Will be back shortly

Migrating isn't easy.

If George Washington Was Italian

I know I've veered off course in October but at least I'm delivering some entertainment, no?

I said, no? Bah. Da dums.

Nothing a Lou Monte song can't fix:



Viva Girogio Washigtoniogni!

Pondering The Italian Language

I want to make my peace right here, right now.

Someone on another blog presented an interesting comment about the United Nations official languages. As some of you may or may not know, the official languages of the UN are: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Chinese.

However, it's rather obtuse that Italian, with direct lineage to Latin and among the most beautiful languages in the world (if not the most beautiful) along with its staggering importance to European civilization, is overlooked.

I assume the reason why these languages were selected comes down to two things: politics, sheer numbers and history. Italian - with roughly 60 million speakers and a minor political player (in the age between the Treaty of Westphalia and WWI especially. In the post-war era Italy was able to improve on this playing a key role in the development of the EU, ESA and NATO) - doesn't fit the first two but the third one - history - it does.

If we appeal to history (encompassing culture), then Italian might in this section becomes apparent. It comfortably sits equal to French and perhaps even more so than Spanish.

Two other languages that also meet the politics, numbers, culture criteria are German, Japanese and Hindi.

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Speaking about beautiful languages. I recognize beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that there are many beautiful languages in this wonderful world, but it would take a lot to convince me that Italian is not among them.

A tale of two people I must tell. One negative, one positive.

Not so long ago I was surprised to hear one person assert (a British citizen living in Spain) rather condescendingly that French and Italian are "clunky" languages" and that Spanish is a "purer" and "greater" language. Needless to say, I disagree with him. To me, all three are wickedly stylish languages. Italian and French clunky? I still don't know what he could have meant.

Soon after that, my friend, a wise and well-traveled pediatrician, and I were engaged in conversation. He speaks a few languages (he happens to be a fan of German) and he assuredly felt by far, bar none, that Italian stood at the apex of all languages. The cadence, tone and layered texture of the language connects to him on a subconscious level. He described it as words gently moving between time and space; flowing like drops of rain rolling off leaves.

Ok, enough of this. Back to the industrial stuff!

Vintage Sports Images

Where Art And Science Meet

While September was my most productive month, if you can call it that, I've reverted to my slow ways in October. Life gets in the way, you know that.

Great article here in the NYT for you history enthusiasts about science, art, Renaissance Italy and Leonardo da Vinci.

Taw-taw. Should be back with a couple more posts in the upcoming days.

Toronto's Italian Walk Of Fame And Casa d'Italia's Revival In Montreal

In a recent conversation, my friend, Andy Kim, yes that Andy Kim (yes, shameless name dropping on my part) recounted the story about his honor of inducting Connie Francis in the Italian Walk of Fame in Toronto. It's the 40th anniversary since the iconic song 'Sugar, Sugar' became a #1 hit - by the way. Not bad for a Montreal native, eh?

The subject had come up because I mentioned to him earlier in our discussion about the revival project of Casa d'Italia in Montreal and my small role in it. Your truly was asked to write, well, let's just say to put into words who we are and where we're going as a community - among other things. I'm truly thankful for having met Pasquale Iacobacci.

But the point of this post wasn't to boast about my friendship with Andy Kim - did I mention this? Oh yes, I see that I did - or my work with Casa d'Italia - although I should take a couple of minutes to talk about it. Actually, I'll do this right now.

Casa d'Italia is a Montreal institution that has served the Italian community since 1936. Much history has been written and witnessed within its Art Deco wallks, but in recent years the Casa's relevance had slipped into obscurity. This raised concerns among community leaders and led by tireless Mr. Iacobacci as the "project-manager-point-guard," the sought to change this.

With a renewed interest in Italian culture among younger people, it was time to seize the moment and drag Casa d'Italia into the 21st century.

Italian contribution to the North American experience has been massive and it's quite unbecoming - if not embarrassing - for a community as big as ours to not have a a community center preserving our heritage with an, among other things, archive center.

Incidentally, if you're a Montreal Italian, Casa d'Italia is interested in collected your family's history. Contact them at 514-271-2524.


Ok. Back to the Italian walk of fame. Check out the site.

Colnago Bikes Still Cutting Edge

Ernesto Colnago founded a bike manufacturing company in 1954 that, in time, conquered the world. If one bike can claim to be one of the greatest ever, it's Colnago. His bikes have been utilized by over 100 professional teams and 2500 riders who in total have won more than 7500 races! One of those riders was Eddie Merckx of Belgium, arguably the greatest cyclist in history.

