LITTLE ITALY NEWS JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013

www.littleitalytroy.org

troylittleitaly@gmail.com

Adopt - a - Family
December 2012
CYO STAFF
VOLUNTEERS
FROM
BINGO GREEN

A banner year for the program

70 children and 5 families received their Christmas wish list.
30 children from a womens shelter received hats, gloves and a gift.
10 brand new coats, hats and gloves were donated to Central Troy for their coat drive.
Hats and gloves were donated to Joseph House and toys were donated to Toys for Tots.
Most of the money was received from fund raisers held by the volunteers headed up by
Sandy Anselment and Cheryl Bodo. Thanks to the merchants , bingo players and state
workers for their generosity.

It was a very good year.

By Mike Esposito
This article represents the 10th annual progress report on our neighborhood group, Troy Little Italy. The year 2013
began and ended with celebrations honoring the lives of two beloved neighbors acclaimed actress Maureen Stapleton, a former First Street resident, and Sr. Carmelite Germinario, a former Hill Street resident and member of
the Daughters of Charity for seventy years. The choices they made in their lives took them in different directions,
but both women had a life of accomplishment and a love for Troy and their neighborhoods.
Maureens celebration continued from 2012 and included the memorable evening tribute on Friday, February 1 st
directed by David Baecker, Associate Professor of Theatre at Sage College, as well as the successful six month
exhibit, Troy is My Hometown: the Life and Times of Maureen Stapleton, organized by the Rensselaer County
Historical Society. Sr. Carmelites tribute included a Remembrance Exhibit consisting of photographs, newspaper
articles and memorabilia which traveled to seven locations in the Capital District from September to December, an
eight page Tribute Brochure, a Columbus Day ceremony announcing the commemorative bronze plaque would be
placed at Sisters former residence, and an informal reception following the ceremony at the Little Italy Visitor
Center.
Two new brochures have been available for distribution at community events: Our Great Good Place is a brief
history of the Hill Street market place site, and Troys Little Italy, provides an overview of our neighborhood group
efforts. Andrea Daley and Marion Field in association with Pathstone, a federally sponsored program which provides part time work for people over 55 to supplement their income, increased the number of street cleaning workers to 12. Their effort makes a difference on the streets of the neighborhood.
While somewhat limited in the use of the former Hill Street market site due to scheduled cleanup of pollution at the
site by National Grid, we were able to sponsor the sixth annual spring Stickball Tournament reviving the old sport
and successfully raising funds and collecting food donations for the Roarke Centers Food Pantry. We also opened
the Drop in Center, our summer recreation program for youngsters 12 to 16 years of age, which we have been cosponsoring with several community partners since 2010.
Two Little Italy volunteers received public recognition for their community efforts. George P. Regan, area businessman, shared the CYO - Troy Youth Associations Annual William J. Pascarell Person of the Year award with
NYS State Senator Neil D. Breslin at a dinner party on May 23rd. In October, George, a Fourth Street businessman
who is event director for Troys Turkey Trot, received the 19 th Annual American Marketing Association award for
Marketing Excellence. Marion Field was honored as the 2013 Troy Treasure by TRIP, Inc. at their Homecoming
Dinner on October 28th and on December 9th she was honored with the FBI Directors Community Leadership
Award. Nominations for the award were received from among 32 Upstate New York counties and the State of Vermont. Marion will attend the ceremony for all regional award winners which will be held at the Justice Department
in Washington DC in April, 2014.
A $250 Neighborhood Improvement Grant was used to provide plantings for the 1 st and 11th Ward WWII Memorial sites on Third Street. Several Little Italy volunteers and neighbors are active members of the neighborhoods
Veterans Memorial Committee which is presently working to identify all WWII veterans from the former 8 th Ward.
Bronze plaques were installed at two sites in the neighborhood, one at the former home of Troy jazzman Nick
Brignola (138 Third Street), the other at the former home of Sr. Carmelite Germinario (63 Hill Street).
Washington Place resident and Little Italy supporter Frank LaPosta Visco began an interesting monthly series in
our newsletter (now in its 12th year) called How do you say Roots in Italian? On December 7th we sponsored our
fifth annual Christmas in Little Italy, once again with the participation of staff and residents of Josephs House &
Shelters Hill Street Inn.
We continued our participation in the New York State Neighborhood Revitalization Conference, the Troy Neighborhood Action Council, the Vacant Properties work group and the South Central Troy Neighborhood Watch. A Quality
of Life subcommittee of the neighborhood watch, chaired by Sam Chiappone, is working within existing city systems
and programs as we attempt to focus on the neighborhood housing stock.
Indeed this has been a very good and productive year for Troy Little Italy. We work in a proactive way to effect
change in our neighborhood to make it a clean and safe place for people to live, work, and visit. Mille grazie to our
many community partners, volunteers and supporters, and Happy New Year to all.

