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My family and I embarked on a two week trip to Southern Italy from September 1st through 15th. We flew into Naples, explored the area and historical sites for several days, then drove by car to Bari. Again we explored the city for several days before driving to the main reason for our trip: the village of Castelmezzano.

Since embarking on my genealogy path in the Spring of 2020, I knew that I would soon need to see the village of my Paterno family. It was every bit magical, meaningful, and educational as I had hoped. This was our first view of Castelmezzano when we arrived.

Pay no mind that we stopped too soon to park and walked a long unnecessary walk to reach our hotel, however it didn’t matter because we were mesmerized by the village streets and we were so happy to have finally arrived.

The blue route is the way we should have come in all the way in to the Hotel Dolomiti (the pink pin just past where the blue route ends). However we stopped near where the blue route enters the screen at Parcheggio 2 ‘Belvedere Giuseppe Padula’ (lavender pin) which is a parking lot for day visitors. We walked passed the Monserrat down to the Hotel Dolomiti.

Dolomiti Lucane is a mountain range in the region of Basilicata, southern Italy. Located in the Southern Apennines and dominating the Basento Valley, the range is at the heart of the Gallipoli Cognato Piccole Dolomiti Lucane Regional Park, which also include the Gallipoli-Cognato forest. The range is named “Dolomiti” because of similarities to peaks in the Dolomites in northern Italy. The range was formed 15 million years ago. (Wikipedia)

We stayed five nights (Saturday, September 9th – Thursday, September 13th) at the Hotel Dolomiti which was delightful, comfortable, beautiful, and very welcoming. It is small with just eight rooms on the second and third floors. On site is a restaurant/bar on the first floor with indoor and outdoor seating as well as a spa. We enjoyed breakfast downstairs every morning and had dinner here twice. The food, drink, service, and hospitality were fantastic!

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 10th

We devoted our Sunday to exploring Castelmezzano by foot. We marveled at the Paterno and Campagna family homes, the hundreds of homes built into and atop the rock, the steep streets the width of America alleys, and the forested mountainside around the village.

To the left of the Hotel Dolomiti is the Palazzo Paternò, the beautiful white house where brother Saverio Paterno lived when he was Podesta, or chief magistrate of Castelmezzano, appointed by Mussolini in 1922. 

Click on the photos below to enlarge, scroll through, and read captions.

Below is the original Paterno home where Giovanni and Carolina lived with their first four children: Celestina, Saverio, Canio (Charles), and Giuseppi (Joseph) before emigrating to Manhattan.

The plaque reads: “With a munificent act and with spontaneity of feeling, Comm. Giuseppe (Joseph) Paterno donated this house to this municipality for the venerated memory of his parents Giovanni and Carolina and for the sincere attachment to the land that gave him birth. The fellow citizens mindful of his generosity places this plaque as an everlasting memory.” This house is located at the Volo dell’Angelo Biglietteria (Flight of the Angels zipline ticket office) on the map above (turquoise pin on the upper right).

The house that Anthony Campagna, second cousin to the Paterno siblings and husband of Marie Paterno, purchased for his Castelmezzano family is on the main village square – Piazza Emilio Caizzo – and across from the main church, Chisea di Santa Maria dell’Olmo. The position of this home is exquisite as it can be seen from nearly any direction around the village.

Click on the photos below to enlarge, scroll through, and read captions.

We walked down to the cemetery to see the Paterno mausoleum which is flanked by two beautiful angel statues. Interred here are Saverio Paterno, his wife Minnie Rose Breden Paterno, their infant son Antonio, their 8 year old daughter Carolina, and their adult daughter Giulia.

Additionally father Giovanni (John), who was the first of the family to emigrate to Manhattan, may or may not still be interred here since 1899 when he return ill to Italy to die. His crypt is present. When his wife Carolina died in 1925 in Manhattan, it is told that Giovanni’s remains/ashes were transported to the USA to be interred with her. At this time it can not be confirmed if Giovanni’s remains are in Castelmezzano, at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, or both.

Click on the photos below to enlarge, scroll through, and read captions.

After lunch and rest, Chad and I took a hike up the mountain. At the edge of the village (see the white square on the aerial map above) there is a long rock staircase that goes up to the Via Paschiere. From that road many trails lead to the top where the “Volo dell’Angelo – Partenza da Castelmezzano” (Flight of the Angels Castelmezzano Departure) platform is located. We watched several people enjoy the thrill of this very popular zipline tourist attraction.

The video below was taken on the mountain trail as we headed back down to the village.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11th

After breakfast at Hotel Dolomiti, Chad and I went up to the municipal building for a very important meeting. The municipal building was donated to the village as a school house by Anthony Campagna.

The plaque inside (photographed in the slideshow below) reads: “To Count Antonio Campagna who, at his own expense, by building this school house, gave a new admirable example of generosity and love for his homeland and his native place, the municipality of Castelmezzano gratefully placed. 9 (April or August) 1931”

Click on the photos below to enlarge, scroll through, and read captions.

At the municipal building we had a very important meeting about the Paterno/Campagna Museum that is being created in Castelmezzano to honor Charles and Joseph Paterno and Anthony Campagna, sons of Castelmezzano, who found success in the USA as builders of fine apartment houses.

The meeting included Castelmezzano mayor Nicola Valluzzi, Professor Alberto Baldi, Carla, and Barbara Baldi, sister of Alberto and professional translator. Journalist and author Renato Cantore participated by Zoom.

Click on the photos below to enlarge, scroll through, and read captions.

