in the field of electricity. Faccioli researched, improved, and developed new machinery to generate and transmit an alternating electric current. Educated in Italy, he is yet another Italian-American whose efforts have contributed to the growth of his adopted country. The Italian-born engineer was therefore invited to work as Stanley' chief assistant in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Like many inventors, Faccioli emerged from a long line of Italian scientists who worked with electricity.

This chapter profiles Guglielmo Marconi, or William Marconi, an Italian American who should perhaps be considered the father of the Age of Communication. In 1896, he built the first wireless transmitter. He modified this instrument so that in the following year he was able to transmit coded messages back and forth between France and England. In 1901, he transmitted in code between England and the United States; and in 1903; the London Times was receiving coded messages from the United States for its daily news coverage. Marconi's fame was established, and he received the Nobel Prize in 1909. One year after he received the Nobel Prize, Marconi established communication networks between Europe and South America. Finally, in 1927, he succeeded in transmitting the human voice, itself: two people--one in England and one in Australia--spoke to each other by means of Marconi's radio transmitting system.

This chapter profiles Italian American architect Angelo B. Zari, who was born in Pisa in 1873 and died in New York in 1956. The list of Zari's projects, accomplished by himself alone or in collaboration, is impressive: the New York Public Library, the Pan American Exposition buildings, the Hotel Pennsylvania, the Central and Bowery Savings banks, the New York Academy of Medicine, the Pershing Square and Graybar buildings, the approaches to the Holland Tunnel, Temple Emanu-El, the Arlington Memorial Ampitheater, the National Gallery of Art, and many, many others. Angelo Zari's great soul is reflected in his countless architectural forms, and in the many pieces of sculpture on display throughout America. One cannot help but feel awed by his many structural feats, and inspired by his statuary accomplishments.

This chapter profiles Amadeo Peter Giannini, an Italian American banker born in 1870 and died in California 1949. Giannini is one of many great men of finance to emerge from the system, originating with the Florentines of the early Renaissance, that has given the world the banking institution and the modern form of accounting. The son of Italian immigrants, Giannini established a branch of the Bank of Italy in San Francisco as early as 1904. As of 1978, the Bank of America continues to bring credit to the Giannini family, to the U.S., and to the world of banking.

This chapter profiles Italian American Maria Montessori, who developed the Montessori system of education. She was born in Chiaravalle in 1870 and died in Holland in 1952. Although Maria Montessori was the first woman in Italy to become a physician, graduating with a double degree in medicine and surgery, the world remembers her most for her contributions to the field of education. She is responsible for the most significant revolution in education since the Renaissance humanists overturned the scholasticism of the Middle Ages. The Montessori method, aims at a comprehensive approach to the child's education, working towards the prevention of defects rather than at their costly, untimely, and often ineffective remediation.

This chapter profiles Italian American conductor Arturo Toscanini, who was born in Parma, Italy in 1867 and died in New York in 1957. A tailor's son, Toscanini graduated from the Parma Conservatory of Music at age eighteen. He spent several years with the La Scala Opera House, but was also affiliated with the New York City Metropolitan Opera and New York's Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. Toscanini was always received enthusiastically. He directed many orchestras, and conducted the debut performances of several operas: Otello, I Pagliacci, La Boheme, and others. He spent several years with the La Scala Opera House, but was also affiliated with the New York City Metropolitan Opera and New York's Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. The National Broadcasting Company Orchestra was assembled especially for him.

This chapter profiles Italian American operatic diva Adelina Patti. She was born in Spain in 1843 and died in Great Britain in 1919. Adelina's father was a well known tenor from Catania, Sicily; and her mother was an accomplished soprano from Rome. Traveling throughout the U.S. in a private railroad car which is said to have cost$ 60,000, her earnings during three seasons from 1882 to 1885 reached the fabulous sum of $450,000. During her childhood, she gave concerts throughout the world, learning to speak and read the languages of the different countries in which she performed: Italian, French, Spanish, German, English, Russian, and Roumanian. She also became a writer, and a composer of music in her own right.

This chapter profiles Bancroft Gherardi, who was one of two Italian-Americans of the Civil War period to be recommended by the U.S. Congress for promotion to the rank of rear admiral. Rear Admiral Bancroft Gherardi saw service on many ships: the Ohio, Sarana, St. Louis, Saratoga, Lancaster, Chippewa, and the Mohican. He saw action during the bombardment of Alexandria, and distinguished himself in the Battle of Mobile Bay. Admiral Gherardi was one of the many officers of Italian descent in service of the Union Army.

