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Quiz about Notable and Famous Italian Immigrants
Quiz about Notable and Famous Italian Immigrants

Notable and Famous Italian Immigrants Quiz


Italian immigrants have made many invaluable and varied contributions to American life and culture. This quiz is in honor of my maternal grandparents Nicholas and Mary Scarpa. Enjoy!

A multiple-choice quiz by jouen58. Estimated time: 12 mins.
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Author
jouen58
Time
12 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
148,179
Updated
Jul 23 22
# Qns
25
Difficulty
Difficult
Avg Score
12 / 25
Plays
842
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
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Question 1 of 25
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?
Hint


Question 2 of 25
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? Hint


Question 3 of 25
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? Hint


Question 4 of 25
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? Hint


Question 5 of 25
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? Hint


Question 6 of 25
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? Hint


Question 7 of 25
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? Hint


Question 8 of 25
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? Hint


Question 9 of 25
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? Hint


Question 10 of 25
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. Hint


Question 11 of 25
11. Which of these celebrated operatic sopranos became an American citizen by marriage in 1921? Hint


Question 12 of 25
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? Hint


Question 13 of 25
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? Hint


Question 14 of 25
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. Hint


Question 15 of 25
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? Hint


Question 16 of 25
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. Hint


Question 17 of 25
17. Which of these famous Hollywood directors was born in Sicily and emigrated to America as a child with his family? Hint


Question 18 of 25
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? Hint


Question 19 of 25
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. Hint


Question 20 of 25
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) Hint


Question 21 of 25
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? Hint


Question 22 of 25
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? Hint


Question 23 of 25
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? Hint


Question 24 of 25
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? Hint


Question 25 of 25
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? Hint



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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?

Answer: He was the first Italian to become an American citizen.

There had been many Italian emigrants before Vigo, but he was the first to obtain citizenship. He never ran for office. He survived the war, but died a poor man, having bankrupted himself supplying the army. In honor of his heroic and selfless contribution, his heirs were awarded $50,000 dollars forty years after his death by the American government.
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?

Answer: The Bill of Rights

Although the phrase "all men are created equal" in the "Declaration of Independence" is derived from Mazzei's statement, it is the Bill of Rights which includes Mazzei's original intact. Mazzei eventually returned to Europe to lend his support to the democratic movements in Poland and France; he wrote to James Madison "I do not know what may happen when Sandy Hook disappears from my sight.

But I know that wherever I shall go I shall always work for the well-being and progress of the country of my adoption."
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?

Answer: Alexander Hamilton ($10.00 bill)

Hamilton's tragic death in the famous 1804 duel with Aaron Burr led to a demand for his likenesses. The bust by Ceracchi (who had died three years before) became the model for all images of the fallen statesman.
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?

Answer: Lorenzo da Ponte

Born Emmanuele Conegliano in 1849, da Ponte was the son of a Jewish tanner; the family lived in a Jewish ghetto in Ceneda, near Venice. Eventually, they converted to Catholicism and the family name was changed to da Ponte in honor of the local bishop.

Originally, da Ponte studied for the priesthood and, in the process, learned Latin and studied classical poetry. He eventually became a librettist for the Court Opera of Vienna, working with a number of composers, including Mozart. He emigrated to New York in 1805 and worked for a time as a grocer in New York City, before being engaged to teach at Columbia University.

He died at age 89 in 1838, five years after an abortive attempt to establish an opera house in downtown Manhattan; in his memoirs, he describes his dream of bringing opera into American culture as "The desideratum of my greatest zeal".
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?

Answer: The first American conservatory of music

Traetta established America's first conservatory of music in Boston in 1803; many years later, he established a second in Philadelphia.
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?

Answer: Jay Gould

A devoted husband and father in private life, Gould's ruthless pursuit of wealth made him one of the most hated figures in the 19th century business world. His scheme to corner the gold market in 1869 resulted in the "Black Friday" crisis on Wall Street.

When he died in 1892 at the relatively young age of fifty-eight, Morosoni was quoted as saying "My opinion is that his system gave way under the great strain resulting from the consciousness of his great wealth. It was a tremendous care and he was always weighed down with the anxiety and excitement of protecting his properties."
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?

Answer: Archaeology

In Cyprus, Cesnola and his team discovered the remains of the ancient city of Curium. Further excavations yielded a large number of solid gold artifacts. Cesnola eventually sold these to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1876, a gesture which eventually led to his appointment as the museum's first director.
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?