In the afternoon it was our time to fly the famous Volo dell’Angelo zipline! We secured our tickets, took the shuttle as far as it would go, and then hiked to the departure platform. Bella and Michael went first. Chad and I followed.

The red circles on the map show the first line which took us from Castelmezzano to the neighboring village of Pietrapertosa. Once there, we were shuttled around to the Pietrapertosa departure platform. This second line, indicated by the green circles, took us back to Castelmezzano.. All together it took us about 3 hours from ticket office to hotel.

Click on the photos below to enlarge, scroll through, and read captions.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12th

Every year on the 12th and 13th of September, regardless of days of week, the village annual festival takes place.

“The Basilicata is a land rich in traditions and boasts unique rituals that, since the most remote times, celebrate the ancestral link between man and nature. Particularly, during the spring and summer period, the region becomes the stage for really unique ceremonies: “wedding of the trees”.

The unusual marriage takes place between a trunk and a top of two different trees, a symbolic union between “two spouses” that calls the archaic omen to fruitfulness and the renewal of life in the auspiciousness of abundance. Tree rituals, therefore, celebrate the union of two plants that are literally grafted together to form a single new tree and raised to the sky in a climate of celebration and solemnity.

In most cases “marriage” involves cutting down a tree from the forest being dragged into the village by pairs of oxen; the log is then joined together, in a mystical friendship between heaven and earth, at the top of another tree cut down in a forest different from the first. The cerro (Hawthorn) trunk represents male vigor, while the (holly) top represents the female part.

They are segments that lead the log and the top from the woods to the town square and, to alleviate the woes of transport, several stops are planned in the name of the local food traditions. The festival has as additional protagonists the traditional music and the cries of the bovars which, along with the roar of the oxen themselves, accompany and chant in a slow and cadence pace the execution of the ancient ritual.” (source)

We were standing just outside the Hotel Dolomiti to see the oxen arrive and all of the associated festivity!

The oxen brought the tree trunk further into the village and then were turned around to bring the trunk to where it would stand.

The holly top was carried into the village and up to the church on the main square to be blessed by the priest.

Click on the photos below to enlarge, scroll through, and read captions.

After the holly top was blessed it was returned to where the trunk was taken by the oxen.

Click on the photos below to enlarge, scroll through, and read captions.

After the procession, the village had a street party with food & drink vendors, goods, games, and music.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13th

The second day of the festival was comprised of band music all day, a procession of the saints, an afternoon auction at the base of the festival tree to raise money for the church, and another street party at night with vendors.

Click on the photos below to enlarge, scroll through, and read captions.

St. Antonio, St. Rocco, and St. Vito were carried in procession throughout all of Castelmezzano then returned to the church.

On Thursday we left to drive back to Naples to fly home Friday. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the beautiful village of Castelmezzano, the precious mountain village from where my Paterno ancestors originated. The people were so friendly and welcoming, the food delicious, the architecture amazing, and the festival was a delight to witness. We learned much, made many new friends, collected happy memories, and we’re looking forward to returning when the Paterno/Campagna museum opens!

Should you visit, be sure to download the Visit Castelmezzano app for a village map and highlighted historical markers and points of interest. You can fly into either Naples or Bari and drive to Castelmezzano. Ciao!

New York Evening Post • Saturday, May 23, 1925

Fate Decreed That the Young Physician Cure Housing Ills Instead of Human Ailments in the Working Out of His Destiny

Dr. Charles V. Paterno, creator of the remarkable Hudson View Gardens apartment group on Washington Heights, builder of the $10,000,000 multi-family structure at 270 Park Avenue and the man who was responsible for the production of dozens of the finest residential properties in New York, must by now be a fatalist because he was not intended for the building business at all. For years he strove to enter his chosen field of endeavor, medicine; but an inexorable fate barred him from the path and pointed the way for his construction activities.

Now, recognized as one of America foremost builders he is resigned to his task of curing housing ailments instead of prescribing for the physical woes of his fellow beings.

A Real M.D.

For those who have wondered why the “Dr.” has always been associated with Charles V. Paterno, let it be known that he ws graduated from the Cornell School of Medicine in 1899. That year his father, John Paterno, the builder, who was engaged in the erection of an apartment house on 112th Street near the Cathedral died and Charles V. and his brother, Joseph, were obliged to assume the responsibility of finishing the job as wage earners for the family and their widowed mother.

Charles V. just filled in on this operation. His objective was still medicine and he expected to practice his profession when the building was completed.

Their Second Operation

But fate intervened once more in the sale of the completed structure and the acquisition of an adjoining unimproved parcel in part payment. So it became incumbent on the two boys to undertake another apartment operation on the newly acquired site. With a working capital of about $3,000 they went ahead, completed the building and made a $3,000 profit, quite an achievement for two beginners.

The lure of further profits from this lucrative business spurred the young medico to engage in one more undertaking and Paterno Brothers started a seven-story elevator building on West 105th Street, near the West End Presbyterian Church. They made $40,000 on the sale of this structure and the young doctor bowed once again before the fate which was decreeing his separation from medicine.

A Larger Project

The next operation was still larger. It was on 103rd street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, a building known as El Casco Court. Then he built a still larger house, Putnam Court, on 104th Street, between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, selling all of these as he went along with his brother Joseph.

Beginning of work on the new buildings of Columbia University attracted Paterno Brothers to this neighborhood and they built a number of houses on the farm lands fronting on Morningside Avenue West.

