Sicilian Pride and Passion Across the World!

Buongiorno! I hope you're having a wonderful week so far.

We've received an overwhelming response to our recent posts over on Facebook asking about Sicilian family members that moved over to America in the early 1900s. It's been lovely to hear the stories about your grandparents and great-grandparents and it's very obvious how passionate you all are about your Sicilian connections.

Between the years of 1861 and 1965, almost 25 million Italians left the peninsula in search of a new life. This is considered to be the biggest mass migration of contemporary times and, in Sicily, was partly due to the drop in economy and over-population experienced after the unification of Italy.
In 1906 alone, 100,000 Sicilians emigrated to the United States of America and in 1920, 87 percent of Sicilian immigrants were still headed for the US. Other countries with a significant number of Sicilian immigrants were Venezuela, Brasil, Mexico, Canada, Australia and other countries throughout Europe.

Some of the main cities in America where Sicilians settled were New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco and these immigrants tended to reside together in groups depending on the area that they came from. For example, in New Orleans there was a district called ‘Little Palermo’.

These Sicilians were so passionate about their homeland that they took many of their traditions and values with them. They believed in these customs so much that many aspects of Sicilian life have become an intrinsic part of communities worldwide and are still very much in evidence today. Throughout the year there are festivals across the world to celebrate different Sicilian traditions. The island’s way of life is echoed daily in neighbourhoods worldwide through their cuisine, language and culture, such as the music listened to or the plays seen at the theatre.

An example of a tradition which has been taken to America is the ‘Festa di Santa Rosalia’ in Brooklyn which is dedicated to the Patron Saint of Palermo. This annual festival originally took place in the first Italian parish in Brooklyn, the Sacred Hearts and St. Stephens Church in Carroll Gardens, and has since been moved to the community of Bensonhurst. The procession originally involved followers walking barefoot through the streets of the neighbourhood to show their devotion to the Saint.

Every year Italian-American merchants set up stalls at the various festivals around the country selling Sicilian specialities such as ‘cannoli’, zeppole’ and ‘arancini’ and entire communities come together to celebrate their heritage and tell stories about their ancestry. It is viewed as a real honour to belong to such a loyal and devoted community and it is this devotion that will ensure that the respect for ‘u paese vecchiu’, or the old country, will stay strong long into the future. 

I created Sicilian Connections because over the years I have met many people of Sicilian origin that, for various reasons, have emigrated and live in different locations worldwide, but the passion that they feel for their homeland has remained strong.

It was my aim to create a community where Sicilians could come together and share their wonderful stories of the island and memories of their ancestors and, thanks to the pride and devotion of our Sicilian Connections friends worldwide, this is now a reality. 
Grazie mille for being such an important part of our lives!

A presto,

Debra
Sicilian Connections
www.sicilianconnections.com

P.S. - We would really love for you to join us this month as we come together to explore our Sicilian heritage.
Between the dates of 18th and 31st March 2019, Sicilians across the world are coming together online to dive into their roots and explore their Sicilian ancestry.

We will be providing so much valuable information throughout the two weeks and will show you how to get started in your research and how to avoid making the mistakes that can set you back years.

The group is going to stay open indefinitely after the immersion has ended so, even if you're not quite ready to start your research, you can watch (& re-watch!) the videos whenever you desire.

You can also continue to connect with the other people in the group, sharing wonderful discoveries and supporting each other long after the program has ended.

>> Head over to Sicilian Connections - Discover Your Heritage now and grab your spot! Earlybird price ends in only 3 days :-) << 

La Festa di Santa Rosalia - Bensonhurst

Buongiorno a tutti! I hope that you all had a wonderful Summer and had the chance to attend at least one of the wonderful Italian festivals that took place all over the world. One of these festivals was 'La Festa di Santa Rosalia' which took place in the Bensonhurst area of Brooklyn, New York.

When hundreds of thousands of immigrants left Sicily in the late nineteenth century for the shores of America they took many of their traditions and customs with them. This made the transition slightly easier and enabled them to enjoy a piece of home in this new, unknown land. One of these traditions was the ‘Festa di Santa Rosalia’ which has been celebrated in Palermo for 389 years and has now become a long standing tradition in the Italian American community.