Answer: The Capitol building

Brumidi's frescoes earned him the nickname "the Michelangelo of the Capitol"; nearly every section of the Capitol is decorated with his work, particularly the west corridor (known as the "Brumidi corridor"). The largest of the frescoes is "The Apotheosis of George Washington" which adorns the Capitol dome in the rotunda. Brumidi was once quoted as saying "I have no longer any desire for fame and fortune. My one ambition and my daily prayer isthat I may live long enough to make beautiful the Capitol of the one country on earth in which there is liberty."
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?

Answer: The "Maine"

The destruction of the USS "Maine" by a mysterious explosion on February 15, 1898 while docked in Havana Harbor killed 266 of the 350 men on board. Public opinion in America at the time considered the disaster a wanton act of sabotage by Spain and national outrage over the tragedy triggered the Spanish-American War (Opinion is still divided as to whether the explosion was, in fact, an act of sabotage or an accident caused by internal combustion). Piccirilli's monument is dedicated to the sailors who lost their lives in the tragedy.

His other works include the Marconi Monument in Washington D.C., the War Memorial in Albany, and the Firemen's Monument in New York City.
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.

Answer: Chicago, Illinois

Maria Francesca Cabrini was born in Sant'Angelo Lodigiano in 1850. From childhood, she dreamed of becoming a missionary and, upon taking religious vows in 1877, she took the name of the great missionary saint Francis Xavier. She founded the order of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was approved in 1888.

The following year, upon the orders of Pope Leo XIII, she went to New York to work among the immigrant poor. Over the next twenty years she founded many hospitals, orphanages, and missions throughout the Americas and Europe.

In 1909, she became a naturalized American citizen. In December, 1917, while organizing a children's Christmas party in Chicago, she suffered a stroke and died three days before Christmas. She was canonized in 1946; the first American citizen to be declared a saint.
11. Which of these celebrated operatic sopranos became an American citizen by marriage in 1921?

Answer: Amelita Galli-Curci

Born in Milan in 1882, Galli-Curci was entirely self-taught. Her elegant, wraith-like figure and delicate soprano voice, combined with a spectacular coloratura technique, made her an ideal interpreter of such roles as the consumptive Violetta in "La Traviata", the innocent Gilda in "Rigoletto", and the emotionally fragile "Lucia di Lammermoor", among others.

In 1921, she married her accompanist Homer Samuels (her second husband), thereby becoming an American citizen. An operation for goiter in 1936 sadly cut short her career, and she retired later that year.

She spent her retirement in La Jolla, California, where she died in 1963. Her house was later owned by actor Carroll O'Connor.
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?

Answer: Enrico Caruso

Caruso was born in Naples. His mother died when he was 15, by which time he was already finding paid work as a singer. His father remarried a kindly woman named Maria Castaldi, who encouraged his talent and ambitions. In 1895, he was discovered by the great French soprano Emma Calve in a performance of "La Traviata"; a great success in Bellini's "I Puritani" at Salerno the following year proved the launching pad for his career.

He was befriended by composer Giacomo Puccini, in whose operas he frequently appeared, and conductor Arturo Toscanini.

He was appearing in San Francisco during the great earthquake; barely able to speak English, he was able to get onto a launch to Oakland by showing the officer his autographed photo with Roosevelt. In 1906, he was arrested for molesting a woman at the Central Park Zoo (appropriately enough in the Monkey House); the woman claimed that the tenor had pinched her derriere. Such actions were quite common in Caruso's homeland, but were not to be countenanced in early 20th-century America (or in contemporary America, for that matter); the matter became quite a cause celebre and there were angry calls for his deportation.

The tenor's tumultous marriage to soprano Ada Giachetti ended when she left him for another man in 1908 (the same year his father died). He later met and married Dorothy Benjamin, daughter of a prominent New England family; she bore him a daughter, Gloria (he had two sons from his first marriage). In 1921, Caruso fell ill with intercoastal neuralgia and bronchial pneumonia (he had been a heavy smoker). Along with his wife, he returned to Italy and took an apartment in Sorrento overlooking the city of Naples. Here he died on August 2, 1921, at the age of forty-eight; he was mourned throughout Europe and the U.S.
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?

