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THE SIGNATURE
MARCH 1, 2013 BY Dott. ALBERTO LUNETTA Community Relations Officer
THE SIGNATURE
MARCH 1, 2013
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T! I AYItalian! S T e your S JU Practic
Learn how to say these phrases in Italian!
English: I’m hungry like the wolf Italian: Ho una fame da lupi English: Appetite comes with eating Italian: L’appetito vien mangiando English: A snack Italian: Uno spuntìno English: A very tasty meal Italian: Un pranzetto con i fiocchi English: Yummy, yummy! Italian: Gnam, gnam! English: Mouth-watering Italian: Fa venire l’acquolina in bocca Mayor of Corleone Lea Savona unveils the street sign memorializing Boris Giuliano, the chief of Palermo police who was killed by Mafia in 1979, during the recent Corleone's Festa della Legalità (Festival of Legality), an event celebrating the 20th anniversary of the capture the head of Cosa Nostra, Totò Riina and raising awareness on the ongoing fight against Mafia. Savona publicly apologized to the all victims of the Mafia brutal killings on behalf of her townspeople. (Photo by Livesicilia.it)
Yellow mimosa flowers are the colorful and distinctive symbol of "Women's Day, an international celebration raising awareness of women's rights and advocating gender equality. On March 8, Italians give those colorful flowers to women as presents. (Photo by Corriere.it)
Celebrate Women's Day, March 8 Mimosa flowers are the symbol of the March 8 "Festa della donna"(Women's Day), a day which is commemorated in Italy and all over the world to promote equal rights for women and celebrate their achievements in the field of art and science. In Italy, it is a popular custom to bring mimosa flowers to wives and girlfriends. Vendors sell those perfumed yellow flowers at every street corner. According to a tradition, the origin of this celebration dates back to the tragic events which occurred in 1911 in New York, when 145 immigrant female workers, who worked there under terrible conditions, died during a fire in the sweatshop, where they were kept locked. This tragedy sparked strong public outcry and strikes were held to protest against inhumane working conditions and low wages. A few years later, during the Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen, Clara Zetkin, a German socialist leader, suggested that an International Day be held each year to commemorate that ill-fated strike and assist in achieving universal suffrage for women. Representatives from 17 countries supported the proposal. Today, Women's Day is commemorated all over the world to draw attention to gender issues. Mimosa flowers replaced red carnations as a symbol of feminist groups in the post WWII era and were officially presented in 1946 during the first Women's Day in Rome, organized by a group of members from Italian Women's Trade Union League. Women's Day is also a big commercial event, like Valentine's Day. Florists make big profits from selling mimosa bunches and restaurants are all booked by crowds of women who go out to "girls-only" dinners.
Corleone mayor apologizes to mafia victims by BBC News/The Telegraph
The mayor of the Sicilian town of Corleone, famous for its connections to the Cosa Nostra mafia, has apologized to victims of the criminal network. Mayor Lea Savona said the town no longer belonged to the mafia and urged those who still formed part of the structure to hand themselves in.She made her comments on a recent anniversary of the arrest of the town's brutal mafia boss, Toto Riina. According to the Gazzetta del Sud newspaper, Savona said, "I apologize on behalf of all of Corleone. I ask forgiveness for the blood that was paid. To the mafia, I ask you to leave this land, and to abandon the struggle. I ask them to admit defeat, to surrender in awareness that this earth, at last, one day, shall be liberated." The BBC's Alan Johnston, in Rome, says that although the mafia still has a presence in the town, some 60km from the Sicilian capital, Palermo, it is no longer the force it once was there. During a ceremony in which she unveiled a street renamed after a mafia prosecutor, and listed mafia victims, including anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, who were killed in separate bomb blasts in 1992. Riina, known as The Beast, is currently serving multiple life-sentences after leading the Corleonesi faction of the criminal network to the top of the Sicilian mafia and waging a ruthless campaign of violence against rival mobsters and the Italian state in the 1980s and early 1990s. He was succeeded by Bernardo "The Bulldozer" Provenzano, who in turn was arrested in 2006 after more than 40 years as a fugitive. As reported by The Telegraph, references to The Godfather in Corleone are everywhere - a bar on the main street offers a bitter aperitif called "Don Corleone Amaro", while just across the road, the walls of a pastry shop are covered in black and white pictures of Brando and Pacino in scenes from the films.
English: Delicacies Italian: Leccòrnie
Members from the Catania and Misterbianco Italian Youth Rotary Club (Interact) and students from the Associazione Studentesca Nuovi Studenti volunteered alongside Naval Air Station Sigonella military service members to clean two popular beach front locations, February 23. (Photos by Graziella Nicolosi)
U.S. military and Interact Club volunteers raise environmental awareness with Catania beach cleanup BY Dott. ALBERTO LUNETTA NAS Sigonella Public Affairs
On Saturday, February 23, a group of 30 members from the Catania and Misterbianco Italian Youth Rotary Club (Interact) and students from the Associazione Studentesca Nuovi Studenti volunteered alongside 40 Naval Air Station (NAS) Sigonella military service members from USAF Global Hawk, NAVFAC Public Works Seabees, NCTS and the Junior Enlisted Association to clean two popular beach front locations: Catania's San Giovanni Li Cuti Beach and the Lungomare Beachfront. “I’m happy to see so many young, committed volunteers today who have joined hands with us to promote a pollution-prevention campaign," said SSgt. Jeremy Thatcher from USAF Global Hawk
who brought his son along to teach him about the importance of environmental awareness. February 23 marked Rotary International's 108th anniversary and clubs around the globe celebrated it with a community service project. Federico Scalisi, the president of the Catania Interact Club expressed his appreciation to the American volunteers for attending this important Rotary community service project and continuing to support the local marine environment's protection. Catania-based IPI trash collection company courteously supplied volunteers with disposable plastic gloves, brooms, rakes, buckets and trash bags and also provided trash pickup and recycling service at the end of the event.