This chapter profiles General Luigi Palma di Cesnola, an Italian American who was born in Piemonte in 1832 and died in New York in 1904. Before he came to the U.S., General Palma was already famous throughout Europe as an archeologist and diplomat.During his tenure as the Italian consul in Cyprus, he became interested in the ancient history of that island, and participated in archeological excavations there. Fortunately for the U.S., he collected the Cypriote Antiquities, then worth about$ 200,000, and eventually arranged for the collection to be purchased, for about$ 60,000, by the newly founded Metropolitan Museum of Art. Few people know, however, that prior to his election as museum director, Palma had served with distinction in the U.S. Army. He had received the Congressional Medal of Honor; and President Lincoln had promoted Colonel Palma to the rank of brigadier general. Surely, in the person of Luigi Palma di Cesnola, Generals Thaddeus Koseiusko and Serge Koussevitzky have a brother-in-arms who has yet to be sufficiently recognized.

This chapter profiles Anthony Ravalli, a Jesuit missionary born in Ferrara, Italy in 1811 and died in Spain in 1884. A Jesuit missionary among the Indians, Father Ravalli worked towards the necessary goal of bringing religion and civilization to the Wild West, which is later called the Rocky Mountain States. For a brief period, Ravalli left the wild country to serve his order at Santa Clara College, then returned to dedicate his life to the Indians and the hundreds of European miners scattered throughout Montana.

This chapter profiles Antonio Meucci, who was recognized as the inventor of the telephone in Italy. He was born in Florence in 1808 and died in New York in 1889. The Italians, to cinch this claim, state that the U.S. Supreme Court decided thus, in favor of Meucci and against Alexander Graham Bell. Research, however, reveals no such court case, and no such decision. Yet Meucci does seem to be the first and legitimate inventor of the telephone. Having left Florence as a young man, Meucci landed in Cuba, where he worked as an electrician at the Tacon Opera in Havana. When the Opera House burned down in 1850, Meucci came to the U.S. and settled in Clifton, New Jersey, where he established a prosperous candle factory.

This chapter profiles seventeenth century Italian American priest Samuel Mazzucchelli. In Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Ottawa, Canada, Father Mazzucchelli traveled the entire area. The Indians and white settlers alike knew him as a friend and teacher. Among his many contributions, Mazzucchelli translated a catechism into the Winnebago language, and published an almanac in the Chippewa language. Mazzucchelli is known for his architectural contributions. One, the Church of Saint Augustine, erected in Wisconsin in 1844, is now preserved as a national monument by the Knights of Columbus. Father Mazzucchelli is also credited for having designed Iowa's Capitol Building, the Iowa State University, and the Bishop's Residence in Dubuque.

This chapter profiles Giacomo Beltrami, an Italian explorer and adventurer who was born in Bergamo in 1779 and died in Florence, Italy in 1855. Come to the U.S. by way of Liverpool, England, Beltrami, a former magistrate in the Napoleonic government, received permission from General Clark to join his military forces stationed at the fork of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. The historian Imperatore reports that Beltrami made several incursions into the area to study the geography and the customs of the local Indians. After having joined another military expedition which explored the American territory along the Canadian border, Beltrami decided to go out on his own. With two Indian friends he set out to reach Red Lake, which feeds the Thief River Falls. Toward the end of August 1823, after several days of wandering, Beltrami came upon a small lake--the source of the Mississippi River, which he named Lake Julia.

This chapter profiles Salvatore Catalano, an Italian American Navy officer who was born in Sicily 1771 and died in Washington in 1846. Perhaps the greatest tribute paid to Catalano was the U.S. Navy's order that he be made pilot of the frigate, Congress, and of the world-famous Old Ironsides, the U.S.S. Constitution. Catalano, however, is to be remembered alongside Commodore Edward Preble, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, and William Eaton, all of whom were responsible for America's naval victory against the Arab corsairs of the Barbary Coast.Fighting thousands of miles away from American shores, the United States Navy gained worldwide recognition as a naval power, thanks to the help given by this young Sicilian sailor.