Answer: Rudolph Valentino

Valentino (born Rodolpho Gugliemi) emigrated to New York in 1913 at the age of 18. He struggled to earn a living, worked at several odd jobs and was, at one time or another, a vagrant in Central Park and a gigolo. He joined a theatrical company in order to escape New York after a scandalous love affair; the tour ended in San Francisco, where the young actor was encouraged to try his luck in Hollywood.

He worked both as a film actor and a dancer and met the Russian actress Alla Nazimova, who was to become his mentor.

In 1919, he married actress Jean Acker, a friend of Nazimova's; the bizarre union was never consumated and the actress abandoned Valentino shortly after the wedding. In 1921, his performance in Rex Ingram's film "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" finally established him as a star; that same year, Edith Maude Hull's sensational book "The Sheik" appeared and became wildly popular.

The film version of this novel, in which a young woman is kidnapped by an Arabian sheik who turns out to be an English nobleman, was to become Valentino's signiature role and established his image as an exotic Latin lover.

Other notable films included "Blood and Sand", "Beyond the Rocks", "The Young Rajah", and "Monsieur Beaucaire". Valentino fell in love with the beautiful Natacha Rambova and married her the year after his divorce from Acker became final. The marriage was marked by scandal, including a bigamy charge, and the two eventually divorced. In 1926, Valentino agreed to star in "Son of the Sheik", a sequel to his earlier success; before the films release, the 31 year-old star was stricken with peritonitis. Despite emergency surgery, he contracted blood poisoning and died on August 23. His death touched off an orgy of mourning similar to that following the death of Princess Diana in our own time.
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.

Answer: The Brooklyn Bridge

Stella first painted the Brooklyn Bridge in 1917; this rendering is decidedly cubist. "The Bridge", painted in the early 1920s, is from a five painting panel entitled "The Voice of the City of New York Interpreted". As a struggling immigrant artist, Stella had spent many nights on the bridge's walkway, where he said "I felt deeply moved, as if on the threshold of a new religion".

He called the bridge "a shrine containing all of the efforts of the new civilization of America".
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?

Answer: Needleworker

Angela, along with her sister Maria, helped organized the needleworkers strike of 1919; Local 89 (which got its name from the year of the French Revolution) was formed later that year. By 1934, it was the largest local in the U.S.
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.

Answer: Planter's Peanuts

Obici, the "peanut king", began with a roasted peanut stand with a sign above it saying "Obici, the Peanut Expert". In each bag of peanuts he sold was a slip of paper with a letter of the alphabet; when buyers had collected enough of these slips to spell out "Obici", they were awarded a watch. Obici eventually owned his own peanut plantations and canning factories. Obici had emigrated to America with his family from Treviso at age twelve; by age forty, he had become a millionaire.
17. Which of these famous Hollywood directors was born in Sicily and emigrated to America as a child with his family?

Answer: Frank Capra

Capra celebrated his sixth birthday on the ship "Germania" carrying him and his family to America from Sicily in 1903; the family settled in California. Capra got his start in films in the early twenties, working with Hal Roach and Mack Sennett before Sam Cohn called him to work for the still-nascient Columbia pictures.

His collaborations with screenwriter Robert Riskin resulted in the type of uplifting films, in which simple human honesty and decency triumph over evil, for which he is best known and which brought much needed hope and inspiration to depression-era America.

His best-known films include "Lost Horizon", "It Happened One Night", "You Can't Take it With You", "Mister Deeds Comes to Town", "It's A Wonderful Life", "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", "Meet John Doe", "Pocketful of Miracles", "State of the Union", and "High Hopes".

He also directed two highly successful WWII propaganda films in the early forties: "Prelude to War" and "Why We Fight". Although some have dismissed his films as "Capra-corn", his honored place in the American cinema seems quite secure.
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?

Answer: The von Trapps

The von Trapps (except for Maria) originally hailed from Trieste, which was at one time a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire; it was returned to Italy after WWI (Trieste has a significant German-speaking community). After the Anschluss, they simply returned home, as it were (they went by train; the bit about them escaping over the mountains to the border is pure Hollywood). Eventually, they emigrated to the U.S. and established a homestead in Stowe, Vermont, which is now a tourist and skiing resort.
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.

Answer: Arturo Toscanini

Born in Parma in 1867, Toscanini studied the cello at the university of Parma. His intrinsic musicianship and impeccable ear, as well as his stringent musical standards, were early in evidence. In 1886, he had the opportunity to conduct Verdi's "Aida", Rigoletto", and "Il Trovatore", as well as Gounod's "Faust" at Rio de Janiero; these performances resulted in his being honored by the emperor of Brazil.

