Italian-American Herald - May 2024

ACHIEVER
The busy life
of cancer scientist Dr. Dario Altieri
PAGE 10
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Where did all the Italians go?
Census analysis shows sharp population drops
By Joe Quartullo and Al Kemp
In their 1968 hit song “Mrs. Robinson,” Simon and Garfunkel posed a question to a famous Italian American: “Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?” In the song, the Yankee center-fielder’s name was used to represent heroes from the past. Today, however, if we were to use Joe DiMaggio’s name to represent all Italian Americans, this question would take on a very different meaning.
According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, the population of those with Italian heritage in the United States has been declining for at least the last 11 years. This is especially true in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area which, from 2011 to 2022, experienced an estimated 25 percent decrease in those who identify “Italian” as their only ancestry, and an estimated 11 percent decrease in those who identify as either “fully or partially Italian.”
See CENSUS DATA - page 8
The towns that time (almost) forgot
Efforts underway to revive some of Italy’s borghi abbandonati
The ruins of a 10th-century fortress on a mountain peak overlooks the village of Rocca Calascio in Abruzzo. | ADOBE STOCK
By Jeanne Cannavo
Traveling along major highways through Italy you will often see ruins of castles and old villages. In fact, there are thousands of these towns across the country, many in
the interior regions, which are completely depopulated or have very few residents. These “ghost villages” have met this fate due to natural disasters, emigration and also
because of population shifts for economic reasons. According to Istat, the Italian National Institute of Statistic, these numbers may be as high as 6,000 abandoned towns if you consider concentrated areas of housing which were actually separate towns.
These deserted villages (borghi) are situated throughout each region of Italy. Calabria has the highest number of
abandoned sites with 21 towns, and Liguria has 11. Val d’Aosta in the north has two villages noted as abandoned. Not all of the villages listed as such are completely empty. An Italian government report in 2016 stated that there were approximately 2,500 rural villages that were considered critically depopulated or semi-abandoned.
See LOST TOWNS - page 4
Famed cellist will perform
at Serafin Summer Music festival
By Al Kemp
Grammy Award winner Sara Sant’Ambrogio will appear in a week of programs to kick off the Music School of Delaware’s Serafin Summer Music 2024 program in the first week of June.
Sant’Ambrogio, a cellist best known as a member of the Eroica Trio, has
performed with symphonies around the world as well as recording numerous CDs. She won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition for her recording of “Bernstein Arias and Barcarolles.”
The 2024 Serafin Summer festival
See SERAFIN - page 22
Vol. 11 / No. 5