Category Archives: Italians

Famous Italians (by heritage and they don’t have to be 100%) who’ve contributed to the world we live in today.

A belated kickoff to Italian Heritage month!

Posted on October 2, 2016 by Steve

This year, the banner is courteous of my friend Mark M who recently spent his honeymoon in Italy. It’s a sign for an HVAC company he spotted. Are they relatives? Maybe. The odds of people with our surname being related … Continue reading →

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RIP Garry Marshall

Posted on August 7, 2016 by Steve

Another posthumous obituary to a person who helped ABC TV dominate in the Seventies with Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy. Of course a younger generation recalls him for directing the awful “modern” My Fair Lady flick Pretty Woman which made Julia Roberts … Continue reading →

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Italian #37: Al Molinaro

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Steve

I’ll close out this year’s celebration of Italians with the news about Al. He passed away yesterday at 96! What a run for that guy, I’m debating whether or not I want to live so long given the ruthless nature … Continue reading →

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Italians #36: Paul and Mira Sorvino

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Steve

October is running out and these entries do take some extraordinary effort. So I’m going with a semi-famous father-daughter acting team…well, team is a stretch, I think they’ve only done two movies together. Paul you most likely recognize. He played … Continue reading →

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Italian #35: Charles (Carlos) Ponzi

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Steve

Although the crime most associated with Charles Ponzi wasn’t new when he was arrested for it in 1920, somehow it stuck to him which was more likely the Media’s racist tendencies against Italians. Remember, a century ago, Italians occupied the … Continue reading →

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Happy Native Americans AND Columbus Day

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Steve

For the last several decades, it’s popular to rag on Columbus Day. Why? Probably a handful of reasons yet I have a counterpoint to all the Politically Correct assholes who go on and whine and whine. You wouldn’t be here … Continue reading →

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Italian #34: Franco Grillini

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Steve

If you’ve ever followed Italy’s national politics, especially after World War II, they appear to be chaotic compared to America’s. Unlike our entrenched Congress which oddly is always in campaign mode, the Italian Parliament (Parlamento) averages an election a year … Continue reading →

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Italian #33: Giordano Bruno

Posted on October 10, 2015 by Steve

This year we’ve covered an Italian who affected food/candy and another with art, on to Science. If you watched the new Cosmos, you may remember Bruno’s name. He was the Dominican friar who proposed that the stars in the night sky … Continue reading →

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Italian #32: Artemisia Gentileschi

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Steve

Back to the art world for today’s Italian and my entry covers another woman who contributed immensely to what is called the Baroque period, Artemisia Gentileschi. While Sofonisba Anguissola was only allowed to paint portraits, Artemisia had the opportunity to do historical and … Continue reading →

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Italian #31: Domingo (Domenico) Ghirardelli

Posted on October 3, 2015 by Steve

You probably recognize the surname at the grocery store, high-end candy sections or what reminded me to add him this year…the ice cream/candy place in Las Vegas that is situated between the Linq and Flamingo. It’s a good place to … Continue reading →

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Benvenuto! It’s Italian month once again…

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Steve

…and the artificial marketing month of Bricktober courtesy of Lego. This year’s header is a movie poster for a film made 50 years ago. That could be Sophia Loren, she was in practically everything back around the Sixties. However, she … Continue reading →

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RIP: Mario Cuomo

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Steve

This Italian-American governor whose “liberalism” was out of step with the Eighties swallowing Reagan’s load of crap had often been the “what if” scenario of choice until his defeat in 1994. As you may watch from above, Mario gave a … Continue reading →

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RIP: Tom Magliozzi

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Steve

Car Talk was one of the weirdest shows on NPR. Personally, I thought it was incredibly stupid when I first caught wind of it as I was gradually becoming a stronger fan of public radio in the Nineties. The program … Continue reading →

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Italian #30: Shi Yan Fan (Franco Testini)

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Steve

Update: Writing about all these famous Italians is such an educational experience for me and I’m pretty stoked to share my findings with you all. Please post requests if you have any. I was going to enlist José’s assistance on the … Continue reading →

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Italian #29: Giulio Douhet

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Steve

With 2014 being the centennial of WWI, aka the War to end all Wars, I wanted to cover a lesser-known Italian general whose influence remains when it comes to strategy. Sadly, I learned about Giulio from The Science of Battlestar Galactica‘s … Continue reading →

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