1° Reggimento Re at the Royal Site of Carditello in Caserta

Photos courtesy of 1° Reggimento Re

On Sunday afternoon, the 1° Reggimento Re (1° Reggimento Re. Associazione culturale e di rievocazione storica) took the field at the Cavalier and Cavalieri event held at the Reggia di Carditello in Caserta. Under clear skies and with excellent conditions, the unit turned out in force, executing a disciplined and visually striking presence. The parade ground was alive with ceremony—crisp formations, immaculate period uniforms, and the thunder of magnificent horses on display. With strong attendance and high esprit de corps throughout, the engagement was a resounding success, marked by both martial precision and regal pageantry.

Remembering Amedeo Miceli di Serradileo and his Calabria

Baron Amedeo Miceli di Serradileo

Afficionados of history and all those who love Calabria mourn the loss of the doyen of Southern Italian history and culture, Baron Amedeo Miceli di Serradileo, who died on 11 April 2026 at the age of 77.

Baron Miceli was a refined scholar and connoisseur of all aspects of Southern Italy, particularly his native San Fili (prov. of Cosenza) and Calabria. He carried out extensive research in archives and in situ and presented his findings at numerous conferences and published widely as an independent researcher. He brought to life the complex events of the Kingdom of Naples and medieval and Renaissance Calabria, including foreign relations between the 13th and 16th centuries. He also assisted in curating and building museums.

Having taken a degree in political science at the LUISS in Rome, Baron Miceli worked in Geneva, Amsterdam, and Paris, conducting business for multinationals. He brought an amazing scope and vision to his vocation as a historian and carried out his work with continuity and systematic rigor.

Baron Miceli’s lifetime of research takes us deep into our past, exploring the Kingdom and the Calabria of Frederick II, as well as visits to numerous towns and cities, and their traditional economies, including the silk trade, and even with modesty, the palaces of his own family and the figures of ancestral bishops in the family. He also explored nuanced areas such as the concession of offices by Marie de Blois, the widow of King Louis of Anjou, Venetians in Calabria between the 12th and 14th centuries, inventories of Cosenza’s palaces in the Renaissance and Baroque eras, and the Spanish Viceroyalty as seen through diplomatic dispatches.

Baron Miceli most memorably contributed to the drafting of the well-known classic Settecento Calabrese with Franz von Lobstein. Among many places, his work appeared over the decades in the Rivista Araldica, Archivio Storico per la Calabria e la Lucania, Archivio Storico per le Province Napoletane, and is cited in numerous fascinating books, such as Collezionismo nella Calabria Vicereale, Borbonica e Postunitaria (Gangemi, 2012)

A generous patron and promoter of culture and the humanities, Baron Miceli sponsored the “Vincenzo Miceli” scholarship fund for the Scuola Secondaria Statale di San Fili, in memory of the constitutional lawyer and positivist philosopher Vincenzo Miceli (1858-1932). As a true patriot and Southern nobleman, he also generously donated documents of historic interest to the State Archives of Cosenza so as to pass the torch on to the next generation.

After his funeral in Rome, Baron Miceli was laid to rest in his family tomb in San Fili.

~ By Cav. Charles Sant’Elia

Brooklyn FC Kicks Off in Coney Island with Opening-Day Victory

The subway poster that first caught my eye

On an overcast Sunday afternoon, March 8, a few friends and I headed to Maimonides Park in Coney Island for Brooklyn FC’s inaugural match in the USL Championship.

Arriving early paid off—when the gates opened, we were literally the first fans inside.

The afternoon began almost by accident. A few weeks earlier, I had noticed an advertisement for the match in a subway station and mentioned it to friends. Before long, we were standing outside the gate on opening day.

Founded in 2024, Brooklyn FC has adopted colors—black, brown, and taupe—said to reflect the borough itself: the brownstone buildings, the limestone of the Brooklyn Bridge, and perhaps even the blacktop streets and tar-beach rooftops of its neighborhoods.

Roughly 1,000 people turned out for the occasion. Fans were welcomed with free hats, stickers, a hot dog, and a non-alcoholic drink. I added a scarf to the collection.

The match delivered its own piece of history in the 26th minute when Carlos Obregón Jr. converted a penalty, giving Brooklyn a 1–0 victory over visiting Indy Eleven. The team celebrated beneath the towering Parachute Jump along the boardwalk—one of Coney Island’s most recognizable landmarks.

What struck me most was the simple pleasure of finally having a local club worth supporting. It’s the first American team I’ve felt inclined to follow since the original New York Cosmos. I briefly considered rooting for the modern Cosmos—until I learned they now play across the river in Paterson, New Jersey.

