The Ciao Washington! blog is migrating to the Ciao Italian America! blog to reflect its true vision, namely, to be a sounding board for Italian Americans across the country.   This is a perfect time to start the Ciao Italian America! blog – – October is Italian-American Heritage Month and the time to celebrate the arrival of Christopher Columbus to America’s shores.  It’s a time when we can all share in the pride of our Italian  heritage.  

To all Italian Americans, we wish a Happy Italian America month! Let us not forget our Italian traditions and let us share them with our children and grandchildren.  We see no conflict of allegiance in being proud of our Italian roots, just as we are proud of being Americans. We have so enriched the American mosaic that we can truly say that the contributions of Italians in America have built America.  God Bless America and the Republic of Italy.

“The purpose of this post is to crudely generalize my ethnic heritage and point out, that regardless of how many Italian-Americans have had to pose as merely “Americans” by dropping the “etto” and the “icci”, the fact remains, that Italians (hyphenated or otherwise) are the best entertainers in the world. And the reason is: we are sentimental, romantic, nostalgic, simplistic, genuine saps, simultaneously ruled by by emotion and able to conjure emotion, just as comfortable ending a show stopper with arms spread under the spot light as winding down a ballad perched on a stool next to a grand piano letting one tear spill down a quivering cheek.”  Read more

 ”I live in Little Italy and there are still many Italian-Americans living here. As far as the restaurants, I would agree that many of them are just too pricey for what they are…”

Are “Little Italies” a thing of the past?  We would like to hear your views.

Also posted at Ciao America.

Elvira S Oliver, from Carmel, New York,  claims that at age 99 she is the author of “The Joys of Growing up Italian” which is on the internet as anonymous.  We don’t know who  Elvira is – we never met her – she might not even exist – but her story is intriguing at least as told by whoever posted the blog at http://theoldestbloggeronearth.blogspot.com/2009/08/before-i-begin-blogging-i-want-to-pose.html. 

As told by  Eric Shackle, another blogger – who may not be an investigative reporter  – “Elvira’s new blog will wow the millions of Americans proud of having an Italian ancestor.  She claims that 40 years ago she wrote a heartwarming story, “The Joys of Growing Up Italian” that has since been “stolen,” and posted on hundreds of websites without permission or even a byline.”  We located the “The Joys of Growing up Italian American” essay and posted it on the Voce Italiana web site. If someone has some scientific evidence or proof of authorship of this essay, in addition to Elvira’s blog, please come forward.

“For the American innocent abroad, learning what our sophisticated European cousins consider scandalous can be instructive. So in the thick of an uproar involving Italy’s prime minister, a blonde call girl and lurid sex tapes, it was illuminating to flip on the TV and watch what had made the evening news: footage of a large group of politicians being carted off in handcuffs.

These were not Italian politicians, however. These were from New Jersey.

Here in Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has responded to his latest scandal by saying that “Italians want me this way.” Thus far in New Jersey, no elected official has been that blatant. Yet this November’s race between incumbent Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican challenger Chris Christie will test whether New Jersey voters are fed up with the way their state has become a synonym for corruption.” (WSJ July 28, 2009)