Their next field of operation was in the vicinity of Riverside Drive and 116th Street, where they began the construction movement which has since revolutionized the entire character of this noted highway. Their initial operation was the first twelve-story multi-family building in the district at 440 Riverside Drive, which they later sold to Benjamin N. Duke, the tobacco magnate. It houses 150 families and is still owned by Mr. Duke.

Dr. Paterno recalls that during the days of construction on this building, he pastured his horse on the site of this present tall apartment house known as the Coliseum at 435 Riverside Drive.

Weathered the 1907 Panic

The panic of 1907 was weathered with some difficulty and they tided over until 1909, when Charles V. decided to go back to his first love, medicine. He stepped out of the Paterno Brothers organization, they divided the assets and Joseph has continued, to this day, in the business under the Paterno Brothers corporate name.

But Charles V. was not destined for anything but the building business. No sooner had he resolved to abandon it than he was offered a splendid site comprising the entire block front on West Eighty-fourth Street between Broadway and West End Avenue. He seized the opportunity and built a $2,500,000 twelve-story structure on the entire frontage. His next venture was the splendid structure at the southwest corner of Seventh Avenue and Fifty-eighth street, also purchase by Benjamin N. Duke.

This was followed by the big building at West End Avenue and Eighty-eighth Street and a number of smaller projects on the West Side.

His $10,000,000 Project

In the early part of 1914 Dr. Paterno conceived the idea for a great $10,000,000 apartment house on the New York Central Railroad block bounded by Madison and Park Avenues, Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth Streets. There was then no indication of the impending World War. It was but shortly after that the European conflict started, but the doctor was already committed to the project and saw it through all the trying days of labor and material difficulties and Government embargoes with a patience and persistence that baffled comprehension at the time.

It must be recalled that this project was the largest of its kind yet attempted in New York. In normal times it would have been a herculean task. In war times it seemed an impossibility. Dr. Paterno traveled all over the United States for building material. He dared not trust these commodities in shipment after they had been bought, so he posted guards on the freight trains. An idea of the immensity of the operation may be gleaned from the fact that 9,000* tons of steel were required.

The structure was not finished until 1918. Under ordinary conditions construction should have taken a year. But his troubles were not yet over. He could not find tenants. America was an active participant in the war, every one was thinking about the war and the renting situation was at a standstill.

“People were worrying about the wind-up of their affairs and the future of their families. Moving to a fashionable Park Avenue apartment was the last thing in their thoughts,” declares Dr. Paterno in describing those days.

Change in 1918

But the change occurred in the fall of 1918 and in 1919, when, with the war ended, the first effects of the cessation of apartment house construction during the previous years became noticeable. Rents began to rise and there were not enough apartments to go around. The Paterno achievement at 270 Park Avenue, which in 1919 was returning a gross rental of $300,000 was showing in 1923 an aggregate annual rental of $1,250,000!

The apparently indefatigable doctor-builder laid off construction after that an bought a 700-acre estate at North Castle, where, in his spare time, he is conducting a vigorous timber growing campaign.

It is his ambition to plant 2,000,000 young trees for resale as nursery stock and for use at Christmas time. Of this number 300,000 were planted in the spring of 1924.

Hudson View Gardens

Now we come to the great Hudson View Gardens project. In 1907, just before the panic broke, he had started the construction of the striking building on Northern Avenue knows as the Castle, which has long been a source of interest to onlookers from the Hudson River steamboats and to visitors on the Heights. It is an immense stone-turreted structure with both English and roman architectural features.

In order to protect this property Dr. Paterno had been steadily buying adjacent acreage until he owned a considerable tract surrounding the Castle. Some of it lay idle and the rest was used for the raising of garden truck.

The city was steadily growing to the north and very soon the development reached the vicinity of the Castle. Assessments for streets and sewers and other municipal improvements began to be levied on the Paterno acreage and the vegetable gardens, materially adding to the cost of maintenance.

As Dr. Paterno whimsically remarked the other day:

“Finally a point was reached where every tomato I grew in the garden cost me about five dollars!”

He decided to sell part of the land to builders for certain types of apartment house development, but the land was too rugged and no one cared to take a chance.

So Dr. Paterno conceived the idea of a modern co-operative apartment house community. Within a year and a half this rocky waste, the despair of apartment house builders, has been transformed into the greatest co-operative venture on Manhattan Island, Homes have been provided for 354 families, of whom more than 150 have already purchased apartments.

Hudson View Gardens occupy a large tract of about seven acres fronting on Northern and Pinehurst Avenues from 182nd to 186th Streets, directly behind and above the site of historic old Fort Washington, the highest elevation on Manhattan Island. The location commands a view of the river for miles and of the Palisades beyond, while to the east lie Long Island and the Sound.

Fourteen Houses in Group

Fourteen [correction: 15] separate apartment houses compose the colony. Eight [correction: 9] of these are six stories high and are served by elevators; the remaining six are four-story buildings. The arrangement of the buildings, because of the contour of the land, is such that those farthest from the river rise above the others, so that all share in the advantages of the western exposure toward the Hudson.

A number of unusual features have been introduced in the houses representing the most modern labor-saving devices and conveniences to relieve the housewife from her many duties besides effecting economies in household expenses and building management.

Here are some of them: A co-operative laundry, an ice-manufacturing plant, a children’s nursery, an outdoor playground, a staff of maids, off-burning furnaces, automatic elevators, wall beds, dish-washing machines, built-in cabinets, and most interesting of all, radio service in each apartment direct from a huge private receiving station on the roof.

Dr. Paterno is still a comparatively young man. Time alone will tell what other great construction enterprises will be born in the brain that conceived Hudson View Gardens and 270 Park Avenue.