Christmas in Little Italy

Another successful event coordinated by Rocco Defazio and Joseph House Inn. The residents
decorated the tree and participated in the event, Jerry Favata cooked the chestnuts and Claire
Davis played La Bafina to the delight of all the children. The Ceppo was up the tree was
light and after the blessing everyone went inside to enjoy refreshments provided by Joseph
House

South Central/Little
Italy News
The Record, December 10,
2013. FBI honors Troy
woman, by Ian Benjamin.
Times Union, December 9,
2013. FBI honors Troy resident, by Kenneth C. Crowe
II. Troy Little Italys Marion
Field receives FBI Directors
Community Leadership
Award for her crime prevention and community work.
Marion was selected from
the Albany based region
consisting of 32 Upstate
New York counties and the
State of Vermont.

Little Italys Mike Esposito

is recuperating from an
operation. If you would like
to wish him well, you can
send a card to him at the
following address:
Mike Esposito
c/o Troy Little Italy
39 Hill Street
Troy, New York 12180

Andrea Daley has erected a bulletin board on Fourth Street

between Washington and Adams Street. Feel free to use it to
showcase an event you have coming up.
Another project
by the talented
Andrea Daley.
She gathered up a
group of volunteers to work on
The Turkey
Trot to raise
money for Troy
Little Italy.

Andrea working on her

Uncle Sam Statue

Volunteers Andrea Daley

Doreen Thompson Steve Muller
Jane Otto
Jim Otto
Harriet Graham
Gary Pavlic
Bill Crandall
Bill Daley
Tim Daley
Jasmine Ceniceros

FebruaryMeeting
2/19
Neighborhood Watch
6 p.m.
Troy Little Italy
6:30 p.m.
233 Fourth Street Corner of Washington and
Fourth

How Do You Say Roots in Italian?

Part seven of a personal search from Troy to Frosolone.
By Frank LaPosta Visco
When The Professor explained to Carmela the baker what we were doing in Frosolone, she took down one of the
loaves, cut it in half with a large knife that was crafted, no doubt, in town, and proceeded to cut generous slices and
hand one to each of us. It was sweet, light and delicious and even if it hadnt been, Rich and I would have devoured it anyway, because we hadnt eaten anything since breakfast except for some puffball things we had bought
at a taverna with a wall-full of Nordic skiing posters, on that other mountain. If you can imagine what styrofoam
would taste like these puffballs were worse.
The baker wrapped the remaining half loaf and presented it to me. I reached for my money, but she insisted that
she would take none. I pressed the issue as far as I could without insulting her, then relented and reached for her
hand as if to shake it. Instead, in the spirit of the moment, I held her hand in the familiar chivalrous way, bent
down and kissed it. She glowed just a little bit, and since the shop was filled only with Italians and ItalianAmericans, there was a kind of collective, joyous sound that told me I made just the right gesture at just the right
time.
I carried that loaf home, put it in the freezer the minute I arrived in my kitchen, and just before Easter, gave half to
my sister and toasted the other half to accompany a breakfast frittata that I shared with a friend who enjoys breakfasts as much as I do. From the bakery, we followed Michele to the hotel, formerly a home next to one of Frosolones many churches, La Chiesa di S. Michele Arcangelo, at the center of the towns original settlement.
Rich and I went from there to a very late, but delicious lunch at the taverna, bar and ristorante of Antonio and Concetta de Nezza. Concetta prepared a delicious meal of triangular ravioli in a simple sauce made from locally-grown
tomatoes, and as Rich and I wolfed it down and discussed the events of the day, I watched the di Nezzas young
son play a video racing game on the restaurants large, flat-screen tv.
We rested until dinner, then decided to walk to the restaurant at Frosolones main hotel, Luigi Colaneris La Colombina. During the stroll, a pleasant ramble through town and downhill to the restaurant, we passed by a bronze
monument to the artisans of Frosolone, a life-size casting of a proud blacksmith at work.
The Colombina is a sprawling complex built into the hill of the town, with diversions on many levels a bowling
alley, billiard room and bar on one level, restaurant on another, rooms above that. You can see more at its website,
hotelcolombina.it.
We walked into the main dining room, where the staff was opening a couple of cases of wine for what, we never
discovered, because, as Ive said, whenever we finished our dinner, Italians were just beginning theirs. We actually
ate in a smaller dining area, off the restaurants bar, where the jolly waiter, who didnt speak much if any English,
promptly sat down at our table and asked what we wanted to eat.
We worked out our choices with more hope than confidence, not exactly knowing what cuts of meat would be in
our secondi, but everything was delicious, abundant and reasonably-priced. In most of the restaurants we had visited up to this point, when we asked for sparkling mineral water, we would be served a bottle of Ferrarelle, a brand
that is known in America. The surprise at the Colombina was the brand name on the carafe of sparkling water that
was placed on our table Culligan. Yes, the same logo that we only associate with water softening in the states.
My antipasto was buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes which tasted so fresh, I could believe it was delivered to the
kitchen minutes before it was sliced and served. Every course was that good, actually good country fare, wellprepared.
Next: Discovering Frosolone yes, the writing's on the wall.

Come Visit Our Neighborhood and Stay Awhile