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Monday, March 16, 1998
Antoinette Agostino heads Italian-American group that hopes
to provide $1,000 scholarships to Italian history students or
Italian-Americans.
Photo by Evy Mages Daily News
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By JERRY CAPECI, Daily News Staff writer
Using fieri, an Italian word for pride, as a rallying
cry, Italian-American professionals are banding together to celebrate
their heritage and raise money for education. Fieri, which now
has five city chapters and 11 nationwide, is part of a growing
push by young Italian-Americans to preserve Italian culture,
promote study of Italian and Italian-American history, and eliminate
negative stereotypes in media and movies.
The group was started in 1984 by John Calvalli, a Fordham
University graduate, who felt existing Italian civic organizations
did not meet the needs of other young professionals. Fieri only
caters to 18 to 39-year-olds. Calvalli, 34, a legislative assistant
to Congressman Eliot Engel (D-Bronx), met a few times with Italian-American
buddies and the group was born. Today it is based in New York
but has 1,000 members nationwide. "We dreamed, but never
thought it would become a national organization when we were
meeting in my kitchen in New Rochelle," Calvalli said.
The name came after a bit. "I wanted a concept, not
an acronym and I thought pride was a good concept," he said.
The leaders make sure the group is as fun as it is useful. "The
beauty of being Italian is you can be serious, and have fun too"
Calvalli said. "My brother met his wife through the club"
he said. "We have had several marriages and our claim to
fame is that we don't have one divorce."
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Fieri's serious work is scholarships. All five city chapters
award them, based on merit and need, to Italian-Americans or
students of Italian history, culture or language. Bronx-Westchester
gives $5,000 a year to a student, a goal the other chapters hope
to reach by 2000. "We're hoping to increase our scholarship
to $1,000 this year," said Antoinette Agostino, 32, a finance
manager for a pharmaceutical company and president of the Manhattan
chapter
Besides supporting education Fieri has a new campaign:
resurrecting the reputation of Vito Marcantonio a radical East
Harlem Congressman in the 1940's whose "life of service
to the community is little-known today," said national Vice
President Roberto Ragone. Despite his popularity - more than
5,000 people mourned at his 1954 funeral - Marcantonio was wrongly
vilified as a Communist and denied a Catholic burial, Fieri says.
The group has petitioned Cardinal O'Connor to review the denial.
AL PACINO INSPIRED BY VITO MARCANTONIO IN "CITY HALL"
Al Pacino...based his character on former New York Mayor
Fiorello LaGuardia and East Harlem Congressman Vito Marcantonio...
(Dave Larsen, Dayton Daily News, February 11, 1996)
Al Pacino's portrayal of a fiery, populist mayor-orator
is based on former Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, ex-Gov. Mario Cuomo
and the late Vito Marcantonio, a left-wing Manhattan Congressman
who served in the '40's. (Paul Moses, Newsday, February 11, 1996)
Veteran Gothamites may find traces of Koch, the late Fiorello
LaGuardia, Gov. Mario Cuomo, and former Rep. Vito Marcantonio
in Pacino's John Pappas. (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone, March
7, 1996)
About "City Hall," all [Pacino] really had to
say was that his character was modeled on New York City's late,
famously big-hearted congressman, Vito Marcantonio..."That's
who I played. I know him. I feel him." (Jimmy Breslin, Rex
Reed, Esquire, February 1996)
"I considered several historic figures as models for
the role. There was Congressman Vito Marcantonio, a populist
from East Harlem during the 1940's and 1950's. Some people even
considered him a Communist, but he had an incredible relationship
with the people who elected him...It distresses me that politicians
are played universally as corrupt. This has been something that
had been going on ever since Watergate. Some very dedicated people
have been destroyed by this sort of thing, and it is something
that continues to disturb me. " Al Pacino (Gene Wyatt, The
Tennessean, February 16, 1996)
LA FIGURA DI VITO MARCANTONIO
Egregio direttore,
Mi ha fatto molto piacere leggere l'articolo di Riccardo Chioni
su Vito Marcantonio.
Finalmente questo uomo politico genuino che ha fatto onore
all comunita italoamericana esca dal dimenticatoio.
Desidero anche far presente che quando scoppio la guerra nel
1941, Vito Marcantonio in qualita di membre del Parlamento, aiuto
molti italiani e italoamericani sospettati di sleata solo perche
portavano il nome italiano.
Anthony Bonarrigo, New York City
The figure of Vito Marcantonio
Dear Editor:
I was very pleased to read Riccardo Chioni's article on Vito
Marcantonio.
This true politician, who has bestowed honor upon the Italian
American community, is finally emerging from oblivion.
I would like to point out that when war broke out in 1941,
Vito Marcantonio, as a member of Congress, helped many Italians
and Italian Americans who were suspected of being disloyal simply
because they had Italian names.
Anthony Bonarrigo, New York City
