La Basilicata nel Mondo (People from Basilicata in the World) was an illustrated monthly magazine produced by Giovanni Riviello in Naples, Italy. It was one of the mostly widely distributed Italian magazines abroad. It regularly featured natives from the southern Italian region of Basilicata (also known by its ancient name Lucania) who were excelling in America.
Excerpts below set the banquet scene and the speeches by Charles, Joseph, and Michael Paterno and Anthony Campagna are transcribed.
The Meaning of the Great Banquet Offered by the Basilicates of New York to Giovanni Riviello • Written August 1926
The historian, who aspires to give a complete picture of the unfolding of the life of the Italian people in the last fifty years, and who wants, together, to search for all the sources from which the fruitful energies that made it possible have arisen, in spite of enormous difficulties, his marvelous progress, will not be able to fully succeed in his intent, if he does not make an effort to relive the labor endured by that immense army of several million emigrants, who, animated by a tenacious will to work and triumph, in the short span of a few decades, they were able to lay the solid foundations of a greater Italy, especially in the free colonies of the two Americas.
The short-sighted politicians of thirty years ago, who tried to put a laughable halt to that immense exodus, and the flaccid sentimental poets of the time, who squeezed copious tears on what appeared to their eyes a painful spectacle of misery, did not realize that this overflow of masses beyond the borders of the homeland was but the providential outlet of too rapid development, and, better still, the first sure sign of a magnificent expansion and a new glorious awakening of our race.
To this grandiose movement, our province of Basilicata, which the hopes of a rebirth within the great family of the united homeland had seen, after a long, tormenting and patient waiting, turn into vain illusions, and which had been able to suffer stoically, in silence, has participated with a deployment of forces proportionally far superior to those of all the other regions of Italy. The phenomenon of emigration, while presenting itself as impressive as a whole, has just rippled the waves of life in the other provinces of the kingdom, which all, despite the more or less large contribution given to the emigrant crowds, have grown in population; but it has deeply disturbed the placid patriarchal life of our province, which has seen the total of its inhabitants decrease by almost ten per cent.
Keeping in mind the general demographic increase of the kingdom, which, from the census of 1881 to today, is measured in more than thirty-three percent, together with the decrease of the Lucanian populations, it is easy to calculate, especially if due account is also taken of the instinctive repugnance of the our good provincials to oppose the free play of the forces of nature and to listen to certain advice of caution, inspired by the theories of a great English economist, that more than two hundred thousand are the Basilicates living today far from their barren mountains and their valleys still today infested with malaria.
Question two hundred thousand Lucanians, scattered in strong nuclei from the banks of the San Lorenzo to those of the Rio della Plata, from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the Pacific, equally resistant to the frosts of Canada and the torrid climate of Columbia and Brazil, highlighting the their rich intelligence and all those beautiful qualities of tenacity, perseverance and thrift, which had remained inactive or succeeded unproductive in their naturally poor native land, have dramatically denied the rash assertions of certain sociologists, raving about alleged ethnic inferiorities , with which they thought to explain the state of abandonment, into which a region they had never visited had fallen.
The progress made in general by the Lucanian emigrants, who, in their great majority, illiterate peasants and shepherds, had to overcome enormous difficulties in a fierce competition with better prepared and aggressive people, was immense; but even surprising and such as to fill the soul with pride and the path by course of many of them, who have had the advantage of a modest culture and a set of technical or professional knowledge. And another characteristic and sympathetic trait distinguishes the Basilicatesi living abroad, and it is the tender nostalgia that keeps them tied to their humble region of origin, of which they cannot boast neither the magnificence of opulent cities nor the splendor of landscapes, combined with an intense affection for the great Italian homeland.
Aware of this very lively sentiment of our emigrated populations, and relying heavily on it for the success of his daring initiative and for the vitality of his noble enterprise, the lawyer Giovanni Riviello, tireless defender of the good rights of our province for forty unrecognized years, proud assertor of our most shining glories, and courageous and disinterested opponent, from his earliest youth, of those local politicians who, in the fulfillment of their personal ambitions, drowned the memory of the distant province, in need of help and thirsting for justice, he wanted and knew how to create, in this magazine, an effective instrument of cohesion between all members of the Lucanian people.
From our emigrants, who kept a vague and unpleasant memory of some weekly leaflet living a wretched life, which very often served as an ignoble weapon in those miserable local and personal struggles, in which lawyers without causes and gentlemen neglectful, badly exhausted their energies growing on the remnants of showy squandered patrimonies, the beautiful publication by Giovanni Riviello, splendid for its typography and all vibrant with noble ideals, was received with great enthusiasm and with a sense of sincere and profound satisfaction. Everyone felt that the most patient and silent region of Italy finally had a strong and virile voice.