This chapter profiles Italian sculptor Giuseppe Ceracchi. He was born in Rome in 1751 and died in France in 1802. Ceracchi created in sculpture the good likenesses of several U.S. patriots of the revolutionary period. In the decade of 1790 alone, he completed statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, James Madison, John Paul Jones, George Clinton, David Ritten-house, and possibly thirty others. Perhaps Ceracchi's most important work, however, is his statue of Alexander Hamilton. John Trumbull painted his famous portrait of Hamilton directly from Ceracchi's bust; and a photograph of this portrait appears on the cover of the West Suburban Boston Telephone Directory, with credit given to Giuseppi Ceracchi inside. Trumbull also painted a portrait of Ceracchi, himself, which now hangs in the Art Gallery of Yale University.

This chapter profiles Benjamin Taliaferro, an Italian American who was a judge in the Georgia Superior Court. He was born in 1750 and died in Georgia in 1821. The state of Georgia remembers him with the city of Taliaferro, much as Canada remembers Burlamacchi with the city of Burlemaque. Taliaferro ranks among the oldest U.S. names. The name, in its original form, remains prominent to this day; and one wonders also about the derivation of such names as Talifer, Tolovar, and Telfair. Several members of the family have recently graduated from Harvard University. The name is also well known among the top financial executives of the business and art worlds. Surely, this U.S. family of Italian descent has helped the U.S. to become a great nation.

This chapter profiles eighteenth-century Italian Emanuele Conegliano or Lorenzo Da Ponte, as he is known in the world of music and the arts. Da Ponte had traveled the world, leaving behind distinct traces of Italy's humanistic culture. Living in the famous Austrian city, he wrote several librettos for opera, three of which have been immortalized by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Da Ponte came to the U.S. by way of Holland and London, where he found himself in serious difficulties: he fled to Philadelphia in 1805, and eventually went to New York.

This chapter profiles Francis Joseph Vigo, an Italian-American Colonel born near Torino in 1747 and died in Indiana in 1836. Within the museum of the Statue of Liberty, a painting and a taped monologue pay tribute to Colonel Francis Vigo. Because the Statue of Liberty has been a symbol of hope for millions of immigrants, whose physical, intellectual, and creative efforts have helped to build the U.S., it is entirely fitting that this museum has chosen to recognize a great Italian-American. In 1779, Vigo placed himself at the service of General George Rogers Clark to wage war against the British. Vigo enlisted the necessary soldiers, and provided for their pay and subsistence. At Vincennes, which was heavily fortified by the British, Vigo allowed himself to be taken prisoner. After he had studied the enemy's defense plan, Vigo escaped with the aid of his Indian friends. The resultant battle saw U.S. citizens victorious.

This chapter profiles William Paca, who was the only signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence who was not of Anglo Saxon ancestry. Paca was born 1740 and died in 1799 in Maryland. Many have claimed that Paca was not of Italian descent. Nevertheless, in a letter to The New York Times, published in the July 8, 1937 issue, Mr. W. S. Paca of Chestertown, Maryland, confirmed that William was the grandson of Robert Paca, who came to the U.S. by way of England, settling in Maryland, where he was granted a 490-acre tract in Anne Arundale County. William Paca, himself, was a successful lawyer. He was also the first governor of the state of Mary land, and a U.S. district judge for Maryland.

This chapter profiles Enrico Tonti, a Neopolitan banker who introduced the tontine financial scheme to the French. Tonti was born in Gaeta, Italy in 1650 and died in Illinois in 1704. Tonti was among the first to explore Lake Erie and the Niagara region. He also established French colonies in many areas of Louisiana and Illinois, among them the center that was eventually to develop into the city of Chicago. For twenty or more years, he traveled through the Mississippi region, leaving the Tontica, large and small settlements scattered through the area, behind him.

This chapter profiles Father Francesco Chino, an Italian born in Segno in 1645 and died in New Mexico in 1711. Father Chino, who received his higher education from the University of Freiburg in Germany, wished to go to China as a mathematician. After observing the appearance and passing of the comet of 1680, Chino wrote and published, Exposicion Astronomica de el Cometa. Chino built more than thirty churches and missions, some of which remain to this very day. What is more, he recorded his activities and published several maps of the western territory--especially of California, which, he proved to be a peninsula, not an island.