Colnago was the first to build cold-forged forks as well as straight forks in the 1980s. Other innovations included introducing the lightest steel frame bike (5.6kg) in 1972 and the Columbus tube frame in 1982. However, important as these were (and there are many more) in the development and evolution of bicycle technology, it was his breakthrough with a carbon fiber (as well as titanium and aluminum) frame in 1986 in conjunction with Ferrari.

And it's doesn't stop there. Over 50 years since opening, Colnago continues to be at the forefront of bicycle technology.

A Master For The Ages: Giotto Bizzarrini

Giotto Bizzarrini played a defining role in the development of Italian automobile design. Hailing from Tuscany, he was an engineer for Ferrari in the 1950s and Lamborghini. He also spearheaded projects for concept cars some of which boast his name.

In an industry and country famous for its car designers, Bizzarrini is an oft-forgotten but important figure. Working for famous companies, his input helped establish unforgettable masterpieces on the sports car landscape. His piece de resistance for Ferrari was the 250 GTO. In addition, he designed the Testa Rossa. But his time with Ferrari didn't end well, as he was part of the group who left the company in what is known as the "Ferrari Night of the Long Knives." From there he left for Scuderia Serrenissima and eventually, Alfa Romeo, Iso Rivolta where he designed the Iso Rivolta GT and Iso Grifo.

Indeed, the creative Bizzarrini remains active (designing the GT Strada 4.1 concept car) carries the 'Giotto' name with honor. Giotto, of course, being one of the early masters of Renaissance painting.

Riva Yachts

In a previous post, I introduced some Italian yacht manufacturers. I missed this one; or rather discovered Riva Yachts. More exclusive than these guys it possibly doesn't get. Handcrafted...meh you know the rest.

Coppola Explores And Ponders Basilicata Roots

Grazie, Man of Roma for this:

Julia Childs Simplistic View Of Simplicity

How many times I've heard it be claimed that Italian stuff is "over rated." Oh me, oh my! From its soccer to its olive oil to its fashion to its cars. Julia Childs and her opinion of Italian cuisine is no exception. It's all par for the course as far as I'm concerned.

Look, some still say The Beatles were "a mistake" and that Wayne Gretzky wasn't the best hockey player ever despite evidence pointing otherwise. Opinions are opinions. Childs has earned her right to hers. She's done much for cooking in America.

It is what is.

It's their loss, in my view, if they choose to "pigeon-hole" the food born in the peninsula. Italian cuisine offers a dizzying array and stupendous amount of depth, quality, substance , creativity, sophistication and diversity. Its population's pallet is wickedly advanced to the point of insanity.

And who cares if it's simple? Therein lies the genius, no? There's sophistication and elegance in minimalism, no? Simplicity can be, I think, complex, no?

Making Yachts Look Stylish

Question. Who has won Showboats International "Ship Yard Number 1" award six times running the first yacht company to do so?

Benetti.

Founded in 1873 in Darsena Italy, Benetti is now owned by Azimut and produces a wide range of luxurious yachts (45, 50, 75 feet etc.) made up of various composite materials (alloys, fiberglass, steel etc.), each considered to be world class. Its dominance is based on the usual Italian recipe of offering superior custom design and quality. With little, if any, advertising (when was the last time you saw a commercial for Zegna or Ferrari?) the company uses the "exclusive" marketing technique and still manages to capture a large customer base. Read about the Patricia designed by Stefano Righini in the hyperlink.

Benetti official site.

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Benetti isn't the only great player in Italian boat manufactuting. Ficantieri - SpA Cantieri Navali Trestino, founded in 1908 (reorganized in 1959), has too won some awards and the legendary Cantieri Baglietto, another innovative company, founded in 1854.

From Baglietto webstite with d'Annunzio describing one of its vessels:

"These were used both as anti-submarine patrol vessels and as insidious attack craft against the Austrian fleet, depending as to how they were equipped. The incomparable poet, Gabriele d'Annunzio, an admirer of the audacity of these vessels, used the abbreviation MAS for his motto: Memento Audere Semper."

And:

"The honours roll in thick and fast: Twins VI triumphs in the Italian Cup in Helsinki (1953) and in Genoa (1954), the Twins VII is victorious in Sweden at Sandhamn, its first Italian success is the Gold Cup in 1955 followed the next year by the French Cup, in Geneva. The Voloira III, designed by Ray Hunt in 1964, concludes the series."