Forza Brooklyn!

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, March 9th, Feast of Santa Francesca Romana

First at the gate

(L) The defunct Parachute Jump, a historic landmark along the Coney Island Boardwalk. (R) A sticker bearing the team's logo, which resembles the Brooklyn Bridge

A complimentary baseball cap given to fans

We broke our Lenten fast with a free Nathan's Famous hotdog

Brooklyn’s newest firm arrives properly kitted out

(L) Our pal Rocco was chosen to escort the players onto the field and serve as a ball boy. (R) Later, getting a little too rowdy, Rocco showed me a yellow card.

Watching both teams warm up before kickoff

A look at the stadium from the field

The historic goooooooooal by Obregón Jr.

Action in front of the home end beneath the Curva Sud

Ball boy Rocco gets his moment to shine

Full time: Brooklyn FC 1-0 Indy Eleven

Brooklyn Win!

After the match, Rocco Romeo and his teammates greeted young fans and signed autographs

Naples Mourns the Great Angela Luce

Famed Neapolitan singer and actress Angela Luce died of heart failure in Naples on February 20, 2026. She was 87. Born Angela Savino on December 3, 1938, to a family of artisans who crafted shoes, silk flowers, and fashion accessories, she remained a daughter of Naples in spirit and in art throughout her life.

A luminous presence in Neapolitan-language theatre, Luce appeared in more than 80 films following her 1956 debut in Ricordati di Napoli. Over the course of her career, she recorded 18 albums between 1972 and 2009. Her musical journey began at just 14, when she performed the iconic Zì Carmilì at the Piedigrotta Bideri festival, marking the start of a career that would span seven decades.

Her accolades were numerous. She won the David di Donatello for her performance in L’amore molesto, directed by Mario Martone, a film that earned international recognition at Cannes. On screen, she shared roles with some of Italy’s greatest actors, including Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassman, Nino Manfredi, Alberto Sordi, Ugo Tognazzi, Vittorio De Sica, and Totò, among others.

Luce became a living bridge between the classic Neapolitan musical tradition—rooted in café-chantant—and the evolving cultural landscape of the 20th century. For younger generations, she was the voice that reintroduced them to two centuries of Neapolitan repertoire. Her signature interpretations included Raffaele Viviani’s So’ Bammenella ’e copp’ ’e Quartiere, featured in Napoli Notte e Giorno directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi and presented at the Spoleto Festival; Ipocrisia by Pino Giordano and Eduardo Alfieri, which placed second at the Sanremo Music Festival in 1975; and Voglia, her own composition with Angelo Fiore, which won the 1984 UNICEF Award.

On stage, Luce performed in the works of Eduardo Scarpetta and frequently collaborated with Eduardo De Filippo, appearing with him in theatre and on television. Her performances carried Neapolitan drama far beyond Italy—to the Wiesbaden Festival in Germany, the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in Paris, The Old Vic in London, the Mark Hellinger Theatre in New York, and the Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires.

Deeply devoted to her faith and her city, Luce volunteered from 2011 onward at the annual September 10 Serenata alla Madonna, honoring Our Lady of Piedigrotta. Private by nature, she chose never to marry, dedicating her life entirely to her art. She spoke candidly, however, of a tormented relationship with singer Peppino Gagliardi and of a profound love for a man outside the entertainment world, Amedeo, who died tragically in 1974.

Just days before her passing, Luce recorded a message of encouragement to the owners and staff of Naples’ historic Teatro Sannazzaro, which suffered severe damage in a February 2026 fire—a final gesture of solidarity with the theatrical community she cherished.

Angela Luce’s beauty, generosity of spirit, and intimate rapport with her audiences were legendary. With her passing, Naples loses not only a star, but a guardian of its voice.

~ By Antonio Isernia

The Passing of Antonino Zichichi and Franco Torpino di Santasilia

In the span of a day, two figures of cultivated Italian life passed from the scene — Antonino Zichichi in Sicily and Franco Torpino di Santasilia of Naples — leaving behind distinct yet complementary legacies of intellect and tradition.

Antonino Zichichi

Professor Antonino Zichichi, nuclear physicist and founder of the Centro Ettore Majorana in Erice, died on February 9, 2026. He was 96.

Born in Trapani, Sicily, on October 15, 1929, Zichichi studied at the University of Palermo before embarking on a distinguished international career. In the 1960s, he conducted significant research at Fermilab in Chicago and at CERN in Geneva, contributing to the development of subnuclear physics during a decisive era.