J.P. LOHMAN

I thank the New York Adventure Club for inviting me back to present three webinars about my ancestors and their architectural legacy. Each webinar has a $10 registration fee which allows you to attend live and/or access the replay for 1 week.

‘The Paterno Family: Chronicling a New York Real Estate Legacy’ Webinar

How did one of Manhattan’s most successful real estate family dynasties of the 1900s happen mostly by accident? And how could it be that almost all of their buildings still stand generations later? Fortunately, a great-granddaughter of the family has meticulously cataloged each of their projects and New York story like never before. From 35th Street to 188th Street between Riverside Drive and East End Avenue, it’s time to explore the real estate legacy of the Paterno family and their significant contribution to New York architecture. Friday, July 14 at 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM EST More information & registration

‘The Paterno Castle: Deep Dive into NYC’s Famed Gilded Age Mansion’ Webinar

How did Dr. Charles V. Paterno, a 29-year-old living in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, get the sort of money to build a 4-story marble castle in 1907 overlooking the Hudson River? And what sort of lavish lifestyle did he and his family enjoy during its brief 30 year existence? Using rare documentation, historical maps, and extensive photographic evidence, it’s time to explore one of New York’s premier mansions of the Gilded Age like never before. Friday, July 21 at 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM EDT More information & registration

‘The Paterno Monograms: Art of Personalizing Apartment Buildings’ Webinar

The Paterno family — one of Manhattan’s most successful real estate family dynasties — fancied monogramming many of their New York apartment houses. Was this insignia simply a marketing tactic or something more? It’s time to explore the fascinating story behind these artworks like never before. Friday, July 28 at 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM EDT More information & registration

I hope to see you there!

Once Penniless Immigrant, Paterno Has Become Moving Spirit of Italian Cultural Center in America • Sunday, January 11, 1931 • By Agnes G. Slawson for the Brooklyn Eagle

Joseph Paterno made his debut in the country at the age of two and a half, a small and forlorn Italian immigrant. His father had been ruined by an earthquake’s destruction of a block of houses he had put up near Naples, so he and his family had set out to seek better fortune in the New York of the eighties. They spent thirty-one arduous days on a sailing vessel with nothing more substantial than hope to comfort them.

Hope continued, for some time, to be the chief comforter of the Paterno family. The father did not soon meet with success. Meanwhile, the family grew steadily larger in both size and appetite. Joseph Paterno was, consequently, obliged to start work at an early age. He sold papers on Park Row. Later he helped a dentist make artificial teeth. This work took up so much of his time that he was obliged to leave school. Finally he drifted into the office of a West Side real estate firm and there became office boy for the handsome salary of four dollars a week. After he had been there one week, Mr. Hobbs reproved him for not clearing out the waster paper baskets and was thereupon told that his new office boy had come not to be a porter but to learn the real estate business.

Joseph Paterno soon did gain opportunity to learn both the real estate and the building business. His father had the good fortune to meet at mass a building contractor named John Macintosh. A friendship developed. The two men became partners and erected many West Side apartment houses. No one went up without every detail of its construction having been observed by young Joseph Paterno. When he was only eighteen, he was given opportunity to show what he had learned. His father fell sick and returned to Italy in the vain hope that his native air would revive him. When the senior Paterno died, two flats he had started (507 & 505 West 112th Street) were still incomplete. These his son Joseph managed to finish.

The young builder then began to hunt for someone to back him in his ambitious scheme of building ten, fifteen or even twenty-story apartment houses. This idea was greeted as a bit of youthful fancy. But one real estate man finally consented to back him in erecting a block of six-story apartment houses. Joseph Paterno immediately wired his older brother, Charles, who was just taking his doctor’s degree at Cornell. The two formed a partnership and the Paterno fortunes abruptly began going up.

The new apartment proved a success. The two brothers received backing for more apartment houses in the Columbia University district. By means of the profits they cleared they were able to undertake more and more extensive operations. Dr. Paterno gave up all thought of returning to the medical profession, and for some twelve years the two brothers continued to do important things to the West Side skyline. At the end of that time Dr. Paterno started a building concern of his own and Joseph Paterno went on alone.

His buildings and his fame continued to shoot upward. By 1912, when he was only thirty-one, he had built in the general locality of Columbia University apartment houses assessed at twenty-two million dollars. Until 1926 he continued to dot the West Side with skyscraper apartment houses. He then switched his building operations to the East Side. There by his co-operative apartments he showed himself a leader in creating new housing condition. In 1927, he took an important step in building the first co-operative hotel in New York, a twenty-three-story building.

Quick construction has always been Joseph Paterno’s guiding rule. A man of terrific energy, he is able to oversee a vast amount of detail. He is, besides, extremely shrewd and keen in dealing with men. Never has he permitted opportunity to indulge in any prolonged knocking at his door. When he started building in the late nineties, the rise of population and of land values was forcing people from private homes into tall apartment houses. New York was literally growing upward, and Joseph Paterno saw to it that his career went up with the city.

All the Paternos have achieved amazing success as New York builders, but Joseph Paterno remains the true self-made man of the family. Dr. Charles Paterno was the only member of the family who offered any great educational advantages. The younger brothers had their way blazed for them by the building ventures of Joseph and Dr. Charles Paterno.