The feast has always been celebrated in Brooklyn but it originally took place in the parish of the Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen’s Church in Carroll Gardens, which was Brooklyn’s first Italian parish. The procession originally involved followers walking barefoot through the streets of the neighbourhood to show their devotion to the Saint. Since then the festival has been moved to the Bensonhurst area where it has existed for seventy years.

 

This year at 5pm each day from 22^nd August to the 1^st September, 18^th Avenue was closed between 68^th Street and Bay Ridge Parkway to allow local residents to enjoy the offerings of over 100 vendors. These Italian American merchants offer a wide range of delicious Sicilian specialities such as cannoli, zeppole and arancini and families from across the city came together to experience this time honoured tradition. Many Sicilian families have moved away from these tight-knit communities in recent years and the Feast of Santa Rosalia often provides the ideal opportunity to come together and share stories of their ancestry and heritage.

There was, however, some controversy surrounding the festival this year. It was originally thought that the feast may have to be cancelled, as it was in 2011, due to problems with street-closure permits and other paperwork issues. Thankfully these issues were resolved at the last minute and it is the wish of this loyal and devoted community that the ‘Festa di Santa Rosalia’ will continue to survive long into the future.

Amici, if you enjoy reading my blog please become a follower by registering at the Google 'Join this site' icon at the top right of the page. Grazie mille for your support!!

A presto!

Debra Santangelo

www.sicilianconnections.com

 

Villabate Pastry Shop Advances Historical Novel Set in Sicilian Hometown

Buongiorno a tutti - I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter! Today I would like to share with you a recent article from our website written by the New York Arts and Business Consultant Roberto Ragone. It is about the most famous Sicilian pastry shop in New York - Villabate Alba in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Villabate have been involved with the recent 'Trinacria' campaign and this article gives some interesting insight about their 'Sicilian Connections'.

 

 

Villabate Pastry Shop Advances Historical Novel Set in Sicilian Hometown

 

 

Villabate is the name of the New York Metropolitan area’s finest Sicilian bakery and pastry shop. It is also the name of the ancestral town of the Alaimo family, who have owned and operated this Bensonhust institution for 35 years. For family and historical reasons, their hometown of Villabate, Sicily is now the primary setting for Trinàcria: A Tale of Bourbon Sicily, a novel that the Alaimos are helping to support and promote.

 

“This may be a case of the Princess and the Pastries, or of the Bourbons come to Brooklyn,” said author Anthony Di Renzo, whose roots also extend to Villabate. Inspired by a town legend, popular when patriarch Angelo Alaimo was still a boy, Di Renzo’s novel pays tribute to their common heritage.

The author’s great-grandfather, Antonio Coffaro, supposedly smuggled food and supplies to Giuseppe Garibaldi, whose troops invaded Sicily as part of the Risorgimento, the Italian unification movement of the mid-1800’s. Garibaldi and a hand-picked retinue came to Villabate and personally thanked him in the municipal square.

Di Renzo’s thanks, however, acknowledges the Alaimo family’s literary patronage. For contributing “dough” towards the book’s production and distribution, the Villabate-Alba Bakery and Pastry Shop will appear in the novel’s acknowledgment section.

Di Renzo’s collaboration with Villabate-Alba honors Sicilian family, Sicilian history, and Sicilian craftsmanship. “After all,” he said, “the Alaimos are artists, too.”
“Corporations aren’t the only ones who support the arts,” Di Renzo noted. “Small businesses are just as important.” His collaboration with Villabate-Alba honors Sicilian family, Sicilian history, and Sicilian craftsmanship. “After all,” he said, “the Alaimos are artists, too.”

For three generations the Alaimo family has created the finest Sicilian pastries, cakes, cookies and breads, whether in or in Bensonhurt, Brooklyn or back in Villabate, Sicily. The author’s mother, Maria Coffaro Bilo, and Angelo Alaimo, the founder of the Brooklyn pastry dynasty, were distant cousins and childhood playmates.

