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ANSA. Ferrara wn has opened its doors on a new exhibition exploring the early years of Giovanni Boldini, a local boy who later made it big painting flashy portraits of high-society Paris. (Read the article)
ANSA. Recent masterpieces by celebrated Canadian-born architect Frank O. Gehry are spotlighted in a new exhibition at the Triennale museum in Milan. California-based Gehry, 80, has worked in the industry for over four decades but the exhibit focuses exclusively on designs produced during the last 12 years. (Read the article)
TIME MAGAZINE. Jeff Israely writes about the danger of racism in Italy after the last gaffe of Premier Berlusconi, who recently repeated his world-known 'joke' about Obama (and the First Lady) being "tanned." "In many ways," notes Israely, "mainstream Italian society is several generations behind the rest of the West when it comes to race. ... In Italy, where immigration has skyrocketed in the past decade, racism is becoming a front-burner issue." The journalist quotes Aly Baba Faye, regional director in Rome of the Anti-Racism Observatory and the head of Italy's first pro-Obama initiative during the 2008 campaign, as saying he understands the President's not wanting to turn the issue into a diplomatic affair. "But someone has to make him stop. Maybe just a private note through the embassy?" Or maybe the next time he sees Berlusconi, Obama himself can lean over and say, "Hey Silvio, you know the tan jokes? Basta." (Read the article)
THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL. The faculty voted Tuesday to drop Columbus Day in favor of “Fall Weekend” when a student group urged the change “after controversy arose over the nature of Christopher Columbus’ conquests and treatment of Native Americans.”
The school will celebrate Fall Weekend on the same day as Columbus Day, according to the student group Native Americans at Brown. That name may change in future years, the group said in a news release announcing the development on Wednesday.
Read the article on the Providence Journal and different opinions on The Brown University's Alumni Magazine.
One of the Alumni (Robert M. Wigod) actually brings up an interesting point when he says "If the Brown faculty really felt compelled to make a change, rather than run the risk of antagonizing thousands of Italian American alumni, including the mayor of Providence, perhaps it could have renamed the day for Garibaldi."
Since 1971, the Columbus Day holiday has been commemorated in the U.S. on the second Monday in October, the same day as Thanksgiving in neighboring Canada. It is generally observed today by banks, the bond market, the U.S. Postal Service and other federal agencies, most state government offices, and some school districts; however, most businesses and stock exchanges remain open.
States and city observations
Alaska
The State of Alaska, which has a large indigenous population, does not recognize Columbus Day.
Arkansas
Some public schools throughout the state are closed in observance of Columbus Day.
California
The city of Berkeley celebrates Indigenous People's Day instead of Columbus Day every year with a pow wow and Native American market.
Cleveland
The Columbus Day parade in Cleveland takes place in the Little Italy neighborhood near University Circle. The day begins with Mass at Holy Rosary Church which features the combined choirs of the four historically Italian Cleveland area churches - Holy Rosary, Holy Redeemer, St. Rocco and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. The parade then goes down Murray Hill featuring over 100 units and a dozen marching bands.
Colorado
The Columbus Day parade in Denver has been protested by Native American groups and their supporters for nearly two decades.
Hawaii
Hawaii does not officially honor Columbus day and instead celebrates Discoverer's Day on the same day, i.e., on the second Monday of each October. The day is "in recognition of the Polynesian discoverers of the Hawaiian Islands". Neither Columbus Day nor Discoverer's Day is regarded as a holiday by State government; state, city and county government offices and schools are open for business on Columbus Day, while Federal government offices are closed.
In Hawaii, the Discoverer's Day celebration has become a day of protest for some advocacy groups. A popular protest site is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace and the Chancery building of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. Such advocacy groups have been commemorating the Discoverer's Day holiday as their own alternative, Indigenous Peoples Day. The week is called Indigenous Peoples Week.
Massachusetts
The city of Boston, which has a large Italian population, marks the occasion on the Sunday before Columbus Day with a parade through the city that alternates each year between East Boston and the North End.
All state agencies are closed, and parking at meters is free in the city of Boston.
New York
In New York State, Columbus Day is a holiday, as government offices and public schools are closed. However, the stock markets remain open. Not all universities in the state university system, SUNY, choose to observe the holiday.
Nevada
Columbus Day is not a legal holiday in Nevada, but it is a day of observance. Schools and state, city and county government offices are open for business on Columbus Day.
Puerto Rico
As in the mainland U.S., Columbus Day is a legal holiday in the unincorporated U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.
South Dakota
In the state of South Dakota, the day is officially a state holiday known as "Native American Day", not Columbus Day.
U.S. Virgin Islands
Due to opposition against Columbus Day, in the territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands, the day is celebrated as "Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands Friendship Day."
Virginia
The second Monday in October is a legal holiday in Virginia: Columbus Day and Yorktown Victory Day, honoring Christopher Columbus, and the final victory at Yorktown in the Revolutionary War.
(Source: Wikipedia)
NYT. Fashion and design may be two of Italy’s high-profile exports, but according to the new coffee-table tome ‘‘Italian Touch,’’ published this month by Skira and commissioned by the Italian luxury goods company Tod’s, style is less a business than a way of life (Read the article)
AP. Rescue workers dug for a second day Saturday through piles of mud and debris as they searched for about 30 missing people from a mudslide that has killed at least 21 in Sicily.
Premier Silvio Berlusconi said he feared the death toll from Italy's worst mudslides in a decade could rise to 50. (Read the article)
THE NEW YORK TIMES. John T. Edge continues his journey through American cuisine and its ongoing evolution. Yesterday he visited the northern reaches of West Virginia and stopped in Clarksburg, a town where over 40% of the residents claim some Italian ancestry. In the early 1900s - Edge writes - West Virginia coal companies sought “a more docile, controllable work force than their American-born counterparts.” They recruited Italian immigrants in large numbers, especially from Calabria; but they soon found out, to their bitter disappointment, that these laborers "were just as inclined, if not more so, toward union affiliation and action." Among the many legacies of that massive Italian influx was, besides class struggle, "a hybridized food that owed as much to West Virginia as it did to Calabria." (Read the article)
ANSA. Cheesemakers in a small town near Naples beat their own record on Sunday by making the world's longest ever braid of mozzarella. The team of 40 mozzarella makers from the town of Sala Consilina churned and twisted a weave 78.8m long and 10cm thick winning their third Guinness World Record in three years. (Read the article)
ANSA. Giuseppe Tornatore's Sicilian epic Baaria was picked Tuesday as Italy's candidate for next year's foreign film Oscar. ''I'm very happy but also intimidated...it's a big responsibility to defend the Italian colours because every country is represented by interesting films, there is so much variety,'' said Tornatore, who won the Oscar in 1990 with Nuovo Cinema Paradiso. (Read the article)
ANSA. Three Italian entries including Ferrari's best season and the world's biggest peace rally appear in a special ten-year edition of the Guinness Book of Records out this week The iconic Formula One team amassed an amazing 262 points thanks to F1 legend Michael Schumacher in 2004, miles ahead of any other tallies. (Read the article)