Joseph Paterno’s greatest achievement of recent years is the Casa Italiana, Columbia University’s center of Italian culture. Justice John T. Freschi first interested him in the project of providing a gathering place for Columbia’s Italian students. Joseph Paterno immediately enlisted for the plan the support of his brother, Michael E. Paterno, and of his brother-in-law, Anthony Campagna. The project gradually took on vast proportion. Columbia provided a $165,000 plot of land, opposite its chapel at Amsterdam Avenue and 117th Street. Joseph Paterno, Michael E. Paterno and Anthony Campagna underwrote the expenses of erecting a $400,000 building. Dr. Paterno presented a library containing – just as a start – 10,000 volumes. He is still adding to it.

When the plans for Columbia’s Italian House were well under way, Jospeh Paterno, Michael E. Paterno and Anthony Campagna went with Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia, on a trip into Italy. They paid official calls on Mussolini, the King and the Pope. Mussolini received the plans for the Casa Italiana with the greatest enthusiasm and promised to send Senator Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of wireless, to America for the dedication ceremonies. He further showed his approval by giving his American guests an impressive party at the Villa d’Este. All the fountains played, and the gates of the villa were opened for the first time in forty years. To Joseph Paterno, in recognition of his services in helping Italian-American relationships, Mussolini gave the title of “Commandatore.” He also presented him with a photograph, signed not with the usual “Complementi,” but with the very flattering inscription, “A Giuseppe Paterno, della buona razza Italiana” – “To Joseph Paterno, of the best Italian stock.”

When Marconi arrived in America, Joseph Paterno arranged a dinner for him. In order to aid the endowment and building funds of the Italian House, he charged $1,000 a table. The guests were many and distinguished. Through the money collected at this dinner and through the many large gifts of the Paterno family, the Casa Italiana was at last completed. On Aug. 5, 1926, the Italian Ambassador laid the cornerstone, and Joseph Paterno appeared before all New York not only as one of its greatest builders, but also as one of its most important citizens “della Buona razza Italiana.”

Joseph Paterno, although a man who prides himself on always looking forward, does occasionally look back over his career with pardonable satisfaction. Among the mementos he cherishes are signed photographs of Mussolini and Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, the program of Marconi’s dinner and a loving cup present him at an honorary dinner given by his friends and business associates. His other treasured souvenirs include a banquet cloth, which the children of his native town in Italy took twelve years to make for him, and a photograph taken after he had stunned himself, Mr Charles Schwab, and the rest of a foursome by making a hole in one. For the really big mementos of his career, Jospeh Paterno has only to look at the skyline of residential New York.

From Castelmezzano to New York – Here is the True Story of Skyscrapers by Enza Martoccia • La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno • 13 April 2023

PROJECT: The mayor of Castelmezzano Nicola Valluzzi announces the creation of a museum that will tell the world the story of the builders of skyscrapers in New York.

America in Castelmezzano and Castelmezzano in America. A new adventure begins: with these words the mayor of Castelmezzano, Nicola Valluzzi, announces the creation of an Interactive Museum that will tell the world the story of the builders of skyscrapers in New York, who left Castelmezzano at the end of the 1800s and introduced important constructive and architectural features in a city that was rapidly transforming. This is possible thanks to the funding of the project “Human Re-Generation Between Ancestral Rites and Experiential Attractors,” proposed by the municipalities of Pietrapertosa, Castelmezzano and Accettura as part of Line B – PNRR Tender (Intervention 2.1 Attractiveness of the Villages) promoted by the Ministry of Culture for a total of 2 million 560 thousand euros.

“One of the 229 projects financed throughout Italy – explains Valluzzi – the second for the highest score obtained in the evaluation of the examining commission is that of Castelmezzano. The interactive museum will be built in a recently reconstructed municipal building. It will tell the story of the Paterno and Campagna families, who built 164 skyscrapers between 1898 and 1964 (1), changing the skyline of Manhattan.”

In recent days, the scientific committee of the project met among the protagonists the Lucan journalist, Renato Cantore, author of the book “Castle on the Hudson” conductor of in-depth studies on the life and works of these families and Alberto Baldi, professor of visual ethnography at the Federico II University of Naples, author of “Emigrant Filmmakers. Successful Directions.”

Partners of the initiative are the Federico II University and the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples, among the other protagonists of this qualified team there will be young digital artists of great international fame. The goal is to catapult the visitor into a virtual journey inside the museum and with the help of new technologies such as augmented reality, 3D and video mapping, it will be possible to take a tour of early 20th century New York and visit the inside of the only castle ever built in the Big Apple (2) and some of the ingenious constructions created by these visionaries from Castelmezzano. After this preliminary meeting between partners and digital artists, the design phase was started, and the project will be completed by the summer executive project and immediately afterwards we will proceed with the tenders. Thanks to the engaging power of new technologies, unique immersive experiences will be offered to everyone.

Carla’s Notes:
(1) The Paterno Family built 164 total buildings (14 demolished) that consisted of 155 total apartment houses (8 demolished), 4 family homes (3 demolished), 1 castle (demolished), 1 garage (now condo), 1 theater (demolished), 1 university cultural center, and 1 tiny steel home between 1896 and 1964. PaternoArchitecture.com

(2) Another residential castle built in Manhattan was Woodcliff (aka Libbey) Castle which I believe provided inspiration for Dr. Charles V. Paterno’s castle.

I’m presenting an online webinar about my great grandfather Dr. Charles V. Paterno’s residential castle on April 5, 2023 from 5:30 to 7pm with Q&A to follow. Below are all the details from New York Adventure Club. I hope you’ll join me!

To reserve your spot, please register HERE for $10.