 

 

When the economic recovery from World War II proved too daunting, Angelo and his son Emanuele immigrated to America. For over a decade, the two worked hard as simple breadmakers in bakeries all over Brooklyn, earning a reputation for quality and craftsmanship. Encouraged by their neighbors and customers, father and son in 1979 started their own place: Villabate of 18th Avenue. On opening day, Di Renzo’s 48-year-old mother, who had moved to America several years before Angelo, drove in from New Jersey to be among the first customers.

 

Since then, Villabate-Alba has passed from Emanuele Senior to Emanuele Junior, Anthony, Lina, and Angela. As the family explained in a 2010 feature on Brooklyn Independent Television, Manny, “the quiet one,” runs things in the back; Anthony, “Mr. Personality,” entertains customers and handles the advertising and public relations; and Angela “basically bosses everyone around.” The new generation is proud of its Sicilian roots and visits Villabate almost every year. However, Trinacria became a rich source of knowledge, providing the Alaimo family a whole new perspective on their roots and their ancestral town’s actual history. 
 
From the days of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Villabate, a suburb of 20,000 people, has been an important agricultural center in the Conca d’Oro, or Golden Conch, the fertile plain surrounding Palermo. In 1700, Antonio Agnello, an aristocratic abbé and an amateur botanist, founded a commune to develop the hardy strands of olive and citrus that became the area’s chief crops. Most of the town, not incorporated until 1858, would be parceled from the abbé’s huge estate; hence came the name Villabate, a contraction of Villa dell'Abate (Abbot’s Villa).

This land forms the heart of Trinàcria: A Tale of Bourbon Sicily. The book’s title derives from the ancient Greek name for Sicily. Trinàcria refers to the island’s triangular shape and the three-legged gorgon on its regional flag. It is also the nickname of the novel’s narrator and protagonist, Zita Valanguerra Spinelli (1794-1882), Marchesa of Scalea, who moved from Bagheria to Villabate to grow prized blood oranges. Her turbulent life mirrors Sicily’s rocky transition from feudalism to capitalism.Guernica Editions, an independent literary press in Toronto, Canada, plans to release the novel by November.

 

The Alaimo family played a key role in the book’s online campaign and live fundraising event, both sponsored by the Italian Cultural Foundation and Casa Belvedere and organized by consultant Roberto Ragone. The Villabate-Alba Bakery and Pastry Shop not only contributed money but supplied a large tray of ossi di morti for the November 29th reception at Umberto’s Clam House in New York’s Little Italy. Shaped like human bones, these traditional almond-paste cookies are served throughout the month when All Souls Day falls. They seemed a fitting symbol for a book whose narrator speaks from beyond the grave.

“We’re pleased to do whatever we can to move this book forward,” said Antonio Alaimo, “but we’re just as pleased to reconnect with a long-lost relative. Cousin Anthony and I share the same heritage. Sicilian stories and Sicilian sweets: who can get enough of them?”

Di Renzo agrees. “It’s about the tasting the past. I think of that passage in Proust, where he bites into a madeleine and remembers his childhood. A slice of cassata or a pistachio cannolo has the same effect on Sicilians and Sicilian Americans. It unlocks memories and brings back the dead, whether in Palermo or Brooklyn. In fact, I hope this all inspires post-St. Joseph's Day orders for zeppole and sfingi from Villabate-Alba.”

 

Readers may sample authentic Sicilian pastries at the Villabate-Alba Bakery and Pastry Shop, 7001 18th Avenue, Brooklyn.

 

Business hours are: Monday through Saturday, 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM; Sunday, 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM; Holidays, 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Villabate-Alba also ships practically anywhere. Order through their website at http://villabate.com and taste the past

 

 

I hope that you enjoyed this article! A presto :-)

 

Debra Santangelo

www.sicilianconnections.com



Sicilian Springtime and Zeppole :-)

Buongiorno a tutti! We are now into spring and even though it has been a novelty this year to see so much snow in Sicily, it is a welcome change to see the nights becoming longer and the beautiful pink bougainvillea coming into bloom.