Each website is outstanding by the way.

The Falco's Aeronautical Legacy

Who is Stelio Frati?

He's a Milanese-born mechanical engineer and free-lance aeronautical designer who possesses a revered reputation among airplane enthusiasts as great as Enzo Ferrari has for race car aficionados.

Frati is best remembered for designing in the 1950 and 60s an aerobatical, hand-crafted, wooden plane (yes, wooden) plane called the Falco. He mastered the art of civil utility aircraft design. His two most famous were the F8L and SF260 (SIAI Marchetti).

The latter being a ground-breaking, three-seater fighter-training plane used all over the world breaking many speed world records along the way.

In addition, the Falco is considered to be the best-handling plane to ever grace the sky.

The elegant F8L (C-90 engine) , for its part, was virtually unbeatable in its racing class.

To be sure, the Falcos weren't the only planes he designed. Earlier in his career he designed, to name but a couple, the FM1 Passero (which was more of a glider with a top speed of 94mph),F4 Rondone and the two-seat monoplane General Avia F22. A plane used by the Dutch aerobatic display team.

Frati founded General Avia company in 1970.

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In other aeronautical related info:

Aerobatic group flying in Italy.

The Fiat CR42:

From wiki: "The Fiat CR.42 was the last of the Fiat biplane fighters to enter front line service as a fighter, and represented the epitome of the type. RAF Intelligence praised its exceptional manoeuvrability, further noting that "the plane was immensely strong."

Only four are known to be still in existence.

Is there anything FIAT hasn't built?

Fix It Again Tony was a popular joke but no one can dispute FIAT's engineeting and design heritage. It does have a record of excellence.

Exploring Renaissance Cartography

Originally an engineer, Giacomo Gastaldi soon turned his attention to mapmaking and in the process became one of the most important, inventive and innovative cartographer of the Renaissance.

I rip this (without shame) from Wiki:

"According to the author Philip Burden, Gastaldi’s 1548 edition of Ptomely's Geography , "was the most comprehensive atlas produced between Martin Waldseemueller's Geographia of 1513, and the Abraham Ortelius Theatrum of 1570,” because it included regional maps of the Americas.

Yet Gastaldi’s detailed attention to the new world was not his only contribution to the development of map production. The Ptolemy edition of 1548 was also an innovation in that Gastaldi and his publisher reduced the size of the volume, thereby making the first ‘pocket’ atlas. Finally, Gastaldi’s work also indicated a shift in cartographical technique via its use of the copper engraving. Prior to this period, most maps had been printed from woodcuts; by using a copper plate rather than a woodblock to print, the engraver could render a much higher level of finesse and detail.

The following quote (again, without shame) is not from Wiki:

"Cosmographer to the Republic of Venice, is considered by many to be “the greatest cartographer of the Italian school” (Verner-Stubbs, p. 12). He was the first to propose a strait separating North America from the Asian continent. Gastaldi’s most important work includes “La Nova Francia – one of the first maps to delineate the east coast of North America, and when first issued in 1556, the very first regional map of any part of present-day Canada."

See this list for more Italian cartographers.

Which eventually brought me to this interesting "History of Italy" index.

Note: Map image found at this site.

Meet Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti: One Smooth Linguist

Mr. Mezzofanti, it is believed, fluently spoke 38 languages and another 30 less so. Don't reach for your calculators. I got one. This means he was able to communicate in 68 languages. Seems fanciful?'

Probably. But even if it was half of this, 'Pep would have no problem asking "where's the bathroom?" or "hold the fries" in most places on earth.

Here's more on the hyperpolyglot.

"The most famous hyper-polyglot was probably Giuseppe Mezzofanti, a 19th century Italian Cardinal, who was reputed to speak 72 languages. The claim sounds preposterous. If you assume each language had 20,000 words, and Mezzofanti could remember a word infallibly after meeting it only once, he'd still have to learn a word a minute, 12 hours a day for five-and-a-half years. Not likely. But Mezzofanti was constantly tested by critics, and they were all impressed. One of them even called him "the Devil" because of his uncanny skill. Even if the stories are exaggerated, he was clearly some kind of linguistic superstar.

Did Mezzofanti have an extraordinary brain? Or are hyper-polyglots just ordinary people with ordinary brains who manage to do something extraordinary through motivation and hard work?"