How did Dr. Charles V. Paterno, a 29-year-old living in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, get the sort of money to build a 4-story marble castle in 1907 overlooking the Hudson River? And what sort of lavish lifestyle did he and his family enjoy during its brief 30 year existence? Using rare documentation, historical maps, and extensive photographic evidence, it’s time to explore one of New York’s premier mansions of the Gilded Age like never before.

Join New York Adventure Club as we uncover the complete story behind the Paterno Castle of Washington Heights, from the initial inception, design, and function of the palatial residence to debunking many myths that have long-survived the structure since its demolition in 1938.

Led by Carla Golden, great-granddaughter of Dr. Charles V. Paterno, our virtual deep dive into the magnificent Paterno Castle will include:

• A brief overview of Dr. Paterno and how he made his fortune (hint: it wasn’t from being a practicing physician)
• A discussion of the inspiration behind Dr. Paterno’s luxurious residence in Washington Heights
• A look at features of the castle that reveal the family’s unique lifestyle, from hosting parties on the roof and growing culinary mushrooms in the basement
• The recent discovery and unveiling of never-before-seen blueprints of the massive castle addition
• What castle remnants still remain today after its demolition in 1938
• An evidentiary exploration of long-standing Paterno Castle myths including the number of indoor swimming pools, the report of an underground tunnel entrance from Riverside Drive, and the truth about ‘The Pumpkin House’

Afterward, we’ll have a Q&A with Carla — any and all questions about the Paterno Castle are welcomed and encouraged!

Can’t make it live? Don’t worry, you’ll have access to the full replay for over a week (until April 16th) due to Passover.

To reserve your spot, please register HERE for $10.

• TESTIMONIALS FROM PREVIOUS CASTLE PRESENTATION •

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Before reading the “Il Carroccio” October 1925 magazine article about Ralph Ciluzzi, background context is necessary. First appears below an August 1924 New York Times article explaining remarks made by Harvard Professor East and then the September 1925 “Il Carroccio” article which is referred to in the October 1925 article about Ralph Ciluzzi.

Ralph Ciluzzi (1884-1939) was born in Staletti, Italy, and emigrated to New York City at the age of 14. He married Theresa Paterno around 1914 and they were married approximately 20 years. After separating, Ralph returned to Italy, remarried, and lived the remainder of his life there. Together with the Paterno Brothers, Ralph helped build 164 buildings in Manhattan.

Cotillo Says East is Biased.

[Side note: Judge Salvatore Albert Cotillo (1886-1939) was born in Naples, Italy, and was the first Italian-American to be elected to the Supreme Court of the State of New York in 1923. In 1926 he married Ida Sophia Berthold, mother of Helen Laura Ritzmann whom Judge Cotillo adopted as his own daughter in 1929. Helen Cotillo married Carlo Paterno in 1934. Carlo Paterno was the son of Dr. Charles V. Paterno, brother-in-law of Ralph Ciluzzi.]

Supreme Court Justice Salvatore A. Cotillo issued a statement yesterday defending American immigrants from south Italy. The jurist’s statement was in reply to Professor East.

“If the statements about southern Italians attributed to Dr. East of Harvard University in the morning papers are quote correctly,” said Justice Cotillo. “I cannot help but express my amazement and indignation. Ordinarily, when a man of Dr. East’s profession and reputation makes an assertion one pre-supposes that it is based upon a study of the subject discussed, even though the conclusions derived therefrom may be erroneous.

“In the present case, however, I am afraid that Dr. East has allowed his bias and prejudices to get the best of him. Such remarks as that Italy would be “well rid of” southern Italian as of a ‘cancerous tumor’ and that southern Italians are ‘incompetent and lacking in intelligence’ and that Italian names do not appear in Who’s Who in America indicate no calm and studious reflection but rash and antagonistic thought.”

Justice Cotillo pointed out that Italian labor made possible the subway and the skyscraper. He said that in Italy itself the natives of the south had done much to make modern Italy great. As for the criticism that Italian names were few in Who’s Who in America, the jurist pointed out the tide of Italian immigration to this country began comparatively recently and that the immigrants had had no time “to achieve such distinction” yet. He doubted, however, whether inclusion in Who’s Who was a test of a race’s desirability.

Points to Italians’ War Record.

After calling attention to the fact that Italian-Americans were everywhere forging ahead in commerce, Justice Cotillo added:

“In reference to Dr. East’s remark as to the Italian soldier from southern Italy in our American army, I desire to call to his attention that there were 30,000 Italian-speaking soldiers of this city in the American army. This represented nearly 10 per cent of the total American military forces. While the Italians constitute only 4 per cent of our population, they were found to be in the American army to the extent of 10 per cent. Their casualties amounted to 12 per cent. General Pershing said of the Italian soldier, and most of them were from the southern part of Italy, that there was no braver soldier in the American army.

“I further desire to call to the attention of Dr. East that there are many institutions in the southern part of Italy where there are tubercular sanitariums which I personally visualized during the war, and the inmates of which come from our factories and sweatshops, and after giving all that they had to make this a greater America, they return to their motherland with a dreadful disease and ultimately die.”

Il Corroccio • September 1925

This letter by Ralph Ciluzzi is from the September 1925 issue of ‘Il Carrocci’ which was a monthly magazine of Italian propaganda and defense culture in America, directed by Agostino De Biasi.

ANOTHER LETTER

My Dear Professor East –

Your answer to Senator Cippico in the New York Times of August 2nd is an insult to the intelligence, integrity, principles, and the very soul of America. Your expressions are like those of your half-naked, barbarian, ancestors.

