Page 10 - Italian-American Herald - December 2022

10 ITALIANAMERICANHERALD.COM | DECEMBER2022 ITALIAN-AMERICANHERALD
NEWS FROM ITALY DID YOU KNOW? Italy’slifeexpectancy83.86years; OutofWorldWarII,America’s
among highest in the world
national pastime was born in Italy
ANSA
ROME – Among Western EU countries, Italy has a much longer life expectancy compared to
most other countries of Western Europe, except for the UK and Germany, which are almost ranked as high as Italy.
The average life expectancy in Italy in 2022 was 83.86 years, a .17 percent increase over the previous year.
Life expectancy in Italy is in part credited to diet preferences.
Lo Stadio Steno Borghese in a 2022 photograph. By Lou Thomas
During World War II, the Allied push to rid the Nazis from the peninsula began with the invasion of Sicily in 1943. This was followed with the
long, yet successful campaigns of Naples and then finally in 1944 with the beach head landing on Anzio beach. Nearby is the town of Nettuno, only 35 kilometers from Rome. This city would play an important role in developing America’s National Pastime in Italy. Nettuno PS was the first baseball squad in Italy. The early players were all candidates for the police. Nettuno PS (Polizia dello Stato). This squad would eventually win 17 scudetti (championships) of the LIB (Lega Italiana di Baseball). In addition, the squad won (La Coppa Europa) the European Cup 7 times since its inception in 1963.
The end of the Battle of Anzio coincided with beginning of summer. The National World War II Museum reports that during the soldiers’ free time, they would play a pickup game of baseball, and often the young men from the town would join in.
A local teen, Alberto Fasano, was so enamored with the sport that he went to an umpire’s school in Rome to learn the nuances of the game. This led to the first softball team named Nettuno P.S.
In 1948 an American Charles Butte was tasked to build a cemetery for the fallen soldiers from the Battle of Anzio.
Since Charles was a rabid
baseball fan he convinced
his superiors to use the left-
over material to build the
first stadium lo Stadio Villa
Borghese. In 1950 he changed
the game from softball to
baseball. Soon afterwards
Nettuno became known
as Baseball City.
This conclusion is based on
several factors. The health-care
system, which is free of charge and universal, is overall of good quality. The Italian eating style in Italy is more nutritionally balanced vs., for example, the United States, Britain, and Germany. Lifestyle may also play a role in Italian life expectancy. Italians also tend to care for their elderly, and elders are seldom subjected to loneliness than, for example, Germany. Also, despite their love of wine, Italians on average tend to not be heavy drinkers.
The medical journal Lancet reported that
eating habits play a key role when it comes to Italians and longevity, since a large part of the population can easily bring fresh and healthy food to the table.
Genetics are also credited with Italy’s
life expectancy. It lies in one of the five world’s ‘blue zones,’ areas where longevity is significantly higher than average, particularly in Sardinia.
Finally, Italy is a developed country; there- fore, the overall hygienic conditions are good.
In 1957 Joe di Maggio married Marylin Monroe and spent his honeymoon in Rome. He heard about the fledgling baseball squad in a beach town outside of Rome and decided to visit Baseball City. The story goes that he stood at home plate and watched two strikes go by without swinging. He told the best pitcher in Italy, Carlo Tagliaboschi, to get serious and throw his fastest ball. DiMaggio girò la mazza e colpì la palla. Il rumore fu inconfondibile: il caratteristico crack of the bat lasciò poco spazio all’immaginazione.
La palla finì ben oltre il muro esterno che delimitava il ballpark: fuoricampo.
As you can imagine on the next pitch after the crack of the bat (lascio’ poco spazio) the ball landed 400 feet outside of the ballpark. Carlo Tagliaboschi stood on the mound in disbelief. He threw another pitch and as the old-timers say the ball landed somewhere in the lower depths of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
During the 1950s my cousin Zelinda Di Michele owned a restaurant called La Marciaronda in Nettuno. I wish I could tell you that many ballplayers frequented this seaside restaurant. But that story is for another day. IAH
Lou Thomas was born and raised in Philadelphia, in a family with origins in Abruzzo. He is a Temple graduate who has been teaching Italian for 20 years at all levels. He attained a master’s degree in teaching Italian from Rutgers University. The sounds of Vivaldi and Jovanotti fill his classroom. His favorite quote is Il vino e’ la poesia della terra.
Cinema: ‘Nostalgia’ best European film at Capri Hollywood festival
“Nostalgia” stars Pierfrancesco Favino.
ANSA
ROME – Mario Martone’s Naples mob drama “Nostalgia,” Italy’s candidate for next year’s Oscars, has been selected as European film of the year by the annual Capri, Hollywood International Film Festival.
The film, which won four Silver Ribbons from Italian film critics in June including best director, best actor, best supporting actor, and best screenplay, stars Pierfrancesco Favino as a Naples man who returns to his hometown after 40 years in Egypt and reconnects with
a child-hood friend who has become a Camorra boss.
The board of the Capri Hollywood fest,
which opens the international film fest season on Dec. 26, selected “Nostalgia” because it is a “precious and poetic work,” said honorary chair Noa, the Israeli singer who has longstanding ties to Naples and its culture.
A short list of 21 candidates for the International Feature Film Award at the 95th Academy Awards on March 12 next year will be unveiled on Dec. 21.
The five nominations will be announced on Jan. 24.
Italo-American actor and director John Turturro will show the film, adapted from Ermanno Rea’s 2016 novel of the same name, in New York before doing the rounds of the pre-Oscar festivals.
The first baseball Nettuno PS baseball squad in a 1946 photograph.