This is also an exciting time for Sicilian Connections as we have now launched our new online Art Store and are so happy to finally see the Sicilian images taking pride of place on our website. For those who have not yet seen the gallery at www.sicilianconnections.com, the photographs are by the very talented New York photographer Joe Zarba who fell in love with Sicily whilst searching for his ancestral family in Leonforte. The photograph below is one of my personal favourites and is of Bar Vitelli in the town of Savoca. This atmospheric establishment is where Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino, met Apollonia's father in 'The Godfather' film.

I hope that all Italian fathers enjoyed their 'Festa del Papá' yesterday and that 'le zeppole di San Giuseppe' were eaten in abundance throughout the world :-) For anybody who is not familiar with 'zeppole', they are delicious deep-fried dough balls which can be eaten savoury (for example if filled with ricotta or anchovies) or sweet (eg. filled with cream or smothered with honey). They are traditionally eaten for the 'Festa di San Giuseppe' which is celebrated on the 19th March, but in Sicily, where they are also known as crispelli and sfingi, they are sold throughout the year, especially throughout the summer celebrations. I shall leave you to look at the recipe for ricotta crispelli and to enjoy the gorgeous 'primavera'!

A presto - Debra :-)
www.sicilianconnections.com

                                             Le Zeppole di San Giuseppe/ Crispelli

Ingredients

Vegetable oil for frying
1 cup of flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 pinch salt
1 and a half teaspoons of white sugar
Quarter teaspoon of vanilla extract
Icing sugar for dusting

1) Heat oil in a deep-fryer to 190 degrees (375 degrees F)
2) Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a saucepan. Stir in the eggs, ricotta and vanilla and mix gently over a low heat until combined.
3) Drop carefully into the hot oil a few at a time and fry until brown (about 3 minutes).
4) Drain and dust with icing sugar.

Note: In Sicily, the ricotta is usually placed into the middle of the batter but the above method is easier for home baking.

Any Excuse for a 'Festa Siciliana'!

September is known to be a month full of festivals in the Italian calendar and most Sicilians have recently spent their summer celebrating occasions such as 'Ferragosto', therefore this seemed like the perfect opportunity to write about the festivals which form such an integral part of the Sicilian culture. These 'feste' provide the perfect occasion for Sicilian communities to come together, share news with family and friends and indulge in the vast variety of festival food on offer. Many merchants come together and set up stalls selling everything from jewellery and clothes to paintings and sculptures. The atmosphere is always full of anticipation and excitement as everybody joins in the 'passeggiata' along the promenade or through the streets dressed in their 'vestiti della Domenica' or Sunday best!

The main highlight of the summer for Italians is 'Ferragosto' which is celebrated on the 15th August. The majority of Italian workers are on holiday over this period and journey to seaside resorts for the festivities. In Sicily, many groups of friends and family spend the night of the 14th August sleeping on the beach, lighting bonfires and participating in a traditional midnight swim. Everybody then gathers together to watch the sunrise before heading to the local café for their espresso coffee and their granita & brioche. One of my most memorable summer moments was spent doing just this on the Giardini Naxos beach in Messina..........truly unforgettable!

The main religious festival during the summer is that of Santa Rosalia, the Patron Saint of Palermo. Thousands of visitors come to the city on the 15th July to see the statue of the saint being paraded through the streets and on the 4th September devotees walk barefoot from the city of Palermo to Mount Pellegrino in her honour. At the beginning of the twentieth century Sicilian immigrants took the tradition of the Feast of Santa Rosalia over to New York to the first Italian parish in Brooklyn - the Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen's Church in Carroll Gardens. The festival has since moved to the Bensonhurst neighbourhood.

My favourite summer festival in Sicily is that of San Pietro in the town of Adrano in Catania on the 1st August. I just love the intimate atmosphere in the small piazza where the statue of the saint is carried out of the church. When it comes to choosing my favourite festival food it would have to be 'zeppole di San Giuseppe',  also known as 'crespelle'. You can enjoy these filled with ricotta cheese or anchovies  or made with rice and covered with honey.......absolutely buonissimo! :-)

Be sure to get in touch with stories and photos about your favourite summer festival!

A presto!

Debra :-)