Filippo Mazzei was a Tuscan physician he fought along Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry during the American Revolution. He made a plan to capture the British in New York, by cutting off their sea escape, then convinced France to help the American colonists financially and militarily in their struggle against British rule. He had also sparked Thomas Jefferson’s phrase: “All men are created equal” when he wrote “All men are by nature equally free and independent.”
David Del Tredici
David Del Tredici is a renowned modern composer and Pulitzer Prize winner. He was born in 1937 in California. He based a series of his works on “Alice in Wonderland” and he’s recognized for his compositions for large orchestras. A few of his works include “Pop-Pourri” , “An Alice Symphony” , “Child Alice”, and “In Memory of a Summer Day”, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1980.
Jerre Mangione (1909-1998)
Jerre Mangione was one of the most celebrated early Italian American writers. He first wrote Mount Allegro in 1943. He later wrote An Ethnic At Large in 1978 about the evolution of his identity from being a child of Sicilian immigrant to an American. And his last book, La Storia, which is co-authored with Ben Morreale, is a monumental five-century social history of the Italians in America.
Joseph Paul DiMaggio
Joseph Paul DiMaggio known as “The Yankee Clipper”. Born on November 25, 1914, was the son of Sicilian immigrants in California. He had a 56-game hitting streak in 1941, which is still the longest streak in baseball history. He had retired with a .325 lifetime hitting batting average, 361 homeruns, and 1,537 runs batted in. He was also voted American League Most Valuable Player three times (1939, 1941, and 1947) during the 13 seasons he played for the New York Yankees. In 1950, Joe DiMaggio was voted the “Greatest Living Player” of baseball and in 1955, only four years after his retirement he was put into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He later died March 8, 1999, at the age of 84.
Frank Stella
Frank Stella was born in 1936, in Malden, Massachusetts. He gained his fame as a painter and sculptor in the 1960’s. His art developed through several stages and his works range from minimalist paintings to abstract expressionism. His paintings hang in America’s most prestigious museums, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Chicago’s Art Institute, San Francisco’s Museum, and a few museums in Europe.
Jeno Paulucci
Jeno Paulucci founded Chun King Chow Main, which he started with a $2,500 loan in 1946, and sold 20 years later for $63 million in cash. He also founded Jeno’s Pizza Rolls, Luigino’s Inc., a line of frozen pasta entrees, and Pasta Lovers Trattorias.
Constantino Brumidi (1805-1880)
Constantine Brumidi immigrated to the United States in 1852, and is known as the “Michelangelo” of the US Capitol. One of his many achievements is the painting of the huge Capitol interior dome, in 1855 he started working on the Capitol Dome, and dedicated the rest of his life to embellishing the Capitol. He also decorated the President’s room, where President Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Constantino had started his career in Rome, where he became known for restoring classic works.
Amadeo Pietro Giannini (1870-1949)
The Bank of America, the largest bank in the country, was founded in 1904 by Amadeo Pietro Giannini in San Francisco. In 1919, he began the system of branch banking, engaging in banking activities such as accepting deposits or making loans at facilities away from a bank’s home office. It was originally called the Bank of Italy, and it changed names in 1928, and in 1998 merged with NationsBank Corporation. Giannini financed the Golden Gate Bridge, and the suffering film industry, including Cecil B. DeMille’s “Ten Commandments”, and Disney’s “Snow White”, also California’s aerospace and agricultural industries.
Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone wrote the script for Rocky in three and a half days with a pregnant wife and only $100 in the bank. The screenplay found a buyer, but Stallone, age 30, refused to sign the contract unless he was allowed to play the lead. The film received an Oscar for Best Picture in 1976. Stallone is one of the highest-paid actors of all time.
Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)
Christopher Columbus made four voyages to the New World. On his third trip in 1498, he landed in Venezuela. It was the first time he actually set foot on the South American continent.