In 1963, he founded the Centro Ettore Majorana in Erice, naming it for the Sicilian theoretical physicist from Catania. The center became home to the International School of Subnuclear Physics and a meeting place for scientists from around the world. Zichichi later served as president of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, president of the European Physical Society, and president of the World Federation of Scientists. In 1973, he co-founded World Lab with the American physicist Isidor Isaac Rabi, an organization supporting scientific development in emerging nations.

In later years, Zichichi was among those physicists who publicly affirmed belief in God as Creator, writing several works addressed to a broad readership, including Scienza ed emergenze planetarie (1993), Perché io credo in Colui che ha fatto il mondo (1999), and L’irresistibile fascino del Tempo (2000).

Asteroid 3951 bears his name.

Franco Torpino di Santasilia

Franco Torpino di Santasilia, Neapolitan Marquess, engineer, and devoted custodian of aristocratic culinary tradition, died February 10, 2026, in Marrakesh following complications from a fall. He was 91.

Born in Naples on January 18, 1935, Torpino graduated in physics from the University of Naples in 1960 and worked as a thermal nuclear engineer at the Centrale Elettronucleare del Garigliano for ENEL and General Electric between 1964 and 1971. He later held executive positions at Gruppo Piaggio and Gruppo Giglio.

Inspired by his mother, Duchess Leopoldina Caracciolo di Castagneto, he cultivated a lifelong devotion to the aristocratic cuisine of Naples. In his homes in Naples, Rome, and Morocco, he became known for gatherings that celebrated the ceremonial depth of southern Italian hospitality. His tables welcomed figures from the Italian and international establishment, including members of the Agnelli and Marzotto families, alongside diplomats and public officials.

In 1988, he published La Cucina Aristocratica Napoletana, later republished in 2017, and I primi: 35 ricette ispirate alla Cucina Napoletana di Corte, works that framed cuisine not merely as gastronomy but as inheritance, identity, and culture. He was a member of the Accademia Italiana della Cucina, the American Institute for Food and Wine, and the International Association for Culinary Professionals, and organized numerous conferences dedicated to Neapolitan culinary history.

~ By Antonio Isernia

Sal Buscema, 1936–2026

Sal Buscema (born Silvio Buscema), one of the great craftsmen of American comic art, passed away on January 24, 2026, two days before his 90th birthday. A first-generation Sicilian American from Brooklyn, Sal was part of a wave of New York–based artists who helped define the visual language of Marvel Comics during its formative years.

He was the younger brother of the legendary John Buscema (1927–2002), and together they formed one of the most influential sibling pairs in comics history. While John was often celebrated for his grandeur and classical power, Sal’s work was marked by clarity, discipline, and an almost architectural command of sequential storytelling. His long runs—especially on The Spectacular Spider-Man—taught generations of readers how comics were meant to flow.

I read their comics as a kid and admired the work for many years. Looking back, it’s clear that what they shared was not just talent, but a seriousness about the craft.

Sal Buscema leaves behind a formidable body of work, defined by strength, discipline, and a mastery of visual composition that helped shape the medium itself. He is survived by his wife and three sons.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli

Antonello da Messina’s Ecce Homo and a Penitent Saint Jerome Come to Market at Sotheby’s

Ecce Homo (recto) and St. Jerome in Penitence (verso), double-sided panel, tempera grassa on panel, Antonello da Messina, circa 1430-1479

The most important Renaissance painter active in southern Italy, Antonello da Messina produced this extraordinary double-sided panel in the early 1460s, while working in his native Messina. An artist of remarkable originality, Antonello fused a Netherlandish mastery of descriptive realism with an Italian concern for emotional expression and pictorial presence, a synthesis especially evident in the psychological immediacy with which Christ confronts the viewer here. The panel exemplifies Antonello’s empathetic approach to devotional imagery, humanizing an intensely sacred subject through a direct and intimate mode of address that invites emotional identification and spiritual engagement.

Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio was born in Messina, in northeastern Sicily around 1430. One of the most compelling yet elusive figures of the Italian Renaissance, his career remains only fragmentarily documented, and the precise means by which he mastered Netherlandish painting techniques remain the subject of scholarly debate. Antonello probably trained in the workshop of Niccolò Colantonio in Naples, a city with unusually strong artistic and commercial ties to Northern Europe. King Alfonso of Aragon’s collection, for instance, included paintings by Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, which Antonello may have encountered directly or experienced indirectly through Colantonio. Giorgio Vasari later credited Antonello with introducing oil painting to Italy, though that claim is now regarded as an overstatement. Antonello’s early career was likely peripatetic, possibly including travel to Provence and other regions, though the absence of archival records renders this speculative. By 1457 he had returned to southern Italy, where he was contracted by the confraternity of San Michele dei Gerbini in Reggio Calabria to paint a processional banner. By January 1461 he had settled in Messina, where he probably produced the present painting and where he likely remained for much of the decade.

