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Catholic Online. Will President Obama’s fourth candidate for Ambassador to the Holy See be Caroline Kennedy? An Italian Newspaper thinks so (Read the article)
AUTOBLOG. Marking the first time in a long time that an Italian vehicle other than a Lamborghini or Ferrari has appeared at a U.S. auto show, Chrysler Vice Chairman Jim Press showed up at his company's press conference this morning in a Fiat 500. (Read the article)
ADNKRONOS. Pope Benedict XVI has said on Wednesday he would soon visit the areas hit by the devastating quake in Italy's central Abruzzo region which have killed more than 251 people, injured 1,500 others and have left at least 20,000 others homeless. Between 20-30 people are still missing. (Read the article)
AP. The Vatican appealed Wednesday to experts worldwide to volunteer to restore paintings and other treasures from churches devastated in quakes this week in central Italy. (Read the article)
ANSA. L'Aquila's artistic heritage suffered serious damage in Monday's earthquake, the Abruzzo regional culture department said Wednesday. Specialist teams have begun to suvey the extent of the damage to sites in L'Aquila and neighbouring towns but their work was hampered by the risk of further collapse. (Read the article)
THE NEW YORK TIMES. Stanislao Pugliese's editorial on the New York Times is about the earthquake that destroyed writer Ignazio Silone's howetown in 1915. Pescina,a very antique town in the region of Abruzzo, lost 3,500 of its 5,000 residents in a matter of 30 seconds.
"Among the dead were Silone’s beloved mother, whose body he dug from the rubble with his own hands. After several days of desperate labor, the 14-year-old Silone freed his only surviving family member, a younger brother. (...) 'Only loss is universal,' he once wrote, 'and true cosmopolitanism in this world must be based on suffering."
“In an earthquake everyone dies: rich and poor, learned and illiterate, authorities and the people. An earthquake accomplishes what words and laws promise and never achieve: the equality of all. But it is an ephemeral equality, for when fear had died down, collective misfortune became the opportunity for even greater injustices.” (Read the Article)
Stanislao G. Pugliese is a professor of European history at Hofstra University and the author of the forthcoming “Bitter Spring: A Life of Ignazio Silone.”
PEOPLE. Madonna, whose paternal grandparents lived in Pacentro until 1919, made a "substantial donation" for the relief effort following the 6.3 magnitude quake that left more than 200 dead, says her publicist Liz Rosenberg. The rep wouldn't give the amount, but a source says it's about $500,000. "I am happy to lend a helping hand to the town that my ancestors are from," said Madonna . "My heart goes out to the families that have lost loved ones or their homes." (Read the Article)
ANSA. Italy may accept help from the United States following the L'Aquila earthquake, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Tuesday. After initially turning down offers of help that have poured in from abroad, Berlusconi appeared to change his mind after receiving ''a long phone call'' from US President Barack Obama as he toured temporary camps set up to house those who had lost their homes in the disaster. (Read the article)
Newsday. We are just so devastated," said Nancy DiFiore Quinn, 62, president of Order Sons of Italy in America, Grand Lodge of New York. "I felt so sad. I just started to pray that it wouldn't be too tremendous a tragedy." (Read the article)
The New York Times. On Monday, as he organized a fund-raising effort for the victims of the earthquake that struck central Italy earlier in the day, Steve Acunto, an honorary Italian vice consul in the New York region, paused briefly to consider the historical echoes in the day’s events. (Read the article)