On the evening of the first Sunday of last May, the most authoritative representatives of the vast Basilicata community of New York and the neighboring cities, which includes small colonies of almost all the one hundred twenty-six municipalities of the province and forms one of the most numerous, active and peaceful elements of the great Italian family of this metropolis, wanted to make manifest, in a solemn form worthy of the generous feeling that animated them, the high appreciation for the audacious work of the founder of “Le Basilicata nel Mondo,” offering him a banquet of almost a thousand seats in the most luxurious of those splendid New York hotels, which seem to huddle around the locality that is the center, where the life of this immense city pulsates more rapidly and almost whirlwindly.
The party turns out to be brilliant and eminently significant. The enthusiastic crowd of professionals, priests, traders, industrialists, businessmen and workers, almost all of them coming from Basilicata, gathered around the hundred tables, exquisitely set, in the magnificent and vast hall of the Commodore Hotel, it presents a picturesque symbolic picture of the progress made by our emigrants and, at the same time, an eloquent justification for the initiative of the celebrated publicist appeared.
But the exaltation of our region was not the exclusive reason for the celebration, that the image of all of Italy was always present. With happy thought, they wanted four other very worthy children of Basilicata to participate in the honors of the evening, the lawyer Anthony Campagna and the brothers Joseph, Michael and Doctor Charles Paterno, all from Castelmezzano, for their truly splendid generosity in favor of the House of Italian Culture. This institute, destined to make the relations of culture and friendship between Italy and the United States closer and more intimate, will have, thanks to these generous Lucanians, who march in the front row among the most enterprising builders of New York, in the Columbia University Campus, a seat entirely worthy of the high goals set and of the two noble nations concerned. As a tangible sign of the affectionate admiration and sincere satisfaction of the provincials, they were offered, in the name of the Basilicates of New York, four great gold medals, bearing on the right, in artistic bas-relief, the lines of the erected building of beautiful architecture Italian. And the delivery could not be made by hands more worthy than those of the President of the Banquet, the Grand Officer Doctor Antonio Stella, of Muro Lucano, a magnificent figure of eminent professional and fervent patriot, who vibrated in the moving words of praise for his they have the same proud and dignified Italian accent of good understanding that has long been signaled to the poisonous attacks of the most blatant bad faith by the supporters of the restrictive measures for our immigration to this country.
With the consent, support and cooperation of these men, and with the active enthusiasm of all the people, we are sure that “Basilicata nel Mondo” will be in a position to be able to fulfill its task effectively. All the Basilicata emigrants, who the monthly publication of Giovanni Riviello consider as a ring of Diana for all the people of Basilicata, want that in this glorious rebirth of our beloved Italian in which the Italian people, guided to bright destiny by a Man who knows to chastise all their weaknesses and awaken and make all the dormant intrinsic forces wonderfully active and fruitful, and on the way to rediscover the one that had been lost for centuries, that is the self-confidence even their beloved region resurrects to new life with the proper help of the government, but, even more, for the filial initiatives and with the work of all his children.
Written in New York, July 1926 by Francesco Maglietta
Over a Thousand Basilicates, Among Whom Were the Greatest Exponents of Intelligence, Wealth, and Work, Solemnly Reaffirmed, in New York, with a Banquet to our Director, Their Unconditional Solidarity with “La Basilicata nel Mondo.”
Introductions of the Banquet Chairman Grand Official Dr. Antonio Stella, Party President Knight Pasquale Margarella, Toastmaster Honorable Frank R. Galgano, Treasurer Knight Raymondo Guarini, Secretary Professor Francesco Maglietta, and many others.
The article list names of those who attended the banquet.
The banquet is further described and then, over coffee, Grand Official Dr. Antonio Stella addresses the audience before he introduces the Paterno Brothers and Anthony Campagna.
Paterno Brothers, Lawyer Campagna!
The citizens of Basilicata residing in America, taking the opportunity of this party in homage to the Lawyer Riviello, who, with his beautiful and spirited publication, illustrates the most worthy events and the most deserving personalities of our Region, have believed it logical and right to honor, among these personalities, first of all you individually, for the work of high patriotism and difference you are making in building the House of Italian Culture on the Columbia University Campus.