In 1887, he played the cello in the orchestra at the premiere of Verdi's "Otello". future conducting triumphs led to his appointment at La Scala (1898) and the Metropolitan Opera (1908 - 1914).

In both houses, his rigid musical standards and refusal to allow encores or interpolations led to conflicts with management, performers, and audiences.

He gave his first radio broadcast in 1927. From 1928 to 1936 he was director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Never a stranger to controversy, he refused to conduct at Bayreuth as a protest against the German persecutions of the Jews and accused fellow conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler of collaborating with the Nazis.

His association with the newly formed NBC symphony Orchestra in 1937 led to weekly broadcasts of classical repertoire, including works by twentieth-century composers, full-length operas, and performances of all nine Beethoven symphonies; several live recordings were made from these performances which are still available today. He was famous for conducting entirely from memory, without a score, and his fits of rage when displeased were legendary. Toscanini retired in 1954 and died in 1957.
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)

Answer: 1977

Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested in April, 1920, for the murders of a paymaster general and a guard during a robbery in South Braintree, Massachusets. Controversy still rages over their guilt or innocence (some believe that Sacco, at least, may have been guilty) however, there is little question that their trial, presided over by a clearly prejudiced judge who made no secret of his hatred of foreigners and "reds" (both men were anarchists) was scarcely a model of fairness. Amid worldwide protests, both men were electrocuted on August 23, 1927.
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?

Answer: Fishermen

The DiMaggios settled in San Francisco, where the father and four sons carried on the family fishing business, though Papa DiMaggio wanted his sons to better themselves. All four DiMaggio boys played baseball, however their father took a dim view of any sport as a profession.

Despite this, he was proud of son Joseph's great success and said "No money in bocce ball. Baseball, that's the game". Ironically, Joe's brothers were considered superior to him as baseball players when they were growing up; he referred to his brother Vince (who became a fuller brush salesman) as "the greatest outfielder".
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?

Answer: Marcella Hazan

Hazan's 1973 publication "The Classic Italian Cookbook" and its follow-up volume "More Classical Italian Cooking" became the Bible for serious Italian chefs and home cooks in the 1970s and is still valued today (both volumes have been revised and combined into "Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking") for the clarity and accuracy of the recipes, the simple and unpretentious approach, and the sheer quality of the prose (her description of how polenta is traditionally cooked is positively poetic).
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?

Answer: La Scala, Milan

Gatti-Casazza's career began in 1893, when he became manager of the Teatro Municipale of Ferrara upon the death of his father. In 1898, he became director of La Scala; ten years later, he came to the U.S. to become the Met's general manager. Among the many great artists who appeared at the Met during his tenure were Caruso, Scotti, Chaliapin, Farrar, Galli-Curci, Bori, Destinn, Homer, and Schumann-Heink.

At Caruso's urging, he presented the young soprano Rosa Ponselle (born Rosa Ponzillo) alongside the great tenor in Verdi's "La Forza del Destino"; she became one of the Met's ( and the world's) greatest stars. Gatti was himself, at one time married to soprano Frances Alda; he died in 1940.
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?

Answer: The Black Shirts

Tresca was a bitter opponent of the Black Shirts (ironically, a group associated with his former roomate, Mussolini)and their confrontations frequently turned violent. In 1927, he was suspected of the Memorial Day murders of two Black Shirt members, but evidence linking him to the crime was never found and two other suspects were eventually arrested for the crime. Tresca was shot dead in January, 1943, while walking home along Fifth Avenue; his murder was never solved and speculation as to who killed him continues to this day.
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?

Answer: Lidia Bastianich

Lidia and her family were political refugees from Yugoslavia who emigrated to America in 1958. She was born into the restaurant business (her family owned a trattoria) and from an early age worked in restaurants and bakeries. After her marriage to Felipe Bastianich, she and her husband jointly opened two successful restaurants in Queens.

After moving to Manhattan, they sold both and opened "Felidia's", which became one of the city's most celebrated eateries. She has since opened two more restaurants, "Becco" and "Esca" in New York City, as well as "Lidia's" in Kansas City and Pittsburgh. Television appearances on "The Frugal Gourmet" and "Julia Child; Cooking With Master Chefs" eventually led to her own cooking show "Lidia's Italian Kitchen", which combines cooking instruction with family vignettes and reminiscences.

She has also authored several cookbooks.
Source: Author jouen58

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