For more information, visit Sotheby's

Live auction begins on: February 5, 10:30 AM EST

In Memoriam: Rocco B. Commisso

Rocco B. Commisso passed away peacefully, leaving behind a life defined by quiet strength, steadfast loyalty, and devotion to family, faith, and work. Born on November 25, 1949, in Marina di Gioiosa Ionica (Reggio Calabria) into a family shaped by sacrifice and perseverance, he carried forward the values of his parents with dignity: discipline, responsibility, and an unspoken belief that a man is measured less by what he says than by what he provides and protects.

He was a husband, a father, a grandfather, and a pillar of his family and community. His love was expressed through constancy—valuing order, respect, and the rituals that give life structure: Sunday meals, familiar stories, and the steady rhythms of family life.

He emigrated with his family to the Bronx, New York, in 1961 at the age of twelve. As his entrepreneurial family expanded in the food and entertainment businesses, he worked alongside his father and siblings. He graduated from Mount Saint Michael’s Academy and went on in the 1970s to study industrial engineering at Columbia University on a full scholarship, later earning his MBA.

After professional roles at Pfizer, JP Morgan Chase, and the Royal Bank of Canada, he founded Mediacom Communications, which grew to become the fifth-largest cable provider in the United States, operating across twenty-two states and offering high-speed data and mobile services.

An accomplished athlete, he played soccer for Columbia University, earning three All-Ivy League honors and an invitation to try out for the 1972 Olympic team. His lifelong love of the sport later led him to invest in soccer ownership. In 2017, he purchased a majority stake in the New York Cosmos, and in 2019, acquired ACF Fiorentina in Florence. In recognition of his achievements, Columbia University named its soccer stadium in his honor.

A man of deep cultural roots, he remained closely tied to his Calabrese heritage. He understood identity not as performance, but as inheritance—carried forward through habits, food, faith, and memory. His charitable work was generous and quiet, and he used his creativity and business acumen to add lasting value to Calabria, as well as to his adopted communities in New York and Florence.

Rocco B. Commisso died on January 19, 2026. His funeral was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. A memorial Mass is planned at the Duomo of Florence on January 26. Among numerous business and civic honors, he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the NIAF Lifetime Achievement Award, and induction into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame.

Those who knew him remember a man who did not seek attention, yet commanded respect—unassuming despite immense success, measured in judgment, and reassuring in presence. In a restless age, he represented continuity and decency.

He is survived by his loving family, who carry forward his name, his values, and the quiet example he set. He will be deeply missed, fondly remembered, and enduringly honored—not only for the life he lived, but for the foundation he left behind in both the United States and Italy.

~ By Antonio Isernia

A Look at the 2025 Suffrage Mass for SG Francesco II at the Chiesa di San Ferdinando in Napoli

Photos courtesy 1° Reggimento Re

The Suffrage Mass for Francesco II of Borbone, Servant of God and last King of the Two Sicilies, marking the 131st anniversary of his death, was celebrated on Saturday, December 27th, at the Chiesa di San Ferdinando in Naples. The Mass was held on the initiative of the Fondazione Il Giglio and the Movimento Neoborbonico, with the participation of the Sacro Militare Ordine Costantiniano di San Giorgio and volunteers of the 1° Reggimento Re, who attended in the historical uniform of the Army of the Two Sicilies.

Napoli Crowned Supercoppa Italiana Champions

With a commanding 2–0 victory over Bologna, Napoli have lifted the Supercoppa Italiana, adding yet another prestigious honor to the club’s storied history. Displaying composure, quality, and championship mentality, Napoli controlled the match from start to finish, delivering a performance worthy of silverware. Congratulations to the players, staff, and supporters on a well-deserved triumph and a memorable night for the Partenopei.

Forza Napoli Sempre!

Italian American Emporium Opens in Little Italy – Just in Time for the Feast of San Gennaro

The wait is over! The Italian American Emporium officially opens its doors today, September 11th, in the heart of Little Italy, New York. Celebrating the rich traditions of Southern Italy and Italian American culture, the shop offers “everything you need to be Italian” — from t-shirts, housewares, candles, and perfumes to fine leather goods and more. Arriving just in time for the Feast of San Gennaro, the Emporium is set to become the neighborhood’s newest destination for authentic products and pride-filled finds.

Italian American Emporium
155 Mulberry Street, Little Italy, NYC

The 1° Reggimento Re at the Historical Procession of the Royal Colony of San Leucio, Caserta

Photos courtesy of Angela Cuccillato