With your extraordinary and truly royal munificence you will not only erect a building, which will certainly be aesthetically perfect and modern, like all your marvelous constructions, but you will raise a true temple to Italian culture, where numerous children of our immigrants and their children will flock. Americans, who really love and want to know our country. Epicurus, this temple which you erect on the Acropolis of New York, in the enclosure of the University, which, by happy coincidence, also bears the name of a great Italian – the greatest Italian that perhaps ever existed, because he gave the world a new continent – You, I say, with this temple of Culture also lay the true cornerstone of that complete and permanent friendship between the United States and Italy, which can only take place when the culture of one people has penetrated that of the other.
Brothers Paterno, Lawyer Campagna, very worthy children of Basilicata, I have the honor to present to you, on behalf of fellow Lucanians in America, a commemorative medal that will forever remind you of our admiration for what you have done for the cause of Italian Culture in America .
Of you it can certainly be said that you have well deserved the homeland. Italy acclaims you, America honors you, Basilicata blesses you in this and every other future work.
Official Knight Joseph Paterno
Ladies and gentlemen and honored guest!
I am overwhelmed with joy at the honor conferred on me tonight and I am richer in this moment because of your loyalty to me.
I am a builder of stone and mortar, but tonight I feel that you, my friends, are greater builder than I can ever hope to be, because you have built in me a great desire to be worth of your loyalty.
If I can one day be sure that I have done real credit to those distant hills so beloved by my sainted mother, I shall be proud to realize that I have not failed. I shall never forget what it has meant to me, when I rode through the cold and snow of my native hills on my way to America, with only mother’s arms and a young heart to keep me warm.
God bless you, my friends, because you are friends of those rugged hills that inspired a rugged people.
Michael Paterno
Mr. Chairman, Honored Guest, Ladies and Gentlemen!
While listening to the interesting speeches of my predecessors this evening, one thought has been uppermost in my mind: “What a pity the Casa di Coltura Italiana [House of Italian Culture] was not erected before I grew up to manhood!” For if that Institution is to fulfill our hopes in the development of the younger generation of American-born Italians, it is just the kind of intellectual Center that would have attracted me, and, who knows but it might have changed my whole career.
But perhaps it is not all loss: for one thing. I should, in that case, have missed the pleasure of contributing with my coadjutors to this noble cause.
In conclusion I will say that it has been a great pleasure and an honor, in the course of the planning of this institution, to come into contact with all the public-spirited and cultured gentlemen who have this work at heart. I have particularly been impressed with the high-minded personality of the moving spirit in the whole affair. I refer, it is perhaps needless to say, to that eminent scholar and genial public man, Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler: Long may he be spared to reside over the greatest American University.
Doctor Charles Paterno
Mr. Toastmaster, Honored Guest, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen!
I am indeed most grateful to the participants of this Testimonial Dinner and members of the Province of Basilicata for the thought expressed by the magnificent gold medal presented to me this evening. I accept it with great honor and it shall ever be a memorial to me of this gathering of friends from the Province of Italy where I was born, to do honor to our guest of the evening, my friend Lawyer Giovanni Riviello.
Lawyer Riviello has done, and is doing excellent work, and is giving his best years of his life in forgoing ahead a monthly magazine “La Basilicata nel Mondo.” It is a real service which Lawyer Riviello is rendering to the Italian people and especially to those of the Province of Basilicata.
I am sure you all appreciate the fact that the monetary gain from this work is very little. Lawyer Riviello in fact, is practically a public benefactor, and as such he should receive your full support in a real manner.
What a wonderful country America is: I love it, but as much as I love America, I can never forget my Mother County. Italy has had its struggles and difficulties, but as a result of the strong hand of Mussolini at the helm, we have had a remarkable development in Italian industry, and there will continue to be great achievements in Italy in the next few years, under the leadership of Premier Mussolini.
I remember reading some time ago a reported declaration of Mussolini to his follower, which was quoted in substances as follows: “If I advance, follow me. If I retreat, kill me. If I am killed, vindicate me.”
A part of this famous statement seems to fit very well tonight for our guest of honor, that is, as Lawyer Riviello advances with his good work, let us all get together and follow him with real support and render to him all of the assistance we can for the promotion and advancement of “La Basilicata nel Mondo.”
Official Knight Lawyer Anthony Campagna
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Toastmaster, Distinguished Guest, Ladies, Fellow-Citizens!
This is one of those moments, when words seem inadequate to express the most intimate feelings.
