December 7, 2009

The Voyage of the Black Madonna

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Alessandra Belloni I had the great pleasure to attend Alessandra Belloni’s performance at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Harlem, on Sund...
December 5, 2009

Metropolitan Museum of Art's Annual Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Presepio

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Eighteenth-century Neapolitan Angels adorn the twenty-foot blue spruc e Today I made my annual pilgrimage to the Metropolitan Museum of ...
December 1, 2009

Say Hello to Marilyn for Me: The “Yankee Clipper” Revisited

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“Joltin’ Joe” DiMaggio By Niccolò Graffio Since I began writing for this blog, my articles have dealt mainly with famous indigeno...
November 26, 2009

Ponderable Quotes: Vilfredo Pareto

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Ed. note – The following is an excerpt from a letter I received from a reader. I thought it was interesting and I wanted to share part of it...
November 13, 2009

Siege of Gaeta (1860)

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King Francis II By Giovanni di Napoli "I do not know what the independence of Italy means.  I only know the independence of ...
November 7, 2009

Ponderable Quote From "The Climax of Civilization" by Correa Moylan Walsh

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First of all, we must not delude ourselves with the notion of the new era of peace. We should remember that it was the false prophets who cr...
November 3, 2009

Vincenzo Bellini

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Vincenzo Bellini By Niccolò Graffio “You are a genius, Bellini, but you will pay for your great gift with a premature death. All the g...
October 28, 2009

The Lioness of the South: Michelina De Cesare

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Michelina De Cesare Oct. 28, 1841 — Aug. 30, 1868 By Giovanni di Napoli On March 17, 1861 the Kingdom of Italy was born. The ev...