Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. In making this quiz, I am indebted for much valuable information to the excellent 1993 book "La Storia; Five Centuries of the Italian-American Experience" by Jerre Mangione and Ben Morreale, which I highly recommend.
Our first notable immigrant, Francesco Vigo, is probably unknown to most of you. Vigo was a fur trader who served in the army during the earliest stages of the Revolutionary War. What other distinction does Vigo hold?
2. Filippo Mazzei, a physician and agriculturalist, left Tuscany for England in the eighteenth century to establish an importing firm. While in England, he met Thomas Adams and Benjamin Franklin, at whose urging he went to Virginia to follow his agricultural pursuits. There he met Thomas Jefferson, who became his close friend, as well as his translator. An ardent supporter of the cause of colonial independence, Mazzei published frequent articles (translated by Jefferson) in the Virginia Gazette. One of these articles contained the phrase "All men are by nature equally free and independent...each equality is necessary in order to create a free government. All men must be equal to each other in natural law." Jefferson included this statement verbatim in which of these important documents?
3. In 1791, Italian-born sculptor Giuseppe Ceracchi planned to create a monument to George Washington which would incorporate marble statues of eleven of Washington's celebrated contemporaries and be dominated by a bronze equestrian statue of the first president. Although the project never came to fruition, Ceracchi did complete busts of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison, all of whom sat for the artist. A portrait of one of these busts, done by artist John Trumbull, still appears on a piece of U.S. currency; which one is it?
4. This Italian man of letters is best remembered as having been the librettist for three of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's greatest operas: "Le Nozze di Figaro", "Don Giovanni", and "Cosi fan Tutte". He emigrated to America in 1802 and became a zealous proponent of Italian culture, particularly literature and opera. He became the first professor of Italian literature at Columbia University and tried desperately (and unsuccessfully) to establish an American opera company. Who was he?
5. Little remembered today, Filippo Traetta was an Italian composer who emigrated to America in the early nineteenth century. Which of these "firsts" was he responsible for?
6. One of the greatest rags-to-riches success stories among Italian immigrants was Giovanni P. Morosoni, who began as a penniless immigrant and rose to become a highly successful banker. Which of these famous (and notorious) American financiers was his partner?
7. Count Luigi Palma di Cesnola was an aristocrat, albeit a penniless one, when he arrived in America in 1858. A professional soldier who had served in the Crimea, he opened a military academy and, when the Civil War broke out, embarked upon what would be a colorful career with the Union army. He was only thirty four years old when his military career ended in 1864; the following year, with typical boldness, he asked President Lincoln to award him (without pay) the post of brigadier general, as an honor. He also requested a consular assignment to Europe, in hopes of being sent to Italy. Though there is some doubt as to whether he had actually been assigned this post (Lincoln was assassinated two days after he made the request), Secretary of State Seward appointed him American Consul to Cyprus. While in Cyprus, Cesnola indulged in a particular hobby of his which led to an important discovery; what was the hobby?
8. The Italian-born painter Constantino Brumidi is best known for a series of frescoes he did in Washington, D.C., which evoked comparisons with Michelangelo. In which of these Washington edifices can Brumidi's paintings be found?
9. Attilio Piccirilli was the eldest of a noted family of Italian sculptors who emigrated to the U.S. His workshop executed the statue of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial (designed by Daniel Chester French, who also added some final touches to the finished statue). He also designed the monument in New York City's Columbus Circle, which is dedicated to the victims of which famous naval disaster?
10. The patron saint of Italian immigrants (and of immigrants in general) is St. Frances Xavier Cabrini. Although she is principally identified with New York, she also did much work in this American city, in which she died in 1917.
11. Which of these celebrated operatic sopranos became an American citizen by marriage in 1921?
12. This legendary performer was born in a Neapolitan slum in 1873. His admirers included King Edward VII of England and President Theodore Roosevelt (who presented him with an autographed silver-framed picture). He was also a friend of the great American popular composer George M. Cohan. At one point, he was involved in what today would be called a sexual harrasment lawsuit, which resulted in demands that he be deported back to Italy, but he weathered the crisis and regained his popularity. He was in San Francisco during the great earthquake. He had been married to an Italian soprano, but the tumultous union eventually ended in divorce and he later remarried an American woman from a very prominent family. He returned to Italy toward the end of his life and died in Sorrento in 1921. Who was he?
13. Another legend from the world of entertainment was this great star, who was born in Castellaneta, Italy, in 1895. His tragic and untimely death from blood poisoning (caused by a perforated ulcer) led to an orgy of mourning and a few suicides. Who was he?
14. Artist Joseph Stella emigrated from Naples as a young man in 1896. His drawings of immigrants, miners, and factory workers were eventually published in magazines. After studying with the Art Students League in New York City,he returned to Europe for further study and became fascinated, in particular, with the Cubist style. Two of his most famous paintings are of this famous New York landmark.
15. Angela Bambace was the Italian-American Norma Rae of her time (the 1920s and 30s); she was instrumental in unionizing the industry she worked for, organized strikes, and formed what would become the largest local in the U.S. up to that time- Local 89. What was her trade?
16. The name Amadeo Obici may mean nothing to you, but most of you are probably well acquainted with the food corporation he established in the 1930's. Its logo is a dapper fellow wearing a top hat and a monocle who leans on a cane.
17. Which of these famous Hollywood directors was born in Sicily and emigrated to America as a child with his family?
18. Although they lived elsewhere in Europe, this family of entertainers originally hailed from Italy and were, legally, Italian citizens at the outbreak of WWII. They departed for Italy after Hitler's rise to power and eventually emigrated to the U.S. Who were they?
19. This famous Italian-born conducter became the musical director of the NBC Symphony Orchestra, whose radio broadcasts brought classical music to millions over the airwaves in the 1940's and 50's.
20. The trial and execution of Niccolo Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti was one of the greatest cause celebres of the early twentieth century and remains controversial even today. Former Massachusets governer Michael Dukakis, who ran unsuccesfully for president in 1988, declared August 23, the anniversary of their execution, "Sacco and Vanzetti Memorial Day". What year was this done? (hint: it was the fiftieth anniversary of their deaths)
21. The parents of baseball great Joe DiMaggio emigrated to the U.S. from Sicily in 1902; what had been the family's profession in Sicily?
22. Italian cuisine has become arguably the most beloved ethnic cuisine in the U.S. One of its most significant pioneers was this woman, who began her career as a biologist and did not begin cooking until her marriage in 1955. She eventually produced (in 1973) a book on classical Italian cooking which was the first step in pulling Italian cuisine up from the pizza and spaghetti rut. She recently published what she insisted would be her last book before retiring, with her husband, to Florida. Who is she?
23. Opera impresario Giulio Gatti-Casazza became the manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1908 and was at its helm during the famous "Golden Age" of operatic singing. Prior to this, he had been the manager of which prominent Italian opera house?
24. Labor leader Carlo Tresca was born into a wealthy family in Abruzzo; he became a Socialist, and fled Italy to escape imprisonment for his writings attacking the clergy and authorities. He went first to Switzerland (where he briefly roomed with Mussolini) before emigrating to America, where he became a labor organizer and an ardent anti-fascist. With which group did he princlpally clash?
25. This beloved figure of the American culinary world was born in Istria, near the border of the former Yugoslavia. She came to America with her family at the age of twelve, began working in the restauraunt business in the 1970's, and became a noted restaurateur. She now owns five restauraunts, three in New York and one each in Kansas City and Pittsburgh, which she runs with her son. She can currently be seen on PBS in her own cooking show. Who is she?
Source: Author
jouen58
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
Lanni before going online.
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