I am deeply touched and filled with pride to find myself for the first time in this great family of ours and to receive with an old friend and dear relatives this cordial tribute, which reflects the known kindliness of our people.
The generous testimony of your affection is for us a high reward in the service of a patriotic ideal and this token which contains the symbol of our brotherhood in that ideal, will remain among the sacred remembrances of my life, and will be handed to my children as a pledge of honor and duty toward our native land and toward our Italy, great and immortal.
When, from the majestic hill of Columbia University, will rise, like a radiant beacon light, the House of Italian Culture, we shall rejoice in the serene conscience that to erect that temple to the Italian genius and civilization, contributed not only the efforts and financial support, but the initiative and ideality of the sons of Basilicata.
I thank Dr. Antonio Stella for his benevolent remarks and wish to extend to him my felicitations for the distinction once more deservedly conferred to the talent, virtue and patriotism of this illustrious leader of our colony.
It is now a welcome privilege to tender my hearty greetings to our guests of honor, Lawyer Giovanni Riviello. It is a welcome privilege, because Giovanni Riviello is to me not only a fellow-citizen, distinguished for intellectual merits and nobility of purpose, an able publisher, and earnest and untiring apostle of a deep father, but he is my friend of the early years of adolescence.
In seeing you again, friend Riviello, twenty years nearly of oblivion in this New World, in a new and always intense activity, twenty years have seemed to fade away and, with you, I have seen the school days, and the sweet memories of far-away Spring.
You have been true to your dream, and we are happy to render this sincere homage to you, whose disdaining indifference and skepticism, facing numerous obstacles, sacrificing the fruits of years of labor, have succeeded in building a great medium, under the proud name of “La Basilicata nel Mondo.”
Of that “Basilicata nel Mondo” you have met here a strong body, devoted to work, on the main road to progress, and after only fifty years, already in the front line with those of other nations, who were first to establish their possession over this hemisphere, brought to light by Columbus.
But, do not let us forget that at the base of our envied progress of today is the obscure army of our immigrants of yesterday, who forced by want and hunger beyond their mountains and beyond the seas, abused and vilified, suffered in the silence of their hearts the insult, the slavery, the sacrifice, because carved in their hearts they carried the adored image of a family and a country.
In the unknown heroism of those humble workmen is a whole tragedy of blood and soul which you, Giovanni Riviello, should reveal with flaming words in your magazine, to let all Italy know the true and sad history of our American immigration.
We are grateful to you, friend Riviello, for your beautiful magazine which, for us, away from our Mother Country, is like a distant melody, that makes us forget at short intervals the urge and hustle of American life and revives the longing desire for our native hills.
But, through the pages of that magazine, if we are warmed by old remembrances and affections of the land of our origin or both, if we exalt at the glories of the past and the wonderful examples of the present, those pages bring us also, from that land, the melancholic note of tears, a restrained cry of sorrow, despair, anxiety for the morrow, the moan of that continuous and unequal struggle against the hardship of Nature and the negligence of Governments.
Honor be to you, friend Riviello, for having dared to cast that cry to your brothers Lucani, scattered, as you say, in the lanes of the world.
Everything you have given, everything you have sacrificed for the triumph of your faith that never waters, and on us is now incumbent the duty to sustain your mission with all power, moral and financial.
“La Basilicata nel Mondo” is today one of the strongest organs for the resurrection of our Province; but the effort of one or a few will be insufficient to reach the goal.
We want of that magazine a live, powerful instrument, which must deal in a concrete manner with the necessities, the aspirations, the complex problem of our Region; but facts are needed and not words.
Brother Lucani, let us be equal to the task and let it be said that if the Basilicata is poor of material resources, the Basilicatesi are rich of intelligence and willpower.
While Italy is making great strides toward a new and sunny horizon, guided and inspired by its indefatigable Leader, who lights a new flame in the Italian hearts, by decreeing the rising of Rome to the splendor of the first Empire, our Province cannot, must not remain humbled and forgotten. It is demanded, by the national dignity, by the faithfulness and Lucanian frugality, by that imposing army of emigrants who have repaid the indifference of the past Governments with love and the treasure of their savings; it is demanded by the revered dead of Basilicata who gave their blood for the glory of Italy.
Looking forward to greater destinies, and always ready to the call of duty, we here declare our undying love for our Mother Country, with a vote and wish of success to Giovanni Riviello and “La Basilicata nel Mondo.”
-The event continued with words from Lawyer Giovanni Riviello, telegrams were read, and all the guest names were listed. Details can be viewed on the pages below.