This chapter profiles Marco da Nizza, an Italian explorer born in Nizza in 1510 and died in Mexico in 1558. In modern times, the name Marcos de Niza, as it is generally spelled, is seeing somewhat of a revival, thanks to the efforts of African American historians who have documented and publicized the career of the explorer, Esteban. and Friar Marco traveled through mountainous territory, reaching as far west as what is now Phoenix, Arizona. There he planted the Cross of Christ and left an inscription on a huge rock. Although Marco did not find Cibola, he reported to his Spanish leaders that he had discovered a city greater than the city of Mexico; and his statement prompted Coronado to lead an expedition into Arizona. When the conquistadores of North America failed to find gold, they took our their wrath on the poor friar, cursing him for having led them on a two-year-long wild-goose chase. As a result, Friar Marco is said to have taken ill and died.

This chapter profiles Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian explorer born in Florence in 1485 and died in Spain in 1527. Giovanni da Verrazzano, who had discovered the Hudson and a good part of Canada for France was captured by the Spaniards and brought to Spain for an out-and-out massacre. As a young man, Giovanni da Verrazzano had spent several years on the open seas. His chance for glory finally came through Francis I of France, who had wanted without success to plant the French flag on the New World. When his own admirals failed to achieve that goal, Francis turned to two Italians to fulfill his wish--Antonio Gondi to help finance the expedition, and Verrazzano to lead it.

This chapter profiles Americo Vespucci, an Italian navigator born in 1454 and died in Seville, Spain in 1512. Vespucci was perhaps the luckiest of the Italian navigators of his time. In one sense, Vespucci's claim as discoverer of the New World is entirely correct: it was he who recognized that the land mass that Columbus', the Cabots', and his own ships had reached was neither China nor India, but an entirely new world. Vespucci brought this information back to Europe, and proceeded to promulgate it. As a result, the German cartographer, Martin Waldeseemuller published a map of the New World, on which was printed the name America.

This chapter profiles Giovanni Cabot, the first European to set foot on North American soil, and can rightly be considered the true discoverer of that continent. In 1497 he embarked upon a sailing expedition in behalf of Henry VII of England, and was finally to plant the British flag in the soil of what is now, Labrador, Canada. Of the many Italian navigators and explorers to work for foreign countries, Cabot was one of the few to have received some recognition. It is certain that the Cabot family of today, and the Lodges as well, are descended from none other than John Cabot of Genoa, and his son, Sebastian, of Venice. Regardless of claims and disclaims with respect to descendency, however, one cannot deny that this Italian devoted his life and services to benefit the people of another nation.

This chapter profiles Italian American boxer Rocky Marciano, or Rocco Marchegiano, who was born in Brockton, Massachusetts and died in the Midwest in 1969. A great moment in the history of boxing--the thirteenth-round knockout of world heavyweight champion Jersey Joe, on September 23, 1952--belongs to Rocky. It happened in Philadelphia: Rocky Marciano, twenty-nine years old and weighing in at 186 pounds, entered the ring as challenger to Joe Walcott, nine years older, and weighing in at 196 pounds. Jersey Joe, setting the pace at the start of the first round, floored the challenger, who was made to take the count before he could get on his feet. For the next thirteen rounds, Joe continued to dominate the fight, battering his opponent. Then unexpectedly, bleeding from many cuts and wobbling from Walcott's furious blows, Marciano plunged with his left, and followed with a quick right. Another powerful right to the jaw sent Walcott to the canvas for good. The knockout gave Marciano the world heavyweight championship; and he was to retain the title until he retired in 1956. He held his title for a longer period than any other champion.

This chapter profiles Rodolfo Valentino, an Italian American silent movie actor born in Castellaneta, Puglia in 1895 and died in New York in 1926. His real name was Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Guglielmi. Born in the little-known village of Castellaneta in the south of Italy, he lived in France as a boy, and eventually came to U.S. Like thousands of Italian immigrants who came to the promised land, Rodolfo took any jobs he could in order to make a living. One day, unexpectedly, his fortune changed. Rex Ingram, the famous silent-movie producer, discovered Rodolfo and cast him for a movie part. Rudolph Valentino's success was immediate: the idol of millions, he captured the public heart and imagination as few had done before him. Portrayed on screen as the archetypal Latin lover, he was actually a simple, noble man who had been deeply affected by the beautiful traditions of the 2000-year-old society of his birth.

This chapter profiles Italian American Enrico Casalegno, who is better known as Henry Woodhouse in the aeronautics world. He was born in Torino, Italy in 1884 and died in the U.S. in 1919. Woodhouse was already an expert linguist, economist, and sociologist when he came to the U.S. in 1904. By the time he became a naturalized citizen in 1909, he had written numerous articles for leading journals of his day. Eventually, he founded Flying, a magazine on aviation, and the weekly magazine, Aerial Age. He also founded the National Aeroplane Fund, the Patriotic Education Society, and the Aeronautics Federation of the Western Hemisphere.