Fifteen millions of loyal Americans of Italian birth and extraction are asking: “Who is this Professor East that dares to throw insults at us?”

The greatest city in the world (New York) where one of every four people is of Italian origin and mostly from the South of Italy, wants to know if Professor East is engaged by England to spread propaganda, or what is his motive for such insults.

Railroads, coal mines, subways, entire cities, have been and are being constructed, and all American industries are largely carried on by these Italians, classified by you as “Grade D and E,” and of whom you say “they are not wanted here.”

For your information, Professor, they are mentally, physically, and otherwise of a better stock than your Nordic decaying relatives.

The average Italian becomes a loyal American within a comparatively short time, and is quick to love and appreciate the “great privilege.” It took your English friends centuries to become americanized, and some of you are still in the service of King George.

These hard-working, honest, Italians, of whom you say “they are not wanted here,” are the kind of immigrants that America actually needs. They are the very foundation of our industries and not your Nordic decaying English loafers who reach our shores with a high hat and walking stick as their only credentials, and who possess no ability or strength to produce anything, but who expect to live on the good-nature of the American people.

You say, “Look over Who is Who In America for Italian names and you will find them very conspicuous by their absence.” You also mention the War intelligence test records. Why, Professor, you are absolutely blind, you cannot hear, and surely you are not sane.

Italian names are among the most important in America and among the bravest in the World War. Hundreds of thousands of these very names are Americanized and slightly changed in the spelling, perhaps, and require a little more intelligence than you possess, in order to recognize them.

Have you ever heard of the Bank of Italy, of San Francisco, California? This institution is one of the largest financial organizations in the world. It has been created by these same people that you classify as “Grade D and E” and of whom you say “they are not wanted here.” I ask of you, Professor, what grade do you belong in? In my honest opinion, I would classify you in Grade Z, which is the remains of nothing.

I, with a large number of my immediate family, originated from the extreme south of Italy and – what do you think, Professor? – we are, today, the largest and greatest building organization in the United States, and we have, for the past forty years, constructed thousands of monumental apartment houses in the greatest city in the world (New York) where hundred of thousands of American families dwell.

So you see, we are continually contributing to the greatness of America and that is much more than an accidental five-thousand-dollar-a-year professor is doing.

You say that people below Rome are not Italians, but that they are of a different race. I say that you do not know what you are talking about. You probably know more about your half-naked barbarian ancestors than you do about the people that civilized the entire world.

Senator Cippico’s statement is sane and sound and there is no doubt that fair-minded Americans will appreciate Italy’s position and in due time will do justice to the nation that has given the world more than any other, especially to us, this wonderful land and the greater name that the university has ever known – America!

You say that Senator Cippico has brought with him sugar-coated pills. I agree with you. These pills are of the same stock that Columbus brought with him, and from the same origin that the name “America” came from and from the same people that civilized the entire world.

When Senator Cippico states that there can be no peace in Europe as long as England grabs everything and Italy starves, he is sincere in his statement and he is also sincere when he begs America to prevent another catastrophe in Europe.

You say that Italy does not send her Galileos, Dantes, Michelangelos, Verdis, Napoleons, Puccinis, Da Vincis, Garibaldis, Mascagnis, Ciceros, Columbuses, Vespuccis, Raffaellos, Savonarolas, Marconis, Carusos, and Mazzinis. These men need not travel. They are forever present in the mind of every intelligent man in the world and they are the very soul and inspiration of real men of today.

Could you point one of your ancestors and claim the same pride that I can? NO! a thousand times NO! They are “very conspicuous by their absence.” There is nothing in the world of which a man can be more proud of than being an American of Italian origin.

We have here many English propagandists, who unfortunately it seems through their cunning diplomacy, advantages of language, etc., have been able to connect with some of our educational institutions. However, they cannot fool the American people. We are all “wise” to England’s game and her clever propaganda.

Evidently England is worrying at the increase of population in Italy. Italy! – that has been glorified for thousands of years and which produces such geniuses, cannot remain dormant. Some day she will be able to demand reckoning and bring the murderers and thieves to justice.

You remember, Professor, once upon a time, England received a severe thrashing administered to her by America. Some day we may have to repeat the same “stunt” and permit me to inform you, Professor, if that day comes, the “Grade D and E” men, as you term them, will do their full duty and make a thorough job of it, as they did in the World War.

Thank God! that, as usual, Italy periodically brings forth a genius and makes the world take notice. Since the World War Mussolini has saved European civilization from anarchy, and the claws and abyss of Bolshevism, and is now showing Europe the only way to recovery.

In concluding, my dear Professor, I must say that my ancestors tried their best to civilize your half-naked barbarian ancestors, but the more I read of you, the more I am convinced that they made a bad job of it.

Ralph Ciluzzi
Builder, 2067 Broadway, New York

Il Corroccio • October 1925

This article is from the October1925 issue of ‘Il Carrocci’ which was a monthly magazine of Italian propaganda and defense culture in America, directed by Agostino De Biasi.

A Builder Ralph Ciluzzi

Who is the writer of that very vibrant letter addressed to Professor East which appeared in the last Carroccio; sharp, crude letter, written in a single impulse of indignation and so responsive to the general sentiment of the Italians? Who is Ralph Ciluzzi? And why at the bottom of the signature did the Direction of the Carroccio leave the title of “Builder,” with the address?

“Builder” means “builder.” Therefore, we wanted the publication not to have meaning only for itself – as a literal expression – but that the recipient received it as a demonstrative document of the blunder he had taken, denying value to the Italian emigrant and insulting him. We wanted to point out that whoever refuted and demolished it was a builder of our lineage, visible daily creator of what we are used to today to consider the most tangible expression of American grandeur: the majestic building that makes New York more and more imposing – an Italian builder, who builds gigantic palaces with designs by Italian architects, with Italian labor – and for this he wins the competition from the boldest and most powerful Americans.

Ciluzzi himself in his letter introduces himself with these words to the East: – I, with a large number of members of my family, come from the extreme south of Italy and – what new do you think, Professor? – we are today the largest building organization in the United States, and have, in the past forty years, built thousands of monumental apartments in the largest city in the world (New York) which house hundreds of thousands of American families.

Who, if not one of that majestic group of Italian-American industrialists individualized in the names of its greatest exponents: Paterno-Campagna-Ciluzzi?

Ciluzzi – our collaborator – in a fit of indignation dictated the letter to his stenographer and entrusted it to the press as an expression of his Italian soul, of Calabrian stamina.

It seems that these pretentious and overbearing Americanists find it all to not get the result they propose. As far as we are concerned, there are countless Italians who, between business necessity, good sense of adaptation, sentiment, culture, education, have placed themselves among the Americans, advanced points of our quiet and systematic penetration. Penetration, perhaps, is not the right word; we will say cohesion, because it better responds to the ultimate goal: the understanding between the two peoples, harmonious cooperation, perhaps the fusion of blood and interests. These elements of ours operate on an equal footing with the Americans, equal among equals. They first took a prominent position; now they keep it. It is not known why everyone recognizes that America is made by the effort of all the emigrated nationalities, and when it comes down to distinguishing between them, only the Italian must remain in the shadows, forgotten if not insolent. So, what do the diligent as well as insolent East Americans do?

They really go to step on the calluses of those who can give them excellent kicks. And when they have the bad inspiration to attack, they provoke the reaction in the same element that could be considered anything but a participant in American life in its most typical expressions. If we did not appreciate the sincerity and loyalty with which so many of our emigrants keep to the American way – and we did not realize the special position in which the vicissitudes of life with foreigners have placed them – we would bless these American nationalistic excesses which cause sudden and vehement return to the love of Italy of those who apparently seem distracted by it.

It is not exactly the case of our Ciluzzi, but generalizing it is like this: Americanizationists have the mission of breaking the threads of the plot that is naturally weaving, over the years, here in America, between natives and us and between us and other foreigners . The more they inveigh against Italianism, the more Italianness flourishes, this reawakened more roaring in consciences that have already become American.

Born to a builder father, in Staletti, a village on the Ionian Sea, in the Catanzaro area, he emigrated very young in 1900. Well-off, he wanted to study. He was at the University of Buffalo where he earned his Doctor of Medicinal Chemistry degree. He opened prosperous drugstores in New York State and New Jersey; but he gave in to her immediately. The building fever intoxicated him; he acted the pressure of the kinship that took the leadership of the construction of the large “apartment houses” in the metropolis.

Ciluzzi was a partner of his brothers-in-law Paterno and Campagna; then he created his own company.

What he did in short years of work is revealed by the large buildings he built and owned. Ralph Ciluzzi loves that an Italian owns the house where the Americans stay; owning a house means many things, mainly that of making the tenant understand that, after all, he is not the “owner,” even of American stock….

Brief: Ciluzzi has built over 15 million dollars of buildings to date. The illustrations we publish tell what it is about. They are the most solid, best built and furnished, most comfortable, most comforting buildings that can be found today. There is no detail of improvement that Ciluzzi does not find and apply. It is he who controls the construction of the buildings, from the rock of the foundations to the roof, then the administration of the rents. This means that man, from his command post and of feverish responsibility, maneuvers thousands of workers, artists, technicians, clerks-simultaneously-because construction is rapid and each department is linked to another. Thrown down the old factory, ripped open the rock, braked the spring currents that often meet in the subsoil and require very expensive brake works – it is necessary to provide, in a single moment, for the cement, the stone, the bricks, the sand, the steel, iron, timber, piping, bathrooms, light, radiators, coolers, locks, glass, marble, decorations. There are hundreds of contractors that need to be educated and supervised; they are fantastic amounts of daily spending.

Ciluzzi is there, providing everything. The best building material used in New York is what Ciluzzi and his friends employ. Being able to make purchases for millions at a time, they combine reduced prices with excellent quality.

When Ciluzzi “operates,” the “real estate” market immediately senses the importance of his initiative. Last summer, the purchase of four buildings on West End Avenue at 89th Street made the city news: four buildings in good condition to be torn down to make way for a 15-story building, costing over one million dollars. What the competent admire in Ciluzzi is the clear vision that he has of his plans and the certainty with which he implements them, with infallible luck.

With all this, Ralph Ciluzzi also finds the time to… write to Professor East.

A remarkable thing for those who, in full American activity, have not lost any sign of their belonging to Italy. In America, besides the buildings of his industry, he owns houses and villas for his own use; but he also loves to have them in Italy, in the land of his fathers. The unquenchable passion of Italy!

Lately Ciluzzi gave a wash house to Staletti; first act of public charity performed in his country; first of an unmissable series. Soon the electric light system will come, then….who will live will see. Because whoever has the noble and firm conscience to rise up – as with the Carroccio letter – against a professor of an American University, and to summarize in his voice the voice of an entire nationality, and the pride of being able to say: “I” show you with “my” work that you are false and a liar, he cannot fail to be one with the earth that saw him born.

Il Carroccio mentions Ralph Ciluzzi on the agenda of the gratitude of all Italians.