This chapter profiles Italian American Fiorello Henry La Guardia, who was one of the most colorful figures in the political history of the U.S. to appear at the city and congressional levels. The son of an army bandmaster, Fiorello grew up in Arizona. At the age of sixteen, he traveled to Budapest, Hungary, and later to Italy where he was employed at the United States consulates in Trieste and Fiume. Back in America, he worked as an interpreter for the United States immigration service while studying law at New York University. He was admitted to the Bar in 1910; and six years later, he was elected to Congress as a Republican. He resigned from Congress soon afterwards to serve as pilot in the Air Force, then under the auspices of the United States Signal Corps. He returned to Congress after completing his military tour of duty. During this time, he also served as president of the New York Board of Aldermen. In 1922, he co-sponsored a bill with Norris that forbade courts to issue restraining injunctions against strikes, boycotts, or peaceful picketing. In 1933, he was elected mayor of New York City.

This chapter profiles Francis Horace Vizetelly, an Italian American who was recognized as one of the world's foremost lexicographers. He was born in England in 1864 and died in New York in 1938. Francis Vizetelly received many honors during his lifetime of relentless work, including an honorary LL.D. degree from Saint John's College. Knighthood was conferred upon him by the Order of Francis Joseph of Austria Hungary. He was a major contributor to many publications. He was editor of several magazines and reference works, such as Home and Country Magazine, the Annual Cyclopedia, Woman's Home Companion, The Merck Index, the Columbian Encyclopedia.

This chapter profiles Italian priest Eugenio Vetromile, who was born in 1810 and died in Gallipoli, Italy in 1880. Eugene, as he was known among the inhabitants of Maine, came to the U.S. in 1840 and settled in Washington, D.C. He became a student at Georgetown University, where he studied for the religious life. Ordained a priest, he assumed duty as a missionary, first at Fort Tobacco, Maryland, then in Old Town, Maine, where he lived among the Penobscot Indians, to whom he dedicated his life. Father Vetromile is only one of the hearty Italian missionaries to work throughout the U.S.

This chapter profiles 17th century Italian American painter Constantino Brumidi. Brumidi, who came to the U.S. in 1852, brought with him the glorious Italian art of fresco painting. Brumidi was a student at the Roman Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of San Luca. Brumidi was eventually recalled from Mexico and given a small commission to work on the decoration of the United States Capitol Building.He also depicted in fresco The Death of General Wooster, and did portraits of his fellow Italians, Christopher Columbus and Americo Vespucci, as well as John Fitch, William Brewster, and others.

This chapter profiles Alessandro Malaspina, an Italian American soldier and scientist who was born in Mulazzo in 1754 and died in Potremoli, Italy in 1810. Hardly twenty years old, Alessandro graduated from the college of Palermo and immediately joined the Spanish fleet. By the time he was twenty-seven, he had circumnavigated the world; and at thirty-five he was a captain in the Royal Navy, commanding two custom-built corvettes, Atrevida and Descubierta. In 1789 he set sail with these two ships, embarking upon the scientific career that was to bring him to the western coast of South and North America, all the way to Alaska and the Bering Sea, and down to the Philippines, New Zealand, and Australia. In five or more years of arduous scientific research, Malaspina laid plans for the excavation of the Panama Canal, showing the feasability and utility of such an undertaking. He measured the height of Mount Saint Elias in Alaska, exploring the gigantic glaciers that were later named after him. Working out of Acapulco, he fixed the measurements of the western coast of the U.S. with a precision never before achieved. In Ecuador, he measured the Chimborazo, one of South America's highest peaks. He also gathered geodedic, botanical, and mineral information, and produced many maps of places unknown to the civilized world.

This chapter profiles Enrico Caruso, an Italian American tenor born in 1873 and died in 1921 in Naples, Italy. Before coming to the U.S., Caruso had studied voice for several years with Guglielmo Vergine and Vincenzo Lombardi. In London, New York, and many other famous cities, he sang in French and Italian operas: La Boheme, Othello, Les Huguenots, Carmen, Rigoletto, Aida, Tosca, and many others.At the Metropolitan Opera House, he sang over 600 times, and was the audience's favorite opening-night tenor for sixteen years.